All God's Creatures

There I was, sitting in my chair, minding my own business when I heard a commotion in the kitchen.  I went in to see what was going on, and found the cat was very interested in something hiding behind a cardboard box.  

"You didn't bring something into this house again, did you?" I asked as I moved the box to see what it was.  Much to my surprise, instead of a mouse or a vole, I found a little frog tangled up in what can only be described as a dust bunny.

Not sure what that says about the state of my house, but there it is.  Hey, when you work 11 hour shifts, some things just aren't that important. 

Back to the frog, I thought the little thing was dead because it looked so dried out, but still I picked him up, untangled him from the dust and hair, then took him outside and put him into the frog pond.  

I ran back into the house to get my phone, and by the time I got back outside, the little froggy was much perked up.  They don't drink, you know.  They absorb water through their skin.   In just that short amount of time, he had plumped back up and regained some of his strength. 

I went back inside for about 15 minutes, then checked again and he was gone, so I assume he went back to wherever he came from.  I hope he'll be OK.  We are all God's creatures, you know. 

Anyway, while I was out there, I went ahead and cleared most of the dirt away from the rest of the fence around the garden spot, until I ran into some fire ants and began seriously rethinking that all God's creatures thing... 

If fire ants don't exist in your world, get down on your knees right now and thank God above that you don't have to deal with them.  These things will latch on to you and literally curl their tiny bodies up with the effort of injecting their fiery venom into you.  God's creatures?  No!  More like spawn of Satan.  

Several bites and a good thick layer of Ivarest* later, I was back at it, and got the three sections on the west fence cleared. 

 I still need to wash that side, but the hard part is done, and maybe next weekend I can paint.  I know I keep saying it.  I'm just hoping that by saying it over and over, I'll be motivated to actually do it.  You'll all have to hold me accountable in any case. 

In other news, the house next door has finally sold after being on the market for over a year.  I haven't met the new neighbors, though I've heard it's a young couple.  There was an older man -- assume one of their dads -- mowing this morning when I was watering my baby grass.  He waved at me, and I waved back, but neither of us introduced ourselves. 

By the time I had finished clearing the dirt away, the heat advisory had been issued, so I came inside and spent the rest of the day watching movies.  I watched A Knight's Tale -- the one with Heath Leger and Rufus Sewel.  I hadn't seen it in ages, and had forgotten how good it is.   Then I watched the live action Beauty And The Beast.  That's always been one of my favorite fairy tales, even though the Disney version is quite different from the original story.  

Ah well, that's Disney for you. 

Oh, and I finally finished reading The Ship Of Brides, by JoJo Moyes.  It ended up being pretty good -- at least the last few chapters or so.  But I should say the ending made it all worth it.  Next time I go into town, I'll put it back into the Little Free Library, probably the one on the square.   We have more than one here in this small town, but the one on the square is the one I usually go to.  I suppose I should probably visit some of the others, just to see what they have. 

By the way, I've decided to try something different.  Instead of going into town every Friday like I have been for years, I'm going to wait until I run out of something, then go do my weekly shopping.  I'm hoping doing it this way will cut down on the impulse buys.  

Now, if I could just stay off of Amazon...

*Ivarest -- a mixture of calamine and Benadryl.  I get it at Walmart, but it's probably available pretty much anywhere.