Over the July 4th weekend, Rick has been keeping himself busy working on one of our 2010 renovation goals (which is surprising given his penchant for starting new projects, like staining our stairs).

He’s been braving the North Carolina heat and clearing out the brush at the back of our yard:

He’s been making fantastic progress, stopping every now and then to snap a few pics to send to me. At the very back of the brush, he’s made a good clearing…

And between the trees, he’s starting to make headway clearing out smaller trees and brush:

What’s taking the most time is clearing out the random menagerie of bricks and breeze blocks that have been long buried in the undergrowth…

These leftover bricks must be a gift from the previous owners (and builders of the house).  I guess burying them in the back yard was easier than getting rid of them the normal way. Rick says they must have been there for years because the trees have actually grown around some of the bricks…

So far he unearthed a truck load of bricks…

Oh yeah, and a copperhead snake.

That’s a new critter to add to our list! (read about the deer, moles, bats, spiders and bugs).

Tyra – you can stop looking for America’s Next Top Model because I have found the perfect candidate. My model has a long, lean body, legs that go on for ever, and a don’t-mess-wit-me attitude: 

Plus, she even has that “my-head-is-too-big-for-my-body” look that models have. And how about that connection with the camera.  I do believe she is smizing.

Bonus: you won’t have to have those mid-season chats about anorexia and self esteem.  This girl eats like … well, a mantis. 

So Tyra, call me. I’m thinking America’s Next Top Mantis has quite a ring to it.

You know those commercials for window cleaner that show birds flying into the glass because the windows are so clean? Well, a bird flew into our porch windows the other day and it certainly wasn’t because they were ultra clean.  Come to think of it, have we cleaned those windows since moving into the house six months ago?  No comment. Anyhoodles, back to the little birdie.

I was working at the computer when I heard this big “ker-thunk” on the windows behind me.  I went over to see what had made the noise and saw this little birdie completely dazed on the floor.  I delicately opened the porch doors – I needed to keep the dogs away otherwise it would have been sayonara Mr. Sparrow (any twitchers out there that know if this is a sparrow?).  I managed to pick the bird up in some tissue and place him on our rocking chair. He didn’t seem to be badly hurt, just dazed. So I left him alone to gather his thoughts.  You know, overcome his embarassment for this rookie blunder.

A couple of hours later I checked on the birdie and was amazed to see him still sitting on the rocking chair.  I grabbed the camera and was able to snap a few photos. It was great that I was able to get close enough to get the detail of his feathers and even the little moustache he has on either side of his beak. Cute!

I just love this picture. This bird’s got attitude.  It’s like he’s saying “yeah, I’m sitting our your chair, whaddya going to do about it?”. After this photo was taken, I guess he’d had enough of the paparazzi treatment and he flew off the chair, but not quite high enough over the porch railings.  He hid behind the electrical box for our landscape lights until Rick got home a few hours later.  Rick, a.k.a. the bird whisperer, simply whistled at Mr. Birdie and he flew off the porch into the neighboring tree.

The house renovations have slowed down a bit lately.  Maybe all that new homeowner vim and vigor has finally run out. Or the money has run out. Or perhaps is just takes two to do the renovation tango.  Renovating can be fun, but it also can be a tough job for two people to do together, let alone on their own-some. My month long excursion to the UK didn’t help our progress. Plus, as soon as I got back to America, Rick had to go on a week-long work trip to Notre Dame university (I tried not take it personally). Yesterday, a good friend noted that I hadn’t posted on the blog for some time, to which I replied that we hadn’t recently finished many projects to blog about.  But it got me thinking about all we have done around the house.  Today marks six months being in our new house.  Six months! Where did the time go? Seeing as I tend to be a ‘glass half empty’ kind of girl, now seems like a good time to think about all the projects we have completed so far:

All carpet has been pulled up

Back yard fence was built

Front and back doors were replaced

Landscape lighting has been installed

Downstairs bathroom was gutted and new tile installed. Bathroom vanity made over with a granite top and vessel sink.

New exterior lights installed

Dining room window replaced

 French doors hung between kitchen and office

Foyer chandelier replaced

Two foyer walls removed and headers installed

Dining room floor painted

Master bedroom ceiling fan installed

Dining room chandelier replaced

Siding removed and rehung

Thermostats switched out

100,000,000 green bugs,  3,000 big-ass spiders, 2 bats, a mole, a lizard, a frog… and a partridge in a pear tree.

