Raccoon Adventure Continues

I had an opportunity to catch a raccoon twice last night. The first time one was all the way in the trap and one was outside. I hoped the 2nd one would also go in but instead the 1st one came out and they both walked off. They were acting a little agitated.
I went to sleep on the recliner in hopes that they might return and at 12:15 the motion sensor beeped and woke me up. This time 4 of them showed up including the big mama. Only 1 small one went in the cage and again I waited. I don’t know how many days if any we will be here and I’d like to get as many raccoons as I can moved so they don’t eat all the cat food. The other 3 were just walking around instead of feeding. All the food was in the trap so I had hoped at least 1 more would enter but once again the 1 inside came out and they all left. I gave up and went to bed.

This morning when I remembered to check my live animal trap I found it had a small raccoon in it. I think that is the reason all the others were acting strangely last night instead of eating. They all had to pass by the live trap and maybe the little guy was in it.

I released him in the usual spot and he dashed away without stopping to look back.

Today I assembled and tested out the new shop vac, mowed the lawn (I’m doing that every 2-3 days), trimmed back the basil and just made sure everything was caught up around here.

We did lunch for the first time at a little place called The Corner Café. It is housed in a building that used to be a hairdresser’s. They served salads and sandwiches. I had a turkey, ham, bacon on a hoagie bun. It was big and it was good. Now we have another lunch place close to home.

Still no baby.

You Catch Some, You Lose Some

Around 9 o’clock last night there seemed to be a lot of commotion indicated by the motion sensors. Since we had no raccoons for 3 nights I didn’t have the trap set. When I looked out there were 5 raccoons chowing down. I shooed them away and set the trap and went inside.

Just after bedtime the motion sensor beeped—there was a raccoon in the trap. I went out to the sunroom and tripped the trap and caught the raccoon. Then I went back to bed.

This morning I went out to check the trap and it was empty—with no obvious way that he got out. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to make a release run.

A little later I realized that I hadn’t checked the live animal trap. When I did there was a raccoon in it. A very wet raccoon since we just had a heavy rain.

So I had to make the release run after all. This little raccoon was a nasty one. He would snarl and snap at me any time I got close to the cage. When he snapped he made a barking sound. It was scary.

I was super-cautious when I released him. I opened th cage door with a rope from 10 feet away to release him. It took him about 10 minutes to figure out the door was open and when he did he just slowly walked out, looked around and walked off.

I did some last minute futile preparation for this afternoon’s fantasy football draft and then headed to Sears to buy a replacement for my wet/dry vac that started dying 2 years ago and finally gave up the ghost 3 or 4 months ago. They had a great deal going on one that listed for $119.99. It was on sale for $99 with an additional $10 for craftsman club members and an additional 10% ($9) for using my Sears card.

Penny and I sat side by side, each with a cup of tea, while we participated in our fantasy football league draft. I’ve enjoyed fantasy football. It makes football games much more interesting.

Still no baby.

Slow Saturday

After having no raccoons for 3 nights—I just looked out to find 5 of them feasting on the cats’ food. So I set the trap again and now have to decide if I’m going on raccoon watch again.

We did our usual visit to Waffle House this morning and then I spent the rest of the day doing house and yard stuff.

Yesterday I found 3 big caterpillars on my1 remaining parsley plant. Today they were gone along with most of the plant but I was treated to seeing 1 butterfly circle the plant and then quickly deposit an egg on it.

Baby watch continues.

Friday--The wait Continues

Karen called this morning to say she was not in labor.

Penny dreamed that Saturday will be the day.

Christy dreamed Karen called her at work—which means a weekday.

I don’t have a clue. Maybe she will go into labor on Monday again.

More snippets—10 years ago I took out long-term-care insurance for both Penny and me. I opted for a feature that automatically increased coverage to match inflation with no increase in premium. Each year I get a letter showing the increased coverage and proudly stating that there is no increase in the premium. Yesterday I got a letter saying that a new 8-year contract was awarded to a new insurance company and the company and the Govt have determined that the premium for policies with this automatic feature should be raised—go figure. I paid a slightly higher premium for that guarantee and now find that what they really meant was it can change with a contract change. I can’t wait until they get control of health care.

There were no signs this morning of any raccoon activity overnight.

We did Target on Wednesday this week and Waffle House this morning (Friday) since Penny thinks the baby is coming tomorrow. If we are here in the morning we will probably do Waffle House again. Life is good.

