Yet Another Useless Talent for the Cat Lady

So, for the second time in my adult life, I had a metaphysical experience regarding clairvoyant visions and movie quotes.  I will tell both stories but let me explain a little about myself first: concerning the paranormal, I don’t have a psychic-sensitive bone in my body. My team calls me the “ghost repellant”  as nothing from the other side wants to have anything to do with me most of time, children and animals representing the majority of my personal experiences on cases.

I do, however, consider myself to be a spiritually passionate person. I meditate to clear my head, prepare for my day/week, and wind down at the end of the day (still takes 100 mg of Seroquel to put me down for the count) but that’s neither here nor there. We are here to discuss psychic visions and how they apply to everyday life (which is not at all; I apparently am only psychic when absolutely nothing important is at stake and I am completely alone, without a witness to collaborate the experience).

And speaking of experiences; the first one goes something like this…

It was 2004 or 2005, I was cruising solo in my little bungalow on Kossuth Street and had just gotten out of the bath. I shrugged on my fluffy, blue bathrobe and grabbed the only towel in the washroom (which happened, as it were, to be of the bath sheet variety. As in very big). I put it on my head turban-style and headed down the hallway toward the kitchen. Now, I don’t have a full length mirror in my hallway (or anywhere for that matter) but for some reason I imagined what I must look like walking through the hall in my fluffy robe, slippers, and ginormous towel on my head. And I think of Ferris Beuller and his famous day off. Remember when he’s sluffing around the house, waiting for Cameron to come pick him up, despite whatever his diastolic must be? He’s all like: “I got a day off here and time’s a wasting. Guess I’ll get dressed an go play the clarinet.”  So I’m walking down the hall and to no one what-so-ever, I say out loud: “’I don’t believe in Beetles, I just believe in me.’ John Lennon said that. He was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off of people.” 

The entire time I was talking, I had this overwhelming feeling of déjà vu (normally, déjà vu can be easily explained as the brain is simply misfiling brand new information as “memory”. Except when it can’t. This time there was something different going on; like someone was playing me like a tape recorder. And as quickly as the feeling came over me and I spoke out loud, it left and I felt fine again. Went back to my room to get dressed. It was my first day off in about 17 days and I was itching to crawl back in bed with my little kitty cat and nap the day away. As I was putting on clean pj’s, I stumbled (‘magine that) and stepped on the television remote. I had an older tube television in my room back then so the sound came on first and the picture followed about 30-45 seconds later once the power button on the ancient remote was pushed. As I am picking myself off the floor *sigh* I hear Mr. Broderick say the following phrases: “’I don’t believe in Beetles, I just believe in me.’ John Lennon said that. He was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off of people.” 

That eerie feeling I’d had moments before returned like a blow to the solarplexus and I almost became ill for a second. My head pounded and my tummy got a rumbly. I bent down to pick up the remote I’d stepped on and pressed the power button again. Nothing happened. So I walked to the TV and shut it off. The queasy feeling left once again and I was left alone to my confusion about what had just transpired. One of the first things I realized was that nothing like this had ever happened to me before. The second was the fact that that channel should not have even came on at all. Because I only had basic, basic cable (it was all I could afford on my own; I didn’t even have internet back then because it was too expensive), whenever the TV was off for more than a minute or two, the box reverted back to channel 4 (or was it 5?). It was the channel with local community 411 (and wanted criminals in the afternoon!) scrolling across the bottom, time and temp up in the right hand corner. But that wasn’t the channel that was on. I pushed the Power button on the TV once more as the remote had stopped wanting to work. Now I don’t know how much time had passed since the was turned off but while the picture went from dim and fuzzy to clear as it caught up with the sound, good ol’ channel  5 filled the screen . I hit the PRV button on the old console TV and the picture flipped back to TBS (which was channel  13 or 14, I can’t remember exactly) where Ferris was playing the clarinet, claiming he never had one lesson.

