A RUN IN WITH 2 MICE AND A RAT!

Today was a day that I will be glad to set aside...now I have never considered myself to be a real girly girl and at the same time I am not a tom boy...I am somewhere in the middle.  Not afraid to break a nail or get my hands dirty but also get excited over a new tube of lipstick.  I'm guessing many of you women are the same way.  But one thing that I am noticing is that I am getting a little weird about spiders and rodents.  They provoke a scream from within me that I never expect.  Today that scream came out...LOUD! 

We have a little mouse problem at work.  The other day, around 11:00am, a customer was coming into the store where I work and encountered a mouse sitting in our doorway.  The mouse scurried INTO the store and we haven't seen it since...until today during my lunch break.  I had just sat down to eat lunch and heard a scratching sound under the table in the break room.  I looked at the mouse hotel that was waiting to catch its prey and realized the scratching was coming from inside the "humane trap".  I...being so courageous...went and got my manager to look at it.  (My manager used to be in the Marines...OK...this makes me feel better about being a mouse wimp)  My manager picks up the trap and tells me there is nothing in it when just at that moment...out it comes...that scream I was telling you about and the mouse! 

As if it wasn't enough getting over that mouse encounter I soon ran into a RAT.  He was about 6'2" tall with gray hair and had a very bad attitude.  It was actually more difficult dealing with this RAT of a human than it was the mouse in the break room.  I don't need to go on any more about the RAT other than not understanding why it is that some people can wait until the very last minute to do something that they should have had done a LONG time ago and expect it to become your EMERGENCY!!!  UGH!!!  That's just life I guess.

You would think that this would be the last of the rodent episode...but no...tonight at dinner we were going to BBQ some burgers.  Now it has not been that long since we have used the BBQ but apparently it has been long enough because when my son went out to light the BBQ he was surprised by a MOUSE living in the BBQ!  What has this world come to today?  Where are all the rodents coming from?  All I have to say is RATS!

ROTARY AUCTION

This Saturday was the 50th annual Rotary Auction on Bainbridge Island.  They hold it at a local school and allow the public to drop off donations throughout the week.  You cannot believe the sheer sea of STUFF that they receive and sell.  They have this down like a well oiled machine.  There are thousands of people waiting at the gate to be let in at 8:00 am when they RUN to the areas of interest.  The night before they sell a preview ticket for $1 so you can figure out your plan of attack.  At 7:55 am they raised the flag on the flag pole and a very talented singer sang the national anthem.  Seemed kind of funny for some reason.  

The family went to the preview together the night before and spotted several items we thought would be good purchases.  We took a pad of paper and wrote it all down...very organized, don't you think!  The next morning I felt a little uneasy about my plan of attack when I saw hundreds of people in line ahead of me.  After the national anthem and the running...sort of...I got to my area of interest.  The one thing I really wanted had already been snagged by someone much faster and earlier than me.  What a bummer...I am still regretting not getting there sooner.  If you were the one who got that awesome tablecloth with pictures of the garden tools on it...we need to talk! 

I did however get all of the other things on my list...makes me question how good my taste is!  Anyway, if you have been reading my blog for awhile and happened to read this you would know how much I love the color of turquoise.  Happy I was to get a few more turquoise colored bottles.  Hubby helped me to hang these cute shelves that my SIL Holly was sweet enough to give me and now I have a great place to display my TURQUOISE!!!  Thank you Hubby...Thank you Holly!!!

It's a start...I'm actually not a huge collector of anything...but there is just something about this color that calls to me.  The other thing that I saw at the auction that I thought was cute was this enamelware pot that I thought would be cute with flowers in it...

After such a successful time at the auction I thought we should sit in the sun and celebrate with a little refreshment...

Here's to good deals!  Wish you could join us.

more on "Welcome Home"

The last post was rushed and without photos so I thought I should add a little color to my time at Welcome Home with Diane.  Diane is the sweetest lady with a darling shop in St. John, Washington.  She sells lovely new and like new items in her store to make you house a home.  I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to sell my note cards in her store.  

(here is a picture of Diane and myself at her store last Friday.  Isn't she a doll!  She's the adorable one on the left.)

I did a little show of my artwork and had a great time meeting some of her customers.  The next day our family had a lot of fun celebrating my sister's birthday and Father's Day together at her lake place.  Look at this beautiful view she has from her deck...

Eastern Washington has such a different kind of beauty than Western Washington.  It's called high Desert and the climate is much warmer and drier.  (finally...some heat!)

On the way home we passed this...

 It was huge...took a long time to pass... What is it you ask?  It is a blade to one of these...

Wind Power!

A Great Day at "Welcome Home"

Last Friday I had a great opportunity to meet Diane White.  Diane is the owner of a great store in Saint John, Washington called "Welcome Home".  She sells a great selection of new and like new items along with my cards!

Saturday was a big day in Saint John with their annual sprint boat races so there were lots of folks in town for that and Diane was sweet enough to ask me to come to her shop for a "meet the artist" afternoon.  There are some really nice folks in Saint John and I enjoyed meeting them.  If you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods stop by her shop.  You'll be glad you did...I managed to find a wonderful treasure and you probably will too!

WHY DRIVE ON THE BEACH? ...BECAUSE YOU CAN!

Another adventure awaited our old trusty van last weekend.  We went for a little camping trip out to the Washington Coast where believe it or not people actually drive their cars on the beach!  Why you ask?  Well...I asked the same question...over and over again...and the only answer I was able to come up with is...BECAUSE YOU CAN!

We had a great time camping and had surprisingly great weather on Saturday...but it was Sunday we looked forward to because all the weather forecasts were for great weather on Sunday!  So we thought we really lucked out on Saturday to be able to have 2 great days of weather.  So we got in our tents very late on Saturday night and just started to fall asleep when I heard this strange..OK...not strange, actually very familiar...sound on the tent.  My gosh it was rain.  A little became a lot and quite steady I might add...all night long and all the next day.  Well we aren't dumb!  We know when enough is enough so by the time we got everything packed up and ready to head back home we had been there almost 24 hours to the minute!  Way to pack in a full 24 hours! 

We do have a special tradition we do with camping...it's called MOUNTAIN MAN BREAKFAST!

It is an artery clogging delight that you make in a dutch oven with charcoal briquet's.

(Heat oven, cook bacon, onion and green pepper)

(Add hash browns and heat for about 20 minutes then add about a dozen eggs (whisked together) and pour over hash brown mixture.  Cook until the eggs are set, cover with cheese and cook til melted.)

(Dish up and enjoy!  Trying to not get too wet in the rain!!!)

This is not an exact science but it is a lot of fun...next lesson will be on pudgy pies!

Take Care