Thursday Snippets

Once again I’m having correspondence with a couple companies about their products. Yesterday I received 3 tubes of a prescription gel NSAID for my thumbs. Evidently the stuff had been sitting in the hot delivery truck for quite a while. The tubes were quite warm so I decided to measure their temperature with the digital kitchen thermometer. The result—103.2 degrees. The box said that 86 deg was OK. So I e-mailed the prescription mail service (Medco) and complained, questioning the effectiveness of the medicine after being exposed to that temp. They called me today and after trying to convince me the stuff was OK agreed to send replacements. I have to return the ones I got. There’s no reason to believe the new shipment will be any better but I had to complain. The previous company that served our medical plan (Caremark) would send temperature sensitive prescriptions in packages with blue ice.

The second item is one of the wireless security cameras I bought had an electrical defect that caused the picture to wash out. I e-mailed the company instead of just mailing it back. Today I got an e-mail asking me to forward my receipt and they may just send me a replacement without returning the defective one. So I forwarded my receipt and now will wait to see if I get another camera.

The third items are some little 9-LED flashlight that I ordered from Meritline on AUG 4th. I wrote them asking Where’s my stuff?”. Their site said it was shipped but provided nothing more. They responded explaining the items were shipped from Shanghai, China, and I should expect to wait up to 3-weeks for delivery.

I kept vigil over the raccoon trap the past 2 nights—waking every time the motion sensor sounded and checking what was out there. We have a couple of big tom cats that stop by in the middle of the night. No raccoons showed. I’m not going to try tonight.

Karen experienced some sciatica this morning and we thought maybe the baby had moved down and was putting pressure on her spine. The pain went away and she was still OK this evening.

Wednesday and Waiting

It’s getting close to Karen’s due date. I looked back to my blogs from 2 years ago when we were waiting for Sophie and re-lived that experience. I had forgotten a lot.

I’ve got everything packed into the CRV—both shelves for K&T, 2 plastic shop shelves for C&C, our bags and all of Brie’s stuff. When the call comes we have a few items to take care of and we are off. My travel check-list has proven quite useful for our trips. By checking off the items on the list we can leave home confident that all the important items are packed and all the necessary actions are taken care of. Before we leave the last thing we do is go through the check-list.

No raccoons visited us last night. Today we bought some sugar wafers to use as bait. It looks like we will have another night to try and get the big raccoon.

I’ve been doing odd jobs around the house and yard. I’m trying to give my thumbs a break. I works a little and rests a little. I’m soaking my thumbs in ice water 3 or 4 times a day. The pain is reduced but not gone. As in the past I expect they will flare up again when the shots wear off.

One Fewer Raccoon.

I spent most of the last 2 nights sleeping in the sunroom waiting for raccoons to show up. Yesterday 2 showed but only 1—a little one actually entered the trap. I waited to see if the 2nd one would join it but it didn’t. Something spooked them and in a flash they were gone. Those critters can really move when they want to.

Last night the little one came back—but not until 5AM. It was alone so when he went inside the trap I sprung it.

I released it in the usual spot.

I also caught another opossum in the live animal trap. I released him with the raccoon.

If we are here tonight I will try again for the big one.

Another Saturday Night

We woke and got to Waffle House shortly after 6AM. Breakfast was pleasant in the quiet Waffle House.

I packed the car a little more today and then I finished up the 2 projects for Sophie and NB. Here are pictures.



We did Saturday night Church as usual .

But now the adventure begins. I set both traps this evening hoping to catch all 4 of those raccoons. Will I succeed or will the little bandits make a fool of me once more? My secret bait tonight, in addition to the normal dry cat food, is marshmallows. I’m hoping for a feeding frenzy inside the trap—4 sugar crazed raccoons stuffing there cheeks with the gooey treats—and then WHAM! spring the trap.

Tune in tomorrow for the results.

Raccoon Update

Last night the raccoon visited the cat feeder—and brought her 3 kids with her. I looked out to see 4 raccoons chowing down on the food. I grabbed the fish net and jumped out the door. Two ran away and 2 squeezed behind the feeder. I poked eac one until it ran away.

This morning the feed bin was picked clean. The challenge now is to catch these guys quickly so the cats will be fed.

Another Busy Week

I haven’t blogged much this week because I wanted to get the projects finished before we got THE phone call from K&T.

