The Great American Gopher Hunt

Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we need to learn to deal with them the best way we can. One curve ball thrown to Alan recently (actually for a while now) is gophers burrowing holes throughout our lawns. They are so pesky. Alan has spent practically every weekend for months trying to get rid of the creatures, but to no avail. 

When I arrived home from the temple last Wednesday I saw something on the counter top in the kitchen. I couldn't tell from a distance what it was so I got closer to check it out.  My heart skipped a beat and I actually did a startled hop backwards when I saw what was there. This is the nice little "gift" Alan left for me!

I was disgusted when I first saw it, but eventually realized why Alan had left it there. Considering how long he had been fighting gophers, he was elated that this one just happened to drown in the pool. One less gopher to hunt. I wish that there would have been a pied piper effect where all of the other gophers would have followed this one into the pool, but that didn't happen.

After trying various methods to get rid of gophers, including traps, flooding, poison pellets, smoke bombs, and chewing gum all to no avail, Alan tried a new method today. I think this is his last-ditch effort. He read online about using car exhaust so he ordered a special hook-up where you can attach a host to your exhaust pipe and run the hose to the hole.

Alan hard at work:

I sure hope this method works. If it doesn't, I don't know what he will do. Maybe he will set off a bomb and blow up the whole yard!

We have been having problems with jack rabbits too. We have seen them in the back yard and around the pool. Last summer while I was closing the pool cover after swimming, two drenched and very scared bunnies jumped out and took off. Last weekend we discovered a large hole in the pool cover. 

We are almost certain it was caused by one of the rabbits. We are hoping that we can avoid the expense of a new cover by having Alan patch it. I hope it works. These automatic pool covers are very expensive! Darn pests!

Welcoming A New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It is now 2017. I am optimistic that this new year will be just as good as last year..although 2016 was a great year with the wedding of Cheryl & Parker followed by a trip/family reunion to Canada.

For our December "year of dates", our gift was a certificate to attend a show at LPAC (Lancaster Performing Arts Center). The show we chose to see was called "Cirque Mechanics' Pedal Punk" which was an extremely fun show. Here is a description of the show I found online:

"Enter the world of Pedal Punk, a Steampunk inspired place where cycling is the way to escape the technology obsessed society.  In Pedal Punk we experience the excitement, artistry and thrill that occurs when a wacky bike shop mechanic interacts with cyclists and bikes, he repairs more than broken pieces.  He creates wondrous machines and inspires the cyclist in all of us to become a Pedal Punk."

Here is a picture of the stage before the show began. We were not allowed to take photos or videos while the show was going on.

As you can tell, we are not very good at taking selfies. This is us waiting for the show to start.

Stock photos of some of the acts:

The acts varied, but all were acrobatic and circus-type acts. The show had juggling, contortion, trampoline, unicycle, balance, rope act, comedy, hoops, etc. Every act was amazing and a lot of fun. If you ever get the chance to see it, I would go for it. It was a fun night of entertainment.