'Wot RoTT' exchange

[Rita C.]

That's a great story about the chipmunks Renata. I just read it out to the kids - they were amused. How wonderful to have your mother teach you how to make a slope and I agree with Karen you do set up a very romantic picture of your mum in her workshop and the nuns in the monastery. I think your mother's cathedral window is beautifully done - it's the Irish flag colours :lol:

I could deal with mice, squirrels (we had one of those who used to come in to take the hazelnuts I had gathered), chipmunks, birds and I have even had to get a few bats out of the house but Marilyn I don't think I could cope with a snake! We don't have any snakes in Ireland - St. Patrick got rid of them all - at least that's what they told us when we were young. Personally I think they sneaked back in during the Millennium and wrecked our economy. Most of them are hiding in the long grass now! :lol:

[Nancy R.]

Hi Rita & Renata -

What beautiful cathedral windows pillows! I have a cathedral windows quilt that I started years ago that I still hope to finish one day. So much to do!

Your critter stories have me laughing, especially since I can relate to almost all of them. My most horrific story was when I was living on a farm and a mouse ran across my face during the night. I went to the Humane Society the next morning and adopted a cat! Made all the difference in the world! I also had a mouse stockpiling dog food under the kitchen sink at my current house. I obviously didn't go in there very often because I opened it up one day and one side was completely full and just came pouring out onto the floor! We also don't have snakes at this altitude, but I've had several bats and those scare the $#&$ out of me! When I found my first bat in the house, I freaked out and called my friend. Just as she asked me in a very calm voice where the bat was, it took off from the window and flew straight at me. I screamed into the phone in the most hilarious, hysterical voice "It's flying right at my face!!". That is the only time in my life that I've ever screeched! But then I got myself under control, caught the bat between a pool scooper and a magazine and got it outside where it swooped off into the sky. I actually love bats outside the house and really enjoyed watching it fly!

Nancy

[Rita C.]

Oh Nancy, I wish I had been there to see it! :lol: :lol:

[Nancy R.]

It was probably about 6 or 7 years ago now, but I still laugh out loud when I think about it! Since I've had several bats since then (some with equally funny stories, one with me hiding behind the corner as the bat swooped in circles around the bedroom), I now have bat gloves (the thickest leather gloves I could find at the hardware store) and my bat scoop (the pool skimmer) placed strategically together in the kitchen for any emergencies! I've been thinking about getting a bat cape to complete the outfit!

[Renata L.]

Nancy, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, but I fear you might have swatted me too! :cry: :lol: :lol: Rita, I chuckled at the romanticized notion I might have conveyed in describing after-school sessions in my mom's workshop. Back then, I never thought of it that way: because my mother was a working mom, either I went to the nuns after school for help with homework and embroidery (which I was already doing at home) or I went to mom's atelier and sat with the seamstresses and my mom while they were working until time to go home. My younger siblings had no choice--they went to the nuns. The local nuns ran an after-school program as well as asilo, which is a form of pre-kindergarten. But I suppose I was old enough to behave properly in her workshop, so she let me come. Often, I would sit quietly and crochet or knit (dropping a lot of stitches and asking for help too often) and when dropped stitches became too onerous for mom to deal with while she was trying to work, she taught me how to baste. In any event, I don't remember loving it because I had to be on my best behavior :roll: :roll: :roll: , but I do remember things being done that you don't see a lot of today--like silk hand-made buttonholes. Now I wish I had loved it more and learned more back then!
Renata

[Renata L.]

It was probably about 6 or 7 years ago now, but I still laugh out loud when I think about it! Since I've had several bats since then (some with equally funny stories, one with me hiding behind the corner as the bat swooped in circles around the bedroom), I now have bat gloves (the thickest leather gloves I could find at the hardware store) and my bat scoop (the pool skimmer) placed strategically together in the kitchen for any emergencies! I've been thinking about getting a bat cape to complete the outfit!