I put the final coat of paint on the projects this morning. The bin shelf is completed but the sling shelf isn’t assembled yet. I have to see how much room I have to pack the CRV before assembling it. I had planned on using glue in the assembly but now I think I will assemble it tomorrow with screws and see how sturdy it is. Then if I need room I can disassemble it and reassemble at K&T’s and if needed glue it there.

I’ve just started packing my “go” bag—I’m thinking K won’t be early with NB. I checked out the car, gassed it up and will begin packing it tomorrow with furniture and whatever else we have ready to go.

After painting this morning I also mowed the lawn. We had rumbling storms all around us but no rain here. I’m going to mow every couple of days now to keep the lawn from growing too much.

I’ve still got thumb pain after getting the shots on Monday. The pain is different but in some instances sharper than before the shots. I’m wearing the thumb splints and doing cold soaks and trying to take it easy on them.

I’ve got 1 of the motion sensing cameras monitoring the cat feeder and we have a raccoon visiting us again. Tuesday night I set the live animal trap and instead of a raccoon I caught an opossum. I took him down a lonely road and shot him—not really—I released him where he shouldn’t bug any homes. I may set up my other trap if the raccoon shows up regularly.

KITTY UPDATE—This week has had strange attendance. Two nights had no cats, then a couple of nights just 1. Marmalade showed her face on Wed and then yesterday evening all 4 showed up. The 4 of them were out there this morning, too. Buzz, Marmalade and Meredith spent a good part of the day sleeping on the old cage I have out there. They’ve got it rough.

Another Rainy Monday

We went to be last night with Claudette taking aim at Destin. Both Penny and I slept through most of her arrival. She didn’t bluster much but did drop some heavy rain in bands.

I wanted to finish up building the bin shelves today but I also had 2 appointments scheduled this morning. The first was a haircut at 9 so I went out to the shop and did a little work on the project before heading out for the appointment.

I was Barbara’s first appointment of the day and with Barbara there is no guarantee she will be there on time. That’s just the way she is and it’s factored in when I make an early appointment. I got there at 10 ‘till, she showed at 10 after.

Between appointments I went home and worked on the project a little more. Then it was off to Dr Silberberg to discuss my thumbs. She always remarks to me about how much weight I’ve lost. I don’t know why. I used to correct her but now I just say yeah, you fixed my shoulders and I was able to do more.

She said that until my thumbs get extremely bad that treatment should be just what I’m doing with the addition of periodic corticosteroid injections to keep inflammation down. So I got shots today. Getting shots in an already inflamed sensitive area like the base of the thumbs will really wake you up! I’m also back to wearing my thumb splints whenever I anticipate heavy thumb usage (like hitch hiking?) .

Some of my symptoms are also early carpal tunnel syndrome indicators. My hands will go numb when I’m holding a phone, holding a book, using a mouse or driving. Dr Silberberg used the medical term for holding my hands that way. It is holding them in “provocative positions”. I mentioned to her that with the current use of provocative that’s an interesting term and that I’d have to remember it when I told people about my carpal tunnel. She laughed a little too much when I said that. I think I embarrassed her. I didn’t mean to—I just thought it was interesting. I’ve just finished listening to 3 George Carlen albums and I guess my social sensitivity level is down.

The carpal thing is unrelated to the thumbs

Next I picked up Penny and we lunched at Chick-fil-et.

Then it was back to the bin shelves. I was able to wheel the saw out on the deck for a short time in between rain showers an do all the cutting I needed to finish the bin shelves.

I got back inside the shop just as a heavy rain band moved through.

I was able to finish the assembly of the shelves except for the plywood backing. Tomorrow it will be final sanding, painting and installation of the back. Here is what it looks like unfinished with no back.

Next it will be on to the sling shelves. It is supposed to look like this when finished and should be an easy project to do. Penny has the hard part—she has to make the slings.

Week In Review

Penny and I had a busy week. My last blog covered Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was spent building the cubby holder for K&T and holding another FOCCUS session with our current couple. This time we went to their house (they didn’t need a baby sitter that way for their 9-year-old) and they provided dinner.

Thursday was spent running errands and Penny made Portabella ravioli for our Friday night FOCCUS session. Yes, 3 sessions in 1 week. That’s about 10 hours with this couple and as it turned out we finished up with them on Friday. This last session was again at their house with Penny providing the food. I only got half a day in on the cubby.

