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May 31, 2005 Make that 5 raccoons now! We think that Jack's frozen pizza is the trick. They seem to like that best. That and shrimp tails. Okay, first I need you to visit this website: And now check out these pictures....
Anyone recognize this room? Remember my nice little bead room that I fixed up for myself last year. Well remember - my husband had taken it over for "computer repairs"..... Anyone out there see the resemblance?! When I pointed this out to him, his response was that unlike 'crazy ebay mom', he knows what's in every box! We are too cramped for room with his computer business and my bead business.....I GUESS.....but anyway, I know 'crazy ebay mom' has a sickness called OCD. Obsessive, Compulsive Disorder. my husband goes into SO MANY houses where people have this disease. Normally these people aren't as clean and organized as 'crazy ebay mom'. Most houses are filthy from years and years of keeping EVERYTHING! I guess my husband doesn't have OCD, but damn, he's messy! ***************** May 29, 2005 Make that 3 raccoons in as many nights! And last night there were also 2 possums out there. OMG - I was just in the process of making this entry and guess what........ANOTHER RACCOON! Grand total now: - Raccoons 4 - May 28, 2005 I think this one deserves a title, so I'm calling today's entry "Ringtails & Blood Suckers" So for those of you that have followed my website lately, you know the raccoons have been digging up my newly planted plants. They congregate at night around the birdfeeders. Well, when we saw 3 out there one night milling around and digging we decided enough was enough! So Mark went and got a "have a heart" animal trap. This is a live trap for 're-location'. (So someone else's plants can be dug up!) The first night we caught the infamous YELLOW CAT! This is a stray tom that visits, eats our cats food and beats him up every now and then. So being the kind hearted soul, I told Mark to let him go. Well, the very next day that damn cat beat the crap out of our cat! So next time relocation is in order for Mr Yellow. Long story short here....he-he-he...after much trial and error this past week, we have caught 2 raccoons now and they have been relocated to the woods FAR FAR away from our house. I hope they can learn to be country coons now instead of neighborhood coons eating out of the garbage. Oh, and my one request was if we catch a nursing mother raccoon, we couldn't relocate her. How whacked out is this reasoning? Even my mother laughed at that one. Pictures please...
Not the cutest raccoon I've ever seen....And doesn't he look rather small....that is until he stretches out. He actually filled the entire cage. And he only had half a tail! Here he is running off to his new home. See the blur by the cage?
************* Blood Suckers...Can you guess what this one is about?? I had a full blown TICK nightmare last night. And Brittany Spears and her new husband was involved...Actually it just occurred to me as I'm typing this that he's probably a bit of a leach (bloodsucker) so maybe that's why they were in the dream??? (Man, I've read WAYYYY too many People magazines. And NO, I don't have a subscription, Geeze, I'm not that lame......I check them out from the library! snort) ANYWAY....... So in this dream I was showing Brittany my little Tick Project, and somehow this turned into cock roaches that were eating the tick eggs and she tipped the entire thing over and everything went on the floor. (Times 100 like things tend to do in dreams.) So there were all these bloated ticks and eggs and cock roaches everywhere! Suddenly we were at my sisters old house and I seemed to be the only one concerned or even knew what was happening. Old Mr Spears just sat in the lazyboy smoking away. ha. So I'm running to get paper towels and grab up a handful of this mess and have to run blocks away from the house to get rid of this horror. When I return to further clean up, someone steps right into the mess and wa-la...there's tick eggs half way up her legs (my niece at this point). So we go outside to hose her off. I eventually end up in the house on my hands and knees cleaning up the floor while....yep, you got it. Mr Spears is still sitting in his lazyboy smoking away. Let me add and addendum and say that I could care less about Brittany Spears and her bloodsucking husband. Why Brad Pitt couldn't have been in my dream....I don't know. Although, I doubt if I would have been so concerned about the stupid ticks if he was....... ************************** May 26, 2005 The baby birds have flown the coup. The tick continues to spew eggs. (a very ugly scene) And the kids are almost out of school for the summer. That's about all that new this week.
