:: Visitors ::
We’ve had some visitors around our house for the last week… visitors of the fuzzy persuasion. Raccoons! We were sitting on the couch watching TV the other night, and I caught a glimpse of a tail going by the patio door. I figured it was just a cat,but I told Phil to go see what it was. I jokingly said it might be a raccoon. Imagine my surprise when Phil looked out the door and there were two of them! They were eating the dogs’ food. They must have seen us looking at them, because they climbed off the deck and took off. We live in a huge subdivision, and our house is on the corner of two pretty busy roads, so I’m kind of surprised to see raccoons! We have a small patch of woods between our back yard and the subdivision behind us, so I guess that’s where they cam from.
We have two Jack Russell Terriers, and for as spoiled and lazy as they are, they are worker dogs. As soon as Rocky, the male, stepped one foot on the deck, he smelled the coons. He went all over that yard looking for them! Later that night, they must have come back, because I was outside at 2:00 a.m. yelling at him to get his butt in the house. I think he had one of them up in a tree. Our female JRT could care less. This is a dog that won’t go outside if it’s raining! She should have been a Poodle or a Yorkie! LOL!
Anyway, the raccoons have been back almost every night. I had to start bringing the dog and cat food bowls inside at night. The other night I looked out on the deck when I heard Rocky barking, and there was a coon hanging from the 4×4 post that holds the roof over the deck! He was all the way at the top too! I was waiting for him to try to start climbing across the ceiling of the porch and pull all the soffit work down! He got down and away from Rocky somehow.
Hopefully they will move on to another house since they don’t have food to eat now. They are cute, and I wish I could have snapped a couple of photos, but it was too dark. I know they carry disease, so it’s best for them to be on their merry way!
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OK, so what else has been going on? We couldn’t pick up our Puffer fish over the weekend. He needs to stay in quarantine for another week. Apparently they are very susceptible to ick when they get stressed. So, better to be safe and protect our other fish.
Yesterday Jordan wanted to go to the mall. This child LOVES the mall. I have no idea why though - she’s not interested in going in any of the stores! She just likes to go to the food court and walk around! They have an indoor playground there, so she played on that a while. Phil watched her while I did a little shopping. I picked up some clearance stuff for Jordan. I got her some really cute velour jogging sets for like 75% off and a new pair of jeans. I just had to throw all but two pair of her jeans in her “recycle” trunk. They were all floods on her - LOL! When did that happen??
Well, other than this stuff, the only other thing I’ve been doing is working on some new stuff for the stores and my typical household stuff. I am starting to despise laundry! Where do all of these clothes come from??? Most of them are Phil’s! I think he needs to do laundry duty for a while - yeah right!
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Well, it’s only three weeks until Valentine’s Day. I was just thinking yesterday that Jordan and I need to get busy and make some cards. I don’t send out many, so I thought it would be cute to make some with my paper and supplies. I’ll post some photos when we get them done, but for now, here’s something I did last night. It’s a altered playing card, and it’s perfect for Valentines! 
HERE is the download link. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY LINKS WITH OTHERS OR IN YAHOO GROUPS! I’ve noticed that some of you have been leaving your comments on the 4Shared download page, and I just found a ton of comments last night that I didn’t know were there! If you leave your comments here at my blog, I get am email letting me know I have comments. So, if you would, leave your comments here instead of 4Shared, ‘Kay? Have a great Tuesday!!
1EvaK
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 9:39
Fabulously unique freebie! Thanks Traci!!
2Gail
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 9:41
Thank you, Traci! I love it!
3Michelle
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 9:49
Thank you for the card Traci, love it.
We had a pet raccoon when I was a teenager. It was so neat. But after a certain age we had to let him go, others were coming around and it was time for him to mate. They get mean and there is nothing you can do.
Michelle
4Kimberly
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 9:53
Way cute! Thanks so much!!
Kimberly
5Doris
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 10:03
This is so creative and fun! can’t wait to use this one!
6jan
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 10:29
Now that the raccoons have tasted food at your house, they’ll keep coming back for awhile! They used to come sniffing for cat food on our deck — we once had four of ‘em, including one in a LOCKED food bin!! We estimated one weighed about 35 lbs., and he almost decided to take on my husband before he changed his mind and scurried off with the others! (After my husband picked up broom!) They have become bold. We lived on the edge of the city at the time, though it has now grown out a bit more, but they live right in the city (of course, so do the deer). It’s really not much of a surprise — they’re quite adaptable!! Good luck with them!!
Thanks - the card is beautiful!!
7Demetria
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 10:37
thanks Traci for the freebie… I’m really loving the altered card!
8Lil B
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 10:52
No trouble with Racoons here;we had skunks!!! Love the Altered Card! TFS
9Heather
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 10:59
Very cute Traci, thank you. I hope you get rid of them critters too. They can cause a ton of damage, ask me how I know?
10Suzi
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:08
This is great, Traci! Thank you
11Debra
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:10
It’s fantastic Traci!!! Thanks so much!!!!
12hannah
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:13
Very cute card! Thanks!
13Debra
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:17
Oh yeah…you want to stay away from the racoons!! Keep the food indoors as much as possible…nasty little critters!! I know they’re cute…but so are skunks!!! Well, at least you don’t have coyote’s…that’s what we have to worry about! I worry about my cats and dog each time they go out! We’ve lost two cats, and I’m sure that is what happened. Racoons carry rabies though, so be aware in case they bite one of your animals!!!
