Chitchat

Oh.......my biggest fear........rats or mice. I don't think there is any way I could dispose of one myself or even relax until it was gone. Just the thought sends shivers up my back. What would I do without hubby to do things like that for me. I did not know, you could call someone and have them do it for you!

Heh, my hubby wouldn't touch a rat!! When my boys' hamsters and birds died I was the one who had to remove them from their cages and bury them. Hubby doesn't do well with dead critters It was especially hard with Justin's hamster because the hamsters shared a duplex (one of those fancy two story hamster houses) and he died in the night, and Eric's hamster ate off it's head. I kid you not. They do that. They won't eat each other if they are alive, but if one dies they do It was disgusting Hubby wouldn't even look at it. It was Thanksgiving morning too. I had to tell my youngest son his hamster died and he wanted to see it before I buried it, but I did not want him to see the poor little thing like that. So I lied and said I had already buried him and didn't tell him that Snowball was Goldie's holiday feast!! Ah, the things one goes through as a parent

GEEZ! FC, I totally could not have handled that. I would have had to call someone. Man, I don't know what happens to women when they have kids, but you guys become super-human.

The sanitation guy came this morning and picked up the rat. They're more reliable than the cable co! He just picked it up with his gloves and brought it out. No bag, nothing. Just picked it up and put it in the truck.

I'm told people should not dispose of dead animals themselves, especially rats. I'll tell you, just seeing it there and knowing they're around here freaks me out. This is a REALLY NICE house in a REALLY NICE neighborhood, but next to hills, so occasionally I'll see spiders the size of my hand, and yesterday after seeing the rat, I went to walk the dog, there was a lizard in my path. Sigh. We won't even talk about the crickets I battle every night. Here's the thing: I'm deathly afraid of bugs!

OMG! I can handle a headless hamster AND a rat before I could handle a big spider Seriously, spiders just creep me the hell out big time! I can kill them with my shoe if they are on the floor, but if there is one somewhere and I cannot reach it I am a mess!! I can't sleep if I see one! Don't even get me started on crickets and grasshoppers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, one night I came home and a spider the size of my hand turned upside down came down the walk at me. I freaked so bad and once again called my mommy to calm me down and help me get into the house.

Last night no less than 4 crickets in the house. At night they're all you hear. I bring my bug spray with me (believe it or not, they don't even have a can of it in the house!). I mean, literally, if I didn't have it, I see crickets crawling the hallways nightly!!! I don't know what they're doing about them! It's the fact that they jump that freaks me out so much.

OH! If there's a spider in my room, I will wake up all night and track it. I will get absolutely no sleep until it's gone!

I swear GE, we could be sisters! We have so much in common! I would be walking around with bug spray too if the spiders were that big!! I cannot even imagine In the summer I have to have wasp spray with me all the time because with the daycare the doors get opened a lot and wasps get in (and yellow jackets) because I have flowers in the courtyard by the front door. When I know there is a wasp/bee in the house I hunt it down and nail it with this great stuff that kills them instantly! Why didn't God just stop making bugs after he got done with butterflies and ladybugs

OMG!!! One more reason I don't like hamsters now. I don't like them anyway, because they look like a rat only more furry. This whole topic is disgusting....... One of the most common nesting areas for rats are ground covers. Our neighbors had ivy growing in their backyard......guess what? I freaked at the first rat I saw IN my bird feeder. They would tunnel under the fence. It's been years, the neighbor removed all the ivy, I will never have another bird feeder and I would scream like a banshee if I saw a rat. A mouse will get a little EEEKKK, and then I quickly retreat from where ever I am. Bugs don't bother me, as long as they aren't on me. I must say the scorpions in AZ kind of freak me, and I'm always on the lookout for them when I'm there.

Sky, so funny you mention Scorpions! Hubby and I spent 3 weeks in Tempe AZ. We were thinking about relocating there. I talked to some people and they told me such stories about Scorpions and lizards and Tralantulas NOT to mention 120 degrees in the summer!! That ended that idea

Yes, it does get very warm there, but unless you have to work outside, everything is airconditioned. I think I'd rather put up with HOT over continual cloudy wet days. Of course I can say that, not having lived in AZ, only visited during those very hot periods!

