Tuesday, October 07, 2008, 06:50
Bugs!
The lady bugs are back. Monday afternoon I had to get the vacuum cleaner out and vacuum them off the ceiling both in the dining room and in my office. I also had to vacuum a bunch off the floor by the back door. I sprayed around the door, and when they crawl in through the cracks across the bug spray, they fall down dead.
It rained Sunday and some Monday morning (we might have gotten three-tenths of an inch or so), and then Monday afternoon, the sky cleared off and it got warmer. That's exactly when the lady bugs congregate around the house: sunny, warm days in October.
Going outside was no fun at all. There were thousands of lady bugs flying around, and if I was close to the house, such as coming up to the house to fill the horse buckets, I would be covered with lady bugs -- down my shirt, in my hair, behind my glasses. Ick. They are attracted to our house because it is white.
Randy is still sick with the virus he snagged two weeks ago. I am feeling somewhat better. It's one of those things that just hangs on for a long time. You don't get tremendously sick. But you don't feel very good, either. It seems like it settles in your chest and doesn't want to let go. (Ho-hum.)
Monday, October 06, 2008, 17:42
Water Damage
There I was, in the bathroom Monday morning, getting dressed, minding my own business. All of a sudden, I heard this strange noise. A combination of a crash and a sploosh. I really didn't think too much of it. The kitties are always doing something. Probably nothing serious.
I stepped out of the bathroom a while later -- and walked right into a huge puddle of water. My socks were instantly soaked. A few feet ahead of me was the kitty and dog water dish, tipped over on its side.
"Who spilled the water?" I yelled.
There was not a kitty in sight. And Pixie was sitting out in the kitchen, looking nervous.
The water dish holds about a gallon of water. It's really a large, plastic mixing bowl. Pink to be exact.
"Did you do that Snowflake?" I asked. After all, Henry, Katerina and Dora were downstairs. So it couldn't have been any of them. Sophie was on top of the cupboard up by the ceiling. My sick kitty, Sebastian, crawled into the bathroom cupboard when I opened it to find a towel. He likes to sleep on the towels in the cupboard during the day.
I grabbed a bath towel from the bathroom and threw it down on the puddle of water. Then I gingerly stepped my way through the pond and out to the kitchen to get the mop. Between the bath towel and the mop, I was able to soak up the water without too much trouble.
As I picked up the pink plastic dish, I spied a small, green rabbit fur mouse in the puddle by the coat closet.
"Did THIS have anything to do with it?" I asked, holding up the mouse. Of course, none of them answered my question, but I have a feeling it all had to do with the mouse and Snowflake. Rabbit fur mice are absolutely Snowflake's favorite toy. She likes to bring them into my office while I am working and bat them around my feet. I wish a had a dollar for every time Snowflake has bit or clawed my feet while playing with her mice.
On a brighter note, I heard a tremendous crash from the kitchen a few minutes ago accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Dora had knocked a drinking glass into the sink. I can quite honestly say that I have never had this much broken glass around the house (my big green vintage salad bowl, a lamp, a picture frame and two drinking glasses, all in the last several months). I think I'm going to have to resort to using pint and half-pint canning jars as drinking glasses. Canning jars are pretty sturdy and might hold up better. (SIGH)
LeAnn R. Ralph
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