14Mary S
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:26
Thank you so much for the early Valentine gift! I love the altered stuff, and this is perfect!
15scoobie81
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:36
Thanks for the cute and unique card, Traci! As for the raccoons and Jack Russells…we almost lost our Jack Russell as he went after a ‘coon in our backyard. Once they get after them they don’t let go! The ‘coon was trying and trying to get away and Snoopy wouldn’t let him. My DH ended up having to go out and shoot the ‘coon (without hitting Snoopy!!!) as we knew they were in a fight to the death. He would only let go AFTER the coon dropped still. Snoopy fortunately lived but he was very beat up! Every place that the ‘coon had bit or scratched infected and he almost lost his eyesight. PLEASE be careful! They will also attack cats.
16Sharon aka Scrapcat4914
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 11:56
Wow Thank you for this awesome card!
17julz
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 12:24
oh traci… how fun.. thank you!
18FearlessDiva
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 12:48
TFS a great share!
19Suzanne
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 12:57
Thanks for the great freebie, Traci! After that dog food, I imagine those raccoons will be back for some more treats!!
20Lynn
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 13:08
Thank you for the card. I was thinking of making 4×6 valentines for my daughter to take to preschool. This would be the perfect little accent. I could put her name in the heart.
21Helen
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 13:30
This is a really fun idea - thanks!
22Victoria
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 15:04
This is so cool! Thank you very much!
23Laurie
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 15:29
Way cute and fun, thanks Traci.
Laurie
24anne
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 16:27
love the card, I am a big fan of Alice and Wonderland, and “off with their heads” came to mind. I enjoy your site, and thank you so much for the freebies. This really makes this hobby so much more fun.
25konjaro
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 17:08
Thank you Tracy! Love your work!
26katiedidit
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 17:21
Thank you. I’m a big fan of Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts is one of my favorite characters. Your card reminds me of that. It’s great.
27Marie
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 20:07
Love your stuff! I’ll sure be coming back!
28BettyJoR
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 20:16
How cute this is! Thank you so much for sharing!
29valj
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 20:27
Thank you sooo much:)
30Krista
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 21:08
Thanks! I have the perfect friend to receive this one on a card
31Joanne
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 23:48
Thank you for the card. My mom is the queen of my heart. Will have to make her something special from it.
32Joanne
wrote on 23 January 2007 at 23:48
Thank you for the card. My mom is the queen of my heart. Will have to make her something special from it.
33Lime
wrote on 24 January 2007 at 0:21
Love your Queen:-) Tfs.
34Lisa
wrote on 24 January 2007 at 13:23
Traci…enjoyed your racoon story. I have a couple of outside cats that I feed on my screened porch and the dogone coons come through the pet door to get the food! Finally my DH went a bought a trap and he will take them several miles away and release them!! I don’t think he will be able to do that to everyone of them in the woods, but I guess it makes him feel better!! LOL. Thanks for the cute Queen freebie.
35Paula
wrote on 24 January 2007 at 14:26
The racoons here in Florida aren’t afraid of animals or people at all. I’ve had them at my back porch yelling at them to “git” and they just stand their on the other side of the screen just looking at me like “hey, got anything to eat?”. I’ve also had one trample across my roof before. You can’t believe the noise they make! Sounded like a man running back and forth on the roof in the middle of the night…but it wasn’t Santa!
Thanks for the neato freebie. I absolutely LOVE it!
36Cindy
wrote on 24 January 2007 at 21:51
Thanks for this card Traci - it’s super! Loved all of your stories today!
37Rona
wrote on 24 January 2007 at 22:22
thank you! love the QUEEN!
38Tammy
wrote on 25 January 2007 at 8:28
I agree you want to stay away from wild raccoons never try to pet them no matter how friendly they seem. I have a 3 year old raccoon that used to live in our house until my son was old enough to be mobile. Sassy(my coon) was tame but did have an attitude. They are extremely smart animals and NO not all of them carry disease just like not ALL humans carry disease, but to be on the safe side assume that they will bite because they will, as well as scratch with their 20 non retractable claws.
We still have Sassy she has just been moved outside.
39Debra
wrote on 25 January 2007 at 8:59
Oh My Goodness Traci!
Your treats you give away always make my day, but “Queen of Hearts” absolutely rocks!!!!!!!!!
Beyond cool!!!!
Thank You!
40AstLin
wrote on 25 January 2007 at 16:24
Thanks so much!!!
41Tamalita
wrote on 25 January 2007 at 21:12
i’m leaving a comment here instead of 4shared lol
thank you so much for the cool altered card … and have fun with the coons 
42CathyRose
wrote on 27 January 2007 at 19:02
Thanks so much for the altered cards! Love them!
43Ramona
wrote on 27 January 2007 at 19:40
Traci,
These are so cool. You are so talented and generous! I sure appreciate it.
Ramona
44Dixie
wrote on 28 January 2007 at 14:17
Thaks for these great cards - love them. So original!! Had to leave you some love on 4shared too - thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!
45Tracyfish
wrote on 29 January 2007 at 13:46
Thanks for sharing! So original!
46Sue White
wrote on 31 January 2007 at 18:33
Soooo cool… love these cards! Thanks again!
47Janice (aka. mi2az)
wrote on 3 February 2007 at 9:25
This is great ! Thanks for sharing!
48linnie-818
wrote on 6 February 2007 at 23:21
Joker - King - and now the Queen. Very cool. I love “altered” images. Thank you for so freely sharing your time and talents with us!