This Just In!

Just because I know how to run the camera doesn't mean I should. Sorry for yet another sucky photo but here is the socks-in-progress picture that I promised!

"Vengeance is Mine!" Sayeth Molly Bee

I put out the trap to catch Angus. I baited it with peanut butter. I checked it a couple of hours later and the trap was still wide open and the peanut butter was gone...except for the tiny Skippy-encrusted footprints all over the feeder panel. I took it badly. I believe that it's the equivalent to receiving a tiny rodent middle finger. Adding insult to injury, he has filled his hole in. What does THAT mean? That MY peanut butter was not to his liking? That he's moving to a neighborhood where the trappers buy Jiff!?!? I've gone from wanting to catch him and cuddle him to wanting to mount his little-bitty head over my fireplace....if I had a fireplace.

So apparently the trap is too big and I have to get one that has a more sensitive feeder plate. I can't exchange the one I have because someone got peanut butter tracks all over it. $19.95 down then drain. Maybe I could just invest a couple of bucks in a jar of Jiff (which apparently is more to his liking) and feed him for a few weeks until he's heavy enough to trip the trap I have. Hmmmm. The infinite possibilities with which to exact my revenge.....

On the knitting front, I finally got smart and bought at second pair of size 2 double points. Now I can knit two socks at the same time thus eliminating the 'second sock syndrome' (This happens when you finish the first sock and by then the blush is off the rose so you don't want to knit the second one). I began a pair of simple garter rib socks with some Knit Picks cotton/wool/nylon yarn from my stash. Both top ribs are done. The first leg will be done tonight and then I will start on the second leg before going back to do the heel on the first one...etc. I have put away my shrug although it's nearly done because it has been so humid that it's miserable to work on and because this stupid headache makes it impossible to concentrate on much besides mindless repetition. I will put up an in-progress picture tomorrow for those of you who I am sure are riveted and waiting for that kind of thing.

Off to finish my Geocaching presentation for tomorrow night's Park Committee meeting. All I did was ask if I could set a geocaching in a local park. The next thing I know, I'm giving a freaking presentation to the council-like I'm an expert. There must be someone more qualified. I had to have been WAAAAAY down on the list. But I'll give it my best shot. I'll be arriving at the town office at 7PM with my big ammo box container (that I intend to use for the cache). Maybe they'll at least think twice about heckling!

Hunting Wabbits...I Mean Gwound Skwirrles

Behold the wiley thirteen-stripped ground squirrel. Not much to look at but able to dig deep holes and move mountains of dirt around the lawn with the greatest of ease. Our plan...to live trap him and move his furry butt to a rodent recreation area in the country somewhere. His plan....to evade arrest at all cost...and to continue trash our lawn.

I've been researching websites on how to capture the little critters. Most sites advocate rat traps but you know me....can't hurt the little feller...so live traps it is. We tried to live trap him last fall, but he hated everything we offered him-nuts, berries, bugs, grasses, grains, seeds...typical ground squirrel fodder. So I look on various websites and find that they are most tempted by peanut butter..who knew? So if it doesn't rain tonight (don't want him to be stuck in the trap in the rain-how sad am I?) I'll thow a spoonful of Skippy out there and give it a try. The biggest challenge to the whole ordeal will be when Scott has to talk me out of keeping him as a pet. Won't be easy. I've already named him Angus.

Memorial Day

Since Scott and I are far away from the burial places of our loved ones, we decided that releasing balloons with notes is a proper way to check in with them on Memorial Day (and sometimes their birthdays or death dates). I have had a rocking headache today and we didn't get the balloons as planned, so I wrote notes to Daddy, Poppy, Grammy Grace, Bugs and all of the friends and kin who have gone before and set them on fire. The smoke rose to the heavens as well as helium so I hope my messages and prayers were received.

