Category: Outdoors

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Ants!

There were ants all over my computer desk this morning. I couldn’t understand it, because I do not eat or leave food anywhere near my computer. I have stacks and stacks of papers, but nothing sweet to attract ants. But there were dozens of them swarming all over my desk and as soon as I sat down, they started crawling up my arms and biting my hands and arms and some of them even got up on my neck.

Sorry to admit that I was freaking out. They were not army ants or anything big and fierce, but dang! Those little black “seed ants” can bite, too. I figured out that they were attracted to a little terrarium that my nephew had put next to my printer. He had filled a little plastic jar with dirt and bugs and worms that he found outside last weekend. I thought he took it home with him, but turns out that he left it on the corner of my desk and it sat there unnoticed all week.

I guess the bugs or worms started to die and decompose and attract the ants. It didn’t smell bad to me, but I’m sure that ants have a much greater sense of smell, as they were all over it. I knocked it over into a plastic bag and took it out to the dumpster. But the remaining ants fought back, swarming all over. So I had to spray my desk area with bug spray to kill them and it stinks of bug spray. But it sure did kill those ants.

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Going to the Lake!

This looks like it is going to be the first really nice weather weekend we’ve had all spring. In fact, it is like summer now!It was in the 80’s yesterday and it is supposed to be the same again today.

So my sister and I are going to take her son to the Lake and put a blanket out on the sand to watch him play. There is a really nice public beach just 5 minutes from my house, with a huge sand beach, a nice playground with slides and swings, and a bath house with indoor toilets and sinks and private changing rooms. It is all free except for the parking fee.

The State charges $5 per car for daily parking, but I found out that if you buy a season pass, you only pay $35 dollars for unlimited parking all year. The parking fees go directly to the State fund for taking care of the parks, so I don’t mind contributing to that, since I use it a lot.

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Strange Cartoons

Last night I spent a few minutes at my neighbors house. Her 3 year old was watching cartoons on the TV in the living while we visited. I couldn’t help but notice some of the cartoon dialogue.

I have to say that these cartoons are a little strange and it bothers me that children are watching them. I don’t see why cartoons for small children should have any reference to college age pranks, like panty raids. In my opinion, this is not appropriate for young children to hear and how would children even know what a panty raid is? Too strange and very disconcerting.

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Critters Today

What a day!

This morning as I went to get in the car and go to work, I stepped off my porch step and over (thank GOD!) a snake. It was about two feet long and was just laying across the bottom step. I thought it was a stick at first, but then it moved. I about had a heart attack! It was a black snake, so it was not a venomous type of snake, but it still startled me!

Then I came home at lunch and found a big brown rabbit in my front yard. He hopped away as I got out of the car. I wonder if he will come back after I leave? I wonder if the snake has high hopes of catching that rabbit and feasting on that big bunny?

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Fasteners

I decided that I will fix the deck out back myself. I just went online to order the fasteners that I will need. I started expanding the deck with the help of a friend last summer. He was supposed to finish it, but then had to move out of state for work and was unable to. We had already bought all of the wood, which has been stored in the shed over the winter. The base has already been up and all I need to do is the rest. It shouldn’t take me very long.

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Bonfire

My neighbor had a big party yesterday and invited us to stop by. It was a great turnout and they all seemed to be having a blast.

She even had a big bonfire going up on the hill. We sat around the fire on hay bales and roasted marshmallows and told funny stories. It was great fun – but too dark for my camera to get any good snapshots of the group.

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70’s in November!

Wow! What a weather perfect weekend this is going to be! The forecast is for sunny days with temperatures in the 70’s and no rain for several days in the foreseeable future! This is perfect weather for doing fun things outdoors, like rock climbing, exploring the lakeshore, or even raking leaves and pruning shrubbery. This is the weather we should have had last month – it’s very unusual for November.

There is football on TV this afternoon and tomorrow, but the weather is too nice to be sitting inside watching a TV. I’m going to make the most of the nice weather and stay outside as much as I can!

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A new amplifier

Your going to love this. I just ordered a new behringer epq 2000. We have an awesome stereo and speakers, but the stereo alone just doesn’t push the speakers the way it should. I think the old amp is going out, so we decided to just replace it with a new one. I am so happy that we are finally able to do this. We have BBQ’s and such and like to play the music so it can be heard from inside the house. Fortunately we don’t have really close neighbors to complain about it.

amplifier
A new amp for me!
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Working in the garden

I have been working in my garden a lot lately. We may not have had much rain, but the weeds are still growing exponentially. At least it seems that way. I have some really great herbs growing and will have plenty to dry. I prefer to use them fresh, but once the growing season is over, I will have to harvest what is left and either replant some into the kitchen containers or dry them. It isn’t very difficult to do. You just cut them and then use string to wrap them into bundles. Then you hang them up. After they dry out, you can bottle or bag them according to how you like to store them. It’s easy peasy!

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I’m a little late

I forgot to tell everyone Happy Memorial Day. I was so busy this past weekend, that I was barely even home. We were on the go from morning to night all three days. By the time we were done, we were all exhausted and it took this long to recuperate. I hope everyone had as great a weekend as we did.