Save yourself!!! No where is safe!!!!

So you may remember we have had several coyote sightings over the past couple years. I have mentioned it here.

It's not really that big of a deal. We see them, we shoo them away. End of story.

This summer I have been seeing them more and more as I walk early in the mornings when they like to roam. No big deal. Just a part of suburban sprawl living. They were here first so short of my middle class guilt for moving into their home and setting up a Quiznos, there is not a lot I can do about our coexistence but leave them be.

But lately there have been a lot of cats missing and raccoon corpses across in the field that the boys have discovered. So it sort of just is what it is.

Well apparently Bug and his band of warriors (aka his friends) have been watching the local news and noted that the coyotes have made headlines. The coyotes, due to the urban sprawl and lack of food supply have been venturing into neighborhoods and helping themselves to nice snacks we have so nicely been leaving out like pet food and well....pets.
My boys have decided it was up to them to take their neighborhood back in manner of Braveheart.

One of Bug's friends which for anonymity sake I'll call Mikey, is one of the funniest kids to watch. Every group of kids no matter which gender has one kid in the group that gets picked on just for being plain weird. Poor Mikey has few social skills and just is sort of oblivious of the world around him. Usually weird parents spawn weird kids. But not so much the case here. His parents are totally cool and try desperately to get him around other kids in hopes that social skills may rub off on him. But not so much the case with Mikey. He will wander around the neighborhood dreaming about capturing dragons or werewolves and tries in vain to engage the other boys in his obsession with the mythical. The other boys usually openly mock his love of the make believe and he blows it off none the wiser.They are never cruel as I won't allow that kind of behavior, But he is just sort of "that kid" in the group. All the kids like him for his quirks and he does have lots of friends so it's not like he is an outcast or anything. He is the type of kid that will wander into our house when our kids are not even home and try to hang out with us or just use our bathroom because it was closest to him. Even though he lives on the same block.
Rockstar and I secretly have deemed him as either of these stereotypes.

Ralph Wiggum from the Simpsons

Or Butters from South ParkYeah he's "that kid".

He's a good kid, just a little odd but he cracks me up with his antics.

So enough background.

So Mikey comes blasting into our front door a couple days ago out of breath and in a frenzy.

Bug and his friend Skyler ask him "what seems to be the problem?"

He replies "Guys we have a serious problem on our hands!!!!The coyote's food source has run out and we need to protect ourselves and our families from this threat!!!We need to go right now up to your room and develop a plan!!"

Bug and Skyler look at each other and just sort of chuckle.
"Whatever Mikey." They say and go back into the family room where he follows.

"I'm serious this time!!! I saw one out in the field just now!!! He chased me all the way here!! We need to come up with a plan!!" he says nearly out of breath and hopping up and down.

Now mind you, it was 2 in the afternoon. A little unlikely that there were wandering coyotes in broad daylight in the middle of the day.

Bug- "Are you sure it was not just a dog? I doubt there is one out there now."

Mikey- "well it might have been a dog, but this is serious!!! It's up to us!!! "

Bug- "Ok Mikey, just chill the heck out!!! It's not like there is a T-rex waiting to pounce in the bushes!! It's just a dumb old coyote. He's more scared of us than we are of it. It's not like they eat people or anything!"

This is what I imagine was going through Mikey's mind right now...
They all decided that they would talk about their plans to stop the wild coyote and protect their families and civilization after they got their wits about them.

Another viewing of Jurassic park should do the trick to clear their minds.

Of course Mikey spent the majority of the movie in the other room peeking around the corner just in case the dinosaurs jumped through the screen and got him.

It took everything within me not to sneak up behind him and grab him just to watch him jump, but it turns out I'm not completely dead inside that I seek to destroy a child's nerves. I didn't, I just wanted to.

What like it wouldn't cross your mind?

So yeah as of yet, there have been no coyote hunting plans laid out, but I will keep you posted as it unfolds. The drama and excitement as my boys take their neighborhood back from the grips of the vicious man eating coyote.


To be continued......

Pesky rodents beware!!

So if you know me at all, you know that I don't do rodents of any type. Not mice, not hamsters, not bunnies and totally not squirrels. Squirrels drive me nuts. No pun intended.

