Hermy

We are all back from our various Spring Break adventures. Emily went off to Virginia to visit with Tom and then went up to PA to visit Nanny and Grandad and then had a hotel weekend in Philadelphia to visit with Gaga and Papa. Lisa and Mark arrived in PA and picked up a Hertz truck to pack up the business and move it on down to Kentucky. After a successful business move and a wonderful dinner with their new shippers they went on a brief road trip through Tennessee. More to come on that trip since we have photos. The whole Cabrelli family had a very restful break.

We have now fallen back in to our comfortable routine of Monday night football, The Wee Free Men and weekend mornings reading in bed. Unfortunately we have not been able to enjoy our back patio over the last few weeks as the wind has just been too strong and it impossible to sit out there without getting drenched by waves bursting over the sea wall. Lisa hasn't even been able to vacuum the pool.

Anyway - the subject of this post may possibly be spelled wrong. We will have to confirm with Emily when she gets home from school but... the story of Hermy.

We have been having some serious problems with the concrete paving stones out on our front patio. They had all been pushed up and were loose and uneven. Last week we had some workers in (including our favorite handyman Chris) to remove the stone tiles and re-pave the patio. Chris soon found out what the problem was - some very large and very active hermit crabs were making their homes in the ground underneath our patio and actually pushing up the stones as they tunneled. Chris collected them all in a pot which you can see below. We decided to release them all in the cushy grass by the palm tree in the back garden and let Emily keep the smallest two. Emily created a temporary home which Chris assured us they would not be able to escape from - well they escaped in to Emily's bedroom while she slept. No problem, we located them cuddling with her stuffed animals the next day and back in to the container they went for Mark to watch over while Emily was at school. Mark didn't do such a great job. The big one escaped again (from underneath a lid of a pile of newspapers and Mark's big sneaker). Only Hermy remains - named as such after the Harry Potter hero Hermione and shortened to Hermy for "hermit crab".

Emily and I are off on a shopping trip tonight to look for a glass tank to keep her in.