For the past four days we have waged war against raccoons. First, some background.

We keep our dog food and bird seed on the back porch in metal cans. The two bird seed cans (one for black oil sunflower seeds, and the other for thistle seeds) are on one end of the porch - just a few steps away from our many bird feeders. Jake’s dog food can is on the other end of the porch next to his bowl. The convenience of having the cans close to where they’re needed helps us keep our pets - both domesticated and wild - fed in a timely manner. The cans look like small trash cans - with lids that fit snugly but which can be lifted off without much effort. Each holds a large bag of their respective foods.

Several nights ago, a raccoon turned over the dog food can, took off the top, and helped him/herself to a midnight feast on dog food. The sound of the can falling over woke Ron, and he switched on the back porch light. The raccoon ran across the patio and then turned around and stared back at Ron.

Ron wasn’t about to let a raccoon get the best of him, and so the next day, he put a stick of firewood on top of the can. “That’ll keep ‘em out,” he declared.

It didn’t. That night the raccoon again turned over the can and enjoyed a dog food meal. The firewood was lying on the porch next to the overturned can. So Ron added a heavy log to the top of the can and braced it against the brick on the side of the house. “They won’t get THAT off,” he said.

They did. We both slept through the sound of the log, firewood and can falling over on the porch. The raccoon enjoyed a third night of feasting on Jake’s dog food.

Yesterday I bought some bungee cords. I hooked one to the handle on one side of the can, threaded it through the handle on top of the lid, and then hooked the other end to the handle on the other side of the can. Then, even though the bird seed cans hadn’t been touched, I bungee corded them as well. An ounce of prevention and all that.

Morning dawned - and the dog food can was unmoved and unopened. Take THAT, raccoons!

We’re going to have RT’s office Christmas party at our house in three weeks. We had last year’s party here, as well. This year, though, we made a plan to have the house “decorated” for the party. Not decorated for the holidays necessarily - although we’ll do that, too - but decorated as in “looking like someone actually put a little thought into how things are arranged and planned.

We started over two months ago. We’ve got some new rugs throughout throughout the house. We are going to sell or give away the area rugs we’ve had for years - some for over 20 years! They’re good rugs, but the look is outdated. We have some new furniture, new wall art, new plants. Our final furniture delivery will be Monday morning - a sofa for the great room, and a chair and ottoman for the library. Also in that delivery will be shelves for the library - beautiful floor-almost-to-the-ceiling shelves with beaded glass doors that will cover most of one wall.

Sharon, our “stager/decorator” will come over one day before the party, and will spend the morning with her assistant (while RT and I are NOT there) and arrange everything. She will place the books and pictures and doodads on the shelves, make sure the furniture is placed just right, and that candles and art work look just right. I’ve seen her work, and I’m excited about seeing what she does with our stuff. I know it will look fantastic and that I’ll look at what she’s done and wonder why I never thought of doing whatever she did.

Here’s an example of why she is so good for me. One day a few weeks ago she had me stand in the hallway between the master bedroom and the master bath.

“Look into the bedroom. What colors do you see?”

“Dark red and khaki.”

“Now look into the bathroom. Do you see any of those colors in there?

I hadn’t even thought of it before. There was khaki in the bathroom but it didn’t stand out. I had matched the bathroom TILE when I bought towels and rugs for the bathroom. It never crossed my mind that I needed to bring the dark red from the bedroom into the bathroom. So now we have a picture over the jacuzzi that has a touch of red in it, and I’ve ordered some dark red towels to mix in with the khaki ones on the shelves, and the rug in front of the jacuzzi will be dark red. Not much - but enough to brighten the bathroom and to tie the two rooms together. It’s amazing what a difference that one suggestion made.

That’s just one example of what I’m learning. Sharon is totally against getting matching furniture or matching anything. She wants “complementary” furnishings - Complementary colors. The chair in the library will be a fabric print. The ottomon that goes with it will be brown leather. When we ordered the sofa, we didn’t get pillows made from the same fabric as the sofa. Instead we ordered pillows with a different pattern but with complementary colors.

I will take some photos to post when everything is completed.

I’m a moving pro. Really, I’ve moved so many times the past few years that I’ve got it down to a fine science. And that means that i am always interested in reading about ways to making moving easier. Although, I assure you, I don’t intend to ever move again myself! Most folks in the world aren’t able to make such a statement, though. If you’re one of the unlucky people who will move this year, I want to tell you about a site that has great moving services.  MovingOrbit.com isn’t just about moving trucks, although they provide trucks, too, for do-it-yourselfers.  They’ll provide multiple estimates for both local and interstate moving companies.  Then all you have to do is select the mover that gives you the best price and protection for your belongings.
 

I’m so thankful that it is spring.  Last weekend RT and I went to Lowe’s and bought some plants for our garden and orchard.  We also ordered some plants online.  We don’t HAVE a garden or orchard yet, but we WILL have them both soon.  And the following are some of the items that will be planted.

(1) Winesap apple trees

(2) Golden Delicious apple trees

(3) Peach trees

(4) Blueberry bushes

(5) Blackberry bushes

(6) Grape vines

(7) Muscadine vines

(8) Raspberry plants

(9) Red rose bushes

(10) Yellow rose bushes

(11) Pink rose bushes

(12) Orange rose bushes

(13) Lots and lots of lilies and other flowers

RT and I are considering naming our homeplace “Rocky Ridge.”  The house is built on top of a ridge, and it is very rocky.  T laughed the first time I suggested the name last year.  However, it’s kinda grown on us.  We have also considered naming it “Gnarly Oak Ridge” because beside one of the paths along the ridge there is a huge oak tree that has very gnarly looking roots running around above ground.  We christened it “gnarly oak” a couple years ago.  We’ve considered other names, too, but those are the top two at this point.  I like the idea of giving our place a name.  Any other suggestions?

This afternoon when I got home from school, I spent awhile outside watering the rose bushes, blueberry bushes, blackberry bushes, apple trees and peach trees we bought last weekend.  Then when RT got home, we decided to take a walk.  We walked for about thirty or forty minutes through the woods, up to the top of one of the hills, and then we got our son’s four-wheeler out of the barn.  RT drove, and I climbed on behind him, and we rode to the bottom of the hill around the river - then down to the end of the driveway and back.  It was so much fun!

Few things are more scary than going into your basement and seeing water.  You immediately start wondering where the water is coming from and what can be done to stop it.   The B-Dry System Wet Basement Waterproofing Process will not only take care of waterproofing basement issues, but the company can also do other work that might be needed. For example, they will repair cracks in basement walls, reinforce bulging or bowing walls, and they can remove/repair faulty drains.

The B-Dry System has been tested for over fifty years in over two hundred thousand homes, and it is backed by a full warranty that lasts for the lifetime of your home.  There are over 60 independent licensees and franchises nationwide.

Spring is not only in the air - it’s here!  My favorite season of the year.  The weather so far this weekend has been phenomenal.  RT and I went to Lowe’s on Friday and bought blueberry bushes, blackberry bushes, rose bushes, apple trees, and pear trees.  We also got some gladiola bulbs and some lilies.  I’m really excited about having a small rose garden again.  And I think our little orchard will be wonderful.  The challenge will be keeping the deer from eating everything.

Even before we moved into our new home last October, we religiously kept the local birds well fed.  We set up bird feeders all over the backyard while the house was still in construction.  And now,  we’re still at it.  Each day RT refills the bird feeders, and immediately all the chickadees, gold finches, woodpeckers, cardinals, and other birds descend on the feeders.  They’re beautiful, and we never tire of looking at them.  We have our bird books and our Meade binoculars nearby so we can identify each bird easily.  We have a bird log that we keep saying we will start writing the date and identity of the birds that we see at our feeders.  RT kept a bird log with his grandmother many years ago, and he has fond memories of keeping track of the birds at his home feeders.

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird is a company that sells all the popular brands of telescopes and binoculars - including Celestron, Meade and Bushnell.   And that reminds me of our next adventure - buying a telescope.  Since we live on top of a hill and out from the city, I think we could probably enjoy some incredible stargazing adventures.  Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird also sells all kinds of bird feeders and bird foods, clothing, supplies and accessories.   They have books, cameras and videos  related to bird-watching or star-watching.   Click on over and check it out.

RT and I have been looking for a House Cleaning Service to come to our house once a week.  It hasn’t been an easy task.  So far we’ve had two people come in.  We tried the first one for two weeks.  Their price was outrageous, but we were assured that the house would sparkle every single time.  That has been the problem in the past.  The person would do a terrific job the first couple of times, and then the quality would start dropping.   The first week the house looked wonderful.  The second week, they didn’t even empty the trashcans and a step stool was left out in the great room. 

The second person quoted a price that was so ridiculous, we decided that maybe we should get into the house-cleaning business ourselves.

In surfing the internet, I came across MaidPro.com which is a quality cleaning service that offers franchise opportunities.  Hmmmm!  Maybe RT and I should follow through with our idea of going into the business ourselves.

MaidPro.com has a 49-point checklist that they use with every home to ensure that everything is cleaned well and the house is left sparkling clean.  They’re not stuck to the 49-point checklist, though.  They will customize their cleaning to fit your individual needs.

Building our new home this past year was a challenge.  There were so many decisions to be made.  I’m thrilled with the granite countertops that we selected.  We probably spent more time looking at various slabs of granite than any other one item we selected for our home.  I love our granite.  You can see a slab that is similar to ours at American Home Craft Inc.  The name of their granite is “Giallo Veneziano.”  We found that in looking for granite, you go by how it looks rather than by the name since there are so many natural variations in the stone.

One of the things I like about our granite is how it not only has the grey to bring out the gray and black in our stainless appliances, but it also has deep browns to bring out the cherry cabinetry.  And speaking of cabinetry, American Home Craft also offers cabinet refacing which would be an awesome alternative to replacing cabinets.