Leanne Wildermuth : Artist by Nature » Life, Love, and Critters

Life, Love, and Critters – of course!

Squirrely Woes

June

2007

We have a sick squirrel. I think she’s a she, so I’m calling her a she. Or a her, depending on the context. Go with me on this one. She is wobbly, and I’m talking she can’t even sit on her hind legs to eat without looking punch drunk. Her eyes are swollen (compared to all of our other 10 nutty guests) and she has a really hard time moving forward. So much so that she kindof tumbles forward into a heap and picks herself back up.

Part of me wanted to try to capture her and have our animal control officer take her and put her down, since I think she has to be suffering – but then I look at her, she’s plump, eating just fine – and making her way around and up the trees without falling off. Ugh. It’s heartbreaking to see her like this, and worse to think that if this is something viral. What if the other squirrels become afflicted?

I’m picturing ten really crazy lookin’ squirrels wandering around aimlessly in my backyard doing somersaults. One of them gets up, wobbles over to another one, pushes him over and the rest point and laugh as he falls down and can’t get up. Then they see a human and they all run for cover but because their eyes are swollen they collide in a heap and above the pile of delirious squirrels there’s a big cloud of crazy characters like this:

because they’re all totally dazed and confused. Then they manage to get untangled from eachother, and rubbing the bumps on their heads they hobble cockeyed over to a tree, except it’s my leg, and they start climbing and OW! THAT HURTS! They still have very sharp little nails.

It could happen.

Update: I noticed two more squirrels this morning who have some sort of thing going on with their ears. I’ll call animal control in the morning and find out what I can do.

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Filed under: A Little Squirrely, Chit Chat

Anyway

June

2007

“Anyway” by Martina McBride

You can spend your whole life buildin’
Something from nothin
One storm could come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You could chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn’t always turn out like i think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This worlds gone crazy
And it’s hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all you heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
love em anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn’t always turn out like i think it should
But I do it anyway
Yeah I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singin’
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love anyway yheah , yheah.

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Filed under: Chit Chat

Dell Dude Gets a Little Squirrely

June

2007

Some of you may have ordered your very own Climby Squirrel t-shirt, many of you have not. Ahem.

Back in March, I had a dilemma (or should I say Dellimma?). I had a few hundred squirrely photos, and not enough room on my hard drive for them all. I decided to back up my photos to CD, but didn’t have a DVD write drive. Enter Dell Dude, who suggested I make apparel with my squirrels. He also really really wanted a free shirt. So because I’m really super awesome (I am too), I procrastinated forever (because honestly, I paid for that DVD write drive, is it too much to hope to get a little lovin’ with the greenbacks in return?). A girl can only pretend to be aloof and forget all about it for so long, you know.

I finally got the shirt sent off. One for him, and one for me. Mine arrived last weekend, so I knew it wouldn’t be long before Dell Dude opened up a strange little package from CafePress and found a squirrel ready to leap off of 100% cotton in hopes of a peanut, or maybe even a free DVD write drive.

I love my Climby Squirrel shirt, by the way. It is so wicked that my kids were pouty that they didn’t get one. My photograph/design is printed direct, which means there’s no wierd transfer paper outline – it looks unbelievably cool. In fact, I wore it to the grocery store and people were looking at me funny. Okay so that in itself isn’t entirely unusual, but I am going to attribute that particular days worth of strange glances to the shirt. It works for me.

In an effort to get all of you slackers fabulous people into one of these cool shirts for the summer, I’m going to give you a little incentive. Click the little button below and send over $25 for the cost of the shirt and the shipping. I’ll do the ordering and have it shipped to me, then I’ll personally sign it with my big fancy relatively famous “L” autograph and forward it on to you for your wearing pleasure.

I’ll just need you to tell me which one and what size. Sound fun? I thought so.

:end shameless begging for cash:

Oh and hey? If you want one of my other photos on a shirt instead? Just pick one.

I’ll hook you up.

Special thanks to Dell Dude for sharing himself with the internet. He’s way better than that guy they have doing the PC dude on the Mac commercials, isn’t he? I think so. (BTW, that’s my favoritest commercial ever, in the whole wide world.)

