Postcard from the Edge

Hi All,

All good things must come to an end, Chaucer said. It was a very nice vacation. I just did what I love best:

Read: Got about halfway through The Woman in White, which I will review once I am done. The short version now is, it's a wonderful Victorian mystery.
Watched Movies: Showed the parentals 'V for Vendetta' and decided again that Natalie Portman ("I liked that little girl," Mom says) should get awards for this role. Also watched 'The Mothman Prophecies' (Bean had given me this for my b-day), 'Arlington Road,' and an 80's classic, 'About Last Night.' Reviews to follow at some point.
Listened to some new music: I picked up Anna Nalick's CD (Includes 'Breathe (2AM)'), which is good. Also got into some great new music from Sonic Youth and Muse, among others.

Saw the pics of Suri Cruise, who I vowed never to mention in my life, because who really cares about these overblown celebrity kids, but honestly, she's a VERY cute baby. The twin of Katie Holmes, if you asked me. Still have not forgiven Tom for how Nicole Kidman was treated (love Nic!), but then, I never understand divorce.

Was saddened by Steve Irwin's death, and am still shocked. He was a great advocate for animals, whose rights I'm quite strongly in favor of. Rest in Peace, Mate.

And on 9/10 (Bean's birthday! Happy Birthday, Bean!), it was Circuit City's Associate Appreciation Day at Busch Gardens. We went, and took in some shows, and enjoyed the atmosphere. Didn't get on any rides, because, we are now complete scaredy-cats as we've gotten older. As a teenager, I got on the steepest roller coaster in the US, and thought nothing of it. But today, I'm all panicky and jittery about those things. Weird.

Speaking of panicky and jittery!
Listen to this Tale:
I was awoken early yesterday morning to what sounded like a cat who was ill or dying. Frantic, I rushed out of bed (we know how much I love THAT) and checked on Leia and Sgt. Pepper. Both were fine as could be, and just looked at me like I had issues. I looked outside but saw no other animals or people, so I had no idea what made such a ghastly (it was horrible) noise. It was right out of a horror movie, for real. Well, I let it go since I had no idea what it was.

So we had the day away at Busch Gardens. We come in the door, and Bean's living room is TORN UP. I mean TORN. Blinds nearly destroyed, screens out of the window (but the window has glass on the other side, and was not open), and a candle and snow globe busted on the floor. Pepper had been out in the house all day, and Leia had been in my room, so we fussed at Pepp for making such a mess. The weird thing was, he has never, ever jumped up that high (all of the things damaged were at least 4 feet up), so we wondered what happened to make him go so wild.

Later, we're sitting in my living room watching TV, when we hear what sounds like a cat sharpening its claws on my sofa. Since Pepp is the only cat in the house with front claws, I figured it was him and thought nothing of it. A while later, Bean says, "What is that sound?" We heard it again. I said, "That's just your cat clawing at the sofa." Bean points next to her in the recliner (the lights were off), and I see Pepp laying there next to her. I went to check on Leia: she's fast asleep in her bed in my room (that lazybones!)

We tried not to panic yet as it could be a creak in the house or maybe something (a rat or mouse) behind the wall. So I turned on the lights and went over and lightly pressed against the area on the sofa where we heard the noise. Not only did we hear clawing, we heard a moan coming from inside the sofa right where I had pressed.

Well, I'm totally thinking 'The Black Cat' or worse at this moment, so Bean and I both start to panic. We still have no idea what this is but Bean worries because Pepp was out with it all day, and we don't know if it's rabid or what. I watch waaayyy too many horror movies so I picture wild cats, raccoons, squirrels, or worse. I picture things that don't even exist. I have an overactive imagination. or maybe it's all of the B-12. ;)

We theorized that it couldn't be another cat (although that's exactly what it sounded like) because Leia would sniff it out and growl and hiss (she hates all other animals, but is a sweet cat otherwise). We saw some odd little droppings in that window too; we didn't know what they belonged to. We were scared to death, but could not prod it out. So we blocked off my living room to contain it and tried to go to bed. Neither one of us slept a wink, we were so terrified. I mean it! YOU try having an unknown, possibly rabid wild animal in the house, and see if YOU sleep!

So I got up this morning and got ready for work, looking around all the while, afraid. No signs of anything odd. I kept telling myself it was in the wall, not the sofa, and all would be fine. I had to work the early (8-5) shift today, which I don't normally do. Bean was not feeling well from the weekend so she had called in sick. I got a call at 8:30 from Bean.
"Did you leave your cat out to roam in the house?"
"No. She's in my room."
"Pepper is in his room. Something is in my living room tearing the hell out of the blinds! I can hear it! It's trying to get out! I am terrified and cannot leave my room! Help me!"
So I told them I had a family emergency and went home. I called Bean on my cell (wow, those things CAN come in handy! Who'd have known?) and told her I would get a rake from the shed (the only 'weapon' we had outside) and would open the front door wide and get the heck out of the way, so hopefully he'd run on out. I was mostly afraid of whatever jumping on me, and being rabid. You just don't know with wild animals.

On my way to the shed in the back yard, I saw him. He was in my window in my living room, staring at me. (And the denoument!) He was a squirrel. Once I knew what he was, I felt A LOT better. Since he had been in there all that time and had not attacked us or the cats, I figured he was not rabid. He was just scared probably and needed to get out. I went in and got Bean, and we waited outside hoping he'd come out. But of course, he had gone back to his hiding place. How he got in there, we have no idea. We think he may have crawled in the dryer shute possibly.
We still needed to flush him out somehow, so we pondered. We went back in and poked at the sofa; we heard him in there. But he would not come out. We saw where he'd made some nice 'bathroom' type messes for us; thanks, Mr. Squirrel. And we saw where he had torn through some buns I had on the counter in the kitchen and had eaten part of them. The bastard made a sandwich! haha

Well, in the end a (male) neighbor helped us flush him out the back door. Poor Bean remained terrified until he was out the door for good. I was just glad he wasn't the deformed mutant-cat I imagined him being. And I vowed that as of today, I no longer like squirrels. haha

I know it's 9/11 today, but I'm not going to comment on it very much. I've commented extensively on 9/11 in the past, and I just can't do it anymore. I've never broken down in grief so hard, in my life, as I did that day. In short, that day is a reminder of all that is wrong and cruel in this world. And it makes me value Paradise all the more.

Have a great day, All.
And try to steer clear of manic squirrels. ;)
(That was a true story, BTW. I did not make it up.)