That Time I Went All 'Goodfellas' on an Opossum

Recently I posted on Facebook about about my brief but memorable encounter with an opossum. Since, posting, however, I’ve decided that it deserves more than just a few hundred characters to truly give the moment the appropriate amount of fanfare and embellishment. If not for the sake of pure entertainment, then at least for the sake of the opossum, who gave his life for the story.

And in true short story format, I should give you just the smallest bit of backstory and an idea of the setting so you know what you’re dealing with here. So with that, I begin the tale of that time I went all ‘Goodfellas’ on an opossum.

Where I live is aptly described as an acreage in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but cornfields, just a few miles from the quaint hamlet of Ogden, Iowa, pop. 1,996. We’re fairly new ‘country folk’, as we moved from the metropolis of Ames to said acreage just over two years ago.

Our house sits on just shy of an acre and while we don’t have enough land for a hobby farm (a term until recently I was unaware of, but that’s another story), we do have chickens, ducks, rabbits and plenty of cats. We also have two dogs--the first, a 10 year old schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix; a small and hypoallergenic breed) named Olive, and the other, a 6 year old Great Pyrennes (a large breed, named for the mountain region in France) named Lily. Both dogs were adopted, Olive way back in 2011 and Lily when we moved two years ago. We got Lily to be our acreage guardian, since her breed is known for being excellent livestock protectors. If you are wondering what she looks like, imagine a Newfoundland but instead of black fur, hers is white. Very puffy, and long fur too. Essentially, she is a cloud that barks.

She’s a good dog and I love her very much (I love large dogs in general). My wife, however, is not so fond of Lily. This could be because she barks at everything in the distance (trains, tractors, mooing cows) and chases cars that drive by (which as the driver of said car, it has to be terrifying to suddenly see this lumbering white beast coming out of a ditch). More importantly, though, rather than protect our livestock, which we got her for, she instead opts for killing them. She doesn’t eat them, she just loves them too much...with her mouth. She’s even killed a few kittens, so as you can tell, it’s been a real lesson in life and death since we moved out to country. Which is a good segway to the opossum.

Really, we’ve been lucky with carnivorous animals, or a lack thereof, at our place. We don’t have much for woodlands near us, so the only animals we do see at our place are vermin, like mice and moles, but we have a plethora of farm cats--11 in total--and they do a good job of keeping them away. We do get a fair amount of birds, which the cats enjoy, but they are quite harmless. I have seen an owl visit us a few times, but he didn’t stay long, and only once have I heard coyotes laughing in the distance, so any would-be predators to our fowl have been quite rare. In fact, since we started raising our ducks and chickens, only five have ever been lost to mysterious circumstances, i.e. they just disappeared overnight. With no evidence of a violent end, we assume they found a better place to call home or are out making a name for themselves in Boone County, seeing the sites. Living the life of a vagabond fowl. In actuality, we chalked their disappearances up to maybe a coyote, fox or bird of prey.

I should add that our fowl are ‘free range’, so they are potentially easy prey. That being said, even though she perhaps doesn’t intend it, Lily’s constant barking at things and her overall size has maybe been somewhat intimidating to carnivorous animals who might consider stopping by to check the place out. But she does come in at night.

Of the few chickens we’ve ‘lost’, two of the more recent were white silkies. If you unfamiliar with that chicken breed, just know that they are an ornamental variety and offer really nothing for meat or eggs. They are small and white and have puffy feathers all over, especially on top of their heads, which gives the appearance that they can’t see a darn thing. They are like a tiny, chicken version of Lily. And just like a chicken, they are dumb as nails, so I wasn’t surprised these small birds might have been snatched, even by a so-called chicken hawk. And now, this brings me to the opossum.

On the night that Willy met his end (for that is what I called the opossum posthumously), I went outside to make sure the chickens were in their coop to shut them in, and in the distance, inside said coop, I saw the outline of a sizeable rodent, just mozying around like owned the joint. Most of the chickens were already in there, as well as the cats, just snoozing while this guy walked around, ate their food and drank their drink. Not cool, bro!

