The Great Snowy Mississippi Squirrel

I first spotted this fellow looking out my bathroom window, but, being busy and not having a camera handy, I could not get a shot. About a week later he (HE being the default gender for squirrels in my mind.) came right up onto our patio and we were able to snap quite a few shots. He even posed nicely at times.

The title of my post is, of course, tongue in cheek. There is no such thing as a snowy squirrel, and if there were, (or if I am wrong and there IS) I can guarantee you it is not indigenous to Mississippi.

The sighting of our oddity led to an afternoon's discussion of genetics and dominant and recessive genes. Seriously, what homeschool family would NOT segue spotting an albino ANYTHING in the wild to a biology lesson?

Would it not be cool if more and more white squirrels were born in this neighborhood? His presence obviously shows that some of the squirrels are carriers of the gene. If he mates up properly it could happen. Somehow I doubt squirrels are too picky about inbreeding. This is Mississippi, after all. (JOKING!)

In the neighborhood (if not a wider area of the town) where my mother-in-law's family home is the squirrels are black. I assumed at first that this was a regional difference. After all, I had heard of red squirrels but only ever seen grey. Turns out, I learned later, that it is a different species, but not one native to eastern Kentucky. The story I was told was that there was a local man who imported pet squirrels from Europe that eventually escaped.

It is easy to take something like what color a squirrel should be for granted. Seeing the black squirrels years ago in Kentucky, and now this white one...the change stands out immediately when you see it.

I suppose it says something about how safe our neighborhood is for wildlife. There is a reason albinism is so rare, and recessive genetics is only part of it.

Without zoom (wildlife photography must have been a nightmare before zoom.)

On the patio

Giving me a look

Speaking of "Inspired to Write..."

I am thinking of picking up my author's pen (or keyboard) again. The stories are starting to bubble behind my eyes and my bout of panic/depression about DH being out of work is lifting. I need to do something creative. And since my sewing room is currently a disaster area (The damage reports from Hurricane Christmas are still being gathered,) writing is the easiest.

I find it embarrassing to tell people I like to write fiction. The inevitably leads to questions about content. Now that I have left college and started raising a family, there aren't many people around (that I speak with) who appreciate Science Fiction and High Fantasy. I feel like it would be less painful to just tattoo the word "NERD" across my forehead than to talk writing with people around here.

Did you ever feel like you were living on an island of "Things that Interest Me" surrounded by a sea of "Other People's Interests" ?

So, as I said, I don't like to tell people I write. Easy enough since it has been decades since I had anything published.

There are some things I think I need to just get over, like a quick tendency to embarrassment and worry about what people think, to the detriment of what I like or think is cool.

Non-sequiter - DH cannot find his Magic decks. Poor guy has looked all over the house and in the storage. My amazing brother made a Christmas gift to DH out of one of his own favorite decks.

My amazing Christmas gift from my amazing brother was something so amazing that very few people (especially in this town) can truly appreciate it. I collect dice. And 6 sided dice are too mainstream. (I guess I am a dice hipster.) D10s and d20s are my particular favorites. (That is 10 and 20 sided dice respectively, for those of you who don't know the lingo.)
My amazing brother spent hours in the university wood shop (after he had finished the assigned work/projects) using scrap wood to make me the most amazing d20 I have ever seen.

It is the size of a bowling ball! Granted, the numbers are hand written and some of the edges are rough, but ... the thought that went into matching the gift to personality and spending time to work on the gift...wow. I am very touched.
He said he might work on making better calculations of the inside angels where the pieces fit together (under the surface) so there would not be such rough edges, also perhaps getting rubber letter stickers or stencils.

Perfect or not, I love it. I have knitted a d20 before, but due the the flexibility of the sides, it doesn't hold the shape as well as wood. Does have less potential to do damage when rolled, though. I guess that is a plus.

Settling of the Dust

The week before Christmas, (or thereabouts. You'd think I would know by now to update this blog PROMPTLY and thereby minimize the effects time can have on my memory of the details.) DH was offered a job at a software firm here in our town. We will not have to move. He is making more money than he did at the previous company, with better benefits. So far it seems an altogether satisfactory resolution.

My main concern is stretching the money we have left from his severance and making it last until he gets his first paycheck. Once the money starts coming in again we will be fine. The next couple of weeks are not going to be fun, but they are "not fun" with an end in sight. I can handle that. It'll boil down to prioritizing the bills and pinching the grocery budget.

I feel inspired to write, however, I do not feel inspired to combine blog posts on diverse subjects. Back in a bit...

With pride I present my grandmother at her 90th birthday party this past October.

Curve Ball

Well, life has stepped up to the mound and lobbed one right at our heads. We found out yesterday that my husband will no longer be working with the company he has been with for the past 6 years. With his severance and our small savings we are good until January. If we don't have a new job by then we will have to move on to Plan B.
I spent this morning going over our normal budget and typical grocery shopping list to see where we could get spending to a bare bones minimum and try to stretch our funds as far as they will go.

