why is it so cold? February 20, 2010

On the ride home she told her father all about the heads they had made and asked many questions about what she should do in the parade?

When they parked the truck and he pulled her out, he said “How about we go in together and find your mother and tell her about the parade.  Might be easier on all of us that way.”

Max met the truck and was wagging his tail to spend a quick moment or two with Violet.   She was happy to see Max, but it also made her remember that the calf was no longer alive.

Her mother was waiting for them and was anxious for Violet to see how the painting looked in the new playroom.  On the way down the stairs her dad mentioned that Violet wanted to ride in the tractor in the parade.

“That sounds like a great idea.  We can get you a parade dress when we are in the city.  Ok come on you two, come see the playroom.”

Just as her mother reached in to turn on the light there was a popping noise and all of the lights downstairs went off.  Violet jumped and reached for her moms hand.

“What happened?  and why is it so cold?”

Her mother squeezed her hand, and said “It is an old house with old wires that is all.  Dean go check the box. “  He was already walking away and opening the door to let some light stream in from outside.

“It is cold isn’t it.  There must be a draft from the door.  Violet I want you to go and wait near the door.  Go on, go now.”

Violet hurried to the door and was happy to feel the warm sunshine and to be in the light.  She could hear her mother saying something but just barely, it was like she was whispering.  She could only make out a few words and was leaning to try and hear more.

“into the light…no place …into the light…around the wheel…into a mirror”

Violet was listening so hard, that when the lights came back on she nearly jumped out of her skin.  ©

bring a hose in February 10, 2010

Violet was so sad to hear about Cocoa, and was trying so hard not to cry.  All of a sudden though she could remember flashes of the morning and they made sense.  Her mother seemed mad, her dad said NO she could not see the calf, Max was outside when they left.

Violet realized she was holding the necklace in her hand, and as she let go of the necklaces the pictures she was seeing from the morning were gone.   Sara’s voice interrupted her thoughts “Now we can start making the goop, this is the fun part.  See all of these papers that are torn into long strips?  We will take those one at a time, get them in the goop, scrape the extra off and then lay them over the masks.  It will make a shell of paper and goop.”

“It sounds fun!”

Sara laughed “Yes it is fun.  But we will be bored with it by the last head I think.”

The girls got busy mixing up the bucket of “goop” and had made a large mess all over the floor and table in no time at all.  The first two heads went really fast, and they were on the third one when Aunt Ellie came in to check on them and have them take a lunch break.

“Well I can see we will have to bring a hose in to clean up in here.  Oh Violet I am teasing, it is not that bad, put a smile back on.   I am thinking that instead of a kitchen lunch though we should have a classroom lunch to keep all the cleanup in one place.  I will go finish it all up, pack it into a picnic basket and bring it all down here.  You two get washed up and find a place the three of us can eat.   Oh and Violet, I have some sad news for you.  Your father wanted me to tell you that the calf died last night.  It was too weak and it just was not meant to be, he was afraid you would be too upset to be there today.   Are you ok?”

Violet was still sad, but she was trying not to laugh too.  “Thank you Aunt Ellie I am fine.” But she started to cry and her aunt came and wrapped her arms around her “It is ok Violet, nothing wrong with a good cry, I love you.  Oh ..”

As Ellie stepped a bit back from Violet she realized she had sticky paper mache all over her clothing – she started to laugh and then so did the girls.  “Give me sometime to clean up a bit too.  I will be back in about 10 minutes with lunch.”

Sara and Violet burst into laughter as soon as she was gone, whispering and giggling about how the pinky swear promise was safe and about the mess on Ellie’s clothes.   They worked quickly to get a place cleaned up for lunch.  ©

off to see Sara February 5, 2010

When Violet woke up she quickly chose her necklace for the day, got dressed and ran down the stairs for breakfast.  No one was around and it was very quiet and there was a strange smell in the house.  She got her breakfast and sat alone in the quiet kitchen eating her cereal and looking at the back of the cereal box.  Using her finger to trace the maze and to point out the hidden pictures.

