Chickadee... :(

Another tale of woe. One of the baby chickadees must have been hiding under one of the cars in the driveway... very sad. We will have another little ceremony at the Tweeter grave site. You don't know the Tweeter - she was a little house finch that we had living with us for a few years, rescued from the back yard missing one eye and unable to see very well out of the other. She was our first pet and had quite the little personality! Anyway, when she passed we buried her in the front yard with a little bird motif marker. We've since added a baby robin that had some issues and passed in the back yard - and now the little chickadee. I may need to revise my previous statement - I love living in the country most of the time, but not all of the time...

Project: Garage - almost done!

Well, since I only started this blog recently, there isn't any background on the construction of the garage, but it is nearing completion. The attached pictures show the before-and-after of the siding going on - I think it looks great! The only thing left to do before the final inspection is to put on the eaves troughs. then it still needs some landscaping and the driveway to be put in up to the doors, but after the inspection we can remove the building permit posted at the end of the driveway - which I think is a milestone worth noting... I can't thank Dad enough for all the work he put into this - I wish he had retired before I started that bathroom at the old house!!!

Lobsterfest at The Whistle Stop

Lobsterfest again at the Whistle Stop - I totally forgot! Mom and Dad arrived at the house a little early and Sharon zipped in at the last minute from work (been really busy lately - annoyingly busy...) and off we went. Mom and I had the steak (which I found a little disappointing), Dad had the surf 'n turf, and Sharon had the 2 lobster dinner, again wishing that there was a 3 lobster dinner available. We don't get out much but we really enjoy these trips to the Whistle Stop - one of our favourite little family restaurants.

Baby Chickadees !!!

Took the boys out this morning (our 2 dogs, Alaska and Gizzy) and noticed a lot of bird activity - swooping chickadees making lots of noise. Then I noticed the little bundle of feathers jumping around under the peonies! Alaska also noticed and took off after him - which freaked me out, but the little guy held his ground and pecked Alaska on the nose - which confused Alaska long enough for me to scoop him up and carry him back into the house. Luckily Gizzy was oblivious to the whole thing - he is smaller, but a little more aggressive towards little scurrying things (you should have seen him on the hardwood floors when we had the chipmunk in the house!!). Anyway, there was still lots of birdilage activity when I left the house, so hopefully the little guy will learn to fly over the course of today! I love living in the country!

Movie Review: The Bad News Bears[disappointing]

I like Billy Bob Thornton and I liked the original movie with Walter Matheau but this remake really missed the mark. Maybe the version I saw was edited (badly) for time on the movie channel, I don't know, but I kept getting the feeling that I had missed a pivotal scene somewhere along the way that explained the various changes of heart that the characters go through, but I don't think so... Anyway, a few smiles, a couple of chuckles, but no real laughs.
Online review.

Movie Review: The Exorcism of Emily Rose[okay, good'ish]

Reminded me of The Omen, but without all the action. Focus seemed to be on opening people's minds to the possibility of the existance of demons and divine intervention, rather than on a compelling story and plot line.
Online review.

In loving memory of little Jacob the Raccoon...

We rushed little Jacob over to the vet this morning with high hopes. He looked so cute curled up in the blanket asleep and it was all we could do to not pick him up and snuggle him. The vet's assistant took down all the information while we waited for the vet to finish up an appointment and we were surprised to learn that as part of her raccoon rescue efforts she names and tags all of the rescued raccoons before releasing them back into the wild when they are old enough - with all the names for each year starting with the same letter. Coincidentally this year's letter is "J" so Jacob was perfect (Sharon was also thinking about Jeremy, which would also have worked - but settled on Jacob). After a brief examination, the vet found that Jacob was very dehydrated as he was not old enough to "drink" from a bowl of water, and that he had distemper, which is very contagious and incurable in raccoons. Best option was euthanasia. We feel really bad but know that we did help by providing Jacob with a warm comfy bed for his last night and with a much more comfortable "ending" than he would have had in the wild. When I was younger I thought about becoming a vet as a career, and mentioned to the vet that it was situations like this that made me take a different path - but the vet said that the other 11 baby raccoons that she is currently raising still have a chance because of what she does, and she knows that she is helping Jacob also, so in the end it is very rewarding all-round. Good-bye Jacob, we miss you.

