So there I was, sitting on console, minding my own business, when what should I see? A text from my husband about wrangling some "harmless" monster-snake with his bare hands like Bear Grylls. ...or rather, in my opinion, like some kind of delusional, usually-shirtless, barefoot-running, dog-loving, Gardening Wonder also known as Fat Mar. Who does that guy think he is? Traipsing around the LC snake-trapping with a snake stick does not a wise-man make....

Mama wants to keep you around honey. Watch yo'sef wit' dem snakes.

Wife, out.

So there I was, sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when all of a sudden a snake-like shadow appears in the opaque-tinted window next to our front door, about six feet up. I thought fa-sho that it was just a branch shadow moving in the wind, cuz wth would a snake be doing creeping down our doorway?

So I went and looked anyway and was able to snap a couple crappy pictures with my phone. He was about four feet long and coming down off of our door header. I have no idea how he got up there or where he was coming from. So then I went and got my flip-flops to go try to chase him the opposite way (into the woods) so that none of our snakepocolypse-fearing neighbors would find him. I found him creeping along the dining room window sill and grabbed at him, but he shook loose; he had himself pretty intertwined in the azaleas and I didn't have a great grip on him. Then I went and got a flashlight and snake stick, but I couldn't find him again.

Oh yeah, it was not a cottonmouth, which I do see more often than any other snake. I'm guessing a blotched water snake? http://www.houstonherp.com/BlotchedWS.html

2nd to Last

I have the pleasure of working the 2nd to last shuttle mission, currently ongoing. It is bittersweet being a part of this whole operation - "bitter" for the impending end to the program and "sweet" cuz I get to be a contributor to the mission success - but I am thrilled to be on loan from my new job so that I may once again partake in Shuttle Mission Operations.

I am, however, on the overnight shift for two weeks which isn't quite as thrilling. Wheeeeeeeee! Regardless of the shift work, I will enjoy as much of this mission as I can :)

Quickie Vacation!

Charlie and I went to Orlando last weekend to help Faithie and Shawn celebrate their 5-year anniversary - Happy early Anniversary sweeties!

The whole family was there including Mom, Dad, Faith, Shawn and the kiddies, Fatty and Me.
We stayed at the Treehouse Villas on Disney property at the Saratoga Springs Resort. The Treehouse we were in was in a really nice wooded aread, backed up against a waterway upon which you could travel by boat to Downtown Disney and other resorts. We had a fabulous time enjoying time with the family, including a spectacular dinner/dessert/fireworks evening hosted by the lovely couple at Epcot. We went to Typhoon Lagoon as well, and whooped it up at the wave pool, including getting schooled by some mid-waves...lol! Mom & Dad went to dinner with us at Seasons 52 (www.Seasons52.com), our favorite local restaurant, one night and then the four of us "kids" went to dinner at Kuzzina and played some mini-golf at Fantasia...Putt (?)...another night. It was so much fun!! Of course, the kids are great and I even got Brandon to fall asleep on me - yesssssssss! Sure, I had absolutely nothing to do with him sleeping (I could have been a rock or lumpy pillow for all he knew), but either way -I call this a win :)

Lastly, we got to finally meet Faithie & Shawn's good friends Shira & Chris and Gemma & Rich(ie) - what a hoot! Yes, I said "hoot"... All were great people and they're so good to my sister. I can see why they're such good friends! I especially liked Rich since he's such a fanatic about NASA. It's not often I get to meet people who genuinely are interested in the space program, so YAY RICH! I hope they come down to visit sometime soon (before JSC is stripped on its last remaining reminders of the Shuttle program...*sigh*).

Thanks for inviting us to share in your special celebration Faith and Shawn, we love you!

Today's Harvest

Super Cuke and Super Zucc (reference the quarter at the bottom of the frame)...with a smattering of ripe, delicious strawberries to boot!!

I love our garden!

Bat House

It's been a few weeks since the last post. The gardens are going strong in the green bean, zucchini and herb categories.

Most exciting of all, however, is that Charlie finally finished his bat house. Yes, a bat house. He's been talking about making and researching how to make bat houses for a long time. Mostly I think he just thinks bats are cool, BUT they have the added bonus of eating the heck outta some mosquitos, which on our end of the development by the path and rice creek...we have an over-abundance. So, go get 'em batties!

He constructed it out of custom wood pieces, plopped it on a 20 foot high swingarm and even gave it some custom bat decals so the bats would know where to go hang out. Ha! Hang out! Get it? Yessss! I knew you would! ahhhhh...

It's located by our 4 large gardens near the back of the yard and blends in quite well. So far though, no bats...at least we haven't seen any bat guano, so...that's all we can tell.

We're waiting for the STS-134 mission to launch and hope that happens in the coming week(s).

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Late breaking news!!! Bat House pictures (and gratuitous garden and Kirby shots) discovered! Five pics in the slideshow: