The Year of the Caterpillar

Well, yet another adventure has hit the Wieman household, and we didn't have to travel any further than our own house!

For the past week, our entire family has had a rash. It started with Alex, and at first, it seemed like we had gotten a few mosquito bites, but then we were getting these "mosquito" bites, without even going outside.  So, after 3 days of more mosquito bites, and Alex's arm being completely covered, and Samantha's neck being covered, I tried making an appointment to see a doctor (since Jason had no idea what could be causing our bites).  After 2 days of not being able to get an appointment, I called directly to the front desk and explained that our entire family was covered in a rash, and we NEEDED to be seen.  Surprisingly, they "found" one appointment.  I brought Alex in (afterall, it was his "official appointment) and Samantha came along (more of a "show and tell" moment).  Alex has definitely been the hardest hit, and Samantha a close second!  The rest of us seem to be given it a hard run for "third"!  :)

The doctor took one look at Alex, then Samantha, then Me, with all of my "bites", and grew confused and concerned.  They speculated it was scabies, though it didn't follow the typical pattern.  I was concerned that we had "bed bugs" since we have been sleeping on temporary furniture, while we await our own furniture later this summer.  The thought of bed bugs, honestly, was freaking me out.  So, the doctor decided that we should do the scabies treatment, even though he wasn't convinced it was the cause, but rationalized it could only "help" and not hurt.

Well, once they thought it was scabies, they had to call the health department in, since it was "contagious" and had to be reported.  The public health officer came in the office to speak with us, took a report and gave me his card and asked that I call him in the morning, if we needed to.

We ended up being treated for the scabies, which means everyone had to wear a "watery cream" for 12 hours, over our entire body, and then wash it off the next morning. We decided we would apply the cream before going to bed, so I had several hours to "disinfect" my house.  We took all of the linens off the beds, all the clothes that were not in the closets, and even took off the mattress covers (from our loaner furniture) and started washing them in VERY HOT water, and dry them in HIGH HEAT!   Once we got the mattress covers off, we realized that all of the mattresses were plastic, so we took them outside and washed them in a hot water/bleach solution, and let them dry outside for a while.

Once everything was dry, and linens were done, we applied all the medicine on us, and went to bed.  We were told we  should see a big improvement in the "bite marks", but the itching could still be there.  Well..... we woke up this morning with TONS more bites!!!  

Needless to say, when I awoke with more bites than I went to bed with, I was very frustrated, angry and dishearted.  I feared waking up each day with more and more bites.  Everyone was itchy and cranky, and even poor Rebecca, who had been originally spared too many bites, woke up with so many over her entire body that all she could do was scratch and cry.

I called the clinic directly and asked to speak with the public health officer, so that he could find out the source of our bites, and fix us....we needed help!  He quickly said he would need to come to the house to do a "survey" - which would include looking in the attic, basement, around the house, neighborhood, etc.  When he came out, he told me that he had 2 possible "ideas" for what the rash "could be".  So, we went in the backyard and started looking in the trees.  THEN WE FOUND THE CULPRIT!!!

Turns out we had caterpillar nests in our Oak trees....."Oak Processionary Caterpillar" rash.  The hairs on these caterpillars (in the nests) contain an irritant to human skin, which causes a rash.  Without even knowing that caterpillars are around, the will shed their fine hairs, and "float" because of the wind and land on our skin.

These caterpillars, as far as we can tell, these pesky caterpillars don't come every year....apparently just when the Wieman's are in the country!  

Here's a picture of one of our four caterpillar nests.....

We have found 4 nests  in our backyard, and 2 in our neighbors back yard, which will need to be removed.  In order to remove the nests, DPW (Department of Public Works) from our post will need to come in their full "hazmat" suits, including head cover, and use a large pipe-like vacuum, that will cover the entire nest, allow it to be sucked up, without spreading caterpillar hairs every where.  Don't really know if it's actually going to happen like that, but I will find out tomorrow, I hope!

