Back into the throws of dark, dark winter. Back to feeling like we should be going to bed at 6pm. Back to actually noticing that we are losing between 4 & 5 minutes of daylight each day. The darkness just settles in and makes everyone a little more inward and a little more distant.
All it took was one little time change. One little turn of the minute hand and it seems like never-ending darkness. The sun was long down before I even thought about going home from work today. As I walked home I considered the pros and the cons. The only pro I could think of was that it is much easier to cross the street since I can now see headlights. That’s the only one. I thought of lots of cons. For instance, you just can’t see people in the dark. You can’t share a smile or a chuckle about how your umbrella just blew inside out for the third time quite so easily. And.. because I am who I am.. everything seems a little more creepy and a little more dangerous. That sweet little school girl with her violin that I pass everyday suddenly becomes a little girl with a secret.. a secret that involves a huge plot.. See, see? She didn’t smile today.. and that’s definitely not a violin in that case, it could be anything! Probably a communication device to help execute the huge plot… probably..
According to the weather people, it feels like 2 degrees outside. I know that’s not what I know to be 2 degrees, but it sure does make it seem cold. And dark. Walking around today one sweet little voice kept popping into my head.. Remember the movie 101 Dalmatians? Remember this part?
“my tail's froze...
and my nose is froze
and my ears are froze.
And my toes are froze.”
That about sums it up :)
I think we should all just hibernate. November and December should be declared human hibernation months in Scotland. That would be nice. Maybe I’ll start a petition…
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Fly Haven
It all started about two weeks ago when our trash didn’t get picked up. We don’t have a wheelie bin as most people do, so if our trash doesn’t get picked up, it just hangs out with us in the house for another week. Usually we put it out in the stairwell so that if it smells, it at least only smells in the stairwell and not in the whole flat.
Well this trash was particularly stinky because there was a chicken carcass in it – yummy, I know.. So, we had our teeny tiny little window cracked open in the stairwell to try to air it out a bit since we can’t just leave the front door open. The day finally came for our trash to be picked up and when I moved the trash bag to take it down to the sidewalk I noticed little pellets all around it. I called Ian out to look at it and we determined that somehow a very small rodent must have smelled the delicious scent of rotting chicken and climbed in through the cracked window and pooped everywhere. The only question was, where did the little rodent go? It’s a long way down from that window and we couldn’t figure out how on earth it would have been able to climb all the way up the wall to get out the window again. So, we just assumed it had gotten into the trash bag and had been taken away with the smelly carcass.
Well because we are busy and lazy and hate our vacuum cleaner and not easily put off by unsanitary situations, we left the ‘turds’ out in the hallway for a while. The main problem was I would forget about them at all times except for when I was actually in the stairwell, so I just never got around to it. Finally I decided today was the day.. it was time to rid ourselves of the turds.
A few days ago I had noticed we had a few gargantuan flies in the house. These babies were biggies too. Nice meaty flies. I assumed they got there, as they all do, when the windows had been opened on a nice day.
WELL. I went out into the stairwell Saturday morning to assess the situation and noticed there were a TON of flies out there. I was totally baffled as to where they were coming from.. maybe the mail slot?? I wasn’t sure. Then I thought, ‘I wonder if those turds are actually fly eggs!’ I went back in to get the vacuum and jokingly mentioned it to Ian, and upon further thought, he said ‘you know, I bet you’re right.’
Being the manly man he is, he went and got a knife and dissected one to find that, indeed, there were flies inside the little turds. UnbeLIEVable!
So, despite my reassuring Ian they would just be very dizzy and not dead as he supposed, we decided that it wasn’t very humane to try to vacuum up all the flies along with the pupas (or whatever they were) and we ran around our house catching them in tupperware and letting them go out the windows. We caught 17 flipping flies! 17! AND there were still 11 more unborn flies that we also dumped out the window. Do you know how full of flies our little flat would have been had they all emerged before we figured out what was going on!? I think it’s actually significantly grosser than if they had been rodent turds. SIGNIFICANTLY.
(sidenote: this is not the window that was cracked open through which we thought the alleged rodent had come, we have no idea how to open this window.. I think it's just for light.. and for flies to gather around)
As I began writing this I had a flashback to when I first moved the trashbag that had the chicken carcass in it – before it was all tied up and everything. Guess what happened when I moved it.. a FLY flew out! I had no idea what that fly had been doing in there! Apparently sweet little mama fly thought that rotting carcass was a perfect bed for her developing babies. And then the nasty little maggots crawled on out and took up residence in the stairwell until they hatched.
Sick sick sick!
So that's pretty much how our Saturday morning went.
Unbelievable. And gross.
Well this trash was particularly stinky because there was a chicken carcass in it – yummy, I know.. So, we had our teeny tiny little window cracked open in the stairwell to try to air it out a bit since we can’t just leave the front door open. The day finally came for our trash to be picked up and when I moved the trash bag to take it down to the sidewalk I noticed little pellets all around it. I called Ian out to look at it and we determined that somehow a very small rodent must have smelled the delicious scent of rotting chicken and climbed in through the cracked window and pooped everywhere. The only question was, where did the little rodent go? It’s a long way down from that window and we couldn’t figure out how on earth it would have been able to climb all the way up the wall to get out the window again. So, we just assumed it had gotten into the trash bag and had been taken away with the smelly carcass.
