The American Adventure - Vol 10

1 to 30 Apr 98

If you want to go straight to Vol 11, you may do so now!

...

Those of you who read the initial version of Volume 9 will know that at the beginning of April there was a little crisis of faith at the Wevel-Pyatts'. We were quite sure that no-one in Australia still cared what we were doing over here so we tried a little bullying tactic to get some sort of response. (Give us some of your news or we won't continue putting our news down in monthly instalments.) The tactic was successful (thanks to both of our readers) and the series will continue (at least for now!)

Spring came on very strong in the first weeks of April. It was really beautiful. The leaves arrived, the squirrels are back and the grass is exploding out of the ground. The back yard is covered in green (admittedly half grass, half weeds) and blossoms arrived on some other trees (we lost some cherry blossoms and got some dogwood blossoms, which are really pretty) and some of the bushes are now covered in flowers.

Because it was so beautiful and Tim wasn't able to enjoy it at work (not only is Washington city not as pretty but Tim was very very busy), he and Kalle began to talk walks in the evening to a little place up the road. There is a company called Covance which has a facility at the end of Vernon Drive. Behind all their buildings is a lake and behind the lake is empty wooded land.

Tim found this area during winter while the rest of the family was in Sweden and every time that he has been there he has seen deer. It is great to be able to walk from home and pretty much be certain of seeing wild deer.

Anyway, Tim and Kalle were sneaking off to this place with Tasha, seeing the deer, the lake and the geese and ducks. When they got to the place, Tim would show Kalle the deer, let them make a run for it and then Tasha could chase after them. Needless to say, the deer are quite swift and Tasha had no chance of getting them. She likes trying though.

One time when Tasha was off in the woods after her prey, Tim and Kalle were checking out the back of the lake and they heard a strange noise. It sounded like an occasional heavy footfall in the bushes but they couldn't see anything. They got closer to investigate and they almost tripped over the cause. It was a turtle that was about 80cm long (two feet for the oldies) that was making its way from the lake, probably to lay eggs. They made a hasty retreat to ensure that Tasha didn't see it and try to eat it (turtles being somewhat easier to catch than deer). Seeing the turtle certainly made the boys' day.

Another day, after Kajsa was let in on the secret, Tasha must have run extra specially fast. She bounded off to the east where the deer had run and Tim and Kalle led Kajsa and Taltarni to where they had seen the turtle. Then, from the south-west, running east, they saw some deer. Now these are white tailed deer and the thing that really strikes you when you see them run are their tails because they are so white. The area that we were all walking through had tall grass and it heightens the effect because they don't so much run as spring along like you see antelope run in documentaries. So we were watching these deer run past, one, two, three, four, ... wait, that last white tail was different. In fact it was a lot longer and furrier, Tasha was right behind the deer and springing along like a local. Luckily she did not catch anything. When she saw this Kajsa banned us from letting Tasha off the lead because it is so close to fawning time and it would be terrible if Tasha came back with Bambi in her mouth! This was fair enough and Tim had been very careful not let Tasha off the lead while the geese were around - given that it is nesting time for them too - so we suppose that the deer deserve the same respect.

The last time that we went up to Covance we noticed that there was an extra little sign that said "Private Property - No Trespassing". Now, that hadn't been there before but Tim had definitely been seen by people before in there and no one had said anything.

"Don't worry about it, if anyone says anything I'll tell them that I have been here heaps and sorry I won't do it again. Anyway, I've never seen any security people here," said Tim.

As we went past the buildings there was a guy in uniform outside of the cafeteria and it seemed that he looked at us but he just went inside and we kept walking down to the lake. As we got to the edge of the car park, Kajsa pointed out that there was a security guard behind them (Tim maintains that he had never seen one before!) Tim went back and said "G'day!" (This is always the first tactic one should use with Americans.)

The guard was quite pleasant but pointed out that the area was private property and that we shouldn't be here. He didn't tell us to go away though and it seemed from the conversation that the biggest worry that Covance had was about what is in the lake. Apparently the site used to be used for top secret medical experiments on unsuspecting citizens, or something like that.

