Not So Fun Surprises

By Carmen

This summer I've been cleaning up our yard.  Mainly picking up all the pinecones, sticks and branches that have fallen in the last six months.  The cosmetic work probably won't really get started until next spring.  I'll post pictures periodically but that's not what this blog is about.

This blog is about the not so fun surprises I've found while working and/or just walking about the yard. Unfortunately I only took pictures of one of these not so fun surprises.

Two weeks ago, I found a snake skeleton in our front yard that was about 2 feet long.

Last week I found a yellow jackets nest in our back yard (for those of you who don't know yellow jackets nest in the ground) while I was dumping out vegetable oil. 

This week I found the biggest black widow I've ever seen in my life in a web just on the side of my house. 

Many of you already know this but I am absolutely terrified of spiders.  Just seeing one the size of a pencil eraser or bigger makes me want to vomit, leaves me feeling crawly for hours and gives me nightmares. Which means I will not be looking at this post again.  Tyler asked me to get closer to it (he was obviously nuts).

I am waiting for Tyler to kill this particular spider so I can go outside without worrying where it is and what it is planning.  They are such sneaking creatures.

Not all of our surprises have been bad.  We have a bird that has been sleeping on the corner of a ledge on our porch for the last few nights.  He doesn't have a nest or anything.  Maybe he's been in the doghouse and just needed a place to crash for a few nights.

Heart Attack Anyone?

By Carmen

Tyler and I went to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 

Luckily we have an awesome babysitter who didn't mind coming over to "watch" Annley while we went to the movie.

Tyler and I enjoyed our evening out but were looking forward to coming back home so we could get a couple hours of sleep before we had to start our day.

We turned on to our street and saw blue and white lights flashing.  Those lights looked like lights from a police car.  Those lights also looked like they were coming from our driveway.  We realized as we got closer that there were two police cruisers outside of our house.

My heart jumped to my throat as unrealistic thoughts about why the police were outside our house popped into my head.  Tyler pulled the car over to call our babysitter to find out what was going on. She did not answer. Thus my heart rate increased to the point that it felt like it would pop out of my chest at any minute.

We finally pulled up in front of our house.  Tyler lowered his window and asked the officer if every thing was okay.

Tyler:  "Evenin Officer,  is everything okay"

Officer: " Everything is fine"

An awkward moment of silence

Me: This is our house is everything okay?"

Officer: "Oh, yes everything is fine.  A neighbor called about the van parked outside your house."

Tyler:  "That's our babysitter's van. We were worried something was wrong with the baby or the babysitter."

Officer: Oh, well everything is fine.

I guess I understand that officers can't really divulge why they are at someone's house at 3AM but that was way more excitement than I could handle for one night.

I'm also glad to know that my neighbors pay close attention to what cars are normally around (granted this van was a large white work van with no windows) and are perfectly fine with calling the police with anything out of the ordinary.