Nancy, you are a really lucky person! In Chinese culture, the word for bat bianfu is considered lucky because fu also means luck (different Chinese character to write the words but homonyms). So, when a bat comes through your house it brings you luck! But I would still keep my bat scoop and gloves handy...
Renata

[Nancy R.]

It was probably about 6 or 7 years ago now, but I still laugh out loud when I think about it! Since I've had several bats since then (some with equally funny stories, one with me hiding behind the corner as the bat swooped in circles around the bedroom), I now have bat gloves (the thickest leather gloves I could find at the hardware store) and my bat scoop (the pool skimmer) placed strategically together in the kitchen for any emergencies! I've been thinking about getting a bat cape to complete the outfit!

Nancy, you are a really lucky person! In Chinese culture, the word for bat bianfu is considered lucky because fu also means luck (different Chinese character to write the words but homonyms). So, when a bat comes through your house it brings you luck! But I would still keep my bat scoop and gloves handy...
Renata

I consider myself MOST lucky when I get the bat OUT of the house!! :lol:

[E.M. T.]

Well, Rita, the garter was about a foot long and fat as a sharpie marker...still was glad it wasn't moving very well !!
I DON"T like them. We have bats here,too...but haven't had too many adventures ! Love them, as they eat so
many mosquitoes! About those new ones in Ireland...are they like the ones near our capitol? :roll: :mrgreen:

[Rita C.]

Well, Rita, the garter was about a foot long and fat as a sharpie marker...still was glad it wasn't moving very well !!
I DON"T like them. We have bats here,too...but haven't had too many adventures ! Love them, as they eat so
many mosquitoes! About those new ones in Ireland...are they like the ones near our capitol? :roll: :mrgreen:

Yep! All part of the same slippery family! :lol:

[E.M. T.]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[E.M. T.]

Dear Sisters;

Love your stories, thanks for sharing. I am reading them out loud to my husband & we are having a good time laughing at all the adventures with critters. Gotta run, my four chi’s are outside barking up a storm at something. Gotta go check it out before they get into trouble. I think I have the only 5 pound dog in the neighborhood that when she goes outside she looks up. We think she’s been buzzed by a large vulture or one of the many barred owls we have around; so she looks up to be sure it is safe for her to proceed. Our barred owls have a 5 1/2 ft wing span & carry cats off as heavy as 25 pounds! I was told by our naturalist it is one of their favorite foods! Hopefully ,the cats we have here are very fast!!

[E.M. T.]

I got a kick and laugh about the mouse stories. But you have to hear mine.
Years ago when my youngest was 6 or 8 years old his brother and sisters convinced
him to bring MOM a gift. They all came in the house and said "mom" close your eyes,
Mike has a present for you. He had a dead mouse. I tell you it was not funny.

Margarita

[E.M. T.]

When I was 10, my older brother got three baby mice as pets. Of course I couldn't resist trying to pet one - and it bit me. The next morning it was dead in the cage. My mom shipped the body off in dry ice to the State of WI lab for testing. The shipping was $25, and I don't know how much the testing cost. The lab report came back negative for anything lethal to me. Years later I realized that she didn't take ME to the doctor for testing! But I guess MY blood is lethal to mice!

[Annis C.]

I don't have a mouse story, but I do have a good one about a snake. This was after we'd had some heavy rains. Many years ago I went into the bathroom and there was a large snake, about 4' to 5', on the glass shelves above the toilet, and yes I saw it before I sat down. I calmly walked out of the room, put a towel at the bottom of the door, took my 1 year old son out of his crib, went to another room on the other side of the house and called my DH on the cb radio (this would have been around 1980) and walked outside and waited. When my DH got there he shot the cabinet full of buckshot while shooting the snake. Later I found out if I'd called the neighbors they would have come and removed it alive. I don't remember what kind of snake it was but it wasn't poisonous.

[Rita C.]

Loving all these stories. Margarita I would not have found that funny either :shock: Sue (or should we call you mouse-trap), that is so funny.
And Annis, talk about a sledgehammer to crack a nut! Riverowl, thanks for the entertainment first thing in the morning with your elephant stew recipe too on the recipes thread! :lol: :lol: