Home Invasions at the House That Crazy Built...

Yay! I didn't get eaten by a possum!

Although, you are forgiven for perhaps thinking that I had - it's been mighty quiet here in CookieLand since I last checked in, all traumatized and such. However, I think you'll understand when you read about the host of visitors (some welcome, some not so much) that have been dropping by the House That Crazy Built in the last few days...

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Let's begin with the possum...

When last I spoke with you: it was evening and I'd barricaded people and cats upstairs, possum(s?) down in the basement. The next morning I woke up and called Animal Control the second they opened for business.

Not real helpful, my Animal Control.

Seems they really only exist to enforce leash laws.
And, if you've ever spent any time at all in the park near my house, you would see that they are not particularly good at that. I'm not complaining, I don't mind the dogs. I'm just sayin'...

That leaves two options: a "wildlife removal" service, or the D-I-Y route. Since I am the cheapest woman on the planet, and since Sarah pointed out that many of these services advertise that they have "Financing Available", I decided to go with rolling up my sleeves and taking care of business myself.

So - I go downstairs, and try to find the possum again.
And I can't.
Surely PossumBaby didn't just leave of his own accord???? Then I realize that he's a possum. And therefore, nocturnal. So, wherever he is, he's sleeping.
I decide that I'll look again at night.

In the meantime, I put both the Things down in the basement. Hoping that if PossumBaby wakes up and smells "cat" - he'll hightail it out of there lickety-split.

And - since I feel some guilt at essentially ignoring the fact that there's a wild animal *inside my house*, I roll up my sleeves, and I get to work - tackling the embarrassing sty that my house has become.
This will seem both important, and prophetic, given upcoming events...

Evening comes. The house hasn't looked this tidy/clean in... definitely months, if not years. I put Schecky to bed and go downstairs for a PossumBaby hunt. Still can't find it. Is this the one time in history that the "ignore it and it'll go away" strategy has actually worked????

Wake up the next morning - still seem to be possum free! Yay! No one in the house who's not supposed to be. I fix Scheck some breakfast, and walk with him to the camp he's attending. I come home, and as I walk in the front door I notice that the Things are staring avidly into the fireplace.

Too avidly.

There's a bird in there. He's trapped behind the fireplace screen.

We have chimney swifts who build a nest in the chimney every summer. They're really cool little birds - they eat about a bazillion mosquitoes and only stay in Atlanta between the months of April and October. Then they fly to Peru. Like I say, they're neat little birds and I am always excited when they return and nest in the chimney.

In. the. chimney.
NOT in the house.

Long story longer - I lock the Things away, put on my industrial strength work gloves (which were purchased after the Great Bleaching Incident of '07) and catch me a bird. A shoe box and much squealing were involved.



Such a cutie!

The shoe box was one of Schecky's - he seems to collect them. I really just grabbed the first one that I could find, but I was fortunate in that it had - for some reason - a little porthole cut into the side of it. Once I got BirdBaby out of the house, he showed no sign of wanting to leave the box. He just stuck his little bird head out of the porthole and watched everything intently...



I'm happy with how this was all resolved, too - after calling a bird rescue organization I was put in touch with a lovely, lovely woman named Erika - who hand-raises chimney swifts that have fallen out of their nests. And she just lives in the next neighborhood over! She came over, and got BirdBaby and took him home where she added him to the brood of TWENTY SIX that she's already caring for!
Funny note: at one point when I was speaking to her, and we were talking about what to do with BirdBaby - she said "I'm already taking care of 26. What's one more?" Oh, how I had to bite my tongue to keep from blurting out "Ummmm - 27?"
I figure you really don't want to sass the nice lady who you hope will take a bird off your hands...

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So, I'm seemingly rid of possums, and baby birds both.
Wonder what the universe has in store for me next???

The answer came quickly: a plague of houseguests!

Actually, I'm kidding.

About the "plague" part, at least - because there were houseguests galore! But much to my delight and surprise, I really enjoyed them all. Which is strange, given my curmudgeonly and socially awkward tendencies. Typically, I do fear company like normal people fear the plague.

We entertained Bubba's parents - who decided to come into town on the spur of the moment, we got to spend some great time with our friend, the actor, between his performances at the Fox. And the biggest delight of them all was getting to meet up with my best friend from high school the amazing GeekyMom, and her family. We didn't do anything fancy - just called out for pizza, but I had the nicest time with Ms.Geeky and her whole GeekyFamily.
Actually, GeekyMom was stopping in town on her way to defend her dissertation today. By the time you read this, she'll be Dr.GeekyMom! Yay!

So the past several days have been a whirlwind - all of it good (well, with the notable exception being fretting about the PossumBaby...)

It's weird, I really am very hermit-like and I so often feel really uncomfortable around people. And if I'm supposed to be"hosting" or "entertaining"? Forgetaboutit - that just ups the angst even more - worrying about what I'm doing wrong, or what a "good hostess" would be doing... Ugh.

To my delight and surprise, there was none of that this weekend. Maybe it was just too busy too fret. Maybe this is a sign that I'm actually not as awkward or as hermit-y as I think I am. Who knows.

All I know is that when I sat down to eat lunch today - the first meal that I have eaten without "company" of some sort since Thursday - and instead of thinking "Thank God, I'm finally alone" (which is the kind of thing I usually think) I thought "I had fun this weekend..."

I need to remember that the next time the prospect of entertaining comes up...

And speaking of entertaining? I hope everyone's 4th of July is exactly that!

kisses!