Pheww! We’ve been busy! But all this optimism is making me feel all Paula Abdul – I’m much more Simon Cowell-esque (must be a British thing).  If I wear my pessimist hat for a minute, I’d hate to compile a list of all the projects that we have left to do around the house. Wow, that list would be longer than a prize bull’s ba-donk-a-donk. We’ll get there in the end.  That’s what the bull said.

…with a swarm of critters. Another project we undertook this weekend was removing all the overgrown, weed-infested bushes around the perimeter of the house. A chainsaw, a rake and a lawnmower (plus two crazy people working in the heat) were all it took to take the bushes down…

What was more interesting was the sheer amount of creepy crawlies (and other small animals) that emerged as we tore down their home. I cannot count how many large spiders we encountered….

I’m not even sure what these two bugs were. Any ideas?

 The first bug was relatively small, but the second bug was huge – about the width of Rick’s hand. At first we thought it was some kind of spider – we counted 8 legs.  But after closer inspection, it appeared as though the two longer “legs” were feelers, making it an insect of some sort.

We disturbed about a trillion of these green leaf-like bugs (can you tell I’m no entomologist?). Once we had removed their bushy abode, they took up residence all over the fascia of the house.  I am starting to understand exactly how many bugs exist out there in the world.  Did you know that there are approximately 10 quintillion insects on the planet – about 200 million insects for every human. I think about half of those insects were in our bushes…

In addition to the creepy crawlies, we found a few other surprise visitors.  Like this tiny, cobalt blue lizard:

and this adorable little frog:

Who knew that our house was a cornucopia of critters?

What is it with critters around our house just lately? Last week, we had two bats in the house (one dead, one alive) and now this week we seem to have a mole problem in our backyard.  Well, when I say ‘problem’, I mean it in the broadest sense. First of all, it’s not like we have acres of lush, manicured lawn that these critters are blemishing with their dirt mounds (plus, given the height of our grass lately – due to a broken down lawn-mower – it is not likely that we can see any mounds in the first place!).  Secondly, finding one mole hardly constitutes a mole ‘problem’ (can you say drama-queen, Amy?!).  Lastly, even if we do have a mole melee going on in our backyard, we seem to have at least two very adept mole killers on our hands.  Shrimp  and Reebs have been digging along the side of the house lately – little did we realize that they were after this furry quarry. After letting the dogs back in from the yard yesterday afternoon, I found a dead baby mole on the deck. Although I cannot know for sure who the mole killer was, both Shrimp and Reebs seemed very protective over their beastly bounty.  At one point, Rex tried to take a quick whiff of the mole but was taken down street-style by the two girls for getting too close. Maybe we should think about renaming Shrimp and Arriba to Killer and Fang…

Just a quick update on our bat situation: our current number of bats found in the house now total 2!

Rick found a larger, live bat on the floor this morning. He gently picked it up and placed it on the counter, where it decided to spread its wings and open its mouth in protest. A quick check online told us we needed to place the bat in a ventilated container and out of harm’s way (i.e. the dogs’ teeth) and wait until dusk to release it back into the wild. Which is exactly what we did. Around 8pm tonight, we opened the container and left batfink (my affectionate name for the little rabies-infested cutie pie) on the deck railing, so he could make his way back into the world.  He eventually flew off into a nearby tree, and will hopefully live happily ever after eating all the bugs around our house in sincere gratitude for a comfy stay at Casa Hogan.

Since moving in, we’ve come into contact with our fair share of critters.  For instance, meet this friendly grub found in the framing of the old back door.  The rotting wood was an ideal home for this creepy crawly.

What about this furry fiend? Rick snapped a close-up of this moth on the kitchen window as it was drawn to the lights inside our house:

Of course, we have encountered many spiders around the house, ranging from the small ones that inhabit the corners of our windows, to the big ones (with extra long legs) that claim the ceiling corners in our bathroom as their home. We’ve ran across a number of ladybugs, especially in the attic. Rick has caught sight of a small black snake in the bushes at the front of our house. We’ve had rabbits and deer visit our home. But nothing is quite as strange as the ‘present’ that was left on the sofa the other day:

Can you tell what it is? It took me a second to figure out what little creature had been lovingly placed on my seat by one of the dogs (Reebs looked the most guilty). Yes, it’s a bat! We’ve seen the bats fly around outside the front door some evenings, but I haven’t got a clue where this little fella came from (or whether one of the dogs caught the bat or merely found it and brought it inside).

I grabbed a napkin from the side table, picked the bat up from the sofa and snapped a few more photos. The macabre juxtaposition of the dead bat with the Subway logo was unintentional, although it does give new meaning to their slogan – Subway, Eat Fresh. Would you like a side of bat with your sandwich? Would that make it a batwich?