My Back Yard

So far the goblins haven’t gotten me, even though I’m without Iggy to protect me on Halloween.

Perhaps my moose hat, my most valuable souvenir of an Alaskan cruise, has scared them off. My moose received its warmest compliment from a little girl who said her mother nicknamed her Moose. “Yes, that’s because she weighed 10 pounds when she was born,” chimed in mom. The little girl also liked the pig adorning the welcome sign on our door. That fact should warm Iggy’s heart.

I didn’t get my first customer until almost 6:30 p.m. Traffic was heaviest after 7. I turned off the lights at 8.

Three bags of candy was way too much. One 25-oz. bag would have been plenty.

A lost tarp. Paint flakes (including a square yard concentration of them at a remote end of my lot), blue tape, sandpaper disks, cigarette butts, a chicken bone scattered across my yard. Unexpected noises outside my bedroom window.

These are some of the pleasures of getting our house trim, garage, and fence painted.

Our painter is probably above-average, but still there are lots of nagging little things. He told us he’d call before he started, then he showed up a couple days early with no advance notice. Oh well, at least he and his crew worked pretty consistently on the job once they started. One night he told me the job was done, then he emailed us with a list of things he still had to do. Again, at least he took responsibility for those things. On the other hand, he completely overlooked the power washing. He had contracted to do that, but when I asked him about it, he said, “That’s another guy.” That was the first I heard of the other guy.

I may have lost my passion for creative writing. I’m having a hard time rousing myself to rewrite old pieces and create new ones. I get helpful comments from my writing group, then let them languish.

Then Cheryl Richardson’s newsletter article about finding your passions landed in my email in-box. She suggests uncovering my passions by looking at my favorite books, news stories which inspire strong feelings, movies that inspire me, passionate people in my life, and opportunities to be of service to others.

Let’s look at what’s going on in these areas.

BOOKS
I like mysteries, memoirs, books about making better use of my life (for example, getting better organized and making better use of my time), squirrels

NEWS STORIES
I like stories about foreign countries, practical tips for improving my life, things that I can use in my business, squirrels, human interest, gardening

MOVIES
I love West Side Story, but mostly I prefer independent films that aren’t as predictable as Hollywood films

PASSIONATE PEOPLE
Iggy is passionate about righting wrongs, my writing group is passionate about writing

SERVICE
I’m mentoring a foreign student

Nothing about this hits me with a new passion. Am I missing some clues?

Long corridors, dimmed lights,
janitors mopping the floors.
All the kids have gone home.

Or so I thought until
I saw your pale face
and bruised eyes.

Your tight lips spilled no clues.
I wondered what drove you to
pace our elementary school halls.

My husband Iggy usually handles Halloween. He buys the candy, hides from me-without-self-control-especially-when-it-comes-to-peanut-butter-cups, and doles it out with a helping of good humor on Halloween.

This year, I’m in charge. Earlier this week I reconnoitered the candy aisle in CVS, looking for the least appetizing candy that kids might eat. Today I returned and bought sour candies and suckers. I should be pretty safe with those. I know someone who gives out pencils for Halloween. She said many of the parents appreciated that choice. I can’t see doing that.

I’ll do door duty next week. If I remember, I’ll don my moosehead hat to get in the holiday spirit.

We get quite a few young kids from our immediate neighborhood. I expect to recognize some parents.

Iggy usually makes our technology purchases, but with him in South Africa, I found myself in the unusual position of buyer because we need binoculars.

I did some research online. I figured out that 7x or 8x binoculars would be best and that I definitely needed the feature called eye relief, which lets glasses wearers get close to the eyepieces.

Now I’ve got a new pair of binoculars. Can’t wait to try them out on my adorable little tree rats!

SQUAWK! What the SQUAWK is going on in my backyard?

This is Riri the squirrel. Early this morning I moseyed over to the patio to see if my humans had left nuts out for me. The male human is good at that. The female, not so good.

No nuts this morning. That’s okay. But around 8:00 this morning a bunch of guys showed up and started making lots of noise, carrying ladders, and running machines that blasted paint off the house. It’s not very conducive to peaceful foraging.

Even worse, my female human completely skipped her daily ritual of putting out nuts and a new ear of dried corn for me. Nor did she top off our water pans.

All in all, a disappointing day.

I am one of Riri’s humans, responding on Oct. 23. In my defense, I did not know the painters were starting yesterday. They were supposed to call to warn me.

Last night I put out two new ears of corn, scattered nuts in the safe zone near the Squirrel Palace, and refilled the water pans. I hope Riri and her friends will forgive me. Please.

I’ve developed a new perspective on garbage.

Food scraps and spoilage used to be a crime. I’d inherited my parents’ Depression mentality. Dad used to eat moldy cheese because he couldn’t bear to throw it out.

Now that I’m composting, food scraps and spoilage become fodder for my garden. They’ll be reborn in the soft green of foliage and bright colors of flowers.

Two blue jays pecked at bird seed scattered on the patio, when I looked out around 8 a.m.

I’m feeling proud of myself for attracting blue jays as regulars.

Tonight I won kudos for my effective use of pauses in my tenth speech to my Toastmasters club.

I’ve got a secret. It was only after I arrived at the meeting that I realized my speech was supposed to be 8-10 minutes long, instead of 5-7 minutes like the typical Toastmasters speech.

I confided in my neighbor, who advised me to use long pauses. So that’s the inadvertent secret of my success.

By the way, I’ve now fulfilled all the requirements for Toastmasters to call me a Competent Communicator. I received my button tonight. WHOO HOO!