Ohhh...Just A Little Skunk Story!

(maryjill)

        I ask you...Is there anything 'cute' about a skunk?!...I know you're probably thinking "No!" But I have a 'cute' skunk story to tell you. And it just happened the other night.

        Before I tell you about it though....Come on! You knew I wasn't gonna just tell you about it, didn't you?!!! LOL...let me answer my own question about whether there's anything 'cute' about a skunk....Well, 'I'm' not gonna answer it. Some Etsians are gonna answer it!! :-]

       FreckledHound, you clearly know that sometimes skunks can be 'cute'! :-)

        This vinyl skunk wall decal is so 'cute'!!...It reminded me of a certain skunk cartoon character from my youth....Pepé Le Pew!!...Oh! Amore!! :-) {Funny how the brain just holds on to stuff! LOL}

      BabbidgePatch knows that skunks can be 'cute' too!

     Couldn't you see your little guy in this Little Stinker Skunk Hat?! :-)

     

         And Oh!! I don't think a skunk can get 'much' cuter than the the one LadiesWhoKill took a photo of!!

        Just think, you can have this 'cute' skunk print up on the wall in your nursery, or your little ones 'big girl' or 'big boy' bedroom!...I'd put it in my bathroom....Just saying! LOL It would be perfect there, right?! ^_^

      Okay, I'll tell you the story now. :-) .....You know how usually when you see a skunk you're all like "YIKES!!" and "EEK!!",...no doubt with the idea that he's gonna spray you with his 'stink gas' and you'll have an almost impossible time getting it off before you have to go to Grandma's house or to work the next day?!!...

     (dimdi)

       It's a legitimate fear too, and the details of their defense mechanism prove it! Did you know that skunks have two glands, one on either side of their...Ummm...'hiney parts'...that produces a mixture of sulfur-containing chemicals such as methyl and butyl thiols?
         I 'know' you know that it has a highly offensive smell! In other words....'Peeeee....You'!! ^_^ The smell has been described as a combination of the odors of rotten eggs, garlic and burnt rubber! Wikipedia says the odor of the fluid is strong enough to ward off bears! No kidding?!.....Maybe I need to get some more skunks in the backyard!! ^_^ Then again...I don't want hubby getting sprayed by accident while he's out there taking down and putting up the hummingbird feeder at night, while he's trying to avoid the wasps in the daytime!! O_0
       Two facts about skunks could make hubby's getting sprayed a high probability too...One, they can't see very good. Anything more than 10 feet away (3 meters) they can't see that clearly. {That's why they're so vulnerable to getting killed in traffic!}
      And two, they have a really good sense of smell and hearing. So, they are really accurate with that spraying thing! In fact, they're able to accurately spray up to 10 feet (3 meters)! Yep! What they lose in sight, they make up for in spraying ability!!...And that spray can cause more than just irritation, stinky skin, and stinky clothes that you can't wait to get off!!....{and a smell that can be detected by a human nose up to a mile downwind!} It can cause temporary blindness!!!...the little 'cuties'!! ^_^

(artwallproject)

       And herein lies the rest of the story! My girlfriend and her husband and kids were all sleeping about midnight when they started hearing some banging...over and over again...outside their apartment. When they went to investigate this is what they saw!...Yep! She gave me the video to share with you all!! :-)

      Do you believe that?!!....Poor little cutie!!...


      After I stopped laughing, I started wondering about whether or not his "problem" was ever fixed!! ^_^ Then I looked at some other videos on Youtube and realized.....THIS IS A REGULAR SKUNK OCCURRENCE!!! LOL
       As you might have figured out by now, my girlfriend and her family DID NOT try to fix his "problem"!!! ^_^ Hopefully he 'banged' his way to a solution, or had some little 'cute' girl skunk come along and help him out!....Hey! Pepe' Le Pew would've helped his girl companion out!!! ^_^

Eyes

We take our eyes for granted
until some 'boo boo' mars our view.
Then we find ourselves short-sighted
with less things that we can do.

