Possum Wars continued

When we went to feed tonight, we didn't hear anything moving
in there and I even kicked the barrel twice! Hmmmmmm, now
I'm beginning to wonder if that thing manged to escape our trap
undected this morning. I don't think it could have. I was watching the bag
almost the whole time and Erica was right in there next to it. Surely one of us
would have seen or heard it escape.
I caught myself almost opening that barrel twice tonight!! Yikes!
So used to just going in and doing the routine which is opening the
barrel to get the cat food out.

We get in the car to go home and Erica goes Ummm so I look at her
and she's pointing at the floor under my legs. O.k., like I haven't been
creeped out enough today. She's pointing at the floor going Ummm. You know
what I'm thinking! The possum got out of the bag and climbed in the car and is
under my legs. I don't know whether to get out of the car or look to see what
I'm running from. I drive a minivan. It is not designed, even though it's a minivan,
for anyone with legs longer than about 2 feet. I always feel scrunched in there.
I have on 2 layers for a coat since I still haven't found a coat. I don't move
real fast. Panic is setting in when I look down and see Kermit, our cat.
We have this one barn kitty that is super sweet and loves to jump in the car.
I didn't even see him get in but there he was under my legs. Erica almost
died laughing at me, rotten child that she is, and I kept saying that's not funny.
So we put the cat out and get home, she has to change and get ready for work.
I drive her to work and it is pea soup out there. Fog is awful! Thankfully, she works about
5 miles from home. All country, though, so the thought of a deer jumping out kept
crossing my mind. It's been warm here. Apparantly, it's been warm enough for
other nasties to come out of hiding. As I'm driving home from dropping her off,
a spider comes out from the top of the windshield and starts dropping down. Great!
I'm driving almost blind and I have to get this stupid spider! Where's the kleenex!!!!!!!! I always keep some in the car just for spider catching. O.k., so what do I watch now? Watch the spider. Watch the road. Hmmmmm, watch the spider. Spider goes back up. Whew! Found the kleenex. I'm ready now, spider!! Spider comes back out. I need to get the spider without running off the road but, making sure it's dead. Stopped the car. Nobody else around, catch the spider, grind the spider (one of the things I'm o.k. with killing) put spider in garbage and go home.

We are supposed to get another winter storm from tomorrow night through Sunday noon.
At least we had some of the old stuff melt off before getting a new layer. Another 3 to 6 they are predicting. We are supposed to travel Sunday to my sis in laws house. Guess we'll have to wait and see about that.

The Possum Wars

Another chapter in the continuing war on possums in the barn. This morning, when we came to feed the horses, I noticed that the barrel where we keep our Senior feed and cat food in was not closed. The lid was off. Hmmmm, that is not a good thing. Erica peeked inside the barrel and there were no critters, however, the feed looked funny. The feed room was a mess, things strewn about, the horse treats were open and dumped so something had been in there.

We started going about our business of feeding horses, Erica was going shopping with a friend today and was on the phone with her friend. I got Kasha started on some grain and Erica was scooping some of the "funny looking” grain out of the barrel and into the feed bag we use for garbage. It was looking full so I shook it down and put it back up against the wall. I was standing in the feed room deciding what to do next, when the bag moved! It moved again! I don’t think Erica believed me so she peeked into the bag and looked right into the face of the possum. My mind is racing. I threw something at the bag to scare it away. But, wait! We have it trapped. How do we keep it trapped? I’m not going to kill it and neither is Erica. We have to trap it in a way that it will stay trapped until tomorrow morning when my husband can deal with it. Hmmmm. I picked up a brick (we have lots of loose and stray bricks in the barn) and threw it on the bag, hoping to close the bag on it. First brick bounced off. I threw another brick and it landed right on top of the bag and closed part of the bag. No movement. I threw another brick and got the other half of the bag closed. Now we have to put the bag under or in something. I know! Let’s put the bag in the barrel. We have to dump that grain anyway. No way it can get out of there if we lock the lid on. Well, you know I'm not going to pick up that bag so I managed to convince Erica to pick up the bag and dump it in the barrel while I stand with the lid to plop on there as soon as she lets go. It worked! Now the possum is trapped in the barrel. Well, I’m 99% sure the possum is in there. I’m pretty sure she or I would have seen it run off had it gotten out of the bag.