For now, we have the windows closed in the house, so that no hairs can enter through the screen, and we have 3 fans running in the living/dining room.  It's up to 90 degrees today, and is expected to get hotter over the next few days.  If they can't get rid of the nests tomorrow, it's possible we'll have to get a hotel room.  Tomorrow is a new day, and will have many new answers (and quite possible, adventures) for us.   I look forward to sharing them all with you.

I leave you with a few pictures of our "rash"......but, be warned....you may want to get the Benadryl now, as you'll probably start itching!  :)

Expecting the Unexpected.....

With the addition of each of our children, we quickly learned that we need to "expect the unexpected", and be prepared for changes!  This weekend was no exception.

We began our journey to Bavaria, the Southeastern part of Germany on Saturday morning.  We first stopped in Miesau, where one of Jason's units was having a Farewell Family BBQ - prior to the soldiers being deployed.  Leaving 90 minutes for the drive, which should only take a little over 60 minutes, we were met with our first "distraction"....approximately 50 minutes in.  We came upon our first "stau", which is the German word for "Major traffic jam".  We were moving at a mere "crawl" for almost 30 minutes.  We didn't know what had happened ahead, but we knew it was "big".  As we came to the end of it, we saw the problem.....a large crash into the opposite sides' concrete barrier.  A large vehicle must have struck it, put a huge hole into the barrier, and caused the vehicle to catch fire.  All we could see were the charred remains of "something".  And when I say charred, I mean...."powdered black dust", with only a few "chunks" of vehicle.  We can only imagine that the driver is doing poorly, though we pray he made it out before it caught fire.  By the time we got there, the ambulance and fire department were gone, only police remained.

Our First Stau

So....we arrived to the Farewell BBQ late, but we made it!  We met with the soldiers and their families, and had a wonderful time getting to speak with all of them.  We pray that our soldiers remain safe, both physically, spiritually and emotionally, as they head to war - many for their second and third times.  We also pray for the families left behind.  It's tough to be separated for our soldiers, but it's even tougher being separated while in a foreign country.  The great thing I have noticed in my short time in Germany, is that the military commumity is MUCH stronger than in the states.  Everyone seems to bond much faster and stronger, allowing them to have a strong military family, while the soldiers are gone.

Around 3pm, we began our journey to Fussen, Germany.  The drive should've taken approximatley 4 hours.  As we began the drive, all the kids settled into their "drive mode", and got the ipods and DS game systems out.  We decided to stop for dinner at a typical German restaurant, rather than do a German McDonalds or Burger King (which is what the kids wanted).  We were a little nervous about what we would do with Princess (the dog), since we had her with us.  Many people had told us how Germans LOVE their dogs, and that people bring them into restaurants and stores.  So, when we arrived at the restaurant Jason went inside to ask if we could bring the dog in with us.....the lady looked at him, rather perplexed....and then said "of course", in German!  :)   We were even more surprised when we walked in and noticed that they actually had a food/water dish for the dog, once we stepped into the restaurant.  Needless to say, Princess is enjoying the German culture as much as we are!  :)

Once we finished eating, it was pouring rain and the temperature was getting much cooler.  We had decided not to book a hotel prior to leaving town, since we didn't really know "what" town we wanted to be in, and weren't quite sure about what types of places there were to stay in.  So began another Wieman adventure!  :)

In the pouring rain, we tried to naviage our way to the German roads and learned that Germany doesn't advertise their hotels like those in the US.  Most hotels are small bed and breakfast "hotels" that look like regular houses, with only small signs in the front of the house that distinguishes as a "hotel".

We found one hotel and they were full, found another actual hotel and they were full....found a bed and breakfast and they had room, but wouldn't take the dog (much to our surprise, since even the restaurant took her).  At this point we became very concerned about "how" we'd find a hotel.  We continued driving through neighborhoods, and came upon a cute bed and breakfast.  Jason went in and asked for 2 rooms with a dog, and Carman said yes, she had rooms!  Whew....we were thrilled, as it was now absolutely down pouring and the temperature was down to 34 degrees! 