I have been fighting this battle with the squirrels for as long as I have lived in this house. I like to feed every bird in North America. It's just something I do. I have serious over nurturing issues. But the squirrels are a huge pest and get in there and drain my feeders. In an afternoon sometimes if I am not on top of it. So I have to get out there and chase them off.

How do I chase them off you may ask......

I am a super soaker comando.


I can't actually bring myself to hurt them. I just don't want them in my yard.

This is how I have spent the majority of my day. Chasing these little punks out of my yard. I am like the proverbial old guy in a bathrobe with the shot gun and lawn chair screaming "get off my lawn!!" Except I am......well....me. And I have a child's squirt gun.

Oh sure I could just get "squirrel proof" feeders. The ones that claim to keep out the squirrels. But where is the sport in that? Then I would have to do something real and productive with my time. We can't have that :)

Someone has to teach those crafty little buggers a lesson.

For the last 3 of you...

Ok for the last 3 people left that have not seen this video, you have to watch it. If you know us, we are total mushy sissy la-las when it comes to animal stuff so needless to say we REALLY like this story.

Enjoy!

That pesky (suddenly literate) Merlyn

So if any of you remember this post, you will remember that Merlyn is quite an amazing animal. Well it turns out that he is also learning to write his name. Or at least someone's name that is completely different than Sunshine. He has been going nuts around the house with his mad graffiti.

This is the bathtub.

This is the back of the loveseat.
Good times.
I am proud of this new skill, but really?

What does Peanut say?

I know that everyone goes through this phase with their own kids, but it always cracks me up with the sounds that they come up with.




BTW ....Nana is my Mom and she accidentally burped one night when she was eating over here and sonic ears here not only caught it, but now forever more Nana's sound is a burp.

Nothing but class here.

** I should point out here that my Mom isn't some sort of champion burper or anything. She does have manners. Just to clear her good name.

The state fair !!

So my husband got home last night safe and sound from Chicago. He had promised the kids that if they helped me out and were good while he was gone then he would take them to the state fair when he got home. Funny thing about kids is they never remember things like put up the toilet seat before you pee, but they do remember promises like that.

So as promised, we went to the fair this afternoon. We do this every year and always have a great time. My mom went with us too. Her and Sunshine ohhed and ahhed at the cool horses. We spent a lot of time in the livestock area and horse arena. We saw sheep, goats and pigs. We even saw a litter of piglets. Peanut loved that. We also got to see some (horse) riding demos with groups of women all dressed in sparkly clothes rode around and did a sort of dance (set to music) while riding in formations. It was really cool and I think Sunshine has found her calling.

But everyone's favorite part of the day was a pen with baby chicks in it. Sunshine was convinced that she was the pied piper of the chicks as they would follow her around anywhere she went. We even got a video of it. It was pretty cute. She was trying to outrun them and they would haul and try to catch up. You know, as fast as their little chicky legs would carry them.


Although I have to say, my favorite part of the day is always the ice cream. There is something indulgently grand about fair food. It's only once a year :)

Welcome to Mrs. B's pet palace!!

Ok as I may have mentioned a time or two, we have a weakness for animals. If an animal seems lost, we take them in until we find their family. If puppies need babysitting, we're here to help!

Rockstar's boss was going on vacation and needed someone to watch her 4 month old Lhasa apso / poodle mix puppies. She barely had to put out the SOS before my husband jumped at the chance.

We got them last night. They are girls, Molly and Dolly. Oh c'mon how cute is that?

Needless to say we are going to have a hard time giving them back.

The kids were up at first light this morning playing with them.

What the heck?!!

So as we were closing up for the night, I went out to lock the cars, when Rockstar asks what is that? I look and sure enough, it was a coyote. Ok let me remind you we live completely in the city. This is something we have never seen in our nick of the woods. Rock star husband got the cats in and we watched it for a while.

I'm sorry we couldn't get a better picture, but our camera doesn't like the dark very much.

It seemed to be a pup as it really didn't mind us being out there with it. But even pups are dangerous, so we kept our distance.

Just thought it was interesting. Looks like the kids won't be playing across the street for a while :(


Husband here... Let me elaborate.

I saw it 'dancing' like it was chasing a bug. It'd take a couple steps forward then jump up and backwards a couple times.

I walked to the side of the cars and realized that there was something else out there.

