Last night around 1 am we were awakened to what sounded like someone rummaging through our kitchen cabinets.  We both jumped out of bed, and went to the kitchen, but there was no one there.  There were however strange noises emanating from the side of the house.  Hubby went upstairs to make sure there was no one in the attic, and I went over to the front window to look out.

A few moments later the thumping outside stopped, and we heard some high-pitched shrieking, sort of a mix between a cat in heat and a screech owl.  As I looked out the window, I began to discern a very characteristic shape.....  body slightly larger than a cat, with a tall, bushy tail pointing skyward.

Yep. Pepe Le Pew.  In my sideyard.

He/She/It ran across the lawn directly to our neighbor's driveway, and then zig-zagged it's way up the street and around the corner where we lost sight of it.  It disappeared before I could go get the camera.  Too bad.

There's no sign it was UNDER the house, as the crawlspace cover doesn't appear to have been disturbed, and the only signs of digging are under the fence, but it sprayed somewhere in the vicinity of the front corner of the house, and the REEK was unbelievable, even at 10 am.

We had some fox urine crystals left from the battle with the squirrels, and upon finding them to be useful for skunks, too, hubby has been shaking them all over that side of the house and at the crawlspace entrance.  We're also planning to go get a big spotlight to plug in and put under the house tonight, as the experts say that is the best humane way to scare them off, being very nocturnal creatures.

Possums are a pretty common occurrence in Pasadena, they live all over town, and you can tell by the stench after midnight most nights of the year.  The skunks are a recent phenomena in our neighborhood, as far as I can tell, as the aroma of the backyard changed only recently.  I'm really hoping that means there aren't baby skunks under my house.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Or, I have a lot to say and not much time....

-- So we did a LOT of home improvement type stuff this weekend. Here's a partial list: New bathroom sink, new bathroom light fixture, new TP holder attached to sink cabinet, old TP holder and towel bar removed, wall heater removed, installed two new light fixtures, repaired the old ceiling fan in our den (it still squeaks, but we're no longer afraid it will detach itself from the ceiling and careen around the room) replaced the dimmer switch in dining room, and prepped our ceiling for the ceiling fan we bought. Today, hubby did the exterior paint touch up work left from the termite repair work and cleaned out and re-seated the rain gutters. Next up: shelves in the linen closet, two ceiling fans, a chandelier in the dining room, and paint touch-ups. I'll get some pictures up soon. Now that 90% of the crap is put away, it's easier to do these silly little things that take so long and make you so frustrated....

-- Thursday night we went to the Dodgers/Giants game. The Dodgers' staff are super nice and helpful when you have obnoxious idiots in your section. Everyone in our section thinks they asked us to leave for asking them to remove people, but guess what? This "fat fucking bitch" (yes, that's what she called me) got better seats in another section for the rest of the game thanks to you being an asshole. Oh, and Barry still sucks.

--We're WAAAAY behind on TV. I've got about 12 hours of catch up from this week's TV (we just got through The Closer from Monday, and we watch that religiously! Usually we see it on Monday or Tuesday at the latest)... Mom and Dad were here Wednesday to Sunday (we took them to the game, and Dad helped with the various bathroom projects), and that also cut into TV time.

--We've been having a visitor of another sort as well. Guest blogger/ frequent commenter/ buddy ZTZCheese and her hubby are on vacation, and their bearded dragon has been living on our patio, eating his worms and soaking up the sunshine. Pictures soon if I get the ok from his humans.

-- I missed a bunch of people's birthdays this last week. Sorry guys. I was a little out of it. Much love to all of you. You know who you are.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:00 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 goodness. good for you being so productive. as for that pathetic excuse for a human at the game: she'll get hers. I would have been ejected for punching her.

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at August 06, 2007 06:16 PM (0Pi1o)

2 What is it with people doing such crap jobs putting in ceiling fans? Our last house had several that were like yours (ready to take a spin around the room). My husband had to take half the ceiling down in one room to get the new one in correctly! Anyhow, isn't it wonderful to get stuff done. Now you don't have to worry about it. *grin*

Posted by: Teresa at August 06, 2007 06:30 PM (gsbs5)

3 Oh, and Barry still sucks *sigh* I love you.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at August 06, 2007 06:38 PM (Yh9SA)

4 Totally funny, largely-unrelated note: Several years ago, my daughter came up with the epithet "Big Butt" for the One Who Shall Not Be Named Despite His Preparation to Break the Great Hank Aaron's Record. In the recent series between the sainted Dodgers and the Foul Satan-worshipping HellSpawn, some kind of reference was made to the (no doubt steroid-enhanced) tookus of said "Big Butt". The wife and I got a big kick out of that. Oh, and we also got a kick out of how the F S-W HS announcers (who actually happen to be pretty good) mentioned that the Dodger's left field bleachers section does the best rendition of the "Barry Sucks" song.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at August 06, 2007 06:50 PM (Yh9SA)

5 Hmm. One last comment before I move on and let you get back to the home repair stuff. The same daughter who came up with that thoroughly appropriate epithet for that Foul Beast, also wrote a baseball song some years ago. I can't remember all the lyrics exactly, but here's a partial to the best of my recollection: Giants suck They suck suck suck They suck and they suck and they really suck They suck all day and they suck all night That's all I remember at the moment. This is the same daughter (and I SWEAR this is a true story) delighted her grandma as follows: When she was about a year and a half old, my mom came to visit and we went to a Dodger game at Candlestink park (this was in 1986). Got some cool pics and the Dodgers won. Anyway, after the game we got home and my mom decided to teach DNO some cool phrases. She said "Can you say 'Go Dodgers'?" DNO said "Go Dodgers!" The my mom, planning to teach her some less-than-civil phrases, said, "Can you say 'Giants'?", and DNT let out with a really GREAT raspberry. "Pthththththth!" Man I wish I'd had a tape recorder.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at August 06, 2007 07:05 PM (Yh9SA)

6 Oh, one more: someday I'll tell you the story of putting up a ceiling fan in our house in Santa Cruz. It's a wonder I'm still alive.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at August 06, 2007 07:07 PM (Yh9SA)

7 When you said a LOT of home improvement, you meant a LOT! Makes me wish I weren't so lazy... ROFL!

Posted by: pam at August 07, 2007 04:53 AM (l6NIn)

8 I think after all your hard work, you deserve a vacation. Maybe somewhere South-East. I know, you can come to South Florida!! You can stay at our house. That reminds me, I have a few home improvement things that need to get done. I'm looking for volunteers. ;-) Love ya!

Posted by: Amanda at August 07, 2007 06:03 AM (ay+rD)

9 Fine by me. He's a handsome lizard Try to get his sexy side!

Posted by: ZTZCheese at August 07, 2007 01:10 PM (Rpjgo)

10 Me? I'm sick as a dog. But damn, you DO kick some ass, girliefriend. Yay! on you for the home improvement-y stuff and yay! on Dodger staff for removing you from that horrible woman. And I don't watch sports but that man has an unusually large - everything - but his head worries me. That ain't natural. I'll try to be patient about the pictures. Heh.

Posted by: Margi at August 07, 2007 11:25 PM (DwLKz)

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I spent the weekend on home improvement. Pictures soon.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Awesome! Cannot wait!

Posted by: Richmond at August 06, 2007 04:01 PM (gZB7C)

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