Ok, for amusement, a really quick Quick Takes, because I’m trying to stay within Friday… at least in Jen’s (the host’s) timezone…
1. Did you know that a 5x5x5 inch rock thrown at a muskrat will make it drop the collection of severed corn seedlings in its mouth and jump three feet off a bulkhead into cattails? Neither did I, but now we all know. (And the “light the fuse and shove it down the hole” rodent exterminator thing at Southern States is sounding better all the time.) If you see something in the news about a crazed woman parading down the street somewhere in Virginia, cackling over a muskrat impaled on a garden fork that she’s waving over her head… well, that’ll probably be me.
2. How nature eliminates narcissism: while watching for further signs of malingering muskrats tonight, I was watching a lightening bug. I love fireflies. This one was flashing over the edge of the lake, under some overhanging trees. Apparently, he was confused… or narcissistic. He kept flashing, then going lower and lower, either admiring his own flash, or confusing it for a willing female. *blurp!* (sound of small fish hitting the surface) Wounded, the firefly floated on the surface for a few seconds, still flashing, until the small fish came back. I could still see the firefly’s glow as the small fish dragged him down into the shadowed water and worked to get him in his mouth.
3. I don’t know how the local turtles survive. I was wandering around the garden this morning when the kids came out shouting something about a turtle. I turned to look at the lake, and they shouted, “No, on the grass!” Sure enough, huge turtle, sitting just inside the fence. She went under the fence and dove off a three foot drop to the top tier of the garden, landing upside down in my much-abused-by-muskrats lettuce patch. (At least the previous turtles who rolled off the garden walls landed right-side up.) I had to rescue the turtle with a full-sized shovel, since the claws on her feet made picking her up, even with heavy leather gardening gloves, seem unwise. The turtle is back in the lake, but we’re all curious where she was digging her nest, since we haven’t found it yet (not the first time we’ve had turtles laying eggs in the yard).
4. Speaking of rescuing, I had to rescue some of Diva’s new Legos from the air vents. Apparently, Empress is having a jealous phase; this is not the first item she’s seized and thrown down the air vents lately. In addition to the Legos and another small toy extracted by the shop vac, I decided I should keep going. I ended up pulling 296 pennies and almost three dollars in larger coins out of my ductwork. McDonald’s was not happy with me when I used them to pay for my knock-off mocha frappe.
5. Another family of church friends leaves SE Virginia this week. We’ll miss them. My kids (with some prodding along the lines of, “This is their last Sunday at church; there is no ‘later’ anymore!”) finished little woven blankets for the four girls’ dolls on my old Fisher Price loom. On this one, Crash was in charge of the shuttle and packing the threads down, while Empress was in charge of the lever that shifts the threads up and down for each pass. (the yardstick is there to keep the lever from dropping too far and messing up the threads’ placements; I think I assembled something wrong this time.)
6. Empress discovered “St. Me” this week. She’s pretty excited. It isn’t like we haven’t told her before that that is the saint she’s named after, it’s just the first time it really sunk in, I guess. I re-told her story, and Empress was so impressed (I think) that she gave the painting a kiss and proclaimed that she “wuvs” her saint. She wanted her picture taken with “St. Me,” which is funny, because that’s what Diva called her namesake, too, when she was that age.
7. In good (i.e. non-muskrat-related) news, my friend Mary’s youngest is being baptized this weekend. Stand by for more cute photos at her blog, A Simple Twist of Fate.
Ok, my goal was six minutes to done… and it wound up more like 46 minutes… mostly about muskrats. But it still isn’t Saturday yet over at Jen’s, so visit Jen at Conversion Diary for this week’s collection of 7 Quick Takes blog posts.
I love this picture of Empress! Thanks for sharing the baptism day with us!
I love the picture of your daughter and St. Me. So cute! 🙂 It also reminds me of a friend’s little girl named Mary, who told her mom one day that she knew her last name. When questioned further, she stated that it was, “Mother of God.”
Muskrats. Ugh.
Get a gun and kill the thing! But if you continue with the rocks (which is too funny) at least get it recorded….:0)
Plus, you could make a cool hat from it for their colonial outfits (which are fantastic btw).
OR if you are going to continue with the rocks, get the (illegal?) sling shot (fits over wrist) that will put a hole in his head.
Woman, kill that thing!
The vote in the comments seems to be leaning towards “kill it”…