Boredom

It was a boring night so I decided to try to get a picture of one of the hummingbirds that have been hanging out in the backyard. They didn't turn out very clear, but oh well. 

CR Flood

These are pics from Cedar Rapids. The daytime ones are from Friday and tonight as we drove through I tried to get some more. It is very, very sad. The water has begun to go down and you can just see all sorts of garbage and damage. The bottom two are right downtown. 1st avenue and city hall. The water is just back under the bridge, but it was over all of the bridges except the interstate bridge, but it was right up to the bottom of it on Friday.

Zoo

Here are a couple pics from the Omaha Zoo. I love that place. There's a pic for Heather and one for baseball fans...

Like Mother Like Daughter

Last night I went out on the porch to read a book in the cool air. Lydia decided she wanted to go outside and play. She ran out the door before i could stop her. She was out in the yard meowing up a storm, which was unusual. Typically she'll just go in the woods and play. I kept trying to see what she was yipping about, but couldn't tell. Later, I saw her flip something up in the air and I thought she must have caught a mouse. I got closer and realized it was a snake! It was a small one, but a snake nonetheless. I kept trying to get her to go in the house, but she'd just run away. I figured out that she wanted me to come see the snake or something because she finally carried the snake up on the porch, dropped it and layed beside it. I told Carol to come see the snake and Lydia walked right in the house when she opened the door. What a proud kitty she was. 

This morning i got up at 8am, on my day off mind you, because I wanted to get the grass mowed before it got hot. Then, I decided to use an ant spray that I got at Home Depot last night. You just spray it all around the house and it's supposed to kill ants and other bugs. As I was spraying, I saw a snake. It was in my flower bed, where I saw one a lot last year. I got a shovel and debated, "do I just give it Grandma's shovel treatment or try to catch it?" I almost killed it like Grandma would when it started trying to strike me, but decided instead to grab a bucket out of the garage and catch it. It's now in the bucket waiting for Thom, the nature guy, to come see if he wants it. If not, he'll release it somewhere else. Hopefully it won't come back. 

Flood 2008

Iowa is flooding. All over the state rivers are rising. This is the river down the hill from camp. The sign that you can barely see is taller than I am and about 40 yards or so from the river bank. Crazy. I think it might have gone down some today because it wasn't as bad in town as it was yesterday. But, when I was down there last night, I could see the water creeping up the road.