Nothing else going on today really. We tore apart the kitchen, dining room and swabbed the decks first thing this morning. Scott repaired and repainted the wall the got all scratched up by Sneakers' bunny cage. So it's pretty spiffy out there. We also went to Menards and bought a live trap to try and capture the seven striped ground squirrel that has set up camp in our back lawn. Little guy has a main tunnel and escape hatches dug all over. Where is Bill Murry from Caddyshack when you need him?

Other than that I laid low and nursed my boo-boo head. Stupid sinuses!

This Little Piggy

I regret to inform you all that I am now officially a Flatlander after 16 years. You know have succumbed to the power or the prairie when the highlight of your Memorial Day weekend is going to the Coliseum to stand in line in the blazing sun with a hundred thousand of your closest friends to eat pulverized pork in a tube smothered in sauerkraut and onions. Yes, boys and girls, it's BratFest weekend.

Our good friends Tom and Donna called us up this morning and asked us to go with them so off we went. We parked about two states over and hiked in to the festival on the 90 degree humidity. By the time we got there, they had sold 131,000 brats and were gunning for 200,000 before the weekend was over to beat the world record. There were 20 industrial-sized grills on the back of a flatbed and the Johnsonville Brat company's huge trailer truck grill. Humanity of every size and description was wandering around with mustard on their chins.

I can't eat brats. One bite and this little piggy goes wee wee wee all the way to the nearest porta pottie, but they were going to make Boca brats this year, which I was itching to try, but they were gone by the time I got there. Never underestimate the hunger of vegetarians and people with gastric problems! So I had a hot dog with mustard and my companions each had a couple of brats with the works. We did a lot of people watching. I love a good hot day so you can see the tattoos in all of their glory. My favorite t-shirt said 'Keep staring, I might do a trick...'. I did, she didn't.

We had a spot of ice cream and meandered on back to the car before we were fallen by heat stroke, but it was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Does this mean I'm now officially 'from away'? Do I have to turn in my Yankee membership card?

Peanut Butter and Jelly Socks

My first knitting content! I finished my Peanut Butter And Jelly socks; aptly named by the little boy next door who thinks that that's what the colors look like. It's a bad angle and the photo looks like the socks are two different sizes, but they aren't. The stripes even match. I will have to get photography tips from Jerry over at "When Knitting Was A Manly Art" site. He takes awesome photos of his knitting, animals, and flowers. But I'm still learning.

Hopefully by next weekend I will have my 'Two Old Bags" Shrug (think a shawl with cuffs) done and ready to photograph. That sucker has taken me all winter to complete. I will be soooo glad to have it done. Just in time for the 90 degree days of Midwest summer! Good planning.

Off to see 'The DaVinci Code' and have some sushi with friends, Donna and Tom...

SOUL PATROL!

My Tay Tay won!!!! All is right with the world! Soul Patrol!

Dangers Of Living in the City

You know, I lived in the wilds of the State of Maine for almost 25 years. I tromped in the woods, over hill and dale, hither and yon . I swam in rivers, ponds, lakes and the sea. All safe and sound...unscathed. Then I moved to the city with it's asphalt, traffic, noise and Starbucks every ten feet. Sounds like the last place to be accosted by one of Mother Nature's own, but last night while walking in my own neighborhood, minding my own business, I was nearly et up by a huge snapping turtle! Now there's something you don't expect or prepare for when you strap on your sneaks and your Ipod!

When I was coming up the bike trail by our house, I thought it was a ground hog or mutant bunny or something. As I got closer I realized it was a turtle about the size of a meat platter and you know me...my first thought was to pick him up and move him out of the way. As I approached him I could see that the back of his shell had those little spikey bits and mentally scanned through my limited turtle identification files...hmmm...now what was it Daddy told me about those spikey bits? Shouldn't have wasted my time. He readily identified himself by sticking his butt in the air and opening his maw of a mouth and making rude hissing noises that I wasn't even aware turtles made! It's nice to know that my old decrepit body can move really fast when it has to and with virtually no instruction on my brain's part. One minute I was next to old Grumpy and upon hearing that first hiss I was waaaaay over there. Don't know how I got there. I may have teletransported. I have no idea.

