And So It Goes

This cool, foggy morning Buddy and I are ensconced but that will not be for the whole day. This has pretty much been an ensconced week, keeping to myself and staying close to home. Of course the addition of potential gas shortages and being conservative might have contributed to feeling the need to just settle down for a week. It might be getting ill from supper the other night too. No, this week being one of those times when nothing in particular is scheduled in pen but in pencil. At the beginning on next week Irma is to skirt or have an impact upon our area. Being no stranger to tropical storms and hurricanes, I have finished up any prep that needed to be taken care of...except one thing. I have been procrastinating getting the gutters cleaned out. So clearly, my mind has not been in the gutter. Waiting on some return calls but I'm miffed with myself that this chore was procrastinated on being scheduled by me.

Being home quite a bit this week has made me notice something else. Buddy is really feeling her age. Oh, we played this week and she has spent a lot of time in my lap. She follows me around the house just as if she were a dog but something jolts her to remember, she ain't no dog but a cat. With the past few nights being cooler, she has resumed her fall to winter behavior of needing to sleep near or on top of me. Oh, the purring does not disguise that she is just using me for warmth. I also have resorted to lacing Buddy's water with a clear, tasteless laxative to help her with any issues. It is a joy to report said lacing is working.

In my quest of retaining the title of Crazy Squirrel Lady of Buncombe County, I resorted to putting Vicks Vapo Rub not only on the bird feeder pole but along the top of the deck railing and parts of the tree used for easy exits. This week I discovered a portable rocking chair had the arms chewed upon by the squirrels. Out to the road with it and someone picked it up and gave it a good home. The other morning I heard a grinding metal sound...the squirrel was biting the iron, heavy iron of one of the chairs around the fire pit. So chairs got vapo rubbed too. I used latex gloves but the slight aroma of Vicks stayed with me throughout the day. Since I was out in the yard and I have seen ticks this year, I also used some tick repellent spray that really smells good because it is made with essential oils. As the work needing to be done wore down the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should apply more fox urine in the area. Ah the trifecta of fragrance layering, Vicks, No Ticks and Fox Urine. That Roy, he is such a fortunate man to be married to the Crazy Squirrel Lady of Buncombe County.

Roy and his group continue working on the time they'll spend at Louisiana Tech later this month. They are speaking in three accounting classes, participating in a meet and greet social and then returning the next week for interviews with the graduating class. Being all math like and everything I keep giving him titles for the classroom talks, like...Accounting, Don't Let This Happen To You, Accounting, Somebody Has To Do It, Why Not You and a few other choice titles. None of them have appealed to him...so Accounting, Gets Rid of Humor or Accounting, The Introverts Dream Job. My favorite title I have offered is this, Find A Million Dollar Exception At The Beginning Of The Week So You Can Take The Rest Of The Week Off. (my accounting claim to fame) To end the talk, the whole class could join in singing What's Sarbane Oxley Got To Do Got To Do With It, the much loved rewritten song of Tina Turner's, What's Love Got To Do With It. I started giving him these titles when Roy called at an ungodly time of the morning yesterday and thankfully for him, Buddy had just started waking me up a minute before his call.

Yesterday was a very good day for bunny sightings. The youngest bunny foo foo is adept at staying camouflaged by ground cover till it gets down here for the bird seed on the ground. The now teenager bunny foo foo still comes on a regular basis but I believe I have seen some eye rolling in my direction. Think granny bunny is preggers again but she still has the moves and can hop and run with the best of them.

I made a trip over to Ingle's to get some cilantro yesterday. Made a quick run through the store to see if there might be anything else I am missing or on sale. There was an older couple in the store, probably from New York by the way of Florida and now in WNC. He would say something and the wife would respond, what? I can't hear you! He would talk louder and she would respond again, I can't hear you! It finally got to the point he is yelling something about picking up bread and she responds, well you don't have to yell, I'm not deaf! I had to get away cause I was laughing. Next stop was Publix to pick up some of their soup. It is so good and yes, the same couple was there in Publix and did a repeat of their Ingle's conversation. Then like all good North Carolinian, I topped off my tank right after news of the governor's press conference. I beat the rush by two minutes. The Shell station was packed with lines.