Grasshoppers... Help!

As a kid I used to love Grasshoppers. I would catch one hold it's mouth against my finger and sing "Spit Tobacco, Spit Tobacco, Spit on my hand & if you do I'll let you go!" They would spit something that looked like tobacco on my finger and I would keep my promise and let them go.

Can’t say I love them so much anymore. Actually I consider them one of the biggest pests in my yard & garden. They will chew on almost any type of plant. I found this Grasshopper hidden on a branch of my Princess Tree. I also noticed an abundance of the little green baby Grasshoppers on my tomato plants this weekend. The babies are cute but very destructive.

Mooky & Our Stuffed Army

Mooky with Mr. Golden Retriever, Mr. German Shepherd & Mr. Gorilla. This is our army of stuffed animals that we place around the house to prevent/frighten Mooky from venturing off & chewing on things he's not supposed to... like baseboards, bathroom closet doors and anything else he finds tempting. (One of these days I will post pictures of the damage he has done around the house.) First we started out with the Gorilla and it worked well for awhile but then its effectiveness wore off so we added the 2 dogs to our army of stuffed deterrents. But after catching Mooky chewing on the Golden Retriever’s eye I’m thinking we need to grow our army... any ideas?

Mooky's Buddy

This is Mooky’s “Birdy Buddy.” Or maybe he considers it his little soft cuddly purple pal or maybe his teddy bear… who knows. What I do know is that he loves it! As you can see it's a fuzzy piece of material that ties to the bars of his cage just above his perch. When he goes in his cage for the evening he snuggles up against it to stay warm or maybe for comfort.

Isn't he just too cute... sorry I couldn't help myself!

Lizard Rock & Crazy Angel Trumpet Tree

Growing up in New Jersey I didn’t encounter lizards. When I first moved to California and saw one of these little Fence Lizards I nearly broke my neck trying to get away from it. Since then I have come to accept their presence and I'm ashamed to admit they still frighten me on occasion especially when I find one in the house. They love sunning on this rock in my garden... they'll lounge on it until they almost turn black in color.

Here's an interesting fact: Researchers have found out that the protein in these lizard's blood kills Lyme Disease bacteria. (For more info click on the Link)

This is my crazy Angel Trumpet tree. The flowers are beautiful but it grows like a weed & blooms more times then I can count in a season. This year it has more blooms than ever which I think is a good thing but I'll soon have to get my clippers to keep it under control! By the way the flowers are very fragrant also.

Travel Time

I thought I'd post a couple photos of Mooky in the car on our way to Sonora. He loves to go on road trips, although judging from the first photo you might not have guessed that. He’ll whistle, kiss, sing & sometime if we’re lucky he'll do his dinosaur growl.

This is a new travel cage that made loading & unloading him in the car much easier. I'm sure he would have preferred to have his bigger cage but it can't always be about Mooky. Despite the size of his cage he seemed to enjoy himself and so did we.

Walk The Walk

I am aware this is just Mooky walking but I find it so funny. I guess because of his clumsy body type. Actually I crack up every time I see it. I think it also looks like a screen test for a movie, commercial etc.

I will be out of town until Monday. Bill is having a paint out in Sonora, California.

Please check out his site California Painter for some amazing paintings.

Hope I don't miss much while I'm gone.