Happy birthday to Jody! And doors, windows, squirrels and rats

I'm back!

I turned in my revise-and-resubmit courage paper on Wednesday, so I have my life back! My summer is starting now.

First, [cue birthday music] happy birthday to Jody [on the 5th], the most accomplished home-project-doer and all-around fantastic daughter-in-law!  Happy birthday to you-ooooo!

Second, in house news, you remember the doors that used to be in my office, right? To refresh your memory:

Now the doors are windows.  Why did we do this, you ask?  Answer:  I didn't use the door much, and when it rained hard, sometimes the rain seeped in under the door, thereby creating a puddle in my office, because the door was  installed at exactly ground level. Just before the remodelers were about to arrive I had a change of heart about putting the windows in, as I remembered all those times I'd open my door wide when it was pouring outside--enjoying the rain without being out in the rain, and I was also reminded of the time Tommy ran right through the screen that was originally installed with the door, thinking the door was open, like, a week after the door was installed,  and ruining the screen forever (man, that was funny), but then I also remembered the time a big fat RAT walked right into my office (unbeknownst to me), because I had the door open, and he lived in my office closet for about a week, and somehow he managed to waddle up the stairs and into our BEDROOM closet, despite the fact that we had SIX cats at the time, and one night I saw him in there, and I said "Bob!  There's a rat in our closet!" and Bob says, "Oh, it's probably just a little mouse," to which I responded "No! it's definitely a big fat rat!" and then Bob opens the closet door and sees this big fat rat and screams, and then the rat somehow manages to run out and get tangled up in the sheets on our bed . . . but I digress.  We decided to go ahead with the window project.

The windows do let a little more light in, and since they are easy to open maybe I'll be able to have a little more breeziness in my office, too.  

On Monday the remodelers are going to start removing my wallpaper, and today we bought three colors of paint so we can decide what lovely, summer-y color to paint it. 

Hey Dunc, remember when I told you about Kate going on our trip to France?  Here she is with her cute husband, Ryan, and her adorable baby, Emmaline.  Is she the cutest baby you have ever seen [besides Riley], or what?  We had a France trip reunion at our house last night and had about 50 people show up, including about 15 little kids.  It was so much fun--and loud!  I'd forgotton how much noise a bunch of kids make when they're all together.

Oh and one more thing about the reunion.  One of our France students was walking down the stairs to check out Bob's pool table when he saw the pictures of Logan, Lindy, Duncan and Chris on the wall.  He pointed to Lindy and said, "I know her! I think she dated my brother Jimmy!" and then he pointed to Duncan and said "I know him too!"  And then he started naming all of your high school friends, Dunc, who are his friends, too. His name is Matt Lawrence.  Nice kid, and he has a beautiful wife.

And finally, this year we have not two but THREE baby squirrels.  This morning I went out to check on them and saw the parent at the squirrel feeder, and then I saw the three babies frolicking on the fence.  Next time they're out I'll try to get a photo; they are incredible.

[Cue evil music.]  A few days ago I was working in my office and noticed some activity at the squirrel feeder, and when I looked over I noticed this beefy dude EATING OUR SQUIRRELS' FOOD.  Dang, that made me mad.  I took a few photos and then chased him away, and he waddled over toward our wood pile.  I hope he's not living in there, because that would be disgusting.  Seriously gross.  I mean, look at that tail.

[Cue carefree music.]  Tonight Bob and I are going to the movies, for the first time in months.  Really, this R&R took over my life right after classes were over.  I am so looking forward to being among the living again.

TTFN

P.S.  Bob didn't actually scream.  I made that part up.