Two hours ago, Nugget was barking at our fence and he wouldn't stop after I asked him nicely, so I made him come inside. He kept whining at turning in circles at the back door, so I looked outside and WHOA! There was a big fat raccoon lumbering into our yard! Nugget kept saying, "Let me at him! I can take him, I can take him! Let me at him!" But I didn't. Although I have faith in my dog--who has the heart of a champion--the raccoon was significantly larger than the Nugget, and I didn't want to risk having to break up a potential fight (because, you know, I just trimmed my nails). So I made Nugget stay inside and watch through the glass as the raccoon wandered around the backyard.
But...we might be modifying the squirrel trap in the near future. :) On Monday, Gary worked on painting the final side of our house. Nugget and I joined him for a little while. I was rolling paint when a popping sound (probably a firecracker) went off nearby. Nugget is terrified of such sounds, so he ran over to me, shaking and pressing up close to me. I felt bad for my little pup, and I didn't particularly want him nervously stepping about between my legs, so I walked with him to the back door and let him into the house. I went back to painting. After a few minutes, I needed to move the cardboard under my feet that was serving as a drop cloth. When I looked down, I noticed a little wet puddle of paint next to the paint tray. I looked closer. It resembled a paw print. I looked toward the back door. There were paint paw prints leading to the house. The horror dawned on me. I just let a dog with wet paint on his paw into my house. I ran to the door, hoping beyond hope that Nugget had the good sense to stay on the mat inside the door after I let him in. Not so. He was happily trotting around the house. I ushered him outside, then surveyed the damage. Luckily, most of the paint was contained to the tile floor in the kitchen, and I was able to get it all off with some scrubbing. Some traces of paint made it to the carpet, but it's barely noticeable and can be entirely removed with a millimeter haircut. Whew. Dodged a big one there, didn't I? (Nugget also likes leaning up against the house after we paint.)
What's the point of telling a ridiculous semi-truck lie if you don't get a good reaction? Yeesh, people. Humor me here. (10 points to Heather for asking about it. The rest of you can find someone else to help you haul around your pet elephants.)
So, here's the truth of it. We don't own the yellow semi-truck (mind-blowing, right?). It belongs to an acquaintance of ours and it was sleeping over in our driveway for a few days while its owner was out of town. So, you know, I was really hoping to be dancing around gleefully shouting "Pranked! Pranked!" but I guess I'll have to try something else on y'all. - A mouse chewed through the drain hose on our dishwasher.
- Gary took his big 8-hour Professional Engineer exam yesterday. He's "cautiously optimistic" about the results (we'll know if he passed in 8-10 weeks). - We got a new semi! Woot! Gary wanted the red one, but I talked him into yellow. We have a fair number of squirrels that pass through our backyard every day and Nugget loves trying to catch them. His success rate, however, is pretty grim (0%). Yesterday, I decided to help him out. My success rate is 100%. I caught three squirrels yesterday and two today. I used Nugget's crate, some rope, and peanut butter to create my trap. I put the crate in a tantalizing location, opened its door, and then strung rope from it to the house. Throughout the day, Nugget and I kept a keen lookout through the sliding back door. Once a squirrel ventured into the crate for a tasty snack, I would crack the sliding door open and pull the rope. SHAZAM! Unfortunately, squirrels are incredibly skilled at prison breaks, so we didn't get to keep the first four squirrels nearly as long as we wanted to. I finally improved the trap enough by the 5th squirrel, though, to enjoy his company for a good long time (for about 10 minutes until we set him free). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Squirrel #4: Squirrel #5: The final design of the trap included tough plastic netting twisty-tied to the sides. I made a squirrel run out of cardboard boxes and netting-covered windows so Nugget could chase the squirrel for more than 3 seconds. I'm pretty sure Gary thinks I'm totally weird and crazy for doing this, but he was kind enough to phrase it such: "Gregory's going to love having you as a mom."
We went on a walk today. On our way home, I glanced down at Gregory and noticed that only one of his feet had a sock on it. I looked at his hands. They were also sockless. "Oh great," I thought, "He's lost another sock somewhere in our neighborhood." Turns out he didn't! He continued sucking on his sock for a further 30 minutes.
A million dollars to whomever can guess why the corner is left unfrosted. (No, I didn't just run out.) [Plus an extra 10 brownie points to whomever can tell me if I used "whomever" properly.]
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AuthorI'm Jody Henrie. I'm the kind of person who would name my first-born son Colby Jack. Because I love cheese. Archives
November 2013
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