armlessbear.com

Backyard Bandits

Tonight we were lounging on the porch when we noticed we had some visitors over by the sandbox. A mama raccoon and 5(!) babies had waddled up onto our patio. They were remarkably unconcerned by the people indoors yelling at them. Two of the babies crawled on top of the sandbox cover and the rest just explored the patio and looked for water in the downspout. Then, as quickly as they’d come, they were gone again.

We retrieved Clio from outside before she decided to defend her territory against a (likely) territorial mama raccoon and become raccoon food. Then I took out the maglight flashlight to patrol the neighborhood in search of their home. My neighbors probably think I’m insane. I found no raccoon den, but I did observe a lot of late-night crazy cat behavior.

Memorial Day

First, I’d like to thank everyone who came yesterday and helped make our first outdoor party a big success. As I was lying in bed last night, feeling every aching muscle in my body I did a mental count of everyone who was there. Peak attendance: 23. awesome. We still have left-overs (hamburger, beer, chips, buns, watermelon), but nothing that an impromptu bbq gathering this week couldn’t knock down…

After spending the last week getting the house and porch ready for the party, we are ready to have a weekend to do absolutely nothing except stay home, relax, do a bit of gardening, and work on my Ladder Golf game.

In Other News from the Homestead

The patio is finished! Of course, we have no furniture for it.. :(
Woohoo!
The porch is almost finished.
This whole past week were were painting. We spent 2 evenings putting primer on the wood and drywall, the next night I went to the Wisconsin Women in Government Banquet to hear Elizabeth Edwards speak while Mike and his parents painted the ceiling and trim. (Thank you!)
Today we put 2 coats on the walls and we’re done!
Tomorrow carpeting and re-furnishing the porch and we’re ready for Memorial Day!
Woowoo!

Hot Sexy Reasons for Blogging

Ms. NoH tagged me with the reasons I blog meme thingy. Before I answer those I have to add some history:

Way back in 2002 (possibly earlier) Mike secured b___.org, his uncle owns b___.net and someone in the UK is squatting on b___.com (curse them!).

At that time Mike wrote a blog engine for me because all the cool kids had their own vanity domains and blogs and I wanted one, too.

Greater Washington Area

We’re here (in Northern VA).
Took us way longer than we expected to get here. (not that we should be surprised at United Airline delays).

Time for our 2 day whirlwind return-tour of DC.
woot.

What Did the Pink Panther Say...

When he stepped on an ant?
Dead ant, dead ant….

The exterminator guy came Saturday morning, forcing poor Mike (another post) and the kitties upstairs and Adam and I to the Farmers Market.
We signed up for a whole year of monthly treatments. The guy found a fledgling wasp next outside the toolshed and sprayed the perimeter of the house inside and out. With any luck (they’re guaranteed) we won’t have any more basement centipedes, kitchen ants, and things that could sting and kill me.

The Ants Go Marching One By One... AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH! ANTS!

In a fit of cleanliness yesterday morning I emptied the dishwasher and put in the dirty dishes. I even wiped up the counter.
Foolishly, I disregarded the piece of fruit peel in the sink.

When I got home early Thursday (Adam has strep, another post…) I discovered that ants had discovered the fruit peel and had sent a small battallion to take over my sink.

I cleaned up, sprayed kitchen cleaner everywhere and squished about 250 ants. I didn’t see any for the rest of the night and was relieved. We were sure to clean up after dinner last night, except for one small piece of shredded cheese.

Thorns and Vines

This weekend wasn’t nearly as productive as last weekend.
Our front door remains unpainted. The weather was a little too chilly, too windy, too “it looks like rain” to warrant yanking the door off again.

I picked up all the branches and sticks in the yard so that Mike could mow. Our grass was nearly knee-high on Adam. I dug up some weeds and a thistle bush from the yard. Finally I turned my attention to the garage.

comment spam

Grrr. If it happens again, I’m going to need to do something more serious about this comment spam. I may need to go back to requiring someone to actually be logged in to comment, but I’d like to avoid that if possible.

What’d be more annoying to our regular commenters? Required login, or one of those “type the distorted letters you see in the image” things?

Ahhh... Spring in Wisconsin

Farmers Market!
Weekly Tornado Siren Tests!
On the SAME DAY in the SAME PLACE at the SAME TIME.
Very, very loud.

On the other hand, I really need to get my garden in order — there are sooo many cool plants and flowers I’ve love to plant.

Bezoars

A while ago I mentioned to someone that there were stones that grew in the stomachs of cows that were alleged to have magical/healing properties.
I couldn’t remember what the word was, but I knew I’d read it in a Neil Gaiman Sandman graphic novel. I lacked the patience to re-read the Sandman series to look for one word, so I let it go.
Except I really didn’t let it go. I’d occassionally remember that I’d forgotten and I’d think “I should really look that up.”
Tonight I did. Except I had to find the right key word to get the word — it took me 5 tries to get it right.
The winning combination was “Occult things in animal stomachs”

Frosty Beverage Action!

Since Ms.NoH says everything we do is HOT, I propose that once our backyard is done we chill some beer, blend some margaritas, fire up the grill and have some fine backyard chillin’ action.

We might even want to take the fire pit we bought on clearance at Target last fall for a spin — s’mores at twilight anyone?

YAY! Summer is on it’s way!