My Wild Backyard

So they don't live in the backyard, but I do have a house finch family living under the overhand outside my kitchen window. Chippy lives down a hole right next to my wildflowers in the backyard. I actually small a babyish squirrel the other day, although he may have just been a midget.

Today it was confirmed, I do indeed have a bunny nest in the backyard. It is much more pleasant that the few gigantic ant hills I have. Any tips on getting rid of the huge ant hills? I had a bunny sighting after I was two lawnmower passes away from their nest. I looked over and three little bunnies shot out of the hole towards the fence. They were so tiny and cute, but I didn't have my camera on me at the time.

I lucked out tonight and as I was walking back from hooking up the hose at the back of the yard... I just avoided stepping on the bunny. He was hunkered down away from the nest waiting for me to pass by. I was afraid I had clipped him with the lawnmower and he had died. I nudged him with my foot and he skittered away to the fence. Once again, no camera on me.

I went into the house, grabbed my camera and made my way back outside. I scanned the fence line and saw bunny trying to hide behind the weeds I've been trying to kill. I wish I could have pet him, he looks so fuzzy. He could totally sit in the palm of my hand.

Needed it.

Thank goodness for LOL Cats. I needed it today.

Hangin' Out, Seein' People

I took last Friday off from work and got to spend most of the day with Matt. He was in town for the Owens Center ice show. I attended the ice show with Vince and Sofia. I also got to catch-up with Matt's Mom, Coach and Sister before and after. Definitely a fun day!

The weekend it self was pretty much a blur. Getting things done outside in the yard (another flowerbed) and things done inside. I was able to stop by to visit the parents and saw Tom and Laura for a bit to see what all they had gotten done in their yard.

Last night I chilled with Sandra and Sofia for girls night... wish I had more energy, but I kind of tired myself out. It was my first day in about a week of not running around somewhere. Sandra treated me to a new experience of a Smore made over the electric stove top. Pretty good, even though I'm not a marshmallow person, but definitely not something to right home to Mom about.

Tonight I mowed the lawn at warp speed so I got get a bite to eat before heading down to enjoy the Chiefs game. Absolutely perfect weather at the ballpark. I even managed to get my second game ball of the season. Third ball of the season if you count the "tarp" ball Tom snagged for me.

Flooding my own basement.

I've been busy, busy, busy lately, and tonight was no exception. I had to take the big step to getting the basement clean enough to work on mending some of the PVC pipe leaks. The pipe helps keep the flooding water along the outside edges of the basement, so I don't have everything getting wet as the water seeps in.

Anyway, my half of the basement has been just dandy. A couple small areas to attend to, but not bad right now... I don't have to pull up the area rug anymore, yee-ha. Jinkies half of the basement is another story. The pipe doesn't go all the way around because of the washer and dryer and the stray litter makes it a complete mess.

I finally bit the bullet and moved everything out from that half of the basement and got Mr. Clean to come to my rescue. The basement now smells lemony fresh and it is prepped for more caulk and PVC pipe. There really haven't been enough hours in the day lately.

I need to go relax now... I'll try to blog about my weekend tomorrow.

Gardening 2009

Here are some really cute orange wildflowers that came up from last years attempt at a wildflower garden. All the green game back from last year. I planted some more seeds in the areas that didn't come back... I'm guessing it will be a full area in a few years or so.
Tom and Laura came over yesterday to take the yucca plants from out of the middle of my garden. I should have taken a photo of the root system Tom helped dig out. I'm hoping we got all of it, so the yuccas don't back again. Only time will tell. I knocked out planting some seeds in the garden today. Hopefully I'll have some luck from scratch. If not, I'll buy a few plants in a couple weeks.
For whatever reason, I didn't feel like tackling my garden on Saturday after Tom and Laura came over, so I made a new flowerbed instead. Still not really sure what got into me, but I think it turned out quite nicely for a one-man show. I dug out all the grass, sunk the edging a bit, added a few bags a of top soil around where I planted the elephant ears. I finished it up this morning after I bought a few annuals and then mulched it. Note, this is on the side of the garage, so I get to see it out my back door. :-) Let's hope they grow well there.

Stressed out and exhausted?

Yep, sure was after this week. Nothing like cracking under the pressure of work and then arguing with a coworker. Thank goodness that week is behind me!!!

Come Friday, my brain was complete mush. I was getting things done, but just felt like I was going through the motions. I took a photo of my staple remover because I thought I may have set a record for most staples lined up without falling off.

Then I got Mom to take a photo of me with a cardboard cutout at Dollar General in Bartonville. I'll have to keep my eyes open for those in stores. It'll be fun to see how many "celebrities" I can get my photo taken with.

Now's the season!

Apparently the softball and baseball season started a bit too early this year, and Mother Nature wasn't quite ready. Really pushing for those May Flowers with a bunch of April Showers. Below we have the under-water softball diamond at Peoria Stadium. Below that is the rain-soaked Wrigley Field. And the best for last is Tom enjoying some macaroni and cheese wedges while we all enjoyed a good milkshake after the canceled Cubs game.

Now that May has arrived, there are indeed flowers... my softball team is 2-0, and hopefully the Cubs will be looking up.

Car Names

So, I was thinking yet again about the names Ford has used for it's some of it's models over the years...
Ford F-series
Ford Focus
Ford Fusion
Ford Freestyle
Ford Flex
Ford Fiesta (2011)

I have the inside scoop on their new release for 2012. It's a car that will be powered by natural gas. Not just any natural gas... this car is called the Ford Flatulence! Yes my friends, it's time to invest in beans... the stock prices are surely to skyrocket in the coming years. And just think, if you drive one of these cars, you'll never have another driver riding your bumper!