Little Bit of Everything

I've kind of taken it easy the past several days, now that the initial shock has worn off about the lay off. So it's time to get back into a routine of some sort, including the blog.

Someone wanted to know the final outcome with the Battle of the Maggots. Basically, we won. A few days after the initial attempts on their lives, Adena and her son in law, Ray, cleaned out the green bin in its entirety, disinfecting it. In the process of rinsing the pavement around the garbage bins, Ray noticed maggots coming out of a crack in the ground. They were rising with the water....Aha!! Darn things were leaving the green bin, crawling to the ground and hiding in cracks, only to come out at night looking for food. Lots of bleach and water later, they were pretty much gone. So far we've only seen a couple and that's normal. People are now wrapping their "flesh" type garbage in newspaper to cut down on the maggots, too.

In the months of June and July we had a grand total of about 20 days without rain. So it rained two thirds of the past two months. To say Nova Scotians are a grumpy lot is an understatement. So last Friday, the sunshine and humidity began in earnest. The Wookie says he won't complain because at least it's not raining.

From Adena:

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment.
As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven.

Others though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit.

But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss a soul off to one side into a small pile.

Watching Satan do this several times, the fellow's curiosity got the best of him.

So he strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing.

"Excuse me, Mr. Prince of Darkness," he said. "I'm waiting in line for judgment, but I couldn't help wondering, why are you tossing those
people aside instead of flinging them into the Fires of Hell with the others?"

"Ah, those," Satan said with a groan. "They're all from Nova Scotia - they're still too wet to burn."

Last weekend the Wookie and I house sat and cat sat for some friends just outside of the city. We stayed at their house, BBQed, swam in the ppol, enjoyed the local wildlife in the pond behind the house, and had a few friends over Sunday afternoon. I also got too much Vitamin D and as a result am now the incredible peeling woman. We also played with the cats and were very amused by them, too, as they're still kittens. We spoted a bat on the front step Sunday morning, a little brown bat, half the size of my fist. It was trembling, possibly after having fallen from the eave of the house. After a few minutes he took wing. Of course I didn't have my camera.

The "Career Path" adventure continues. I have begun the process as outlined by the HR company I was hooked up with to help with the "transition" period. I'm not quite excited about the whole thing, but I am starting to feel better about it. When I was first diagnosed, I looked at it as a new adventure in my life. I'm hoping I will soon feel the same way about job hunting.

So far, I haven't noticed any difference in my fatigue level or MS symptoms as a result of the stress of the past two weeks. I'm trying to keep a level head, so to speak, which is difficult when you're a little lop-sided to begin with.

And to reward those of you who have stuck it out this far a few photos from the past month:

A moth disguised as a dead, rolled up leaf, stuck to the back door about a month ago. Probably a more effective defense in the fall or on the forest floor.


A muskrat in the pond behind our friends' house. The Wookie insists it's a beaver. I say muskrat.


An unidentified bug I found next to Sandy Lake on a hike a month ago. It's very similar to the antlion family.


Driving home after a hike one evening I came across this bunny sitting quietly in a front yard, totally unconcerned about the dog that lives there.