This area is not known as a hotbed of technological industry. I have the feeling we will be moving. It would have been nice to get this news before we signed a lease and moved this summer...(grumble) I'd prefer to move somewhere close, stay near family in the southern US, but in reality, I'll take whatever we can get.

I am not quite sure what I feel right now. There is an odd combination of terror and peace I cannot explain. I am very worried, but at the same time I feel like we have been in this situation before and gotten through it, we will get through this too.

I just hope it doesn't take as long as it did then.

Busy busy (almost) busy

Just popping in to say it might be a while before I can get anything posted. I have about a bajillion crafts and hand-made gifts I want to do for Christmas this year and have only just gotten started. I'll be sitting at my sewing machine more than the laptop. (Who am I kidding? That is absolutely NOT true.) Well, I'll be sitting at the laptop much less.

Of course...since I have been ignoring this blog rather skillfully for months now, I don't know why I bother telling you (2 or 3 people who read this) that I won't be posting much for the next month and a half. How will it be different than what you have been getting?

So, instead to this being a low-post warning, let it be a notice that once the holidays are gone I do actually plan to get back to this blog more often. I have said similar things in the past, I know. We'll see how it goes.

Family catch up:
My kids have all gained in age. 11, 13, and 14 now. This never ceases to amaze me. They are getting into ages I can not only recall being, but EASILY (without brain strain) remember being. My mother never seemed flabbergasted by my aging. She handled this sort of thing better than I, I guess.

DD14 (! 14! Wow!) and I are planning to see if we can't get enough sewing done between now and May 2012 to have a booth at the weekly farmers' market next summer. I think it will be fun and educational. Home school...child labor style! (But first, Christmas gifts)

As of tomorrow my dear husband and I have been a couple for 15 years. (!) I can remember the date because it tis the same (other than the year) as the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance from Back to the Future. Heh...15 years...that puts us halfway between the dance and Marty going back in time.

We have moved into a smaller, nicer, rentally-er house. It is in a nice neighborhood and everyone is pleased. The only thing I do not like is trying to find places to store all of the too much stuff we have. It seems obvious that more stuff culling is needed.

That's all I have for now...here is a picture of dd10 in the lobby of the HealthWorks Childrens Museum.

The Dangerous Beast

So, I was hooking up the laundry machines myself, mostly because I felt guilty that DH and DB were doing all the heavy lifting (including saiud laundry machines.) OK, no problem. I had to go to Home Depot to get a "pigtail" for the dryer. (That is the electric cord. They come seperate and there are a few different types. The new house's outlet doesn't match the old.) I was slightly worried that I had still not gotten the right kind. I was worried I would get it all screwed to the back of the dryer and then have to take it off because it didn't fit the outlet.

I got the brilliant idea to check the fit before I attached the pigtail to the dryer. I neglected to hold to loose end and make sure the connectors didn't touch anything (including each other.) I plugged in the loose pigtail and PWAP! there were sparks, smoke, a bright light, and the smoke detector started sqawking.

Obviously, something went wrong. I removed the battery from the smoke detector, cleaned up the scorched connectors, and tended the burn on my arm (spark attack.) I attached the pigtail and tried again. The plug fit (yay) but the dryer didn't come on. It was 11pm, so I decided I had lost my chance to do any laundry that night. I said "Forget this!" and went to bed.

I was afraid the PWAP! had fried the new pigtail. It would be $20 to replace (after tax.) But, another possibility was that I had tripped a breaker. I checked it out the next morning and it was indeed just a matter of flipping the breaker back on.

I got both machines hooked up (after another trip to Home Depot for a washer, a strap wrench, and a screw clamp) and have started to make headway into the nearly a week's worth of laundry that is patiently waiting to be cleaned.

There is a nasty looking mark on my arm, but it doesn't hurt any more if I don't touch it.

What I learned this week

1. August is HOT. Do not move in August if you can at all avoid it.

2. Even if you are just moving across town, rent a truck. The cost of gas for (many) multiple SUV loads will be more than the cost of the rental. Plus, it should cut down on the time spent moving.

3. We have too much stuff. Even after culling a LOT of junk, we still have too much stuff. Moving into a smaller house has made that abundantly clear.

4. Loving husbands are worth their weight in gold.

5. Electricity is a dangerous beast. Modern society has tried to tame and enslave it, but it will bite if you aren't careful.

6. The cable company and the phone company are not my friends.

7. U-haul makes and sells very good boxes.

8. Being able to do your own laundry is a blessing.

9. I can hook up a washer and dryer all by myself, provided I have big strong men to get them from one house to the other.

10. Do not sit on the end of a trailer that is not hooked up to anything (even if you are just 10 years old)

11. I cannot remember what relaxing feels like.

Moving On

We did find a house we like. I got a supply of boxes. This week we pack and next week we should be moving. I can't wait.
And that is all I want to say about that.