Though he walked like a trash Panda walks, I realized it was an opossum, the lowest of the marsupials, and knew I needed to act. At first I ran into the coop, yelling at him to leave at once. He refused, claiming squatters rights it seems, as he ran to his make-shift den. Then, with my shovel and my flashlight--the tools of a skilled opossum hunter--I found his den and to my surprise I sighted not only him, but a collection of scat, bones and white feathers! Though he appeared innocent of nothing but being an advantageous passerby, he clearly was guilty of much more--the murder of Chester and Daisy (I also named the chickens posthumously).

I first forced him out of his den by annoying the hell out of him with the end of my shovel. I then chased him out of the coop, not before attempted to hide inside the cat’s sleeping box. As he entered the box, Dandelion, our cuddly huntress of a cat leaped out of the box and again Willy feigned squatters rights and refused to exit. So I dragged the box outside and opened it, poking him to in hopes he’d leave. I wanted to give him a chance to make amends but he refused. In fact, he jumped out of the box and ran back into coop, hiding in the corner.

At this point I knew what must be done. He would not leave. He had a good thing going--a warm place to sleep, plenty to eat and drink, and nightly entertainment which included the methodical murder of a bird of his choosing. Sadly, Willy had to die. But here comes the hard part...we don’t own a gun.

It may be surprising, that I, an Iowan who lives in the country, and who is a Republican nonetheless, does not own a gun, but alas, t’is true. To eradicate this pest I needed to employ the closest thing I had to a gun: Lily.

So I grabbed Lily and told her the game plan. I would corner Willy and while it was distracted with my incessant prodding with a shovel, she would go in for the strike. I would then make sure she didn’t completely obliterate it and bury the beast. Seemed like a good plan and it went pretty well, until the end.

At first, when I brought her over, Lily could tell straight away there was something unwanted in the coop. She has some instincts after all. But when she got close to Willy, he growled and hissed at her and she seemed to not want to tangle with him. Then I poked him again and he hissed at me, which peaked Lily’s interest because at that point she went after him. I assume she was protecting me, which I appreciated.

The opossum did was they do, and tried to fight back then made a big stink, literally, and played dead. After a few more seconds, I called Lily off as I didn’t want her to start eating it or get sick from it or something. The beast seemed dead, after all. But Lily took my call to ‘stop’ as an insult or critique because she took off and wouldn’t come back. Still, I was hopeful that the deed was done but as I grabbed my shovel and began to pick up ol’ dead Willy, he moved and fell off the shovel. Willy still lived, though he played opossum very well. Alas, the final blow, pun intended, now fell to me.

I moved Willy to the drive and weighed the options on how to handle him as humanely as I could. I really didn’t have that many options, so I decided the quickest way would be to use my old trusty shovel and club him in the head. After another few moments to build up my gumption, I raised my shovel and channeling my inner mafia gangster, I struck Willy’s head with prodigious force, or at least I tried to. He began to lurch so I had to strike him again...and again..and again. Finally, he stopped moving and I stood there waiting for the horrible ordeal to end. I also realized in that moment that I was standing under the lamp light, pretty well lit up, and I hoped the kids weren’t looking down at me from the window. Luckily they weren’t, for if they were it truly would have looked like a scene from Goodfellas.

When it was over, I picked up now fully-dead Willy with my shovel and carried him to the edge of our property. I buried him the next day (which was my birthday) with the kids by my side. We said a few kind words about him. Recounted his quirky ways. Talked about his stubborn streak and lastly, asked him to forgive me, for it had to be done. His spree of murders had to be ended. The chickens could sleep well knowing the dread beast would no longer return. This also explains why those white silkies didn’t want to go into coop. For a few nights, it was a house of horrors that took the life of Chester and Daisy. Rest easy, my feathered friends. You’re lost but not forgotten.

Quite an ordeal, for sure. Am I a better man for it? Maybe. Lily is all full of herself these days though. She can at least say she wasn’t afraid of that overgrown rat like the cats were. All that matters is the chickens and ducks are safe and happy now, and it might be time to consider buying a .22, just for any future run-ins with curious vermin.

And thus ends the story of the time I went all Goodfellas on an opossum.

Christmas 2016 - Rekindling this ol' blog

Hello all!

Another year and once again its time for the famous Davis family Christmas letter. Lots to catch up on so I best get started.

What a year! We made it through our first winter on the acreage and indeed its true, you do get more snow in the country! The kids were no worse for the wear though, as they much enjoyed building snow forts, snowmen and riding their toboggans.  Let’s just say they are eager for this winter to arrive. Me, not so much.

This spring we gained some new family members—kittens, ducklings and a new baby (more on this later). We now have 5 cats and 4 ducks. We find them all quite entertaining and BellaRose keeps trying to convince Elizabeth that the cats should come inside, though as of yet they remain outdoors.

Hard to believe that BellaRose (left) is already 8! She is in 2nd grade this year and is a devoted artist of many genres, including drawing, painting, singing and interpretive dance. She loves our animals—especially the cats—and is a great help around the house, taking on more responsibilities and helping with her younger siblings.

Jude (right) turns 6 in February and is in Kindergarten this year. He likes school and also relishes in helping me with our many house projects. He also enjoys hanging out with his siblings and spending time with our animals. Jude seems to be quite warm-blooded as well, as he most commonly found without a shirt on. ‘Suns out guns out’ is his mantra, I guess.

Finch (left) turned 4 this past August and continues to play the middle child role quite well. She enjoys playing dolls and dress-up with her sister but also can be found taking part in the mischief her brothers make. She is a goofy girl and is certainly a one-of-a-kind kid.

Where do we begin with Leo (right)? He turned 2 this past April and for his birthday we got him a baby sister. He is both naughty and nice. His days are spent seeing what he can find in the fridge and/or giving his parents grey hairs. Needless to say, he keeps us on our toes. Truly, though, Leo is a good, loveable boy who adores Thomas the Train and playing along side his siblings.

Pippi Sunday (left), our newest member of the family, was born on April 24th in Jefferson. Now going on 8 months old, Pippi is adored by all and is constantly doted on by her siblings. Pippi is already a crawler, putting her months ahead of her siblings at that age. But I suppose she’s just trying to keep up with the rest of ‘em.

Elizabeth is still a stay-at-home mom for our brood and homeschools Jude and BellaRose. She has made new friends in the Ogden community and is a regular at our local library and moms group. What a gal!

I continue to enjoy my job. In September I spoke at our conference in San Diego. It was the first time I had been to California or seen the Pacific Ocean. Both are great. I still enjoy running, and of course, spending time with Elizabeth and my 5 rugrats.

Last but not least, late this summer all 5 Davis children were dedicated at our church. We are truly blessed to have found a home church we love and that we can continue to grow with God in such an awesome place.

And that’s a wrap, folks! I hope that you all have a fabulous holiday season and a most excellent remainder of 2016.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catching up this Christmastide

Well jeez, seems like I'm always promising to post to this at a more frequent rate only to disappoint. Indeed, its been well over a year now since our last post so there's a lot to catch up on. With that, I begin.

The year 2013 ended quite splendidly. I did indeed run a half-marathon and established my current record time of 1:55, which was at my goal of sub-2 hours. I also finished the year with well over 500 miles run and neared 100 total runs. This year I did not run as much (just shy of 400 miles) nor did I run the DSM half but I hope to run another at some point and possibly (gulp) a full marathon. Much training is needed, of course. I did, however, continue to improve my road race times, setting a new personal record in the 10K at 45:52 (previous best was 47:04) and I improved my 5K time to 21:25, which is about the fastest time I've run since high school days. We'll see what next year brings though I'm not sure how much faster I can truly go.

At the end of last year too we announced that we were expecting our fourth child, a boy, due in late April. Without delay, Leo Michael (left) arrived on April 26th of this year and is already nearly 8 mos. old. He is a happy guy, especially during the day, but he's been a difficult sleeper as of late. Still, he is a good boy.

The other kids are doing well. BellaRose (right) turned 6 this year and has been involved in two homeschool co-ops for Kindergarten. Its probably too early to tell but already she shows a great deal of talent for the arts, which isn't too surprising as both her mom and dad have skills in those arenas. And as is the case for nearly all young kids right now, she is obsessed with Disney's Frozen, mostly Elsa. We spend ample amounts of time playing with, drawing and discussing all manner of things Elsa related. This too has rubbed off onto her siblings.


Our second girl, Finch (left) 2 years, as stated above, is also obsessed with Frozen. She has taken to liking Anna, though she confuses the characters for each other so its hard to tell where her allegiance lay. She is a funny girl and very talkative for her age. Finch plays well with both her big sister and big brother, Jude, but can often but heads.

Jude (right) is nearing his fourth birthday (February) and aside from liking Frozen (not the full degree that his sister do) he is more into all things superhero, Star Wars, Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He reminds me of me on a daily basis as he is most often suckered into playing Frozen but only relents if one of his characters--Optimus Prime, Spider Man, etc.--can come along.

Elizabeth is doing quite well this year too. She transitioned from her job at Ge-Angelo's restaurant in town, taking a brief hiatus from work, and finally got on first as a hostesss then as a server at The Cafe in Ames. She works evening shifts a few nights a week so I am able to get off work early enough for her to head into work so we can avoid childcare. In June of this year Elizabeth, Leo and I traveled to Las Vegas to attend a friend's wedding. Leo did great on the trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. There was plenty to do and see for sure and we definitely would like to return again soon!

My job is going quite well too, as I approach my four year anniversary there (which is pretty long for a company only in its sixth year). In March of this year I took on a role as online community manager, which has been great thus far. I even got the opportunity to go to Orlando for my work's annual user conference where I presented a few courses to our customers. It was a great time and I even got to spend a night at Universal Studios!

That, for the most part, has been our year. There's been the usual ups and downs but such is the organized chaos that is our daily life with four little ones. As we near Christmas, we are looking forward to celebrating with our kids and spending time with our extended families. We hope to see many of you soon and hope that you too had an enjoyable year. All the best this past year and here's to a happy 2015!

What a Summer

Well, its Labor Day and for swimming pools, government offices and other local municipal bodies, it effectively marks the closure of summer-related activities and with the Vernal Equinox just weeks away, the department stores and the ilk are already preparing for Haloween, let alone that football season has already started.  Don't get me wrong, I have not complaints about Fall and the goings-on it entails but with the weather we've been having I wouldn't hold out for a typical autumn, and I certainly doubt it will arrive on Sept. 21.  At least I hope not.

Who would have guess at the very beginning of this summer we'd end up in a mild drought with a string of 100 degree weather to cap off August?  I think I mowed our yard more in the month of June than all of July or August combined.  This weather pattern of course made our first attempt at a garden an interesting venture.  I am pleased to say, though, that we have two plant varietals doing well....pumpkin and tomatoes.  The carrots held up for awhile but they didn't enjoy the lack of moisture.  I tried to water but they could not survive.  The herbs also did not do well, and the peppers didn't want to show their faces I guess.  But yes, our pumpkins have spread their vines like mad and we anxiously await for them to start budding some actual pumpkins.  I'm not sure if they should have by now.  Our neighbor down the road appears to have at least one pumpkin on the vine.  Will ours just not come?  That'd be a bummer; the kids are very anxious.

