Snakes in the siding!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

In yet another chapter of becoming a home ~ and yard owner once again after years in a condo...

I have discovered snakes ~ and that they still make me scream SNAKEEEEEEEEEE every time I see one, no matter what size.

Although I have seen at least a snake or two or three or more every day for weeks, I still scream!

Yesterday I got the surprise of my life as I was bent over weeding, and a snake was on the step to our exterior garage... we met eye to eye. I screamed "SNAKEEEEEEE", and it slithered.... right up the side of the garage and under the vinyl siding!!!!! YIKES!!!

 The snake went right up into the siding by the door... this is a picture of earlier this spring... who knows if he's been there before we moved in....YIKES

Today the same thing happened again! YIKES!

Luckily my hubby caught him and pointed him to the woods. Then we fixed the siding so it was tight, and hopefully not a welcoming home to that snake or any of his reptilian relatives any more!

I am a Putnamaniac that does not like snakes in the siding!

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And today I saved a Lion... I named him Gilligan. True stuff!

You never know what you are going to find, in any place, at any time.

That is why I keep my four eyes open, all the time!

(I have walked into doors and come almost eye to eye with snakes due to my eyes focusing on something else quite interesting at the time).

Today as I was tossing some weeds and yard waste over the edge of the hill and into the gulley next to our yard, I spotted a ..... lion!

Wow!!! What a find!

It was a wee, little, plastic toy variety lion, but he was clearly in need of rescue!

As I scampered down the slippery hillside, filled with years of composting material, I hoped I would not encounter a snake at this time.

Luck was with me! No snakes crossed my path, and I rescued the little lion.

I named him Gilligan and he is now keeping watch and on guard duty in one of our raised garden beds. His location will vary each day, since we have 6 raised beds, and some perennial gardens as well. 

 I am a Putnamaniac that was pretty excited to rescue a lion today, even though it was someone else's piece of trash!

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I have a heart, but still broke a little! Danged woodchucks!

Experiencing my first spring season as a yard owner again after some years of being cooped up in a condo, and it ..... is ...... GREAT!!!!!

I was able to bring many plants with me from the Renegade Garden at the condo, and the are all happy to be in their new home with me and my hubby. The iris are outstanding this year!

A veggie garden is also in place. Raised beds were our choice and method, and the plants are cranking.

Of course since we live next to a big patch of woods, animals are our neighbors, along with all of our human neighbors.

Woodchucks appeared immediately.

The have a heart trap came out quickly.

We caught a large woodchuck almost immediately and my husband took him/her for a ride in the truck and relocated him/her to the woods out in West Thompson, so he/she could live with all his/her long lost relatives.

Then we caught another woodchuck... a little one.
Then we caught an oppossum. Ugly bugger!
Again, my hubby relocated them out to the boonies.

Then we caught yet another little woodchuck. Since my hubs was working late that night, I thought I should be the one to take the little critter on the truck ride to the woods.

Oddly enough I felt really bad dropping him off in the middle of the woods, far from his home. I told him to go find his long lost brother, father, cousins.... he looked so little sitting in those big woods all by himself. 

Isn't it odd that you know it is the right thing to do, but you still feel bad about doing it? I know I would not be happy with the damage woodchucks can do when they are in your yard and gardens, so I will imagine all the woodchucks hopping around together in the woods of West Thompson!

I am a Putnamaniac that had my heart break a little by a danged woodchuck!

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I stopped and smelled the roses today - literally!

The phrase "you need to stop and smell the roses" is a common one.

There was even a song about this thought, named aptly Stop and Smell the Roses, an oldie by Mac Davis. 

Today I literally stopped and smelled the roses - these roses on my way to work.

Lovely, lovely!

Certainly some passers by gave me an odd look as they sped by in their cars, headed to their destinations. But if just one of them noted that I stopped and smelled the roses, then maybe they will take 15 seconds to do just the same thing themselves today!

I am a Putnamaniac that stopped and smelled the roses today!

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These are the good old days ~ that phrase is stuck in my head! I'm ok with that...

Song lyrics really are poetry.

Most often they are a wonderful sounding earful of poetry.

I have a friend who loves to notice if people are "deep" listeners or "surface" listeners.

By that he meant that some folks hum and sing along with a song, but don't really listen to the music and certainly not to the words and their meaning.

Sometimes song lyrics get in my thoughts, for numbers of different reasons, and they nest there.

As I sing these embedded lyrics over and over again, it starts me wondering why these lyrics are present and speaking loudly.  They are settled in my mind for a reason ~  Do I have something occurring in life that needs an answer/solution? Am I remembering old memories? Am I forgetting something? Are the lyrics just meant to re-open my eyes and/or heart to something? What is it????

Eventually I get to the heart of the lyrics, and why they linger, and then they pass on.

These last few days I keep thinking of Carly Simon's song Anticipation. The lyrics in particular that keep replaying in RadioMarcy are "These are the good old days". This is a theme that I must remind myself of over the years. It is easy to look forward to when "something" will happen (hence the anticipation), and it is easy to look back and perhaps enhance the memories of the good old days....

However, and this is a big however, I need to remember to enjoy every minute as it is happening, because these are indeed the good old days. It is vital to enjoy every stinking moment.

Listen up friends ~ you will hear many great lyrics in life, from many sources!

I am a Putnamaniac that loves that these are the good old days! 

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Another First Friday! YAY!!!!

Another First Friday - tomorrow night - June 6th, 2014 in the streets of downtown Putnam!!!

How can there be more than one first Friday??

There are so many reasons and answers to that question.

Each first Friday of each month, May through October, we celebrate arts & culture in downtown Putnam by shutting down the streets and welcoming guests, visitors, vendors, artists, musicians, dancers..... all diverse and all spectacular.

No month is EVER THE SAME!!!! Each month you will experience something new!! Each month is like a first!

Come on down!

For more information on Putnam's First Fridays, you can:
*"like" the facebook page
*go to either of these websites - Discover Putnam or Putnam Business Association, which offer tons of information, as well as our local radio station WINY's website.

See you around!

I am a Putnamaniac that loves First Fridays in Putnam!

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46 years ago I received a wonderful lifelong gift ~ my little sister!

Just over 46 six years ago, if my math is correct (I did not use an excel spreadsheet to calculate these facts....), I was awaiting my 8th birthday.

My mother was super pregnant.

That new little Dawley baby was due any moment....

All I wished for as a birthday gift was a little something (I didn't care if it was a little brother or little sister, and back then, you found out what you got when it appeared kicking and screaming).

My birthday came... and went.... and in true form, my little sister arrived after she was expected.

Although she arrived just 8 days after my birthday, I still consider her the best birthday gift ever.

Suzanne Joy has brought us much JOY, as she has always been her own person, fiercely independent, brilliantly smart, professional and kind, artistic, a humanitarian, the sense of reason, generous, fun, an animal lover, a great enjoyer of music/sports/comedy, and of life in general... I can not say enough about my little seesta. I admire her immensely, and I love her till the ends of the earth.

Here is a picture of her sitting in the suitcase that our Mom came home with from the hospital, after she had Si, our youngest brother ~ he is equally as awesome, and a story for yet another day:

I am a Putnamaniac that has received some great gifts in my day, including my little seesta, Sue!

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