So since sweetie left for the longest business trip EVER, I’ve been keeping myself busy doing things around the house. I want him to know about it, so I’m posting some photos for him. Read on!

First off, it looks like we have raccoons or something coming into the garage. I found these stashed behind the fridge. I gave what was left of them to Tasha and Dovie. They thought it was the best day ever, what with having two cookies and all.

I started pulling up the small ponds in the backyard, and found this pair beneith some of the stones. Tasha was facinated. I had to wash her mouth out 4 times after she tried to eat the toads. The toads are fine. Stupid dog.

I also found this ant colony. Tasha was also interested in these, but she learned much faster to leave the fire ants alone.

Then the ice maker acted up. I learned that the mechanism that magically runs the ice maker can suck in things from the freezer. Here is the ice maker eating a bag of old feathers I was keeping for my Acarology class. Old feathers make gross ice.

Mao did not want me to read. He’s beginning to put up with the cuddle game quite a bit more. He’ll learn eventually! DJ hasn’t changed much–he’s still annoying as ever at 2 in the morning. Although he is loving the one-person-in-the-bed thing…he doesn’t get kicked at night, and he gets to choose between sleeping at the foot of the bed or taking over a pillow. I also watched him pet-block Mao this morning–DJ was purring next to me, and saw Mao get off the cat tree and jump to the bed for some lovin’. DJ was having none of it, and pounced Mao in mid air, knocked him off the bed, then came back for more cuddles. What a Darth Quarcog move!

Anyhow, back to the outside. I took several days, and many gallons of sweat, to clear out some brush:

Oh, and one of the succulents is blooming!

I’ve repurposed the pavers used for the ponds into edging for our flower beds. I like how it looks…and it was free! That makes it look even better.

I did attempt the horrid task of taking up the fugly linoleum in the solarium, but that didn’t last long. I got two tiles kinda up, then gave up and had some chocolate milk. The milk was good.

Finally, I made the long, long drive to Ikea, and bought beautiful bookshelves for my library. I love my library! Here it is:

I moved my harp to the living room where the cuddle chair used to be:

So, that’s it! That’s what I’ve done for the past 3 weeks while Dean’s been gone. Well, that and run a crap-ton of research, get some fly colonies started, write a few presentations, teach, get my dissertation committee together, go to class, do my homework, and take a few midterms. You know, all that boring stuff. Sweetie comes home on Friday! Woot!