ATTACK OF THE SQUIRREL!!!

So, one Friday, about a month ago, we come home and the house is destroyed. There are plants knocked over. Citrus eaten through with BIG teethmarks. Crackers all over the counter with rodent holes in the bag... THEN, we find dirt? and BLOOD all over the bathroom! The walls, floor, window, ceiling even! We figure whatever was in the house has either escaped or been eaten by the cats. Once we sit down to watch TV, we notice the cats are staring intently at the fireplace. Hmm... That wasn't dirt in the bathroom, it was ashes! We had accidentally left the floo open. Then the madness ensued. Nick closed the floo, trapping the animal in the chimney, and whatever was up there was MAD. It was growling and kicking the inside of the chimney. Nick went to the store and bought a live trap. He cleverly devised the trap below.



The unknown rodent entering the cage:


A SQUIRREL!!


Biting and running and growling.... We have a video, and I'll post it once I can figure out how to do that.


Nick using the fireplace hook to transport the squirrel.



We called animal control and they said squirrels rarely carry rabies, so there was no need to get it tested (in case the cats came into contact with it). So, Nick and our friend Seth drove the squirrel to a park. Hopefully it won't find its way back into OUR house!

Good news

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!! =D

I'm still at T. Rowe, but movin' on up to a happier place in Print Production.

Lots of Photos!

We had a very quite Thanksgiving this year - just the two of us. I made a really yummy sage and cranberry cornish hen.


Our first snow in the house!




I knew we weren't going to be at the house for our first Christmas of home-ownership, but I wanted to decorate anyway. We did lights outside, stockings on the mantle, and of course, a tree! We threw a holiday party, so we could see our MD friends before the trip to Florida. There may be pictures of that to come...



Similar to last year, we spent the first part of the trip with Nick's family and the second part with my family. We celebrated Nick's birthday early with his family. That means lots of food and friends and fireworks. This is Logan, Eric's son watching TJ (Nick's brother) shoot off Roman Candles. He LOVED it! :)



Ah... A "tropical" Christmas Eve in Florida.







Merry Christmas! Christmas at Nick's involves lots of running around the yard with airplanes, frisbees, bubbles, badmitton, fireworks, bee-bee gun target practice, and a burn barrel.






On the 26th, we drove over to Dunedin and had a 2nd Christmas at my family's house. This is Grandma Nonie (aka. Grandma Sugar).


We stayed at a little hotel right in the marina. Here's the view from our room at sunset.




The 27th was Nick's B-day. Happy 30th!!! We spent the morning going thrift-shopping per Nick's request. We then went to the Tarpon Springs Spongedocks. That place is like the Greek Disney World. The sponges are stinky, though! We ate outside at this packed Greek resturant. Afterwards, we went to the beach with my family and went rock-hunting. Then Grandma took us all out for a birthday dinner. It was a good day.













The next day, we went to Caladesi Island, which was rated the 2nd best beach in the country this year. It is a national park island which is left totally natural. You have to take a ferry to get there. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Then out of nowhere this thick, wet, cold fog blew in. We were thinking about packing up, and it blew away as quickly as it came in...freaky. The island has a playground for the kids, surrounded by a lot of natural Florida beauty.

Hello!

Hi all,

I apologize for the LONG amount of time since the last post. We have been very busy with me finishing the Fall semester, throwing a holiday party, going to FL for Christmas...
Florida was wonderful. It was so good to get away, see friends & family, and enjoy the warm weather. We wish we were still there! Pictures to come...
The latest news is that our furnace broke. Yep, that's right folks, the day after we got back from Florida it stopped working. Just so happens to be the two coldest days so far this season(about 17 degrees). Luckily, the furnace is under a service contract, so the repair man is supposed to fix it today. This is good, because I could see my breath in the house this morning!
I hope to post some pictures soon!

Washington, DC

We went to Washington, DC the weekend before last. We took a lovely stroll in the sculpture garden at the National Gallery of Art. Then we saw the Edward Hopper exhibit, which was amazing, but super crowded.






After we took in our fill of modern art, we got back on the Metro and went to Georgetown. Wow. That place is crazy. I have never seen so many rich teenage Paris Hilton wanabee girls. There are great stores and good food, but the place is full of jerks. Towards the end of the night, we stopped at a bar which claimed to be "the friendliest bar in Georgetown" on its sign. Well, the roaches were friendly, anyway.

Pittsburgh

So, last weekend we took a day trip to Pittsburgh, PA. "Why?" you might ask. Well, it's this little thing called Flight Club. This is a club started by Dan Klos, a guy we work with. This was the third day trip Flight Club has taken. Check out the site for Dan's commentary about the day. Also, pictures are uploaded to Shutterfly (you may need to refresh the site to get it to work). Feel free to check out the 240+ pics.

Halloween

For Halloween, we went as a 70's couple. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of us together, but here's one of Nick. He's sitting by the fog machine, but we think it looks appropriate with his costume. :) You can see a glimpse of my super awesome polyester jumpsuit in this photo.



I also made super scary finger cookies for work. Don't worry, the "blood" is chocolate syrup & food coloring.




A couple of weeks before Halloween, we drove out to the country and took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch.






I didn't do a pumpkin this year, and Nick did his really quick.



Just because, here are our pumpkins from last year.