The top ten things I have learned about the wildlife

We have lived in the country for 3 months now and I have been educated in many ways. Here is what I have learned about the wildlife so far.

10. Blue jays have a very loud squack that can have you out of bed at 6am before you even have your eyes open.
9. Squirrels and chimpmunks have a running bet going on who can get closest to a car's tires without getting run over.
8. Deer will not move out of the way of a car until you are within 3 feet of it, and even then you may have to honk your horn.
7. In the summer, the birds starting singing at 4am
6. Raccoons use roads as their own personal trails.
5. Roadkill smells worse than anything I have ever smelled before.
4. Spiders in the country are bigger and better at hiding than their city cousins.
3. There are milipedes in the country that get up to 4 inches in length and can mysteriously appear in any room of your house at any given time.
2. Flies like to hang out in a guinea pig's cage
1. Buying deer resistant plants and spraying them with deer resistant spray does not deter deer from eating them.

Bugs and being bugged

There are many critters of varying sizes around these parts as we are discovering. Pictured is Hannah with the king of all insects, a Praying Mantis. As a child I had such a fear of these creatures. I was under the impression that they stung or bit or maybe spit venom in your eyes? Who knows. And even seeing Hananh handling (or manhandling) one still gives me the creeps even though I know that they are harmless.

On a different note Jeremy unfortunately discovered a yellow jacket nest by stepping on it (they live underground). Well the yellow jackets were not too impressed with that and gave Jeremy a sting on the stomach. Jeremy, of course ran, screaming all the way. Did you know that yellow jackets will run after you and screaming makes them even more cantankerous? Well we know that now. Two of them followed Jeremy into the house. Oh, what chaos it was. One landed on his head and bit him; yes these delightful creatures can sting and bite, they are multi-talented. So we finally kill the ones in the house and watched as Jeremy got hives all over his body. Well, living as far out as we do, I strapped Jeremy in the car (after a hefty dose of benadryl) and we drove into town just in case there was going to be a really bad allergic reaction (which you almost always see within the first 20 minutes but can take up to 2 hours). So we ended up at McDonald's, had some dinner and then headed home. His hives improved once the benadryl kicked in. But, the story does not end there. The next day Jeremy is very sore and has a low grade fever, so no school for him. The day after that, he has a higher fever, more pain, swelling to the whole side of his stomach and a flat rash on his stomach and chest. So off to the clinic we go (yes that would be the one I work at, which I try not to go to on my days off). A secondary infection from the bee sting is diagnosed (likely a strep infection) and antibiotics are prescribed. And then to today, when Jeremy wakes up and immediately starts vomiting every 15 minutes, complaining that his stomach is hurting even worse today than yesterday. So another trip to the clinic today, some Zofran (wonderful drug for vomiting) and we are finally starting to get back to 'normal'-and I use that term very loosely.

And yes, we are now the proud owners of an Epi-Pen Jr-a bee sting kit we will keep on hand just in case...