EEEW

Riley upgraded his phone. His old one finally died. The new one has a full keyboard. He is loving it. He wont be leaving this one at home, embarrassed to be seen with such an old dated flip up version.


We had a great final few days of vacation. Took the boys to a friend's house in the country. Her goats had disappeared the day before. She figures they got out and wondered off and someone decided to pick them up and keep them. She checked with the humane society but no one had reported having them.

The neighbor dog got into the hen house a few days earlier. The goats are supposed to guard the the hens. The neighbor denied it was her dog until my girlfriend said she had pictures. Good fences make good neighbors.

If the dog does it again I would lock the dog in the hen house and call the sheriff. He will deal with the dog.

We took a trip to the feed store for new chicks. They are so adorable. I want chickens. One of my friends here in town has a hen house. I want to get a cute little play house and decorate it all up for the yard. There is motivation. My girlfriend on the farm sells her free range organic eggs to the health store for $1 an egg. Can you believe people pay $12 a dozen. She says it is because of the free range. Harder to keep your hens alive with free range. The hens pay for themselves at that price. They are great with the bugs, which is why my girl friend keeps them. No mosquitoes even though they live near water. No bugs in the grass. The hens are a natural insecticide. With our ant issues I am loving the idea.

Our ant issues have been growing. I sprayed the house over a week ago. The warm weather came this weekend. Riley texted me from the office where I was sitting in the family room, there were some big bugs, flying monster ants, in the office. I began seeing them in the living room. Looking around I found them crawling in clusters out of a couple of holes in the corner of the walls. The warm weather cooking the southern wall had activated their nest. Creepy crawly nasty termites. I got out the spray bottle of insecticide and the vacuum cleaner, adding an extent ion to the hose length. I sprayed and sucked up the crawly creatures for an hour. Finally the evening air helped put the ants to bed. I called the exterminator. He is coming to solve the problem on Tuesday. Good old fashioned chemicals to get the problem under control and out of the house.


A friend asked if we would do the Easter Brunch with the bunny at the club. She was in charge but had to be out of town. After Riley turned me down for being the bunny, Trevor said yes as it was a paying gig. Riley was fearful someone would see him be the bunny. I told him no one would know. He said he would know. Trevor will work for money and make a great big bunny. He was happy to help.

We hid the eggs. Really just tossed them out and around on the grass. Small children are so funny. They will run right by a perfectly good egg to get the one they have their eye on. Often one egg is all they want and they will sit down and open the one egg and be done with the hunt if not encouraged to continue picking them up. The older children hunt until all are found. The hunt was split age four and under and five and up. That way the big kids don't plow down the babies in their enthusiasm to get the most eggs. The small children can take their time.

I note that the morning crowd was a bit more subdued. They didn't drink. The afternoon seating came. These are the families that probably went to church on Easter before their meal. The bar was hopping. I had to laugh. Church then booze.

Trevor did a great job as bunny. But that costume gets hot. Next time he needs some cooling cloths or a wet shower before he puts on the costume so he can stay cool for two hours. It is a long gig with two seating's. He took a break in the middle, removing his costume and hanging out in the men's locker room waiting for the bunny's next appearance.

I took the boys out to a late lunch afterwards with another friend, who's children came to help with the egg hunt. Her grandson handed out the stuffed bunny gifts to the children. We had a delightful late meal. Next time I will make reservations so the boys can enjoy the buffet also, between working.

Trevor had an oops. He wanted to show his best friend a new game he had just received, Grand theft auto for the x box. He asked me to pick up his friend. We were already out and about so it was easy to swing by the boy's home to grab him and bring him to our house. It was almost 4:00. I was initially under the impression that his friend was staying a few hours, until 7:00pm. Miscommunication all around, the young friend's grand parents were coming to his house at 5:00. The boys really had less than an hour to play.

Had I known in the beginning I would have postponed the play date for another day. I had friends dropping by, I couldn't turn around and take the boy home right away. He had to call his father to come get him if he was to get home in time. The boy had asked the mom for permission. Mom hadn't known the family was coming by again later as the Dad had made the arrangements. The boys had initially told me they had more time than they really had. It was all very last minute.

I made Trevor go up to the car when the parent arrived to retrieve his child for dinner and apologize for causing more work for everyone. Anything less than three hours is just not worth the trip to pick up a play friend. I know those boys love to play together but they have got to start riding bikes or something.

Riley had his own oops. I had been telling him all vacation to do his math and not wait until Sunday. Well, he waited until Sunday night. The printer wouldn't work for him. I had my company. Tom got mad at me for not helping Riley, and I got mad at Riley for waiting until the last minute. My friends ended up having to leave so Riley could get his work done. But I enjoyed the lecture he received from them regarding the incident, about how wrong it was getting me in trouble with Tom because of Riley's procrastination. Tom even admitted hearing me nag Riley all week regarding his work. I handed the math to Riley numerous times this week to get him started, yet somehow it was Sunday night and I had company when Riley decides he needs help.

I also picked up crossbow and sticker for my blackberries this week. I am very excited to get out and start spraying what is left. The yard is beginning to look amazing with the changes. When we moved in the berries were climbing onto the deck. Now I see my hillside, the shape of the land. I will need to wait until winter for the fruit tree plantings as they are just too expensive if not bare root. The ground will be prepped and ready for the trees though. I have all summer. My friend with the chain saw is coming to take down the trees I want removed. I am pleased and excited about the progress. Especially with little expense.

The nursery store also told me the yellowing of my boxwood hedge is due to lack of iron. Add iron and they will green right up. Too much rain in the northwest causes the yellowing. I added iron to the boxwood last night. I plan on nurturing those plants until they are happy.