The tomatoes, at least, are holding up to the weather.  They are thick and lush and we have to pick them daily to keep up.  We have four varieties going now, but its the Romas and the cherry tomatoes that seem to be ripening quickly.  We have a few bigger slicing tomatoes plants, which product a rip tomatoes about every other day.  There are some big green ones out there which we are anxious to pick (and eat).  Lizzie is a big fan of Caresse salads so she has definitely been enjoying our harvest.

We took our first camping trip this past month as well, staying a few days at a local campground.  We are part owners in a pop-up camper (we share with Leisa) so the setup can be time consuming but once up, we enjoyed the scenery and other accoutrements of the camping life.  We were right next to the beach area too so the kids enjoyed long hours at the beach.  BellaRose was especially glued to the water and it was near impossible to tear her away at dinner time, even when we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, bearing gifts nonetheless.  She's always been a bit of a fish though, moreso that Jude.  The jury is still out on Finch.

Speaking of her, Finch just enjoyed her first birthday and we celebrated by systematically getting the same flu-like illness one after the other.  Consisting of mostly a fever, body aches, head aches and the chills, this little bug seemed to last only a day or so before going away but at its peak it was nigh on intolerable.  It even kept me away from work a day, which has only happened twice in the past two years.  I was definitely glad that it was a brief illness and that all the kids tolerated it well, especially Finch, who was a real trooper.

She had a full week of celebration, really, kick started on Sunday with a dinner with her Omi & Opi, complete with gifts and cupcakes.  Per usual, Omi sent us home with a boatload more cupcakes, which we all lived off each night until Wednesday, when she enjoyed a some more cupcake on her actual birthday.  Then, on Friday, Finch got her 1-yr. check-up, including but not limited to four shots and one finger poke, but she did impress her pediatrician and she measured in at over the 90th percentile for height.  I'm guessing she gets this from her mom's side.  Then, later on Friday, her Grandma visited and brought more gifts (as is her tradition, it seems) and thus was the end of Finch's week long party.

With summer slowly going bye-bye, we start to prepare for all things fall.  Lizzie is going to start homeschooling and supplementing with some weekly curriculum programs we have signed up for through our church.  We hope this goes well but I have great faith it will.  Hopefully our pumpkins will start to come in and we will have no need to purchase any this year.  Who knows, we may have more than we know what to do with.

Also, my running season will start to come to a close as next weekend Lizzie and I are both entered in a local 5K walk/run and then next month is my big half-marathon that I've been training for.  I am eager for the race but also a bit nervous. After that its just run as much as I can before its too cold to do so.

Well, that's the basic happenings in our life thus far.  We are eager for the start of a new season, which brings different events and things for the kids to do.  We'll keep you apprised of their progress and all the other fun fall activities we get ourselves into, whether voluntarily or not.

Thanks again.  Toodles!

The Green-ish Initiative - Vol. 1, Issue 1

We are nigh upon the summer and with it, great change has come to the Davis household.  Not another baby (yet) but we are turning over a new leaf and trying our hands at some new skills, of which we are yet to fully acquire.  Practice makes perfect, right?

Anyway, we do hereby enact a new family initiative this summer.  With some reluctance and much uncertainty, we are making our first attempt at so-called "green living", a.k.a. "organic living".  It all seems very liberal and "hippie-ish" but really we are just being miserly and attempting to save some coin with attempts at homemade items, DIY projects and the always elusive at-home garden.  The end goal, of course, is to make millions off our line of "natural products", vinegars, pickled everything and yummy jams and jellies, retiring shortly thereafter.  The goal of this post, it seems, is to use as many "quotations" as possible.  So far both are coming to fruition.

Accompanying this new found niche of ours is a revamping of this blog.  Yes, you will still find occasional family updates, but more frequently we intend to post updates around our progress in the aforementioned "at-home projects" as well as recommendations and suggestions for your own, similar projects.  Here are some things you can look forward to learning about and we intend to do "at-home" this summer:

1. Home-brewed apple cider vinegar & root beer
2. Homemade cleaning products
3. In-town gardening & composting
4. Landscaping ideas
5. Various home projects
6. Kids craft ideas

That being said, we've only barely kicked off the summer fun.  We were on the verge of planting our garden when the winter spell hit, dropping some snow on use in early May.  Once we are snow free we'll start our garden.  Got the spot picked, got the plants and seeds, just need to till and plant.  Also waiting on the compost but all of this is for another post.  You'll have to come back for more.  Just a little tease, I guess.

