Project: Rose Containment

No, not that Rose:

Rose

This rose:

rose: in need of containment

 Or perhaps more generally, these roses:

Roses, in need of containment

They're growing over the fence and blocking the sidewalk and touching the ground.  Crazy.

They are out of control.  We got ourselves an archway trellis and after a few thorny scratches, some rope and zip ties, we're feeling much better:

Here's the view from the front:

We've been having good summer fun times lately, with more in store.  Last weekend we were at a fabulous Birthday party for Henry & Audrey, where there were a dozen children wielding water balloons and squirt guns.  Total mayhem.  After the party, I had this conversation with Lucy:

Me: OK Lucy, time to get ready for bed.
Lucy: I don't have to have a bath, do I?
Me: Hrm.  Let's see.  You were hit with several water balloons and numerous squirt guns, right?  I think that pretty much equals a bath.
Lucy: Yeah!

Mark that down as another Great Moment in Parenting, folks.

Our next door neighbor (who will be watching Norbert, the fish, while we're away) just stopped by to show us what she found:

He was in the middle of the road, with a lot of traffic flying by, so she picked him up.  Now he's in the pond in her backyard.  The girls are really excited:

I think it's a painted turtle.

Lord Love a Duck

The title of this post is compliments of Donal Sullivan, Rose's dad, who used to exclaim this as a response of disbelief.  "Lord Love a Duck" is really a wonderful phrase, and I try to use it whenever I can.

Today was a perfect day for it: we got to hug a duck.

We went to Sequim's Museum and Arts Center, where on Fridays, one of the docents brings her pet duck, Peeper-Squeak.  Peeper-Squeak apparently enjoys hugging humans.  Or at least, he has been trained to allow this to happen.

Also, notice the mastadon in the back.  The mastadon is awesome.  They found it here.  It's actually the Manis Mastadon.  It's a pretty exciting discovery of a Mastadon here North America -- most notably, they were able to determine that it was hit with a human arrowhead -- the first time they had evidence that humans and mastadons lived at the same time!  Here's some more info on the Manis Mastadon.

Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to hug a mastadon.

But Peeper-Squeak, well, he's a bit of a local celebrity.  He has a Facebook page, too. I don't even have a Facebook page (still).  Clearly, the duck is part of the ongoing conspiracy to attempt to shame me into joining.  If a duck can have a page, surely I should?

Nope.  

Olympic Game Farm

File this under "Wonders of Washington."  Seriously.

Today we visited The Olympic Game Farm.  You get to drive your car through a large animal farm.  You have to sign a waiver, pay them some cash, and then, miraculously, you're off.

It starts out slow, with peacocks.  They're pretty lovely.  Also, there are bunnies running around everywhere (though they are not pictured here).

But pretty quickly, they start to chase the car.

And there are LOTS of them.  Also, there are the seagulls, who quickly start following the car, largely because we have bread.  Oh, did I forget to mention that?  A key aspect of the game farm is that you buy a couple of loaves of bread at the gate, and you get to feed it to the animals.

Next, you get to the Prairie Dogs.  The poor prairie dogs are tough to see because the seagulls are really pushy and excited about the potential bread.

All this is nice, but after this, things get serious.  This serious:

Yes, the Zebras like to take bites out of your side mirrors.  Look out.

At first, it seems like it's going to be OK.  It's just a llama or two, and they seem pretty chill.  They like the bread, but they're not too crazy.  The smaller ones especially are sort of docile and wait for you to hand out the bread:

Then, the llamas start to circle.  Lots of them.

They seemed to maybe have a plan where one would stand in front of the car while the others would all attempt to shove their heads in for bread at the same time.

Then there are the elk.  They are beautiful.  And HUGE.

And they WILL have your bread.  Don't even think you can hide it from them.

They seriously crave carbs.  Do not try to hide from the elk.  They will sniff you out.

They're also surprisingly photogenic! 

There's some video of me freaking out about the elk, but we can't figure out how to get it off the camera and onto the computer.  Actually, there were TWO cameras filming my freak out.  No one was able/willing to help me while I was wedged between a car seat and the nuzzling elk, but by golly, two people were able to film it.  Thanks, John & Jake!

There's also an area with bears:

 I believe the bears are actually what started this whole game farm -- the people used to train animals -- especially bears -- for Disney films back in the day.