Suddenly her father came in with a very serious look.  “Good morning shorty; how’s the breakfast?”

“Good and look I found all the pictures.”  Trying to ignore the serious tone he had, she pointed out each one on the box to him.

“Hurry up and get finished, I am going to take you to see your cousin Sara today she is going to watch you all day.  Make you lunch take you out to ride at their place, it has been a long time since you spent the day over there.  Besides with your mother painting downstairs, you would be pretty bored around here today.”

“Can I go see Max and Cocoa before I leave?”

“No!”  suddenly his voice was very firm, and Violet jumped a little and was not sure what she had done wrong or why she could not see her dog and the little calf.  Even though she was curious she was more than a little afraid to ask why.

“Go on, get ready to go, I will rinse your dishes and don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

Violet did as she was told; as she was putting on her socks and shoes she was thinking about Sara.  Sara was Uncle Lacey and Aunt Ellie’s daughter and she was a lot older than Violet … she was a teenager.  Sara had long dark hair and it was always braided in one long straight braid down her back.    Sara is a barrel racer and is often gone to a rodeo or in a parade.  She loves to water ski and can do anything any of the big boys can do.  Violet really wanted to be like Sara when she grew up.  One of the things she liked best about her though was they could talk about anything, and Sara never treated her like a baby.  Very often she would say “I will tell you the truth” or “I will tell you the whole story, but you can not tell the grownups that I told you.” ©

one shadow or two? February 2, 2010

When they got back from the mailbox it was time for her father to head back out and get some work done.  Violet was sent to her room, to stay out of the way and play until it was time for dinner.  She headed up the stairs, and started to play with her baby.  Putting it in the stroller, or the crib and back again; reading a story and such.

Then she heard her mother calling her for dinner.  After dinner her father took her downstairs to feed the calf one last time before her bath and bedtime.  As they walked over to the sink to prepare the bottle her father remarked “It is cold down here tonight, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“It is not cold” she replied laughing at his silly joke, but as he turned to look at her Violet was surprised that he looked puzzled.  “You are not cold?”

“No.”

He was walking toward her now, handing the bottle over and he said “You are right it is not cold over here, just over at the sink; now that is odd.”

Violet looked over at the sink and saw her fathers shadow, it seemed really big and dark and she quickly looked back at her father.  But as they started to walk into the room where Max and Cocoa were sleeping she saw his shadow on the door in front of them…she quickly turned and saw the black shadow still at the sink.

“Why do you have two shadows?” she asked her father.

“No I have one shadow, the other one is you, look” as he said it he pointed to himself and to her and the shadows on the door in front of them moved.  “No that shadow” Violet said pointing at the sink.

Her father turned around just in time to see the black shadow quickly move to the side and disappear.  “Oh I think it is just because it is so dark and the light is overhead, it just caught me coming and going.”  His voice sounded sure, but the look on his face did not, he glanced back at the sink again and said “Hurry up lets get this calf fed so you can get to bed.”

They laughed that he had made a rhyme, fed the calf, put Max out for a few minutes and then closed them back up in the room.  Up the stairs they went.

Violet’s mother already had her bath ready and before long she had placed her necklace with the others under the pillow and was fast asleep. ©

a long walk February 1, 2010

“Oh there you are, I did not hear you come in.  I was just telling Violet that perhaps you could paint the furniture white on Friday before you left for the weekend; then we could put it all together Monday.”

“That would work.  Violet it’s time to feed the calf do you want to do it?”

“Yes!”

“Ok well this time lets see if we can get him to just follow you and that bottle outside into the sunshine and grass.  Go try and coax him and Max into here, and I will hand you the bottle as we head out.”

