Pennsylvania Traffic Jam

Memorial Day Weekend

Wild Kingdom

It's been the normal type of fall here, when the mice move in and start making a mess. I purposely dried alot of mint this summer and have been laying sprigs of it all over in hopes of keeping the mice away. It does seem to help. Delilah the Cat has been sitting guard in front of the dishwasher and so far I haven't had any mice run over my toes while cooking. But last week, we heard a weird sqweak and low and behold she had caught a mouse. One of those little black ones that are so slow moving that I can usually catch them with a plastic bowl. Since it was her first mouse ever, we let her play with it awhile. When I thought she'd had enough, I tried to grab it with a bowl and "GRRRRRRR!!!" I never heard a cat growl before, but Delilah did. So, being the scardey cat I was, I just let her keep it. Before long, she had caught another, and then I confiscated the first one. She ended up getting three that night and we were really proud of our indoor cat.
But....
The mice decided to fight back.
I thought with all the work Delilah was doing catching mice, she must have gone on an eating spree. She went thru a pound box of food in 2 1/2 days! I got up one morning to her be-mewing the fact she was hungry again and while I stood there without my glasses on, I realized that she was eyeing beyond her food dish and then a mouse ran across my toes. The mice had moved from the kitchen to the laundry room and were eating the cat food!
But....
The cat decided to fight back.
Yesterday, Delilah was once again eyeing under the dishwasher. She then moved to the stove, and I thought, oh what the hay, I'll take out the stove drawer and let her under there.Within 30 seconds she caught a mouse. And right this moment she has caught another. So Cat 5, mice . . . uhm, I don't know. How many mice can there be?
Jake the Dog didn't want to be left out of this, so he has been busy barking at anything and everything that moves in the yard. And then when he comes inside, he still barks at the neighbor when he is coming home from work. That means barking at three in the morning. And waking all of us up. Jake the Dog also tried to help keep the mice away by cleaning off the counter for me. By cleaning I mean he ate my soup. Only the best soup I had EVER made. I told him in my best Soup Nazi voice "No Soup for You!" and threw him outside for 2 days. It was kind of funny to hear the kids telling him "No Soup for You!" for days on end.

Spooky ~not!

Ok, so I'm upstairs and I hear a really loud man's voice coming from my living room downstairs. No one else is home. I grab my kid's baseball bat and his wooden civil war rifle that looks real except it has an orange tip on the end. I start to head down stairs when I realize the dog has jumped into the chair and sat on the tv remote's volume button.

Thanksgiving

Home is the nicest word there is.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Border Collie Warning

Sometimes having/raising/being owned by a border collie is like having/raising/being owned by an 18month old little boy.

incredibly cute, difficult to train, and occasionally an insomniac.

Just sayin'.

Garbage Duty

If only my boys would put the same amount of effort in taking out the garbage as they do in planning for a zombie apocalypse.

Election Random-ness

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
~Ronald Reagan

Happy Halloween!

This is a Very Scary Halloween Video, written, produced, and directed by FL, starring FL as Herself and UCII as, well, UCII. Guest starring as the Man In Black, UCI. Screams courtesy of 2 seven years on sugar. Black umbrella borrowed from unsuspecting Dad. Filmed on location in front of a very sweet elderly neighbor's house.

Trick or Treating

FL decided to be a mummy this year for trick or treating. After an hour of walking, she said her eyes hurt because she hadn't been blinking. When I asked why, she told me a little known fact: mummys don't blink. Who knew?

Pick Me Up?

In my struggle with being organized, I am trying to emphasize to the kids that if they have plans, activities, parties, church doings, whatever, that they should put it on the calendar. Here is what I found today.

Don't know who, what, where, but I do know at 4:30 on Thursday the 20th Something is happening. Hope I can be ready.

Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

Yes! Just like I said, Adult Onset ADHD! Now I have proof. So if you come to my house and don't like what you see, just remember this video.

No Thank You

Nothing like a child offering you a bite of cookie at the same time he sneezes on it.

LO and the Wants

remember, LO is my little neighbor boy that comes over to play with FL when his dad goes to work.

LO watching tv: "me wants that!" I reply: "cool train!"

Another commercial: "Me wants that!" I reply: "cool truck!"

I see the next commercial and say: "What about that? Do you need some of that?"
LO replys:"No, me a kid! me no like toothpaste!"

