Six People in July.

With Sunday evening tickets to a Giants game, we made a weekend of it. Saturday we went to Half Moon Bay where we found the beach and later a mass. Sunday morning we explored the city a little bit and then got in line for the game. The line was a couple miles long because it was Buster Posey bobblehead day for the first 25,000 people. We ended up with six bobbleheads. A guy was trying to buy them off of us as soon as we walked in the gate but the genius in me turned him down, to Tony's dismay. The kids really wanted them and the excitement of the day and all. We carried those things around all afternoon, and they're not small!

Our seats were in the back country, pretty much as far back as it gets, uber upper deck. Section 335. We didn't care in the least, we were there. So our fun seat neighbors from San Diego took this one for the record. We had a blast.









We got hot chocolate from this funny vendor who had loads of style. The way he said "hot chaaaaaacalaaaaaaaate" was so memorable we were imitating him on the way home. On a whim I searched for him and found him on youtube the next day. I didn't think of taking his picture until he was kind of far away.



I even got all emotional near the end of the game when they blared When the lights go down in the city by Journey. And I'm not all that fond of the city. I was loudly proclaiming "my cit-aaaaay oh oh oh oh wo wo wo wo wo." So I'm officially a lunatic, but you can truly get away with that when your sharing space with 40 thousand strangers.

And while I'm on the subject of those 40 thousand strangers, I will tell you, with great pain, what happened when the game ended. Miss Eva was in a hurry apparently, because while we were accounting for all our Buster Posey's and packing up, she vanished. YES SHE VANISHED ALONG WITH THOSE 40 THOUSAND! We were in section 335! We could not find her among the fast moving masses of one way strangers. We panicked in a big way. Tony went one way, I went another and the other kids held on for their lives as I shouted her name over and over for what seemed like ten minutes but was actually about one. I called 911 and fighting tears and what felt like a baseball in my throat, I told the operator I LOST MY FIVE YEAR OLD AT AT&T PARK! SHE SAID WHAT SECTION? I SAID THE 330'S! I'M USING ALL CAPS SO I CAN CONVEY TO YOU HOW SCARY IT WAS! Just after I told the operator what section, I saw her, a few section entrances away, holding Emily's hand. Emily found her. The 911 operator told me to hold on to her tightly. Emily discovered her very near the place we lost her, "waiting for us." THANK. GOD.

Somehow we were able to compose ourselves and the relief pushed us out to the lower level and then back towards the field for the "kids run the bases" thing. We were the last ones in line and Wyatt and Eva ran without shoes because they had been wearing flip-flops. Emily didn't want to run but Tony talked her into it by telling her that next time she would be too old because of the age limit. She caved and I could tell by their huge grins that it was fun for all of them. That's Wyatt proudly in front of his three sisters.



The game? It was good, the Giants won. We had an awesome day. All except for the 911 part. My sweet crazy life.

Adieu Petite Poule.

I don't speak french but didn't want to see it in English.

Tony took the kids to the fair to see the animals a few days after I wrote my story about Pascal. While they were gone I received this news along with a photo of a chicken she found at the fair from Emily via Tony's phone:

Doesn't this hen look exactly like pascal?? Pascal's a female!!!!!!!!! From: emily

We rejoiced!

Then the heartbreak came.

The very next day was Monday and after my morning walk/run thing that I have been doing I checked on Pascalita. As she started to walk through the yard I saw that she was limping badly. Tony wrapped her leg with a bandage and secured it with tape because we thought it was an injury. We were leaving for beach camp that very morning and had to leave her with Tony's mom. It was upsetting but I had hopes that she could rest and recuperate there; Tony's mom is good with birds.

We had a great week at the beach and honestly I didn't think a lot about Pascal. When we returned home and picked her up on Thursday night we were devastated with what we found. She wasn't walking at all. She was very hunched over and not distributing her weight well. Worst of all she was not drinking water and barely trying to eat. We didn't think she would live through the night. She did live though and we were beginning to have hope as she was drinking water through a dropper and appeared to have perked up a bit.

That afternoon my friend Kim came by and helped me find a vet who would see a chicken and we made an appointment for later in the day. We put Pascal in a big shoe box and all four of my kids plus our neighbor Kennedy came along for the trip to the vet. The office was full of people with their dogs and cats and one giant talking red bird. All of the other animal owners wanted to know what we had in the box. When we told them, they wanted to see. I didn't want to be rude but I didn't want to show them my chicken in such a sad state. It was very upsetting.

When it was our turn to go back I took Sarah with me and left the rest in the waiting room. The vet examined Pascal gently and compassionately. Then he explained that it wasn't an injury but a disease that affects the nervous system. That Pascal wouldn't get better. That we could try steroid shots but that it probably wouldn't help. That Pascal probably had only a few days left, possibly less. Sarah cried and I struggled hard not to as I wrote the check and walked out of there with five kids and no chicken.

So that's the end of my once happy little chicken story. Not so sure when or even if we'll have another one at this point. Still have doubts about whether I even gave her a good home and doubts about whether it was something I did and the sudden disease thing. I feel guilty for wanting her eggs so badly now that I know that she never had the chance to make any.