Mr. Pietro Ferrero

No mile(s) to report today, even with having the best of intentions.  Shame on me!   It has just been crazy busy at work or that is just another excuse.  Will make it happen tomorrow.

I think the skunk has moved on.  No sign of any digging the last couple of days. Was excited about the chance to play "Billy the Exterminator", I guess I still could.

Mr. Pietro Ferrero would be so proud of what his "pasta gianduja" has become.  You can tell she is a fan.  I usually eat it with an apple but this is another way to go about it.

For the history of nutella: http://www.nutellausa.com/history.htm

Nothing New

I checked the skunk situation and no new movement.  The trap remains empty and  no sign of any new digging.   Guessing that either the porch light or the repeated hosing has gotten it to move on.  Closed the trap, if I caught something tonight, I wouldn't have time to deal with it tomorrow.  Busy week ahead, with a couple trips to Denver planned.

We went out and walked through BCP and did a two mile loop.  Felt better this morning so it was nice to get out and work up a sweat.   The tree's have really turned around here, lot of yellow's and golden browns.  We went to the movie this afternoon and saw Looper.  Interesting story, good action, slow in some spots.  I would rate it a 4 out of 5. Bruce Willis always does a good job....

Dude, your still sick.

I wish I could kick this dam head cold.   I slept till 10 AM this morning and was slow to get moving.   We needed to go to the store, so before we left I loaded up some items that have been sitting in the garage that we were going to put into our garage sale.   Decided it was just easier and to take the write off on the taxes and take the stuff to Goodwill.  We dropped off what we had and went over to the grocery store to get some food for this week.

When we got back to the house and got everything unloaded I went and took a nap for a couple of hours.  I think I just need to get out on the trail and maybe all this crap in my head and chest will break free.

So I checked on the hole under the porch.  Doesn't look like the skunk came back last night.  The dirt is still where I left it from yesterday.  

I may have solved the problem already.   I noticed the hole when I was replacing the porch light.    Not sure how long the light had been burnt out as I have been gone.   With the light being replaced this may keep it away anyway.   We will see.

I did go ahead and set the trap and loaded it with peanut butter, will check in the morning and see if we have caught anything.   About half tempted to leave the porch light off and see if that improves my chances.

Happy Hiking

Skunk Removal 101

Well this should be exciting.  I think I have a skunk who has decided to move in under the front porch.   I found a mound of dirt yesterday with a hole going under the porch. The hole is under the water faucet so yesterday I ran some water down the hole and then pushed the dirt up in the corner covering the hole.   I looked this evening and the hole was dug back out and the mound of dirt was bigger than it was yesterday.

I dug my box trap out and have been watching YouTube videos and others removing skunks.   I have a plan.....   For tonight I pushed the dirt back into the corner and figured I would check again tomorrow.  This will give me some time to get everything I need together to set the trap and try to catch and relocate it.

Items Needed
1. Box Trap
2. Gloves
3. Two Large Towels
4. Safety Goggles
5. Peanut Butter

I will take some pictures and if I get creative I may even shoot my own skunk removal video.

Funny

I came across this picture and caption and just found it to be to funny and had to share.

For the ride home

I actually met these guys back in early 2k, when doing some consulting down in Amarillo TX. Safe Travels!

Home

Wow, finally back home after being out on the road for the last 10 days.   I was in San Francisco as we worked two conferences and Xtivia hosted our Portal Leadership Retreat over the weekend between the two conferences.   All went very well and had a great time with the team our customers and partners.

The city was packed with people.   Oracle Open World and JavaOne were going on.  It was also Fleet Week as well as the America’s Cup.  The first week there was a team of three of us working at the JavaOne conference.  The conference ended Thursday and Wednesday afternoon I could feel something coming on.  I could feel my throat getting sore and my sinus were dry and burning.   That next morning I woke up and my head was congested, eye’s running and head full of crap.

I went out and bought some cold and flu medicine and spent my day Thursday locked up in the hotel room in bed.    Candy was scheduled to arrive that evening, so at 8:00 PM I grabbed a cab and went out to the airport.   Picked her up around 9:00 PM and we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel.   Didn’t take her long to figure out I was sick.  Back at the hotel we ate at a Thai restaurant nearby the hotel.   Some of the best Thai I had eaten all week.

On Friday I put on a smile and we headed out of the hotel mid-morning.  Down on the street there were numerous vendors with local arts and crafts, we walked through and checked them out.   Then we walked over to the pier across the street.   It had numerous shops.   We had a quick bite and then headed back to the hotel.  I took a nap for a couple hours and Candy went out and checked out the shopping.  Later that evening we headed out and grabbed dinner and were back to the hotel around 8:00 PM.  We crashed out early, or at least I did.

Felt a little better on Saturday.  We went down to Pier 39 and checked out the shops and the Sea Lions.   When walking back to the hotel we came across wild parrots in a park near the hotel.   Apparently they escaped from a pet store several years back and have adapted to the area.

Sunday morning I was still feeling sick and oh yeah Happy Birthday.  Sunday October 7^th was my 48^th Birthday.   We headed out and got a coffee and walked around the street vendors and checked out the arts & crafts.    Candy got me a new pair of glass cuff links that one of the vendors was selling.  We headed back to the hotel around noon and got her bags and got her in a car back to the airport.

Back at the hotel I made my way down to the conference area and found our location.   They had already delivered our booth display.    I started pulling everything out of the cases and got the booth all together and got all of our marketing material all setup.  It looked pretty awesome.   When done I headed up and showered and got dressed as I had a team dinner to host.    Before heading out I had a co-worker take a picture of me with our booth display.

The conference was great and XTIVIA received the Liferay North American Partner of the Year for 2012.   We have a great team and everyone has worked really hard to make this happen.  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/Liferay-symposium-awards/prweb9997760.htm

I got home late Wednesday evening still feeling ill.  I did try to keep track of my miles, but blew the diet; I was eating out most lunches and dinners and eating way too much.   I logged about 12 miles.  I am home for about 10 days before I have to make my next trip.