Jacob the Baby Raccoon

The vet was closed, so little Jacob is asleep in a make-shift cage in the garage. All curled up in the blanket and snoring ever so slightly...very cute. They open at 9am, so we will be waiting. I stopped taking pictures cuz of all the flashes - little Jacob didn't like it. So next set of pics will be drop-off day at the vet!

Baby Raccoon - again

And guess who was wandering on the side of the road again tonight?! Yup, little Jacob the baby raccoon (Sharon named him). Sharon called me on her way home to say she had spotted him on the road again but that he was gone by the time she got out of the car to check on him. But he was right there when I got there, so just used the same blanket and box to scoop him up again. At this point we are assuming that little Mr. Houdini got out of the box on his own last night and really doesn't have a Mommy any more - so a quick call and trip to the vet it will be. Now we will get to follow little Jacob's progress and provide regular updates! Ou ou ou - let me get my camera...!

Casting thoughts out into the ether...

Get better Kelly! Best wishes and hopes and prayers to Bruce and the kids - and Gary and Lynda.

Happy you are feeling better little Lucky-Dog, stay well!

Glad to hear things are going well Claude! I had no idea a bone marrow transplant could lead to a change in blood type - cool!

Auntie Joyce - enough with the crappy workmanship you are getting from people you hire to fix your house, I'm going to drag Dad down there with me on my vacation and see if we can fix some of the major stuff!

Jeff - what's up with the New York thing? Hope everything works out...

Mobile Blogging !!!

Cool...

This could get dangerous - could almost become a stream-of-consciousness thing... Had to change my blog template so that I could see the text when accessing from my Blackberry - I like the other template better but the postings appeared as white text on an off-white background - oh well...

Mobile Blogging...?

Apparently if I send an email from my Blackberry to this email address, it will auto-post to my blog... Let's just see about that....

Raccoon - Part 2, the sequel

So the day starts with a little trepidation - what's up with the little furry guy in the box on the side of the road? I am hopeful and ready to pick him up and take him to our vet if necessary, but more hopeful that his Mom came and got him - but also steeling myself for the other possibilities (there are few things worse than starting your day dealing with a dead thing - a mouse in a trap, a bird under the picture window... a baby raccoon wrapped in a blanket in a box by the side of the road...). Sharon left the house first this morning and called me from the car - the box is still there and it looks untouched. Options are reduced to a) he is still in the box and sleeping quietly, or b) he isn't sleeping... Off I go. Hoping/expecting to have to make the trip to the vet, I pull the u-turn before I get out to check the box... looks undisturbed...but there are ants crawling on it - not a good sign in my experience with these types of matters... I carry the box back to the car and put it in the back seat (still hoping for the best). I slowly open the box (in case he has the urge to spring out of the box and lunge at my face) and see... nothing. I start digging around under the blanket (he was small, but not that small...) and still find nothing. Gone. I checked the road and the ditches and all around for (heaven forbid) roadkill - and find nothing. So... I am deciding to believe that Mommy Raccoon came and got her little baby - happy ending - warm fuzzy feeling! Thanks to our vet for the support!

Baby Raccoon

Well, my first real'ish post... On the way home tonight there was a baby raccoon in the middle of the road - looking all lost and cute... so I drove on a bit, but then had to pull a u-turn, and go bach - to find him still wandering around in the middle of the road! So, while I waited for Sharon to catch up with me, little mister (miss?) raccoon wandered off the road and towards a house. While we tried to decide what to do, the home owner (Derek) came out (probably wondering why there were 2 cars with flashing lights in front of his house) - which was good because we could then feel better about walking across his lawn with a blanket to get the raccoon. After several attempts of throwing the blanket over him and grabbing him, finally got him. Derek brought out a box and we were good to go, so off we drove. Our vet is a bit of a raccoon rescue nut, so we called the emergency pager number for some direction. Turns out that the best course of action is to put the baby in a box with a blanket and leave the box near where we think Mommy was hiding (did I mention that I heard some raccoony sounds in the bushes...?) - so, another u-turn and back to the pick-up spot ... to drop off the little guy. Apparently when he gets hungry he will make some little noises and then Mommy will come running and "rip the box apart" to get her little baby. If this doesn't happen and he is still there in the morning, then we should take him to the vet for rehabilitation and foster care (Joe, I might be a little late tomorrow...). More raccoon news in the morning...

well, here we go...

For some unknown reason, Joe has insisted that I start a blog. I believe that he just wants to send the link to his friends so he can say "see look, I told you the guy who sits beside me at work is a knob...!". Who knows, it might be fun...