The thought of losing sight,
and seeing life just like before,
is scary, and can shake our confidence
right to the core.

To make our eyes feel better
we would do most anything.
Some eye salve or a hot pack,
even ointments that will sting.

To, every day, appreciate
the eyes that help us see
(and keeping those sharp objects
out of their proximity),

That's what we should be doing,
give those 'Peepers' some respect!
Especially since they get it
when we're sticking out our neck.

How Did I Spend My Time During Hurricane Irene?!

      'Irene' is gone. Today, I'm back to doing what I really like to do...Gab! ^_^ I don't know why I didn't pay more attention in English class in High School when the teacher was telling us all the ends and outs of being a serious writer. As much as I like to talk, I might've been able to make a 'go' of writing!...But then my crocheting would be considered a hobby. O_0 Nah! Never mind....I like things the way they are! 
         All jokes aside though, I do get a twinge of 'Serious Writer' envy every once in a while. But then I try to read writer's blogs and I think: "What are they talking about?"...The 'true writers' world seems to me to be a place where just 'gabbing about yourself' is NOT COOL!...And since I'm not into making up stories about weird dysfunctional disfigured people that live in basements and eat children for breakfast....my writing is not viable subject fare either! LOL
      The good thing about my writing is that I never get writer's block! ^_^ I'm always me...everyday. And there's always something on my mind! That doesn't mean that it's something earth-shattering...or interesting even,...but it's always 'something'! LOL
       For instance, what did I do with my time during the 'hurricane'/'tropical storm'/'breeze' of 'Irene'? Well, mostly...I waited for it!...And while I waited, I listened to and watched waaaaay too many weather reports!!

     My mother-in-law and my husband were like nervous cats most of the time. My husband was going from room to room 'finding' things to do, like putting his ear-phones on and off, and announcing what was left in the fridge to eat. ^_^ In fact, he may have been responsible for all of us eating until we were like swollen ticks sitting around hoping that 'Irene' was really bad, and the power went out, so we would have an excuse {like: 'the food might go bad if we don't eat it'} as to why we ate so much!!
      Ma kept asking over and over questions like: "Is there anything I can be doing for you guys?"..."You want me to wash that?!"....Uhhhhh Ma, yes there is something you can do.....Please sit down and relax yourself!!!" O_0 Thankfully she finally just decided to go to sleep. In fact we all may have taken a 2 or 3 hour "nap" at one time or the other. :-)
       Surprisingly, I didn't sleep much though. I had music...which I made Ma and hubby listen and 'kinda' dance to. :-) I also had games. Scrabble was my game of choice for us 'shut-ins'...I forced hubby to play with me {actually I had to force him to play with me two times! The first game was ended abruptly, and all of the tiles put back in the box {by a bratty spouse, who shall remain nameless, who insisted on the other spouse's full attention to the game...or the tiles would be put away!!! LOL And 'said' spouse didn't pay attention to the warning!! ^_^}
       {Oh Yeah, and 'said' spouse...won the second game, which was played with full attention!! ^_^.....I hear you saying: 'You're so bad!'....You're right. I'm slapping myself on the back of my 'winner's' hand right now!!! ^_^}
       When I saw on the weather report that hurricane 'Irene' was in New York, but that because she was so big...500 miles wide...part of her was already in our state of Massachusetts, I sent hubby out to the backyard to take some footage of what was going on. Be prepared for the drama!!!

       Okay, so maybe it was too soon to be taking backyard footage. ^_^ ...I had to find something else to do with my time. This was when the 2nd Scrabble game was initiated. Hubby wanted to play this time, but who knew Scrabble could be 'this' time-consuming?!...especially since playing Scrabble with a man who likes to think about every potential word in the world that can be played...for every turn of his!!!...UGHHHHHH!...was what was happening!

          I entertained myself in between turns by taking pictures of his 'groom-needing' eyebrows...YIKES!!...

         ...I just figured out what I can do when we finish playing Scrabble!! LOL...Where are my tweezers anyway?...And the 'weed-wacker'?!! O_0 {I'm so glad he has a good sense of humor...although you can't tell from these photos. He was in full concentration mode at this point and didn't even realize I was taking pictures! LOL}
       Well....it was 'take pictures of his bushy eyebrows' or of these...

        BEHOLD!!!....The benefits of having a 'hurricane shut-in buddy' who works for a snack cake company!! ^_^ {And he gives out all kinds of fun facts about the snacks too. Like, did you know that each Hostess cupcake has exactly 7 little icing swirls?}...As a side note, if you want to make some snack cakes of your own that are Hostess cupcake inspired...

         ...you can go to bouffe e bambini's blog...

           ...She just put up some wonderful photos...(This is only two of them.)...And you can get the easy recipe HERE too!
         A little later on, when 'Irene' was suppose to be HERE, the backyard looked like this....

      ...Sorry. :-( There really wasn't much to see in our area...at least not while it was light enough outside to video it. The wind did pick up quite a bit during the night, but the only damage we got was to hubby's purple sunflowers. They're still there...but not standing. They're all flopped over, and 'willy-nilly' all over the backyard. They look like those people look after they've 'hit the wall' at the finish line of a marathon.

      If I can coax him into taking some pictures of them, I'll show you tomorrow. He's so upset about it though...it may not happen.
         Soooo...me gabbing, Irene meandering, Ma cleaning, hubby eating. All in all...and meaning no disrespect to those who got hit hard (my thoughts are definitely with you)...it was a fun 'Wug' weekend!! ^_^

       What did you do for the weekend?! {By the way, let me remind you that tomorrow is the last day you can enter the giveaway for the scarf. If you haven't entered...or you just want to enter again...click here for rules. No worries. They're really simple.}...Now what?! Oh, I don't know. Perhaps a "nap"! :-)

A Little Doze'll Do You!

I enjoy my sleeping, and a doze,
a nap, and such.
In fact I might enjoy a snooze
entirely waay too much!

At any time of day,
you'll find me like a weeping willow.
Head hung low and dragging,
looking for the nearest pillow.

No, there's nothing wrong.
I'm not depressed. I've still got bounce!
And I can stay awake and be
quite witty when it counts!

But I have been awake for things
where I could have been asleep.
And now my time's so valuable
I don't treat it like it's cheap.

My sleeping, dozing, napping,
is to my life a special key.
It unlocks and refreshes
and dispels anxiety!

Most people try to fill up
every hour in the day.
But me, I'd rather be asleep
and waste it all away.

There's plenty hours left
for all the flit and play and chore.
An hour for a nap right now?!
Why not?! There's 24!!

Flooded With Stuff!!

           {Unless otherwise attributed, all flood photos in this post are via WWLP 22News}

            Today in our area the forecast is for "Plentiful Sunshine. High in the 80s"! It'll be a welcome sight considering the darkness and rain we've been having the last couple of days, thanks to 'hurricane Irene'. Grrrrr! We're glad to get rid of her!...Although I'm still feeling bad for people in her path now. I heard this morning, on the weather channel, that Vermont is having catastrophic flooding. :-(
       I think that's 'Irene's' middle name......Flood! Oooooo Whee!! The 'Big Girl' sure dropped a ton of water on everybody!! The sewage drains (header photo), rivers, streams, playgrounds, backyards, ponds and parking lots all over our area have had enough of her!!

        And she didn't just drop water. She dropped some trees and other stuff too!...

