DUCK!

But first...rabbit rabbit rabbit! Evil spirits begone from Nutwood for the month of May!

A good afternoon, taking care of final arrangements (no, not a funeral) for Ken's PMI meeting next week. Everything went so smoothly, and the Chamber of Commerce did a great job putting together a packet about South Bend. We just need to put in the agenda and the PMI pins that Ken ordered. We met with the event coordinator at Tippecanoe Place, and every time I walk into the restaurant, which was the home of one of the Studebaker brothers, I fall in love with it all over again. It's gorgeous. Our group is going to be in the room that was the family's original dining room. I'll write more about it and put up pictures after our dinner there next Friday.

Some excellent news upon our return, when I got an email update from the Tribune that said that Randall Terry (the anti-abortion guy protesting at Notre Dame) had been arrested on campus today during a protest in which the group was pushing around baby carriages that contained dolls covered in blood. They have also been flying banners of bloody fetuses over campus, and driving advertising trucks through town with the same large pictures. Do they have a right to protest? Absolutely. Are they disturbing the peace? Undoubtedly. Several parents have objected to the trucks with large pictures, saying that their children were very disturbed by the images. After Terry’s arrest, Notre Dame issued a no trespass injunction against him. His court appearance will take place after commencement, but I'm sure he won't stay in jail that long. He'll probably get out on bail, but if he tries protesting on campus again, I assume he will be arrested again.

I believe he has the right to protest, but he really is disturbing the peace, and has vowed to do so at the commencement. He is so obsessed with his crusade that he doesn't care about any collateral damage, and I can guarantee that he doesn't care one iota about Notre Dame or its students (or their souls) or our community. I'm glad they arrested him. I'm sure the commencement will be marred with more unpleasantness, I'm sorry to say.

It's been a fun couple of days for bird watching! Last night, Ken saw activity out at the back pond, and when I got the binoculars, I saw two male ducks and one female, and they hopped in the pond and were swimming around. The light was starting to fade, but I was able to get a good enough look at them to see that they were wood ducks! I had never seen one before, so it was a new sighting for me. I haven't seen them today, but I hope they'll hang out for a while. I don't know...our pond might be too small for them. I'd love to see ducklings, though! We had a mallard pair a while back that built a nest in the marsh grass, but some egg-sucking critter got into it and destroyed them all. Wood ducks apparently build their nests in empty woodpecker cavities, up in the trees, so they'd probably be okay from raccoons or the coyote. Even if they don't hang around and raise a family, it was neat to see them and add them to my list.

Today, I saw a flash of blue on the deck. It looked like a blue finch, but there aren't any blue finches around here (there might not be any at all, I don't know). I went downstairs, and found him pecking at the seed on the ground under the deck. I got a really good look at him, and he's an Indigo Bunting. I saw one the first year we moved in here, and hadn't seen one since. The males are beautiful, a much more intense, deeper blue than either bluebirds or blue jays. It was great to see him again, and know that they're hanging around!

Finally, it looks like Ken and I had our "Eureka!" moment in the Great Residence Hunt '09™, after looking at a couple of places last night. First was a house about 20 minutes away. Really cute place, nicely renovated, attached garage...with not enough overhead room for an opener, and no handle on the outside of the door! Huh? So you'd have to get out of the car, go inside the house and into the garage, open the door, drive the car in...kind of defeats the purpose of having an attached garage, doesn't it? But it was really a nice house other than that, keeping in mind that they are unable to do yard work, so we'd either do it or hire someone to do it.

Next was a place called Maple Lane, with only four apartments per building. (Don’t a lot of Ray Bradbury stories take place on Maple Street or Maple Lane? Uh oh.) Big living room, big family room with a woodburning fireplace, good-sized kitchen, two decent-sized bedrooms, and an attached garage. Unfortunately, only one bathroom, but like Ken had told his Mom, they're probably going to have to prioritize and compromise on some things. Nice large trees on the grounds, a pool, a clubhouse...after we dropped off the keys at the office and we were walking back to the car, I told Ken, "I think we've found them a place." Ken agreed.

We called his Mom when we got back, and we have permission to stop looking. Happy happy joy joy! Oh, and they get a senior citizen discount, too, and that is locked in as long as they're there. I really think they'll like this one, although it's not in the nice setting across from the river. We'll start the application process for them, and scan and print some info to send them. What a relief, and not just to be done looking...I'm relieved that we were able to find a place that meets their needs and that they'll enjoy and find comfortable. And that pool might be pretty appealing come August...!