The only thing worse than a dead rat is a live one. Yuck. I have memories of NYC in the summer and seeing rats chasing each other around the outside of our apt. building.

We have those lovely bugs in TX too, but it doesn't get to 120. It DID hit 112 about 5 years ago. We haven't even been above 94 this summer because of all the rain. I like the rain.

We have another new member!

Welcome Badger!!

Hi Badger and welcome!


SO, we STILL don't know if we're going to NY or not and the tix are for a week from Saturday. It's rather difficult to make plans when DH's parents are not really speaking to him. They are the type that are hyper-sensitive and so, get easily offended when DH doesn't call them when he's supposed to. Also DH is NOT a good listener and doesn't remember when he's supposed to call them. It's a pain.

Did I tell you all that we have fleas? It's been a very charming summer down here. Our cat hasn't been out of the house in SEVEN years and was infested. Could be that when we were dogsitting my friend's dogs over here that they brought them in with them, but those dogs don't have fleas, so I'm at a loss. My ankles look unbelievably bad and the itching is driving us crazy.

OH NOZ!! Austin that is terrible! What do you do when that happens? I've never had them. God, I hope we never do Good luck. I don't suppose they make human flea collars??

So sad when parents and children have issues. Hope they can work it out and I hope you get to go to the show!

Today marks 20 years of marriage for hubby and me!! I feel very proud and happy about that! It sure did go fast

Happy Anniversary, FC!

Thank you!

Wow! Twenty years with one person! Color me impressed! Congrats!

Congratulations and mazel tov FC and Mr. FC!

DH and I have made it to 17. It is hard to believe sometimes.

Happy Anniversary FC and Mr. FC!!

Aw, thank you Sky!! That was so sweet!! Thanks GE!

Sadly, it was a bit uneventful as we had a horrid storm and needed to stay and keep an eye on the pumps. We have a lake behind our house and we have flooded 5 times in 3 years. The basement/daycare that is, not the main level. As it is pump 1 blew over night and number 2 kicked in. It is still raining cats and dogs and the boys are going to go swap out the bad pump with a new one. We have NEVER had a summer like this - rain, rain, rain. Usually we have droughts during the dog days and our lawn goes brown. Well, it is one heck of a green lawn this year!!

Anyway, Sat. night we will celebrate! It is suppose to me a nice and dry weekend! Crossing fingers and toes!

OMG! I just found out one of my long time best friends, who is only 49, had a stroke! I cannot believe it Her dad had one about 4 years ago, but he is in his 70's. I am just shocked.

Sorry to hear that FC. It's scary. How is she doing?

A woman on my tennis team had a minor one a couple of months ago (I think she's about 45.) She's doing okay, doesn't really have any aftereffects. She just to take an aspirin every day

The weird thing is that besides being the best player on the team, she also seemed to be the fittest.

My mom's dad died of a stroke is in his early 40s when she was 6. But that was back in the late 30s and there were really no medical procedures to help him back then.

Hi Austin!

I am waiting for an email to let me know. She does not leave close enough for me to visit. I'm sure I'll get an email when her hubby gets the chance.

Glad to hear your friend is doing OK. My friend was also athletic and in good shape. I guess that doesn't matter sometimes. The president of a company I used to work for died of a massive heart attack at 45. He was very athletic, in great shape, was a health food nut, and had just finished his morning run (he ran every single morning) came home to change into his suit for work and dropped to his bedroom floor and died. We were all so shocked. Ever since Pete I realized it can just happen to anyone.

WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I is here.

Just busy getting ready for our little trip (instead of NY we're going to NM).

Brought my lovely minivan in today to get an oil change and a general checking out because of the long trip. OF COURSE, I needed 2 new tires desperately. $$$. I ended up being there almost 3 hours.

I am a little stressed so I'm going to try to relax.

Hope you all are doing well.