Wildlife fun

Last night Fred and I were lying bed watching TV when we heard Annabelle shriek from downstairs in the kitchen. Seconds later I received a text from her alerting me to the presence of an enormous roach. We ran downstairs and found her standing on a chair, pointing at the stove. I hopped up on a chair myself while Fred grabbed a broom and began poking around under and behind the stove. When he was unable to drive the varmint out, he grabbed a can of bug spray and sprayed the perimeter of the base of the stove.

As we went back upstairs, Annabelle kept commenting on its gigantic size, and I asked: "Are you sure it was a roach and not a mouse?" She admitted that she couldn't be entirely sure, as she wasn't wearing her glasses when she was it scurry past.

This morning my mouse suspicions were heightened when Harvey was obsessed with the stove. And then this afternoon I returned home from picking up Annabelle after school and found Harvey on the steps to the basement "playing" with a furry little ball. I hollered for Annabelle to corral the cats and dog and bring me a box. She stood at the top of the stairs armed with a broom to prevent him from getting past her, and I ventured forth with the dustpan and box.

The poor little dude scampered back and forth, and I alternated between shrieking like a little girl and saying, "Oh, he's so cute!" Finally I was able to get him into the box, and we ran for the back door.

Fortunately I had the presence of mind to ask Annabelle to grab my camera, as this is the most blog-worthy thing that has happened around here in days. Before we let him go in the grass, I took his picture:



Then we tipped the box over, and he scampered out and into the tall grass.

Girls going wild

Fred left this morning for a week at the JAG School in Charlottesville. The last time Annabelle and I had a week alone together was when Mike went to Europe over spring break while Fred was deployed. We made a trip to Kansas and then had her wisdom teeth removed. Our plans this time around are not nearly as ambitious or traumatic.

We dropped Fred off at the Kansas City airport this morning and then headed out to do a little shopping before stopping for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Looks like shopping and restaurants will figure prominently on the week's agenda, and we are also going to try to catch a movie Wednesday evening.

Our big accomplishment today was stopping by Home Depot for some flowers to spruce up the front porch. I have to admit that 2 shopping carts full of flowers and planters looked much more substantial at the store than they do up against that big ol' porch, but it's a start:





The 2 baskets that are currently sitting on the steps are going to hang from hooks in the ceiling, but I can't reach that high, so that will have to wait until Fred gets home. Also, I think I am going to get smaller pots of mums to go up the steps on either side. Or maybe alternating mums and pumpkins?

I also replaced my summer wreath with an autumn wreath today. It makes a nice frame for this artsy-fartsy self-portrait: