Wildlife in the backyard (photo replaced)

Earlier this week, it was Lightning Bugs. This morning I saw something new. I opened this bathroom window this morning and saw a critter about the size of a raccoon but definitely not a raccoon. It had brown coarse fur and a small head like a rabbit but no rabbit ears. When it scurried away it revealed a thick round tail about 8" long.

It occurred to me it might be a Porcupine. The drawing in the dictionary seemed to confirm this hunch - if we imagined that his quills were relaxed and laying flat on his body. After Carl and Karen left for home this morning, I looked online to confirm it. The photos online showed quills being quite obvious. It also said that Porcupines are in the West part of the US and the Northeast, but not the Southeast. There went my theory.

So I did some more research for mammals in our area. Carl and Karen were right! It was a Groundhog- or often called a Woodchuck. In my mind, Groundhogs and Prairie Dogs are the same thing. My mind is wrong!!

This photo is of a baby Groundhog in the neighbor's yard. There were 2 or 3 babies running around quite boldly for a week or so but now I haven't seen them for over a week.

It just keeps getting more interesting here all the time.

Lightning Bugs

Guess what we have in our front yard!!! Yes! Fireflies - or Lightning Bugs as the locals call them. We saw them last night when arriving home at dusk. Larry and I are so excited that we're like little kids. We can hardly wait until dusk tonight to see them again.

Our friends, Carl and Karen stopped by today for a visit and they think we're silly to be so excited; perhaps you think so too. But, considering there were no Fire..., uh' em, I mean, Lightning Bugs where we grew up, we think this is pretty cool.

The only other time we've seen them like this was outside Chicago while camping at a state park near Algonguin. It was cool then too.

Larry was saying that it's the little things like Lightning Bugs, the many songbirds and the Dogwoods in our neighborhood that make this such a very nice place to live. He is so right! We feel blessed.

Kentucky Derby

This is old news now but I wanted to share some photos from the Kentucky Derby. Since Laura & I went there to volunteer we were limited in our sight seeing opportunities. We had to go out of our way to see horses and then they were a ways off. However, we did get to see lots of hats! It was fun. Enjoy.

First, just to prove we were really there, here are some horses.

And now for some hats!

Lots going on - photos added

The length of time between the last entry and this is contributed to two reasons. One - lots has been happening. Two - I'm not using my computer and haven't downloaded photos to include. So, once I explain what all has been going on, check this entry again later for photos.

The last entry was on April 15th. Five days after that, Ben and Laura arrived. Yes, they left Las Vegas and have moved here! We expected to have them as guests for a few days until our renter vacated (the next day) and their possessions arrived (just 3 days later).

Plans changed dramatically when we finally had access to the rental and got a really good look. What we found was not a happy site. Let me start by saying that this little house is old. The wiring is what really scared us. We found the breaker box in one of only 3 upper kitchen cabinets. It was propped up in there with wires coming from the top of it, all taped up to wires coming from the top of the cabinet. The tape was roughly done and some wires were exposed. When we took into consideration the fact that outlets were in funky places and in funky heights, it made us quite uncomfortable about the safety of the wiring. Now, add to this fact that the kitchen looks about 75 years old (kitchen door hanging by one hinge, etc) and the floor plan is lousy... we decided to do a major overhaul. Here are some before pics.

Ben & Laura agreed to put up with us and stay in the guest room while we all went straight to work on this rental. In the last two weeks we have completely gutted the place. The kitchen and bath and all interior walls are gone. At this point I should explain that we found the house was originally even smaller than it is now. It was a little square concrete block structure with no plumbing and, I suspect, no electrical when it was built. The plumbing was added to the exterior and entered the house where it was needed. It did have windows so I do believe it was a dwelling originally. I have no idea when the wiring was added but it wasn't recent! The bedroom was added on at some point. So, when I say all interior walls are gone, that includes the original block wall. Many thanks to Ben for breaking that out!

So in the past two weeks, we have ripped out carpet, pad, sheet rock (or fiber board as the case may be), insulation (the older side has fluffy wool stuff - yuk)... everything! Larry and Ben replaced the ceiling rafters in the bedroom because the closet wall had been a weight bearing wall. Last night, the guys rented a concrete saw and cut a groove in the floor to add new plumbing in new places. You should have seen the cloud of dust coming from inside the house! Larry and Ben would say, you should have seen the dust in the house!!

This week-end Larry and Ben will install the new plumbing. Then, we have to have an electrical contractor do the wiring. Next we'll do something to level out the concrete slab floor, add partition walls for the bath and kitchen which will share one side of the building, sheetrock and tape, put in bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets, counters, sink, appliances, and paint.

All this work is done in our off hours. Larry continues to be out of town about 3 days a week, but works 5 days of course. Ben has been spending his days job shopping and Laura and I go to work. As a side note, Laura transferred to a new Starbucks here that opened about a week after their arrival. What timing!

While Ben and Larry do plumbing this week-end, Laura and I are working in another way. We're going to Louisville, KY to work in a Kentucky Derby merchandise booth. We're driving there today and working 12 hours tomorrow and coming home Sunday. We're doing this for a ministry called GO Ministries. Laura has a friend going to Dominican Republic / Haiti soon and is living in Louisville right now. GO Ministries will get $20,000 for manning the booth for this event. I have no idea if we'll see any horses but I know we'll see people. Apparently, people love to dress up for the races. I've been told of the fancy hats that I should expect to see. Like I said earlier - check back for photos. It should be fun!