Fruit Flies

AArrrgghhhhh! Fruit Flies! We have em, we don't want em.

When it was so hot and I was cooking in the house (that would be ME being cooked-not me actually making dinner or anything), a melon went a little bad. In less than a day, it went from future eats, to the trash. But, it left something for us . . . fruit flies.

Now, I am not going to say I have never seen a fruit fly. I have. Every once in a while I have had a few. Then I get rid of the offending fruit and they go away. NOT this time. I am getting a little tired of these guys. NO fruit in the house-yep, I got rid of it.

So, we went on the web and looked for solutions. Apparently, this is a common problem. How come I have never had em like this before? (Personally, I think it was the heat and they liked it so much, they stayed LOL) Several suggestions to rid yourself of fruit flies:

get rid of the fruit (duh)
clean out the sink with bleach for the trap
make homemade fly traps with rotten fruit
put a rotten banana in the back of the oven, leave the oven open all night. EARLY the next morning, quietly go in and shut the oven and turn it on (this one made the boys laugh)
live with them
put wine in a jar and put a funnel in it-they can't get back out (and then you can release them back into the wild . . . obviously from a lover of fruit flies)
it goes on . . .

I did read that fruit flies hate wind. They can't fly.

So-
I have made a homemade trap (a bowl with a cut up orange covered tightly with plastic wrap with tiny holes-they go in and can't get out)
bleached the sink-who knows what lurks in the trap
and finally . . . put the fan in the kitchen.

I stood back-yeah, this should work. Then, it struck me. I might be breeding a super duper fruit fly that can escape from plastic wrap and fly in the wind. Only the best will survive and go on to breed.

Yep, this could be a problem.

My Mad Scientist

# 2 started school this week. He has his books, his little computer notebook, lab coat, positive attitude, etc. And he is driving there every day. All by himself.

Mad Mad Scientist!

He has lots of classes and has figured out where they are. Hey, that's big stuff, you know. Anyone have dreams of not being able to find your classes? I used to (wayyyyy back).

I didn't take a picture of him on his first day. My children are pretty much over letting me take pictures. But I was able to grab a shot of him in his lab coat.

Hey! Don't turn your back on me! All I asked was a smile.

A little smile?

Oh well, he let me take his picture-that should count for something.

The Feathers

Wildlife. We may not have bears up here (or maybe we do, and I just don't know it yet), but we do have a lot of cool little creatures. Lots of Beavers. I saw one really close to the dock the other evening. I didn't have my camera and knew he would be gone by the time I got it.

Squirrels. Lots of your normal gray guys. But a couple black ones. He sort of looks like he is teasing me a bit. Not really, he was teasing the cats.

Oh remember the feathers in the backyard. I am pretty sure they belonged to a Yellow Flicker. I have seen a couple around. They tend to like to be on the ground (not a great idea around KC), and have the same type of feathers I saw. I think he must have gotten away-KC may have bitten off more than he could handle or was surprised by the bird.

Hot cats, chocolate and doors

I guess you are figuring it out that it's been warm here. Yeah, just a bit. I am feeling a little under the weather. I learned years ago that I can't handle heat. I think it has something to do with my Thyroid (or lack there of). It has really exhausted me. Nice thing-the weather is breaking and I think we will have just one more hot day and then back to normal weather. But an A/C is on my wish (need) list for next year.

To give you a hint of the heat, all the chocolate melted in the house. Sigh. And SOMEONE ate the chocolate off my cookies because . . . gee mom, look, the chocolate slab just bends off. Wasn't he nice to leave the cookie part.

And speaking of sighing-a rather heavy cat decided to come in this morning. I am guessing MainMan let Cesar out around 8 and he came back in around 8:15. What is wrong with meowing to come in? Buuuttt nooooo-he has to come in THROUGH the door. This is our next weekend project. LOL

OMG

It's all Tricia's fault

Tricia made a comment about peeping Toms getting a lot of viewing in the far western part of Canada last week . . . cause everyone was so hot and standing by fans in varying degrees of undress. (it brought to mind the River Bend Flasher-but that's anouther story)

Now, if I didn't have kids, I might run around naked, but I don't think it will help. It's hot, its damp and its hot. I swear, I feel like its my childhood all over again. Vacations on the coast-houses on the water without A/C or with it, and everything felt wet-no matter what we did.

And I am becoming one of those people who pick up towels and yell----"WHO left this damp towel on the floor? It's going to sour!!!!"

Vinegar.

It's just too hot

Ok, it's hot. Too hot for Canada. I mean, isn't this the great white north? The frozen north? Well, the ice is melting. And so am I. I am meeelllttinggg.

I took #1 back to the dentist today. His packing came out this morning, so it wasn't a question of going. He has been repacked, given more happy pills and told to come back on Friday or Monday. While he is still in pain, he is feeling a lot better. Once the old packing was out and the new packing in, things started getting better right away.

I thought Cesar was missing. He stayed out all last night and didn't come in this morning. So I called and clapped for half the day. Late afternoon, #2 walked by and said-Oh, are you looking for Cesar? I let him in this morning.

Now, at this moment, I wonder . . . what did I do wrong as a parent?
So, son, what did you think I was doing all day?
Looking for KC.
And my calling the name Cesar?
Ohhhh, I didn't hear that.
Sigh. The cat was sound asleep in my closet . . . alllll day long.

Hot

Let me just say . . . it's quite warm here. No, it's hot. It's that time of the year to get up at dawn and take a long nap in the afternoon-and stay up late. But even at 6 am, it wasn't all that cool.

Best thing to do is fish. Or pretend to fish. Late evening is also bug time (sometimes). Be prepared.

And #1 is still pretty pathetic. The heat isn't helping. Our windows are not the type that you can put a little A/C into. But we have a very old free standing one. It really doesn't work all that great, but its better than nothing for #1. Lots of fans too.

Oh Dear-poor birdie

Something tells me that some local bird life is missing some feathers, if not his life.

Yep, in the middle of the backyard was a nice circle of feathers. No bird, just feathers. And not little bird type but middle to big bird size. And yellow? I have no idea what kind it is (was). Poor birdie.

Speaking of poor things, #1 is pretty miserable. All swollen and in pain. They said he would want to get out and about after a couple days. Nope, ain't happening. He is down for the count. I am thinking we will be at the dentist first thing on Monday the way things are going. :(

So, guess what I am doing. Playing games with him on face book. Yep, he actually added me as a friend (for now).

#1 got his lower wisdom teeth removed yesterday. And they did a job on him. Late night he looked at me and said-WHERE are the pain meds? Poor kid. They told me he would be in pain because of the size of the teeth and how much they had to dig around. It's gonna be fun around here for a couple days.

Boss Cat actually came INTO the house yesterday. Main Man wasn't happy. Our cats weren't all that happy. I think Boss Cat was pretty happy. However, we have two cats and don't want another one, so we will need to remind Boss Cat this isn't his home. (Now, if Main Man would keep the back door closed when he has his breakfast . . . well, never mind).

#2 has orientation tomorrow. He gets to buy his books (if he wants to buy em). I suggested he buy his books and parking pass. We shall see if he chooses to do this.

Well, I am off to the grocery store. I need soft foods for #1 and coke for #2. I always need coke for #2.

The Local Boss Cat

There is a local cat that everyone knows. He sort of owns this entire area. Yep, he is the boss cat.

He seems very nice. Loves to come up for a scratch and purr. He has walked up to KC several times. KC isn't happy with this visitor. KC wants to be the boss cat. But, he is a newbie and isn't the boss . . . yet.

But one of the neat things about Boss Cat is his feet. He has extra toes. A lot of cats around here have extra toes. Sort of a trait that is part of Montreal.

Looks weird doesn't it? But it also looks cool. His feet look so big.

Cat Fish

Just so you know-I had NOTHING to do with this. Honest. But I did take the picture.

Cat Fish

Funny thing, you would think the cat would want to get out of the net. Or wouldn't go back into the net willingly. Or would just leave home. Nope, he likes it.

Strange cat. Strange son.

I said to Main Man the other day that I will be known as the fish lady. Then he said, well, you could put on one of your cat sweaters and be the cat fish lady. LOL

Must be something in the water or we are all losing our minds.

Headache allll better now

I caught a catfish today.

You know, they have faces that only a catfish mom can love.

I reached down to grab my line to pull him on the dock (without the net) and he decided to continue a little bit more swimming. The line cut my hand! Ouch. Oh well, at least the line didn't break.

Main Man takes a look and says-He's a small one, we should let him go.

Now, I think he has been spoiled in terms of catfish size. This isn't a small catfish, it just isn't a big one like Thomas caught.

Oh well, we let him go.

But one day, I am going to keep one of these boys and we are going to have catfish for dinner. I just have to be in the mood to clean em.

where am I this week?

Pause for a commercial break . . .

or maybe pause for life moments.

migraine
tummy thing (maybe brought on by meds for migraine)
child with wisdom teeth removed
camera in the car and not by the computer
rain
more rain
sunshine
chipmunk cheek son
still fishing, even though my rod broke (damn big fish-prob a monster sized eel)
went to art showing of one of neighbors

The one that got away but didn't really

It really rained yesterday. Lots and lots and all day long.

But today was pretty and clear. What to do? Fishing. Yep, we are fishing. #1 wanted to try early morning. He didn't wake up. LOL. So tonight, we were sitting on the dock, not catching much. The sun went down and then he got something. It was big. I thought it was probably an eel. It was a catfish and it got away.

Then . . . I got the net. And he got another one. And this time it didn't get away. And he broke the net!

It as BIG.

We got a couple more. And we only stopped fishing because we were tired.

We need to learn the easy way to clean catfish. I found it on the web, but have never tried it. Time to learn a new trick, especially if #1 keeps catching em this big.

Another Eel?

Fishing again. We didn't catch much today. Nothing worth keeping anyway. MainMan hooked something big that jumped out of the water and got away. Now, that was a keeper. Wonder what it was.

Hi, #2, I sure would like a drink. Like the drink in your hand. Really. I do. Yeah, sure. LOL

Got another eel. Yep, got an American Eel (these guys must know we be Amurikans!). It was almost dark-the end of a long day. Mind you this eel was small compared to the first one. The first one was too heavy to get on the dock with just the rod, so I had to grab the line and pull it up. And it did eventually break the line, so it was probably over 8 pounds. This one wasn't as big. When I hooked it, I handed the rod to #1 and said, hey, there is a fish on here, bring it in. He though there wasn't anything but rather just hooked some sort of bush or something . . . because it was NOT wanting to come in. They tend to fight and bend the rod. But, #1 got it in. And yep, it was an eel.

#1 thought it would be funny to show the cat the eel. Poor cat. He had no idea what it was but he knew he wanted NOTHING to do with it.

MainMan caught a fishy

Hey, #2 and I aren't the only ones fishing. MainMan came out to the dock tonight and caught a fish.

MainMan's fish. He got to go back into the lake.

But before he came out . . . I caught something. Something serious. Mean. Big. Scary.

I caught an eel. No kidding. It was big, too. While I want to say3 feet, it was probably 2 feet. It was big and heavy. The neighbor was leaning over the fence a couple houses away and said, weell, you gotcha an eel. An eel? Like a real eel? Like a big one? It was pretty heavy but I got it on the dock. I tried to call the kids but they didn't hear me. So I was going to walk it up to the house. The line broke (my line wasn't heavy enough) and the eel fell on the dock and got very close to me. At this point, I let out a scream, and the neighbor laughed. The eel flopped about for a little while and ended up back in the lake . . cause I was NOT going to pick it up.


Honestly, it was the largest fish type thing I have ever caught in fresh water. Now, at this point, I have to point out that the eels live in the ocean for most of their lives and then swim up the river. So, I guess its not a true fresh water thing. But, it was in fresh water and I caught it, so it counts. :)