So, with that, I bid farewell until next morrow.  We'll post with pics soon our progress on the above mentioned items and so much more.  Thanks so much for reading the Famous Davis Family's "Not Green, Just Cheap" inaugural blog.  Here's to a great summer!

2012 Family Update

So much has changed in a year that I’m sure you’ve all given up on us by now and have moved onto far more interesting blogs.  Certainly ones that are updated at least semi-annually…but I digress…

Well, like I said, so much has changed since September of last year.  Where do I begin.  Perhaps its best in a chronological synopsis.  Here goes.

Just a month after my last post, we adopted a dog from the Boone Co. Humane Society.  She is a 4 year old ‘’Schnoodle” (Schnauzer/Poodle).  We brought the kids to meet her to see how she responded and she latched onto our family in an instant.  We named her Olive and since she has become a big member of the family, though I feel she has attached herself more to me than mom. 

The winter of 2011 was hardly that, as well remember, with almost no snow for most the year.  We were able to go sledding a few times with the kids.  There were few people on the hill that day but somehow our sled managed to careen right into another little girl at the bottom of the hill.  Her parents were very forgiving though I’m sure we ruined sledding for he that winter.

We “upgraded” our vehicles further before winter, selling our Honda Civic and purchasing 1990 Ford F-150.  It seems we always need access to a truck and its nice to have a vehicle with 4-wheel drive.  Its not much to look at but it was cheap and it gets me where I’m going.  Plus I feel I look pretty cool when I’m driving my truck.

In February, Jude turned one and our little guy has never looked back.  In fact, he’s hardly can be classified as a “little guy” at all.  Currently Jude has earned the nickname “Tank” given his ability to withstand all matter of assaults from himself or his sister.  Plus he’s kind of a destroyer wherever he goes.   He’s just over 18 mos.  now and maintaining the 90^th percentile in height and weight.   He certainly is a decent match against his sister who has quickly learned that he is a rough kid who can take as well as dish in a fight.

Also during the winter we learned that we would be blessed with our third child this year, who joined the family on Aug. 28, 2012.  Similarly we kept the baby’s name a secret the whole time and this time, since we had both genders already, we decided also keep its gender a secret to us as well.  It was different not knowing.  We had to keep a list of possible boy and girl names and think of gender neutral themes too. 

For this baby we also wanted to try something new too—a home birth!  We had been planning on it after about week 20 and were all set.  We had read some on it and watched a video about it and thought it would be a neat experience and something special to tell the kid later.  “Hey, you were born in this very room! See that stain?”  That sort of thing. 

This time ‘round we also were using doula, or birth coach.  All was set but then, about two weeks out from due date (baby was due Sept. 4), Lizzie noticed her water seemed to be leaking.  She called our midwife, who was going to do the homebirth, and she said she was having car troubles.  Lizzie could elaborate further, with more colorful adjectives, about the phone calls between them and ensuing frenzy of “WHERE ARE WE GOING TO HAVE THIS BABY!!!”.  In the end our third child came that same day and was NOT born at home but rather, like the other two, born in Ames at Mary Greeley.  

We were able to use the birthing tub at the hospital, which we had already rented, plus our doula was there for us through it all.  If you ask me, she was worth her weight in gold.  It ended up to be a quick ordeal.  Lizzie flew through the labor, again a “natural” one, and our newest addition—a baby girl—arrived faster than you can say “GIVE ME AN EPIDURAL!”.  We settled on the name Finch Winifred-Lola Davis, harkening back to our very first home where BellaRose and Jude lived prior (more on this in a minute). 

