Yecats Gniwe

My little brother was just awarded with a medal for saving someone’s life back in May!! We’re so proud of him! Way to go Jay!!! :D Too bad they didn’t give you guys a raise along with that! ;)

Medal:

Medal, letter, certificate, and pin:

You can see more pictures here on MY FLICKR PAGE.

Tim and I worked the second half of the Need-a-Bag Project at the Alachua County Farmer’s Market this morning (picking up the leftover bags and putting them away for next week).

On our way home, we pulled into our complex just in time to see a red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) sitting on top of a young squirrel while simultaneously fighting off a giaganticon raven who was trying to help himself to Hawky’s hard-earned meal. We stopped the car and watched for a minute. Both birds looked up at us like, “WTH are you looking at??!” Hawky took advantage of Raven’s momentary distraction and flew off with limp squirrel in tow. Raven took off after them in hot pursuit.

I wonder if Elaine from FCLA had a similar, exciting experience in her bird-watching class this morning! At least we didn’t have to get up at 7:30am! haha ;D

“No you idiot! Hawks EAT squirrels!!” sayeth the animal guy at minute 6:53 of this mashup of Seinfeld clips from the “Kramer/Merv Griffith Set” episode:

OMG, do we ever *HEART* having company!!! W & C were up for the weekend for the UF/UM game AND to visit C’s mom AND they chose to stay with US!!! Me, Tim and the kitties!!! SWEET!

Momma Wood had surgery on Friday which BTW, was VERY successful and she’s doing SO well that she got to go home about a week early!! (Who’s the cylon now??! ::grin::) We are all so happy for her and the entire family! Man! it’s so freakin’ nice to have good news around here for once! :D

Before I sign off, something that you need to know about CWH- this chica breathes & exhales creativity 24-7! This trip she brought me this totally kicka** bento lunch box that she made!! My embarrassingly crappily lit photos do not even come close to doing it justice- but that’s okay, this “bento box” is SO cool that it will actually burn out your retinas if you stare at it directly for too longl!! :D

Labor Day Weekend Tim & I went Tally for a day/night to visit Clannus Austinus and it was good.

Highlights include but are not limited to:

The requisite trip to Decent Pizza was made…

Tim and John consumed many Liberty Ales…

I finally got to visit 10,000 Villages (was always closed during prev. trips) w/Ally & Lydia…

We were treated to brunch at the “Grouper” (heehee) bagel shop across the street from World Market…

A trip was made to the Florida Museum of History downtown…

So sad to leave…

Back in early August, my ‘rents sent us a small freezer as an early Christmas prezzie! One VERY early Saturday morning, around 6:30am, I get a phone call from Mom, letting us know that there was a delivery truck on it’s way to our house and that they would be there at 7am! Holy Crap! 7am?? Saturday morning??! Ouch! Luckily we’d only just fallen asleep a few hours earlier! heh! :) Sure enough, just a little after 7am, we got a loud-a**ed “cop knock” on our front door. We ran downstairs, opened up, and the giaganticon freezer box was sitting right outside our front door.

The delivery guy was long gone, already out in the parking lot, revving the truck and subsequently burning rubber as he pulled a neutral drop & peeled out of our ‘hood. Oooh, I just bet ‘Virginia Slim’ across the street loved that!! mwuahahahaha! ::clapping hands together with evil glee:: >:)

We cut the box away from the unit and it was so light, we were able to carry it right out to the porch without a dolly. I plugged it in and it fired up like a champ. Tim collapsed back on the couch for a quick 15 minute nap before he had to leave for his mountain bike riding date with Barry, while I put half of the things from our tiny fridge freezer out there- it was so exciting! (yeah, you know you’re getting old when appliances are exciting!) :)

A coupla weeks later, Jay & Lorraine came up from Ft. Meyers to stay with us. Saturday morning we got up at the a**crack of dawn, and drove up to Adel, Georgia where we met up with our parentals. Adel is comprised of nothing but a few gas stations and an old strip mall off I-75 that has sadly faded from the glorious King Frog Outlet Center that it once was in the late 70s/early 80s. We instead decided to all head 20 minutes north to Tifton- a smallish town absolutely teeming with southern culture- a shiny little bauble hidden between the folds of Valdosta & Macon. ;D

Jay & Lorraine generously treated all of us to lunch at a restaurant in the “Friendly City” and I don’t know about anyone else, but Tim and I had an awesome time and were both sad that our time with the ‘rents was so short. Before we parted ways, Mom & Dad unloaded about FOUR GABILLION pounds of fresh, frozen, and canned veggies, canned jams & jellies, dozens and dozens of fresh eggs, and baked goods from their jeep into our wagon. All was from their garden and ab. amazing. I’m still kicking myself for not taking a picture of the back of our station wagon, loaded down with fresh veggie booty. It was quite a sight to see. :)

Jay, Lorraine, Tim & I kicked around Tifton for a little while longer before heading home. We stopped at the interstate Famous Adcock Pecans store- who hasn’t seen the billboards on I-75 for the last hundred forevers??! We couldn’t resist!

It was cleaner and bigger inside than I’d imagined it would be. They had TONS of jellies & sauces and their pecans were pretty cheap. I bought a big 2lb bag for less than five bucks (to take home and put in the freezer! haha). Tim got a jar of powdered, just-add-water, peanut butter to try out for his hiking trips (yeah, it looks just as skeevey as it sounds…). He hasn’t tried it yet, BTW. Next stop was a store downtown that we thought carried camping clothing but it turned out to be an old fashioned department store with creepy locals giving us outsiders the stink-eye. We headed home after that and Jay and Lorraine continued on home to Ft. Meyers from there.

Several weeks after that (yesterday actually), Tim & I received a box of baby roasting potatoes (the last of the taters out of their garden) along with three adorable baby butternut squash from their garden. Our pantry & freezer now runneth over thanks to Mom & Dad and all their garden laboring and we seriously can’t thank them enough.

I’m so freakin’ behind on posting anything substantial here on meh blag. Tons of things have happened the past coupla months and it’s just been so damned busy at work (and life!) that I’ve really only had enought time to flit around on facebook a little here and there. I’m even super behind on friend and family email too… I love you all though!! *muah, muah* I’m slowly getting caught up though! honest!!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for all the kind sentiments about Pris last month. It helped- thanks.

Am so digging this First Aid Kit cover of Fleet Foxes’ Tiger Mountain Peasant Song today:

tag cloud of the Gettysburg Address from Wordle: http://www.wordle.net

I LOVE this Tweet from Emily that was re-posted this morning on Kung Fu Grippe, and then of course re-posted here for your viewing pleasure:

Longing for the days when gals like me were labeled “Nervous” and sent away to paint watercolors and drink broth by a soothing seaside.

It seems somehow appropriate for a “Monday-Tuesday” like today. Although I don’t really long for “those days” I just think it would be cool to be sent away to a soothing seaside with some painting supplies and wonton soup! ;D