I let the feeling of being a player piano slide away slowly as I shrugged into a comfy sweatshirt and placed a towel over the pillow, my hair was still wet. At some point, as I struggled to empty my head, the towel had fallen off. In fact, I didn’t even find it until the next day as it somehow ended up under the bed. Snuggled in with kitty I, eventually, took my nap.

Over the years, that experience has stayed fresh in my mind like it was yesterday. That strange feeling of being watched and controlled or whatever still freaks me out a little. And I’m not a little disappointed that the one and only psychic experience I’ve ever had was so lame in content and usefulness. Oh well. Fast forward to present day: I’m sitting up on my porch and have been since 4 am. I guess the nap I had yesterday threw off my circadian rhythms. No bother. I spent the wee smalls playing fetch with my wild-ass Cassius. Funny story: I had to put him in time out twice in the past 12 hours for being a shit. It involves my taking his fetching wand and sitting on it until he calms down; usually works too! He lies there and takes his punishment almost like he understands growling and posturing don’t fly to well with mama.

So I’m sitting out here on my porch, listening to the birds chirp and waiting for the rest of the world around me to wake, playing Angry Birds. Cassius, his punishment long forgotten, begins to push and rub on my feet. He opens his mouth and starts rubbing his gums on my toes (cats do this to mark you as their special pet without having to pee on you) and shoving his fetching wand at me like “hey!  You gonna play with me or not? Rawwhaah rawahhhhhaaaaaahhhhh. Mreweeeeh. Meeeeehhhhh!”

“Not now, Cassius! Playing Birds!”

“Rawwhaah rawahhhhhaaaaaahhhhh. Mreweeeeh. Meeeeehhhhh!  Play! With! Me!”

“Unghhhhh. No."

“ Rawwhaah rawahhhhhaaaaaahhhhh. Mreweeeeh. Meeeeehhhhh!”

So I start thinking about the scene from Just Married where Ashton accidentally kills Brittany Murphy’s dog when he throws Baggs’ fetching toy out the window. The non-ground-level window. Whoops. And this feeling of déjà vu comes over almost immediately and I feel like a puppet for about 30 seconds (could have been longer but hard to say). The feeling quickly passed. I turned and grabbed my Powerade then drained it. I told kitty, “you’re name isn’t Baggs; it’s Cassie.” He replies with a whine-mreow  as I got up to go inside to fetch another water, opened the door and walked inside. Guess what’s on HBO, on the last channel I was watching over three hours ago. Guess which part of the movie was playing. Kutcher is coming clean on the 60 inch screen and telling Brittany how her dog really died. He had previously blamed a squirrel.

Whatever. I’m over it now but am still a little pissy that I can’t channel anything useful. I did, however write down two numbers that have been coming up a lot lately. Think I’ll try for the lottery next week. AS soon as I conjure up a few more numbers, that is.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

There's a Zombie on your lawn

There's a zombie on your lawn.
This is our new garden zombie; his name is Zed Head. Each morning, I come out to the front porch with my coffee and watch people commute and start their day. I wish I had a dollar for every laugh, photo, and frightened squeal Zed Head gets every day. A German Shepard even growled at him.
At first I was nervous about what the neighbors would say. I was afraid they would make me take him in (where he would surely fall prey to kitty-related douchebaggery in short order). But everyone in the neighborhood seems to like Zed, like they are proud to be Zed's neighbor.

Watching people react to Zed's life-like form appear to crawl through my brick red mulch has made what amounts to a couple really shitty days seem tolerable, even a little fun.

Prepping for draught or floods or zombies or whatever

Spur-of-the-moment garden project

So this is the project I took on after class today (it rained, my yard flooded).

I began a permanent water reclamation system.

Breaking shit

Barrel parts

Assembled Water Barrel

Water barrels blend in with the HVAC and junk

Huge puddle here today after an eave snapped from the weight of elevendy-billion sodden pine needles. Had to battle the flood with a small broom to keep the downstairs dry.

