Bugs and Heebie Jeebies

Mississippi has a lot of bugs.

In the past six months we have been waging the war on bugs, with several small battles going on.

We had the war on Fire Ants, which you heard about... probably more than you ever wanted to! However, for the most part, they have died down, thanks to 140 bucks worth of fire ant killer. Worth every penny. :) Die Ants!

Then we got the Squash Bug. Never heard of it? Neither did we...until it killed our pumpkins. I did go to the co-op (never heard of that either till I came to Mississippi) and get some squash bug killer. It worked, sort of, but then I went on a killing rampage of the pumpkins anyway to spare the lives of our cucumbers and squash. Turns out the squash bug literally does eat squashy plants! Fortunately our other plants were saved...only the pumpkins perished.

Our recent addition has been the Web Worms, which are quite nasty looking, but harmless from what I have read. Stuck up in the branches of our beautiful trees. And we got one in the branches of out little Japanese Maple. But we got that one out. One down, four hundred to go!

And we got the septoria spot leaf, which is some sort of water/air spread fungus that is on 1/9 tomato plants. It's not that bad of a problem, because it still produces nice toms that we can still make stuff out of and give to neighbors. I guess since we got it at the end of the season it didn't cause too much of a problem for us. :) Still kind of gross though.
And then there are the millipedes. Nasty nasty nasty. Or as our nephew told us "Uncle Jeremy has worms in his house!" :) Yes, we have worms, and lots and lots of them. Hundreds....probably thousands. Dead in our pool in the morning. Walking across the living room floor. Curled up in the kitchen. Clogging up my vacuum cleaner. Still alive. No just kidding. :) Seriously though, I have to step around the live millipedes to make my coffee. Nasty. That being said, I we went to town on millipede killer, and we have somewhat toned down the problem in the last two weeks. We still have millipedes, but they are no longer lined up outside our front door trying waiting to come in.
And there is the Grub, which kills the grass in nice neat patches. This one got us in the Charleston house grass, and cost us a fortune in grub killer. Who knows what kind of grubs live there now with no one to fight the good fight.

Now that I feel like I have bugs crawling all over me, I am going to try to climb in bed. All these bugs give me the heebie jeebies!!! :) Nasty!

Speaking of heebie jeebies, I came across this website a LONG time ago, and I have never been able to say or hear "heebie jeebies" without thinking of it! Check it out, you will not be able to stop laughing for a long time. :)

http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=23803

Goodnight sweet millipedes...I will sweep you up in the morning!

Butter Body

Today on the radio, I heard a discussion on whether or not Michael Jackson should be memorialized in butter at the Iowa state fair. They chose not to, but that is not the point of this post.

The radio discussion went on pose the question: If you were to be memorialized as a sculpture in any food, which food would you choose?

First, I thought just plain chocolate, but then I heard someone say Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and I thought that sounded amazing. So I have been rethinking.

Anyone have any input? Jeremy chose Nutty Chocolate Blue Bell ice cream. :) (with the 5 step process, of course!), with a second choice of spaghetti and meatballs. Can't wait to hear what you all think!

Tomato Plan

We have tomatoes. Lots of them. That would be fantastic, except that neither of us particularly like tomatoes. And we have given so many away that our neighbors are no longer answering their doors. No, thats an exaggeration, but we do have a lot of toms. :)

At the suggestion of my dad, we attempted to make bruschetta. Turns out, it is actually pretty simple, tastes really good, and doesn't really have that tomato taste to it.

Here are the main ingredients: mozzarella cheese, toms, olives, and we picked to use bagel crisps for the bread (in case it was a failure, we could still use them elsewhere).

Load them up..
Melt away...
And eat your heart out!

Side note: Riley doesn't eat tomatoes either! He is the pickiest dog!

Goggle Moment

This is awesome. It will change your life.

You might wonder what I am doing and why I am wearing what I am wearing.

Well, as for what I am wearing, I really don't have a good explanation, except for that we were painting and yes, I look rough. Try to ignore my clothes.

As for what I am doing...I am cutting onions WITH SWIMMING GOGGLES ON! It is awesome, and you never get teary, and your eyes never burn. These specific ones are a little difficult because they are tinted, but you get the idea. You will love it. I now keep a pair of swimming goggles under the kitchen sink. :)

Almost done!!!

Our porch has come a long way over the last 3 weekends. :) Here is a picture of the current status...only missing the screen and a door!

