Sascha: One

Squirresl: Zero

Put Cayenne pepper on the birdfeeders. They want NO part of that shit!

Whooooo Hooooo!

ETA: Oh, and Echo: Zero. She ran head first into the window when she saw the birds. Give her some slack. This is her very first year with birdies outside the window. ::snerk::

I'm upstairs getting stuff ready for Maddie's ballet class. I'm in my bedroom and I get a whaft of icky smell. I'm sniffing around and my nose leads me to Meghan's room. Well, it is a teenager's room.

Mom: Good god Meghan! Clean your room. It smells like something died in there!

Meghan: I know. I'll get to it tonight.

Brief pause in action. Mother downstairs.

Meghan: Hey mom? (from upstairs) I found out what died.

Meghan comes downstairs with a dead mouse.

Thank you Echo.

Off to the store for Lysol, Febreeze and Oust.

They are so cute it's obscene.

( Shield your eyes...this one's gonna be painful )

We did not adopt a three month old cat today.

She is not a silver tabby.

Her name is not Echo.

We did not take any picture of her.

These types of rumors can damage reputations and are cruel. Please stop.

I think I'm training a fashion model. hehe She seems to really like to ham it up and "work the camera" whenever I take pictures of the clothes I made.

*BONUS: A shot of my mourning dove. Yes! That's her baby right under her head!!! I'm so glad Greg didn't scare her away this year. For those unfamiliar with mourning doves I provide the following information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove

( More dressy goodness )

I just had to stop writing my brain melting criminology paper and stretch my legs. Greg is harvesting honey and I decided to sit outside in my fixed up newly cleaned back patio area.

I have a mourning dove momma sitting on her eggs in a nest above the back door. Sweet.

And I have rabbits everywhere. It was awesome to just watch them laying belly down on my lawn sunning themselves. Lucky was out there as well. He lets me get closer and closer to him all the time. I love rabbits.

Back to the grind.

1. I found the three footed bunny that was around earlier this spring. He's still hopping around and has gotten very nimble despite not having a back leg. We've named him "Lucky." (although I wonder how lucky he is considering he only has three rabbit's feet).

2. I get to do my art research paper on John William Waterhouse's interpretation of Greek Mythology. I get to examine:: Apollo and Daphne (1908), Penelope and her Suitors (1912), Echo and Narcissus (1903), and Jason and Medea (1907).

3. Maddie had her first dance recital rehersal. I was class mom (again). I was class mom for Meghan for about 7 years. Maddie's class is so well behaved. No problems or stress. I like it that way.

4. The inlaws are coming in tomorrow. I have to clean my house.

5. I hate allergy attacks.

6. There haven't been any "gray alerts" lately. The evil squirrels from the Christian Hell slide off the awning so they've had to settle for eating what the birds drop down from the feeders. HA!

7. I have SPROUTS!!!! Three beans and one pea. The strawberries, tomatoes, cucumber, and one of two pepper plants are still alive.

That seems like it. Got a new book called Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It's about a carnival freekshow family. I can't really describe it other than to say asarotte, eretik and isadis would love it.

There are some Peregrine Falcons living on the PP&L building downtown. WFMZ (our local news station) installed a "Falcon Cam" to watch them. Check it out!

http://wfmz.com/webcams/falcon.asp

Momma left me at That Lady's house yesterday. That Lady is fairly nice. She takes me for a walk twice today and once yesterday. That was nice. There is a small thing here. It frightens me. The slightly bigger thing is alright. It scratches my belly.

What I've learned:

Kitties smell nice but they hate me. Little black kitty scares me.
That Lady gives me ham if I whine.
Small thing, if it isn't seen by That Lady gives me 5 treats at a time.
If I sigh deeply, That Lady gives me pizza crusts.
If slightly bigger thing sits on the sofa next to me and I roll over, it will scritch my belly.

I miss momma but the food here is pretty good.

I've been pretty darned miserable. That Lady caught my misery on film.
( Click here to see my pain )

~Kell the Pibble

We went out last night to take Meghan to work and we had a surprise in our tree. It was a beautiful hawk sitting on the lowest branch. We stared at it for some time and I ran in the back door to get a camera. I was taking pictures and I noticed that his claw looked funny. It was all twisted. Upon further inspection we realized that it was the claw of his dinner. It seems that he relieved a sparrow of its life. It was all torn up and bloody. Yeah! All hail nature! So we snapped a few pictures to share.

( A gorgeous raptor )

Now, I will write my honors paper. Right now. See me go. I'm going so fast it's hard to see me...

Went over to Matt and Kathy's house to work on the ECT art project. Their cats have claws. We warned Maddie not to get too close Mommy says to leave the kitties alone, Maddie. They are grumpy and will give you a boo-boo Well, hell, she's a kid. She has to figure it out herself. ::::swipe!:::: Right across the cheek. Blood. Tears. Hugs. Band-aids. Well, now she'll leave Sadie alone. A few minutes later.... ::::swipe!:::: Blood. Tears. Hugs. Band-aids. Big scratch across the inside of her elbow. OK. Now she has really learned her lesson. ::::swipe!:::: Right across the hand. Blood. Tears. Hugs. Band-aids. I am by no means leaving her unattended, friends. I'm keeping my eyes on her and the cat but somehow she manages to get just a little too close.

Now my kid is NOT dumb. She has cats. She's been raised with cats her whole little life. I can see the wheels turning. Why don't these cats like me? I have to try and pet them again. My cats like to be scritched. Ow. Why don't these cats like me? I have to try and pet them again. Maybe if I try it this way... Ow. Why don't these cats like me? I have to try and pet them again. Perhaps if I try it this way...

Spongebob band-aids and coming home to cats that have no claws made her feel better.

Poor wittle fing.

So last night was fun. Right in the middle of the Deadliest Catch season finale the transformer for our side of the block blows. The entire side of the block was out of power for about 3 hours. Yeah. And those neighbors that we are friends with don't have cable. Fortunately it's Discovery which means it's being re-run Thursday night.

Our side of the block had no AC, no lights, nothing...so we all sat on our porches and broke out Greg's bottles of mead. Had ourselves a couple of impromptu porch parties. Got the candles and flashlights out, hung out and waited for the Electric Company to fix the problem. Usually when this happens its because a squirrel got wet from the rain and gets zapped when it tries to run over the transformer while it's still pouring. The first toast went to Ratatosk.

We had a teeny tiny little visitor last night. I have a bag of birdseed under the sink. A couple of days ago Greg noticed that it spilled. Not entirely shocking as I'm a great "stuffer" of crap in small spaces. Any number of items could have pushed against it and dumped it. So, I took the vac and sucked up what I could see. I figured I'd empty the whole thing out and really clean it later on. I got to it that night and noticed that the sunflower seeds in the birdseed combo were empty. Just the shells were left. I knew what that meant! We've had several house mice find their way inside only to be viciously attacked and killed by the kitties. The mice really choose poorly when they come inside our house.

Anyway, I got most of the chemicals out from under the sink (slowly and cautiously) and sucked up all the seed bits as I went. When removing the last bit of dishware there he was! Cutest damned thing you've ever seen! Little tiny grey mouse. Next door only had a kill trap and I don't approve of those so we had to catch him and set him loose. I'm not big on catching wild mice so it became a family adventure. Meghan made the barrier so he couldn't run, I held the flashlight, and Greg caught the little guy with a tupperware thingy. Got a picture of him.

Here he is...


We let him loose outside and Meghan played with him a bit before he ran off. She also has managed to befriend the rabbits that live under our shed. They seem to trust her and they don't run away when she comes very close to them. I think her Native American name should be either "Dances with Bunny Rabbits" or "Dances with Rodents". Her Apache name is "One Sock On One Sock Off" because as a little kid she never wore two socks together.