Violet went in and found it was easy to get the calf up and Max was more than happy to coax him out of the room.  Being a Border Collie Max was a natural helper at the ranch.  Violet took the big warm bottle from her father and he held open the door as she led the calf and the dog out and into the grass.  The calf drank almost the entire bottle and still had enough energy to walk around some.

“You know shorty I think if he sleeps in the house tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night then he can head back out to the barn.  We have plenty of warm enough weather, and it should give him time to catch up.   You going to be able to help one more day?”  He said it with a smile and a wink knowing full well Violet was loving every minute she was spending with the calf.

“I will let you feed him one more time after dinner, before you get ready for bed.”

“Ok”  Violet was having a lot of fun, and was more than happy to feed the calf as often as she could.  “Cocoa looks tired daddy.”

“Yes he does, how about I carry him in” he said as he scooped up the calf “and you get the door.”

They placed Max and Cocoa back into the room, and both laid down.  “I am going to walk out to the road and get the mail, how about you come with me and stay out of your mom’s hair for awhile.  Exercise will do us both some good.”  As he was finishing his sentence he was patting his stomach and laughing.

It was a long walk to the road and back, but it was one that Violet loved to do with her father.  Along the way he would explain how many cattle were here and how many there, what fence needed mended or had been fixed already.  He would wave and holler at the workers that they came across and they would always smile and wave back.  Usually Max would follow along but today he had a bigger job to watch over Cocoa as he slept. ©

the plan January 30, 2010

The room was empty, the cement floor and 4 white walls with one light hanging down from the ceiling.  Violet’s mother was explaining where the table and chairs would go, and the book case, the rug they would buy, the window she would paint, a set of shelves and a doll house.

“I do not have a doll house.”

“No not yet, but I am going to help you make one, and you will love it!”

That sounded very fun, and exciting to Violet.

“Also I was thinking we will get some pillows for the floor over there” as she pointed to the back wall “so you can sit on the floor to read if you want.  And on this wall I am going to put up cork board and fill it with little tacks so you can hang up your drawings or pretty things.”

It was all a bit overwhelming, but exciting and Violet was excited to see how it would all turn out.  Just then one of the men that works the ranch came and knocked on the door.  Her mother went to see who it was and quickly sent him to the barn to bring in the book case, table and chairs and to box up the tea set, books and such.  He was told to just come in and set it all in the center of the room when he was done.

“You and me we are going to go upstairs and pack up the books from your bedroom and bring them down here.  And we will bring your kitchen set and the food down too.  Come on there is a lot to do.”

Violet was surprised when she walked into her room and found there were empty boxes on the floor.  It did not take them very long to fill the boxes with the books and play kitchen food and dishes; and Violet thought her room would feel empty with it all downstairs.  They each carried a box down to the new playroom and found that most of the stuff from the barn was already there.  Her mother sent him upstairs to bring down the rest of the boxes and the play kitchen.

Meanwhile they started putting things where they would go and filling the book case with books.  In no time at all it really did look like a nice place to play.

“We will get the paint up on the walls  tomorrow so you will not be able to play in here until it is dry; and I will see when your father can get the furniture all painted.  Maybe he can do it Friday before he goes camping and then you and I can put it all back together with the new things we buy in the city.  Tomorrow I will get the walls painted, Wednesday I will start the window and Thursday I will finish the window and we will get the cork board up.  Most of this week though you will need to play in your room, out of the way… and help your father with that calf.” ©

the lights January 29, 2010

They left her mother to clean up the kitchen after lunch and Violet got the doors for her father as he carried the calf to the side lawn.  Max was waiting at the door for them, and was very happy to nudge the calf around.  In just a few minutes, there was a lot of giggling, laughing, smiles, running in circles and falling down and that was just Violet!

When it was time to head back in, her father scooped up the calf in his arms and carried him back to get settled in his nest of blankets.  Max laid next to the calf, and Violet covered Cocoa with a blanket.  “They will be fine, you just let them rest and be good for your mom.  I will come back in awhile and you can give him his bottle.”