          I suppose that families up and down the east coast could share footage of Irene's travels, and her damage. But, personally, I'm thankful I don't have anything significant to report from my family! 
       Even though I have family and friends in North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont...all of the places Irene passed, as far as I know, everybody came through it just fine!!....That's GOOD news!!! :-) REALLY good news!!
        My mother-in-law came to ride out the storm with us...just in case. During the storm, her town had a lot of people lose power. She was glad she was here. So were we...Thankfully, when she went home last night, her power was on. 
        I thought part of the reason she was in a hurry to go home was because she would be fretting about the power going off. She has freezers full of food at her house. But when I said something to her about it she said: "If the power was off for a while it might do me a favor! I need to get rid of some of that freezer food. It probably has freezer burn and everything else by now!"
       I said: "Why? Has it been in there a while?"...She laughed and said that some of it has been in there since a couple of years after she got married!"....Ewwwwwwww! LOL She's been married for 45 years!!!!! WOW!! ^_^
      So, hopefully, since she doesn't have to go to her part-time job today...(She's a care-giver for pre-school children and babies),...she'll get to work on that freezer! LOL I'm sure part of the time she'll be outside, feeding all the stray cats in the neighborhood. :-]  That's just how she rolls!...Love you Ma!!! ^_^ ...I know she's not hungry! Her and hubby and I ate enough food and snacks to keep us full until the next hurricane comes back!! ^_^ 
      What?!!...A bit much?!....Well, we had to do something!!!... ^_^ ...besides listening to music and dancing, playing Scrabble, crocheting, and watching an inordinate amount of weather reports I mean! :-) We made the best of a bad situation...for sure!!....*burp!* Excuse me. :-]
      Today?!.....I'll be packaging up some sales!....Yep! I came online this morning and had sold....

       ...three brooches and a necklace!!! :-) I don't wanna speak too soon, but I think my new SEO fixing in my shop might actually be working! I'm getting more sales...and a lot more looks too! YAY!!! :-)
       Last, but by no means least, today is the first day of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament!!! :-) 

        These are some photos taken by Dale, of the blog Savvy Spice, at the beginning of the month, when Serena Williams and Marian Bartoli were about to play at the Bank of the West match  at Stanford University out in California. (You can see the whole post of her day at the match, and more photos, HERE.).....I don't know if these two are playing today, but, even if not, I'll be watching!!!! :-)
        Have a good day everybody!.....And I mean that!!!! :-) And to Hurricane Irene:..."You caused me all kinds of emotional trouble. Yes! I noticed what you were trying to do! I'm not a robot!!...and I'm still talking! Ha!!!... Here's a song dedicated just to you!!"

Ease,By Rhyme

To ease my mind,
I jot down a rhyme.

When forced to think,
my brain cells link.

With emotions on paper,
anxieties taper.

With the flow of my pen,
I'm  at peace again.

And to jot down this rhyme,
brought ease to my mind.

Is 'Irene' Pushing Out "Wacky Gas"?!!!

      It's 12:28p.m....Yes I am UP!!! LOL It's so tough trying to be patient and wait when there's a 'Big Girl' hurricane like Irene breathing down your 'hormonally hot-flashing' neck!!! LOL
      Thanks to a fellow 'hunkered-down' Facebook buddy I now have a new site to stare at while I'm tracking 'Irene'. That's a screen shot of it earlier today in the header photo. You can click HERE to see where the 'Big Girl' is now.