I now have a system capable of collecting, distributing, and storing 150 gallons of reclamation water with about one inch of rain.

And it's pretty

Walmart: A reputationin crisis

Walmart, the largest corporation on planet Earth, is once again taking steps to insure its employees are less likely to be compensated for anything other than hours worked at a nominal wage, adding stigma to the company’s already volatile reputation as an evil corporation. Walmart of Texas has voluntarily dropped out of the state’s workers compensation program due to rising costs of on-the-job injuries. The company will offer alternative benefits over which it will have full autonomy to deny or reduce award claims as it sees fit. According to Becca Aaronson of The Texas Tribune, the multibillion dollar conglomerate has joined 15% of employers in Texas who refuse to offer workers compensation benefits for employees who sustain injury or illness on the job through a state-monitored program; Texas is the only state in the union which allows their companies to abstain from these programs. Under the privately run (and completely self-governed) plan, Walmart workers who are injured in the workplace stand to lose almost $100,000.00 in recovery and compensation funds as compared to the state run system. PartnerSource, a company that designs private workers compensation programs for Fortune 500 companies in Texas, built the Walmart plan as a cost-saving initiative to eliminate employee fraud and “restore the balance between adequate benefits and employee accountability.” The April 2012 article goes on to highlight opponents’ views of the privately run systems as “a real threat” to businesses and employees elsewhere as CEOs scramble to cut cost costs across the board in order to compete. The decision by Walmart of Texas to, once again, cut funding for employee benefits is merely one of hundreds throughout the country, fueling the proverbial fire and enticing critics and advocates to act. Will the world’s biggest multinational corporation continue to deface itself in the public eye? How far is this company willing to push the envelope to pad its bottom line (Aaronson, 2012)?
In addition to the recent move in Texas, Walmart has lowered the amount of health insurance coverage full and part-time employees have access to while raising the costs of premiums and co-pays. In October of 2011, Walmart announced the changes to its employees’ benefits packages would take effect during the open enrollment period at a cost of nearly three times the inflation rate to the average Walmart employee. Salaried managers will continue to receive health insurance benefits on day one of employment yet hourly full and part-time employees are forced to wait six months to a year for access to decreased benefits at a much higher cost (Kim, 2011).
Walmart’s reputation took another serious blow in 2011 when lawyers representing countless female employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company. The original lawsuit, which was thrown out by the Supreme Court in July of last year, has since been replaced with an “armada” of detailed lawsuits grouping the plaintiffs in similar classes according to case. The lawsuit for the state of California alone has more than 90,000 current and former employees seeking restitution for discrimination and harassment.
“Joseph M. Sellers, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said the new lawsuit was specifically tailored to address the Supreme Court’s concerns. He said the plaintiffs were subject to the same decision makers and that there was some sort of overall animus directed at the women.
A California district manager for Sam’s Club said he had paid a female employee less than a male counterpart because the male manager “supports his wife and two kids,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit suggests that such attitudes were pervasive companywide. At a 2004 meeting of district managers, for instance, Thomas Coughlin, then chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, told the group that the key to their success was “single focus to get the job done. “Women tend to be better at information processing,” he said, according to the lawsuit. “Men are better at focus single objective.”
Regional Vice Presidents in California have been accused of paying female employees less than male counterparts due to the complications of “family commitment.” Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in this case are confident the new lawsuits address the concerns expressed by the Supreme Court which resulted in the original case’s dismissal. The vote on the matter was 5-4 in favor of the dismissal. Will the outcome of these lawsuits result in further hatred for the Walmart Corporation (Martin, 2011)?
The future of Walmart’s precarious relationship with the public remains to be seen. With great power comes great responsibility and public outcry over perceived atrocities seems to gain momentum with each shady move the company makes. However, in the end: money talks and that other thing does that other thing. As long as people continue to vote with their hard-earned dollars by shopping with Walmart, the powers that be have no reason to change their policies toward employee compensation and discrimination. Many argue that government intervention or the creation of a Worker’s Union will fix Walmart’s problematic image while opponents of both insist it will only add insult to injury, much like placing a Band-Aid on a broken leg. What does the future hold in store (no pun intended) for the Walmart Corporation? We wait with bated breath.