We went in to our rooms and everyone quickly loved the rooms, including Princess, who found a dog water bowl awaiting her in the room!  :)

The next morning we woke up to find it had been pouring all night long, and was still raining, and temperature was down to 30 degrees.  We all got dressed into our warmest clothing that we had, which did include long pants, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts and light jackets - Samantha even brought a scarf with her, and went down to breakfast.  Breakfast was absolutely delightful, with cereals, hams, cheeses, yogurt, brochen (rolls) and eggs.  There wasnm't much I could "safely" eat, so I stuck with the yogurt and hard boiled egg.  I learned, at that point, that the US version of a hard boiled egg is VERY different from the German (if not, European) version.....

Just "A LITTLE" runnier than I liked.  And since I can't eat bread to "dip" into it, I decided to let Jason eat it, so my breakfast consisted of yogurt and juice! :)

As we finished up breakfast, the owner told us that it was snowing up in the mountains! :(  We were a little nervous about setting out for the castle, but got in the van and began our next adventure.

As we drove to the town of Schwangau, the rain began to come down even harder, the wind picked up, and the temperature stayed around 32 degrees!  We parked, walked from the parking lot, up the hill to buy our tickets to get into the Neuschwanstein castle, and this is the look on the kids faces....

They were not thrilled with the weather conditions, and the morning had only started.  We would still have another 3 hours left of our "touring", and with the temperature and weather, we decided to abort the plan, and head home!  :(

I was really sad that we had driven so far, spent the night, and now wouldn't see the castle....so, we "made a deal".  If we were getting back in the car to head home, we wouldn't drive the autobahn, we would take the scenic route home, called the "Romantic Road".  It wove through the many small villages, and gave us a definite feel for the country.

So, our 4 hour drive home took up 6+, but it was a beautiful, warm and dry drive home, so it was well worth it!

Here are some more pictures of the weekend....the castle pictures aren't beautiful, but it's the best we could get with the fog.  Hopefully, later in the summer we'll have much nicer pictures.  For now, I will start planning our next weekend getaway....which I think will just be to the Frankfurt area (only 30 minutes from home) this coming weekend.

Our bed and breakfast

Room #1 - had the "comfiest" comforters I have ever slept in!

Samantha and Rebecca enjoying their bed and TV (even though it was a German cartoon)! 

The view from our room....

Breakfast set up

Our breakfast together in Fussen, Germany

Rebecca enjoying her hot chocolate

This is the type of sign we looked for (Zimmer Frei - vacant room) in our "quest" for a hotel

Heading towards the castles.....

This is how we WOULD HAVE gotten up to the castle, via horse drawn carriage....maybe next time!  The  horses even had their blankets on, in between rides up the mountain - that's how cold it was!

Neuschwanstein Castle....beautiful, even through the fog!

One day we'll have pictures from inside of it!  :)

Hohenschwangau Castle

Scenes from our drive up the "Romantic Road"

Castle Hunting

Yesterday, Sunday, we decided to drive along the Rhine River and "hunt for castles".  Everyone told us how beautiful the drive was, and that we would see many castles, but we weren't quite sure what to think.  Well, can I just say - it was AMAZING!!!  If I were a "real" hunter, I could only dream of it being this easy!  Our castle hunting turned into "oh, there's another one", "don't miss that one", ....I think you get the picture! 

I will admit - the kids were not very excited about going driving to "look" at castles....big deal, right?  Well, within minutes of spotting our first castle, they were loving it.  They couldn't believe that the roads we were driving on were older than America, let alone that someone actually LIVED in those castles.

During our drive, we got out and walked in some of the towns, and had lunch in a German restaurant.  The girls weren't ready to fully embrace the Germany cuisine, so they ordered pizza, but Alex was jumping right in, and ordered Schnitzel mit salat (yup, I'm almost fluent - mit salat means with salad!)  :)

All in all the day was spectacular, and my words will never do the day justice, so I have a few pictures to show the sights....if you want to see more, let me know (by leaving a comment below) and I will add more!

I hope you enjoy going "castle hunting" with us!

Alex trying to pull the chains out of the ground.....hee hee - the German version of Excalibur's sword!  :)

and Rebecca gives it a try.....

one VERY tired Princess (both the dog, AND Rebecca...ha!)

and on for kicks.....Alex got this mayo packet for his schnitzel (sp?) and thought it was funny....