     I was glued to watching this screen while 'Irene' was meandering past North Carolina, because my sister-in-law and her family live right in this area!!...She called us after the worst part was past. They didn't get hit too badly because they live on the innermost section of where she was passing. They got rain and wind, but no more than other bad storms they've had. So they were good.
      She was more worried about us I think. And worried about mom. She's my hubby's sister. Living far away from your relatives during crisis times can be hard. We were worried about mom too. O_O  So we 'talked her into' coming to stay with us until after the storm passes. She's all alone in the house now that my father-in-law is in the facility.
       I think she was wondering what all the 'hoop-la' was about! {That's what happens when you have a T.V., but you don't turn it on for days on end!!!! *smh*} But when she got here and sat down and  looked at the weather channel with me her eyes got big! She had no idea!!...Right now she's safely tucked in the bed in the other room, sleeping like a baby. For that matter...so is hubby!! LOL
      Why am I up doing a blog post, you ask?!...Because after dinner I took a little "nap", and now I'm WIDE AWAKE!!!!! LOL Thankfully it's too dark outside for me to know what's really going on out there. But who needs light outside anyway when they have the weather channel with updates going on every second?!!!! ^_^
      I'm almost glad that hubby and his mom are asleep though! The two of them are clearly 'cut from the same cloth'...so to speak.  They're 'as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs'!! {Okay...Southern Girl reference! LOL}...How do I know?!
     About 10:30p.m. hubby proceeded to announce that he was going to take a shower...Huh?! O_0 Well, apparently he's concerned that the power is gonna go off before he's clean enough to sit in the dark!! LOL But what's funny is that he went into the bathroom to take a shower...but then came back out with different clothes on, announcing that he had to take the garbage out!...O_0
     Apparently after getting into the tub and getting ready to turn the water on to take his shower...before he turned on the water, mind you!...he remembered that the garbage needed to go out because it might start to smell. So, since he didn't want his mother to be stinked to death, he just had to take it out...NOW!!!
      When the garbage was safely out of the house, he went back into the bathroom to take his shower...Then, as I was on the phone talking to my girlfriend...who is hunkered down with a house full of nervous kids...I noticed my mother-in-law going into the bathroom where my husband was taking a shower!!! O_O Yikes!!!
      Before I could say anything, she came back out, smiled at me, and proceeded to go into the other bathroom....WOW!! Did she forget what the sound of shower water was?!....Apparently YES! She doesn't have a shower in her house! She has a tub with the old time feet....she loves it too!...I figured hubby was 'none the wiser'. He didn't know he was even in potential 'naked danger'! ^_^
      Well, I was wrong!! ^_^ When he came out of the bathroom...all clean y'all!..., he looked at me and gave me the 'what is going on around here?' face! Then.....mimicking it like Marcel Marceau...he reenacted his mother's coming into the shower and how he wanted to say something, but he didn't know if she knew it was him, so he was trying not to look in her direction, and then she left!! LOL Ohhhhh! Too funny!!!!!! ^_^
      I reminded him that he had been funny himself earlier tonight too...with the garbage thing, AND with the medication thing!...I almost forgot to tell you about that...He took his 8:00 a.m. pill that's only suppose to be taken once a day, at 10:00 p.m.!! This was the second time today he took it!!!! He took it by accident when he was suppose to be taking his regular 10:00 pill! *smh*
     We had to call the Pharmacist to make sure he was gonna be okay, because it was a BLOOD PRESSURE PILL!!!! UGH!!!! The Pharmacist said for him just to take it easy.....SURE-EEEE! No problem!! ^_^ Since he's been 'taking it easy already, showering and taking out garbage, he should be just fine!! *smh*...What's going on around here?!....Is  'Irene' pushing 'Wacky Gas' out ahead of her or something?!!! LOL
     Oh well...I guess we need to find something to keep our mind off of the 'Big Girl'!...For me it's tennis and The Weather Channel...until everything goes dark that is!...For hubby, he was outside earlier taking pictures of his flowers...just in case 'Irene' comes through with her big foot and steps all over them! ^_^

     His purple sunflowers even finally opened!...

       I hope 'Irene' doesn't mow them all down just as they decided to show off a little!

     Oh well...time will tell!....Okay, I'm gonna go to the bathroom...{Nobody better not be looking either!!! LOL}...and then turn off the T.V....maybe, and try to get a 'wink' or two of sleep. Hopefully you'll hear from me again on Monday! Night!! And Poetic Dreams!


Good To Be Alive

 Trouble breathing, bills galore,
family problems and all that jive.
I don't care how bad it gets.
It's good to be alive!

Jobs and money, your fair share,
of which you are deprived.
But even so, no matter how it goes,
It's good to be alive!

Migraine headaches, family loss,
careers you can't revive.
Oh yes, debilitating,
and yet, still you are alive!

Injustice, fearing the worst
because of planes that don't arrive.
And while some didn't make it,
for most it's good to be alive.

While trouble in this world
will long continue, grow, and thrive,
For those who see it's end
It will be good to be alive!!

If Tears Were Made Of Acid......... :-(

   (sparksoffire)

       I have a couple of things to talk to you about this morning. Neither one easy....Or good. :-( First, it's hurricane Irene...of course! We're indoors, hunkered down, watching weather report after weather report. 