He no sooner finished his sentence then her mother walked in “Ready Violet?”

“Yes I am ready, bye daddy.”

“See you soon shorty.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Well I thought we should decide what all you wanted in here and where it would fit. “  Her mother walked into the room,  flipping the light switch on as she walked through the door way.  Violet followed right behind and when she was about 3 steps into the room the light went off, and then on.  “Stop playing with the lights!”

Her mother spun around to holler at Violet but as the words came out of her mouth she realized Violet was not near the light switch, not close enough to have turned it on and off. “I am sorry, I thought you had done it.  I suppose we need a new light bulb in here or maybe have that switch looked at…” then as she finished her sentence she seemed to be talking to the doorway or the light switch “that will be enough of that! We need light to work with.”

Violet had the uncomfortable feeling, all of the hair on her arms felt like it was being tugged up and the hair on the back of her neck felt tingly too.  Her mother could see she was not feeling comfortable and said “What we will do is have a couple of lamps in here too, then you can use the lamps or the overhead light or both if you need to.  Just make sure that you turn the lights off when you leave we do not want to waste electricity.” ©

shopping? January 28, 2010

Violet ran up to the kitchen and found her mother making lunch.

“Well you have had a LOT happen this morning.  How are you doing and are you hungry?”

“I am hungry.”  Violet realized she was in truth very hungry and she had to go to the bathroom.  When she got back her mother asked “Would you like to talk about the playroom?”

“Yes”

“Well I was thinking we would paint it a nice soft lilac color, kind of like the bedroom downstairs at grandma and grandpas house.  Then we would make all of the tables and chairs a nice white color so it will be bright and clean.   Lastly I will get some light greens to tie it all together, doesn’t that sound pretty?”

“It does sound pretty.  Dad said you will make a pretend window; how will you do that?”

Her mother laughed and said “That will be  a big surprise and I think you will like it, I will even make curtains for the window.  Oh I was thinking too since the floor down there is just cement would you like a rug?”

“Yes, what kind of rug?”

“I don’t know I thought maybe we would plan a trip to the city, see your Uncle and do some real shopping.  I am sure we could find a rug there.”

“What day will we go?” as much as Violet wanted to go, she also wanted to be the one taking care of Cocoa.

“Oh I don’t know it will be a few days in fact you know what would be nice we could go instead of camping.  Maybe we could come back the last day for a little bit, you could swim and I could show the gals what we purchased. “  Her mother seemed to be talking more to herself then to Violet.  “Yes that is what we will do, we will leave on Friday this week, I will tell your father and call your Uncle. “

“Tell me what?”

“Why do you insist on sneaking around and eves dropping?   I was telling Violet that instead of going camping this weekend we will go to the city, see my brother and do some shopping for her playroom.  Then we will meet up with all of you Sunday for lunch and she can swim.”

“That sounds like a good plan Annie. “  He was pouring himself a big glass of milk and eating the sandwich that was left for him on the counter.  “Violet are you about done?  Max is still outside and I thought we would take that calf out into the lawn and try and get it to run around a little.  It will tire pretty fast and then we will put it back into the house and let it sleep.  Max and the calf can just lay in there together and you can help your mom in the playroom for awhile.  If you are good for your mother you can feed the calf the next bottle – deal?”

“Deal!”  ©

a bottle and a story January 27, 2010

Violet walked into the little room and saw there were 2 or 3 blankets laid together like a nest with the calf inside.  Max was laying on one side with his face next to Cocoa’s face but he turned to see her walk in and started to wag his tail.

“No silly this is not for you.  Come on Cocoa you have to eat.”  She went to sit on the floor with them and put the bottle into his mouth, he seemed very thirsty and drank almost all of it.  Violet remembered her father saying he had to drink it all, but could take a break in the middle so she sat is aside, and started to stroke the calf with one hand and Max with the other.

