On the Rocks

Out here in the Wild West, grass backyards are scarce. It is too hot and takes too much water to keep a yard green and growing. The typical landscape for front and backyards is a "rockscape" yard. Colored rocks are used in desert tones to make paths around the plants and trees. This is true of our home, and unlike grass, rocks are easily transported inside. Rocks in the dryer, rocks in the baby's crib, rocks in the bathtub, and lots of rocks in the carpet.  

Yesterday, my three year old, Brown-eyed Gal came in from playing in the backyard. This was our conversation:  

"Mommy, I got a wok." 

"You got a walk, you want to go on a walk?"   

"No, I got a wok in my node." 

"You have a rock in your nose?" 

"Yes, mommy. It hurts, the wok in my node." 

My darling daughter had stuck a pebble from the play structure up her nose. We tried blowing. We tried tweezers. I looked up my daughter's nose  with a flashlight, and there was the rock wedged in tight. I took a bulb syringe and filled it with water and flushed out my daughter's nose. The rock still didn't come out. I left her to her own devices for a few minutes while I looked up "rocks stuck up nose" on the internet.

"Mommy, Mommy I got out the wok from my node," she said. 

Happily, we avoided a trip to the doctor's office.  

We weren't so lucky a couple of years ago when Lil' Expert stuck two rocks in his ear. It happened during kindergarten and he waited a whole week to tell us. He was sitting on the carpet with his class, and he picked up two little rocks and put them in his ear. By the time he told us they were really bothering him. We tried the flashlight and tweezers, but no luck. Finally, we took him to the emergency room where they floated them out of his ear canal with some little device they have for just such occasions. 

Desert living has it's hazards. Cactus, scorpions, tarantulas, and many shapes and sizes of rocks. Watch out for the rocks!