May 22, 2005 I can't believe how much the baby birds have changed in just a week. Take a look from today-
Much more attractive now! And I saw one standing up flapping it's wings, so they probably won't be around much longer. I didn't get any beads made this weekend. It was just too nice outside. Today was the day of the toads. There were 3 of them hanging out around the patio. One large, one medium and one small. Here's Max checking out the big boy.
I planted some Gazania's just yesterday and today they were blooming like crazy. I LOVE the colors!
And I saw the coolest bug today. I think he was dipped in dichroic!
That's it for today........ May 20, 2005 Okay, I have now officially had 2 requests for tick updates complete with pictures. So.....if you're curious - scroll to the very bottom of the page and you can see the latest update. And for my friend that's more into baby birds than ticks, I can accommodate that too....
Kind of a bad picture. But these are baby "Gnat Catchers" Seriously. I thought these birds were some kind of swallow, but my husband found them in a bird book and they really are Gnat Catchers. And if you actually watch them (the parents) they do fly around just above the ground and catch little bugs. They can actually hover. (And the parents are much more attractive than their offspring!) The nest is made out of mud and lichen and is on top of a light that is just under the eaves of the garage. The boys said there are 3 babies in the nest. I only saw two today but I didn't want to stick around too long and upset the parents. And I think we need a few pretty and colorful pictures, so here are a few flowers that are currently blooming around the yard.
The sunset orange colors in this flower are gorgeous!
********************************************** May 16, 2005 Not to be outdone by another certain bead maker. A bead maker who everyone knows I am completely jealous of (who shall remain nameless - Corina! -) I have decided to adopt TWO camels! Take a look:
AND while I was at it - why not a zebra too!
Just kidding. I hope everyone knows there is really no rivalry between Corina & myself. And the animals are ones at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Hunter had his 6th grade fieldtrip to the zoo. We took 2 busloads full of kids. (can you say LOUD?!) The zoo was awesome and I had such a good time with Hunter. We stuck together with a couple other parents and kids. I have a feeling when it's Chases turn for his 6th grade trip, he'll be off with his friends. So I really enjoyed this time that Hunter still wanted to spend with me. We all know how those teen years are. More pictures to come in later updates. I have actually had a request for a 'tick update'! (my kind of mom there!) Anyway - the tick just laid a bunch of eggs. I will put up a picture later in the week - but I'll warn everyone beforehand.
May 9, 2005 We had just a little rain on Mothers Day Eve. Which was great for the plants. I have another perennial garden that I started last year. Lucky for me we had a big round circle of dirt in the yard that looked suspiciously like a pool used to exist on that spot. (see my random thoughts from 2 summers ago) So it was easier to plant a few perennials than grass (right?) Besides, it was the end of the season and there was a bunch of straggly plants at the grocery store on sale for next to nothing. All of the perennials are back with a vengeance. So this year I decided to go crazy and plant some actual SEEDS! And get this, they are growing!!!! Now - my only problem is I love planting, but I'm not so great at remembering what I planted. So this summer I think we will play a game. I'll grow the flowers and you can tell me what the heck it is that I grew. Okay? Sounds like FUN, huh?! We can start with one of the plants at the bottom of this page. It's the one that ISN'T the Bleeding Heart, Fern, Jack in the Pulpit, or toad for that matter. It's the one with the close-up of the flower head. ****************** May 7, 2005 TWO updates in one day - What the hell's going on here? Well, I thought it was newsworthy to mention that we found our first toad of the season when the boys & I were working on the garden. I almost cut that little guy in half with my shovel. Thank goodness I didn't, right Jean?! After the toad has his formal portrait taken, we put him behind the garage by a bunch of bricks and such. Max, our little stink dog spent the next hour trying to get at him. Max must have a short memory because last year he got a hold of a toad (a toads warts by the top of it's head secretes a icky-yucky milky substance when squeezed too hard) he foamed and salivated for quite awhile. Apparently not a pleasant sensation because he left the toads alone the rest of the year......short memory, that dog.
