Ticks, rabbits, and colds

Bobby found a tick in Robert's room this morning. Common dog tick, not typically disease-laden, and it hadn't eaten in a long while. Whew, and gross. Ticks give me the heeby-jeebies.

I spied a rabbit this afternoon trying to climb over the garden fence. It was up on its hind legs with its front paws hooked on the topmost rung in the fence and it was trying to pull itself up while half-hopping off of the ground. Clever, but in effective. He poked around the fence a little more near a hole I had just patched up.

Yeah, I know about that hole, you varmint. Your exclusive soirees with my strawberry plants have suddenly come to an abrupt end. What'cha gonna do about it?

The bunny hops over to one of my baby pear trees and stretches as high as his legs will take him. Leaning on the trunk that is now bowing halfway to the ground, he nibbles at the leaves just brushing his lips. That's when I open the back door and send him running.

I take a second look at my blueberry bushes and see similar bunny damage on them, too.

I wish...*sigh*...I wish I didn't have to turn my backyard into a chicken wire corn maze just to keep the bunnies out. Fences are a hassle to mow around, and maintain, and design in just such a way that they are kid-friendly and yet ruthless to varmints. I always knew I would need some sort of protection for these plants once they started bearing fruit. It never occurred to me that their leaves would be enticing enough as-is. Pbbbsh.

I will need to speed up the timetable on my rodent exclosure.

In other news, I'm sick again. It hit me in the head and chest: congestion, inflammation, exhaustion, a voice as deep as Barry White. I gave myself a "sick day" today, forcing myself to restrict social engagements, relieving myself from odious household chores, and giving the kids a bath and a movie for no reason. I got to rest a bit during quiet time, which would have been nicer with some decongestants coursing through my veins, but those are strictly forbidden during pregnancy. Tylenol, fluids, and bed rest are the tools I'm working with here :(

We're at 22 weeks with this pregnancy. I'm thinking the baby is a girl, now. No particular reason. We'll hopefully find out next week at the ultrasound appointment. Just for fun, we played around on the Baby Names Blog recommended to us by a friend. We laughed SO hard at the long list of nicknames for a names so simple as "Jill" and "Molly": Jillybeans, Jillyboo, Ta-Molly, Mollywog, Molecule. Heck, I love the nickname Ta-Molly so much, I might just want to call her that anyway...if this one's a girl at all.

That's the update I've got for ya'. Kinda random. No deep thoughts as of late. I'm starting to miss them.