Freaky-ish Friday

 

Wisconsin's version of "Stone Henge" comes a day after a significant wet snow when the icy chunks plowed to the side of the road become individual stone-cold monuments. Look around before they all melt by the end of day Saturday. You'll see what I mean.

A little freaky. But interesting.

One of the other freaky things this particular Friday is the foreign invasion in our home.

Are they quaint old Lady Bugs or are they invasive and annoying Japanese beetles? They're showing up throughout our house just because the sun is shining and the temperature is technically above freezing. I'm not a fan. Especially when their distant cousins the "stink bugs" have been mooching off our heat bill all winter. 

You know me. Creepy crawly things are not my jam!

The only other item that did not go my way this Friday was that I had hoped to take the afternoon off – mainly to finish editing hundreds of girls hoops photos from last night so I could go to tonight's boys' playoff game. But an unusual "rush job" at work came up so I finished the photos just late enough that I sat back and watched the livestream of the game. Jim had to work his church fish fry so I would've had to travel nearly an hour to Marshfield Columbus for the game – and I wasn't feeling it after my afternoon schedule change.

I do thank our local livestreaming channel Zaleski for broadcasting it. But it was such an adjustment to just watch a game unfold without having to just focus (literally) on one part of the game at a time. The only downside is that our Royal boys were convincingly eliminated from the final playoffs. 

And now we just cross our fingers for the Lady Royals tomorrow night... and the Lady Bugs tonight!

Well, That's a Few Things I've Never Seen Before

So we'll skip the Biltmore Estate for now since that had a lot of things I've never seen before. But here are a few others...

At Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Asheville they had a saddle on a bear.  I lasted more than 8 seconds, thank you very much.

They also had something cooler than gazing balls in their wall...

Yup. Those are bowling balls!

In a dressing room in Gatlinburg, I was surprised to see a bear watching me. As a result, I grabbed and purchased the wrong size shirt. Stupid bear.

If you think your kids eat cereal with too much sugar, try this one with "no nutritional value" to it!

The same "sweet shop" also had a gummy bear chandelier. Pretty sweet!

Have you ever been on a road ABOVE the clouds? That was a first for me!

We stopped at the overlook just to prove we weren't imagining it!

We did not see elk or bear. If we had, we'd been warned.

We'd also been warned about snakes. But thank the Lord we didn't see any of those!

Purely random chance I saw my first blue butterfly that probably has an official name I obviously don't know. Very cool!

Also saw a bee trying to pollenate some wood. How'd that work for you, Buzz?

And saw a moth staring me down at our vacation home.

Also saw what our North Carolina residents Carter and Mamie thought was a cockroach. That's all I needed to know. And was grateful that was the only one I saw.

Of course we saw some spectacular views too. I'll try to share a few a day as I make my way through the work week. Thankfully we had golf league tonight, too, so my re-entry wasn't all work and no play.

Spring Invasions

I wish all our visitors today were as nice looking as this deer that showed up at dusk tonight. But nope. They were pretty gross and unwanted.

Yesterday afternoon I just happened to be out on the front deck and noticed these flying or hopping bugs. We didn't think much of it until today.

This morning's view featured all those little flying bastards gathering en mass in the driveway. Oh, and the deck and near the garage doors. Gross!

I learned they are called Snow Fleas, which gives me a creepy crawly feeling, and they're pretty common. Maybe they are here every year and I just didn't notice. So I sought a safe means to eradicate them. I guess a mixture that includes Dawn dish soap does the trick. We'll see. It took my several bottles full of special sauce to have enough to spray them all. 

I hope it worked. But as a backup, we called our Orkin man. You know, the one we call Son #2. He stopped by and added his extra touch, too, so hopefully they're dead or gone or both come tomorrow.

Our only other invasions today were dandelions sprouting and the deer.

"Hi, I'm a harmless flower. Annoying and wide-spread, but harmless!"

We'll see. At least I was able to do some work in the back yard without seeing any snakes. So far. Just want to keep the spring invasions to a minimum! Hope you can, too!

Right now, lightning and thunder our invading our spring evening. Be careful out there!

The Thing That Bugs Me in June

Ping! Ping! Ping! You can just hear this guys and his buddies pinging against your screen door, can't you? Ew. I know. The worst thing about June.

After the mosquitoes, that is.

Oh wait, after the mosquitoes AND snakes! Of course.

Anyway, since I had a free night (hubby's golf league night), I was going to sit out on my swing and relax. Then I saw these guys. And remembered Freddie and Frankie and Fernando's friend had been hanging out in that exact spot last week as well. Not going to chance it just yet.

So I got a few things done around the house – including making part of Jim's birthday gift. Or anniversary. I haven't decided. One's Friday and one's Sunday so I suppose it doesn't matter. Two other things that were supposed to arrived today are "running behind." Glad I pay for Prime and its 2-day shipping when they can just change to 3, 4, not sure how many, days. 

Oh well. It'll work out. It's just one Birth & Ball and Chain Palooza around here this week! Late gifts won't take away from the fun.

But June bugs might.

Be careful out there!