Our cat, Merlyn.

So I crammed the camera in my pocket with no thought to the damage I was doing to the lens and started going: "Kitty kitty kitty."

Thankfully, Merlyn started to walk back to the cars. He got close enough that I could grab him, and he didn't play his usual game of "hard to get" when i try and pick him up.

This could have been an ugly sight tonight.

What?

So when I was putting Sunshine to bed tonight, I thought I would mix it up a little. I usually pray with the kids at bedtime, but I thought she's old enough to do this herself, let's see what she has to say. Not that she doesn't already pray at dinner, just normally at bedtime I do it (mostly to keep it short and sweet and get the show on the road if you know what I mean)

But when I asked her to pray, she said something that I did not expect. She said that she didn't want to. I asked her why? She said "I am sort of mad at Jesus right now."

Totally not what I expected!

No way I'm going to let that drop. So I press on. Why on earth would you be mad at Jesus?

She then bursts into tears. And not just a little cry, oh but the ugly cry. She was gasping for breath and trying to talk through it. It was an all out sob. Like she had been holding it in for a while.

Then it comes out. She is mad because she thinks that Jesus came in thief in the night style and stole her crab Whitey.

Now for those of you that even remember Whitey, give yourself 50 points. If you don't then get caught up here.

We had a long talk about forgiveness and understanding why God does things the way He does. I can only hope that I didn't just confuse her even more. Quite frankly, this is a topic I myself am not exactly an expert at. I can only lean on the assumption that He knows what He is doing. That is just hard for a 4 year old's brain to wrap around. Who am I kidding....it's hard for a 33 year old's brain :)

I told her that I have a running list of things I plan on asking God when I get to Heaven. I told her I'd put it on the list. Although my guess is that He did it just to push a reluctant mom into having a hard conversation with her child. We'll see.

What a little punk!!!

So I have been watching this drama unfold for the past couple weeks in my front yard. I have this little punk of a squirrel that has been raiding my bird feeders and teasing my cats for some time.


Last year I had had enough with the squirrels in the bird feeders so my rock star husband took a super soaker to them every time we caught them red handed. That took care of the problem for the whole summer.

Now we have a new generation that clearly is scared of nothing. What makes it worse is that he is just a little bit faster than my cats. So now he just likes to tease them.

Notice the picture above.

That is him in the middle just casually munching on some sunflower seeds that had fallen from a bird feeder above. About 7 feet to the left (left bottom of the picture) is my cat Annabelle in pounce mode. Just waiting for her chance. About 5 feet to his right (right near the top of the picture) is my neighbor's cat, Metro. Also in pounce mode.

This particular stand off lasted about 20 minutes until Annabelle couldn't take it any longer and ran to him. He took off across the street and up a tree. All the while Annabelle was only about 6 inches behind him swiping as she ran.

Every time he just barely gets away by the skin of his teeth. I totally expect to find a headless fur pile in my yard as a glorious gift from my beloved cat.

Just for the record I don't endorse the murder of any animal, so PETA you can just back the heck up....But hey, nature is nature. What can you do.

Don't flirt with death and you won't meet your maker by an overweight feline.

You have made your bed my friend. The end is nigh!!

Another satisfied custumer

So my husband and I are total bleeding hearts when it comes to animals. We take in any stray that comes along. This has totally transferred to our kids.

So a couple days ago, Bug and Sunshine were out front playing when Bug comes in and says that "he made a new dog friend". I didn't really think much of it. We live on a dead end street and we get a lot of "wandering animals". They usually find their way home, but sometimes they end up at "Hotel Jax" indefinitely.

So this little dog started following the kids around and playing with them. It started getting late so I had the kids come in for dinner, thinking that he would just wander off on his merry little way. He didn't. He just camped it on our front porch.

By the time we got ready for bed, I thought well, it's kind of getting chilly and he doesn't seem to know where he is. So I let him in, fed him some dinner and let him crash here for the night. He has a collar, but no tags. He's a Chihuahua and dachshund mix and a little foo-foo. His nails have been clipped and it appears that his teeth have been brushed. I only know this because I was curious how old he is and checking an animals teeth can give you an indication of their age. The more plaque, the older they probably are. Regardless, he's clearly not really an "outside dog".

