Made it to Friday!

Crazy week.  Glad it's over.  Well, it will be tomorrow.  But for all intents and purposes, the week is done done done.

 

Bill noticed last weekend that our electric meter wasn't working.  We had power, but the meter wasn't moving.  At all.  We were afraid that it might have been damaged in one of the many storms we've had, probably the one a couple of weeks ago where so much of this area was without power.  I called the electric company on Monday and they said they'd send someone out.  I made certain that they were not going to be allowed unless one of us was home, and I told them why - a few years ago, we very nearly lost Maggie when they opened a nearly unopenable gate and left it open.  I think that they may have made a not in our "file" because they usually ask me to be certain that someone is here and that my dogs (and they know how many we have plus other details about them) are up.  Otter was off on Tuesday, so that's when I scheduled the guy to come out.  Monday afternoon, he calls me to tell me he was on the way - I told him that no, he was not on the way and that it would have to be Tuesday.  He was extremely "sheepish" but he did say that he'd be out Tuesday.  Tuesday morning, I was getting ready to go to work when he called and said he'd be here shortly.  So, I just waited for him.  He was right on time.  When he pulled the lid off of the box the meter was in, it was nearly solid bird nesting material.  We had birds build nests in it before, so we have been keeping a piece of duct tape over the opening.  The nests were at least 4 years old, when Bill taped it up he made sure that there were no birdies and that it was well past nesting season so there were no deceased birds in it.  Just lots and lots of dead grass!  The technician said that probably didn't have anything to do with the meter conking out and that the tape was not causing a problem either.  He basically popped the old meter out and popped the new one in.  Took about 3 minutes, start to finish.

 

We've had a lot of rain this week.  The air was clear for a brief moment, but then the sun came out and that means that it got unbearably humid fast.  Also, we are dealing with a lot more mosquitos.  We've been dumping the dog's water dish out and refilling every other day but now I'm thinking that we might need to change it to daily.  The rain barrel is not the source, it's been "dunked" and will be for a while.  The dog's water is being dumped before any wrigglers can actually hatch out - and they like the dog's water dish for egg-laying, apparently.  We have a suspicion that they may be coming from Lovely Neighbor's.  It wouldn't be the first time!  She has a water feature in her front yard, but it's not turned on very often but it does have water in it.  Which means standing water.  Which means skeeters!

 

I've seen several spiders lately.  Mostly outside, but a few inside.  No bad ones lately.  Just the good ones and they are more than welcome.  We just need to keep them out of the beagle's reach!

 

Tulsa is apparently having a problem with snakes this year.  Mostly copperheads but there have been a few rattlers.  The problem is that it seems nobody actually knows what to do with one!  What do they do?  Well, apparently people think that snakes are either play toys or that it's safe to pick one up to relocate it.  You can probably guess what happens next!  The number of people being treated for bites by either rattles or copperheads is pretty high this year.

 

Can we say gene pool in serious need of a flush?