Well because we are busy and lazy and hate our vacuum cleaner and not easily put off by unsanitary situations, we left the ‘turds’ out in the hallway for a while. The main problem was I would forget about them at all times except for when I was actually in the stairwell, so I just never got around to it. Finally I decided today was the day.. it was time to rid ourselves of the turds.
A few days ago I had noticed we had a few gargantuan flies in the house. These babies were biggies too. Nice meaty flies. I assumed they got there, as they all do, when the windows had been opened on a nice day.
WELL. I went out into the stairwell Saturday morning to assess the situation and noticed there were a TON of flies out there. I was totally baffled as to where they were coming from.. maybe the mail slot?? I wasn’t sure. Then I thought, ‘I wonder if those turds are actually fly eggs!’ I went back in to get the vacuum and jokingly mentioned it to Ian, and upon further thought, he said ‘you know, I bet you’re right.’
Being the manly man he is, he went and got a knife and dissected one to find that, indeed, there were flies inside the little turds. UnbeLIEVable!
So, despite my reassuring Ian they would just be very dizzy and not dead as he supposed, we decided that it wasn’t very humane to try to vacuum up all the flies along with the pupas (or whatever they were) and we ran around our house catching them in tupperware and letting them go out the windows. We caught 17 flipping flies! 17! AND there were still 11 more unborn flies that we also dumped out the window. Do you know how full of flies our little flat would have been had they all emerged before we figured out what was going on!? I think it’s actually significantly grosser than if they had been rodent turds. SIGNIFICANTLY.
(sidenote: this is not the window that was cracked open through which we thought the alleged rodent had come, we have no idea how to open this window.. I think it's just for light.. and for flies to gather around)
As I began writing this I had a flashback to when I first moved the trashbag that had the chicken carcass in it – before it was all tied up and everything. Guess what happened when I moved it.. a FLY flew out! I had no idea what that fly had been doing in there! Apparently sweet little mama fly thought that rotting carcass was a perfect bed for her developing babies. And then the nasty little maggots crawled on out and took up residence in the stairwell until they hatched.
Sick sick sick!
So that's pretty much how our Saturday morning went.
Unbelievable. And gross.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A New Slideshow!
We've been enjoying this Autumn season, as well as getting to know many new families that have moved here. A couple of Saturdays ago we went over to enjoy the sunshine at the Castle with some friends you'll be hearing about more frequently - Shawn and Sara. We'll try to get a picture of them soon :) It was a beautiful day and I've put up a new slideshow with some pictures for your viewing pleasure!
In other news, I like to claim I broke my toe Friday night. I don't think I did, but it bled and it hurts. I just like to think I'm so tough that I can break things and continue on with life as normal. That's what I like to think...
In other news, I like to claim I broke my toe Friday night. I don't think I did, but it bled and it hurts. I just like to think I'm so tough that I can break things and continue on with life as normal. That's what I like to think...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
New Season, New Look :)
I know, it’s sad. I wanted to sound really cool as if I knew about fashion and all.. that was the best title I could think of.
Anyway. I spent a wonderful hour with a hairdresser this morning chopping of my hair. It was fabuloso! I LOVED her and I love what I came out with…
Yes. I’ve started wearing the glasses again. My eyes have been getting extremely tired after staring at screens all day and I’ve been getting headaches more often, so hubby suggested I bust them out again. I thought since I had a new haircut, I could justify wearing dorky glasses :)
AND. Hubby is letting his hair GROW.
Katy started in on this idea long before I was in a position to make suggestions about Ian’s hair, but I definitely chimed in any time the subject of him letting it get a little longer came up! The only problem is, he doesn’t really know how to style it, and I don’t really either. So, sometimes it looks awesome and he’s totally studly and other times.. well.. let’s just say those are the times he asks me to cut it :)
We’ll figure it out eventually, but we will definitely take any tips you know of on how to style enviously thick, smooth, cowlicky boy hair..
Anyway. I spent a wonderful hour with a hairdresser this morning chopping of my hair. It was fabuloso! I LOVED her and I love what I came out with…
Yes. I’ve started wearing the glasses again. My eyes have been getting extremely tired after staring at screens all day and I’ve been getting headaches more often, so hubby suggested I bust them out again. I thought since I had a new haircut, I could justify wearing dorky glasses :)
AND. Hubby is letting his hair GROW.
Katy started in on this idea long before I was in a position to make suggestions about Ian’s hair, but I definitely chimed in any time the subject of him letting it get a little longer came up! The only problem is, he doesn’t really know how to style it, and I don’t really either. So, sometimes it looks awesome and he’s totally studly and other times.. well.. let’s just say those are the times he asks me to cut it :)
We’ll figure it out eventually, but we will definitely take any tips you know of on how to style enviously thick, smooth, cowlicky boy hair..
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