So he came right in and was completely comfortable with us. Even with the chaos of the kids running around. He made himself at home real quick. Even when I laid a towel down for him to sleep on. He took one look at it and proceeded to hop up on our bed. Our beagle, Libby just sort of looked on with amazement. If a dog could have had a dropped jaw, I think Libby would have at that very moment.

He slept through the night and in the morning I fed him breakfast and set him out on the front porch again hoping he would find his way home. I then went about my day. Took everyone where they needed to be. But when I got home, there he was waiting for us.

So I put a "found dog" ad on craigslist in hopes that I could reunite someone with their beloved pet. When nobody answered, I then took him to the vet to see if maybe he had a chip with his info under his skin. Nope. I checked the flyers at the local grocery stores. Nothing. I drove all over the neighborhood looking for signs posted. Nada.

Then I got obsessed and spent the entire day yesterday scanning through pages of Google results on lost dogs. I checked every local paper and agency in hopes that someone had put out a "lost dog" ad. I came up completely empty. I was totally on a mission.

So last night (again) he hopped up and slept with us. At this time I'm starting to get sort of attached to this little dog. He's mellow and very lovey. He'll just sit up on my lap and chill out with me. I started having fantasies of dressing him up in little jackets and carrying him around in one of those little "dog purses". I then had to get a hold of myself. I am sooo not that person. Maybe in an alternate universe I could be that person. But not today mister!!

So this morning I stared back at my quest to find this little dog's home. My obsession finally paid off. I came across an ad that someone put up on the humane society's site. He lives about 2 blocks away and the ad even had a picture. So there's no question.

I'm a little sad that he's leaving, but I am so glad that he is finding his way home and that his family will have him back safe and sound.

I have been calling him Charlie. Doesn't he just look like a Charlie?

Another satisfied costumer!

************
Follow up..

So the guy just came to pick the dog up. Turns out his name is Sam. It's funny because it also turns out that I knew his family. The guy that picked him up was the only guy in the PTA. That's how I remember him. So we got to talking and it turns out they have 4 kids and they were totally broken up about the dog being lost. (One of the kids left the door open and that's how he got out. Talk about guilt!!)
So we're pretty happy about this happy ending.

I like to think of it like doggy karma. It's only a matter of time before Libby wanders off and needs help finding her way home.

What seemed like a great idea....

So I am still working at the daycare, Today was my last day (Thank the Lord!!) and I noticed that my friend Erin's dog was getting a little restless. Erin is the girl who normally runs the daycare, but I was just filling in for her while she was on her Honeymoon this week. She has a year old great dane named London. She really is a cute dog and surprisingly gentle with all of the kids that come through Erin's house.

London was beginning to get a little restless and just wanted to get out and play. So I had this great idea that once we (Molly is the other girl that works there)got the kids fed and down for a nap....then I would take London out to the dog park and let her stretch her legs. Molly agreed that was probably a good idea and even gave me her car to transport this enormous beast. So along the way I had another great idea that I would swing home and pick up our dog Libby and take her out too. Libby is our 8 year old beagle that has a ton of spunk to her, but is starting to slow down (and pudge up) in her old age. She is totally one of my kids and completely a part of the family.

Bad idea.

Between the two of them tearing through the mud at the dog park, I realized that this was way to big of a dog for me to handle. I did have Bug with me to help, but great danes are really big and once they get really excited, are really hard to control.

It was like Marmeduke hopped up on speed.

Once she took off, she hopped the fence and so I had to chase her back into the dog area of the park. Then she would tackle Libby. Which is about 1/10th her size, so poor libby just took a beating. She tried to keep up, but her stumpie little legs just couldn't keep up with the giant strides of London's. In the end, London just rolled her in the mud and tried to carry her around like a soggy little pup. It was pretty pitiful.

On top of it all, I think Libby got hurt somewhere in the process. She was tired and limping when we got back in the car.

I tried to take some pictures, but spent most of my time chasing and screaming at them.


Note to self....do not ever get a dog that I could potentially take pony rides on.

Check.

Wild kingdom .....and pizza

So the family and I were out the other night trying out this new pizza place that just went in down the street. It's one of those places that has a plasma tv at every table and then a big one on the wall. Usually the big one has a game or something neutral on it.

