Sunday Gophers

To be strictly accurate, this should have been Saturday Gophers.  But I didn't blog on Saturday.  It does have gophers, so it's not totally off.

Yesterday morning, I was looking out the dining room window and noticed a small pile of dirt.  Which means gophers.  They dig tunnels underground, then they come up to the surface and deposit all the dirt that they then need out of the way.  Moles dig as well, but they don't usually make dirt piles.

I saw movement, so I kept watching.  And pretty soon, there was more movement.  It was small and furry.  It almost looked like a prarie dog at first, but it was definitely a gopher.  And he was busy, he kept bringing more and more dirt up to the surface.  Every so often, he'd poke his head up and look around.  Then he'd get back to work.

One of the specific things the vet said to keep Maggie away from was dirt and digging.  So I wasn't able to let her out.  After a while, we decided to let Frasier out to play with the gopher.  He runs out the door.  And immediately goes to the opposite side of the yard from the gopher.  That's my Frasier, always dependable.  We didn't see any more gopher pop-ups at that point, so we let Maggie out and she at least went in the general direction.  But she was more interested in tracking it, we think she could hear it underground by the way she was acting.  After a few minutes, I called them back in and went to check it myself.  The gopher had a nice sized hole dug.  But he didn't come back again yesterday.

This morning, there were two dirt piles.  One right next to the other one.

After we got home from church, there were three!

We have another spider.  It might actually be the same one.  We thought that he was dead, but this one is the same size and markings.  We're leaving him there, he's happy.

I just heard Bill yelling at a dog.  I think that it was most likely Maggie Moo.  She keeps getting on the couch or love seat when we aren't in the living room.

We were kind of worried about Beagle Brat yesterday.  One of her stitches came loose.  My crochet scissors are actually nurse's scissors and they are very sharp.  Heavy duty, one side is rounded and the other side is flat (to go under stitches).  I got my trusty nurse's scissors and snipped the part off that was sticking up, I was afraid she'd get it caught on something and then we'd have a big problem on our hands.  The swelling has gone done quite a bit, the incision is still unattractive but it's better.  But last night, she started scratching at it and we didn't catch her until she'd made it start to bleed.  We've been wiping her head off with a damp washcloth, which has seemed to soothe her.  We try not to touch the incision but we had to wipe it off a little bit.  Then it took both Otter and me to keep her from scratching it more.  Eventually, the dog curled up on a blanket in the floor and went to sleep.  And we left her there.  This morning, it still is a little red but it looks much better.  I guess it itches as it heals, like people's stitches and cuts do.

Otter and I went in search of a yard sale today.  It was advertised as a Saturday sale, but they had a pachinko machine.  Since we had a couple of errands to run, we decided to head that way anyway.  Bing maps won't be getting a good review from me any time soon!  (It became what we refer to affectionatly as a Toadles Trip.)  The map put us on a highway that runs through town, and then it had us exit off and head into a neighborhood.  Then it took us in a circle through the neighborhood.  Then it took us right back up to and on the highway we'd just left!  The next step was to go a couple of miles to the correct exit for the street and turn on a couple of streets which was accurate.  But the part in the middle?  And, after all that, the yard sale was not open today.  Which didn't surprise me.

We decided to make lemonade out of lemons.  There is a large bookstore that we love but don't get to go to very often.  It was about a mile away from us at that point.  So that's where we went.  Otter found a couple of books.

We also went to Michael's.  I bought yarn, but this was for a specific project and not the same gauge/size/weight that I already have.  Details later, if it works.

I have done 4 rows on the afghan.  I am going to change colors every four rows.  I was thinking that I'd do three rows and then change, but it looked too narrow at three rows so I put a fourth row on.  Pictures later!

I was out in the back yard while ago, and the dogsters were both out there.  I was filling in a hole that they left on one of their previous gopher hunting expiditions, and I noticed movement and the sound of something running through leaves.  Then Frasier exploded (he was parked on the grass, probably dozing off) and ran to the shed.  And then he ran around it a few times, stopping here and there to look underneath.  Maggier had to get in on the fun, but she was trying to dig to get under the shed herself.  I grabbed her by the collar and put her inside, then it took a few minutes to catch Frasier.  I caught him by the collar and gave him to Otter, she took him inside.  I was afraid that he might have distured a "black & white kitty" and I had zero interest in that type of an encounter.  But it was a regular cat.  As soon as Fraiser was inside, the cat ran out from under the shed and over the fence.  Hopefully, it won't be back.  I didn't see it, but Otter said it was grey.  I think it's the same cat that Frasier spotted when we were walking the other day and zeroed in on.  He got very alert and I had to hustle him up the street at a pretty good clip.

Back to my laundry now!  And Otter needs to clean her bathroom.  Then, I think I'm going to make Bill's Bachelor Stew and rice for dinner.  It's cool but not cold, however it is a perfect day for Bachelor Stew.