Friday started with our usual trip to Target. I got a little done on the cubby and then it was off to FOCCUS.

Today, Saturday, was Waffle House, cubby and church. We found out at church that we were in for a lot of rain for the next couple of days. I’ve been putting off mowing the lawn but it can’t go 2 more days so I mowed this evening after church. Then it was back to the cubby.

The cubby is now all together with facing glued in place. I now need to put the top on it and put facing on the shelves—final sand and paint. We’ve got Pre-Cana tomorrow so I don’t expect to get a lot done on it tomorrow.(That If I wake up early I may be able to put in some time and I should finish construction with 1 more good day.

When I left the shed It was dusk and there was a big rain cloud off to the East—probably the rain they are promising approaching. The big cloud was impressive so I took some pictures.

Auto Maintenance Day

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary. We were up late last night and Penny inadvertently made a lunch date with Kitty for today so we decided to celebrate the anniversary more formally (eat lunch out somewhere) on another day.

I did start the day off with ham and cheese omelets in bed. Penny’s car needed tires and today seemed like a good day to get that done. For the last 6 months we’ve used my car for all or trips because it got new tires last December and Penny’s car had tires with 88,000 miles on them.

I decided since my car also needed maintenance that I would pick up Penny’s car and drop off mine. We are now caught up on the maintenance of both cars. Both are well treaded, aligned with fluids and brakes, belts and hoses all checked out. The shop found that my serpentine belt was showing signs of cracking so it was replaced.

We are not too rough on our cars. Penny’s car has never had a brake job for over 80,000 miles and the break guy said we’ve got 2 years or more left in them.

I jokingly posted on Facebook that I bought Penny tires for our anniversary. Those of you who know me understand that. I have recently picked up a couple of friends in CT that went to Black Rock Elementary School. They will think I’m a jerk when they read that.

I talked with Donna in CT today and finalized our plans to go up North this Fall. I guess booking the trip can be thought of as an anniversary present for us. We are planning to see our relatives this year and Penny’s going to cook a meal for everyone like she did 2 years ago.

Yesterday we had our first session with a new FOCCUS couple. They are 35 yrs old, quite mature and very friendly. We had a good session. Tomorrow we are doing the session at their house. It should be interesting. They are going to feed us, too.

Kitty Update—We still haven’t seen the nasty grey cat around. I hope he stays away. I haven’t seen the raccoon either. (Christy figures he talked to the grey cat and decided to stay away). There have been 3 or 4 cats out there each night since Mr Grey was driven off. Brie is mellowing more and more, actually showing appreciation and enjoyment when being pet. Sometimes when I’m soaking my thumbs in ice water she will sit beside me and drink the water. She actually drank for 5 minutes straight one time—I timed her.

Thumbs Down

I decided to rest my thumbs 1 more day before starting the cubby holder. Yesterday I finally cleaned out the car from last weeks trip and I set up 3 wireless security cameras to view the front door the driveway and…the cat feeder/backdoor. The cameras are actually pretty neat. They are color and sound and have a motion detection feature that beeps or can turn on a recorder. The receiving unit can monitor 4 cameras. I just bought 2 and had 1 old one made by the same manufacturer that works with the receiver.

I took it relatively easy today, soaked my thumbs every 4 hours and they’ve settled a little. While I was building the bed they would get sore but settle down overnight. Now that I’m not building anything they don’t settle overnight. In fact last night they woke me up a couple of times. Go figure.

In my younger days I figured I’d be able to stay motivated in taking care of myself. I didn’t factor in the enemy of pain. It affects everything I do. When it affects sleep it leaves me drained. When you add in the heat of summer and my tolerance to it decreasing with age it’s even tougher. The back pain I had, the shoulder problems and the foot that plagued me this past year all have been reduced to minimal interference with normal activities. The thumbs may be a permanent problem and they are involved with almost everything I do. I have to think seriously whether I want to tear open a sweetener packet or turn a doorknob. Upper body exercise? I don’t think so. Even driving or using a computer can be bad. It is impossible, without putting on a cast to really not use the thumbs.

I’m not giving up but I am slowing down.

Mr G, Tear Down This Garden

I’ve worked a relaxed schedule these past couple of days. My thumbs have not been settling down so I am easing up a little and hoping for some relief. It’s not that I stopped doing everything. Yesterday my main task was to take down the garden. I had to remove the bird net and cut all the tomato plants down. I stopped after that because it was hot out and because of my thumbs. I still have to dump the old soil out of the pots and neaten up the garden area.