So we are changing the channel on the one at our table. We find cartoon network and so we are good to go. Then we hear Sunshine talking about a piggy. We just think she's talking about something on the cartoon they are watching. So we don't give it much attention. Then Bug chimes in. He's like "Are there pigs that live in the wild?" . We say "yes, but not around here". At that moment Sunshine yells "Oh NO!!! Whats wrong with that piggy?!"

At that moment we turn around and realize that the big screen TV on the wall was on ESPN. However we just happen to hit right in the middle of some sort of hunting competition where they were in fact hunting....you guessed it, wild boar.

Perfect. Just the sort of thing I want to watch with my young kids while we are eating. I asked them to change the channel and they were totally embarrassed. You would think that ESPN would be a safe bet, but I guess not.

Now that poor Sunshine is scarred for life :)

No kidding, this is what that poor animal looked like before it got shot. They really are kind of cute.

"Doctor, Doctor, ...it only hurts when I do this...."

This is what happens when you give an extreme animal lover a Doctor's kit for Christmas. I knew it would only be a matter of time before she was giving "jorge" the giraffe CPR.

....Well she checked all his vitals....it was his only option. It was touch and go for a while, but she pulled him through. She is the best in her field.............


So I says Doctor, doctor...I think I'm going crazy....one minute I think I'm a tee pee....the next I think I'm a wigwam. The Doctor says your problem here is you're too tents (tense)

.....wakka wakka.....

Ok just one more....

Just one more and I promise I won't do any more videos. It's a cheap trick. It won't happen again. I just had to share this with the world.

My husband is shaking his head in disgust as we speak. I can't seem to watch it with a straight face. There is something wrong with me.

It's a sad, sad day.

Today we hold our hearts at half mass in honor of our beloved "whitey" the crab.

I went to feed the crabs today and noticed that whitey was completely out of her shell and not moving. I know that sometimes crabs will change shells if they get too big for their current one. So I go out to the garage and get a bigger shell. I set it next to her. Nothing. I tap the glass. Nothing.

I realize that when you buy a pet from the mall, you have a 50/50 chance of making it a month. And frankly I had no love for these dumb crabs. But Sunshine loves them. she checks on them a couple times a day, she sings to them. I really didn't want to tell her. But I did and she was ok with it. Her first response is that "Jesus can play with whitey now."

Sure why not. We'll go with that.

Here's some pictures in case you ever wondered what a crab looks like without their shell. well wonder no more!

Basket case...

Ok I'm totally not one of THOSE people that has thousands of pictures of their pets........anymore. Before I had kids though I was totally that person. Annoying as it is to admit.

They are totally part of the family. This is Merlyn. He likes to sleep in tight spaces. Don't ask why.

C'mon!! how cute is that?!!

Dumbest pet ever.

So we are total pet people. Always have been. Currently we are running low on animals as we only have 5 right now.

Thats Libby the beagle,2 cats (Merlyn and Annabelle) and our newest addition...2 hermit crabs. Their names are Joe and Whitey. The kids named them by the way...isn't that obvious. But normally we have a regular ark under our roof. We've had numerous cats, birds , fish , turtles and frogs. We just like to keep Petco in business truth be told. It just doesn't feel like home if it's not mad chaos :)

Well so the kids are way into these dumb crabs and I'm just not quite sure what the deal is with them. Next to the pet rock, these just don't make sense. They are plain old crabs, but their shell has been painted so that they aren't as boring. Thing is....they do nothing!! They hardly move and it's not like they are cuddly or anything. But in true American fashion, if you sell sand and accessories and cute stuff to put in a tank in the mall....idiots like me will shell out money for a fancy shelled animal to bury themselves in their over accesorised tank.

What's kind of funny is the kids seem to think these are the cutest pets we have. Like they talk to them in baby talk and pet their shell like it's a kitten. These dumb things look at the kids with blank antennae eyes and just sort of shudder. It's all very confusing.

Sunshine played with "Joe and Whitey" today and had the best time. It kept her entertained for almost 2 hours. She kept telling me that "Whitey was a girl and needed to play with girl toys and Joe was obviously a boy and needed boy toys." Hence the pictures with Whitey and the Barbie doll. (you know...because she's a girl...duh) And Joe and the cars.

How did I not know this? Well in her mind it all works I guess.