Remember this little creepy crawly?

Hunter and I have gone to the High Desert Museum a few times this year and I learned something about this dude.  There is a little glass enclosure by the lizards & snakes that shows “Western Skink” on the sign but I have never seen the animal that inhabits the little glass box.  The first time I saw it I could not remember the name by the time I left - let alone when I got home.  This last time I got smart and took a picture of the sign so I could check it out .

Sure enough, this is a Western Skink and…

Western Skink

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The western skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus) is a species of small, smooth-scaled lizard with relatively small limbs. It measures about 100 to 210 mm (about 4 to 8.25 inches) in total length (body + tail). It is one of five species of lizards in Canada. Western skinks are very adaptable. They spend much of their day basking in the sun. Their diet ranges widely, including spiders and beetles. Western skinks will bite if grasped and will flee if they feel threatened. It is a common but secretive species whose range extends throughout Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming and into western Montana and northern Arizona.^[2] It is widespread in northern California but restricted to the coast in central and southern California. Found in a variety of habitats, this lizard is most common in early successional stages or open areas of late successional stages. Heavy brush and densely forested areas are generally avoided.^[3] Western skinks are found from sea level to at least 2,130 m (7,000 ft).^[4] This diurnal reptile is active during the warm seasons.^[3]

^{I had never seen one of these before moving to Bend and I think the house on Wallace Road must have been the perfect habitat for them.  It was always a little damp with lots of bugs and spiders.  Thankfully we moved closer to town and left these little boogers behind!}

^{Unfortunately I found this inside the lid to the sprinkler control at the new house….}

We never used to have these slugs on this side of the mountain.  What in the world happened?  I saw one of these out in the driveway when we first moved here but it was only about an inch long.  This one is about 3” long……yuck!

This one reminds me of the ginormous slug we saw in Crescent City when we visited the Redwoods in July of 2008.  This bad boy was as big as a banana.

Ok then…I think I have all the slimy, nasties out of my system now.  It’s kind of like they say about a cold….it won’t go away until you give it to someone!  In case you cannot get enough I have attached a link to the Google  images of slugs.

Link to Slug Pics HERE

Enjoy!

take better pictures with your phone : my best tips, tricks, and apps | grumbles and grunts

take better pictures with your phone : my best tips, tricks, and apps | grumbles and grunts
I stumbled upon this blog posting on Pinterest and it has some great tips for iPhone picture taking. I am always dragging a camera around and this weekend I failed to charge my batteries. I ended up using my iPhone to take pictures and I think I am now hooked. I read this blog posting and then downloaded camera+ and eZyWatermark.  I like it!

My Favorite FOOD!

I found all of these coffee typographies on the web…

 

Coffee comes from the coffee bean. A bean is a vegetable. So…Coffee must be a vegetable juice!

Kampen Restoration: TUB & TILE

I was pinteresting this morning while I could not sleep and I found this blog posting. The Melaleuca Tub & Tile is AMAZING!  Click on the link to read the actual blog posting...

http://kampenrestoration.blogspot.ca/2012/07/tub-tile.html

This was in our house…

WARNING:  Do Not Proceed if you are squeamish…

Let’s just say that I was not pleased when I saw movement over by the big windows in the dining room.  I was vacuuming and all I saw was a flash of black and it looked like a snake head.

I summoned the snake killing beast before I stepped any closer.  This beast, whom I affectionately call Boone, has killed many a snake, frog, salamander, mouse and pack rat.  In short, he is my buddy and he protects me from all things that are creepy!

He took care of a nasty pack rat one day and he was so proud.  He has also been caught on camera gnawing on a snake after it scared the tar out of me.  I took a pictures of him just so I could show Warren & Hunter what a good boy he is.  You can see the pack rat for yourself…

Boone was very happy to assist me!  He came over and we tried to find it – whatever it was.  When I could not find it right away I began to get a little concerned….and then it moved!  It jumped up in the window and I grabbed my camera to take a picture so I had proof!  This is what I saw…

Can you say, “OMG – ucky!”  I am so glad that it was not a snake but I was not pleased with his presence in the house.  After I snapped a couple pictures I said, “Boone!  Get it!!!!”

And the girl and her dog lived happily ever after.

Can Anyone Guess What Animal Made These Tracks?

Any ideas about what animal may have made these squiggly tracks?  I will give you a couple of hints:  1)  The tracks are made on top of cement, 2)  The white stuff is snow and 3) this is a bicycle track next to it for reference in the picture below.

Stay tuned next week for the answer…

A Pinterest Post from Sidwell Design & Photography

Perpetual Calendar\Journal – This is a really cute idea!  It would be a great idea for anyone who journals but it could be used for a lot of things.  A couple of things that come to my brain are:

Use it to make notes on pictures you have taken for blogging or anything else.  Once you download the pictures you can look at the date and go back to your note to refresh your memory.  This would come in really handy for people like me since I have been such an infrequent blogger.  On the other hand, this would give me something else that I would have to keep up with – NOT!  And, I should not forget to mention that I wouldn’t be able to find it!

How about a gratitude journal?  It would also serve as a good way to keep track of clients – like a rolodex.  Or, you could keep track of everything your new baby does each and every day.  I’m sure the ideas are limitless like my pile of index cards!  Since I have more projects started than I will probably ever finish in my lifetime I will not start another – that is, unless I find out that someone else could use one as a gift!

Another thing I dread…

I dread love hearing the words, “I need a haircut”, especially when the words roll out of my husband’s mouth.  After years of having me buzz cut his hair and Hunter’s I was able to convince him that getting a buzz for $5.00 in Prineville made more sense than torturing allowing me to do it for them.  And, I didn’t have get to clean everything up either.  I was certainly all for $5 buzz cuts . 

We get moved over here to Bend and the only $5 buzz cut is at Phagan’s Beauty College.  Of course that is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays during business hours.  Well, good luck with getting Warren in before 5!

So, I am resigned blessed to cutting Warren’s hair again (unless I whine loud enough and long enough… then, I can get him to go to Supercuts for $12 with a $2 coupon).  Since whining is isn’t an option this is my future for the time being.

Wish me luck in finding the $5 buzz cut in Bend, Oregon that fits my hubby’s time table…

Rags by Sock Monkey: t-shirt shag rug tutorial

I have been Pinteresting and I found this awesome rug!  My sister Sheree & I have been struggling with the whole weaving on a hula hoop without really getting anything that looks good.  I think this may be the solution!

I have included the picture from the blog http://ragsbysockmonkey.blogspot.com to show the end result.  Check out the link below to go directly to the page with instructions for the rug. 

The only thing that I will change is the way the “rags” are secured.  Instead of just pulling them through I think I will also add a knot or two.  This should secure the rags so I can wash the rug.

This should be easy peasy (in theory).  My main colors I have now are red, black, navy and white.  I think I can make this 2 t-shirt panels (from a 2XL shirt) and create a good size rug.

This looks like fun so I wanted to make sure I put it on my blog to share with my family and friends!

Rags by Sock Monkey: t-shirt shag rug tutorial

Vindication?

Check out this video that has gone viral.  If things don’t work or don’t look right please go to the bottom of this email and go to my blog via the link.    – I will reserve my comments until after you have watched it…

All I can say is, “WOW!”  I often wonder how to get through to our child and this is inspiring on so many levels.  I can see how many would think that this man is vindictive and childish but I can also see that this man has had ENOUGH! 

It is sure funny that those “things” we provide them with to have access to the internet come back and bite us in the butt.  I would not shoot the laptop just because I can use it and I would hate to shoot all that money.  In my case I can just cut off the child's access to our internet that we also pay for every month.  See, there it is again – we provide those items.  What they don’t think about is that if we provide those items we can also take them away.  This father in the video did just that – he took it away!

I remember being a selfish little teen idiot myself.  I was mean and spiteful to my parents and I thought everything was about me.  I guess it is something all kids go through but it is getting seriously out of hand now days.  I  don’t remember calling my parents names and going out into the public square to announce that they were lazy “bad words”.  I don’t remember wanting to shoot everyone in my school.  I do remember being one of those mean girls at school and now I hate that I was that way; it was my defense mechanism to keep people away and get through school.

Being one of those mean girls has come back to haunt me every now and then since Facebook has come on scene.  People still assume that you are the same person you were in high school because that is what they remember.  Thankfully I am a fairly well adjusted person because my parents raised me well and they loved me enough to be stern and follow through with punishments that were well deserved on my part.  The embarrassment of reliving my “mean girl” status is also deserved but it is also uncomfortable and a sore reminder of the person I was in school.

What are the sore reminders that today’s kids will be reliving in 20 or 30 years?  It won’t just be their actions in public or private that certain people will remember – it will also be documentation that they are piling up everywhere with social media.  I will use Facebook as an example since that is what I am familiar with and what is used on this video.  Time and time again I see people writing things on FB that they would never say to a person’s face.  Venting about your boss or the company you work for are swimming in a deadly area of water.  People assume that no one will hold them accountable for what they write of FB and that is why they don’t use the filter that normally works on the mouth. 

How about the flagrant cursing that family and friends are the audience to.  If you are a nice young lady looking for a job in an office environment and you swear like a longshoreman on FB you might be ruled out before you ever even get in the door for an interview.  I know that I don’t want one of my mother’s sorority friends to say something derogatory about me to her based on my postings – it would be embarrassing to both of us and especially hurtful to my mother.

You also have to realize that everyone knows someone that knows you!  If you are on FB and the person is friends with you on FB they can log in and show that “other” person everything you have done on FB – they can even print it out in living color to be distributed at the office party 2 years from now!  It can even be used in court to prove the person you really are when you think that no one is looking…  Here’s another one for you – your kids can see it and so can their friends and the rest of your family.  Maybe not now but maybe in 2 years when it is very inconvenient for you. 

At some point we move from being a selfish autonomous person to being concerned about other’s thoughts and feelings…at least we hope!  I do see several people that produce an attitude or say things that are less than becoming of them on FB and I know that I think twice about them and wonder why they cannot just be nice.  I had to learn to be nice in order to get along in the world.  Unfortunately, it took more than a couple of hard lessons and embarrassment before I started behaving like I should have been all along.  Looking back I am sure that it affected promotions and relationships at work in a significantly negative way.  In the end, it is just not worth it.  You’ve got to think about what you should be doing differently today instead of wondering what would have happened after you have lost your job or been embarrassed for something that is impossible to change.

Of course there is always KARMA and you know what they say about her!

OK – I guess I can get off my soapbox now.  I am happy to report that all of those lessons have served me well.  If nothing else I am very aware of my actions and even though it is always a “work in progress” I feel positive about the way I treat others.  I try to keep improving – especially in those areas that have become habit.  If I feel better about my actions I feel better about myself and every little bit helps!  I wish this was the solution to all my “ISSUES”…

Now, what to do about the mounds of paper that need to be entered and filed?