Happy April Fools Day

But they kick the grackles out for a while.  Really neat to watch a flock descend on the feeder, with the yellow heads bobbing and the white wing strips flashing.  Waiting for Buntings and Hummingbirds to travel through.

Cold and sunny.  Down to 19F up north.  Watching a pair of young squirrels chasing around the yard.  Play fighting, tag, breeding.  May have another bunch in a little while.  We seem to hang in at about 4 adults at a time over winter.  Lots of people don't want them, but they are fun to watch, and after raising Rocky, I find them intriguing.

City wide garage sale starts tomorrow, with city wide trash pickup the next weekend.  Got a few things to put out.  If they don't go for sale, they will go for trash.  

At time, Jr is just too smart.  We were going into the house from the garage and he had one toy in his mouth, another about 10 ft away.  I put my hand down for the toy in his mouth and told him to get the "other"toy.  He spit out the first one and picked up the other.  Tick season has started.  Jr lets us get them.  Piper knew she was going to die if we pulled on off her.  Got a $50 discount offer on heatworm preventer and flea-tick product.  Two weeks after buying 6 months of each. Oh well.

OH. MY. GAWD.  First we had a thunder storm in the night with hail.  Then we had two episodes of hail this morning.  Now it is

SNOWING!!  Hard.  Big, huge flakes, coming down (sideways) to beat the band.

I am not amused.

Where do I lodge my complaint?

Only a few weeks left in the Possible Snow Season.  We have sun, no clouds, and about 50F.  Hauled out a few loads of brush.  Going to take a nap now.

Glenda, I'm so sorry Old Man Winter is still hanging around your area.  It seems to be the winter that never ends for some parts of New England!  Wish I could send you some of our spring -- we've had plenty of warm, sunny days already so we could share some with you!

Actually, the weekend is due to be pretty rainy, but DH is glad because he re-seeded some spots of the back yard and would like some rain to help germinate the seed.  We have these bare spots or divots, thanks to Ruby tearing things up when she does zoomies, as well as biting out chunks of grass and dirt, trying to get at something she smells beneath the surface.  We don't know if it's the moles or grubs or what.  We tell her we don't need her help "thatching" the lawn, thank you very much!

Yesterday was her 4th Gotcha Day, so we say she's 5 (given the estimate of her age of 1 year when we adopted her).  She got a special cookie made just for dogs, as well as a new toy and a peanut butter and banana stuffed Kong.

Good luck with the yard sale, Doug.  A neighborhood wide sale is a great idea -- draws more shoppers.   Does your local humane society have a thrift shop?  That's where we donate things we don't sell.  They have a much higher profit margin that benefits the organization than Goodwill, I think.  And you know what they say:  one man's trash is another man's treasure!

Happy  Gotcha Day Ruby!!  Sounds like you had a good one.  

I need to have a yard sale, so much treasure for another man at my place :)  

Ron went to see a friend earlier in the week and came home with more stuff that they were putting in their yard sale.  I would complain to him but he was so excited to get me 2 rockers and a bench for the yard amoung some other stuff.  They need to be painted so theres a project for me :).   I just said "Good job honey thank you "

Have a great weekend all, watch out for the storms if you are off to the east of us.

I probably won't even be able to see my own reply -- I haven't been able to see any thread with more than one page in a couple of months now.  It won't give me page numbers nor any sort of button to go to "next page".  Any suggestions please EMAIL me at callieatcritturs@yahoo.com b/c I won't be able to see your response otherwise.  *sigh*

Hi Callie  I am not as good as you at  "splain'n thangs" but I sent you some that I hope helps.

We generally take extra animal stuff to our vets office.  If they don't want it, they take it to a rescue.  Talking to the vets when we found the dog, nothing goes to the sheriffs  office.  Three days, then put down.  And the LEOs frown on the vets getting involved.  I'll hold the dog myself, feed it and pay for vet care if needed before I call the law.  Jr wants a puppy anyway.

Gave away the old rider mower.  Needs work, but the motor still runs, the tires hold air, the belts are new.   The battery is dead, one blade spindle needs replacing, so I let the parts go with it.  One less load to take to recycling.  Put a "free" sign on a couple of pieces of furniture-they are gone.  Another load to not worry about.   It was a city wide sale-small city-, a rainy morning to start, and I think we are getting burned out on garage sales.  I swear some people buy it just to sell it again at the next event.  And in some cases, one mans trash is also another mans trash.  Ask any wife.