So, now my husband has a few choices. He can take the barrel outside and let it out and shoot it. He can load the barrel in the truck, drive it several miles away and just let it go, or he can load the barrel in the truck, drive it several miles away, let it out and shoot it so that if he misses, it is not on the property. I might consider dumping it somewhere else myself but can’t think of a good place to dump it.

Heat Wave!

Another day above freezing. We are getting a little thawing and melting. Erica is going to go out on Kasha today. She doesn't want her to feel neglected. The possum was back in the barn again this morning. We seem to see it more in the mornings than in the afternoons. This one will be harder to get. It runs away quicker than the last one.

Snowy went in to get fixed today. Our humane society has a program where you can take your companion cat in for $26 and get them spayed or neutered. Helena, the scrappy little kitten is next!

I was thinking, today, as I was getting ready for the barn, that my least favorite thing about Winter is boots. They are hard to get on and off, clunky and often leak. Mine are pretty good as far as not leaking and they're warm and I'm thankful for warm boots but, they are a pain to get on and off and they're clunky.

Just five more days til Christmas. The years seem to go faster and faster.

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day today with a high around 30 and sunny. Erica went out riding on Cass today. Midnight got all upset and whinnied to her and ran around the pasture. Seems he's feeling much better. I think his hip is healed.

The possum is back. We got rid of one and there is another now. It was in Midnight's feed box when we came in the barn this morning.

I signed up for 2 new home businesses to go along with my main program. Virtual Profit Academy and Friend'w Win.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here again already. I love Christmas. A time to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's supposed to be nice all week, in the 30's but, rain Saturday and snow Sunday. We are supposed to go to my sister-in-law's house on Sunday for Christmas. I hope it doesn't snow too much!

Winter Storms

Winter may not officially be here yet, but the winter weather is. It's cold and icy. We got hit with a winter storm on Saturday right during music practice at church. So by the time we were finished the roads were pretty bad. Saturday night was also supposed to be our church Christmas party but we postponed it to Sunday after church. After the snow, which lasted a few hours, we got freezing rain and sleet and after that, we got rain. It was prety nasty out. Once all the precipitation finished, the temperatures started dropping and everything froze up. I can walk on top of the snow it's so hard. Makes for a pretty nasty pasture situation. It's pretty slick out for the horses.

More possums in the barn. My husband shot one last weekend. Was hoping that was it but, afraid more would come and more did. There was one in there yesterday eating from the cat's food tray. Guess my husband will have to go possum hunting again this weekend.

We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow. They are predicting another 2 to 4 inches.

My Berry Tree business is going well and I am making money so I'm excited about that! After all the programs I've tried online that haven't made me any money but cost money, this is exciting.

It's cold and new radio station.

It was cold yesterday morning and I did see that the temperature was only about 16 degrees so I should have known better. How long have I lived in this part of the country? *sigh* After 50+ years, you'd think I'd figure it out. Went to the barn this morning in my very thin tennis shoes and a regular pair of socks. My toes were frozen by the time I got home. Glad I didn't have to feed my friend's horses that time. We had to feed hers today, EARLY as Erica is driving her to her PT appointment. I'm ready for the barn today, though. I got my thick warm socks and I wore my rubber boots. I think that will be enough for now. Kasha and Chester were in the barn last night as it was supposed to snow. Cass and Midnight were outside and have access to shelter. When we went to feed this morning, they were both shivering. We were there about 2 hour earlier than normal because Erica was driving our friend to her PT appointment so the sun wasn’t up too far yet. They were both standing behind the barn looking for sun. We haven’t used their blankets yet this year so we were trying to remember which blanket goes with which horse. I bought the girls new blankets last year and we had to get one for Chester because he was shivering last winter. I couldn’t remember if I had bought a new blanket for Midnight or not. I found his old blanket and put that on him, we figured out which blanket belonged to Cass and the last one was for Kasha. Kasha and Chester weren’t shivering but they were inside and out of the wind. The wind was really blowing this morning and is probably why they were shivering. The windchill was about 4 or less when we got there. So, we got everybody blanketed up except Chester, he looked like he was doing o.k without one, and they had started to warm up by the time we left.

