While I avoid the big purple gorilla in the room (Hi Gorilla!), you may have heard that here in the Chicago area we've been infested with cicadas. Brood 18, the 17-year-cycle cicadas (red-eyed locust freaks), erupted this week - pouring over every outside surface like scurrying, winged lava.

There is, seriously, one on every leaf of my hosta.

At night, you can feel the vibration of the millions of them - moving, molting, mating.

They sound like a vacuum cleaner. They stick like flypaper to whatever they land on. They are harmless, non-toxic, and - let's face it - a little apocolyptic.

And?

Yummy.

Not ME. Sara.

Here's a movie we made this weekend of her snacking down:

Posted by: Elizabeth at 02:44 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

It's amazing what happens when you let go of the rope...

On Saturday, and not all prodded by my previous post *cough* and all the wonderful advice I got from it, CD and I slashed our expectations of what we can do to get the house ready for sale. Then? We pulled the trigger on ordering a kitchen. The house really can't be sold without a kitchen, or a new roof. The current roof was viciously ripped open this spring by mutant demon-spawn raccoons - who have since moved into the Radisson, complaining that our towels are not 'thirsty' enough for their tastes. Whatever the hell that means.

The current kitchen was, unfortunately, NOT ripped open by the mutant raccoons. That would have actually been helpful, since the demo is going to be a pain. No, the kitchen is just a strange 100-year-old bend in a hallway.

Feeling mighty-dang proud of ourselves, we also decided to pull the trigger on another long-promised adventure....

Please, meet Sara:

She is a 2-month old Golden Retriever/Poodle mix.

A more mellow, soft, sweet girl you have never met.

We're in love.

Posted by: Elizabeth at 12:28 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Oh my! She's such a cutie!!!! I am a sucker for the retriever mixes! We've got a black labrador and she's a bundle of trouble, so I hope that Sara is just a sweet, INNOCENT little girl Hehehe. Post more photos! She's a cutie. PS: Congrats on teh kitchen. Living in the house whilst renovating a kitchen is a bit of a nightmare. I hope it's quite and painless for you.

Posted by: Sam at May 01, 2007 12:51 PM (tzase)

2 she's beautiful! Congratulations! And hooray for the new kitchen, they say that's the number one thing you can do to improve your home's value at sale. Good luck!

Posted by: caltechgirl at May 01, 2007 12:55 PM (r0kgl)

3 Okay, there are only a few things that will bring me out of Lurkerdom. One is you mentioning that you might stop writing here, and apparently the other is an EXTREMELY CUTE PUPPY! What a sweetie she is. My parents got a goldendoodle about four months ago, and they absolutely adore her. A new kitchen! That sounds great. But living there during remodeling and then moving out shortly after? Not so much.

Posted by: Sharkey at May 01, 2007 01:18 PM (ZzGbc)

4 I can't wait to hug that cute softie Sara! I am sure Miles and Nikita will LOVE playing with her.

Posted by: laura at May 01, 2007 03:00 PM (Tqoj6)

5 Sarah is absolutely precious ... I'll bet Bear is head over heels in love. Does it sound weird to say that I love the smell of a young puppy? Because they smell sweet to me.

Posted by: Ruth at May 01, 2007 11:57 PM (1pGHA)

6 She is ADORABLE. Yay for cute puppies!

Posted by: Cheryl at May 02, 2007 05:45 AM (eiizs)

7 She's gorgeous! I want one so badly, but the allergies are just not going away. Sigh.

Posted by: Tammy at May 02, 2007 08:10 AM (xO2S4)

8 She is precious! Yay on the kitchen!! It's so nice to take steps forward, isn't it?? We're still doing baby steps around here... which is starting to wear on me.

Posted by: Michele at May 02, 2007 02:53 PM (fcaMV)

9 Oh, she's so cute! Puppy love is good for whatever ails you. What does Maggie think of her? Congrats on moving forward on the kitchen... and heartfelt sympathies on living in the house during the remodel.

Posted by: Kimberly at May 02, 2007 06:35 PM (MxRdB)

10 What an adorable puppy. We have a Wheaten Terrier, so like your GoldiePoo, it doesn't shed, it's so worth the money!! Hope the puppy isn't keeping you up at night, it's just like having a newborn in the house sometimes, minus the sore nipples. Hope the reno goes well, sending good thoughts your way.

Posted by: Angela at May 08, 2007 02:32 AM (E24xZ)

11 I'm in love!! She is simply beautiful. How's the cat?

Posted by: Eyes at May 08, 2007 03:42 AM (L67iN)

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