Public schools in our area get back to their lessons at the end of this week. Since our home school is changing locations in the near future, we are putting off the official lessons until things have settled. Until then we will have sporadic review lessons and the sorts of lessons that can be taught a few minutes at a time, or while doing other things.
dd13 has expressed interest in art, drawing and animation in particular. She also wants to study Japanese. Which means I get to study Japanese. We have been creeping along slowly for a few weeks and both of us are enjoying it. Later in the school year we will take a field trip to a sushi restaurant, or try some easier Japanese recipes here at home. Since I am thousands of miles out of my comfort zone, it will be an adventure. I don't even know HOW to eat sushi.
dd12 says she doesn't have any idea what foreign language she wants to study. So, I devised a combo language/world geography social studies curriculum. We'll pop around the globe, studying countries and cultures, as well as a sampling of the language. Then, next year she can choose which she like and we will focus on that.
dd11 is still focusing on general subjects. I actually haven't finished planning out everything she will be doing. Of course, she gets to tag along on our popping around the globe. She says she wants to study Greek, which is within my experience. Our place is going to look like some sort of weird encryption camp with all the difference alphabets. If, after the sample year, dd12 decides to study Russian, or Hindi (among others) it will get even better.

Here is a picture for you to enjoy - dd13 (when she was dd1) and her uncle.
(She is the one who is upside down.)

So...it comes to this

My house and I hate each other. It hates me and I hate it right back. (It started the feud, not me. I used to like this house.)

We are currently preparing for foreclosure. I haven't shared this with many people because I am embarrassed about the whole matter. It isn't my fault, though. When we bought this house we were making $85k / year and for the last 2 years earnings have gone to more like $40-$45k. I am already doing just about everything I can to keep expenses down. If I pinch our pennies any further I may face a class action lawsuit. Though, "Pennies v Housewife 2011" isn't likely to make the headlines, not when so many other people face similar situations.

We have been looking at rentals in the area that we can afford and that aren't dumps. There are a few if you are willing to live outside of town. We found one today that we are comfortable with. We'll hear Monday or Tuesday if the owner is comfortable with us. I am optimistic, but trying not to get my hopes up too high.

I am ready to get started moving, but only because I am ready to be done moving. I need to go this weekend and see about getting some boxes. We have some from moving a few years ago, and some from purchases we have made, but no where near enough to move all of this, even after the planned do-we-really-need-this purge. I may be asking friends around town if they have any. I may also be stalking the rear of local stores. If my dishes end up smelling like bananas, you'll know why.

Anyway, pray for a favorable landlord, patience in moving, and nice weather at the turn of the month.

For you enjoyment...a marigold from dd13's flower box, before the heat did it in.

Scorpius and Antares

Thursday the girls and I spent the day cruising around Memphis. In addition to the Zoo, which we have been to so many times over the last 6 years that we no longer need a map, I decided that the Pink Palace would be a nice way to cool off and still learn something.

The Pink Palace has a museum, an IMAX theater, and a planetarium. We did not have a chance to see the IMAX.

The museum has natural history displays as well as some of the history of the city itself. It was interesting. Dd12 lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw the geology hall. (Homeschool mom takes notes, starts to plan science lessons for the fall...) We are still talking about the quartz crystal the size of our television.

The highlight of the visit was the Sharpe Planetarium. dd13 has always loved the sky and I figured even the less enthusiastic girls would like it. I was correct.

The program was different from what I saw when I went to a planetarium as a kid. This was just a pretty straight forward exploration of the Summer night sky from the southern USA. It focused on Antares, in the Scorpius constellation. From there we were shown how to find Vega, Altair, Deneb, Arcturus, Spica, and Polaris. We all walked out feeling rested (I loved those seats!) and educated.

I didn't realize HOW educated until last night (Friday.) JD and I returned home from our bimonthly budget date to a parking spot and walk toward the house that matched the orientation of the planetarium screen.

"Hey! There is Scorpius! And that star there in the middle is Antares," I said. I stopped and gawked for a few minutes. (It was a good night for gawking.) After a short time the girls started coming outside to see what we were looking at. As each one saw something she knew the name of the excitement level rose. All of us cursed the trees around the edge of the yard that are so lovely during the day.

"I can't see the Summer Triangle because of the trees!"

"The big dipper WOULD be over there, but the trees are in the way!"

"Is there a way to turn off the light on the pole?"

"This is SO cool!"

"We can't see the scorpion's tail because the house is in the way."

"Go get the binoculars!"

A trip to a museum that was pretty much chosen because it was indoors and air conditioned turned into a whole lot more. We all had a great time last night. Now I need to figure out where we can go nearby that has a larger open space and as little light pollution as possible.

I want to see what else we can see.

Here is a picture from Thursday that was NOT taken at the Pink Palace.

It is of a giraffe.