Shortly after we arrived at my brother’s on Wednesday, Tracy discovered this poor woodchuck who had gotten his head stuck through one of the chain links in the fence. Poor fellow couldn’t get himself out forward or backward.

We weren’t able to help him so we called ASCPA, wildlife rescue, and finally the Hyde Park police who came pretty promptly. The officer’s first suggestion was to pour dishwashing detergent around the woodchuck’s neck to lubricate it. He had rubbed the fur off one spot on his neck so it was pretty unpleasant and we quickly learned that there was no way he was going to extricate himself from the fence.

Fortunately, my brother’s neighbor saw all the activity and arrived with a Have a Heart trap in hand. He also owned a bolt cutter and we were able to cut the chain links and slip the woodchuck into the trap.

After cleaning off the soap—quite the event—we took him to a wooded area and tried to let him loose.

The poor guy was so tuckered out, he didn’t want to leave the trap, but we finally shook him loose and left him in the woods.

Well, maybe. It’s been a busy week and I see the summer slipping through my fingers. Monday Matt and I went to Cornell to look into housing for the fall. We decided an apartment was preferable to a dorm for lots of reasons, took care of his financial aid application, and established his Net ID which will enable him to get all the important emails he needs to read! Tomorrow we’re headed back to Ithaca. We have an appointment to see an apartment Matt feels is the best of the bunch, and hopefully, can arrange to see a few others. At the very least we’ll do some drive bys.

I did get back in the groove in terms of exercise. It had been a month since I’d been to the gym. That hadn’t happened in over a year so I was a little concerned about how my body would react. I’m not as sore as I anticipated but Friday’s yoga class revealed a few muscles I hadn’t thought about in a while.

I finished all my assignments for Jessica Sprague‘s Up & Running class. I am really going to miss this class and will be one of the first to sign up for the next level class. The layouts are all in the Scrapbook album on the sidebar. I put together an ScrapWorks BayBox album of our trip to Kiawah in April today. I love these albums. When there are LOTS of photographs, it makes putting an album together a much more efficient.  process, but the end result is very nice. I also caught up with the Photo-a-Day blog on the sidebar. A little cheating there as I’m still posting photos from vacation.

I finished reading Paulette Jile’s Stormy Weather. It’s a good book, but not nearly as good as her earlier novel Enemy Women. Trying to finish Barbara Brown Taylor’s The Preaching Life so I can return it to Sarah and Adam at the end of the month.

Last, but not least, I went out to lunch twice and out to breakfast this morning. It’s so nice to have the time to visit with friends and not have to gulp down your lunch during a 30 minute lunch break when you also have to check email, stop in the school office . . . Summer is much more relaxing!

While the hosts of Her Space: My Space are away, a little challenge is going where  comments are posted. Someone posts a word. The next person must take the last letter of the previous word. I found "book" today and knew my photo of Kiawah Island would work. One of our favorite places–and a good place it would  be today in the heat. Ah, well.