Ack...BUGS!

My stupid little Eeepc has a nasty virus.  I have messed with it for 2 days now, but I think I have finally got it under control - maybe. It's still there, but I think I have it where I can at least use the little computer without too much trouble.  Hell, I'm using it now and it seems ok. 

So today is Memorial Day.  I plan on BBQing later, but in the meantime, it's a continuation of the yardwork we started yesterday...pulling and gathering dead fronds, trimming trees, spraying roundup, spreading fertilizer, planting veggies, moving the sprinkler around the yard...etc.  But yesterday was special...every year, I pour an entire bottle of roach poison down this small hole in the backyard where our septic tank is.  I pour, then I run for cover....the roaches SWARM out!  It is SO nasty and it continues for a few hours...crazed, poisoned roaches scampering crazilly all over the yard.  But I love it :) 

Anyone who lives in Florida knows how the roaches are here.  It doesn't matter if you have an entire cleaning staff and a hermetically sealed house - they get in.  So, once a year in the beginning of the summer, I pour...and pour....and watch as 50-100 (I'm not kidding) roaches die a slow death.  It was the high point of my day yesterday.

If I make it to Mack Cycle today to get the little one some training wheels for his new bike, I think we'll go for a nice ride.

Enjoy the day, but please, stop for a moment and remember what today stands for!


 

Porcupines, Allegany State Park and Creepy Angels

This weekend, I flew up to PA to go to a geoevent in Allegany State Park in New York.  This big, stumpy squirrel was not in New York, but in my boyfriend's yard.  We don't get squirrels that big back home unless they're Fox Squirrels...  There was also a cute little bunny next to him, but I didn't get a good shot of them together.

Ok, so now we are out of the yard and on the way to New York...  we passed alot of old barns that have Mailpouch Tobacco ads painted on them. I want to start taking a picture of every one I see.

Some old building even have it painted on them.  It's faded, but you can still see it.

We stopped in Bradford, PA at the Zippo Case Museum.  It was a pretty neat place even if you don't collect Zippos or Case knives. There's a cache out front, but we couldn't find it. Neither could the other people who were hunting for it.  Oh well... our first DNF of the weekend :(

Yay!!!  Crossing into New York!

The first place we stopped in Allegany State Park was the Red House Lodge.  It was so beautiful inside, but reminded me of something out of a Stephen King novel.

After some driving around and looking, we finally found the HQ for the event.  

We went in, checked everything out and signed the log.

We set up and camp and spent some time exploring...and caching, of course!  

Never did see any beavers, but did see a few of their dams...

And thankfully we didn't see any bears, either!

We stopped to do an Earth Cache at Quaker Lake.  SO pretty!

I believe these are flowers on a Hawthorn tree.  Very pretty but very thorny.

Buttercups and something...can't remember the name, but they were all over the place and very pretty.

Science Lake

These little pumps are all over the place!  Never saw any of them actually pumping, though.

After seeing 7 + roadkill porcupines, we finally spotted a live one!  I got so close to him and he stood his ground...old? sick?  or just their demeanor since they have very few enemies?

We also saw a beautiful skunk one night in ASP, but seeing this guy was a highlight of my weekend.

We stopped in Ludlow to see the Olmstead Manor.  An old, extremely haunted house that I believe belongs to the United Methodist Church (maybe?).

A really bad picture of some really pretty "Forget-Me-Nots".

Gotta love it!

In the town of Brookville, there is a cache called Scripture Rocks.  Way back in the woods, totally unmarked by any signs or arrows, are hundreds of bolders carved with Biblical verses.  One man did it all by himself about 100 years ago.  That's what's so cool about caching...you see places you never knew existed!

Any thoughts as to what these angels are all about?  I mean, I see the stars all over the place, and they are really cool (I have one thanks to my sweetie!)...but then we started noticing these kind of creepy angels on houses. Not as many as the stars...they all appear to be the same angel...creepy if you ask me.  Does anyone know what they are about?

Dutchman's Pipe

This Dutchman's Pipe is growing in the butterfly garden outside of my son's classroom.  I think they are so cool...I must get one for my yard one of these days.  Does anyone out there know if they attract butterflies or hummingbirds? 

Ya Learn Something New Everyday

Chizzywinks

Mother's Day Adventures

I spent this Mother's Day in Lake Placid with the guy I love doing some of the things I love...like hiking in the scrub (caching of course!)...

...stopping at Gatorama...

...a little swimming in Lake Francis...

...walking through the cypress swamp in Highland's Hammock State Park...

...FLYING!...(Archbold Biological Station)

Fisheating Creek......The Caloosahatchee River bridge and locks in Moorehaven

buzzing some airboaters...

The Kissimmee River and coming in for a landing...

..and it all finished off with an awesome dinner of BBQ'd shrimp, venison, garlic bread, corn on the cob, cole slaw and Key Lime pie for dessert!

All in all it was a fine weekend that went too fast and was too hectic, but still loads of fun.  Just wish my oldest had gotten to be there, but he had to stay home to dog sit (poor old girl can't make the trip anymore).

Hope all the other Moms out there had a great weekend, too!

P.S.  Foursquare is bizzare...I'm not doing it.  I am also refusing Pandoras and iPhones.