Then there are the deer -- some young ones -- that are totally adorable.  I really liked these two:

Oh, and I almost forgot the buffalo.  I didn't get any good pictures, but at least in this one, you can see the tongue:

Yes, that's his tongue sticking out.

So next time you're in Sequim, Washington, you should visit the Olympic Game Farm.  But if you're driving a rental car, make sure you have the wild animal insurance.  We really need to hit a car wash -- buffalo slobber is really nasty!

Happy New Year!

Welcome, 2012.  Hope you're as excited as Lucy about heading into a happy and healthy New Year!

Lucy is working on a painting project, Jake is out for a bike ride.  It's a beautiful, almost unbelievably warm day here.  We've been reading Lucy Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.  A nice start to the year, indeed.

For the afternoon, we had some fun taking care of our friend Sue's kitties:

And yes, there are kitties, but the picture only features one (Ickle) because Dorian is clearly terrified of Lucy. Ickle is the brave one.  Lucy LOVES these cats.

After a family walk on the riverwalk (shown above), Jake made us some lovely cocktails:

Not to worry, that one is a kid-friendly cocktail. 

Lucy wore her lovely party hat and hosted a fete for some of her stuffed animals.

 

We particularly enjoyed sipping our first fancy cocktails using our Christmas presents -- Jake got me these lovely vintage martini glasses.  They're a light green color -- "Depression Glass," I think?  But surely someone else out there (Sadowski?) knows better than me.  Rose got me these lovely cocktail napkins, too.  Delightful!  I declare 2012 "Year of the Cocktail"!

An Open Letter to the Creature

This is an Open Letter to the Creature who was stockpiling rice in a box in the basement:

Dear Creature,

I suspect you are a mouse, or perhaps small group of mice. I salute your industry. It appears that you have been very busy and/or well-organized. You have brought what I guess to be at least an entire cup of rice to your sneaky hiding place. I would never have found it had I not been looking for a box to pack some things in that I need to ship. I never would have guessed that you would hide in the bottom of a cardboard box once used to hold paper.

I do have a few questions for you. First of all, how long have you been going about this project of rice relocation? How much rice are you capable of carrying in your tiny, tiny arms? Also, where are you now? Are you still hiding somewhere in our home, perhaps in another box, or have you moved on to rice-ier pastures?

Also, were you planning to eat all of this rice yourself? It seems like a lot for one mouse. Perhaps you have an eating disorder? The fact that the rice in the box was mixed with nearly equal parts of -- uh, how to say this delicately? -- your excrement (which looks alarmingly like black rice) makes me suspect you have some issues. Seriously, dude, that is totally gross. The image of you sitting in a dark cardboard box, surrounded by rice and your own poo is not a pretty picture.

Finally, one last question, Creature: where did you get the rice? We have not yet determined the source from which you created your stash. Did you gnaw a hole in a bag somewhere that we have not yet found? Was it in the upstairs pantry, or the basement storage pantry? If you want to just leave us a note, that would help. Thanks.

Well, Mr. or Ms Mouse, I have taken your rice (and poo) and thrown it in the trash. If you want it, you can find it outside in the dumpster. Please, please stop with the hoarding....at least inside our house. And if you see an odd looking contraption made of wood and wire that seems to be inviting you to eat some delicious peanut butter, run. Run like the wind, little friend.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Love,
83 Durant Street

P.S. Photographic evidence of your infraction:

Critter Motel?

You're probably aware of the recent post describing our discovery of some manner of nest in our car's air filter. Jake guessed that it was a chipmunk.

There is more news.

This morning, while looking around in the basement to check on the dehumidifier and such, I noticed something in the bare stone wall in the furnace room: a nest. The furnace room is the room closest to the driveway where we park the car that formerly housed a chipmunk (we think). The presence (again) of a couple of empty acorn husks makes us think that this, too, is a chipmunk nest. In fact, I began to think (given the placement of nesting materials and the acorn) that it's entirely possible that chipmunks (or whatever creatures) have just been squatting in our basement for a while.

Apparently (or should I say possibly?), we're operating a Critter B&B.

I have since evicted any creatures using the vacuum to remove the nesting materials. Jake is setting the Have-a-Heart trap as I type. I'll keep you updated if there are further developments on the critter front.