We are supposed to get a winter storm Saturday, which is, of course, our church Christmas party and music practice. :-P Supposed to get snow, rain, sleet. I told Erica we'll get sneet or slow. :-) Sounds pretty nasty. Supposed to get a total of 5" between all the various precipitations.

Also, found a neat radio station online. www.slacker.com There is a Christian station on there (couple of them) and you can make up your own station with the artists that you like. Easy to use, too. So, if you like to listen to music while you surf, check it out. There’s also rock, blues, oldies, pretty much anything you could want.

Busy, busy, busy

Busy, busy, busy as usual. Sunday was great. Good message. Pastor is doing a series on the apostles. This Sunday he talked about Peter's names. Jesus changed Simon's name as soon as he met him to Peter. After looking at all the times Peter is referenced, how and by which name, he said Simon is almost always used when Peter is doing someting from his "old self", Peter is the new self and when you see Simon Peter, look out, he's really being a knucklehead. Just like when we yell at our kids. When they hear their full name, they know they are in trouble. I had never made that connection before so it was very interesting.

My son and his girlfriend came over after church for a second Thanksgiving dinner and my friend who lost her husband recently came over too. We had a really good time. Sara, my son's girlfriend, helped me decorate for Christmas.

We have had a possum in the barn. I know they carry EPM and we needed to get rid of it. Kurt, my son, went to the barn with me last Sunday night to help put horses in as it had started raining. We saw the possum and he had his bow with him but his site was off so he missed. Put an arrow right above it's head and it didn't move. He even poked it with the handle of the shovel and it didn't move. I didn't want him to club it to death while I was there. (I'm such a wimp when it comes to stuff like this) so I keep running out of the barn as he's banging around in there and he's getting frustrated with me because I won't hold the light for him. The possum finally ran off. What a comedy of errors.

This past Saturday, I sent my husband to the barn to shoot the possum with his rifle. They saw it but it ran off before he could get it. So Sunday evening I sent him again and Kurt went along to split wood. They found the possum and, let's just say my husband doesn't have as many bullets left and I don't have a possum problem anymore. I didn't want to know any more than that! I can't stand to kill anything bigger than a fly or spider.

Yesterday I was busy in town all day. Erica and I went into town (I let her drive and so have more gray hair now) :-) tried to go to the bank, but Cindy was just going out for lunch. She is a friend from Bible study who works at the bank. We were going to open a high school checking account for Erica. So, I told her we would just go to lunch and come back. So we went to the local Chinese place and then the post office and back to the bank. By the time we got there, she already had a customer so we waited 40 minutes til he was done. Got Erica's account opened, Cindy had ordered something from Pampered Chef from me so I showed her the item from the catalog as it has been redesigned. We stopped by Family Dollar to get a gift for the upcoming church Christmas party, I needed a splitter for the Christmas lights and some ornament hooks. Got my gift, no splitter there so went next door to the hardware store. Got my splitter and, up by the cash register, they had these really cute little LED gooseneck flashlights with a laser pointer for the cats. I picked one up. When we got home, Erica stole my new light and was playing with the cats. Snickers actually had more fun than the cats and chased it all over. He's a choc lab. I took it with me to the barn (more kitties) and the horses were even going after it. Chester tried to eat it, Midnight blew at it and was following it around. Only problem is, I can't keep the light from Erica. I think she is more entertained by it than the critters! I'm having my husband pick one up for her for Christmas, if she can wait that long.

Had to help feed my friend's horses last night, too, because she had surgery on her shoulder. She has some kittens we had to clean their eyes and one isn't going to live. That's hard on Erica and I because we love kitties too.

Worked on Bible study last night for quite a while and all of today. Really need to discipline myself to do it daily like I'm supposed to. :-)

Midnight was limpy last night on his front left again. I was thinking it was probably arthritis. He has trouble with that knee off and on quite a bit. I have him on a good glucosamine supplement and it does help him a lot. It was cold and damp yesterday so wasn't too surprised. Today he looked much better. He was walking pretty good today and has his old Midnight attitude back again. When this whole hip thing started out he seemed a bit down. Quieter. He's getting back to his old self now, coming to the gate for his dinner shaking his head around and putting his ears back. I make him put his ears up (both of them) before I let him out of the gate and into the barn. Attitude is everything, Midnight!

That pretty much brings me up to date. Bible study tonight.