They say Finch doesn’t like the other two kids really and is the girl version of me.  I’m not so sure.  You decide.  Currently she is going by the nickname “Bird” though we were envisioning Winnie as a possible one.  All in all it couldn’t have gone any smoother, considering we started out the morning not knowing where baby Finch would be born.

So, clearly the birth of baby Finch was easily the hugest event of 2012 and certainly since last fall.  However, there is one more that was paramount in our family life and hopefully in the lives of our children and grandchildren.  Yes, finally, in May of this year, we became homeowners!

Given the knowledge of the new addition looming, we realized just two rooms wouldn’t cut it for a growing family and more rooms were needed.  It was high time we got a home.  We had mulled the idea of an acreage around but it was difficult, it seemed, to find a home in our price range that had a decent spread of land and wasn’t too far from Ames.  We ended up scratching that idea and settling on a home in town.  It seemed like we were searching forever and lost out on house after house to some other buyer.  Finally we found one we liked and not wanting to lose it, jumped at the opportunity.  It was FSBO, which in hind-sight we would only do with a realtor or lawyer mediating.  The sellers were foreign and just wanted the money now, not understanding all that was required to close a mortgage.  It eventually did happen and we closed May 31.

The home is near downtown Ames, nestled in a historic neighborhood (the house itself is 112 years old) by the DOT office and Lincoln Way.  We are about 5 mins or less from the in-laws, which is nice, and the close vicinity to a local park is a plus.  We are also not too far from Jack Trice Stadium and we are getting our first taste football season.  The home is 4 bedrooms and has a full-basement, partially finished.  It needs a little work but its hard to find a home in Ames with that many rooms, in that location, for the price we got.  All in all we are glad we made the move and though it was stressful,  it is nice to know we have a place for the kids to call home, hopefully for the rest of their lives and then some.

Aside from that, the usual has been going on.  I’m still working at WebFilings in town and can’t complain there.  Job security is a rarity right now so I’m happy to have a place that appreciates me, I enjoy and supports us.  Moreover, I cross a big milestone soon.  Its my 30^th birthday next month!

Elizabeth also started working this past year, waiting tables at Ge-Angelo’s Italian Restaurant in Ames.  She was hesitant at first, not sure if she was cut out for serving, but has since grown quite adept at it and I think she finds its almost a release from the rigors of her other full-time job—a stay-at-home mom.

BellaRose.continues to grow and is a very smart, clever, witty girl, not unlike her father.  She turns 4 next month and is in pre-school currently and enjoys it immensely.  We see many positive changes in her, even though its hard to watch your little girl grow up.  Though she is stubborn and bossy at times, she has noxious laugh and is also very sweet to her new little sister.

Jude. What can you say? He’s so very different from his sister(s).  As a baby, he was super easy going.  As a toddler, he is super naughty, going from one extremely dangerous activity to the next.  He seems to be  always playing with something he shouldn’t or purposefully torqueing his sister, and he bounces back from injuries that would keep his sister out of commission for hours, as if to have super healing powers.  A true force to be reckoned with, the aptly named “Tank” keeps us all on our toes but he is equally as sweet and loving as his counterparts and we love his rough approach to life just the same.

Well, I think that’s roughly it for the time being.  Our deepest apologies for such a complete and utter lack of bloggings since the blog’s creation.  Even during its “hay-day” it never had all that many posts.  Our already small fan has surely suffered.  How can I persuade you to stay the course and keep following?  Candy? The promise of hope?  Comical pictures of cats?

Anyways, I sincerely hope to post more.  I shall try and we will see.  Certainly there’s plenty to blog about, if only I had time.  I will write my Congressperson  about extending the hours in a day or something…

That’s it, readers.  Sorry for the long hiatus.  All the best and all that.  Cheerio!