Aaronson, B. (2012, April 10). Walmart stirs concern over workers’ compensation system. The Texas Tribune.
Kim, S. (2011, October 21). Walmart Cuts Employee Health Care Benefits. ABC News-Blogs.
Martin, A. (2011, October 27). Female Wal-Mart Employees File New Bias Case. The New York Times.

Have to admit, it's getting better. It's getting better all the time

Wow. The past two weeks have been, for lack of a better phrase, amazaballz. We've come into a mountain of equement, more than we could ever hoped for, for investigating reports of the paranormal. And thanks to the biggest LPRS benefactors, we were able to afford to purchase the equipment. We have been cordially invited to join team members from Walbash Paranormal at Waverly Hills Sanitarium in the foothills of Kentucky this month.

A huge, HUGE, thanks goes out to James and Denny for deeming us qualified to participate in your investigation.I am sencerely hoping for an alliance of some sort developing between the premire and most experienced,well-trained paranormal investigators in the Greater Laffy Area. I think members of both groups could be very successful in the field and possibly be a part of ground breaking discoveries. What WE need is sponsorship in the form of trades as community partners in a limited capacity. Share and share alike. Mutually beneficial. What I wouldn't do to get envolved with new groups consisting of flag-ship hosts and resident experts, property owners, and researchers, vendors, and authors, and other businesses. I have so many wonderful ideas and plans in my head, they are a little so many that I loose track of them befor they make it to the page. The ideas that have made it so far (coupled with fact that life is not shitting all over us right now)are pretty good ideas and I hope they all translate well as they become realized. I have high expectations; I hope I'm not let down.

I spent the better part of my Spring Break from classes, digging in the dirt. Gardening is such a fantastic hobby. It gets me outside, gets me some much-needed exercise (was ill with a debilitating gut Demon for several days leading up to and including finals week). I had taken full spectrum antibiotics to combat an upper respiratory, sinus, and ear infections that had me running at about 60% capacity. I didn't take the necessary precautions of eating yogurt, cheese, and other probiotic foods and supplements. The result was agonizing pain and spasms thoughout my digestive tract that kept all my activities limited and difficult. The most mundane tasks became excruciating if not soley uncomfortable. The day I began to recover and resume some sort of normallacy, I shed tears of joy.

Catch-Up Time

Hello, Married With Kittiehs. Long time, no chitty. And I have no excuse for my lack of proper attention. None what-so-ever except that... Well, I along with my husband, am attempting to align all aspects of my/our life into some semblance of order in a universe that consists of pseudo-chaos most days. Each time I attain a small taste of victory, life leaves another steaming pile of poo on my back step (metaphorically speaking. Of course the cats like to present us with similar gifts of the tangible and stinky variety).

Josh and I, along side countless numbers of friends, family members, peers, and neighbors, are trying our best to better our lives, station-wise. My school work keeps me busy and challenged yet becomes exponentially difficult as the weeks race by. The flood damage in the basement is 95% complete but the renovation overhaul is pricey and inconvenient. Josh's health is improving all the time however, his team, and I do mean team, of physicians has yet clear him for workies. The red tape to keep the
lights on is borderline oppressive.

My school keeps me continually occupied and equally stressed. I remember, just a few short months ago, boasting to my classmates, peers, and mentors that I could take college level classes as a payed occupation and remain content and stress-free. I honestly cannot comprehend how those of you who manage to balance: school work, full or part-time jobs, children, and other obligations concurrently. I know I have the reputation of a frumpy disliker of children and I forget sometimes to give credit where credit is definitely due. Therefore I tip my proverbial hat to you ladies and gents collectively who succeed in pulling it off (or puffball ponytail, as-it-were). That having been said, let me warn you all that I will soon be hounding you for study dates and begging your company for working lunches. Thank you all in advance and to those of you that have helped me pick up my feet these last few weeks. I hope I get a chance soon to return the favors and provide something of use. Moving on to the condition of the house.

