An Insanely Long Photo Essay and A Very Funny Story

The Very Funny Story

On Friday, I heard the familiar sound of the scrabbling of little clawed feet on the dryer vent pipe. I didn't know who was the owner of the clawed feet but I knew the noise (last time I got a new dryer as a result of a visitor). So on Friday night, when hubby came home we set about removing our unwanted guest.

Because of the limited space, I volunteered to be the one to crawl behind the dryer and pull the vent pipe from the dryer. I pulled the pipe away carefully and swiftly covering the end of the pipe with a bag. Nothing. It didn't surprise me. I figured the little creature was hiding in the pipe terrified. Then I put some gloves on and put my hand in the dryer to see if he was perhaps in the dryer. Nothing.

So my husband turned the dryer on. It is too bad we weren't video-taping. Dryer lint flew into my face and everywhere else and out leaped a terrified chipmunk. We chased him around the laundry room for close to half an hour. I got my hands on him twice and one time he lost all the fur on his tail, while escaping me.

Then he managed to squeeze into our crawl space which is adjacent to the laundry room. There was no finding him in the piles of junk in the crawl space so I left the house (it was now nearly eight) and went to the hardware store and bought two peanut scented sticky rat traps.

We stuck one in the laundry room and one in the crawl space. About 10:30 at night I could hear him scrabbling around near the door of the crawl space. Hubby and I opened the door (with great care) and found the poor chipmunk sprawled out on the sticky trap - all four paws were stuck and his chin was glued down.

Hubby drove down to the creek with him and removed him from the trap. I asked him if the poor thing ran away. Hubby said "No." Hubby said that it was really hard to remove him from the sticky trap and he wasn't sure he didn't dislocate something. He said the poor thing staggered away through the leaves and had leaves sticking to him.

I am not sure if he will live or not but hubby and I don't have the stomach for killing things even rodents. Hubs says at least he has a chance.

The Insanely Long Photo Essay

This weekend we took C and her best friend G to MOA to celebrate C's birthday which was earlier this month.

K waits in line with Daddy for the carousel ride.

G and C on the carousel. They look thrilled, don't they?

Waiting for bumper cars.

K and Dad are after someone.

G is getting the hang of the cars.

G takes K and Daddy head-on.

Daddy and K make a get-away.

C blocks Daddy and K.

Checking out how high the ride goes.

Worried?

Ready to buckle-up.

Second thoughts?

Coming down.

G and I waited for a long time while C went on a ride by herself (G didn't want to ride it). I love street photography and when I saw this old guy it got my juices going. His shirt says "Mills Fleet Farm - A Man's Mall" and he pairs his 'masculine' ensemble with his wife's bag.

A closer look.

Because the American Girl store is part of the park, you see a lot of this. 

G kept wondering what I was taking a picture of. I guess she hasn't spent enough time around me.

While we were waiting for the girls to get on the Great Balloon Race, I saw this little guy with his grandpa's large hands protectively around him. 

Big brother did not think it was necessary for grandpa to hold hands with little brother.

G and C riding the balloons (K was with them but you can't see her).

C road the roller coaster again so K and G decided to go on the frogger. They loved it they just kept getting off and getting right back on.

Kids are amazing. You go to the zoo and their favorite animal is the chipmunk and their favorite bird is the sparrow. You go to a park and they have as much fun hanging on the railing as they do riding the rides.

I caught some shots of other people while the girls went on the frogger over and over again. This little girl was adorable!! 

This little girl was beautiful.

G and C wanted their face painted. K chose to go into Butterfly Cove instead. Dad went with her and I stayed with the older girls.

C is the child who will scream bloody murder and act as if you are going to pluck her eye out if you try to help her with a loose eyelash or put eye-drops in. She had no problem with this lady painting her eye-lids. The power of wanting something...

The last photos I took were because I love shadows. Poor G didn't understand why I was taking these photos. 

A look and G and C in color so you can see the colors they chose for their paint job.