Smiles, Snakes & Sunsets

It's been a moody week of madness around here...haha not really...well maybe the moody part! The weather is definitely changing like I said in the last post. I find myself getting in the van, for the night, a bit earlier each day and also finding myself wearing socks and shoes earlier as well.  We are welcoming the change...only when we aren't taking showers, brrrzies and freezies!! You would think that with the cooler weather these damn yellow jackets would get the hint and skedaddle but nooooooo...they're still here. We were reading on the almighty internet about natural remedies for these lil buggers and read on how they really don't like the smell and acids of cukes (cucumbers). We asked Jenn if she would grab one for us while she was in town, to try it out. We were very impressed the very first time, we cut up a few slices and put them around the kitchen table...poof, they were gone.

I was able to make pasghetti that night with no buzzing, no dodging, no swatting. It was so very very pleasant. Of course overnight the cukes wilted and were eaten by other bugs so that next morning to make breakfast, I cut up some more slices.

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A Nanatini![/caption]

They came around but not as much as usual, so I figured, we may be onto something here. Then I think they may have followed us down to Jenn & Johnny's for dinner that night...talk about Meat Bees!

You can't see them in the pic, but they were everywhere. Meat Bees or not that dinner was some good eatin'! We had gone into Prather earlier that day to pick up a few perishables and just get out for a small amount of time, we got Johnny some wood and nails to make their bench seats and a shovel for us. The guy in the hardware store was easedropping on our shovel convo. and he said, "Now that is the most in-depth comparison shovel conversation I've ever heard." haha We're very passionate about the things we buy. Johnny was able to build a bench for one of the sides, I think it's going to work really well in Wendy.

[caption id="attachment_1024" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The only pic I have of it.[/caption]

Oh and when we went down to Prather, we gave in and finally bought a coffee maker. Yes, just another thing we wish we would have brought but ya live and ya learn! And oh how glorious it was to have fresh ground-from-beans-coffee. It's only been about 3 months for J' but it's been about 10 months for me. We bought just a small pot, because it was cheap and it's just the right size to get us by, but not go overboard on the a.m. drug! (My stomach will thank you)

[caption id="attachment_1025" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hello Old Friend[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1026" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The best part of waking up...[/caption]

During our morning cup-o-joe, we somehow came to a decision that it was time to get some organization going, so we both grabbed a spot and went to town. I did the kitchen and J' did his office. I don't function so well when our space is filled with chaos and disorganization, but it's fixed and all pretty again.

[caption id="attachment_1027" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Captain Coffee![/caption]

Also when we were at the hardware store I asked for some brown paper bags...another natural remedy for the Y.J.'s~ if you ball up a paper bag, the yellow jackets think it's another nest so they won't approach it...I don't know how that works since yellow jackets have their nests in the ground, but it's worth a shot!

[caption id="attachment_1028" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Brown bag, cukes...let's cook![/caption]

I really think they could give a damn about the bag...but it looks cute, so it stays! I think we attract critters, bugs ...all things of nature. The other night J' was going to grab some water out of one of the 'water coolers' outside. (We had to put them outside and take the lids off due to our water getting funktified last time and turning green. We put some bleach in the water this time and maybe just a bit too much because now all of our water tastes like a swimming pool....minus the pee.) As he was about to pour out some water he said, "Whoa, is that poisonous?" Oh dear lord, here we go again! I walked over to the 'water cooler' and there was a teeny snake on the ground beaming with brilliant colors of black, white and red. We put Savannah in the van and started looking 'him' up, we found out (thankfully) that it was just a sweet little Sierra Mountain King Snake. They are not venomous but get confused with the Arizona Coral Snake which is highly venomous and dangerous....they also eat rattlesnakes! J' is trying to tell me the whole, Red into Yellow will kill a fellow, Red into Black a friend to Jack. I just say, "If you see a snake, get outta my wake!"

[caption id="attachment_1029" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Just a bitty little thing[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1030" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cool lil' dude[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1031" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Handsome Fella'[/caption]

From there it's been pretty lame 'round here. I haven't been feeling well due to surfing the crimson wave but it'll get better, just truly unmotivated to do anything but EAT! Nom nom nom. I did get up enough energy to fix our comforter finally... thank goodness that's done. And a big thank you to Jenn for letting me borrow her machine and some awesome fabric! It's really not a hard project but to lay out a massive comforter somewhere where it's not going to get dirty is just hilarious around here, but it's done and I'm happy.

I worked on the comforter most of the morning due to my own malfunctions! After getting done and putting everything away J' and I just talked about everything like we always do. While we were sitting around I saw two of my Blue Jays, they were playing and flying around, having the best time. I just love their colors, they are so magnificent. Here is a close-up of one of them in a nearby tree, kind of blurry but I think it's his butt!

[caption id="attachment_1035" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Butt shot[/caption]

To make the night even better I took Savannah for her nightly potty walk and when I came out from under the tarp I was amazed...the sky, the ground, the trees, the van, Savannah....everything was the coolest shade of pink! The colors were everywhere last night. I just love stuff like that! So here are some cool pics of what I was able to see last night, none of these have been messed with, straight from camera to blog!

What's that saying? "Red Sky at night, Sailors Delight...well whether it goes or not, I'm using it here. How spectacular is that? I know it's probably just pollution but it's still cool, especially up here in the peacefulness of Tai Shan. There are (few) times when I would love to be back in "normal" life but at times like this, those thoughts are a million miles away. I hope you have a great weekend and are doing the things you love and if not I hope you're happy sitting here just reading my blog...hopefully you have something yummy to eat!

[caption id="attachment_1039" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What a lush[/caption]

PEACE