The contractor I hired last Summer to pour a slab of concrete meant to stave off minor, once-a-year flooding turned out to be completely incompetent. Made my previous contractor look like Ty Pennington. I requested that my back stoop be re poured at a 2.5% grade toward the slope of the driveway and away AWAY from the foundation of the house. He poured it in the exact opposite direction. That day it rained. The front corner of the basement, located directly under the back/main entrance of the house, was damp from the lamenent flooring, up through drywall, smootching the ceiling, down to the 2X4s. There was significant evidence of brief flooding throughout the basement along with a few standing puddles. I flipped the hell out and called up Damon-who-goes-by-"Red" and told him about the aquarium that plagued half my home. He said he would be by to fix it the second the sun rose the following morning. I did not hear from him again for 48 hours. In the meantime, it rained eight more inches and my friend Erin was furious due to a badly poured concrete slab in her backyard. A slab poured by Red the day before he did mine. And like my instructions for the work to be completed, he completely disregarded Erin's request for a level slab in which to install her kid's pool and a basketball goal. What she received was chunk of cement, at the wrong angle, in the wrong spot, not properly braced, with the wrong finish, and not a level square foot to be found. Now he's hiding from both of us. I got him to call back by threatening to call the union and report his illegal side-business. By the time the issue had been resolved at my house with a re pour that looked like hell and a completely ruined basement, Erin was getting phone calls from the concrete company. Red had put a stop on his personal check made out to the concrete folks for Erin's slab and they were coming for their property if she didn't pay up. Wait. What? Erin took Red to court over the concrete money he stole by cashing her check and stopping his own. My homeowner's insurance failed to cover contractual douchbaggery and the inspection I had could not lay the burden of guilt on my badly poured stoop.

The damage removal process has been expensive and time consuming. We tried very hard to salvage as much material as possible to save on costs down the road.The people we have working with us on the house are hardworking and trustworthy if not cheap. So far ,we have all the sub-floor plumbing in place
and have purchase two toilets and a tub with all the trimmings for our soon-to-be full and half baths. Our six month to one year plan involves a full conversation of the basement living space into an income property where Josh and I will live, opening up the main floor as a rental. The main floor is fully renovated and gorgeously decorated; I've come a long was since purple and metallic gold thanks to my straight guy with the queer eye (its okay, they're taking it back). I think my upper floor living space would make a lovely home for one to three people, if they're a good fit.

As I mentioned, Josh's condition is still improving. He rarely needs his O2 supplement and rarer still for more than 20 minutes give or take. Our first evening in Florida, Josh walked just over a mile and trodded further still the following days. The fresh air, warm temperatures, good company, and fun outings agreed with us both and collectively was just what the doctor ordered.However, the demo/reno taking place in the basement is spewing dust and gunk throughout the house, reeking havoc on two sets of human, six sets of feline, one set of reptile, and oodles of fishy lungs. I keep getting sinus infections that make maintaining my perfect attendance a challenge some days. The hot/cold snaps are confusing the local flora and fauna into all sorts of shenanigans that makes my eyes water and my nose a faucet.

Despite the aforementioned tribulations, Aunt Beckie is still asking "please, Jesus, leave a message at the tone" followed by "to leave a callback number, press 5." She swears she's not done yet and could she please have some more time; I see her as much as I can but not as much as I should. This business with the refinance for the house is absolutely exhausting. I could have a student loan cleared almost immediately and would abandon the whole stupid process if I could afford to loose $500 in earnest money. Correlating our tax information is a fret noir in its own right. Josh has more W-2s than we have cats and I have no idea what manner of tax bracket in which we Will fall. Our budding paranormal research group is doing just that. Budding and sprouting and scattering our best talent and good friends in the wind as army families are want to do.

