The Snowflower Diaries

The Snowflower Diaries

Going back through some old posts I ran across this site and took another look. All sorts of freebies including her 2016 Joyful World series of monthly charts featuring various animals large and small and birds such as flamingos and ducks with floral sides. Each design is 99w x 73h and can be assembled into one large work. Dimensions given after the January chart. Each month has been translated into 7 or more different languages, many I can't even guess at. :D Various other freebies also featured in the left column. Nice site. She also has an Esty shop with other designs.

There Must be a Lesson in All This

The last 24 hours:

1:15 this morning. I  thought there might be an intruder in the house - rapid swinging of clothing on hangers at the FAR end of the hallway hanging on the frame of my bedroom door as if someone had just rushed past them  - between me and the phone and my purse. Which abruptly stopped, as if someone had stopped them. Only weapon in sight: pair of Fiskar's scissors with 4" blade. Maybe not. Went out the front door and headed to neighbors for flashlight so I could do a perimeter sweep to see if it looked like someone had broken in. No flashlight, and my neighbor, who happened to be on his patio for a smoke in the dark first suggested then all but insisted I call the police. Actually HE did that as I walked up the street to see if I could spot anyone coming OUT a window. KUDOS to the officers, 2 of which arrived within a couple of minutes. The third while we were inside. Nothing. They were here and gone within 10 or 12 minutes. Of course I was awake the  rest of the night trying to figure out what had happened. I looked every where again, even for a bird that might have gotten trapped inside - a BIG trapped bird. And trying to replicate the movement of my clothes, with no real success. For a while I even considered a ghost REALLY trying to get my attention. It made as much sense as anything else. I finally got to sleep about noon.

I was on the computer about 5:30p when I heard my office and closet doors bump. I got up to check it out expecting to finally see where Oscar, the feral who sometimes comes inside to eat Henna's food, was hiding. I'd heard noises from the closet and around the boxes next to my filing cabinet for some time and actually thought it might be him.  Thus, I moved a door to look behind it and out of the corner of my eye spotted a movement just in time to jump back and avoid being struck by ... a SNAKE!  First thing first. Did it have a triangular-shaped head? Hmmm. Maybe not. Not sure. I stayed out of strike range and tried to drop first a cardboard box on top, then a bigger plastic box. It tired to bite me a second time then turned tail and quickly slithered off. I called 911 AGAIN. Two more officers arrived, this time in about 10 minutes and several minutes later Animal Control. Once they saw my cluttered office I leaned I had no idea where it currently was, I was told that it wasn't their duty to move stuff and HUNT for the snake, but if I could catch it and/or knew exactly where it was, to call t hem back. If I caught it, I could call animal control at 6 a.m. They were nice.I admit I was depressed. Then I realized what I thought had been the rat moving around was PROBABLY that snake trying to catch the rat for dinner. The A/C lady named several snakes it might be, but she'd guess a rat snake. I was confused because the LAST rat snake I had to have removed from the house was much MUCH bigger and fatter, and looked more like a rattle snake than a color dark color. I did recall as she was leaving that this much "smaller" one was just as aggressive and didn't have a rattle.

Now I was depressed. I just had to have a hole in my roof caused by raccoons fixed. I called my raccoon guy. When he called back he quoted their snake trapping price. Ok, anything *I* can do? Yes. Rat-size glue traps. The snake tries to slither across, gets stuck and in trying to get unstuck gets more and more stuck.

As soon as he hung up I went to Walmart and got glue traps. I listened carefully when I came back in my office to see if I could tell where Ricardo was (yes, at the suggestion of Officer Perez (#6) and Officer Snow (#7) I named it. As I was laying the glue traps where I thought it might pass I heard movement at the end of the closet. I backed away. I saw the end of a tail disappearing over the top shelf of that closet. Call #3 to 911. I wasn't about to lose sight of it and stood there. After about 25 minutes I thought I head it moving somewhere else and called 911 again to cancel the call. But the officers were on their way. So I had to again explain about 2 previous visits same day, and said I wasn't sure the snake was still in the same place. One shined his flashlight at the far corner or the top shelf. Two eyes reflected back. And so proceeded their attempt to find out if anyone from A/C would come out. After waiting quite a while for a return call, they called back. Apparently not. As it turned out, one of them liked to attend the Rattlesnake Round-Up in West Texas. His only issue was how to catch it without getting bit in the face. He was really wishing he had one of this snake-catcher neck grabbing things in his Patrol Car (he's said he's going to start carrying one). I suggested maybe use the glue traps in some way. So between the 2 of them and my suggestions of what I on had, it was decided he'd attach one of those Rat-Size glue traps to a yard stake they spotted outside behind my bench, or better yet the  of a broom WITH the stake, lower it gently on top of the snake or whatever part he could contact as it tried to get away, then decide what to do next. Glue trap attached to bristles on broom with a ball of handy duct tape, all of which stuck nicely to snake, along with some Christmas ornaments Ricardo came in contact with as he tried to escape. Ricardo wrapped himself around the closet rod, ornaments dangling along with him. I'd set a nice-size plastic bin with another glue trap in the bottom. Instead Office Perez managed to losent it's grip on the rod, drape it over the end of the broom and rushed outside with it's head and tail dangling free. He stepped on the head (thinking he was going to kill it I took my big iron T-bar out so it could be dispatched quickly. Instead he managed to get the glue traps unstuck from snake, then kicked it with his boot into the ground cover at the edge of my garage, where it immediately disappeared.  He'd already told me that the tail-end of the snake had been injured at some point in the past.. They'd quickly determined it was a long but skinny (HUNGRY) rat snake, so I was greatly relieved it was out of my house and very happy it would live to eat another rat another day. I finally thought to take a picture of it being "rescued" and released. And of the officers, who were so kind and had a call where life and property, for once, were not at stake. KUDOS and a Big THANK YOU to each officer who has been here in the past 24 hours!

