Crickets!!!!!!

The freaking loudest cricket I've ever heard is living in my kitchen under my fridge. It all started a few weeks ago when the "food" for our firebellied toads escaped their compound and attempted to take over the house. I thought, "aw, they'll die." Then I found one in my computer bag. And, in the last week it has sounded like one of those freaking nature sound CDs in my house.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

So today I told Cameron, "let's get that cricket!" We positioned ourselves accordingly. I pulled out the fridge and there it was – the biggest cricket I believe I've seen. Cameron even said, "um Mom, I'm not sure that's a cricket." Turns out those little tiny things that we feed the toads can get HUGE when they eat all the crap that ends up under the fridge between cleanings. So, Cameron caught the damned thing with a cup and piece of paper (even he was afraid to pick it up). And, then the dark thought crossed my mind - "hey, let's have fun with it. Let's watch the toads chase it around the aquarium." See, the cricket was a good 1.75 inches long and the toads are maybe about 2 inches long. Maybe.

So we did it. We dumped old Jimini in the toad tank. Hot Frog immediately jumped toward the cricket. He lunged. Chomp! He had about 1/4 of the cricket in his mouth. Two more gulps and Hot Frog looked like he was pregnant with quintuplets. (Gives new meaning to the old query, "where does he put it all?") He had only one little cricket foot hanging out of his mouth. Mmmmmm.

Immediately upon swallowing the last of the cricket I heard the distinctive "chirp, chirp, chirp" of a cricket. There's another one - or more - living under my fridge. Argh!!!!

Hope the toad twins can handle another Thankgiving dinner this week.

Stuck at the Mall

Fifteen years ago, it would have been my dream: I'm stuck at the mall with all my credit cards. Fortunately, my drive to be a professional consumer waned with the youthful resilience of my facial skin. Yesterday I arrived at the Greenwood Park Mall, after much driving around to avoid flooded roads, and took up a seat at The Cheesecake Factory where I'd planned to meet my lifelong friend for an afternoon of window browsing and world problem solving. Shortly after said friend arrived, having gone through her own waterlogged odyssey, we were informed by our incredibly friendly and entertaining server, Andy, that a state of emergency had been declared and the police were requesting that we not leave the restaurant – or at least the immediate shopping area. Central - and particularly south central - Indiana has taken a beating for over a week now with storm after storm knocking over trees and dumping buckets of rain on our landscape.

We took a leisurely pace in enjoying our time at the restaurant and wandered through the bookstore next door. However, with each passing quarter hour, the news got worse. It started looking like I could certainly drive north to get home, but my friend would have a tougher time. We scoured maps at the bookstore and relied on cell phones to plot a course for her. In the end she took a rather out-of-the way route first north, then many miles east, then south and west for a bit and finally back north, ended a three plus hour journey. It would normally have been 30 minutes. She arrived home as the regional hospital was evacuating all patients by air and ambulance. Her electricity failed shortly after she arrived home. And, this morning the waters ceased receding just two blocks from her home.

South central Indiana is literally a disaster area. I saw a map this morning showing that state-wide 41 of our 92 counties are have officially declared disasters. I was at the northernmost tip of the devastation yesterday and was struck by the awesomeness of it. I've heard the words "catastrophic" used to describe the damage. Entire towns are deluged by broken dams. Portions of interstate highways have been washed away. My heart is breaking for the people who, when the waters rose so rapidly, got out of their homes with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. Some have no shoes even. Some got their pets out. Their cars and all they own is left behind to muddy, toxic waters. Wal-Mart Super Centers, hospital emergency rooms and municipal sewage plants are all under water.

Wild Wild Weather

The weather around here has been nuts! Friday night we had a string of storms that produced heavy rains and sustained winds in a combined strength that I haven't seen since I have lived in this house (about 9 years). We have two river birch trees in our backyard and one of them took on a distinct "lean" after the storms (right). Also, several of our evergreens emerged with sickly tops (below).

The other "exciting" thing about Friday is that it was our daughter's 8th birthday and she had some friends over for a slumber party. The heavy rain killed our satellite signal halfway through the movie we had rented for the girls. So, they had little to take their minds off the lightning and sirens. Steve popped popcorn for them and explained the radar pictures of the weather. Somehow, understanding it helped them deal with it.

The winds that ravaged our house soon turned into a tornado that touched down on the east side of Indianapolis. Last night we had another round of nasty storms. This time the worst of it was a little farther south. Several tornadoes ripped through south-central Indiana destroying a lot of property, including a very old covered bridge that was said to be the longest double-arch covered bridge in the state.

So, all in all, birch tree and little girls screams aside, I think we've been pretty lucky with all this weather.