Throughout our own personal hurdles, Aunt Beckie keeps powering on. Some days, when we visit, you wouldn't even know she's been ill. She's as tough a gal as I've ever known and motivates me to persevere. Even as she lays in her hospital bed, day after day, unable to move her legs, she encourages me to study hard, continue to live a healthier lifestyle, love my family with all my heart, and speak up for those who can't always speak up for themselves. I love spending time with you but would prefer to do it chilling on the couch while eating gluten free snacks and watching "The Simpson's."

I recently (read: last December) began the tedious task of refinancing my mortgage. I understand that the market is in the toilet and the credit crunch has elevated scruteny to a TSA level figurative molestation. There can be no secrets remaining between myself and my loan officer. Apparently, having a combined credit score of 795 and paying my mortage on time every billing cycle since my closing date almost twelve years ago has no bearing in obtaning a promissary note from my bank of 15 years for signing. I really want to bail on the whole project and go with a student loan instead but Chase already has 500 buck-a-roos of my cash, from a check I wrote at the tail end of 2011. What month is it again?

Our over-all financial situation is a total cluster-f**k. In addition to our bank account getting ransacked and our line of credit maxed out by a cyber-thief, we didn't get a check from Purdue (Josh's employer for over five years) for ten weeks. Purdue started paying Josh again shortly after threatening to cancel our health insurance unless we paid them almost $900. This was just in time to completely destroy the chance of having a simple and quickly processed tax refund in my favor. Not gonna happen now. Hopefully, the $20,000.00 in tuition paid will allow for some respite in that department.

Lafayette Paranormal Research Society is fantastic on all accounts aside from the fact our most promising talent is packing up and moving away on military assignment. We are currently seeking candidates to fill the void the left by the Barlow and Jacobs families. Our group is rooted in scientific theory and organized experiments designed to obtain measurable results. If your one wish is too sit in a dark room with candles burning around a Ouija board while chanting: our group is not for you. On the flip side, if you would like to work with a professional team, shoulder some of the workload, and learn how to handle equipment then shoot me a message. Let's get together and chat.

The good news is that the bullshit with our stolen cash and credit due to the cyber attack on our finances has been fully resolved. We received a certified letter in the mail announcing that the charges on our accounts were indeed fraudulent and they considered the matter closed. Well done on that one, Chase. Well done. One down and infinity to go. I can get through this with the support and friendship so many of you have showed me these many months. Again, I hope to show my appreciation to all who have offered to help. Am looking forward to spending Easter with my family. I can't wait for Jenn to bring her handsome beau home so I may greet him in Klingon and present him with gifts. We have some great stuff picked out so far. Bill and Connie will return from Florida soon and hopefully will be bringing Spring with them. Peace be with you. Thanks for reading.

Good Times (not the TV show from the '70's)

All of my weekends have been pretty interesting, if not fun, since I went back to school. For the first time since we've been married, Josh and I get to relax and go on adventures together, sometimes a mixture of both. This past weekend was a lot of fun and fairly random. Next weekend promises to be eventful, as well. I can't wait!

On Friday, Josh and I hosted a meeting for full-time L.P.R.S. members, during which my mind was officially blown. Members of our group found the most phenomenal and unique piece of video evidence I've seen in many years of combing through paranormal surveillance files. I am hoping we will have a clip of the footage ready to view within a few days. Our techs are taking great care to provide the obtained evidence in a respectable and professional manner so please bear with us, time-wise, as we prepare to reveal our evidence to the para-community. I hope to have an edited copy for company at ScareFest next weekend. It is sure not to disappoint.

Our faithful and energetic para-enthusiasts then contributed inspiring ideas concerning where the group is, can, and should be headed concerning our desired direction (after the initial shock of the video footage wore off, that is). We decided that "less is more" regarding the amount of talent to take to every location. Our guys surmised that more delegation was needed to allow the organization to operate on a competitive scale and have a presence in the field. We are learning so much through trial-and-error, practice, experience, and the expert guidance we receive from seasoned professionals on a regular basis. Bear with us once more as we become even better at what we do.

