Fun In The Sun

I have to agree, Static.

Because of my volunteer work outside of Alleria (shhh, don't tell my animal friends but I do have a life outside of Alleria), I missed the Bug-Off. Bad news for me but good news for Static!

I would of totally whomped him and his measly jewel beetle. So it's a good thing I was gone. And besides, I should probably step aside every once in awhile and let somebody else win. Not to sound conceited or anything...
By the time I got back, it was already dark in Alleria. I still had to water though so I scurried around town.

I've been wondering lately when I would finally find one of those!
I was hoping to have some quality time to hunt for the scorpion but I was already tired and didn't feel up to tip-toeing around. So I started to head back home when I ran into Mallary.

No, no you're not.

Does this mean that within this month we will be 100% duck-free?! I can't dream of a better wish! Goodbye Mallary, the sooner you leave the better! So until she is packing her belongings, anytime I see her I will remind her of her promise to move on.

Yesterday was a hot one and luckily I had the chance to spend some time on the beach fishing and shell collecting.
I didn't really catch a whole lot. My most notable were a couple puffer fish (one which went directly to Blathers), a sun fish, and another blue marlin. I'm hoping that my time spent lurking on the beach helped my tan. I'm tired of being so pale!
It seemed like Chrissy wasn't so keen on getting a little sun.
It looked pretty odd to see her walking around with an umbrella in the heat but I understand. That creamy white face of hers would probably burn to a crisp without proper protection!
As I relaxed on the beach, I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be hovering in one area. Why could that be...ohhhh. Marcel has a beachfront house two doors down from me. Maybe she was trying to catch a glimpse of Marcel sun-bathing?!
When I confronted her about why she seemed to be focused on Marcel's house, it caught her off guard.

Busted

I thought it was funny but Chrissy was embarrassed and trotted away. She should know better by now!
Later in the evening, they did a switcharoo. Chrissy went inside and Marcel was found standing in her yard.
Ugh I just feel like they should profess their love to each other already!

That evening, I spent two hours chasing banded dragonflies around town, tearing up my grass in the process I'm sure. No luck there but I did catch something pretty cool...
I immediately recognized it for what it was because I knew I hadn't dropped anything near my flowers. I crept up to catch it but it took off at a slower pace and after a few mis-timed swings I caught it! These guys are pretty funny for how similar they look to furniture!

One Down, One To Go (The Terrible Two)

First things first.
I DID IT!
I caught a tarantula!

Whoo whoo whoo!
Okay....phew....here's what happened:
Last night, I crept around town for 15 minutes or so. I mean really crept...as in barely moved. It was painful but it paid off as I was following the path back from Static's house. Ever so slowly, I walked north until I stopped dead in my tracks. I spotted a tarantula directly in front of me about 20 paces north.
Okay breathe, I told myself, you can do this.
I stayed perfectly still as I watched him, determining which way he was facing. He started crawling towards me. I took the slightest step towards him and stopped again. He continued going south until he literally stopped right next to me. I slooooowly started to turn as he continued going south. He then moved in front of me. Perfect chance. I knew I had to do it.
He stopped, I took a big breath, pulled out my net and captured him!
It couldn't of happened in a better way. It was luck but I didn't care, I had that darn tarantula! And I never got bit! (Well, only because I was too scared to ever pull my net out)
I raced to the museum and shoved it into Blathers' wings.

Who is documenting these things?

After Blathers was done rambling on I rushed to see my spidey-friend in his spot.

Finally! I can't wait to get his friend, the scorpion, in his rightful place.
After leaving the museum quite festively I thought why not test my luck and see if I can spot the scorpion around town. I haven't even seen one yet, let alone tried to catch one!
A half hours search turned up nothing but another tarantula who took a dive into the river.
That's okay, one down - one to go!

The past few days I've been working on a task that I've been meaning to for quite some time - arranging flowers. It is a long tedious task but things are starting to look so much better.

If you're just starting out, please take my advice; start early!!
My efforts started paying off the day after I arranged the hybrid-growing sections...

My first purple pansy!


Yet another pink cosmo


Pansy Parade, my favorite section

Yesterday our new bridge magically appeared!

I'm actually pretty happy with it's placement. It's not ideal but it gave me a chance to build a new path thru a previously wild section.



Oh! And more on the Chrissy/Marcel romance! Marcel made a revealing comment last night.

Marcel into fashion? Why could that be....ohhhh. Chrissy likes fashion so what could Marcel do to get closer to her? Riiiight.
It wasn't more than five minutes later when I visited with Chrissy that she had a special delivery.

So I raced down the path back to Marcel.


These two are either in looooove or are participating in a rather sweet clothing exchange.

Gossip Girl

Thanks to my earnings from the latest Flea Market I was able to make a lump sum donation to the Alleria Town Fund. 200,000 bells has bought our town a new bridge!

As mentioned previously, I've been nervous about the bridge placement. I've seen pictures of the options in other peoples towns where the new bridge can only be placed next to existing bridges. What a waste! Fortunately, while my options weren't stellar, they were okay.

I chose the one on top. It might prove to be useful, as I don't currently have a pathway where the new bridge will leave the island. (I call the island Merry Island since she seems to think she's special enough to plop her house there, haha.)

June came and went quickly and now we find ourselves in the beginning of July! Wow! Bugs....everywhere! On Wednesday, I got this message on my board:

Even though the rain means no watering, I'll be glad when the hot weather shows up. I'm ready to have an actual chance to catch the tarantula and scorpion! Speaking of the tarantula, I saw him last night as I was moving flowers around. I had the perfect opportunity to catch the guy as I snuck up, watched his movements but I made one wrong step and he scuttled off not to be found again. It was so weird to be standing perfectly still watching the giant spider circle me! I even pulled my net out at one point but chickened out as he started to turn towards me. Argh. I need the courage to just pull it out and give it a chance!
Tarantula and scorpions aside, there are bugs GALORE. It's actually loud in town...when it's not raining.