I’ll share myself getting squirrely just as soon as I get my shirt through the wash again.

Oh and one more thing. I broke down and bought a Maxtor 300Gig external Hard Drive. (Sorry Dell Dude, I had like 1000 new squirrel photos and not nearly enough DVD’s or cases to put ’em in.)

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Filed under: A Little Squirrely, Available for Purchase, Hahaha! That's Funny., The Photog in Me

Holy Peonies

May

2007

Do you have peonies in your yard, or have someone living nearby who does? Are they slumped over to the ground? Go. Go grab your clippers, find a vase or a pitcher and cut them. (If they’re your neighbors, ask first, and give them a vase full, too!)

These are the most beautiful spring flowers, and they make such glorious bouquets. I stop by my peony bouquets several times a day and just breathe them in, their scent is so sweet and soothing. The girls do it, too.

There’s your Sunday Challenge. Go find a peony bush and cut yourself a bouquet before they’re done for the season. Don’t leave them on the plant to droop and wither unsmelled and underappreciated. If you find them at a neighbors house, ask them if they mind. Peonies are definitely meant to be cut, meant to be enjoyed. Their foliage is wonderful and full and lasts all season without their flowers, too.

Next years batch ought to yield well over 5 vases full of whites and pinks. I’ll be the neighborhood peony bandit, leaving bouquets on the doorsteps of (almost) all the neighbors. (almost. heh.)

Happy Sunday!

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Filed under: Home n' Hearth, The Great Outdoors

A New Dyson!

May

2007

buy a dyson dc07 Bob Barker may as well have shown up on my doorstep the day before yesterday and exclaimed my prize, because this is the coolest toy I have ever played with!

It all started when my hubby was going over his Priority Club points. He has a ton, because he travels a lot and always uses the same hotel chain. He started browsing the cool catalog of goodies you could cash your points in on, and my eyes lit up when I saw this Dyson DC07 for mmmfty hundred thousand points.

See, he didn’t know that late at night, during several of my virtual shoppingcartaholic frenzies, I have added that exact model to my cart only to end my session before sealing the deal. I mean, I wanted it and all, but I have a perfectly wonderful Kirby that has served me well and I’m a little afraid of it, too, because it’s 100 pound engine has smashed my toes on plenty of occasions. Not to mention the mmmfty thousand dollars I spent on it years ago. I couldn’t justify it in my head. I’m justifiable, I am. And sometimes even certifiable, but let’s not go there right now.

I digress.

I pointed and giggled and gasped and then pleaded that he cash in our summer vacation worth of points on this yellow dirt sucker upper, and so he did. And so it was. And here it is, and I pink puffy heart it, and I am also a little embarassed because this photo means one of two things. Or both. You be the judge.

I suck as a housewife and/or
my Kirby has lost it’s ooompf.

Those are pretty sad options. Let me add one more. Yes. I must.

Dyson’s rock.

I called my good friend over to see it and be my witness to it’s awesomeness. I was still assembling the thing when she got here, and it took me a few minutes to figure out the Euro way of building something. Here’s a tip: Read the dang instructions. Don’t think that you can figure it out all by yourself because it’s just a vacuum cleaner – because it’s not. Heh.

Then the fun began.

I vacuumed the living room and woah. That picture? Is the dirt out of my carpet after cleaning approximately 80 square feet. Seriously. And ouch. That hurts. Quit glaring at me with those “don’t you EVER vacuum?!” eyes. I just buy really cool floors that you can’t see dirt on, so it tends to slip my mind until goo sticks to my feet. I might just consider vacuuming more often now, though.

So I flip the little bare floor nobbie and head into the kitchen and dining room. I flip the nobbie back to carpet and get the rug under the dining room table. All is going perfectly well and I am impressed as all get out with this thing. Until.

Yes there is an until.

I’m standing there looking at the thing, trying to figure out (all by myself) how to detach the thing to empty the container. I pull this doohickey and push another, and the front comes off. Great! Cool! Now where’s the thing to take the clear container off to empty it?! Well, just as I said that to my good friend, the bottom opened up – and all of the yucky junk I just picked up? It landed on my feet. I kid you not. That’s when I told her “great! I’m doing an infomercial now! Watch as the incredibly awesome Dyson picks up the dirt not just once, but twice! Woohoo!”

