Snake in the Kitchen?!?!

So, not the most exciting of posts, but since I was able to capture our house guest, I decided to share my story and a couple pictures. I arrived home around 5 this afternoon and noticed something on the kitchen floor. As I moved closer and it moved into what I am calling the "snake tamer" pose, I realized there was a snake in the kitchen. *At that point General started barking at the snake standing on end and Gizmo ran into the crate* I didn't freak much initially, and grabbed my camera (which happened to be on the kitchen counter) and took a picture. I then went to get a yardstick, turned around and the snake was gone. It was then I realized it had crawled under the kitchen cabinet and that is when I started to freak. There was an unknown snake in my house and I was certain if I left again, it would crawl out and climb into bed with me. So I did what your typical girl would do, picked up the phone and called Geoffrey.

ring ring- (G answers) Ay Hello!

Me- Um hi. I got home from work and there was a snake in the kitchen. Now it is under the TV (I failed to clarify that I meant the TV in the kitchen...not living room). What do I do. I grabbed a yard stick and it disappeared and I'm afraid if I leave it, it'll come out. I did get a picture though.

G- Ok, well send the picture to Jerry and call him. He should be able to identify it. He can also get there faster if need be.

Me- Ok, but if I go and get my computer it'll probably crawl out. And then we won't know where it is and I don't want a snake loose in our house.

G- Wait there and I'll leave now. Make sure you put the pugs in the crate.

I then put the pugs in the crate...well really General. Gizmo had already run into the crate and General was sitting on top of the crate. I proceed to call Jerry, who doesn't answer. I then call my brother Kevin to tell him about the snake and ask what he knows. He doesn't know much but asks me if the head was bigger than its body. I said, oh yes, much bigger. Kevin then says I should probably watch out for it. I ask if I should tuck my jeans into my socks, so it can't crawl up and he says probably not a bad idea. So I continue to sit on the floor, staring at the cabinet, with a yardstick, a pasta pot, my cell phone and home phone. Jerry then calls me back and I relay the story again. He starts pulling up various snakes on the computer as I describe to him the snake. He asks me a series of questions to narrow down the variety, and guesses it is a rat or corn snake...which aren't poisonous. Which is good news except it still doesn't fix the fact a snake is in my house.

Geoffrey arrives home and first uses a hanger with duct-tape to try and poke the snake or catch it. When that fails he decides to take off the base molding and front piece of the cabinet to look inside. It is then we discover that there is a small hole cut in the drywall from when the house was built at the back of this cabinet. Grreat. Now the snake has climbed into the wall. Sorry snake, but you ain't coming out. Geoffrey puts the cabinet base front piece and molding back and I seal the opening up with duct tape. Finally at 7 I begin to make dinner. Darn that stupid snake!

Here is our house guest. After doing a little research, we believe it is indeed a corn snake. They aren't poisonous, and apparently make good pets (no Geoffrey, we can't keep it). I also read this "This species is not dangerous but is a good "mouser" so a valuable animal to have around your home." I don't care how good they are at catching mice. They can eat all the mice they want...outside of the house.

And here's a picture of me. When the whole ordeal had finished, Geoffrey looks at me and just starts laughing. I'm wondering what the heck is wrong...and then I look down. I had completely forgotten that my pants were now tucked in my socks. He then tells me "don't move" and uses the camera to catch me looking oh so 80s. I couldn't help but laugh at myself...I did look silly.

Have a great week everyone. And here's to hoping that the snakes will learn of their friends fate and stick to the great outdoors...where they belong.

Garden Pugs!

This past weekend we got an early taste of fall. The weather was just beautiful, sunny, not too hot, not too cold, with a small breeze. Not only were we having the perfect fall weather, I was also having one of my best days yet, so after going to church and eating breakfast, it was into the garden for me. The flower beds had been seriously neglected, as the extreme heat combined with my morning/noon/night sickness did not make for a happy gardener. The pugs also enjoyed the weather and kept me company. I spent the first couple hours weeding and the last couple hours transplanting a few things and putting in a new hydrangea.

Gizmo enjoyed spending most of his time in the sun. As the sun changed position in the sky, so did Gizmo.

General was his normal busy body self. He wouldn't sit still for very long, moving between the porch and the flower beds.

This is the beautiful hydrangea I planted, or what I call "Alcatraz's hydrangea." My friends that I visited at the lake a month ago gave us this plant to congratulate us on Alcatraz. (Martha knew I much prefer flowers with roots versus the kind that come in a vase) For those of you who don't know, we are calling the baby Alcatraz (Geoffrey's brother Jerry named him/her, because it is a "strong" name) until we know what the little one's gender is. The plant is really special and I'll be making sure it gets all the TLC it needs to thrive and grow for years to come. And who knows, maybe little Alcatraz will love to garden as I do and take over the hydrangea care.
I also separated some lambs ear that had grown out of control. Last August, mom sent me home with a VERY small piece of lambs ear from her garden. And yes, it really does feel soft like a lamb's ear. The piece was made up of about 4 small leaves, and was planted in the heat of the summer, and I must admit I didn't do a great job watering it. I must have planted it in a magic spot, as this is how it looked a year later:
It was spilling onto the sidewalk and was just too big for the front, so I dug the whole thing up and broke it into 6 smaller plants. I'm guessing that next year I'll be separating even more of the lambs ear!

Here's a shot of the front steps. In addition to breaking up the lambs ear, I also separated the crocosmia (the green spikey looking stuff) so that it was growing behind the lambs ear and on both sides of the sidewalk. You can also see where the hydrangea was planted.

