neighbors

Tonight I put Pearl to bed, falling asleep right at the moment the local wood thrushes began their nighttime songs. If you've never heard them, I recommend checking the link. We have at least two in our forested neighborhood.

These are wonderful neighbors. Others include a little tree frog almost killed by our cat; lots of toads and other tree frogs; tons of moths and gnats, carpenter ants, bees (including some honeybees); snails, slugs, tons of spiders and caterpillars, including a White-Marked Tussock Moth caterpillar [check out this great site for a good picture]; a busy family of raccoons, maybe more than one family; a lone bear (haven't seen it yet); and many mice and other small rodents.

And we never go about gardening or hanging out around the house without something long and poky. Our pregnant next-door neighbor was charged by a (probably) rabid and injured raccoon, in broad daylight. She managed to pin its fly-ridden body with a rake and kill it, thankfully. I sincerely hope we never see one.

We also have two neighbors who burn their stinky trash. Said smoke travels directly into our house, onto our clean laundry, and gives some of us headaches. We're working on these neighborly relations, though. You can guess these neighbors don't live in the trees.

more house pics

Round Two.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
The rainwater runway built by the owners, on the side of the house; the curved amphitheater-like back of the house, which prevents the hill from sliding into us; the raised bed gardens also built by the owner, which I hastily threw some seeds into the second or third day after we bought the house; the little hens and chicks nook just out the front door by the wood shed and septic house; the very cute cat house with spiral stairs, which I always hope is not inhabited by a skunk, racoon, or other not-fun animal.

some house pictures

I just took a bunch of pictures of the house and I have a minute or two to add them here, for your pleasure. If I can't get them all in this post, I will post again to make up the difference.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Firepit, front/side deck, back deck (has a sliding glass door on it), one of two driveways -- the uphill one, entry and view of back.

Hope you all can come to the August party to see it all in person!

wiped, not rested

We are an amusing sight: tired, overwhelmed mom typing clickety click on the laptop, looking over at the kids on the couch facing the desktop computer behind me, watching The Princess Bride. We are each in our respective electronic escapes on this day that threatens to continue our unbalanced couple of days.

This morning I got up and made strawberry shortcake while Chris got ready for work earlier than usual. In the process, right after he left, I knocked over a full jar of freshly made coffee. My entire stash of wake up liquid. It went all over the counter, behind the stove, a real mess. The day before I knocked over something else, a watering can full of water left out by Chris on the floor. For us, we knock things over when we are preoccupied. I have been very busy and we have been in the middle of annoying conflicts that seem to suck the energy out of us. More crap with the Chicago family money stuff, and our new neighbors have begun illegally burning their trash, the smoke of which nicely blows right into our house and makes us sick. And today is their housewarming party, which I am not going to, which will probably offend them but I just don't want to bring up the trash burning right now at their party. Yes, I could do it tomorrow and go to the party, but I really just don't want to go. Instead I am nursing my headache and stress with not doing anything, typing, sitting down, with a whiskey and ginger ale. Yep, before dinner.

We tried to go to the local parade for Dairy Days in Prairie Farm this afternoon but it rained off and on (mostly on) right at the start of the parade until the very end. Unwilling to get wet just for the experience, we just drove around in the car.

We still love the house but there is so much to do! There are a few maples in the front that need to be cut down, we found carpenter ants in the walls in two different places, another place where critters have made a hole in the siding above the back door, Lola's room needs a closet, we are deciding on a back up heater for the winter and need to install it this summer, the Saturn is dying and we need a new car, etc. Overwhelmed I am. Tired.

I am done with things not working right, discovering problems to fix, and conflicts that must be resolved. I need some life force, but first I just have to chill for a while. At least the kids can entertain themselves with the movie for a while.

But we just finished buying a little new media, mostly CDs. I finally got my favorite Smiths albums on disc, and the Cure rarities and B sides, and a couple movies to round out our small but growing DVD selection. My most-anticipated is the Mystery Science Theater 3000, the one with Hamlet. Lots of things to enjoy here in the new house.

Oh yeah, and our housewarming/my 40th birthday party is August 15. And Pearl is turning 4 next Saturday. So plan on being here to whoop it up with us! In August we will have Morris dancing with torches, juggling with fire, whip tricks, and maybe some music. Plus great beer and root beer. Watch your email for an invite.