It’s my own dang fault. I should have read the instructions.

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Filed under: Home n' Hearth

Curb Appeal

May

2007

BEFORE:

ALMOST AFTER:

I call the second one an almost after because there’s still some work to be done. But wow, you know? It didn’t take much more than a lot of labor, a little lumber and a few cans of spray paint to do what we’ve done so far. The grass has filled in where the old flowers were on the left – the new raised planting bed is filling in with asiatic lilies, silver mound, iris, gerbera daisies, hydrangea, giant sunflowers (they’re about 6 inches tall in the left corner by the evergreen), nastrium (however you spell it), wave petunias, mexican sunflowers, bachelor buttons, stargazers, english daisies and a few other small annuals. I’ll get a better shot of that when the seedlings are further along and flowering.

The center blue bed is empty now aside from a few weeds, that one will go away and be replaced by a near ground level deck in the same green treated lumber, a small patio table or bench with a couple of hummingbird attracting potted plant arrangements.

The wave petunias and gerbera daisies in the planter box we built are really taking off. you can see the difference from then til now:

It’s doing just what I thought it would. I love it when that happens!

As for me and my brood, summer vacation has begun. I heard “I’m bored” and “I’m hungry” too many times the first 6 hours yesterday, so if my posts start to sound mumbly or incoherent, I’m sure those of you with children home on summer vacation will understand the multi-tasking brain power involved in working from home and mothering at the same time. I will try not to let them break me down. heh!

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Filed under: Home n' Hearth

Grampa Grackle

May

2007

I wish I could tell you that I’ve never met a bird I didn’t like. Thanks to Grandpa Grackle, uttering those words would be a big fat lie.

I don’t know the lifespan of many birds – but I’m really curious about this one. He’s been around for a few years now, intimidating other birds, hoarding the feeders, dominating the bird bath. Grackles are known for preying on sparrows, pecking them in the head just behind their eyes and eating their brains. Yes. I’ve seen them in pursuit. I’ve discarded their leftovers. I know this is normal behavior, and I know that if they didn’t do it, the sparrow population would be overwhelming.

This guy, though. He’s just plain mean. You can tell he’s in charge, he bosses the other grackles around, too. He’s been bald for a few years, so he’s not hard to identify. I figure he has to be the leader of the pack – and his baldness is his battle scar. He reminds me of that mean old rabbit Bigwig on Watership Down.

The girls call Grampa Grackle evil. I have to agree. He scares them – in fact when I was uploading images with Chickeymonkey on my lap, she turned her head away from his photos. We’re a nature loving family – but we’re all in agreement on this one. He’s one critter we just do not like. In fact I’d love to see this pretty girl swooping in to carry him off for lunch one of these days. heh.

What do you think? Should I give the poor bird a break, or does he creep you out as much as he does me?

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Filed under: Chit Chat, The Great Outdoors

The Rainbow

May

2007

Last Saturday, I waited with my neighbor as the ambulance came to pick her up and start more agressive treatments to help her breathe at the hospital. I knew then that she wouldn’t be returning home.

She was diagnosed a couple of years ago and told she had about 6 months to live before her lungs would give out. She’d been on oxygen since then, breathing became her biggest effort and took every ounce of strength she had in the end.

Mid week last week, I received a call from her daughter that she had decided to stop treatments and signed a DNR, and that she’d be transferred to the hospice care floor in the hospital. On Friday night, I returned home to a message that my neighbor was not doing well in hospice care.

Keep reading »

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Filed under: Home n' Hearth

Happy Mother’s Day!

May

2007

To all the mom’s out there today, I hope that you get to have your cake and eat it, too. I wish for you a bicker-free day. A day where your children excitedly cross something off of your to-do list for you.

Cherish those big hugs and kisses from your kids, and notice the subtle hints of appreciation from your hubby for the things that you do to take care of your family.

Grab a fork, or a shovel, or some mulch or something – and enjoy!

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Filed under: Home n' Hearth, The Photog in Me