Ever the nature girl and animal lover, I went back over deciding that despite his bad attitude he was really just misunderstood and really needed to be moved off the path before a bike, or worse yet, a dog came along. Then I remembered the time that Daddy moved a snapper out of the middle of the road with a shovel and how that turtle whipped around and chomped on the aluminum with absolutely no thought for its dental work. Uhhh. yeah...changed my mind. While I admire Steve Irwin, that Crocodile Hunter guy, and his ability to pick up personality-challenged, usually venomous reptiles and move them from over here... to over there, I definitely need to watch a lot more Animal Planet before I have enough tips to handle the situation. Plus I don't have the manditory khaki, safari shorts with all the pockets. I'm sure that's somehow the secret to why he hasn't lost every one of his digits messing about with all of those cranky critters.

So I cooed. I encouraged. I reasoned. I flapped by arms around and jumped up and down. Everyone knows that this is international turtle language for "Danger! Danger!Move off the path, Buddy, or you're gonna get stomped on". I even tried it all in my best Australian accent. He wasn't having any of it. He stood his ground and hissed in an even more menacing tone of voice; sticking his butt even higher in the air in a you-want-a-piece-of-me manner. Clearly he was spoiling for a fight and ready to rumble. Maybe his mother never hugged him enough as a child. I don't know. I dropped a card for a good therapist next to him and left him there. I hope he has the good sense to call her for help.

Consistent If Not Exciting

Two days in a row! Still no photos but I'm working on it!

There's an office supply show at work today. Complimentary Post-It's and Sharpies for Molly Bee! I loves me some free samples!! Seriously... how sad am I that almost nothing excites me more than new pens and paper! I got more free stuff than I could lug back upstairs. Later they are sponsoring a free lunch and prize drawing for the bigger stuff...Wrist rests, Day Planners....Lordy it's better than Christmas.

Scotti B. and I will be settling in for some serious t.v. watching tonight. We are American Idol fanatics. I have been rooting for Taylor ever since I saw his first audition. If you can't reach us tonight it's because I will be dialing in my votes for my Tay Tay after the show!

Knitting: I'm working on socks right now-peanut butter and jelly color scheme (actually KnitPicks 'Vineyard'). I'll put up a photo soon. This is the first time that I have consciously tried to make identical socks out of self-striping yarn. Up until now they have all been 'fraternal' twins, the stripes never matched up. First sock is finished and I'm turning the second heel now-so far so good!

A coworker gave me enough organic rhubarb for a pie this morning. I absolutely love my Mum's recipe that has a few raisins in it to take the edge off. I'm going to try it tonight with Splenda. Everyone need a good piece of rhubarb pie in the spring. I will try and outwit the Diabetes Gods on this one. Haven't tried Splenda in cooking yet-just on my coffee and cereal. Will letcha know.

Opening Day-Welcome!

Welcome to my Blog!

I was so inspired by Brooke over at DrunkenMonkeyKnits that I thought I'd finally give this blogging trend a try. I've kept journals since I was able to write. I do a lot of crafting and other fun things that I wanted to share with friends and family...and anyone else who stumbles here. So this seemed like a perfect hybred of the two!

I've got a lot of work to do to learn how this all works, how to post photos etc. so please be patient.

Here are some of the basics:

*My husband and I live in Verona, WI. I'm originally from Maine; he from Milwaukee.

*He loves gaming, NASCAR, football and all things computer related.

*I love reading, cooking, walking, nature (particularly any body of water), animals (both wild and domestic) and all things craft related.

*Together we love geocaching, movies, playing board/card games and playing with our furbabies; Sebastian the bossy, black cat, Sneakers the cantankerous bunny and Wee Fergus the small, white, decreped dog.

*I currently have half a zillion unfinished craft projects in the works. We are on a self-imposed hobby diet until August. No buying. Only finishing what we have started.

Despite the fact that this first entry is less than amazing, I hope you'll check back as I get more in the swing of things!