Squirrel homicide

Until this spring, in 5.5 years of living at the Nichols homestead, I have had to clean up 1 dead rabbit, 1 dead possum, and 1 dead bird from the backyard. So that is approximately 3 dead animals in 5 years. This morning I found another dead squirrel out in the yard- which is 2 dead animals in the same week and both squirrels.

Just to make it even more convenient, I was watching my 18-month old Goddaughter, Maria, so we were playing ball with the dogs and running around the backyard when I looked over and spotted the carcass... awesome. I scooped up dead squirrel #2 in a shovel as Maria pointed and giggled (I don't think she realized it was dead) and then went back to saying "Dog woof woof" and giggling with delight as Suzie ran around chasing her ball. Not sure who killed this squirrel- maybe the BOC are having a squirrel killing competition... Although I really hope this second squirrel homicide would convince the neighborhood squirrels not to mess with the BOC and to stay out of my yard.

Aside from the dead squirrel, my morning with Maria rocked. Maria's mom had to attend a last minute meeting for work and didn't have a sitter, so I felt it was my civic duty (and a great excuse to play hookey) to step in and hang out with Maria :) We played a lot of ball with the dogs, ran through the dandelions, mowed the front yard (me mowing, Maria in the backpack saying "grass" into my ear every minute or so), discovered the dungeon trap door in the castle and the "fishhhh"on the basement stairs. And she said my name "Reenie" ... I think she's a keeper.

Anyone else have a desperate need for a babysitter on a gorgeous sunny day??

Listening

I stumbled across this a few weeks ago and it strikes such a chord with me, over and over again. So I thought I'd share it.

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, argument, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence know. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to other and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you. -Bread for the Journey By Henri J. M. Nouwen-

Answered Prayer

Sometimes I forget that God really does answer prayer. I certainly believe in the power of prayer and believe that God hears me, but it is great to get concrete reminders once in awhile.
This week's answered prayers:
The Love Doc got an amazing job we've been praying for. Yay!! He and his family have been waiting a very long time for this and he just landed a job in his field, in a beautiful part of the country, and near other friends and family. I've been praying for the job situation for them daily for a long time now, and look! God is good!! (Warning: in the months ahead I will be lamenting them moving so far away, but for now I'll just rejoice that he got a terrific job).
The Good Life returns to Michigan! My friend and former housemate Andrea and her husband Kevin have been praying for an opportunity to move back to Michigan from NY. Lo and behold, this week's big news is that Kevin landed a job right here in Ann Arbor and they will be moving back in June! I've been praying for this for awhile, and sure enough, God hears and answers!! I'm pretty excited to have them back in town, not to mention their dog Buck as a friend for my BOC, and they are expecting a baby too... seriously I couldn't ask for more :D
Next Up:
The BOC learn to scoop the yard, the grass miraculously grows, I win the lottery (without even buying a ticket) and Prince Charming rides up on a white stallion... stay tuned...

A few things

A few things to note from my crazily busy (and amazingly unproductive) weekend:

Not on the schedule: Dead squirrel
It was rather a shock (you know how type A I am and how I like planning things in advance). Anyway, I’d walked out in the backyard to do something and there was the Suze jumping and barking up the pine tree. Now the pine trees frequently host squirrels who like to antagonize the BOC. They’ll sit up in the tree, just out of reach, chattering and scolding, while the dogs go crazy barking and jumping under the tree. Anyway, Suzie definitely had a thing going with this particular small squirrel who was doing the usual scolding from the pine tree. And then, right before my eyes, it ran down the trunk to the ground where Suzie was waiting, she almost got it, but it scurried right back up again. Wow, I thought, how dumb can squirrels be? Moments later, that same dumb squirrel ran back down to the ground in an attempt to make it 6 feet over to the other pine tree. But he wasn’t fast enough. Before my eyes, Suzie grabbed him, shook him a few times, and I yelled for her to come. The squirrel twitched a few times as she came over to see what I was worked up about. I was hoping he’d miraculously spring back to life and go up the tree, but it was too late. I took the dogs inside and asked Uncle D to dispose of the carcass as I was supposed to be running out the door to a bridal shower (for his fiancé). Oh yeah, and I told Suzie that although I don’t blame her for her carnal instincts, I would appreciate it if in the future she’d remember not to kill stuff in the backyard where I have to deal with remains. She apologized and went to take her nap.

Woman Power
A friend of mine was making some display boards for selling her homemade hair bows. But her husband was out of town, so she needed some assistance putting it all together. We found the circular saw and cut the boards to the appropriate lengths, drilled holes, screwed in the hinges, attached the chains, etc. The display boards looked great at the end, and it is always kind of fun being three women in the garage playing with the husband’s power tools. Even more fun was the call to said husband who said “The circular saw? I’m just kinda surprised you had it out.” Haha. Women can use power tools, thank you very much.