Now, since it didn't look like the snake had eaten the rat, I still have to trap the dern thing. So far it's Rat 2 / Empty Sprung Trap 0.

And I really should eat that Jumbo Jack I stopped for on the way home from Walmart about 4 hours ago.

-- A couple of pictures to follow - maybe.

Sorry for repeated words and typos. I'm a zombie by now.

UPDATE A WHILE AGO: Trapped Rat!!

UPDATE THIS VERY SECOND. I thought I was hearing something, stopped listened, nothing. I just heard a soft bump and something gnawing around my dresser!  ANOTHER RAT??? NOOOOOO!! How are they getting in???  Now I have to go buy ANOTHER rat trap - or two.

 

Snow Bunnies Freebie

From Crafts 'n Things - also check out the archives! Sorry, link not working. Will try to correct.

Happy to Recommend New Blog

It's not cross stitch or needlework, but our 123MB friend, Rowland Cole, an amateur but professional quality wildlife photographer from England, has just started a blog:  Through My Lens. He takes beautiful photographs and tells wonderful stories about his photography adventures. He has the most amazing way with both wild and domestic creatures. Even baby squirrels want to go home with him. Check out his new blog!

Still Sans Computer : ( Most recent home invader

I had hoped to have new computer before now. Not sure on timetable as am relying on busy friend to build one - albeit on the far less expensive side. Good news: Expensive medical tests say I'm just fine.  But why do I still feel so lousy? Been stitching on the Sunflower pillow. I'd originally planned only to stitch the center portion, then decided to add 12 extra rows outside the second inside border, then decided to add another 3. Meaning at this point most of what I've got left is mostly like trying to stitch hundreds of often confetti stitches - which is a very very slow slog! Must now repair or replace my non-working air conditioner. It's already up to 84 in the house. TOO WARM!

I've previously posted about wild critters that have found their way inside my house. Baby possums, Baby raccoon, big white rabbit (really!), various mice and rats rodents I do NOT want in my house, and cringe when the only solution is setting out poison because I also have cats who only occasionally bother to catch one, but don't want to risk poisoning them. I walked into the living room late Wednesday afternoon, and caught a shadow and strange movement in the far corner near the fireplace out of the corner of my eye. Huh? Then it moved. What?? OMG, surely NOT!! Making it short: it was a REALLY BIG SNAKE with very bad temper. No, I didn't scream, though OMG was said several times. I quickly determined it looked like rattler, but didn't have the triangular head so wasn't a poisonous variety. I hoped. Then it buzzed its tail at me and decided to protect itself by making the top 1/2 of it's length a tight S then striking out trying to bite me. WHOA! Then I wasn't exactly sure, pretty sure it wasn't poisonous, but .... With plastic container between me and it and a long mop handle I managed to herd it into the fireplace and closed the fire screen. THEN called 911 who turned the report over to after-hour Animal Services. Thinking it was safely trapped then went to put on clothing necessary for inside human visitors. In the 30 seconds that took it got out of the fireplace and then wouldn't cooperate when I tried a second time to herd it back in, including more tail buzzing and striking out. At which point it slid off the other end of the hearth and behind furniture against that wall. Eventually Animal Services called and said it was probably a Texas Rat Snake (non-poisonous) and finally showed up a few minutes later. In the meantime, I'd been watching that wall hoping it did not get any further. It didn't and was coiled up under the book case my TV sits on. The AS guy grabbed the upper part of it with something like what you would use to take something off a high shelf. It got loose a couple of times, and it took the 2 of us to get it into a plastic container: Him grappling front part and holding buzzing tail and me closing the lid on top of it when he finally managed to get both ends in the box at the same time, a somewhat difficult feat because of mad and uncooperative snake. His first comment upon seeing it: "It IS a big snake." Like 4-1/2 -5 feet long and 2" in diameter. He seemed to be expecting the garter snake variety, the kind of thing I'd just have picked up and carried out on my own without a second thought. After getting both ends in container and lid on and latched, he carried container out and transferred snake from mine to his. It only got loose twice in the process, once almost making it into the flower bed. It again took 2 of us to get it in the container and lid closed. He promised to take it somewhere safe and release it. I told him it was welcome to stay here but only if it would stay OUT of the house AND eat all the local rats and mice. Texas Rat snakes are aggressive and ill-tempered by nature, are excellent climbers and will eat anything it can get in its mouth (birds, rodents, lizards, etc), and though it didn't show lump of having had recent undigested meal, it was definitely well fed. Drat! I didn't even think about taking a photo. Overall, after the initial shock and worry of it getting somewhere else where I couldn't find it, my biggest anxiety 1) was anxiously trying to straighten before someone came in my admittedly messy house while at same time trying to watch to make sure snake was staying put as if it got loose in the house, I would NEVER find it again, and 2) oh no, how did it get in and how LONG had it been inside? I DON'T KNOW! Now I'm wondering whether it was female and if it laid eggs anywhere inside. OMG!!