I intend on planting some pansies in front of the monkey grass, along the front border of the bed. I also transplanted the day lilies that had been down by the mailbox, to the front bed, behind the azaleas. I replaced the day lilies with some sedum, which I'm hoping the deer won't find as tasty as they did the lilies.
After all that gardening it was time for a rest. And rest I did. Although I felt great yesterday, it was also a reminder that I am indeed pregnant and don't have the energy I did 4 months ago. I was exhausted...as in I couldn't get off the couch and had no energy. Note to self (and those pregnant or trying to become pregnant) "You are not superwoman when you are growing a little baby inside of you and must act as such. Frequent breaks are necessary and prolonged manual labor is highly frowned upon, regardless of how much you enjoy it." I think I'll have to set a stopwatch the next time I garden and only go for hour or less spurts.

I wasn't the only one tired from all the gardening...apparently watching me garden was hard work as well.
General decided I was a good bed, while Gizmo took advantage of my body heat. Crazy little pugs. I keep telling them that soon my belly will be poking out and a few months after that they'll be a little one taking up almost all my time. Somehow I don't think they understand, nor do they really care.

Have a great week everyone! I hope that wherever you are, you are also getting a nice taste of your regions fall.

The most beautiful sound

Today was definitely one of those moments I'll never forget. Geoffrey and I went to my 12 week appt and one of the first things they did was check for a heartbeat. So out came the little doppler machine, jelly on the belly and the doctor started hunting. First we just heard some swooshing and then, all of a sudden she said "and there it is." It was simple wonderful...and I didn't want her to stop listening, but I couldn't exactly hang out there all day. So baby Buescher has a heartbeat, and is developing as best they can tell until we have our 18-20 week sonogram. Until then I'll have to wait for the 16 week appt, when once again we should be able to hear our baby...

Just too cute :)

So I just had to. No, I promise I won't be posting every cute little baby outfit, but I just had to. Maybe its the Hokie in me, or maybe impending motherhood is really sinking in, but this little outfit brought tears to my eyes. I arrived to work this morning and was surprised by Coelle with this very sweet gift for the next generation of Schaeffer-Buescher Hokies. Yes, that's right. Its a onesie, bib, booties (soo little!) and a cute little hat. Baby Buescher will definitely be wearing the hat when leaving the hospital come March...which seems so far away and yet, I know it will be here before I know it. I just can't wait :).

Double Oven :)

Well, a dream of mine was fufilled Saturday when we had a double oven installed. As most of you know by now, cooking and especially baking is a passion of mine. It started back when I was a toddler and my mom would give me small pieces of dough to make pies and has been a part of me ever since. I actually remember the first double oven I saw. A family I baby sat for in HS had one, and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. How great to be able to have TWO ovens going at the same time. Weird I know, but hey, we all get excited about different things, right?

When Geoffrey and I started looking at houses last year, a double oven was high on my list, but after housing sticker shock it soon fell off, and we bought out wonderful (though dated) 1980 colonial with a 24" wide oven that could only cook one item at time. So much for the double oven. I soon found out from my neighbor, that the wall oven slot could be opened, the built in microwave removed and a double oven would slide right in. I filed that in the back of my head, knowing it would probably be a while before I'd actually see a new oven there.

Well, rewind 2 weeks. I went to preheat the oven to bake a pizza and heard some strange popping sounds, followed by smoke. This wasn't too surprising, as the oven is old. I called Geoffrey down and he agreed that the oven was on its way out. He then said what was music to my ears "well, you better figure out what oven you want to get!" Yippee! I picked out a beautiful stainless steel GE profile double oven with convection, thanks to a recommendation from a neighbor and a nice little discount that Nicole shared with me.

Tuesday Geoffrey and I got to work removing the old oven and microwave...and we discovered this:

Not good. What we thought was the broken oven actually turned out to be the junction box wiring going bad. I quickly contacted every electrician recommended to me, and found a guy recommended by a neighbor who was willing to come out on Saturday, as he didn't want to have us without an oven any longer than we had to. He arrived during the VT-ECU game, quickly went to work and 2 hours later the problem had been solved and the oven was in place. Just in time for me to whip up some enchiladas for our Saturday night dinner with Anne & Jon.

Here's a progression of the work that took place. First, Geoffrey had to add 1/4" shim strips on either side of the cabinet box, to meet the installation requirements of the oven. He then used a jigsaw to open up the "box" an additional 9" and built a frame for the oven to sit on, which had to hold a minimum of 300 lbs. I feel pretty darn lucky to have such a talented husband...after taking 2 red eye flights back to back!
To install the unit, the oven needed to sit at the exact height of the rails, so all the electrical wiring could be hooked up. Geoffrey built this neat little stand that was perfect. We're storing it in the basement but hope we don't have to use it for another 26 years!

The partially installed oven. To lighten the load and gain access to the attachment points, the doors of the oven had to be removed. A neat feature of these ovens is the typical coil see in ovens is hidden below a sheet of metal. This will make it much easier to clean up after pesky little spills.
The new working oven! It makes me so happy every time I walk by it. And Geoffrey will be happy by all the yummy things I will now be able to bake. I'm very excited about the holiday season this year, as I should be able to knock out all of my Christmas cookie baking in one day.

I think the only guys in the house not so excited about the oven are the pugs. All they know is that they had to stay in their crate while Geoffrey worked on getting the opening right and during the oven installation. Luckily their brains are small and they forget things pretty easily :).