Finally, after at least three weeks, I am starting to feel like a normal person again. Who knew that I would inwardly celebrate when I felt capable of doing my laundry? Who knew that I yearned to be able to do something other than sit blankly staring at my computer all day and pretend to knit things that never got done?
I even went to the grocery store! One day I might even work up to being able to do two errands on the same trip! And even now, my poor neglected kitchen sink is bathing luxuriously in Clorox, to be followed by a steel-wool loofah, a Windex facial and a nice towel massage until it is wonderfully shiny again.
I'm on the second repeat of the Mary Tudor pattern, but won't risk losing my stitches off the ends of the needles for another picture right now. Those handy little end-stoppers one gets at the yarn store never stick around here. I think they're allergic to the cat, perhaps.
Remember Lewis & Clark, our local Racoon Mafia? They now have children. Beady-Eye Joe, Ruby "Ringtail" and Fat Freddie. They sit on the back deck eating the dog food and watching us watch them. I wonder what they'll do now that we brought the dog food canister inside.
Posted by Sheila at September 30, 2005 08:08 AM Posted to Lewis & Clark | Life | Mary Tudor Fair Isle Cardigan | TrackBackUh...so wouldn't that be LOUISE and Clark then?
Posted by: kim on September 30, 2005 09:16 AMWhy yes, yes it would!
Posted by: Sheila on September 30, 2005 09:24 AMI think there were raccoons in my yard the other night. When I went out back to feed the fish, there were a large quantity of suspiciously-shaped footprints on the protective screen over the pond. They definitely weren't cat prints; these prints had distinctive, elongated toes (fingers?). All the fish were safe, but I'm worried now that a little masked fisherbandit is stalking them.
Posted by: Beth S. on September 30, 2005 09:37 AMSounds likely... I'm glad the pond is covered and I hope it is secure! All the people around here who have ponds have trouble because of the blue herons... but it's hard to say whether I enjoy watching fish or blue herons more :-)
Posted by: Sheila on September 30, 2005 10:17 AMRaccoons: Here is my story. I began feeding an ALBINO raccoon who showed up in our bird feeder. Beautiful thing. Also apparently quite the friendly animal because in a week i was feeding 3 raccons. They started showing up earlier and earlier (six, six thirty) and tried clawing their way into the house via the screens. And the now closed cat door (after two came in via c.d. and took a tour around the house one night). I decided, after several more (5) showed up to eat, that this was getting a leeeetle bit out of hand.
Everything i read said do NOT try to trap and release into the wild, as urban raccoons released die in greater numbers in the wild than in the city. If you are feeding them STOP feeding them. Now. No No don't cut down gradually. STOP feeding them. NOW.
so i stopped, closed the blinds and felt like crap abandoning them. But they seems ok and their numbers are increasing so I didn't murder them after all.
I guess there is no point to this story. Glad you are feeling better again.
tanya
Oh raccoons - hope they don't scratch the door! Up here on Vancouver Island it is the DEER that are a pest - they will come right to my porch and eat plants on it.
Glad to hear the sink is getting shiny. It was through reading your blog here that I found Flylady. Baby steps:)
Really enjoy reading your blog - both for the projects and for the extra bits. Thanks.
Oh, dear. You have been marked as a soft touch by the raccoon community. Just like the hobos during the Depression who would chalk a fence with a secret sign that meant "nice lady who will give you a sandwich lives here," those racoons have got your number.
A lady down the hill from us (who lives on many wooded acres with a large pond) is our local racoon-enabler (she has about 30 coming every evening to eat cat food). I see a mother racoon and her three kits lope across our dead-end street at dusk every evening, heading to "Betty's Deck & Diner."
Enjoy your bandit friends. I love the Tudor!
Posted by: martha on September 30, 2005 01:02 PMSheila-
I'm glad you're getting better. I have had my bad days...weeks...months... and eventually the funk washes off. Celebrate those two errand days. Now you'll never take them for granted again.
Posted by: Christina on September 30, 2005 01:34 PM