Some photos here:  http://www.houstonherp.com/TxRat.html

Busy Week, Little Sleep, More Baby Possums

Very busy weather week in North Texas. Area-wide: Heavy rains. A bit of hail. Some high winds and resulting tree and roof damage. Flash flooding. River flooding. Half a million without power at one time or other. Some still in the dark. And at least one small tornado. I've been monitoring storms and doing event logging for the EOC, handling the Arlington frequency while logging the Tarrant County frequency used for National Weather Service storm spotter activation and in-the-field reports. See my EMVolunteer blog and my Twitter page.

Mama possum has been busy this spring. I had 2 more babies inside this week. I think they are coming in through the dryer vent, which I can't get to to block. Wednesday, when I realized I hadn't gotten garbage to street for pick up went to quickly do so. I was trying to figure out why the garbage sack had fallen inside bin yet again, reached in for edge of sack and exposed 2 sad little eyes looking up at me. No idea how long it'd been in there but it had chewed up a whole bunch of stuff. It was likely starving as not much goes in there it could actually eat. I removed what garbage I safely could, went out the back door, tipped over can, gently whopped the bottom until baby possum took off, then cleaned spilled garbage off patio. In the meantime, I missed the garbage truck. Thursday night, eating a very late supper between late storms, I heard a sack rattle. Not cat sitting at my feet so went to investigate. Heard scuffling in the empty dog food sack to be hauled out to the street Saturday am. I tilted it up and unfolded the top. After I took it's photo, I gently dumped him on the back patio as well. Then FRIDAY night, I was walking past closed garbage sack containing previously gnawed garbage to be hauled to street THIS morning and heard scrambling. Something had chewed a hole in the sack. I carefully moved ALL new and old garbage into THIRD sack. Whatever was inside had scrambled away. I set up cat carrier with food inside and door set so that if something moved inside it the door would fall shut. Hope whoever takes the bait. I can't put sacks out overnight on the street because other animals get into them, so I have to get up and take them out early = if I don't oversleep. I can't wait until baby possums they are too big to sneak in! The one in the dog food sack may be the same one I caught in the carrier last week. No idea who is back inside now. I'm apparently going to have to start taking these guys far far away to release. Baby possums are left to fend for themselves when they are about the size of a large rat. I give them credit for finding a way inside! I think they are cute, but I want them OUTSIDE. Sadly, even the most successful ones lead short little lives. Perhaps I need to post about my strangest and most miraculous encounter with the largest and oldest possum I've ever met. I still think it was heaven-sent.

Freebies: I'll be uploading a new patriotic freebie this weekend, but at moment I've GOT to get some sleep to boost my weekly sleep total up from only 12 or 15 hours since Monday morning. Since it's already 5:45 a.m. and I have to take out trash, get some sleep and still be up by 8:45 to make it to a high school alumni meeting by 9:30, and with more storms predicted for later today, looks like I'm going to remain a zombie through the weekend. I wonder why I can't get any stitching done???

[edited a few times since originally posted]

Uninvited House Guest

I heard rustling behind the file carts in my home office 3 nights ago. I thought it was my cat. Imagine my surprise when I finally got up from the computer to see what was making the noise and discovered 2 little black eyes and 2 big ears with a pointy snout looking up at me from under a file cart. I apparently didn't get the patio door completely closed. Since BP didn't go back out on his own ... Took me a LOT longer to figure out where he was hiding (back of closet) and how to catch him than it took for hungry baby possum to willingly go into carrier with food at the far end - less than 30 seconds! Isn't he cute??

Recent Finishes

My Mother's Day project, started in September and only recently finished. The one with the daisy was made for a friend. Stiched on 32ct linen. I never could get 2 threads to lay right, so both of these are stitched using just 1 thread. I really like the more delicate look. In person, these look wonderful. Not so sure about the digital close-ups, however. The colors in the top picture are closer to the actual DMC colors. My photography assistant:

Yes, she really is that deep, vibrant henna/cinnamony color, hence her name. She has an amazing amount of loose skin, and she's got more thick, dense fur than any cat needs. I could crochet a sweater out of the undercoat she sheds every spring. She's a low energy cat with 2 speeds: mosey & amble, which match my energy level perfectly! My neighbor's daughter found her as a tiny kitten, inside a microwave at a party. Henna will be 13 in July.