LO sees another commercial and says "FL wants that! Then I can play with it! I'll tell her she wants that when she gets home."

Missing the Smell of Hay

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived.
~Helen Keller

FL being a FL

I was on the phone last night talking to my sister when FL barged into the bathroom. (Yes, I have to hide in the bathroom to talk on the phone.) FL came in with a paper and proclaimed she was my lawyer and had a "document" for me to sign. "If you refuse, you'll have to go to court and get put in jail." So I read the document and it seemed strangely familar. It read "Have you ever been convicted of a crime? circle yes or no. Are you on any medication? circle yes or no." I asked where she got this. "I copied it off of my brother's job application," she said. 

Joke of the Day:   Signs that you have picked the wrong lawyer:

Your lawyer has a red briefcase that is full of crayons.

Your lawyer's office is in a bathroom.

Your lawyer brings you popcorn to eat in her office (bathroom.)

Your lawyer spells "convicted" wrong.

Your lawyer is 7 years old and doesn't comb her hair or take a shower without a temper tantrum.

What Did You Learn At School Today?

We once had a teacher that told parents,"I won't believe everything your child tells me (about home) if you won't believe everything your child tells you (about school)."

Here is what FL has told me about school so far this year:

The student teacher she had last year is student teaching again this year.

Mason was adopted over the summer, and got 16 new sisters.

Zac moved to Mexico.

Daisy moved to Delaware.

Gage came to school the first 2 days, moved to Delaware, but now is back because his grandma couldn't find a school in Delaware for him to go to. They were all full.

Melinda broke her arm. After that was all better, she broke her leg.

Angie was playing rock, paper, scissors, glue and got a concussion.

FL's kindergarden teacher came back to teach for 9 days, moved to Erie, and is now bored.

Derrick couldn't find something in his backpack, so he dumped it out and found homework from last year that he never did. From his old school.

The playground teachers let them throw little sticks, but not big ones.

FL saw the gym teacher at the grocery store, in the ice cream aisle. FL thinks that is why they have to run so much in gym. So the gym teacher gets to work off all that ice cream.

The lunchroom ladies won't serve Nacho Grande anymore. Something about the cheese isn't good for you. But they still have cheese pizza day.

(all names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Life Rules, part 2

A continuation of NCIS-life rules from our family. Sometimes I picture myself as Gibbs, corralling everyone, dividing up missions, whopping them on the backside of their heads. I wish I was more like Abby, know-it-all, never-wrong, happily isolated in her lab with her door remote control, where no one dares to enter unless beckoned. Unfortunately, I don't even have a lock on the bathroom door.

1. I know, this should be rule #15, but anyways. . . rule#15: when you want to blog a continuation of numbers, you will spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to start with #15 on the numerated list of numbers, but you will end up realizing it would have been easier to just type 15 than try to get the program to do it automatically.



2. parents should get their sleep caught up before summer starts. kids can automatically go from sleeping in and almost missing the bus on school days to getting up (and being LOUD) at the first sign of light on the first day of summer break.



3. the spring you decide to plant a boatload of peas in the garden, a boatload of slugs will devour them in one night.







4. day 2 of summer break is often worse than day 1.

1. Do not keep dog flea shampoo in the bathroom next to the people shampoo.



2. If Facebook says "you are in a relationship," then you must be. (This is the newest teen rule.)

Chicken Update

a very serious Barred Rock pullet
a curious White Leghorn

one of 2 Welsummer pullets, very stand-offish

Finally found some time to take some pics of the newest chickens, I can't believe how fast they have grown! I love all their different colors and feather patterns.

under their snazzy canopy

a hen acting like an annoying little sister and monopolizing her big brother's photo opp

what? another annoying little sister

finally, a handsome boy

Back to School

School is not going well.

Day 1: everyone got on the bus. With no great problems. (except the fog)

Day 2: Kid #3 missed the bus. Proceeded to run away. Had to call the police, 4wheelers were involved in locating him.

Day 3: Kid #3 missed the bus again. I am seeing a pattern here.

Day 6: Kid #3 throwing up. Missed school again.

Day 7: Kid #3 throwing up. But got on the bus.

Day 11: All kids have severe sore throats, headaches, but go to school.

I can't wait for this school year to be over.