Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Grasshopper Days


Grasshopper Days

Outside my window...  two flickers under the suet feeder, a nest full of baby robins in the grape vine, Steller's jays scolding the squirrels, and the d*#n deer in my flower beds again.


Oh, yah.  She's retreated haughtily across the street (you can see the edge of the road in the pic) and bedded down under the neighbor's tree.  Where she waits for me to look away, so she can gorge herself at my birdfeeders, and eat my few remaining flowers.

Long legged rat.

I am thinking...  I had a total brain fart yesterday, as I was mentally calculating distances, for a trip we're planning later this year, and how long it will take to drive them.  We've often driven to a favorite spot on the Oregon coast.  We leave after breakfast and arrive late afternoon - about seven hours of driving.  For some reason I had it in my head that it was 250 miles and I started panicking, that I'd totally overestimated how far we could (reasonably) drive each day and I would have to reschedule everything.  (Because I'm never dramatic at all.)  When it hit me... it's actually more like 370 miles.
My travel-time estimates are probably workable.
Hallelujah.

I am thankful for...  my brother is getting married :D

I am praying for...  my brother and his fiancee, work for Kerry, and good relationships with extended family.

I am wearing... denim capri pants, blue t-shirt, flip-flops.  I know, I know...

I am creating...  working on my library project :D

I am going...  to do some birthday shopping this week!

I am reading...  Robinson Crusoe, and it's taking forever.  I'm very underwhelmed.  Swiss Family Robinson is a million times better.

I am hoping...  to effectively discourage Wyatt from his habit of baiting Gunnar, until he's hysterical.
*sigh*
Yes, Gunnar is over-reacting, but we need to yank this weed out by the roots.

I am hearing...  silence and giggles.  The boys are reading Calvin and Hobbes.
(The boy and the tiger, not the theologian and the philosopher.)

I am remembering...  not much, sad to say.
Motherhood amnesia.

From the learning rooms...  an egg soaking in purple water, banana slices - with and without yeast, jars of chicken boullion with various things added (salt, vinegar) or not, ivy cuttings in water, and books about bats :D

From the kitchen...  had taco salad last night, so will probably make crunch wraps for dinner with the leftovers.  Yum!

Around the house...  books are strewn everywhere.  The boys are in for some major house chores after science today.

On my mind...  putting consequences into place for Wyatt...

Noticing that...  the Mother Load is growing again.

Pondering these words...  oh help, there must be something!  (Peeking inside my brain... finding several lists, but not much introspection today.)

One of my favorite things...  indoor plumbing.  Yah.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  Wyatt and Tate have CAP tonight, Wyatt's actual birthday is tomorrow (tomorrow!!!), they have a PTO day on Thursday, and we're having family over for a BBQ on Sunday to celebrate Wyatt's b'day.

Here is a picture I am sharing...

A tree in my yard on a recent sunny day.
Where are you, summer?  Come back!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Currently wearing my short, denim skirt, a blue t-shirt, and purple flip flops. The uniform of the summer!

Sorry about the long-legged rat. She sure is pretty though!

melanie said...

Long legged rat. You are hilarious, my faraway friend!

Happy Birthday, Wyatt!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

If we were only allowed to hunt them... ;D

The dB family said...

Rotfl! Long-legged rat?! Oh my, I have never heard a deer being called that. On-the-other-hand, I have never experienced the nasty deeds of the deer. We call squirrels tree rats (So sorry, to your friend The Squirrel)!

My uniform is pretty much the same as yours although perhaps I should add bathing suit into mine. Did your summer leave again? We still have it here and I am hoping it stills 'til at least the end of September! Hope your heat returns soon!

Blessings!
Deborah

leah said...

Deer. My arch nemeses.

I have help for you, my dear friend. In the form of a spray called Liquid Fence. It really works - we have had NO deer in our yard this summer, and normally they decimate everything.

Another helpful hint: pretend like you don't know how to work the sprayer, so that your dear husband will have to apply it. Then keep your distance: the stuff is made from putrified eggs. The smell dissipates from the yard in a few hours. From the dog and the husband? It takes a little longer...

It really does work, though. I'll have to post some pictures of the front garden. And the tomatoes/watermelons/cilantro, sitting int he middle of our backyard. The deer won't go near it.

Felicity said...

I thought Calvin & Hobbes was very philosophical.... ;-))

I was going to say that the deer is very beautiful, but then remembered that we live here, not there, and don't have to deal with them eating our gardens etc etc. Instead I'll ask, 'Where do they live/come from? Are you on the edge of the city?

Traci said...

Oh, yes!!!Indoor plumbing, that is the one thing I love the most about comming home from Montana. No more portapotty....

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Liquid Fence??? I'll have to try it :D

And yes, the deer are beautiful... a beautiful NUISANCE! We live smack dab in the middle of suburbia, but somehow they KNOW they're protected.

Deer can be hunted here, but not in the city limits and only during certain times of the year... when they become invisible. I don't know how they know.

*sigh*

Choate Family said...

Motherhood amnesia...I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

leah said...

Deer are a real nuisance. They're overpopulated and prefer eating garden plants to the natural diet.

We have had years where the deer's natural food source is not enough to sustain them, and there is a big starve-off. We have very loose hunting rules (there is a deer season, but they allow hunters to shoot does here). Trust me, allowing the hunters to get them is much better than watching them starve to death. They don't have any natural predators and they are EVERYWHERE. Cute, yes. Until they do a lot of property damage because there are just too darned many of them!