Lodging a complaint

 We can't be the only ones with this problem. We have lots of spiders in our home, lurking in bathrooms, hanging out in ceiling corners, weaving webs across the stretch between doorjambs. I'm generally the first one out of bed, so I have the distinct displeasure of breaking web strands in the morning. Lovely. And where is the spider NOW?

Generally I leave them alone. The terms and conditions are that they earn their keep. I don't mind if you want to chill in a corner of the ceiling, but you better be the one to catch the stray mosquito. I know houseflies are fast, but with my fly swatter I am faster, so they get a pass on those. Why do we still have fruit flies even with the apple cider vinegar/dishsoap concoction and resident spiders?

A few mornings ago I saw a baby Guillermo, as house centipedes are known in our house, scurry out from behind our bathroom mirror and wedge himself behind the sponge on the sink. I missed him emerge, but next saw him attempting to run the gauntlet between a bathroom rug and a spider in a web under our floorboard heater. He, sadly, was intercepted. A battle ensued, a spindly bathroom spider tried to join the fray and was rebuffed by the sleek spider, the baby Guillermo ended up curled like a sad comma, and the sleek spider reigned triumphant. 

My complaint is this: why do I have THREE predators in my bathroom who are attempting to off each other when I had to smash FIVE moths in the pantry all by myself with a sixth out of reach on the popcorn ceiling? 

Get outta my bathroom an' get to work or you're all fired!

Boys, bugs, mums, and other assorted musings

No matter how big he gets, this kid is irresistible when he's sleeping. The camera loves him and somehow he is even more kissable when he's snuggled into a big chair. 

I often wonder how he's going to fit at, say, 17...

We had some insect adventures at the bus stop this morning. There was a two hour delay due to fog. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but I swear we've already covered this ground; we live out in the boonies and bus drivers probably can't see the kids, not to mention any deer, in fog you could saw through with a butter knife. It lays especially thick on the fields, some of which are being harvested. At any rate, it's rather pleasant to eeeeeease into a Monday...

So the sun was fully up and shining away by the time the Damonater struts down the driveway at 10 AM. Birds are twittering away, the squirrels are in full... uh, squirrel, and the bugs are zooming every which way. We had an overly friendly bee checking us out thoroughly. I've always tried to teach the kids to not swat at them, but to stay calm and remind the bee that they're not a flower. It must be confusing to find bright, colorful things that smell like... kids. Oh, never mind. You're not a flower. Got it. Moving on.

This bee was not easily convinced. We had been swatting a pesky mosquito which we both missed when I heard a buzzy drone in my left ear. Damon exclaimed, "bee!" so I ducked a bit and she headed around to my right ear. I felt like I was living that scene from "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" where they talk about, "I'm on the east side, I'm on the west side" that you can see here in case you need a fun distraction. I had nothing to do with either the original movie nor the video clip. Anyway, this bee was not to be deterred from her examination of us. Once she'd repeatedly zoomed around both my east and west sides, she headed for Damon.

He hunched his head down into his shoulders, clasped his hands tight and screwed his eyes shut. Right now I'm curious- is that the universal sign for "potentially stinging winged insect of undetermined malicious intent"? I think it must be. She gave him a complete thrice-over before landing on his forehead right where his bangs meet skin. She only stayed a few milliseconds but it was long enough for me to spin it saying, "awwww, she gave you a bee-kiss!" Off she zoomed, probably to go play amongst our crazy, leggy mums. 

The bee crisis averted, we then did succeed in pulverizing the mosquito that finally landed on Damon's shin. As the bus approached, an Asian beetle/ladybug imposter crashed our party and landed on Damon's backpack. I told him he had a hitchhiker who looked pretty confused about being on a backpack, and off she went with him onto the bus.

I can only imagine the adventures she will have today.

I keep forgetting to get the fall bin out of the attic so the kids can finish decorating, but we did get a good start:

For those of you who live where the weather is a bit more predictable in October than Ohio's weather is, I thought I'd enlighten you on why it is important to wear layers:

I snapped a picture of that after doing a double take when I looked at the weekend weather last week. Yes, those are snowflakes, sun, and rain all on Saturday, with a high of 83. Once again, Mother Nature said, "hold my beer." And while we didn't see the snowflakes, thank goodness, it did reach the lower 80's. In October.

