Heroes, tornadoes, bunnies, and zip ties

Somehow another week has melted away without me posting any of the things I mean to. So instead of getting the posts one topic at a time, you're gonna get 'em all at once. But the randomness of the title is how my brain usually works, anyway, so really you're just getting a scary glimpse into my husband's world. (He's usually the recipient of the aforementioned randomness.)

Random observation: My youngest son was just filling me in on his dream from last night. In it, he fought valiantly with a dragon, who wound up taking his heart. I responded with, "Oh my," in a dismayed tone. "What?" he asked, peering over at my computer to see what had upset me. "It took your heart," I explained. "But Mom, I was a hero." His tone said that should have been a given. It struck me in that moment how much little boys have a need to be a hero. Given my husband's frustration level when things are going wrong and he can't fix it, I don't think they outgrow that need.

Once-in-a-lifetime experience: Well, I hope it was a one-off, anyway. Yesterday, as my oldest son and I were driving home from the store, we were admiring a rather beautiful, huge cloud that looked like a mountain range hovering just above the ground. It stretched on for at least a mile, running east and west. The closer we got, the more we realized it really was right off the ground. Then we were under it, and everything was eerily black. You could feel the energy building. I debated pulling over in our church parking lot, but decided to forge on home since we were so close.

I pointed straight ahead of us. "Look, there's a tail hook. Those can form tornadoes."

"Where?" Dylan asked.

"Right there." I pointed again. "Oh wait, there's another one to the left of it. Now they're circling each other. Um... I think a tornado is forming."

The two hook-shaped clouds seemed to dance as one followed the other. The air around us was crackling with energy and power; it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. Dylan said he could see dry lightning in the swirling cloud. I was too busy driving and praying to notice. I could see the two clouds become one funnel, sucking up all of the smaller clouds as they did. Then that entire section of cloud began to rotate, or maybe it had been all along and I was only then able to see it. 

By the time I realized what it was, it was too late to turn back to church. There was a wall of forest on either side of me. I really had no choice but to drive on and pray, really hard, that the funnel wouldn't drop down straight on us. It all happened so quickly - it felt like forever, but in reality, it was less than a minute from the time I pointed out the cloud until we were on our road, my son declaring that the coolest thing ever and asking me to turn around  with me responding that I still wasn't positive I wouldn't wet myself, there was no way I was turning that car around.

I have a feeling that when I get to heaven, my guardian angels are going to have a few choice words for me. I keep them on their toes.

Better than Prozac: It's been a little over a month since we invested in our foundation does for our rabbitry. This came after months of research and planning. I'm so thrilled with the rabbit barn we built and with the does we selected. (My oldest told me the barn actually looks intentional. I guess that's a compliment of sorts.) In that month, we've been blessed with two litters of rabbits and we've inherited some Holland Lops that my youngest convinced me to let him keep. (So a second rabbit barn was quickly built to accommodate those.) Whenever I'm stressed and feel like my head is going to explode, I sit in my rabbit barn. It's hard to worry about stuff when you have baby bunnies using you as a jungle gym. 

A tip, from me to you: Zip ties are good for so much more than handcuffs. (A fact my oldest loves to point out while checking out at the store. And he's seen the handcuffs on TV, not from any weirdness happening around our farm...) Anywho, I feel compelled to share the awesomeness of the zip tie with the world. Right now, I have zip ties holding together everything from a wrought iron swing seat that had separated to a rabbit tractor. When we added woven wire fencing to the barb wire that was already up on our property (because goats mock barbed wire fences and alpacas get stuck in them), we used zip ties to affix the fences to the posts. It worked wonders and went up faster than any fence we'd ever done. Seriously, I love zip ties and having a pack or two on hand is a must for our farm. There. My civic duty is done for the day.

And here's some cuteness to end with...