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Geezerville

Vic, Jimmy, MJ, Tom and Leslie each turn 50 this year. Wow - You guys are old.

Not Like The Others

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
















Manny's reaction:

Yard Sale!

Lauren invited Haley to participate in the Riverside Terrace yard sale. It's huge! Families set up in their own yard/driveway and buyers can walk the neighborhood or drive from place to place. There was quite a crowd - including some nasty people looking to steal stuff. Haley was one of their victims. They came into the yard in a pack, speaking a foreign language and picking up all kinds of things being very distracting. There were 3 middle-aged women, one elderly woman, a man and a boy. They caused quite a scene, bought a couple of items that totalled $1 and by the time they left, we realized that an X-Box game was missing. Nothing we could do about it, no receipts, no proof. Just sucks that people feel the need to do this. It left everyone very unsettled. I stuck around at the table for a little while - on the odd chance that they'd try it again. One of them did come back to ask if we found any money, saying she lost $15. Right. A short time later I left the girls and wandered around to check out the other sales. It didn't take me long to find them in action again. Scum bags. Most people seemed to be watching them like hawks but there were probably plenty more that were victims of there scheme.

After wandering around for a while, I came back to the girls and found that they had multiplied. What started out as 2 kids had grown to 5. They wanted to check out the sales. So, Lauren's mom, Judy, and I decided to man their post and let them look around. We had a nice time chatting. It was a gorgeous day. Not too many customers for us. While we were sitting there, I noticed this huge bird fly into the yard. Initially, I thought it was a hawk after smaller birds in one of the shrubs in the front yard. I remembered I had my camera and went to get it. When I came back to the yard, the bird flew up into the tree. One of our "customers" told us it was a falcon. Pretty cool.



Here's a link to a video I shot. You can hear Judy saying the bird is on her car. I'm just trying to keep up with it. It's short, blurry and pretty funny. Pretty much all you can see is the falcon flying off down the street. It kind of looks like a duck in this video.

After the kids came back, we stayed for a little bit more and then packed up to go home. Haley ended up making about $50 and she was pretty happy with that. However, that feeling of being scammed by those idiots really took something away from what otherwise would have been a great day!

McNuggets

I have to say, this is one of THE most annoying commercials I have seen in quite some time. I had to post it here. This stupid song gets stuck in my head so often, thought I'd pass along to get stuck in your head too. Ketchup and mayo. Good Lord. Try getting this out of your head now.

Wild Turkey

No Maire, not that Wild Turkey.

Took Mom to Swansea Mall today. We came home through the backroads (over the new bridge in Barneyville) and passed by a field with a rafter of wild turkeys. I did a U-turn and took a couple of snaps. Wow! I don't ever remember seeing this many around here before.

After we got back to Mom's house, I was watching the monarchs on the butterfly bush and found this other little butterfly/moth on the tree. (You can click through the pictures above to see it.)

Nature - It's all over me!

Foster the Wonder Squirrel

There he is in all his resplendent glory. Have I told you about Foster? Of course I have.

Well, if I happened to have missed you - here goes.

I spotted this little squirrel a couple of days after Coco had died. He was running up the driveway and looked to be listing to one side. After watching him for a couple of days, I came to the realization that there was something definitely wrong with him. His entire left side didn't seem to work properly. Vic named him Foster, after Foster Brooks, because he looked like he was drunk. Seriously. As soon as the name was across his lips, Vic insisted that he would not get attached to this thing that was almost certainly going to end up as roadkill. Of course, I had taken to this poor little guy immediately.

He was hanging out in our yard to get the bird seed. He'd amble in from across the street or through the neighbor's yard, have a little nibble and then move to our back yard. I started leaving seed on the ground for him, but soon the other squirrels would chase him away, and he'd get nothing. He then started hanging around on the roof of our garage at the very peak. He'd wait & watch for me to put the seed out, make his way down and get some dinner! He has continued this and is there almost every day. Sometimes he's even waits on the deck. In all of my Foster gazing (taking on National Geographic proportions), I've come to realize he is kind of blind in his left eye and has serious problems with both left legs.

I'm on a mission to get a video of him running, just because it is so spectacularly goofy.

The birds have long been forgotten and all the seed goes to the squirrel. I did have to alter the amount I've put out, because one week the little guy didn't finish all the seed and there was quite a bit left over. Later that night, two skunks came into the yard & found the seed and proceeded to screech and fight each other, spraying away, into the wee hours of the morning. This happened on two consecutive nights. There is still a lingering oder of skunk in our basement.

I worried about him while we were in Maine for a week. I really couldn't make myself ask someone to come over during the week, wait to see a squirrel on the garage roof and parcel out a precise amount of seed. People would think I was a little nutty (or nuttier than they already suspect). He did manage to survive the week without me, but he did look much skinnier to me. ;o)

Four months later and he's still alive. He's made it safely back and forth through the driveway. His witnessed mishaps are just hysterical. He fell out of the tree in the back yard one day. Another time, while being chased by one of the neighborhood cats (such an indignity!), he ran smack-dab into a bag of fertilizer. What a thud! And just yesterday, he turned up in the morning with an enormous piece of PIZZA!!! He carried it into the yard and then promptly toppled over with the pizza landing on top of him. He spazzed & squirmed & finally ran off, kind of. He was back later that night for his seed - I'm sure one of the other squirrels lifted the pizza.

So, if I've been ignoring you lately, seem distant or distracted, at least you know why.