13, 14, 15: A Quick Math Lesson

     +          = 

 

 

This is just soooooo WRONG!  Let’s be clear – they’re not IN the house, but they’re pretty much all over the outside on the south side of the house where it’s warmest right now.

You can see all the icky blood and guts on #13 to the left…it wouldn’t die!  My neighbor finally came over and took pity on me, informing me that you need to chop it at the head before it’ll die.

 

 

I somehow managed to kill #14 to the right here while it was peeking out at me from this little crevice in front of the garage.  It’s still there, which is good because that means it really did die right away.

 

 

#15, who had been peeking out and witnessed the demise of its other family members, just as I was sucking in a big breath for yet another scream, beat a hasty retreat in another crevice before I could get to him.  But his days are numbered. 

I should mention that the number of snakes this spring is a combination of those at my house and those next door at the neighbors.  Now she’s a real trooper – when she’s around she comes over and kills mine because I really have a tough time being anywhere near them.  And said neighbor actually had one get IN her house a couple years ago, so we are diligent about trying to control this from the onset.  I actually felt bad about killing the other ones; it’s not their fault they were born snakes.  I know they’re not poisonous and they don’t hurt anything or anyone, but GROOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS!  So I may feel bad but not bad enough to let them live.  Sorry to any animal rights activists reading this; they may not cause physical harm but they definitely cause mental anguish.

In between my snake escapades I did manage to get one of my sock swap socks done; the other is on the needles right now.  Still love this pattern! 

I also start my lace class on Monday, and need to get a baby blanket done for my MN-Knice charity group on Ravelry (though I’m still waiting for my Mo-EZ crochet hooks so I can get started on the baby blanket; probably a good thing they haven’t arrived so I can get the other sock done).

 

It’s another pretty nice day here (mid-60’s) so of course the windows are open and a nice breeze is coming through in the office along with beautiful spring music:  

 

 

“I just want to say hi – I promise!” 

 

Good thing there’s a screen there.

 

Just Because I Could…It’s About Damn Time

 

 

 

 Sitting on the deck soaking up the SUN

 

 

 

 

 

 

…appropriately working on the Saucy Spring Socks!!

 

 

 

 

Just because I FINALLY CAN!

Raised From The Dead

I’ve mentioned before that my husband is a phenominal cook…well he also has a beautifully green thumb and can do wonders with landscaping!  Though it hasn’t been my strong suit in the past, I have learned a great deal from him over the years on what goes well together (colors, height, bloom times, etc.) and how to take care of things.  Actually, my unwritten job IS to take care of the annuals and perennials and do a pretty good job of it.  But there’s always the exception:

We make a trip once a year down to a nursery in the Twin Cities called Gerten’s; biggest nursery/landscaping place I personally have ever seen.  You name it, they have it.  LOVE this place.  So last year we make our trip and are loading up our carts with mostly perennials since husband also likes to move things around 2-3 times each summer (front yard to back yard, back yard to up front, left side of trees to right side of trees, you get the picture) which always creates some open spaces.  My job is to say “I like that” and then he reads about it and determines whether or not it will work.  We get done, pay, and are both scratching our heads walking back to the car with our purchases wondering how in the world our bill got to be so high.  We’re going over the receipt line by line when we notice that one particular little tiny bush was 75 freaking dollars!!  It was no bigger than a large grapefruit! 

 It’s a Fern Leaf Peony – isn’t it cool??!!  This is what it is supposed to look like eventually.  The one we purchased had about 3 bulbs on it that we thought looked quite eager to bloom for us.  After about a month of wondering why they didn’t look like they were progressing at all, I started reading up on care of them and the first thing it said was that you need to be careful not to saturate them with too much water.  Well guess where we planted it?  In one (of two) spots between us and our neighbors that get double the watering of anywhere else because we water and so does the neighbor, and the areas between our houses get double the watering.  There’s not a lot we can do about it because this also happens to be a spot where the GRASS desperately needs the water to keep it green, so…another month goes by and we finally determined that we KILLED IT!  It’s looking all icky and slimy and…dead.  Really bummed, but we tend to learn from our mistakes.

So imagine our absolute shock – and joy – to discover this yesterday while starting to do some of our spring landscape cleaning: 

IT’S COMING BACK!!  And look how many of them there are (we counted 10).  IT’S A MIRACLE!  I do realize that sometimes it takes a year or even two for some plants to really take to their environment (i.e., we have a few dwarf lilac bushes that didn’t really take off until their 2nd full year here) and I thank GOD that maybe this is one of them!!  I feel like I’ve been given a second chance to raise this little guy, and hopefully better than the first attempt.  So I have about 4 sites bookmarked that all deal with Fern Leaf Peonies and am ready to shower it with TLC!

It’s also nice to see the Day Lilies coming up, too.  I leave a lot of the early-season chores to husband because as the weather gets warmer now, and the bulbs start to come out of hiding for the season, we also have some UNinvited guests doing the same thing:  snakes!  So if I’m forced to have to go anywhere near the yard (like to take these pictures) for the next probably 4-6 weeks, I carry this big sharp spade-looking thingy with me everywhere I go so I can defend myself.  And yes I HAVE had to ginsu a few in the past; I tried the catch and release thing, but that only worked for about 3 seconds in my head – my arms were faster and smarter.

Here’s another example of TLC…it’s all in the eyes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And TLC that’s addicting… I am seriously in love with these socks!  These are the “Saucy Socks” for our Saucy Spring Sock Swap that officially kicked off (partners assigned) on Saturday.  The pattern is very easy and knits up quite quickly, which is great because I can get a few pairs done in a short period of time – one for my partner and a couple for me!

Just For Giggles

What Not To Knit…

If you’ve never been out to this site – check it out; if you have then I know you keep going back for new content because it’s pretty darn funny, especially some of the commentary!

This one in particular really cracked me up – it’s titled Foreskin, and I guess that’s a pretty accurate description of what these things look like…WHATEVER they are:

Love From Husband

My husband gave me this card tonight…I’ve saved all of the cards he has ever given me since we first started dating.  This one…this one really is the best; I actually cried reading it.

         

AND, as if that weren’t enough, he’s sending me to a lace knitting class at Double Ewe starting at the end of the month!!