I caught most of these guys when it was raining and they weren't making any noise. They all look the same!

Chrissy was more excited than I was.
Thanks to the onslaught of insects, the bug portion of the museum is filling up quickly and Blathers is one part disgusted and one part excited.


Now on to the more interesting stuff....town gossip!
Remember when Chrissy was sick and she was being all dramatic, telling me to say good-bye to Marcel for her? Well, Marcel came down with a cold and gave me a message to send to Chrissy.

Is it just me or do I sense a romance between the two? They're on their 'death beds' of their respective illnesses and they both want the other to know....how sweet. I'll be on the watch for more clues <3.
Merry spotted Blanca in town the other day and had a lot to say about the mysterious face-less kitty.

Oh, Merry. Always the fashionista.
And we already have a new neighbor who has replaced Rhonda! That's right, Kiki moved in and plopped herself down right in Rhonda's old spot next to me. When I walked in to introduce myself, she was staring out the window at my house.

Kind of creepy.
She's a cat...but with a pig-like nose.

Yup creepy.
She seems nice enough but I was really hoping my recruiting efforts would pay off and Chevre would move in. No dice.

Fishing buddies
My dear friend Static got a little jealous when he heard about mine and Antonios' photo shoot. So he went out of his way to find a casual shirt (like me) and we posed for a photo. I love this picture.
Avery continues to surprise me with his giant chest. This time, as I was making my way to the museum, I spotted a giant K.K. face staring towards me. Eeek!

I couldn't get a picture quick enough but imagine not seeing Averys' face, just that giant head of K.K.!
Chrissy, the drama lover, came to me and told me she was moving yesterday.

It didn't take any convincing to stay at all before she already changed her mind.

*sigh* Chrissy: The Alleria Attention Whore
Avery made a strange comment to me yesterday:

Whaaaat?!
This made me think...what if I was living in a village of furries?!
AH! EW!
And last but definitely not least, another one to file under the Marcel Adorable Files:

Ohhhhh Marcel. The plague?! Really?
I love him.

Oh! One more! I like this picture just because of it's awful timing:

The Legend of Snake

Tragedy has struck Alleria.

Well, that's pretty dramatic but there are a lot of long faces around here.
After a dull quiet week in town our resident ninja pulled the ninja-iest move and stealthly packed his bags and left in the span of two days. That's right, no warning, no hint, he pulled a quick one on us. Our good friend Snake.

Why Snake, Why?!
Snake actually got a kick out of his prank.
Every single animal has mulled it over, asked for advice, usually giving a weeks notice. But not Snake! Friday night, I was making my rounds visiting neighbors and BAM! There he was. He laughed, talked about how he was packing as quickly as possible and how I needed to take care of Alleria when he was gone. The next morning he was gone.

True to his name, he slithered away.
I wasn't the only one who was devastated. Apparently he had made a mark on everybody in Alleria. The skies opened up and added to the dark mood in town.

Chrissy, being dramatic as she is, took it pretty rough. She had even adopted Snakes' catchphrase in honor of him. Every little thing set her off. Since then, she's been staying indoors.

Looking back, I remembered one incident last week that may have led to some clues. Snake and I met at the Roost for coffee.

Conversation was the usual. Biceps, the best way to make smoothies, and the latest town gossip. But after the last drop of coffee was gone, Snake stayed and talked with Brewster. Maybe Brewster knew something I didn't! So I ran to go interrogate him.

Unfortunately, all he wanted to do was talk about gyroids. Hmmm. I'll be keeping my eye on him.
So in the end, I don't have any idea why Snake left. I suppose ninjas can't stay in one place for too long. In any case we will miss him. I hope our paths cross again.


Other than that, things are okay in Alleria. I've been rushing around trying to catch all the new bugs and fish this month. The oak silk moth and latern fly did excellent jobs of scaring the shit out of me when they flapped away. I actually screamed once it spooked me so bad. So far, I 've caught a handful of the new vermins. I've caught two dorados, an eel, gar, hammerhead shark, shark, ocean sunfish, birdwing, darner dragonfly, emperor butterfly, firefly, mosquito, oak silk moth, laternfly, and the rainbow stag.

Blathers seemed to be okay with the rainbow stag. That was pretty surprising.
My quest for the tarantula continues.

After spotting this one I followed it around until it disappeared. I didn't have the guts to pull out my net. Since then, I've spent a ridiculous amount of time searching for another one. Friday night, I stayed up until 2 AM looking for one. I heard that 2 was the peak time. Psh. Not in Alleria. Last night I stayed up late searching town, going in and out of buildings and sloooowly creeping around. No luck. They seem to pop up when I'm not looking. Figures.
I spent a similar amount of time looking for the orchid mantis and now I see them frequently and have even caught quite a few. I'm hoping that I'll have better luck in July and August. Fingers crossed!

My hybrid garden is looking a lot better. I caught Rhonda sneaking around it. Her house is close to the black roses, I'm thinking she is a little jealous and is looking to start her own. As long as she doesn't take mine!

I'm a little concerned about Chrissy. I hope she gets out of this depression soon.

Is she hopped up on meds or what?!
Chrissy may be insane but don't worry - Marcel is still sweet as ever.

All together now ..... Awwwwww!

Pete has been wandering town a lot lately, still pining over Phyllis. Speaking of Phyllis, apparently she doesn't pay much attention to what's current in town.

I guess she hasn't noticed the local NOOK 'N GO!

That's all from Alleria. Enjoy the warm summer nights!