The Stickman cometh and other stories

The firstborn and I did a roadtrip last weekend in Ori, our white Accord. When we got to my parents' house, we noticed there was definitely an odd, unpleasant smell. My first thought was the toadstools blooming in my parents' yard. Thing One claimed to have smelled it at home, so we had to rule that out. Well, PaPa to the rescue and the debut of my attempt to add a "movie" via Blogger:

Yes, one very dead, stinky squirrel crossed state lines with us. Here's hoping we're not in trouble for transporting the body. 

We let Dada know we were there safe and mentioned dead squirrel. He informed us that his truck, Argus, had some warning lights appear on the dash. Upon further inspection, he had a squirrel nest inside his hood. The truck is now in the shop to see just how many Shenanigans those squirrels were up to.

This is probably where I should mention that Pepe, our Pilot, has rather extensive rust issues happening on the frame of his underside, courtesy of the salty brine used all winter on the roads around here. We've been joking about Pepe needing a buttlift wherein they will remove all that stuff from underneath and assess just how bad the damage is and what else needs done. Alas, that isn't scheduled to happen until December, what with supply chain issues, vacations, and everything else in Life. So we are trying to keep Pepe sort of grounded, for local runs only. 

Well.

Not to take away from Hurricane Ian and all the impending mess he's sure to cause; we had storms of our own here on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Around 4:30 in the morning, the firstborn hears two loud WHUMPS outside. Being a huge Person of Interest fan with Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, the first thought was, "that sounded like a person falling onto something!" 

What I heard was Bosley, barking at Honey, who'd obviously heard the WHUMPS and who was attempting to climb over his crate to investigate. Or hide. Or who knows. I'd already been up from 11:50-2:15 with that dog, trying to keep her quiet and calm through a previous storm that night. Let's just say I wasn't thrilled to be awake again already.

So we go out to investigate. The lights directly above the dash are on, even when we lock and unlock the car using the fob. This is what we saw (though my pictures are obviously taken later in the day and not in the dark of 4 something AM):

The Stickman cometh. Or falleth. Or leapeth. Or something.

Poor Ori! So not his month. A dead squirrel under his hood and a tree limb out to get him. So now I'm on the phone with our insurance carrier who is laughing with me because Pepe "caught" a fly ball this summer from a little league game and had his windshield replaced as well!

In case you're wondering, because I'm sure some of you are (and some of you think it's ridiculous to name vehicles but whatever), Ori started off as Olaf (the snowman in "Frozen") because he is white. The firstborn decided, since he parks between Pepe the Pilot who is black and Argus the tank truck who is also black, that they all make an Oreo and rechristened him Ori. Argus has a half circle of rivets all along his... um... whatever the piece is that goes over the wheels to cover them. Fender? I know nothing about cars. Anyway, the firstborn was big into Greek mythology and all things Percy Jackson for awhile so christened the truck Argus because Argus in mythology is covered in eyes. He's the head of security in the Percy Jackson series. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, Grandmama is here and can help with our nutty running around in her vehicle, from which we have already chased several squirrels bent on mischief-making. I'm kind of afraid to accept the offer of the replacement vehicle lest we return it along with a tribe of squirrels!

 

Liam, the Squirrel Whisperer

A week ago (already!) I doo doo doo looking out my back door (sorry, it's how my brain works, haha) and saw Liam and the Bos just sitting there, chillin'. I saw front feet on Liam's hoodie and thought, "that's a really large frog...? Waitaminute. That has a tail." 

Yes, folks, Liam is indeed petting a squirrel.

The story as I heard it was that Bos was not clipped into his tie out and grabbed a squirrel's tail as it tried to scamper up a tree. He dragged it back down by its tail, Liam intervened, and the pictures are of it clinging to Liam for dear life. After being told multiple times that it is a wild animal and that he needs to let it go, he informed me that it wouldn't get off him, he was trying, it didn't want to leave him, he was trying, it won't let go, he was trying...

He finally made it back inside sans squirrel and was sent to wash his hands under supervision. He announced it had bitten him when he finally got it off of him, but there was only a tiny pinprick and no blood so I asked if it could have been a nail scratching him as it left. "Oh, could be." 

So I did what any good mom would do: I texted a nurse friend and asked about rabies. To her credit, she chuckled as she researched and didn't just laugh. According to the CDC, they are almost never to be found to be infected and haven't been known to cause rabies in the US among humans. 

Liam isn't any weirder than usual, so I guess we dodged that bullet. His finger never changed in appearance and he's no different than any other day, so all's well that ends well. Whew. Like I need any more crazy in May. 

And happy nurses' and teachers' week! I shudder to think where we would be without all y'all. Thank you for taking such good care of us!

Feathered friends. And Fatty.

We are greatly enjoying our feathered friends' visits:

And then there are the piggies... 

Some Like it Hot

Ooh, me! Me! Pick me! Mememememeeeeeee!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII like it hot. I revel in it.

But then, I don't have a fur coat on in the summertime.

It's just too hot to be a squirrel, apparently. Hehe!

Springtime (finally) and the neighbors

We'll take a quick break from the Baltimore posts and rejoice that springtime seems to be here for real, finally. These were taken the 19th of April, so a little bit late but not too bad:

Some of you have received an enthusiastic email declaring that while we've heard owls for quite awhile at this new house, we'd rarely seen them and couldn't figure out where they nested.

We found them!

These two photos were taken last night, but I saw them for the first time early Wednesday morning. I wasn't awake enough to grab the big lens for the camera or even the binoculars, so I made up for it last night.

Then we saw this guy again this morning, who looked to be settling in for the day but spun around when he heard me go outside to get screen-free photos:

Dada thinks somebody's got a death wish. See the squirrel?

And the pretty sunrise clouds. Have a great weekend!

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!

Spring visitors

 

Since there was a school cancellation yesterday due to the ice and freezing rain and yuck we had, Carrie and I finished the 1000 piece Thomas Kincaid puzzle I'd gotten for my birthday. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It's big and really pretty. We have another one to start, but she couldn't bring herself to take this one apart yet and there isn't room on the table for both of them.

 

***

 

We have bold, fat squirrels that hog the bird food we've put out. We chase them away often so our much, much smaller feathered friends can eat, too. Yesterday I glanced out the front door and got ready to pulverize what I thought was an enormous squirrel. I was pretty surprised to find a raccoon, one of my Grammy's favorite animals!

 

 

The kids came to see him and then he wandered around the yard for awhile. Some other visitors came to eat up whatever seeds he'd missed, including this pretty Papa Cardinal and several others of his flock.

 

 

I got a kick out of the coon prints. Carrie claims she found the nest back by the creek and she's excited to keep an eye out for him. Yes, I've cautioned her to stay away and that they'll bite if they're scared and that they don't get their shots which means she'll be getting HERS if she's bitten...

 

***

 

The boys were snuggling in the big chair and I couldn't resist.

 

And off went our visitor, this time out back. I had to take Triskal out on her leash in order to tie her out because she was in a tizzy. He must have strolled right across the deck and caught her eye.

 

When I put her out last night, there was either a mouse or a mole who scurried right past me quick when I turned the light on in the garage. I was wondering what it had been eating, because we only have pop and milk and juice out there... then I remembered the bags of birdseed Grandmama and PaPa had brought. I haven't had time to check if they're intact yet.

 

And it smelled REALLY skunky this morning when Carrie left for the bus. Certainly signs of spring with all these critters out and about! Yippieeeeee!