The Detroit Zoological Society

I had a really fun day on Friday with my friends' two girls.  We went to the Detroit Zoo to see the animals.  It was a hot hot hot day so I wasn't sure it we would have too much activity but much to my surprise we had some great up-close glimpses!  First we rode the train to the back of the Zoo.  We had a picnic lunch (apples, bananas, yogurt, pbj's, and jelly lifesavers)

   I thought the back end looked just as cool as the front end!

We saw the hippo really close up.  He was just wading under water trying to keep cool!  What a crazy looking animal.

The rhinos slept in the shade.

I think this zebra's stripes are very beautiful.  It is definitely a different species from the ones I see in Africa.

 This Gorilla came right up to the window and looked

at the beautiful human exhibit on the other side.

The girls were pretty intrigued. 

The original train engine hearty All-American Chevy!!

Return of the Varmint

We caught our varmint friend again - an opossum in the garage. Shortly thereafter we saw the HUGE skunk that lives underneath the deck. Any advice on how to get the skunk to move out would be welcomed.

The Varmint Stikes Again & Again & Again

So Rocky hasn't exactly moved out. He's living in my garage. Who can blame him - it's cold out there. He's not paying his rent on time though, so I think I am going to have to evict him.

Sorry Rocky. You have to pay on time - and you have to put things back in the garage where you found them. You just haven't been living up to your part of the agreement. Sincerely, the management of the little blue house.

The Varmint Strikes Again . . .

and it's a RACCOON!

Carrie was getting out of her car and saw the rascal face-to-face. I've never seen her run so fast and squeal so loudly (carrie, that is). Rocky the raccoon found the one bag of mostly eaten goldfish crackers that I had taken out of my car when I was getting ready to pick up my view. He spent a couple of nights in the garage. We found footprints all of our cars and he moved all of our junk around. He even managed to climb up into the attic and nestle into the large bag of left over insulation that I had up there. I figured this out once I was brave enough to go up into the attic to see if he was nesting in there. Rocky was no where to be found - just the ruffled up insulation was left behind. I am glad that Rocky has found a new home besides my garage - but I am equally impressed that he managed to make a warm spot for himself on those bitterly cold days.

Bitter Cold Sets In. . .

Yesterday morning when I woke up (late) I was greeted by melting snow, traces of sunshine, and 45 degree weather. Everything looked like spring. I knew what was on the horizon, however; Bitter Cold forecasted for Sunday. I took out my snow scoop and swished all of the slush and water toward the lawn in order to prevent the ice rink that was about to form on my driveway. I noticed, in the process, footprints leading underneath my deck again. Were the skunk's relatives back? Oh No! I can't have a skunk under my deck - I will for certain get sprayed. So I took a beautiful heap of slushy snow and blocked up the hole and left it to freeze into an icy boulder. This morning when I brought the trash out, I noticed it had done just as a wished - but . . . buT . . . bUT . . . BUT now there were a whole series of frantic footsteps leading up to the hole and around it. My icy boulder worked - but my heart sank into my feet. I can't believe that I blocked the only shelter for my dear little skunk, or bunny, or possum, or whatever it is. I am now responsible for the life of one of God's creatures. UGgghhhh . . . . the horror. I am going to remove the boulder today and hope for the best.

appended 7:10 pm - Carrie removed the icy boulder before church this morning.  No sightings of the critters yet today.  I am hoping the critter found a warm spot.  It is currently 3 degrees 

F.

I think they call that a "Varmint"!

Oh yes - we have had a few encounters with another kind here at tracy's blue house. It's hard to believe that I am sandwiched in between two major highways, in the middle of the city, and I have Varmints! We have seen quite a few things lurking in the night: skunk, raccoons, opossums, mice, and an occasional rat - yes I said rat.

The question right now is "What on earth did I trap in the garage this week?" I certainly know it had teeth. Apparently, it also has the urge to exercise. Last Thursday I was hopping in my car which was parked in the driveway to go visit my friend Kathy. As I was climbing in I heard a very loud machine like noise - it was really loud and it sounded like it was coming from my garage. What could it be? I pressed the automatic door opener and much to my disbelief - my treadmill was running at full tilt - 10 miles per hour - I was expecting to see smoke come out from underneath the tread. I turned it off and checked the LCD display - it had been on for 3.5 minutes! Holy smokes - what on earth turned that thing on? I unplugged the treadmill to prevent any further events - I can't even imagine the look on that varmint's face when he turned that thing on. I proceeded back to my car and on to my regularly scheduled plan!

Yesterday - Saturday - I was in the garage and noticed a bunch of blue plastic shreds on the ground. I followed the trail to my heavy duty rubbermaid container - the one that had - I say had because there wasn't much left - had the birdseed and grass seed in it. I used the heavy duty container - to keep the varmints out - apparently - it the lid is closed - they'll just find another way in - eat through the container. So after that - I realized I really had a varmint - so Sunday I vowed to clean out the garage. After much procrastination - I started at 3:00 pm!

I parked the cars in the driveway and began tidying up. I love to get that industrial vacuum going - slurping up every cobweb, spider sac, and dirty and disgusting thing that it's path can cross. It feels so satisfying - see you later spider!!! I swept up the little blue shard of plastic and made my way around. Then I began thinking to myself, "who was doing a wood project in the garage - there are wood shavings all over the floor. Wonderful - I guess I'll just vacuum them up with the rest of the mess." I went over to the window to open it and low and behold - more varmint evidence. That varmint must have been trapped in my garage - because he ATE my WINDOW casing - or at least a big chunk of it. That varmint!!!!!!

The folks over here at tracy's blue house now think that the varmint was trapped in the garage, he tried to get out by the window, gave up, and started searching for food. He sniffed out the seed and ate through the container when he couldn't get through it. He felt a little full and decided to take a run on the treadmill until I decided to finally open up the garage door!! What do you think? Crazy, huh?

Raccoon (I saw one sneaking around tonight!), opossum, rat, or squirrel? Let's hope he doesn't return!