Creature Feature: The Automotive Version

As you know from previous posts, our house has been host to a variety of wildlife. Today Jake and John discovered the traces of a new visitor to a new site: our car! While changing the air filter in our Toyota Corolla, Jake noticed some, um, debris. And acorns. No need to take our word for it; check it out:

It seems that some small creature had taken up residence under the hood of the car, under the air filter. John suggests that it was fine place with plenty of room. Really, it's a shame that we evicted him, poor little guy (or gal).

I suppose we should be thankful that our situation wasn't as bad as this person's (I googled "animal nest car air filter" and believe me, you find some scary stuff).

Then I found this info:

It a GOOD idea to leave the car ventilation in recirculate mode whenever you park since it seems that mice like to find their way into your car and make a nest on top of the filter. Recirculate mode closes the outside air entrance to the filter.

Seems like maybe we should start taking that advice.

Jake is guessing that it was a chipmunk, given the half-eaten acorns and the fact that we've seen some of the little guys running about in front of the house. I'm wondering if it's the mini-mouse, or perhaps the return of flying squirrel.

Creature Feature

Given our recent acts of destroying the habitats around us, we should have expected this. But no one really expects to walk into their dining room and find a mouse just hanging out, not even attempting to run away. We've had uninvited creatures here before (see here and here for a trip down memory lane with past critters) but never with such an attitude.

This morning when Lucy and Carter and I returned from our walk, we came face to fur with this tiny little guy.

I immediately locked Carter in the bathroom, as I figured his prey instinct would kick in and we'd have a real mess (and traumatized child) if he was in the same room as the small, fuzzy creature. Lucy was delighted and showed the mouse her teddy bear. The mouse walked around a bit, but showed no signs of desiring to escape. I grabbed a glass bowl and put it over him, without much difficulty.

Lucy was thrilled to be able to get up close and personal with the mouse. She showed him her lizards and decorated his bowl prison with stickers while I hunted for the camera.

After a frantic phone call to Mom and then to Jake, I decided to take Lucy to school so that I could deal with the critter without her "help." She was very excited to tell her teacher about her new mousey friend.
When I got home, I slid a file folder under the bowl, then a cookie tray, and carried the whole mess outside. Here's what it looked like:

I took him all the way down to the bottom of the yard and let him loose. Here he is:

No, he's not dead. Just sleepy, apparently. He sat there for a minute, and then I shooed him off, and he ran for cover under some leaves.


That ends today's installment of All Creatures Great and Small of 83 Durant.

The Wall, Day 2

Roland and his crew continue to work on our wall. It's exciting to see it come together. This afternoon while we were looking out at the yard from our back deck, we noticed that a little creature had come to observe the work, too:
I know, that's kinda fuzzy. It's a baby groundhog!!! Cute!

Today they finished pulling out the old wall and dug down to lay the gravel. Here are a few shots to show the current status of the project:
Tomorrow they start to build.

By the way, Jake and I are right now, at this very moment, watching the Celtics v Lakers game. Many of you (I'm talking about you, Brendan) will find this hard to believe. Granted, we are both multi-tasking (me blogging, Jake building a bike wheel), but we're watching a professional sporting event on television. Alert appropriate media outlets.

Also, just in case you haven't recently scrolled down to look at an earlier post, you might want to know about this recent media appearance by Lucy:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/waitwait/2010/06/07/127537913/listener-mailbag-i-want-the-jokes

Go Celtics!

Spring Update

We're just now getting into the swing of Spring here at 83 Durant. We had an extended visit to the Northwest in late March/early April, and we're very thankful for the good folks who put us up, fed us, entertained Lucy (and us) and were so lovely. Thanks, family & friends!
Lucy had a grand time on the trip watching and joining in antics with her cousins. Easter was particularly fun. Lucy was born to hunt Easter eggs. She also found jelly beans quite agreeable.

Upon our return we found the garden turning lively. The daffodils are in full bloom and the hostas are beginning their invasion. The strawberries are also sending our runners, and we've enjoyed having fresh chives, too. Hooray! It also appears that the rhubarb plant is back. Also, there's a lovage plant that's looking quite sturdy. What does one do with lovage? We don't know, so if you have some recipes, send them our way.