 (WWLP22News)

          ...And it's not looking good! O_O Right now our area is worried about torrential rains and flooding from Irene more than anything it seems.

     The Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, on Friday declared a state of emergency and put all kinds of things into play to protect people. WWLP22News quoted him as saying, during a press conference: "We expect this to be a powerful and potentially dangerous storm." 
         Thankfully 'Angry Irene' (that's what they're calling the 'Big Girl' this morning) is expected to be downgraded to at least a Category 1 hurricane by the time it reaches 'the Bay State' (that's Massachusetts' nick-name). 

           But because of her size, and the speed she's traveling, she's still gonna be pretty dangerous. 

          In fact, Officials are still warning residents to stay home this weekend and “prepare for the worst,” forecasting downed power lines and trees, flooding and strong storm surges along the coast.
         Hubby and I are holding our breath already because his sister and family live in North Carolina, and they're getting pounded right now. We told his sister to call us after it passes...which could be a while yet...so we can know she's okay. O_O His niece and her family were gonna go and stay with his sister and her husband last night...in fact, she was waiting for her to get there when we talked to her...so they could ride out the storm together.
       And after moving the hummingbird feeder out of the tree...YIKES! (I'll share that video I mentioned yesterday with you at another time)...and moving the barbecue and the patio furniture into the house this morning, then hubby has to go over and pick up his mother. She's gonna come and stay with us until the storm passes. We had to STRONGLY INSIST!!...She was thinking it wasn't probably gonna be that bad....WHAT?!!!! UGH!...but she also hasn't been watching weather reports!...No problem. I've been watching enough for both of us!!! ^_^
        I've already got things on my mind to worry about today. I didn't want my mother-in0law to be another one!!

 (sparksoffire)

         And herein lies the hardest thing to tell you today...There was a murder in my family this pass week. My sister, a foster mom, lost one of her daughters to a random shooting. I'm not going to get into the details because the person, or persons who did this were not caught...yet...and it's still under investigation.

      Suffice it to say...there has been a lot of tears shed this week, and a lot of worry and emotions that hurricane Irene's coming could not even phase!! :-(

      She was 16 years old, and was 'looking forward to getting out of High School early so she could look forward to going to College', my father said...Whether that ever happened or not, she did not deserve to die the way she did.

      The paper referred to her as a 'juvenile female'. I knew what they meant. That she was not an adult. But my father was very upset at the wording. He initially thought they were trying to say she was a 'bad' girl...After I assured him that it was just 'Official Speak' he felt better. But the whole thing got me to thinking about what any mother, father, sibling, or family member would say about their child if... :-( ...their life was randomly cut short.

      Would you talk about the fact that they smelled like bubble gum most of the time because they always had a wad in their mouth?! Would you talk about how when they giggled at breakfast one time, and milk shot right out of their nose? Would you talk about how they loved certain songs so much that every time you thought of them you could hear the song playing as if they walked around with background music?

      Well, those kinds of things are the things my family will hopefully be thinking about...after the shock of her death sinks in, and we're able to get past the total unfairness of it all. :-( ....In the meantime, it's a good thing that tears are not made of acid....and that love doesn't literally die when a child's heart stops beating.

Murder Took A Child

Our family lost a child today.
A loving heart, just now sixteen.
As to her schooling...smart and wise.
As to experience of life...still green.

I'm thankful tears are not like acid.
because the burn to us who've cried
would corrode a million planets.
And still we'd miss our girl who died.

I know that death was not God's plan.
And that our grief was not his choice.
I know he wouldn't approve of murder,
nor steal from life a young one's voice.

I know he sees and knows who did it.
And left with 'HIM' will be revenge.
It's not the time for "Ifs" and fury.
The thought of that just makes me cringe.

We'll speak of her, and what she wanted,
which included College...free!
An early exit from her High School;
continued love from family.

They'll be a space now at the table.
Events where she won't take a part.
But still a space for every giggle,
in everyone's memory, and their heart.