bunchofgrapes

So I bought this fountain for the back patio. It's pretty and makes nice gurgly noises when the sun comes out because it runs on solar energy. I like it. Apparently, so do the slugs. A couple of nights ago I noticed the big bowl was skanky and nasty and smelled really bad. I take a closer look. It's full of dead slugs. I mean the big gray slugs too. I had to completely drain the bowl and then rinse it out and fill it up again. A couple of days later, it's full of slug bodies again but this time they're fresh and almost all the water is gone. I'm starting to wonder if maybe something wild is getting into the back yard and drinking the water and leaving the slugs as payment. After all, the cats left that huge, dead rat. I'm afraid to check the bowl tonight.

Unfortunately for me and the slugs with suicidal tendencies, I won't be able to fill up the fountain any more because the county I live in is in a moderate drought and we are under mandatory water restrictions. This sucks for so many reasons. I love rain. I love days when it does nothing but rain. I love the sound of rain hitting the windows and the little river it makes out on the common yard. I can't even remember the last time we had rain like that.

Yesterday was October 1st. That's a significant day in my history because it was 20 years ago that me and my old car pulling a U-Haul and my ex-boyfriend, Dennis, rolled into Northern Virginia. We would have been here on the 30th but we hit traffic on the Beltway. We pulled into my dad's driveway at 1:30am. I was only going to stay out here 5 years but the job I got just kept growing and so did the pay. There's no way I would have made this kind of money in Tulsa. My mother is still bitter about this move (she's never been out here to visit--not that I want her too) because she and my father divorced when I was 4 and she's hated his guts ever since. He, on the other hand, doesn't give her a thought.

Another reason why the October 1st is significant? On that day 4 years ago, I walked into a PetSmart to buy cat food for Emma, saw this brown and white medium haired kitten huddled in the back of a cage, said "I want that one" and named her Sophie right then and there. Except for one little unfortunate incident last week when Sophie got very angry with me and bit my wrist (she was scared to death), she's been the sweetest cat. I don't regret my impulsiveness one little bit and I honestly think there was a little bit of divine intervention at work. Of course I type all this as Tucker jumps into my lap, flops onto his back and goes to sleep. Yeah, I'm blessed.

Oh, and speaking of Tucker, he's 9 lbs and is as big as Harry now. And he's only 8 months old. I took him into the vet the other day so she could meet him (and shave his butt--still has/had poo issues) and the first thing she said? "Look at the size of those paws!" Yep, he's a kitten in a big boy body and such a total sweetheart.

Another good thing about October 1st? I won the football pool at work. I'm pretty good at these things so I usually win a couple during the season but this one had a nice, big payout. Oh, and my Cowboys are 4-0. How bout them Cowboys!