I blame karate. Yesterday was the start of the fall dress code, which means full gis must be worn instead of just the pants, belts, and whatever karate-related T shirts you own. Naturally the first half of this week is going to be in the 80's. In October. 

Following the layering rule, this is what I strolled to the bus stop in today:

Yes, that would be a sundress under a corduroy jacket. Good thing we didn't pack them all up already, right, Mommee? I wanted something long and loose over my ACE bandages which are compressing my top half enough that I still look pregnant on my bottom half. The nail polish is Avon's Mudslide, just perfect for fall, and the boots were on clearance at Charlotte Russe several years ago. They make me feel really tall. I'm back in my bunny slippers now, but it was nice to clump down the driveway in the boots. Just gotta remember to watch out for those slippery acorns.

Enjoy... what is this, officially? Indian summer? Anyone?

Stormy S'mores, Continued

So I'd mentioned that when this crew was here

that it had stormed on our s'mores. Then the computer and camera drive decided to become like junior high girls and not speak to each other... my pictures were stuck on the camera but are unstuck and uploaded now, so here's the rest of what that evening looked like:

That little "bug" in the above picture is actually one of our most-welcome bats, who helps keep our mosquito population way lower. We cheer when we see him and his friends come out around sunset. 

The owls have been squawking to each other out back lately. We don't hear the hooting songs, but we do hear a lot of "scraaaaawk!" and "screeeeek!" though we never seem to see them. According to my bird identification app on my phone, those are female calls. Guess they have a lot to talk about just like my Lisa and I. 

Aaaaaand it's a Monday in October. Make it stop!

I can't get over how fast this year is going and yet how it stretches out so long at the same time. Are they all going to be like this from here on out? Eek!

The kids have another full week of school, barring any fog delays, of course. There are also stripe tests this week for karate, which means the instructors check the skills they've taught since the last test and remind the students to turn in their homework if they'd like to graduate with honors. I think all our Thingz have Knowledge homework turned in already because we read so much around here. The Respect, Goal Setting, and Self-Discipline ones take a little longer. 

I have been known to tell the kids that if there were Anti-Self-Discipline homework papers that they would fill up in no time around here, judging by the papers strewn everywhere and laundry that appears to be cultivating right out of the carpet. I shudder to think what it's going to look like once hats, gloves, scarves, boots, and big fluffy coats get added to the mix.

A certain cute Thing left his hoodie at school last week, so he had to wear his beloved puffy vest to school for pajama day. Being that it is, unlike his hoodie, hoodless, he also needed his hat. 

This week the nights are supposed to be in the 50s with highs during the day in the lower 70s. Being an optimist, my sheets are hanging outside along with Carrie's summer curtains. We've had fires in the fireplace the last two or three nights as I refuse to turn on the heat yet. Denial, I guess.

These are mainly for Aunt Chris, but just in case the rest of you are wondering what Lalaith Havens looks like right now:

I love to watch the morning mist across the street in the fields. Liam calls it "bean creep" because, when the beans are still there, it looks so creepy coming out of the plants...

See the itty bitty slice of moon in the picture below?

The squirrels are everywhere and can be heard gnawing away at our walnuts. We have brown squirrels, gray ones, black ones, and some little red ones. Every so often we'll have to chase them away from the sunflower seed feeder out front and the suet one out back. 

One of my very favorite things about Lalaith Havens are the white-breasted nuthatches who visit. They are the cutest little birds who look like tiny puffins but with sharp little beaks. They zip and zoom both out front and out back, and their chirps just make me smile. They actually sneak seeds out of the feeder and hide them in the bark of other trees to save for when food is scarce. They can land upside down underneath a feeder, twist and turn fearlessly along the branches, and will hop headfirst down tree trunks like a squirrel.  

Good ol' Cheeky Beaky, puking into our bushes. I guess he can be forgiven. It is a college town. And that would make for a great children's book... a plastic flamingo that comes alive at night and partakes in college town activities... hmm, I guess it'd make better adult fiction, after all. Poor Cheeky Beaky only has one metal supporting leg, and he's a bit top heavy, so he ends up in compromising positions often. Grandmama especially laughs when she visits, quipping that the first thing she sees when she pulls in the driveway is "Cheeky Beaky bum!"

