Man - Iowa has the weirdest weather. Yesterday it was in the 70's and today it's in the 30's along with being cold, windy and rainy - almost sleety at times. By the time I got home from church today I was almost frozen completely though...........
But I did get to see the black squirrel running around in the park across the street before I drove out of the driveway for church. There were a couple of brown squirrels joining him. Like I have said before, it always brings a smile to my face to see the black squirrel to know the little guy is still around.
Last Sunday when I was taking my recycle and trash bins to the curb I saw a baby garter snake in my driveway. I'm like "really?!" So Monday when I brought the bins back in, I took a quick look in the lawn that was close to the area I had seen the snake and there he was. I'm thinking to myself, "You can do this McFall. It's just a little, bitty baby snake and probably fairly cold. Go get your dust pan and a plastic bag and put him in the bag and then in your trash bin." Of course the snake fell off the dust pan and back onto my lawn with his belly sticking up - blick, blick, blick. But I got him in the bag, tied it and the bag went into my trash bin. Between doing that icky, blicky shuffle dance people do where they shake themselves all over like something is on them - I actually did feel sorry for the little guy for a few minutes. But I thought it was either him or me and I didn't want him to hibernate somewhere and be a big 'un next spring.
I've started a Word document of things that need to be done around the house for Spring and for Fall - and I include pictures when needed. Like the filters for my furnace - I have written down the description and size along with a couple of pictures for future reference. I've turned the water off to the front spicket and got it covered - probably the first time it's ever been covered. The back spicket when I went to turn the water off to it, it didn't feel right and the shut off handle itself started to drip. I figured that wasn't good so I turned the shut off back the other way. My neighbor was able to come over the other night and as I turned the shut off "off" he said I was opening it..... I just looked at him and we went outside to the spicket and turned it on and the water just came out like normal. So....that meant the shut off was broke because it had been in the "off" position all year and water still went through. He did tighten the connection so it didn't drip anymore and he said sometime he would put in a new shut off valve for me. He told me that the back spicket should be ok not covered - the main thing is to make sure the hose was disconnected from it.
We started getting some things in this morning at church for our Bread On The Waters grocery project - and lots more items were signed up for.
I had a small break through with Cruz this past week. I've been sitting on the floor close to her and spreading some of her food on the floor between her and me in a line from her to me. She has eaten some while I've sat on the floor but not much. The other night she actually took a few pieces of dog food from my hand - I was so happy. I don't know what the difference is between dog food and things like Pop Tarts, chips, toast, etc., in Cruz' mind. She'll take all those out of my hand no problem. I'm also supposed to attach her leash to me somehow when I'm home so we are "connected" for her to get used to me - and then walk around the house with her following me. I haven't done that yet.............. The picture below is Cruz with her toy Hedgie. She had been chewing on Hedgie and this is how things ended up.
Lastly a big THANK YOU to our veteran's! Thank you to those currently serving like my kid Casey who has 23 years in the with Army. Thank you to those that have served. And thank you to those that are no longer with us like my father-in-law who served in WWII.