We surmised that the concern is not so much that we were trespassing, but that we might sue if we got sick from whatever is in the lake (or if some toxic hazard slime monster emerged and ate Tasha). We established what the boundary of the Covance property was and made a deal with the guard that we would go beyond the lake (into land that was common property) and make another way home. The guard was cool with this.

So, from now on we take another way in and it is a little less likely to catch sight of deer but when people visit us this area will be a must-see on the all-singing all-dancing guided tour.

Deer and turtles are not the only creatures to be seen locally, as mentioned the squirrels are all out again, plus chipmunks and Tim saw his groundhog for the year at the beginning of April. All in all it is a most beautiful time of year.

Something that is not quite so beautiful, and is probably worse this year on account of the mild winter, is some of the other wildlife that has emerged. After visiting the lake it is important to check yourself carefully for ticks. While they don't seem that interested in people (at least not enough to sink their fangs in), Tasha has had a few in her. She is on a special treatment that kills ticks as well as fleas so all should be well.

The first social function of the month was at Doug and Ann's. We went over to their place for dinner. It was a very relaxing low key affair, which was well needed given that Doug has also been buried in work. Before dinner we sat on the deck (read porch) and looked out over their back yard, the first few metres of which is lawn, followed by a creek and then about two hundred metres of wooded land. It was very pleasant but a little surreal because there was the occasional gunshot from the wood and there was no visible reaction from either Doug or Ann, no jumping, flinching or surprise at the fact that some Rambo wannabe is stalking around in the few acres of woodland behind their house taking out the deer, perhaps mumbling incoherently. We were a bit nervous because we didn't know how far away they were nor in which direction they were shooting or in fact exactly what it was they were shooting at, maybe at locals sitting on their decks. It is worth noting that a few days later a random shot hit an office block in Crystal City, so it is possible to hit by stray shots as well as intentional ones.

After dinner, Doug and Ann demonstrated the benefit of having your own full-sized pool table at home by knocking all the balls in (note they were kind enough to not team up against us. There was Tim-Anne and Kajsa-Doug pairing but all Tim and Kajsa did was make it difficult for either of them to convincingly beat the other!) We need to practice more, and we would have that night if it weren't for the fact that Kajsa was ill.

The next day was a big day for Julia, her family arrived in New York and she had to take a train up to meet them. They all stayed in New York for a while and then travelled down to South Carolina (although Julia had wanted to visit Florida). On Easter Saturday they arrived in Washington area and took a hotel in Alexandria, despite exhortations to stay with us. They came over to visit on Easter Monday - but we are getting ahead of ourselves ...

The following week was Spring break for school and so Kalle had a week off. Kajsa and her German friend, Petra, took the kids and spent Monday morning at Meadowlark Gardens watching the fish and ducks, looking at the spring blossoms and flowers and having a picnic.

Tasha started dog-training that night. Kajsa did the training really, Tasha just got terribly excited about it all and told the world (although she did not bark she did a lot of "talking"). Tim, Kalle and Taltarni came along to be sociable. There was another "dog-training widower" who Tim talked to while Kalle played with their adopted grand-child (quite a story, but it is their story not ours). Kajsa enjoyed the training and Tasha seemed to benefit from it.

The next day Kajsa and Petra took the kids to the local 4H farm (sort of a petting zoo) where they saw horses, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and a peacock. Following that they went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, an experience that Petra will never forgive Kajsa for! Amazingly, when Tim came home Kalle was excited about the farm and only later mentioned Chuck E Cheese. Most importantly that day, we got a new, functional, dishwasher. Ah, clean plates!

On Wednesday it was a big neighbour day, all the kids on the block played together and the mothers (and nannies) were social. Thursday was dark and dreary all day (with thunderstorms and tornadoes, fortunately not locally). Petra came over with Max and Hanna and brought lunch. A sort of indoor picnic.

Then it was Easter, with heaps of Easter eggs - only little ones. Unlike almost anywhere in the Western world, America does not take Good Friday off, Easter being little more than an excuse to eat chocolate and have a sale. Fortunately the Embassy is not that silly and Tim had a normal Easter weekend. Perhaps one of the best things that weekend was that there was very little planned.