Also back are the carpenter bees. Ugh. The tell-tale piles of sawdust appeared out on the back deck again, and we found the holes up under the railing. I did the bee-killing on Thursday evening and plan to patch up the holes once the rain lets up.

Update: I have patched the holes with some plastic wood filler, and man, those things were deep. I should have tried to measure, but I was focused on filling the holes up. It used a lot of plastic wood filler. I was horrified to learn from this helpful yet scary site that "Carpenter bee tunnels as long as 10 feet have been discovered in some buildings." Seriously? 10 feet? Hopefully ours weren't that deep.

Wildlife spotting!

Today we went to the Ecotarium in Worcester. It was very very fun and Lucy had a grand time checking out the exhibits, playing with puppets, and going up and down stairs. On the way there, we watched as a very strange looking creature crossed the road in front of us and ran off to hide in someone's backyard. After some staring, talking, and research on the web, we've come to the conclusion that we probably saw a Fisher Cat! This is very exciting! I wish I could say that we took a picture, but sadly, the camera was at home. Here is someone else's picture -- this really is what it looked like!
I'm particularly excited about seeing a fisher cat, because it's a creature that figures prominently in many tales of New England witchcraft. In the testimony against witches, folks often claim that the supposed witches supposedly sent out their "familiars" (creatures that supposedly did their bidding) which often took the form of a "warraneage" which is apparently a Native American term for what we'd call the Fisher Cat today.

It's sort of funny though that the most exciting wildlife we saw was actually outside of the trip to the wildlife exhibit.

New Additions and Status Update

No, not THAT new addition yet. But we did get our new glider/recliner, in preparation for the new addition to the family. It is wicked comfortable. Check it out:


In other news, there have been no further night-time noises from the critter, so we are hopeful that he/she has found a different home. We never got the traps out, but haven't heard any more signs since that one I mentioned in the last post.

We haven't posted much lately, as it has been a busy time. Jake has been working away in the bedroom, and I've been staying out due to the toxic mix of lead paint and new paint and whatever else is up there. But it's coming along and looking quite nice!
This is the area by the closet. You can see that it kinda looks like two different colors of yellow, but it's just the way the light is hitting it; it's really just one shade of yellow for the whole wall.

Here's the area by the entry door and built-in:

And here's the slanty ceiling/wall by the window:

Jake is up there right now painting the trim with glossy white paint.

Uninvited Critter(s)

We awoke at 4 am to hear a sound. There is something in the wall. Is it a flying squirrel? A mouse? Something even more scary?

It seems that it was either in the front wall of the house, or perhaps even under the floor of the second floor. It was scratch scratch scratching away. It makes me wonder if that busted electrical outlet was actually caused by some critter gnawing. Grrrrr.....

So today Jake will break out the traps and head to the attic. Stay tuned for more updates.

83 Durant Creature Feature

About a week ago, I noticed a few holes in the ground on the driveway side of the house, over in the nicely landscaped area behind the fence. Upon closer inspection, I found four holes, all roughly the same size, with one of them being disturbingly close to the foundation.

I feared that these holes indicated that some critter-type being had taken up residence. A snake? A mole? What could it be? My first plan was to cover up a few of the holes with bricks, just to see what would happen. I forgot about the holes for a week, but was reminded of them again today. Jake and I checked them out, and lo and behold, the critter dug a hole around and under the brick so he could get back into his original hole.
He (or she) seems to have dug up a great deal of dirt. So the questions, dear readers:
1) What manner of creature do you think it is?
2) What should we do about this creature? [if you say "keep it as a pet and playmate for Carter, I will not be amused.]

I'm pretty sure it's not a flying squirrel, but I have no idea what it really is.

Garden Edition, Issue 5

These are the lilies that have started to bloom both in and beside the garden. They're quite lovely and HUGE!
We've had a busy week of visitors here at 83 Durant. Also, the garden has been coming right along. Here's a current shot of the whole thing:

Here are some unidentified growths that may be weeds (please advise us!):


Here is one of our "joke radishes" about to be eaten:


The "Early Girl" tomatoes are starting to have tomatoes! Very exciting!

And the hydrangeas are starting to bloom!

We're about to go away for a week, so who knows what state these things will be in upon our return. Fingers crossed for decent weather and no critters!