Summer Rain

Chrissy seems to have made a recovery. Now that she is back on her meds, she has her peppy personality back. Her use of Snakes' catchphrase continues, however.

Tuesday as I was making my watering rounds, I was at the western-most part of town. I heard a whirling sound and caught just a glimpse of Gulliver's UFO for the first time. It exists! Man, that thing is so fast and it was heading west-ward that I had no chance at all to take a picture, let alone catch it.

I was left with a blank look on my face apparently.

The week has been full of rain. Don't get me wrong - I love the rain. It means no watering and more time for fooling around. But it also means I don't get my chance to catch that tarantula because he doesn't show up with the rain. Drat!
In the beginning of the week it was just a small drizzle, just enough to refresh the green in town.

But as the week went on the rain decided to bring it. We're in the middle of a big rain/thunder storm today.

I don't like thunderstorms in real life but I love them in Alleria! The flashes of lightening are a cool touch.
Even though most everybody in Alleria is whining about the rain, Antonio has the right idea:



Yeah. Rhonda, my next door neighbor (or at least the closet neighbor) is the latest Allerian to ponder moving. At least she has the common courtesy to talk it over with me first. Even though she is one of my last remaining original villagers, I decided to encourage her to start afresh. If she decides to pack up, I wish her the best and it will probably be hard to see her off.

With the new inventory coming in at Redd's shop today, I decided to take the bus trip into the city. I've had a string of fake paintings so I've been ready for a new display at our museum.

Finally! I wish there was another way to collect authentics. Buying at Redd's draws the process out. Oh well. The museum is slowly but surely filling up and I'm proud at how great it's looking in just 4 months.

This isn't news or anything, I just thought it was cool. Two diving beetles in the same pond today:


And last but not least, Chrissy offered a tip when we were discussing Pete and his annoyingly one-sided conversations:

Good idea.

Animal Pharm

Things have gotten worse for poor Chrissy. After her small breakdown after Snake left, she had been staying in her house all day. Sunday I went over to check on her.

Oh geez.
Chrissy was down in the dumps. I spent time with her, trying to get her to lay down and sleep it off. All to no avail.

Poor thing. What do you do? I didn't know if there was much I could do to help.

Ohhhhh. "Medicine" must mean she's out of her happy pills. Nook 'n Go doesn't carry antidepressants but maybe he'll special order them for our peppy bunny.


Yikes.
When I got the goods, Chrissy seemed reluctant to take them at first. It's been two days, so hopefully when I check in on her today she'll be feeling a bit better.

When running around in the warm rainy weather yesterday I was surprised to see a house planted right in Snake's old spot. Already?! This has been the fastest turnover I've ever seen. Snake gone in two days and somebody new in two more.

Our new friend Buck is another jock. Sheesh, it seems like those two had this planned out....maybe they switched places with each other. I'm a little disappointed to get another horse. Winnie was enough. But, hey, at least it's not a duck!
I'm already a little suspicious on what exactly Buck has in all those moving boxes. Especially after this comment:

Uh-oh. Secret stuff? Bicep girth? Don't tell me you're dealing with performance-enhancing drugs. Oi, what is Alleria turning into? A pharmacy?!
Anyway other than that, all is well in Alleria. With last weeks' Flag Day DLC displayed in the local Able Sisters' I had already forgotten about it. But one local has gotten a kick out of the design:

The other day I was fishing on the island when I saw what looked like the mayor standing across the river from me. It spooked me! But then I realized it was just Avery's enormous chest. Sheesh.
That's all for now. Here's a picture I took the other night of what appears to be a firefly meeting of some sort.

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!

Here we go...

Alright, I know it's been too long since I last updated but I haven't had much time to. Hopefully I can stay on top of this because now I'm feeling overwhelmed with how much I have to do in this post.
So let's get started:
We left off with the last fishing tourney. A couple days later I went into the city only to realize it was an Allerian alumni reunion.

Miranda seemed to be doing well and has adjusted to her new home. I apologized for her being forced out as a casualty in the Alleria Duck Hunt but she seems to be happy with her new life. Good for her.

Don't worry Moe! I remember you!
Our first resident to leave, good old Moe, is still as sweet as ever. I miss him.

For some reason, Winnie seemed a tad bitter. She doesn't seem to have as fond a memory of her former hometown as others. That's okay, nobody remembers her anyway.
As soon as I got back into town, Marcel dropped the bomb on me.

Noooo! Not our innocent, sweet, fun-loving, friend Marcel! Marcel is such an integral part to the breezy laid back atmosphere of our town. What would we do without him?
After that, we headed down the path to the late Spring picnic. Yes, us Allerians have picnics in the evening. The cool Spring air keeps our macaroni salad at the optimal temperature.

I spilled the beans to Static and Deena about Marcels' plan to move. They were shocked! We each took turns explaining to Marcel why he should stay. Deena made a good point. Why move when all your friends live all so close together in the same town? I think Marcel got the point.