It looked like this last weekend:

But then the painting began. My deltoid is so sore from painting, I can't really lift my right arm.

Then the vinyl ceiling went in. That wasn't so easy either, and several of the vinyl pieces got thrown around the backyard. :)

But it ended up looking fantastic in the end.

Also, the lights are in, and the wiring is ready for the new fans too.

Of course, our dogs got involved too. This picture is sideways, but Beagle has a smear of paint down his side.

Also, Rio has a white tail.

And here we are...just a day or so away from finishing. I hope so, because it this point, I can't move my right arm, and Rio, Aileron and I are all covered in white paint. :)

More updates coming soon. :)

Old Peanuts

Thank you to Stephanie...for these peanuts. That we got from Mom's stash, after your wedding. Almost two years ago. They are fantastic. And we just opened them. Who knew peanuts are still good...if not better...two years later!?!?

So thank you Stephanie and Jeyson for providing us with a tasty topping for our Blue Bell!

Nappy Pillow Contest- Please Vote

Please Vote.

We are having a nappy/nasty pillow contest. The two of us are in disagreement over who has the nastiest pillow. We would appreciate your help in solving this marital feud.

The pillows will go unclaimed in this post, but as a side note, if you look closely, you will notice a red stain in the shape of a strawberry on one of them. Take that for what it's worth. :)

Exhibit A: Profile Picture

Exhibit A: Side View (the phone is just there so you can see exactly how nappy (or not) size wise the pillow is)

Exhibit A: One just for good measure:

Exhibit B: Profile Picture

Exhibit B: Profile Picture (a few stains, but overall still fluffy)- same thing here with the phone

Please submit your vote (either Exhibit A or B) in the comment box for the final tally in 48 hours. :) Sweet dreams on your nappy pillow tonight.

Riley's Adventure

This little man had an adventure today. Somewhere in the chaos of nailing roofing on, and painting our porch, a door was left open, and old Riles went exploring. We don't know when he left, or how long he was gone. I was just thinking that I hadn't seen him in a while...and when Jeremy went out to get something from the shed, Riley came walking on up to him. :) (Jeremy said he was acting a little nervous!) He had just been cruising around the front yard, smelling and checking things out. Doing whatever dogs do, I guess! Glad he didn't go too far!

Then again, it shouldn't have surprised us. He has always been somewhat of a trouble maker after all. :)

Progress...

Here is some recent pictures on our new (and in process) screened in porch!

Jeremy built the back wall (complete with supports to hold it up and level).

Then we tied it into the house. With LOTS of support.
On went the plywood to make the roof, and we started nailing in the rolled roofing.
Here is a pic of Rio hanging out on a piece of roofing. :) The dogs always have to be involved.
Partially roofed- and that little can has the tar in it to stick it down.
Almost dried in...except we ran out out of roofing material! So on went this blue tarp for a few days.
The side walls went up, and Jeremy added hurricane strapping.
Here is where we are at so far...looking like a porch already!

Dog Camp Results

Riley and Rio are tired. Here are some pictures of them in the truck on the way home from dog camp. They slept for three days. :)

We have been waiting to post because we were kind of unsure about the results of our four week dog camp.

We had lots of positives:

• Rio is walking like a champ on a leash.
• Riley and Rio are not showing any aggressive behavior toward each other.
• Riley and Rio both learned a new command- "climb" where they climb up on a bench, and they stay there until further notice (kind of a powerful feeling!) :)
• Both dogs are listening better to directions.
• Both dogs are doing less barking and overall less crazy behavior.
• It gave us confidence on how to socialize how our dogs safely and confidence in overall training.

That being said, we sent them there to deal with aggression issues...and were are just not convinced that they are "fixed". On our training/pick-up day, we still saw some growling from Riley toward other dogs. However, we do know how to socialize him now, so we are ready to try. Anyone have a dog they want to try out? Let me know. :)

I couldn't resist these cute puppy pics of Riley.

And one of our wonderful, perfect Beagle. :)

$1.00

$1.00

Yeah, you read that right. Another Walmart special! Went shopping for creamer and a few other things, and I happened upon this treasure. It was marked $5.00, but then I price checked it...and it came up as $1.00!!! It is not too often that you can find a bathing suit cheaper than creamer!

Something Big

Something big is happening in Columbus, MS...

It required a truck load...
and a trailer full...
and then some...

It is big....and it is just beginning. We will keep you posted. :)