Its Fall and We Caught a Squirrel

I hate to say it but I think fall is officially upon us. Though it was 80 degrees on Monday, its been lingering around the 60 degree mark for days now, and approaching the freezing point at nights. Its not that I dislike fall--it is a nice season, with good colors and mostly pleasant weather, not to mention my birthday--its just that it leads to winter and seems so very short in comparison to the winter. I'm sure its just perspective. Winter seems long because its cold and snowy and summer seems short because we take it for granted. Either way, I have mixed feelings about the fall.

So, its been a fast summer. We did enjoy many outings, when we could. Lizzie took the kids to the zoo more than once, and we went to the Ames pool a few times, though we should have utilized our membership a bit more than we did. We also had many park outings, and trips the ice cream shop. BellaRose has become fond of these outings and she knows if we are driving the car past 8:00 pm its a fair bet she's gonna score some ice cream. She is a Davis, after all, and we are fond of our ice cream.

Jude has grown like crazy! At his 6 mos. check-up he was 21 lbs. BellaRose weighed the same at 1 year. He's in the 95% for weight and 70% for height. He has already started to get a taste for table food, which is partially to be blamed for his above average weight. We try not to give him too much, especially things he shouldn't have, but sometimes he's too convincing with his cute "please, daddy" eyes. He too is a fan of ice cream.

I bet you're all wondering about the title of this post. Yes, as the second part reads, we DID catch a squirrel. In our house. Not a tree dwelling brown squirrel, but a striped ground squirrel, a.k.a "chipmunk" or "squinny". Lizzie discovered him one day when he decided to come check out place out while she was in the living room. I never saw him for weeks but Lizzie would have occasional sightings, usually when it was quiet, during the afternoon. He'd check the place out, and be scared off when he'd spy a living, breathing human. What did he think he'd find?

At first I was certain Lizzie had schizophrenia and was imaging the dread squirrel that plagued her life. I've never known a women so deathly afraid of rodents. During the Mouse Wars of 2010, she was on edge and thought she heard mice scurrying everywhere. Same for the chipmunk, whom she was certain had made a burrow underneath our bed and plotted her demise nightly. I vehemently explained that he stood no chance of defeating her in a duel and unlike mice, was not here for food, but rather a place to store his nuts for the winter. Chipmunks, as it seems, are not nocturnal and come out only during the day, when the master of the house--the only one NOT afraid of him--was at work. To be fair, BellaRose was pretty curious about the chipmunk and talked at great length about her adventures with the beast. She became a good sidekick when I took measures of my own to catch this possibly imaginary rodent.

After plugging up some entry points underneath the house, as well as inside, I had hoped to assuage some feelings and be rid of the pest. However, a few days ago, he was spotted again. We had set a live trap out, in the furnace room (a likely entry point) and placed some crackers with peanut butter in it. Being a swift and light creature by nature, the chipmunk snagged a cracker without being caught and ate it in front of Elizabeth, taunting her as if knowing about her phobia and plans for his removal. Then, a day or two later, I spotted him, when I came into the kitchen after changing Jude in the back room. He scurried underneath the cabinets and escaped. He is lucky I was holding Jude, for he had loose footing on the laminate floor and I could have stopped him, having no fear of him (I think he sensed it). I could tell that he was getting braver as well, coming out during the day when the master hunter was at home, and in the kitchen while BellaRose at breakfast. He must have heard the humans but was gaining confidence quickly. He also had a penchant for Disney songs.

Then, today, when I was again plotting my next move during naps, a "clank" was heard from the furnace room then a series of furious but futile scratchings. The beast had been caught...in a live trap that had no bait (he ate the other bait, continually teasing Lizzie). What luck! Likely just being overly curious and cocky, he entered the trap clumsily and set it off. Either way, he is now my captive. Not sure yet what techniques I will deploy to interrogate him. I must know how he entered, where his cache of nuts are and if he told any of his fellow rodents...especially mice...about or home. We will then take him to an undisclosed locale and release him so that he may spread the word. We spared him today, but others may not be so lucky. Just ask the few that made it out of Mice Wars 2010.