On Good Friday we bought a new diamond earring for Tim (he had foolishly lost his old one) and got Kalle a haircut. Tim put all details of our CDs into a spreadsheet so that when we go home we have a record of them, just in case some go missing. Petra brought Max and Hanna over again, this time to paint Easter Eggs. Kalle threw a hissy-fit (tantrum) because he thought that Max didn't like him anymore (probably because he was hysterical, it was a huge performance).

The next day was a big one, Kalle had been invited to Lea Mulder's Easter Egg Hunt. It was a huge affair, much beyond what we expected (basically a few eggs "hidden", the kids run around, fight over the eggs and the parents try to stop them hurting each other too much). When we got there, the first thing we saw was the Easter Bunny. Actually Lea's aunt dressed up, not the real thing I'm afraid. The kids ran around in the front yard and there were plenty of photo opportunities. Taltarni (we do mention her occasionally) got terrified of the Easter Bunny whenever it came close but was obsessed with it when it was at a safe distance. She spent most of the time clinging to Tim or Kajsa.

When all the kids got there we moved on to stage two, we all filed into the backyard and got our starting orders. Lea's mother gave out strict instructions and informed us that there were five hundred eggs hidden in the yard. Five hundred! Wow.

As there were so many eggs the fights weren't as bad, there were many kids who had more eggs than their optimistically big baskets could carry (including Kalle). After all that running about there was juice for the kids and very sensible coffee for the long suffering parents plus donuts (yippee!). The Easter Bunny came back out and handed out bubble mixture to all the kids and the remainder of the time was split between blowing bubbles and trying to destroy the bubbles that had just been blown - admittedly the girls tended towards the former and the boys the latter. Tim's little engineer mind kept ticking over, thinking "This must have cost a small fortune!" Lea's mother just said that Lea loves Easter, she is an only child and there will only be a couple more years in which she'll enjoy doing this - so hang the expense (credit is great!)

In the afternoon, while Taltarni was having a nap and Tim was fiddling around on the computer (doing very important stuff), Kalle and Kajsa went next door to play in the new sandpit. Actually Kalle played in the sandpit, Kajsa sat on the edge and sunned herself while talking to the neighbours and their in-laws. A bit later, when Tim headed over, a small crowd had developed, beer was being handed around (later some Australian stuff came out which improved things somewhat) and a party sort of evolved. We ended up having dinner over at their place, getting home after nine (perhaps seven hours after Kajsa went over for "half an hour or so"). These unplanned things are the best.

On Easter Sunday we went over to Petra and Hans' house for another Easter hunt. The kids ran around trying to outdo each other while the parents had coffee and some sort of almond bread and strawberries and ice cream, very nice. Another beautiful day to be outdoors.

Over the weekend we became aware of another form of wildlife in the area. Mice. Just as we were running around getting ready to go to the Huge Easter Egg Hunt, we noticed that the kitchen bench was covered (well sprinkled) with mouse poo. After the Easter Egg Hunt we pulled in to a supermarket and Tim bought a gross of mousetraps - actually it was eleven and he got so many because they were on sale - only a quarter each! The mousetraps were set with cheese and left in strategic spots all around the kitchen. Now when we noticed that there was poo all over, we also noticed that somehow the mice had got into the bread bin and chewed on the corner of a plastic bag and carved bits off the crispbread (good Swedish stuff). Rather than throw out the crispbread we decided to keep it, better that the mice eat something that we aren't going to eat anyway, and Tim spread some around for the purposes of advertising. Come here, little mices! Come to papa!

On Sunday morning we noticed that not one of the pieces of cheese had been touched, but all the bits of crispbread had gone. We either have very discerning mice or they are not as dumb as we are and they refuse to eat American cheese. Anyway, that night the traps were set with crispbread and sure enough we caught a mouse. A rather fat and well fed looking one.

The remaining ten traps did not appear to have been tampered with and so the one we caught was either a mouse that does a lot of pooing or he was a scout for the remainder of the pack. When he didn't come back they decided to go elsewhere. Tim decided not to assume this though and he set up the traps again and it was at this time that he got injured himself in some sort of divine mouse retribution. His left index finger's first knuckle got rapped by one of the traps and the whole thing swelled up and bruised. He recalls something very much like this happening in college when he had to bait his mousetrap with Coco-Pops (it being what the mouse seemed to like and what most needed protecting in Tim's room). But that is another story.