Yay! Marcel is sticking around!

Awwww. That gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. What a happy ending.
The day after the picnic, Deena approached with her own decision. Apparently our Marcel intervention made her think twice about her life in Alleria.

Well, who am I to stop her? After all, it's still Duck Season in Alleria. See ya, Deena!

All this moving drama exhausted me. I decided it was time to go visit Gracie at GracieGrace and see if I couldn't get a good style evaluation from him. I came prepared with my pink zap outfit and a fresh pair of shoes from Kicks.

Woooooot! Finally, Gracie gave me his approval! In celebration I decided to splurge. Why not honor Gracie himself and get the full Gracie outfit?!

Awwww, yeah. Look at me, I'm hot shi---....oh. Oh geezus. This is one gaudy look. But....I feel so posh. I finally fit in with the elite.

And look! I can wine and dine with the best of them. I can appreciate fine art!

I feel right at home in the swank HRA model room of Kashi from Kashton! Woooo....

I even turn heads arriving back in town! What wonders a gaudy new outfit can do! Aw yeah.

I even got the approval of Snake.
Yes, your eyes are NOT deceiving you. Snake wore a dress for a day, before switching back to his unexplainable favorite Alleria shirt.
Hey, we don't judge here in Alleria. We embrace. Snake is Snake. And that makes him awesome.

Speaking of my pal Snake...
Remember how much of a sore loser he was during the last fishing tourney? How his unbridled passion for competition masked his complete failure at actually catching any fish? Well, I decided to give to charity (Chump Charity, that is) and send my extra silver trophy to the guy.

Awww, how sweet, right? Well, last weekend on Flea Market Day I paid a visit to Snake to check out his goods. And look!

How nice! He had the trophy proudly displayed in his residence.
But he was quick to try to sell it to me.

You've got to be kidding me! Pshaw. That's Snake for ya. I still love him.

MY flea market went well.

That dark dank room turned out to be a profitable dark dank room.
Welcome to Sarah's Fish Emporium!
Boasting a tuna, a coelacanth, and many fish I picked up the night before, I ended up making just under 100,000 bells. That's a lot of money to me! Many people may scoff at that but I was excited. When I told Blaire, she wasn't that impressed and let me in on a little secret:

Pssh. Well, some of us don't like the wheelin' and dealin' of the stalk market. So Flea Market Day is one of the only opportunities to make big bells with little effort.
I was a little worried with how the economy is in the crapper right now. Would my fellow Allerians shell out the big bells to buy some fish?

Aw yeah! I'm 100,000 bells closer to paying off my mortgage. Then I can start working on the town improvements. I know the town has been wanting a fourth bridge (we already have three because of the uninhabited island) but the only person willing to fund it is me. But not until my house is completely paid off!

Static has been lobbying Rob for a new sports stadium. Slow down, buddy. Maybe move to Portland where the mayor is eager to build stadiums the city doesn't want. (OOOHH, ZING! Yay for local politics references!)

We've had our share of visitors lately. Yesterday, Wendell showed up hungry as ever but I didn't fork any food over. I didn't have time to find room for another pattern.
Pascal dropped by earlier and I finally remembered to give him a scallop!

Of course he gave me an item I already had cataloged. But I always like following his path down to the ocean.


Mostly because it's fun to throw rocks at him.
Pete dropped by and continued telling about his creepy love affair with Phyllis.

I smell a restraining order in the future.
And Saharah stopped by with her carpet scam. Damn her! I was able to mooch 3 old floorings off my neighbors. Three! Most times I can't even get one! And what does she give me? Two mosaic tiles and a shanty mat. I'm not kidding. Screw her. She's not welcome back to Alleria.

And true to her word, Deena packed up and left.

That leaves Alleria with one duck. Back to a safe level. Even if it's the terrible Mallary.
Deena's good-bye letter left me feeling a little guilty that she was another casuality of the Alleria Duck Hunt.

Gah! Why must these always be so sad?! Farewell Deena. I hope to see you again too. As long as you aren't living here.
And even before the dirt had settled, I was already looking to recruit somebody to fill the open spot. And look who I spotted wandering the city!

EEEEEEEEE! It's Chevre!
Oh, what I would give to be graced with her presence in Alleria. *Sigh* She's so darling. (Can you tell? I love Chevre!)

Phew. Looks like everything is caught up. Before I wrap this up, I'll leave you with my favorite thing. Some of my favorite recent quotes from neighbors.

Um, what?

Yeah. Being stanky makes you irresistible, Mallary. Sure.

Deena and Rhonda in the War of Who's News Was More Boring And Unimportant. Maybe that's why Deena left. She was kind of boring and unimportant....

Hahahahahahaha. Yeah Teddy. It probably is the sweatpants.

No silly dialouge here. I just like the picture. Looks like I'm about to fall in.