EEK!

Adam had a rough night.

Recently we noticed that mice (ew) had been getting into the garage (yuck). Adam started leaving out mousetraps every night, and after catching nearly a dozen in the first few days, the mortality rate has mostly slowed down.

But not before we noticed that the mice had also been getting into the car (disgusting), which wasn’t even in the garage due to Grandma’s old furniture still being stored inside. Did you know mice like ranch? Yeah, it’s true. They chewed through a couple old ranch containers from McDonalds that had fallen under the seat and completely licked the ranch out. They didn’t touch the sweet and sour or barbeque, though. Why would they need to eat the ranch, with three children worth of dropped snacks hidden under car seats? Well, mice are greedy and obnoxious, so they ate the ranch, tastiest of all non-ketchup dips, and then they still ate the gram cracker chunks, lost cheerios, and bits of froot loops. And they left evidence of having been in and around all three car seats.

Five Outdoor Things I am Really Excited About

Here are some things outside of the house that I'm a big fan of at our new home.


- Pond

Don’t tell the girls yet (or ever?), but there is a pond in the pasture next to us. Sometimes there are ducks on it. It’s very pretty. I wouldn’t ever swim in it (my uncle keeps cows in that pasture sometimes), but it is nice to look at. And in the winter, you can take your chance sliding around on the ice a little bit. It’s not ice-skating per se, but something kind of close to it.

- Basketball Hoops

My grandparents’ old hoop is still up over by the hanger (though it needs to be rehung and restrung) and there are plenty of other cement places to put up a hoop someday. We didn’t have any good cement pads at the old house, so we kind of hit the basketball jackpot here. Horse, anyone?

Happy Fourth of July!

Every year, Adam and I go over to my parents' house a few times in the weeks before Independence Day to shoot off fireworks. Why? Well, fireworks don't go all that well in town when there's lots of trees, not a lot of empty yard space, and you don't want to shoot off fireworks in the road. Also, I'm told, we're not supposed to shoot them off in Goehner at all. But some people do, so I may be wrong about that. Or maybe people are just really chill about that rule.

Anyway.

This year, for the first time, we were able to do fireworks at our own house! Without worrying about neighbors or getting reported for using fireworks in city limits! And we even got to invite Mom and Dad over to watch. Which I think Mom preferred because she doesn't have to pick up used fireworks the next day AND she won't have to complain about finding firework debris in her gardens for the rest of the summer.