We now have 6 bucks frequenting the yard - Arthur, Lear, Midas, Captain, Val, and Spike.
A couple days ago, I glanced out the back window in time to see a skunk ambling his way to the wood pile and disappearing underneath it. I have named him Pierre. He's a big dude with a little giddy-up in his step, like one of his back legs is ouchy. We've never seen a skunk here in the neighborhood. Smelled one a couple times down near the river, but never even smelled one up here - including Pierre. (We had the windows open, so we definitely should've smelled something.) As long as Pierre doesn't cause us any problems, he's free to live under the wood pile. Hell, if he doesn't stink, he may have been living under that pile for years without us knowing. If he starts causing problems, we'll find a way to encourage him to move elsewhere.
I don't know why this never occurred to me until I saw Pierre, but Pepe le Pew is a French skunk with a Spanish name. Maybe Pepe hails from the Spain/France border. Perhaps he's Basque. :chortle:
Yesterday, I made applesauce bread. This time I put diced apple in there. Yummers.
Thanksgiving is a week from today. Feel free to panic. I know I am. I haven't even gotten a turkey yet. It's always just the two of us for holidays. I feel bad for my family up in Michigan. No one is coming to Mom's for Thanksgiving this year. I mean, my one sister who lives close will be there, but she's always there, so while it's nice, it's not special. My brother and other sister won't be coming with their families for the big special family gathering. Sad. Gah, I just realized that also shits out Mom's yearly shopping trip with my sisters. Every day-after-Thanksgiving, it's a family tradition for the gals to go Christmas shopping. (Not 'Black Friday' style shopping. No getting up early, no stress. Just a nice trip with the girls. I used to go, too, but I live too far away now.) Double sad. =o(
I'm trying really hard to not let all of this crap get to me. This really has been a shit year, though. Nothing hugely horrible has happened. We're all still alive. It's just a constant droning of pain in the background - like that one bone you broke years ago that still hurts when the weather gets bad. Sometimes you can forget about it or ignore it, but it's always there, waiting to flare up and hurt like the dickens. It's either a constant ache or the fear of more pain to come. Yep, that's what this year has been.
And on that cheery note, I'll let you get back to your day. Hang in there, everybody. :hugs:
Huge hugs! Yay for the bucks and for Pierre. We have a big ol' skunkers wander through occasionally to nibble on the cat food and get a drink. His stripes form a wide V on his back. He shuffles along when he's full and seems intelligent enough to stay out of the backyard.
ReplyDeleteWe have a "ghost" dog that keeps showing up. We know where he lives but he somehow "transports" into our backyard. Boone and Jake aren't too fond. More on that come my Monday update.
No heater for the past couple of days. Yay! I'm all for saving on the utility bills. Sadly, though, the wind has been whipping up the plains (from the south). Lots of grassfires and more branches falling.
We normally do T-giving at the BiL/SiL's with them and her family--which is large. They've decided that they're just going to nest in with the two of them. She has health problems so we totally support this decision. I need to check with Only to wee what they've got going on. My dining room table is now LG's office so if we do something here, it'll be turkey sandwiches on the couch in front of the TV. 🤣 But then turkey sammiches are the best part of T-giving anyway. Well, them and pie.
I'm at 47K words so FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE will go over 50K. I have Christmas, then solve some crimes and get the Nightriders semi-involved before the big climax in the spring (or earlier) and an epilogue that includes...well, characters from a book before mine that's on a different timeline. 🤦🏼♀️
Roofers are working catty-corner and man, they are FAST! And surprisingly, not all that noisy.
Can you tell my life is totally boring if I'm updating you on the neighbor's new roof? At the moment, life consists of ignoring the news, getting the book done while considering what's next (I still owe HQN at least one more)...and, I just fell down a rabbit hole but in a good way. As I was writing the above, I got an idea. I wrote it down on my white board so I wouldn't forget it. And then three of the Tate brothers started talking and I had to "transcribe" their conversation. Then Katherine Tate walked in and...I think I have at least a scene for Dillon's book. Yay.
Ahem. Where was I? Oh, yeah. I was in the process of wrapping this up because life is mostly boring but for the wind, writing, and critters. Hang in there, m'friend. Try not to let all the crap get you down. It's hard, because...me too! Later, tater. 🥰