The End of an Era
Well, mostly the end anyway. We had our last Life Night for the year, and my last on Core team. It's kinda fun that we did the Trial, which I helped rewrite about 8 years ago and have performed in 3 different times now. Doing it again brought back a lot of memories of previous times and Core teams of long past and all the funny memories from various years. This year has been a very blessed year on Core with a lot of amazing people, God is good. And yet it is time to move forward and I am very at peace with my decision to retire, although I will miss a lot of things about it, the Core team, the kids, LT Mass, all of it. So here's to the close of a great year and prayers for God's continuing work in LT in the coming year.

Grass People

Last weekend I had a stark realization... maybe it wasn't such a shock, in fact, maybe I've had this same realization before, but neverless, it felt like a first time thing this past weekend... the realization: I am not a grass person. I'm no good at grass. And I do not mean the grass you smoke, I mean the grass that most people manage to grow in their yards. I am not good at growing grass. Grass? you ask. How hard is grass? Isn't grass what everyone does? Sigh. Its true friends, I am no good at grass. I may putter hours away all year on my flowers, my vegetable gardens... not that I'm any sort of green thumb genius, but I can at least get by and grow those things. I have more plants in my house than I can count that I somehow manage to keep alive. But grass? just plain ordinary grass, I have to talent for. And maybe I have no talent for it because I have little inspiration for it. I certainly enjoy mowing the grass on the weekends- although my enjoyment is probably more the excuse to be outside and less the actual grass cutting. But seriously I'm just downright ashamed of my grass growing skills and am beginning to dispair of ever having a decent, grassy looking yard.

At this moment, half of the front yard, closest to the driveway, is rather sparse sad looking grass. It doesn't grow well and has a few bare patches thanks to our run in with grubs and the skunks who tear up your yard looking for grubs to eat. Last year I managed to poison the grubs, but the yard still bears the scars. The right of way between the sidewalk and the street still won't grow grass since the city replaced the sidewalk 3 years ago! I've tried a few times, but the soil is bad and I lose interest and neglect it, so no grass has really taken root and stuck around. Not to mention the backyard! The back yard grass was sad when I moved in and is sadder still now. The 6 huge pine trees that I hate continue to keep the ground clear under and around them, and seem to spread their piney influence further into the yard each year. There are dog paths, random bare patches, horrible very compacted soil, and about a zillion dandelions. But grass? just plain ordinary grass? Not so much.

When I drive through my neighborhood I am comforted to realize my yard is certainly not the worst yard around, there are several yards that look much more neglected than mine, and there are some right about the same as mine. But there are also some beautiful, weed free, lush, green, grassy yards that make me drool (like my neigbhor Marie's yard). They make me wish I was good at grass, but still no more interested in spending more time on the grass than on the flowers, vegetables, and houseplants.

Sigh. I guess we can't all be grass people.

Maybe in my quest for a spouse I should add that to the list of necessary qualifications, you know:

-Catholic

-loves kids

-tolerates bitches

-good with grass...

Hmmmm

It's 7.45 AM, I made it to Mass at St Andrews, and am now sitting at my computer, but not wanting to actually start working until 8... so here I sit pondering life and trying to come up with an inspired post... hmmm... (pauses, drinks more coffee)... It has been one of those insane weeks where I have something going every night of the week... all good stuff, but still feels crazy not having one evening at home, to catch up on life, baby my seedlings, bike with the BOC, do laundry, ahhhhhh. Sometimes I feel months behind on my own life, or maybe years behind, I don't know.

Softball starts tonight, I'm pretty excited. Although I am not a good player by any stretch of the imagination, it is always a blast to get together with friends and play ball. It's nice to have something in common we're all playing, working on, talking about. Nonetheless, it is always kind of an organizational headache trying to get teams figured out, schedules out, fees paid, etc. I'm looking forward to actually playing after a few weeks of all the mayhem.

Friday is another local drama- so far 2 down, 3 to go (and all 3 of those are happening this weekend). This weekend is HSC's Pride and Prejudice. I'm sure it will be a brilliant success- the director is my aunt's sister and always does an amazing job with these things, and I know most of the kids in the play, which always adds to the fun.

Saturday is a bridal shower for my sister-in-law-to-be. I'm looking forward to the shower, although I'm wishing it was on a Sunday rather than a Saturday because Saturdays are my one at home productive day... or at least have to potential to be. I'm sure the shower will be fun (especially since there are no shower games involved) and it is a sure sign this wedding is coming up fast! Then Sat night my sister is in Alice in Wonderland with her homeschool group so I'll be heading out to that, and as an added bonus the play is at Liberty school, practically in my backyard. and somewhere in there I need to purify and iron the altar linens which are due back at church Sunday... hmmmm.

Sunday we meet really early to practice our Life Teen trial, then Mass, then the trial. and my official last life night of the season, although we still have the baccalaureate Mass and dinner coming up in a couple weeks.

I have a feeling I may need a day off to recover from the weekend and catch up on some stuff at home, although I'm not quite sure how I'll manage that :D