Wee Hour Wanderings

My job is often stressful, but there are several periods through the year when the stress ratchets up. About three weeks' worth of those stressful times are made up of 13+ hour days; today I need to be at work at 6:30 a.m., and if it's a really, really good day, I'll walk in the door at 8:00 tonight. So waking up from nerves and whatever else at 2 a.m. is charming, just the gooey butter cream frosting on the cake. Did one of the tasks I'd brought home for the weekend, then decided I'd do a quick post. I suspect it'll be at least a week before the next one because of time constraints (and utter exhaustion; by day's end I'm lucky to be able to string three words together coherently). I've done this enough times it shouldn't stress me out, but it always does...and I'm one of those people who gets teary when exhausted, so I'm praying today is smooth as silk.

Fall is creeping closer. Everything has that blowsy look I often refer to as 'stayed a little too late at the party'. Mama Nature looks a little tired; her mascara is smudged, eyes bloodshot, hair a tad tangled. She needs a good long nap (mmm....sleep sounds delicious right now!), a shower, a strong cup of coffee (I'll share a cup of my Dean's Beans Ring of Fire), a gentle walk on a cool, crisp day. But she parties on, storing up those good times like a squirrel with a new-found hickory tree. Meanwhile I'm looking for the door, ready to blow this popsicle stand, daydreaming about crackling fires, burnt oranges and maroons, pulling out the wool for knitting, spinning & felting again, making soups, lounging about in fleece, cozy group snuggles on the couch with Linda and both dogs & Pip.

Pip is just a couple ounces shy of 4 lbs!!! She's five months old now, and much smaller than she should be, but growing steadily. She's fearless, assumes the world is her catnip toy (this includes our ponytails, Yeti's paws, Lola's tail....) and an incredibly loving kitten. When she sleeps, she positions herself so she's touching both Linda and me. She purrs on contact, and is never happier than when getting into mischief or falling asleep between us on the couch. We love her to pieces, so much so that Linda just acquired cat tv (aka, an aquarium). Yes folks, we now have 'rescue fish'. The neighbors are moving and downsizing in preparation for doing some world travel in another year. Daughter couldn't bring her tropical fish to the new home/new life, so she waylaid us in the driveway yesterday afternoon, and 24 hours later, we became fish owners. Linda had tropical fish while living in Thailand as a teenager, and is tickled pink to take the hobby back up. That brings the count to 2 dogs, 5 cats, 3 chickens (soon to be 5 as we're taking a couple of the neighbors' chickens in the next couple of weeks), and about a dozen fish. Please note: the inn is full!  No vacancy. Really.

So....wishing you all a gentle week with happy surprises and the promise of good things to come.