Bean beatles, blossom rot, ants, and mice

Country living. When you say it, you think of magazine-perfect settings. Horses grazing, flowers in bloom, pretty girls in straw hats, and clear streams. What those magazines don't show you is the real country in the living. Critters. Big ones. Little ones. Furry ones. Hungry ones. Slithering ones. Everywhere!

We seem to have grill-happy mice this year. Little gray mice keep trying to make nests in the cabinet under our grill. When I foolishly left the pool cover on the sunny part of the deck for a day and a half, a mouse had already built a mansion-size nest under it! Grosssss!!!

I think the same 2 snakes have lived in the corner by our satellite dish for the past 5 years. I'm not kidding. My dad came over one day and said, "hey, I wonder if those snakes are still over there from when we worked on that siding." He and Steve walked over, and I heard them both stifle themselves, knowing if I heard them, I'd flip out. "Steve, did you see one over there?" I boldly commanded my answer. "No. I didn't see one over there." "Tell me the truth. Is there a snake over there?" "No", he persisted, "there is not a snake over there." "Dad, is there a snake over there?" My dad can't lie to me. "No. Honey, there is not a snake over there. There are TWO snakes over there." Men.

We had a beautiful patch of both bush beans and pole beans this year. That is until one day the leaves resembled lace curtains. What?? I then discovered hundreds, if not thousands of disgusting little beetles, chomping away at our harvest. I don't like pesticides, and it was just too far gone. Goodbye beans. Hello country life.

We have 21 tomato plants, and I was excited to finally have one ready to pick. As soon as I touched it, I knew. Blossom rot. UGH!! Could it be all 21 plants are affected? Yes, it's possible. No one told me to put Epsom salts in the soil when I planted them. Thanks for the late tip, dad. I'll see you in YOUR tomato patch.

Ants. Does anyone else have an army load of ants?? First they were in the house, now they're all over the lawn. They are all over my landscaping, in my flowers, in the driveway...it's the invasion of the ants....a whole new plague!! And it's downright yukky.

And who knew horseflies could be that big? There is one waiting for me every day when I walk to the mailbox. He buzzes and flies around and around my head, driving me nuts. I swat and smack, ending up hitting myself in the face, dropping my mail, and hurting my shoulder. The fly just kept on going. One for the fly. Zero for me.

Am I really cut out for this? Can you ever take the city out of the girl? I don't know for sure just yet. Six years in the country, and I'm still clapping my hands in the woods to scare away the oogy boogys. And FYI, it doesn't even work! I'm always the one to find the snakes before anyone else!

And while I'm not really afraid of squirrels, turkeys, birds, and chipmunks, they do tend to startle me when they get too close. One day I was sneaking up on a chipmunk when he suddenly turned and ran toward me. I nearly killed myself trying to run away. I know I heard him laughing as he ran to tell all of his friends where they could find a good mark.

Ah, country living. So relaxing. Birds chirping, bees humming. Me screaming. Yeah, it's a good life.

Fun Night!

Last night we (our family and Grammy and Grampy) attended the concert at Clare County Fair...The Band Perry (If I Die Young), opened by Kari Lynch, my brother Scott's daughter. Technically she's my niece, but until I meet her, I don't consider myself to be her aunt. She's a beautiful young lady, truly! She has such a talent, not only in her voice, but in her ability to entertain the crowd. She's a natural. She sounds a bit like Carrie Underwood, so she really has "it"! Check her out at www.karilynch.com. She will be in Clare tonight at the City Park performing again. I hope you'll find the time to check her out and give her some support! She writes her own music too, which I find admirable in any artist. If you like country, you will love her too!

We purchased her CD, and Natalie will most likely have it learned by the end of the week. By "learned", I mean she'll have the guitar chords figured out and all the lyrics learned. It is a joy to have musical talent in our family. My niece, Sara, has a voice of gold, and has since she was little. My brother, Tim, played a mean guitar, Jeff played trumpet, my dad sings, and I'd like to think I'm a little musical myself. We won't ask anyone to verify that!! My grandma used to play the organ when we were kids, and we remember how the volume was always so loud but Gram never noticed!

SO, I guess I could say that music has a way of connecting us. Would I have ever found out about Kari had it not been for seeing her in the paper for her music? It became just the small talk I needed to approach my brother in conversation. And it will now be an easier connection to him and to his other children. (I believe he has 4) It may be the thing that helps Natalie pursue her own music interests, seeing her cousin living out her own dream. Who knows where the road may lead.

While rain was threatening to close out our night, we enjoyed the concert rain free! It started to sprinkle as we left, then downpoured as we drove away.
Oh, and The Band Perry was amazing too! They are a brother/sister group from Tennessee, and from what I could tell...Christians too! They sang "Amazing Grace", Chris Tomlin style. Beautiful!!
What a fun night!

Fun Day

The girls were invited to a pool party today, and my original plan was to float around in our pool while they were gone. I wasn't necessarily excited about it, but now that the deck is safe to walk on, I wanted to try it out. That's until I got invited to the pool party too!

So, I spent several hours bobbing around the pool with my friend, enjoying some much-needed conversation. She misses her far-away friend, I've been missing mine! We haven't known each other long, but always have a good time chatting. It's easy. No work involved! Shouldn't we all be that easy to be around? I think so.

We both agreed that we're often too busy to find time for friendships. That most of the time we spend running around for our kids and families. Sometimes we don't get to see our moms enough. Sometimes we're not alone enough! It's nice to have friends that just slip in and you can just pick up where you left off, whether it's been 2 months, 2 years or 10! I am blessed to have friends that are willing to be too busy right along with me, and when we do talk, it's a worthwhile time.

So, I am sunburned and got home late to fix dinner. It's defrosting while I sit here and take the time to tell you what a fun day I had.