Waiting at the station.

Posted by Kevin.....

You know the train is coming. Trains never don't come.

You have the schedule in your hands.

You have been told when the train will arrive.

You look down the tracks. You wait.

You wait and wait and wait.

Maybe this train will be early! You look down the tracks.

And you wonder, "What will it be like?"

This is your first time waiting at the station.

You look at the clock on the wall.

Then someone says, "Maybe the train will be late."

"You mean a few minutes late?"

They shrug. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks is the reply.

You look down the tracks. You wait.

And everything in your life; your job, your family, your house, your clothes, your pets, your unfinished plans, your coffee, your book....

......waits.

Waiting

by Stace
If I could wait and not have to continue working, maybe this would be tolerable. But I don't know for sure. I am ready to have this child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I keep telling my clients that we are on for next week unless they hear otherwise, but all I want to do is quit, curl up on a sofa and read and sleep and wait and wait and wait and wait.

I am a little dilated and baby is head down, and the doc is encouraging me to squat, which I do, and then I wait. And wait. And nothing is happening. Oh, except that sleep is a mystery on most nights, turning over is a painful chore, and dressing is virtually impossible without being seated through most of the endeavor - which quite frankly, is quite a nice way to dress oneself if you plan ahead.

The bag is mostly packed - I keep thinking that if it is not totally packed, then Henry will arrive early and surprise me and, OH, wouldn't that be lovely albeit somewhat stressful that the bag isn't completely ready to go... but instead I have a mostly packed bag sitting in waiting.

So, that's where we're at. I will go chart, bill, bookkeep and WAIT and WAIT and WAIT and WAIT. I am told that I am no longer allowed to keep my "sailor mouth" ways, so in honor of all that is wonderful of the British, I say, "Buggah".

But Stace hates Bear Grylls

Posted by Kevin......

It's been 15 years since I instructed a survival course. As my beautiful wife and most of my friends are painfully aware, I constantly talk about wilderness survival and create emergency kits almost like some kind of twisted hobby.

On Monday, I will be the guest instructor at a flight school in Minneapolis. For one class, the students will learn the quick and dirty version of my Survival for General Aviation Pilots course.

Now fire is a very important step in the survival process: 4 minutes without air, 4 hours without shelter and warmth, 4 days without water, 4 weeks without food. This is EXTREMELY generalized, but it helps one prioritize ones needs.

However, when I do go camping alone, I take at least a lighter and 4 boxes of matches. Which leads to this big question: "Can Kevin start a fire without matches? In 10 inches of snow? In his backyard?"

The bow and spindle method would be out of the question under these conditions. But I have started fires with flint and magnesium, and with a magnifying glass. However it's been 15 years and never in the snow! So out to the back yard I go. Idiscover ample fuel in the form of dead brush sticking out of the snow. A few trees have dead limbs that snap right off. And there is tall dead grass and lots of brown plant heads.

First I build a small platform on top of the snow using some logs I found under the snow. It been cold a long time, and the insides of these logs may be dry. But they won't burn very well right now. Actually, the snow is not so deep that I need a platform, but I'm doing it.

I need 3 types of fuel: my tinder is the prairie grass, my kindling is a bundle of sticks from the brush, and my logs are actually just dead branches. I place them in piles next to one another. This is just a tiny practice fire, so I won't be adding any logs.

It's cloudy, so no magnifying glass. I shave off some magnesium with my knife onto a few leaves and add some fuzzy grass. I strike the flint and magnesium ignites after a few sparks. The tinder suddenly catches light.

First problem: The tinder burns almost instantly and the kindling has no time to ignite. The fire is out in less than a minute. More grass, more shaving, more sparks. Fire, then nothing. It's frustrating. I use some plant heads, but they smoke a lot and may be damp. I blow gently. The fire soon goes out. I collect a lot more fuel.

I decide this can be done, but now I must cheat. I take a tea candle from my kit and put it in the pile of tinder. I light some grass with the flint and after many attempts, get the candle lit. I place more fuel over the candle and I have a real blaze now.

A couple of observations:

1. It took an hour to make this little fire.

2. The magnesium shavings should be in a concentrated pile.

3. Have a lot more fuel in a pile near by.

4. ALWAYS carry a lighter and 4 boxes of matches!

On Baby Watch

Kevin won't let me leave without my cell phone anymore, and what's worse is that it has to be on all the time now. We are "on baby watch", he reports, and while I am ready to be "on", I think it might be just slightly premature. Hard to say, though, as my doc says that Henry is in head down position - thank God - and I am a little dilated already. So, we'll see.

There was a time in this pregnancy when I was saying, "this is great!", "I could do this forever", and then I continued to grow. Now, I can't see parts of my anatomy without the assistance of a full length mirror. I cannot cut my toenails, and while Kevin is super gentle, he likes to leave little "sharpies" - and I am a little particular about how I like my nails cut. (He won't cut them short enough. This whole pregnancy thing is a real exercise in patience and acceptance, let me tell you.) I cannot bend over, and squatting hurts. When I drop something - which I do frequently - I now seriously contemplate the importance of picking it up, and wonder how long I could leave it on the floor... I wonder, was I this clumsy in the past? I seem to drop everything now that it is darn near impossible to recover anything. My feet have become rather functional in ways I did not rely on them before - my toes can recover a dropped article of clothing, for instance, or shoes that are too far in the closet to reach.

Kevin, too, has become amazingly helpful to me - as I said earlier in providing me with manicures, helping me out of the tub if needed, and zipping me up into my parka. He zips me up daily, plugs in the seat belt for me, arranges a variety of outdoor winter accessories on the kitchen table from which to choose, reminds me when I have put my clothes on backwards (and yes, it happens - and recently happened while we had company...), and rubs my sore everything. He constantly asks if I am having "an episode" as I get rather hot all the time now - so I am lucky to be preggers during the winter months. It's funny, where I used to be cold all the time, now I walk around fanning myself.

So, that's the pregnancy update. We will keep you posted as to what's going on.