Friday, April 24, 2020

How the mailbox broke.

The strangest thing happened a few weeks ago.  This HUGE storm rolled in during the evening.  Thunder and lighting were everywhere.  The wind was howling.  All of the sudden a bolt of lightening hit the manhole in front of our mailbox.  The lid went flying and out of the hole flew 10 squirrels.  9 of them landed in the trees in front of our house and made it out safe, but one hit the mailbox as he shot out and was seriously injured.  I ran outside to find the squirrel just lying there, barely breathing, next to our broken mailbox.  Now what???

Thankfully Mr. Quirk, the squirrel translator who can speak squirrel and English was in town.  (The Russian squirrel translator would have been no good to me.)  He ran over as fast as he could.  As Mr. Quirk was frantically talking to the larger of the 9 squirrels that landed in the tree I waited to see what was going on.  It turns out that these 10 squirrels are a family.  The dad, Cornelius Stanley Kurmothapop, as I later found out while helping him fill out papers at the squirrel hospital, and his wife (who's name I never caught in all the excitement) and 8 squirrel children.  Mr. Quirk instructed me to get Cornelius to the squirrel hospital immediately.  He looked up the address using "Squoogle" and gave it to me.  Thankfully it was just north from our house on Route 59.


When I got there I had never seen anything like it.  A hospital just for squirrels, run by squirrels.  The doctors in their white coats and nurses in their blue scrubs were just about the cutest thing I'd ever seen.  I quickly found out that they didn't like being called cute, after all they spent many years at Squirrel University training to be doctors and nurses.  I felt extremely sorry for offending them.

Turns out Cornelius sustained some minor internal bleeding injuries and a broken leg.  He had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days.  During that time his wife came to visit once or twice, but couldn't leave the children for that long.

Finally, Cornelius was able to return to his family.  He was just ecstatic to see everyone.  The children had a banner hanging on one the tree's saying, "Welcome Home Dad!"  Sadly Mr. Quirk was not able to attend the party because he was needed elsewhere.  Squirrel translators are in very high demand so he is never able to stay in one spot very often.  The party went on for a few hours, but then his wife shooed everyone away so Cornelius could get his rest.

I didn't see much of Cornelius and his family after this.  Living in our trees brought back some hard memories of times they'd like to forget so they moved on.  I'm not sure where they went, but I wish them the best of luck.

As I was told the story to Wyatt the other morning he wouldn't believe me.  Telling me this never happened and there is no such thing as a squirrel hospital.  I couldn't believe it!   How does he know?  Just because he's never met a squirrel translator doesn't mean they don't exist.  He tried to trip me up in my story testing my facts.  Asking me what the wife's name was (which as I said I never did get) and where Mr. Quirk is now.  Of course I have no clue where he is.  He moved on.  He's a busy squirrel and doesn't exactly have time to write.  I wish Wyatt could have met Cornelius and the gang.  I think he would have liked them.

P.S. Wyatt claims that the mailbox broke because he was racing his scooter down the driveway and ran into it.  Then he duct-taped the mailbox so his dad wouldn't notice it.  -----Likely story----



2020 Quarantine - email to the NAC Gurnee Congregation

Hello everyone. We sure do miss everyone!!  Here at the Cappert residence we are doing pretty good. Jason still goes to work 5 days a week, but he only has to work 9-6 so he’s home most evenings for dinners. Mom is working from home now so we get to see her a lot more. Cooking is a regular around here and even the kids are pitching in with that. Wyatt is getting pretty handy with the grill, Ben is a master pancake maker, Riley is the resident baker, and Collin is everyone’s sue chef. E-Learning is a bit of a challenge for everyone except Ben, but we’re starting to get the hang of it.  As for me, well I’ve been pretty busy too. I am still very active as a school board member on multiple committees. We are currently looking for a new principal for our elementary school and in the middle of contract negotiations. For our CubScouts we reach out every Thur night and have a virtual Den meeting.  I have also gotten back to my crocheting roots and am working on my 2nd blanket. Lastly, but never least, I truly enjoy our Sunday services with the family. We gather in the living room every Sunday and watch the service. I am so grateful to all our ministers still reaching out to us via YouTube services. It’s not the same, but grateful for what we can get. 
Overall our family is doing very well. We miss everyone and look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Love to all
The Cappert Family