Today’s main task was mowing the lawn. Exciting, no?

Random Observation: For some reason the current batch of Prius commercials annoy me. I don’t like all those squirming colorful people.

Random Observation: In another commercial Papa John delivers pizza in the same color and model Camaro that was my first car.

Random Observation: I’ve been listening to 1 of the books we bought on our us day. For some reason I like Kurt Vonnegut’s writing. I like his satiric, black humor and the way he thinks. I don’t agree with many of his views. I like people who can think sideways or shine different light on common thoughts the way a good comedian can make common every day experiences seem strange or funny.

I spent $30 last week on a toy. At least it’s an educational toy. It is the “Einstein Space Navigator”. It is an electronic tool to find and/or identify objects in the night sky(stars, planets, constellations and deep space objects. It arrived this week and I sat down with it last night and learned how to use it. It is actually quite clever. You tell it your location (long,lat) and set the time and it will show the current night sky using a set of 14 maps that come with the unit. It provides voice commands to guide you through the process. When outside it lights the maps with red light so as not to spoil your night vision and you can actually hold the unit up between you and the sky and match the sky with the map.

We are going through a spell of buying on the internet. We are trying to beat the coming inflation and higher taxes that will considerably reduce our buying power. The list of items purchased includes a USB external drive, a netbook for Christy, a new laptop (for me) replacement SD cards and a card reader and mini binoculars, Microsoft Office 2007 for 3 computers, cloth bins for the storage unit, 2 movies for brother Lou’s birthday, a couple of wireless security cameras, replacement blue tooth headsets, and of course a few little LED flashlights. We figure between that and our travel expenses we are doing our part to bring us out of this economy.

Another “Us” Day

We decided to have a relaxing us day today as a means to unwind after a busy month. It began at lunchtime with a typically wonderful trip to Harbordocks. I had fried amberjack with cheese grits. It was a beautiful day to look out over Destin Harbor.

We then went to Beals to see if they had any sales going on. They did. Lots of items were 70% off and a coupon gave an additional $10 off a $50 purchase. I found a pair of New Balance walking shoes for $18.

We needed to get Brie some more Science Diet cat food so we headed to Petsmart for that. I actually found a shady parking place a short distance from the place. We checked out Best Buy and got tempted by some open box camcorder deals. We had the most fun in the former linen and things store. It was full of books on sale including audio books. We spent a bunch of time looking through their inventory. Nothing was over $10 and the books were decent. We ended up with 14 audio books for $87.87 and we had a lot of fun looking.

After that we did get to Petsmart and get Brie’s food. On the way home picked up some movies to watch and some margarita mix to enjoy while watching. I had mentioned margaritas to Penny over the weekend and it slapped a craving on her so we satisfied her craving for the drink.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing day. I’m glad I like to spend time with Penny doing silly things like shopping. The only thing I can’t easily do with her is watch soap operas.

900 Miles, 1 Birthday and Furniture Delivered

We are back from a busy weekend delivering furniture to Jacksonville and celebrating Sophie’s 2nd birthday.

It is hard to believe Sophie is 2 yrs old. Time does fly. We arrived in J’ville Friday afternoon to deliver and set up the bed and nightstand. We drove through a lot of rain on the trip, the heaviest in Crestview before we got on I-10. I thought all the stuff in the trailer was adequately wrapped but I was wrong. The mattress got wet, not soaked, but wet enough to have to let it dry before it could be used.

The bed and nightstand look good in the room. Penny made a twin bed sized quilt and it looks great on the bed.

And so does Sophie!

Sophie’s birthday party was held at a “water” park in J’ville. It was a fun place with lots of fountains for the kids to play in. Karen made a Tigger and a Pooh cake for Sophie’s birthday and Tim cooked hamburgers and hotdogs.

Here are some pictures.

.............................Sophie on her new trike

That was Saturday. Today, Sunday we did church and then visited Kerry for lunch. Anne, Kerry’s sister was there looking happy and healthy. Penny and I had a nice but all-to-brief visit and then made the drive home.

The drive back was OK, more rain but not bad traffic. That’s one nice thing about living in a less-populated part of the country—the driving is easier. Back home I was greeted by 3 outside cats.
Both Penny and I are worn out from all the activity and the drive so we didn’t do any more than necessary this evening and will probably sleep in un the morning.