As the meeting came to a close, I changed into my version of "going out" clothes and hit the bars with my best friend. Erin and I go way back and rarely get to hang out together outside of her house and back yard because she is a mom. We hit a hipster bar first and almost called it a night after that. We decided to give it one more shot in a friendlier place and moved on to a more accommodating venue. We stayed out too late and drank a little too much, but we had a great time, as we usually do.

A little on the early side, Josh and I woke up for game day. Mom picked us up around 11 am and we headed to campus. The weather could not have possibly been nicer; the parking could not have been closer (and the parking sign read both of my parents' names correctly, so that was good). Dad was in the field but made great efforts to give us a "Boiler Up!" before kick-off, calling all of our cell phones until someone called him back. The offensive line looked organized and effective. The defense got brave and made some huge plays. We sat in our seats for the majority of the game. That hasn't happened in what seems like years, and we enjoyed the afternoon to its fullest. It was a shut-out, another anomaly Purdue fans haven't witnessed frequently or recently. What a fun game to watch.

Mom dropped us off after the game with tailgate leftovers and a new tee shirt for me featuring a throwback Purdue Pete silk-screened on breathable, high quality fabric, in a color I can live with. We notice the pink twinge of developing sunburns on each other's cheeks as we prepare for the day's next activity: a quick drive to Attica to check our camera traps for exotic, large cats. We stop by mom and dad's to say "hi" to everyone on the way and arrive at a bustling farm. Dad is refueling the big red monster with help from my cousin Dan. Big Bill is wearing a Purdue hat and an L.P.R.S. shirt and is happy to see me. I had to jump back in my truck and move it to make room for the semi Luther was lumbering into position. I waved to my second daddy, hollered a hello to my mom, used the pink bathroom, directed Josh to grab some Pepsi and we were off like a dirty shirt.

Of the bait we set, there was no sign. We arrived at the site where we placed our camera and the meat we'd left several days before was gone with no tracks leading to and fro that might indicate what creature ate the yummy goodness I'd left behind. The trap itself was filled with pictures of deer: does and adolescent off-spring mostly and a few button bucks.No big cat photos today, it seems so we do the next best thing. I take my husband road farming.

Road farming is an activity enjoyed by country kids and adults who have access to a vehicle, the desire to drive very slowly, and the need to stare at shit as it rolls slowly by. I love driving around the least traveled back roads, turning this way and that, and not always knowing where you will "end up." Josh showed his unbridled enthusiasm by promptly falling asleep. I woke him for things he likes to see and let him snooze the rest of the time (he can peacefully fall asleep is any moving vehicle). We had ice-cream at Wolf's and french-fries from Short-Stop. We arrived home to cats that were happy to see us and hadn't coughed up or crapped on anything. Nothing was shredded and scattered all over the TV room and our snake, Mittens, had shed again and was looking especially beautiful. I changed into pajama pants (not to be confused with pajama jeans) and settled in to my butt crater on my favorite piece of furniture and picked up my laptop.

Aunt Lucy and Uncle Bill gave me a fantastic leather loveseat that I sit on regularly. It's a comfy seat and less prone to random cat attacks than the dining room table so I usually do my homework here. With homework and classes on the brain I log into my student portal to, once again, check my grades for updates. I took my last final on Thursday and feel like I've been waiting for eons to know exactly how I did last term. Looks like I have a 103, two 100's, a 99, and a 97% in my five classes. This is the first time I've been a 4.0 GPA since my freshman year at Purdue over ten years ago and I am very pleased.

I now have a week off from classes to look forward to and prepare for next term. Josh and I are have a They Might Be Giants concert (with Jonathan Coultan) on Thursday night then we are headed straight to Lexington for ScareFest. This will be our first major Para-Conn and we are very much looking forward to it. Wish me luck and thanks so much for reading!