Went to an acapella  concert this afternoon.  A large local group -The River Blenders- and two quartets.  Barbershop style singing.  Fun, good entertainment.  They used one of the new churches with the theater style alter area and TV sound stage technology.   Mankato has a reputation for musical groups, all styles.  Lots of bands, concerts (some free in the parks.  Very civilized.  College towns are exciting, even at events without balls or beer.

Next Sat is our annual trash pickup day.  Almost a contest to see who can stack the most junk curb side.  I may win this year. Driving around and checking other piles for valuable stuff is a tradition my wife is against, especially since I have a pickup truck.

 Our little wren is brooding nicely.  Sometimes she hold position in the nest when we use the door.  Other times, she flies and we can check progress.  3 eggs.  

Edit:  3 fuzzy headed little wrens looking up at us.

I have absolutely NO clue where this will land....the link brought me to what appears to be page one.

Having cellulitious a second time this month isn't bad enough?  Now I've got shingles as well.  The exhaustion is the biggie.  Walk around so darned fatigued that I'm not sure what day it is.  Sigh.

Will wait and see where this posts before I share more......

Glenda so sorry .  I had the shingles a few years ago, it was no bueno.   I don't have much advise,  it was so painful and I was so worn out from it that recovery seemed like forever.   I have not taken the shot, I am still to young for my insurance to cover it.  I do take  L-lysine recommended by a friend .  I have not had a reoccurance so I think it is working.  I know my Mom had it multiple times before she was finally able to get the shot.  

Take care and know we are thinking about you.

I had the danged vaccine.  Ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction to it.    The outbreaks are of shorter duration now at least, but no less frequent.  I'm guessing that back to back episodes of cellulitus, and the move, and, and, and....just completely depleted the immune system.  Could be worse I guess....not sure HOW, but.....

Doesn't the exhaustion totally stink???  That's the worst part of all this stuff.

I guess my day went pretty well, considering.  

Sunny and dry, warm to boot.  Put in a table grape plant today.  I'll probably have to wait three years to taste any.  Always be optimistic.  Cherry tree is ready to bloom, tulips ready to show color.  I even mowed the grass.  All the little green hills (if you raise a dog, you have these) got on my nerves, and I wanted to run the mower again.

Looking for a class for Jr.  Maybe retry "Control Unleashed" again.  Little boy is almost a year old now, which means it's been a year since Gunther left us.  

Glenda, I'm sorry to hear you've got shingles.  I've heard friends and family members say how awful it is.  Sending healing vibes your way.

Doug, I can't believe your pup is a year old already.  Yikes, time flies!

Not much new here -- just trying to get motivated for a particular work task that I don't enjoy.  I keep finding ways to procrastinate!

Just read about your Yellow headed blackbirds Doug. Cool. Have never seen them but different areas different birds. Hmm, wonder if there are any that we have, in our neck of the woods, that you don't  have. Another agility trial coming up this weekend and hoping it will qualify me for nationals. Somewhat nervous of it though, as the last couple years at this particular trial guns were going off in the distance. My one dog totally panics at that. As much as he loves his agility and is so very focused on it, hearing gun shots is one thing that scares him so much he won't even go in the ring. He just wants to try and get as far away from the noise as possible. So crossing my fingers that the target shooters and hunters won't be around this weekend. Had a steroid shot in the palm of my hand last week. Thought I was just going in to consult with the specialist and wasn't expecting anything being done that day. Since the shot is the first thing they try, he said might as well have it right then. I told him a shot in the palm of your hand does not sound very pleasant and as it turned out, it was not very pleasant. It hurt like hell and caused me to scream right out loud. Was doing my darnedest not to. Receptionist told me she'd not ever let anyone give her a shot in the palm of her hand. I'm thinking I was not the only one she heard yell out loud about it. Had a bit of a hard time getting the car into gear as it was my right hand.  Had to use my left. Just thankful I wasn't driving a standard. Not sure the shot is going to be successful though. Started getting better but now it seems the more I'm working on the computer the worse it is getting again. Will be seeing him again in a couple of weeks. Hoping your hand is better Glenda and sorry about the shingles. Hoping you get feeling better soon.

Holy cow, Maureen, that sounds excruciating!  I had shots in the bottom of my foot and on my scalp for minor surgeries, and I thought those were painful.  You'd think with all the medical advances in the world, someone would come up with a way to make shots not hurt so much!  I hope you get some relief after going through that.  

I also hope you have as quiet of an environment as possible at the trial this weekend.  Good luck at the competition!