May 7, 2005 Happy upcoming Mother's Day to all! I had dreams last night of picking Morel mushrooms. Then the mushrooms turned into HUGE, beautiful and unusual flowers that I kept thinking I need to run and get my camera to update my website! Recently I had worked so hard planting beside the shady side of the garage (Opposed to the other 3 shady sides of the garage - ha) Planting a bunch of hostas, ferns and jack in the pulpits for a shade garden. Last night as I went to the garage I saw a mound of dirt moving up and down and worms crawling out of the ground like crazy at that point. My first thought was a toad was coming out of hibernation! (actually my first fleeting thought was ALIENS!) So anyway - I think toads are totally cool so I called everyone to come and see! Then I had the fleeting thought that it might be a mole..........better not be a mole! So it was a mole....And I didn't get it. And it had tunneled ALL THE WAY through my freshly planted plants. So now I have the freshly planted plants by the birdfeeders that the raccoons dig up every night. AND I have my freshly planted beautiful shade garden by the garage that a mole has decided to take up residency. (BTW - the dogs saw us digging around for the mole, so they decided to help out and now they won't stop digging over there.) So much for all my hard work lately! And I think I mentioned that I promised the kids we would plant a garden. So I wonder what in the heck will show up to ruin my plants there????????
May 4, 2005 I've been busy working in the yard with all this cool weather. They boys and I are going to start a garden. So we sat down to plan it out and they are thinking more "growing stuff to eat" (which they won't eat anyway!) and I am thinking more "pretty flowers". (I will win. Sorry boys.) It's like hosta village around my house. So every year I'm busy digging and dividing. Well, it seems the raccoons don't like my new arrangement since every night they are busy tearing up every hosta I have planted. But I could be worse. WAY worse. Like the saga of my sister and her Easter ducks. You know, the 6 ducklings she got for all the kids at Easter (to eventually live in the pond behind her house). Well, those ducks were quite abit of work and they started picking at each other. So it was time to let them go. They didn't last one night. My guess is it was the damn raccoons. Or coyotes... I just finished up my taxes for the last couple months. Sometimes it makes me wonder if it's worth all the work. (Especially when you have this terrible habit of spending all your bead income on new glass that you can't live without!) It would be much easier to just sit on the couch and do nothing you know.... No new pictures today. Sorry I'm not keeping up on my specials. If I could just manage to get fired from my "real job" - I would have plenty of time to do specials! Any ideas out there? ****************** May 1, 2005 Here's a link to a neat website I came across. I like numbers 10, 11, 27, 31 and 35. (You'll see what I mean when you get there) And here's a picture of a couple bracelets I made for myself recently. And a quick pic of our kitty (I won't tell you where he was busy licking before I got him to turn his head towards me!)
April 29, 2005 I've been busy in the yard the past couple days. The weather has been cool and perfect for yard work. We have a crazy Robin that has built a nest on a drainpipe off of our house. Now she circles the house constantly, banging into windows. From sun-up to sundown you can hear windows banging in different parts of the house. I hope she's managing to take care of her nest of eggs or else maybe by now she has knocked herself senseless! Here's a couple nature pics for ya!
Isn't nature beautiful in the smallest of places?
April 27, 2005 I figured it was time to get rid of the tick gross-ness and move onto more pleasant thoughts.
Our ferns are so beautiful this time of year with all the curls of new growth. And here's a stinky little dog I caught sniffing through the weeds!
Now I think it's time for a little afternoon nap on the couch with my new Bullseye Glass catalog! (And for those that are wondering - and yes, I really did get emails wondering! - The tick seems to be slowly deflating. No eggs or babies yet!) ***************************************
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