And we can't forget Carrie's froggies. I checked on them this morning as I added another mosquito larvae killing disc to the water. They looked as fine and dandy as usual...

Dada borrowed an apple cider press from someone at work, so he tested his first batch of pulverized apples last night. Everyone is really pleased so far! It's becoming a matter of "now where do we PUT all this (cider, chips, bars, everything apple- insert here!)?!"

Time to reheat my coffee, again.  Have a good week, everybody!

It's the End of the World as We Know It...

How did it get to be July already? This year is flying by. We've been out of school for a month now, and the house looks like there are three kids living here. Oh wait...

Yesterday we had a day. I could have sworn it was Monday. We had karate at 10, which means getting Carrie out of bed at 9 (we need to leave at 9:30ish) since she's turned into a teenager this summer. She staggers downstairs, dumps Cheerios into and out of her bowl so that they're all over the counter, didn't hear/ignored the caution that, "it's raining today, so wear your flip flops instead of your good sandals", and makes it into the car...

We make it to karate. Damon puts his flip flops in the locker room, they have class, he goes to find his shoes and- lo and behold- he can only find one flip flop. I know that he wore both of them in there, so I send him back to hunt for it. He comes out again wearing just one. I send him back again, and this time one of the instructors goes along to help him find it. Apparently, it has been tossed over the storage closet. Interesting. And the poor instructor relays the following message: I can get it for you, but it is going to take awhile. It's pretty crowded back there. I said, "we'll be back Thursday. Thank you."

So we leave with the One-Footed Wonder.

Good thing there's a Once Upon A Child right across the street. We found a new-to-us pair of sturdy sandals that strap over the top of his foot and around his ankle, and he loves them.

Proceed to the library. And lunch at Bob Evans with Dada. Then to Kroger. Then to Aldi. Then finally home.

Last night Dada was singing R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)", which you could youtube if you are unfamiliar with the tune, when Damon retorted with much indignation, "you don't know that!" Even though the kids don't know the song, it cracked all of us up. I didn't even know he had been paying attention to what was going on, but he sure mustered up his disgust about the possibility of the end of the world. Yes, it's on the new quote board.

I realize that's all just Carrie and Damon. Let's just say that Thing Two has been out of sorts recently, but it hasn't been his fault as there's been no structure or routine this summer and that's on me. Throw in a holiday weekend to lose any remaining sense I had of "what day is it, anyway?" and a deck that desperately needed stained before the rains began again and the overdue library books because, again, "what day is it, anyway?" ... you get the picture. It ain't pretty.

But hey, it's summer! We're staying up too late and sleeping in (well, Carrie is, anyway. Little Miss slept until noon on Monday) and goofing off. We're reading books, swatting mosquitoes, chasing frogs, rescuing toads*, scratching mosquito bites, running the dishwasher every single day since almost all of us are eating 3 meals here daily, moving from one mess to another to another, getting band aids on our bloody mosquito bites, doing karate, watching movies, finishing The Return of the King, using our pool pass, and arguing with each other while we reopen scabs from mosquito bites.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. Except for the mosquito bites.

Is it just me, or are they terrible this summer!?

*We've named the toad "Abre" because it means "open" in Spanish. We've found him sitting in the kennel, sitting in front of the inside of the garage door, hiding behind the recycling bin, and sliding across the newly stained deck because the water now puddles on top the way it's supposed to. He always looks like, "someone please let me out. Please? Abre! I don't have opposable thumbs!"

Summer Shenanigans

Carrie is a big nature fan. She's our "capture and release" person when a bug enters the house uninvited. She scouts for Todd the Toad by our pond. She collects mosquito larvae in jars to watch them squiggle around. Where Liam is more into birds, she gets a kick out of the squirrels, chipmunks, and baby bunny who frequent the front yard. She took these:

 

She may or may not have also had a hand in the following. I took the pictures. I mean she could have been an accessory in shenanigans. Oh, to be the youngest: