So busy today!

I've been busy, obviously the dogs have NOT been busy (unless you consider laying around the house busy). The day started off with a dreaded Saturday trip to town. Oh, how I hate the Saturday crowd with all the nutso drivers and long waiting lines! I took care of my errands and headed home as fast as I could!

Once home I had to iron a shirt for Don and fix his lunch. Got him off to work and then it was time to start painting in the laundry room again. That's been a very slow job. I just can't seem to get done in a day what I could when I was 20. Which is sad, because in my mind I'm still 20 so this going slow is frustrating.

I did take time to go to the pond. Fergus had cornered a large grasshopper earlier in the day so I figured I could catch a few fish for the ducks. No luck...sneaky fish stole my grasshopper off the hook and there were no small fish in the minnow basket. Poor Ducky and Ping had to make do with chicken feed and lettuce today.

After feeding the chickens, ducks and Elvis I brought the dogs in and got back to work. Darkness fell and I paused long enough to have a bite to eat and build a fire in the fireplace. We're supposed to get another frost tonight and it's quite chilly outside. After my break I went back to painting.

Anyway, I've been so busy I forgot to blog! Now you know why I'm so late posting today!

Mothra landed on my front porch!

Okay, it might not be Mothra, but it was definitely a large moth that flew into our front porch the other night. Don said he thought it was a bat at first! The thing was almost three inches long!

Actually, it was a Catalpa (or Catawba here in the South) Sphinx Moth. To give you an idea of how large the Sphinx family of moths are, they are sometimes called Hawk Moths or Hummingbird Moths.

Now, I'm not surprised that we found one of these (although they are rarely seen) because we have two Catalpa trees close to the house. One is in the barn lot and the other is just across the driveway from the house. These are very pretty trees in the Spring with their pale lavender blooms. Catalpa caterpillars can strip a tree of all its leaves, but we haven't had a problem with that (so far). Plus, the caterpillars are excellent fish bait!

I'm glad the Catalpa Sphinx Moth paid us a visit and was gracious enough to let me take a photo. It was an awesome moth and was gone a short while afterwards.

Don't tell though...next Spring I'm going to use its offspring for bait!

Crawdad Crook strikes again!

Just about every evening I walk down to the pond to check the minnow basket. I like to supplement the ducks' evening meal with live fish. They love to jump in their kiddie pool and chase minnows around and around. It's a tasty treat they've sorely missed this summer due to a sneaky thief down at the pond!

That's right...we have a thief in our pond that I call the Crawdad Crook. Every day I find one crawdad in the minnow basket and no minnows. I am convinced that it is the same crawdad who has figured out the minnow basket is easy pickings. 

What to do? Normally I get my fishing pole and catch a few small fish if the minnow basket is empty, but it's just been to hot to stand down at the pond fishing...plus, there are skeeters down there. I'd call the crawdad cops, but their number is unlisted. Should I have a crawdad boil? One crawdad ain't going to make for much of a boil! 

Guess I'll just have to relocate the Crawdad Crook tomorrow. He's going to find himself in the big pond tomorrow evening. Hopefully he won't be replaced by another sneaky thief! If so, the ducks may be eating crawdads!