there are wild squirrels in my house.

i don't know how many.
at first i thought that maybe
we just had some very active mice
living in the space between
the first and second floors of my house.
no, the mice are just hanging out
in my roommate's food cupboard.
they eat his food and then poo on the shelf.

the critters living in the ceiling
are most definitely squirrels.
it's too freaking cold right now
to investigate the situation
and banish the intruders
but this weekend they're in for it.
they hang out on the roof of the back porch,
the same roof that my bedroom window looks out on.
somehow they've made/found a hole along where
the porch roof meets the house.

for weeks they've been scampering about,
right under my room.
they're probably really pumped about
this warm home they found
and are, i'm sure, quite settled in.
life is good.

too bad for them, i don't trust squirrels.
i've seen what they can do to a garden
and i've also had my life threatened
by a squirrel over a candy bar.
i didn't even want his candy bar.
you may be wondering how a squirrel can be so
threatening and the only thing i can say
is that it was in his eyes.
he didn't have to say a word.

anyway, we don't know quite how to get rid
of our unwanted tenants.
if we just patch up the hole
it's likely that we will seal them in
where they will either die and smell
or they'll work their way into
the rest of the house.

we have a couple days
to come up with a plan.
i wish it didn't have to come to this.
i kind of want to leave the squirrels a letter
explaining the situation and then they can
leave of their own volition.
i don't think that would work.
they'd probably just eat the note or
make curtains out of it or something.

sorry squirrels.

-nicole

happy wintertime

it's time for travel!
when i hit the road i like going to exotic places
like iowa and north dakota.
but really, home is where your family is
so i'm incredibly excited.
and at least my family-seeing travels
take me to alaska once or twice a year.
after half of my nuclear family moved
to anchorage a few years ago
people would often ask me
if i was planning on moving there someday too.
the question always surprised me because
as it was i already lived six hours away from my family.

so i pondered the idea
but now i know i wouldn't live there.
it's a breathtaking place but
winter in anchorage is very long
and there's something unsettling about
four hours of light in december
and four hours of dark in july.
i'm used to huge swings in daylight hours
from winter to summer
but it's something else altogether up there.

i took a ton of photos on my most recent visit
this past august and now that my computer
is working again i plan to get them posted soon.
i've become so lazy about posting photos these days.
it's butt cold outside now so there's not much else
to do anyway. : )

-nicole

a rainy day off

i haven't been online much
as of late
due to my computer being
somewhat broken.
it's taking longer than it should
to fix it
partly because i've been only
half-heartedly trying to get it done.

on the positive side,
i'm finally getting all my files
properly backed up
as i should have a long time ago.

other than that,
my garden is still enjoying
this warm fall.
i am freezing and drying lots
of different produce on a daily basis,
and i'm determined to get through at least
half of winter without buying a single tomato.
i think i might even have enough for the length of
this northern winter but we'll see.

i'm also going to have a bounty of habanero peppers
in the coming days so if you have any idea what
to do with dozens of fiery peppers, let me know!

-nicole

hey there

i'm trying to get back into the habit
of using my blog more.
i used to blog several times a week
but that was mostly back during
xanga's heyday.
sometimes i miss those days.

tonight i feel like summarizing.
a bullet-point entry of sorts
except the drawn-out kind.

speaking of bullets,
my boyfriend and i almost got caught
in gunfire whilst driving through
north minneapolis last monday.
bullets rang out 100 feet in front of us
and folks went running.
we were shaken but fine
and as far as i know no one was shot.
it's not my favorite part of town.

both scott's garden and mine are doing great.
spring came very late this year and our only
hope of having a decent harvest would be
if fall arrived late too.
i am happy to say that it is still in the 70's
nearly every day, sometimes even 80. :)
in spite of the warm fall
the shorter daylight hours are encouraging
the leaves to turn and it's so pretty.

i think i am almost sub-consciously
preparing for winter.
wintertime here lasts many, many months
and this means lots of time in the house.
i've never liked the color or decorating
in my dining room
(which is very open to the livingroom)
and i finally worked up the motivation
to paint the room and also change everything else
about it that i found drab.
the room has gone from being a dark reddish-maroon
to a bright spring green.
now i'm working on curtains, photos for the wall, candles,
all of the this and that.

okay, my boyfriend and i
are playing with legos (really!)
and i've got to get back to building a castle.

-nicole

pins and needles

two weeks ago i was diagnosed with
carpal tunnel syndrome
and i'm not very happy about it.
my left thumb has been tingly all evening
and sometimes i awake in the morning to
painful and clumsy hands.

i thought only people who spent
their days typing got this disorder
but i was ignorant.

natually i've been reading online about cts
so that i can properly understand and deal with it.
tonight i came across this website
and this gem of a photo.



though he promises that
"the hand center will care for you,
just as i care for my own family"
i would not let this guy near my hands.
he's way too tan and way too excited
about that needle.

see ya, rnc

i'll admit i was excited about the convention,
and not because i'm a republican (i'm not)
but because i thought having my city in the national
spotlight would be exciting.

many riots, peaceful protests and
(hundreds) of arrests later, i'm glad it's over.
the national news hasn't had much to say about the
conflict between st. paul police and the protestors
and press but it's been significant.

not having been over there myself
i tried to believe that the police were being reasonable
and that those who were being tear-gassed, tazed, beat,
detained and arrested were being altogether
unreasonable and dangerous.
i honestly knew better but i wanted to believe
that only those who were being a threat were
themselves being threatened.

and then wednesday afternoon my boyfriend, scott,
rode his bike through downtown minneapolis
to pick up a textbook he'd ordered
that was waiting for him at the post office.
he biked along a road he takes often
as it has a bike lane.
during the ride he saw a small barricade in the road,
nothing too significant
and there were no signs to indicate
that he couldn't continue on through-
no construction or anything that might explain it.
(we now suppose that someone of significance was in the area).
he noticed some officers on the corner but they were
just standing around and so scott road along,
thinking nothing of it.

halfway down the block the officers saw him and one of them
yelled, "hey! get out of here! you can't be here!"
scott immediately obeyed,
turned around and went back out the way he came
and was going to find another way
to get to the other side of downtown.
but for some reason the police weren't gonna have that
and about six officers started to chase him.
one of the officers yelled to the others,
"anyone can grab him!"

scott was aware of the aggressive behavior
the police in st. paul have been exhibiting all week
and was very afraid
so he pedaled with all his might
until he was safely away from the officers.

i got so upset when he told me the story later.
it's a good thing the officers didn't lay a hand on him because
i.would.have.come.unglued.

good-bye national spotlight.
wasn't really worth it.

-nicole

doing this when i should be doing that

i'm at that stage of nearing vacation where i'm anxious
and feel like there's too much to do.
packing, laundering, procrastinating.
arranging for the cat, fish and garden
to all be tended and loved.
i feel like i have to have my whole life
caught up and organized before i go.
this is silly as i'm only going to be gone for five days.

i really should wash the kitchen floor
and balance my checkbook.
bleh.

i have to work tonight
and again tomorrow afternoon
and we fly out at 8am on sunday.
yikes.

why am i wasting time blogging?
it's an outlet of sorts, i guess.
okay, time to get something done!

-nicole