Sigh.....here we go again!

Nigel has started laying eggs again. She laid one on Saturday and just laid one tonight. Hopefully that will be it for another 8 months.

Thanksgiving for me...Christmas for Nigel

I almost hated to see Thanksgiving come and go. Now the insanity starts. 6 day work weeks and soon enough it will be 12+ hour work days. People wonder why I am a Grinch when it comes to Christmas. We have already started to see the increase business. After last year that is a good thing. As long as we keep the snow away I will try to be less of a Grinch.

Thanksgiving dinner was kind of a bust but the rest of the time was good. My parents came up for the weekend so that was nice. They brought their bird Jerry with them. Nigel was glad to see Jerry go. I also had a nice surprise at work when Shelly and her family showed up.

Nigel one the other hand is in heaven. Mom and dad made a "tent" for her and she LOVES it in there. I have a hard time getting her out of her fort. She has a toy in there and loves to play. I have also caught her sleeping in there a few times. Other times she just sits in there and yells at me from across the room.

Welcome to life with a feathered 3 year old.

Last stab at the pile

This was my last week to work on the pile until after the thaw next year. I don't have anymore Thursdays off until after the new year and by then the ground will be too frozen. I did not take any more pictures of it because I did not get very far on it. To do anymore I am going to have to be able to haul off dirt.

I did find something new to explore though. I was raking leaves the other day and noticed 2 rusty old hinges sticking out of the ground. They were attached to a buried piece of plywood.

I had to dig to find out more. I started digging and realized it was not just one sheet of plywood but a box (that had no top anymore).

When I realized that my brain started running away. I got thinking "what am I going to do if I find bones in there"? A little too much CSI and Edgar Allen Poe. Needless to say I did not find any bones.....or much of anything else. I did find to deteriorating milk jugs, a few other pieces of garbage, and some weird gold colored thing.

The pictures above show the size of one of the shorter end boards and that gold thing. I finally dug to the bottom of the boards and realized that it had no bottom. As I told people about it at work they came up with a compost box. This would explain it not having a bottom. I decided since I did not find anything really exciting except the hinges (which I kept) that I would just bury it back in the box and leave it for the next treasure hunter.

After all that I decided to give up and go inside as it was cold and there was not much more I could do. I got messing around on the computer and looked up after about a 1/2 hour and looked outside. I was a little surprised but not shocked by............

THE SNOW!!!!! I HATE SNOW!!! This is the first real snow we have had this season and it did not get any worse than this, but I still hate it. Sigh....I guess I best get used to it and be ready Christmas is just around the corner.

7 hours...REALLY??!!

What a crazy Thursday I had. After looking at the up coming weather I decided that no matter what I had to get all the leaves up. They are talking the "S" word starting Monday and going on for a few days after that. After a few minuets of leaf blowing I found an unexpected surprise. It threw me so much I had to stare at it for a while. It was a hypodermic needle. Not knowing how to handle it I left it there and put out the word that I needed to know what to do with this thing. While waiting for help I went on with the leaf blowing. Thanks to the leaf blower/vacuum mulcher I was able to get all the leaves from the front yard into the green bin.

About the time I finished the front yard I had a guy come by that I had met on craigslist to buy the snow tires from the Jetta. That was a nice little bit of extra cash.

I then started in on the back yard. I did not find anything quite as exciting, just a penny, lego, and way to much animal poo. Seeings how Nigel does not go outside it was not my pet which means someone needs to get over here and clean up after their animal. By the time I got done it was dark (had to use the CRV's headlights for about 10 min.) and had been 7 hours since I started. 7 hours!!! That was non-stop. The only break I had was when the guy came by. I could not believe it would take that long to do my small yard. The back yard ended up yielding 10 large black garbage bags full of leaves. After finishing I came in and sat down for a minuet......bad idea!! I was fine one second and the next second I was so SORE!

Thanks to Kyla I took care of the needle and thanks to Brock and his being into running he knew what to do for sore mussels. Tons of fluids and today I am doing much better.

My next house will have few to no trees.

Halloween

I had a moment earlier this week that brought to my mind a favorite author of mine.

"Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--Darkness there and nothing more." "Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore." Edgar Allen Poe.

Nigel was getting upset (not like her) and I could hear noises outside. I looked out to see.....

There must have been 30+ crows flying around over my house and street. The perfect start to get me in the mood for Halloween.

I have been working bit by bit getting the decorations put up these last few days. I did not want the electronic stuff out too early. I did the last bit tonight and took some pictures. You do not get the full effect but you get the idea. Note the shrunken heads in the trees.

The gost travels on the cord and groans.Night shot.Close-up of the porch. Note the severed hand on the railing. Behind the tombstone is the fog machine. In front of it is a jar that lights up and makes bubbeling noises with floating eyeballs (my parents sent me that one). On the stop is a skull. On the other side it the strobe light behind the culdren that bubbles and makes fog. In front of that is the latern with the shull in it that lights up and does an evil laugh.

For those of you that ask where I get my love for Halloween I will offer 2 pieces of evidence.

1: The card from Mom, Dad, and Jerry

2: Dad in his costume (the face drips blood, how cool is that!!!???)