Bees, bunnies, buggar hurricanes

We fought the yard and the yard won.

Today was the start of yard work.  What's that?  I am still in the boot with a broken foot?  Yeah, I cannot sit still any longer.  I didn't do much, but I need to tackle this monster yard we have before fall comes.

My parents are in visiting.  They arrived yesterday evening and today I put them to work.  I am sure my kids will pay me in kind when I get older.

Today we started to trim in the yard.  And pull weeds.  And take down a few bushes.......

It started so well.  My mom was mowing and I was doing some light trimming of a few bushes and plants.  The kids were playing around.

Then my dad emerges from the garage looking like someone from Chainsaw Massacre ready to rumble with a few bushes.

He starts to cut and then I see him come flying away from the bush with the chainsaw still in hand waving frantically as he ran.

My first thought was that he cut himself, but then thought - "why is he still holding the chainsaw?"  Then I realized it was Bees.

(Enter a story from Chris Hornick......I am sure we could come up with a dozen that involved this scene.  For all of you who don't know him - he is a family friend where accidents and crazy stuff are a way of life for him).

They were those evil "in-the-ground" bees and they stung him about 15 times.  He has bites all over him.  Then Arlington kind of freaked out and ran, and SHE got stung.  Thankfully, only once.

So - we came inside to treat the wounded.  In the mean time, Finley decided she was going to do some handy work on her bike and got her finger stuck in the chain.  She was fine.....just stuck.  It was a flippin' circus for about 30 minutes.

We all were in the living room and stared out the window at the bees who were now really mad.  We found their hole and got the only spray I had in the house to try and kill at least some of them.

The bees laughed at our efforts.  They didn't even stop flying around.

My dad recovered from his stings and was determined to keep working.  So - he went to the other side of the house.....away from our bee friends, and cut down more bushes.  The house looks REALLY great now that we can see the front of it.  I can't wait to finish it up. 

I did get something for the "in-the-ground" bees, and we are going to put it down tomorrow morning.  (tonight, of course, it is raining).  Bright and early before they get up and out of their hole.  Hopefully it will work.

After the afternoon rain, my mom and I returned outside to rake out some weeds and dead plants and make room for some other plants I am moving around.  I was making great progress when I uprooted a dead plant and with it......6 baby bunnies.  Holy cow it startled me.  They let out a little yelp and tried to hop away.  I did think they were mice at first, and went for the shovel.  But then realized they were bunnies and felt terrible.

They weren't hurt, but they are really small.  Their little eyes aren't even open.  They didn't get far from their nest, and I had my gloves on, so I scooped them up and put them back where I found them.  I just hope the mom returns for them.  They were really cute.  We didn't tell the kids.

I am sure I am going to pay for saving the little bunnies by them getting to be big enough to eat my plants in a few weeks......  Ah, such is life.  They were too cute.

Our front yard is like a farm.  I am afraid to do anything else out there.  Can't imagine what else we are going to find.

After a full day of excitement, we are watching the news about Hurricane Irene.  You know, we lived in Florida for almost 4 years.  We had one major hurricane while we were there, and it wasn't any picnic.  The power went out in about the first 2 minutes of the storm, and we didn't get it back for a week.  And in the Florida heat, that was interesting.  We had Arlington at the time and tried to entertain her (at age 3).  We could go outside, but couldn't go far due to down powerlines, trees, brush.

There was an upside to the hurricane, though.  We had a "empty your fridge" party the night before the hurricane hit with all of our neighbors.  It was a great time.  We had our hurricane shutters up on our windows, and a house made of cement.  It was a category 3, and we were perfectly safe.

But now, people.......we live in New England.  A place with old trees, century old houses, and wood frames.  You know....not the safest place for a hurricane to land.  We are hoping that our friend Irene dissolves back into a tropical storm by the time she gets to our neck of the woods

Tomorrow is a new day.  Tomorrow we will conquer the bees and the yard.  And if we don't?  I am hiring someone to do the yard work instead.