Easter Monday was a bit strange, a day off that didn't feel like a holiday, probably because Kalle had to go to school and we went shopping during which it was plain that most people were working. Oh well, not us! In the evening Julia brought her parents over and we fired up the barbeque. It did not fall over this time!

One the most amusing episodes in the evening has been totally censored because it involves the sensitive topic of MPB. If you think you can handle it look here.

On the Wednesday there was a special session of Prayers, Prayers being the Australian Embassy version of religion, with free drinks for all and increasingly uninhibited conversation with guests invited from the US Defense community and elsewhere. We invited some people from the Swedish Embassy and a few Americans (Doug Greenlaw and Anne Potter and Walt and Barbara Littles). Unfortunately, despite the fact that this was the last prayers until the end of May, very few other people turned up. Oh well, we had a good time at least.

Around this time many of the blossoms on the cherry trees and such fell off. Driving home was often a bit like a light snow shower with petals everywhere, even including a few little pink drifts of petals. It was still pretty but only the dogwood trees remained in bloom. Instead many bushes came out. One garden that we saw on the way to a surprise birthday party on the following Saturday was gorgeous. There were a number of big bushes near the house that were in bloom in vivid reds, whites and yellows with the dark green leaves as a backdrop made for a stunning display. The bushes at our house came out in time for Paul and Helena's visit, but again we get ahead of ourselves ...

That Saturday was quite busy, actually, starting with Swedish in the morning, followed by Kajsa heading off to a baby shower. Then we all went off to a picnic with some people from the Swedish Embassy, in which we played "brannball" an old Swedish game similar to baseball but less complicated and more fun. Kalle had a great time and did heaps of running around. Far more than anyone else. After that we went off to the surprise 50th birthday party.

At one point at the party, after a few ciders, Tim thought it was important to let the guest of honour know that 50 was L in the the Roman alphabet, so F she felt like L the next day she'd know Y. (ha ha) That lead to a few questions and answers. You won't get a new one until you turn 90.

"What was Roman for 90?"

XC.

"Oh, I'm XC already!"

That makes you wonder what XTC would be.

"XTC?"

Come to think of it, that would probably be about 18.

Sorry.

The next day was Julia's birthday. Like all birthdays in recent times, there was one little boy who was far more excited about it than the actual person having the birthday. Kalle bounced into our bed at some ungodly hour (well before 11am) and wanted to go wake everyone up. Finally at an almost acceptable hour (10am) we took breakfast into Julia and sang "Happy Birthday" for her and gave her a prize. In the afternoon, Kajsa took Kalle to another birthday party (for Sophia, a girl from Kalle's Swedish School class - the one that we have in the basement) so he was hyper the whole day. Worse than a kid on red cordial. A little later Julia had some friends over and there was a little birthday party. Julia is a great person to have a party for because she does all the cooking and preparation. This is certainly a trait that we should encourage the kids to adopt!

The next Thursday was a special event for Tim. He was one of the supporting staff at a ceremony for the issue of medals. Three were of the normal - good boy you've worked hard here's a medal - but one was quite special. There was an American tourist who filmed the actions of Martin Bryant at Port Arthur. This gentleman was awarded a medal for courageous actions. It certainly was the most interesting story that was associated with the ceremony and it wsa very interesting to talk with two survivors of the massacre (his fiancee was there).

A very interesting story appeared in the paper on Friday. The story was of a couple who were attending marriage counselling at their local church. Part of the problem was that the husband drank too much. On the day the reported counselling session the husband turned up late (again) with a beer in his hand (again). This apparently led to an argument (again). It seems that the husband had not been progressing very well at the counselling because he drew his gun and (remember he has a beer in one hand) started shooting his wife. He actually had a lucky shot and hit with one bullet. This must have annoyed his wife because she drew her gun and returned fire. Her aim (not affected by beer but perhaps by rage) was a bit better because she scored a hit with her first shot. This didn't make hubby very happy and he emptied his magazine at her, some at very close range but none of these later shots actually hit her. The little shootout stopped at this time with both injured (one critically). Later, probably at the hospital, both were arrested for attempted murder. A comment made by the local priest (remember that this all happened at marriage guidance at the church) was that "It was lucky he was drunk, he was such a lousy shot".