The calf fell asleep and Violet said to Max “It sure is warm in here, I bet you are hot.”  He responded with a wagging of his tail and moving his head into her lap but all the time keeping an eye on the sleeping calf.

It was fun to sit there and pet the calf, and be with Max but before long Violet started to get bored and wanted to move around.  She laid down so that all three of them had their heads near each other.

“I was thinking Max how about I tell you a story.  I will tell you the story about the time I was at school and we all got to go play in the areas we wanted, I chose the post office because there was a lot to do.  You see there was a …”

And there they laid together Violet telling the story, Cocoa sleeping and Max keeping an eye on both of them.  When her father came to check on them he asked “You been talking this whole time?”

Violet laughed and said “I am telling school stories so that Max and I will not be bored and Cocoa is sleeping.”  It was then she realized that she never had him try to finish the bottle and Violet was afraid she might be in trouble.

“Well that calf did good he drank almost the whole thing!”

“I forgot to have him finish, I am sorry.”  She was very worried now that she may not get to stay and help.

“You mean to tell me he drank all of that in just one try?”

“Yes”

“Well that is wonderful, and better than he has done.  You are doing a fine job!  I will go make another bottle.  Why don’t you try and make him walk around in here some.”

Violet was so excited and immediately went to waking up the calf and pushing on him so he would get up and Max was happy to help.  When her father came back with the bottle he stood in the doorway watching his daughter giggle and the calf playing with the Border Collie.

“Cocoa will be up and healthy in no time.  Tell you what let Max outside, run grab some lunch and I will feed him this time.  When you get back we will try something else for a bit.”

“Ok” Violet was kinda sad because she really wanted to feed the calf, but she was hungry. ©

now what? January 26, 2010

As they got to the house Violet ran ahead and pulled open the screen and pushed open the door.  It was clear her parents had been arguing and she was glad to have the other man there.  Her father helped to get the calf into a small room and her mother had her lips closed tightly and angry looks burning out of her eyes at the men and the door.

Max was sitting at the screen door with his nose pushed against the screen.  As her father came out of the room to take the bottle and bag of formula from Violet and over to the sink he laughed at Max.  “He was sleeping with Cocoa and licking his face, they are friends” she quickly told him.

“Open the door and let him in, his extra body heat and heart beat will be good for the calf.”  As he said it he gave Annie a very cold look and she turned and walked into what was to be the new playroom and slammed the door.

Violet hurried to the screen and opened it before her father changed his mind.  Max is not normally allowed in the house so this was a pretty big deal for her and for Max.  Max ran right past her and into the little room and laid down next to the calf.   The ranch hand came out laughing and said to her father “You put a couple more dogs like that on the payroll and you won’t need me around here.”

Her father laughed and said “I would still need you to feed the dogs!  Thanks for your help, I will be out in a few minutes.”

“Violet I was serious when I said you will help save this calf.  Your mother is too busy with other things and has no time and I have a ranch to run.  You and Max stay in there with the calf make sure he stays warm, he starts to shiver get some of the blankets on him – there is a whole pile of them in the corner – just make sure they do not get too close to the water heater or the pump.  That calf should get up and walk around some and here take this bottle, make sure he drinks it all.  When he is done you put it in the sink over here.  I will come back in a couple of hours and check on you and make a new bottle for him.  If Max wants to go outside you turn him loose ok?”

Violet thought this was amazing and wonderful and much better then a new playroom!  “Yes daddy I will! I will do a good job and so will Max and Cocoa will love it. “

“Cocoa?”

“I named him Cocoa” she said proudly “and he loves his name, he kissed me when I asked if it was a good name.”

“Well ok then, get in there and feed Cocoa and remember he needs to drink it all.  He won’t want to – just give him a  break about half way through and then try again. When he poops and pees on the floor that is a good sign, so don’t you worry about it; but Max he needs to go out to do his business.  But he can come back in after if he wants to.”

Violet was all smiles as she headed to the little room with the big bottle.  “Cocoa look what I have for you.” ©