Rats! Curses!

My neighbors tried to tell me that I had rats in my backyard; I say “tried” because they cannot speak English. They tried weeks ago to tell me, through their twelve year old son, that a palm tree I have in my backyard that is artistically overgrown has become a haven for rats, a “rat's nest” if you will. Doubtful, I went into my backyard weeks ago with a broom in hand and smacked the living hell out of the overgrown palm tree. I lifted virtually each and every frond to see if any vermin were hiding in the mass, but not a single rat was seen, so I forgot all about it.

Once again today my neighbors, via their twelve year old son, told me that the tree was a rat's nest and I needed to do something about it. I borrowed a limb cutter from my parents and proceeded to destroy my artistically overgrown palm tree to the tune of a massive mountain of dead fronds all about my backyard, yet not a single rat to be seen in all my cutting, shaking, and pulling. Aside from the logical thought that my cats who spend hours on end in that backyard would have brought me a rat by now if any were there, all that cutting, shaking, and pulling certainly would have disturbed even a deaf rat enough into making some sound, but nothing. I officially became annoyed and let my cats out for their daily run through the neighborhood.

After an hour or two I go outside to watch my cats act like cats and low and behold do I see a grey mouse/rat sitting right by my newly destroyed formerly artistically overgrown palm tree on the white cement wall facing east while Oreo, my black and white seven year old cat sat on the very same white cement wall a mere inches from the mouse/rat, facing west. I stood there in disbelief as Oreo looked to his left and to his right; looked up and down; even looked behind him, yet never saw the rat. The blame does not go entirely to Oreo however since the rat looked in all the same directions and never once saw Oreo. It explained to me two things: 1) there were rats in my backyard and 2) my cats are useless as cats.

I am not one to leave a problem alone once it has made itself known, so I had to discover where exactly these rats were coming from. I live near a canal, so that is certainly the original source, but since my neighbors had been complaining for months, the rats obviously had set up a nest somewhere in the immediate area. I began to check every inch of my backyard, but aside from lots of spiderwebs, a phobia unto itself for me, I did not find anything, so I decided to check the other side of the wall, not on my property and you will never guess what I found! That's right; a hole. There is a hole in the white cement wall just large enough for a rat to fit through and deep enough for me to stick a stick and rock in. The ironic part: it is on my neighbor's side. I informed the president of the home owner's association of the problem and even showed him the hole that I filled with rat poison and he told me all will be taken care of.

I am upset about a few things with this story.

1. My neighbors blamed me immediately without doing any research.

2. They were so convinced they were right that they let the problem go without looking into other sources for months.

3. My neighbors kept using their twelve year old son to tell me which kept me from cursing at them.

4. My cats are useless when it comes to rats.

Thanks Friday!

I realize today is Friday, but it is also our Thanksgiving celebration at work, so there will be no "It's Friday" today. I am sorry, but I know the post-Turkey nap will really stand in the way. Happy weekend to you all!

Fog Free Friday!

Finally a Friday free of the fog! Full disclosure time: I am on medication to treat depression. For the last few months or so, I have been mis-medicated and it has basically created a “Dark and Mean Brad” that has possessed my body and tried to ruin my life. About a month or so ago we noticed the control the “Dark and Mean Brad” had over me, and we began switching my medication back to what it was before the grand experiment. Well, it has taken some time to shake out the last few hostile bits of me, but I think I am back now. I feel good, I feel light, and I don't feel angry. I really hope this to be my last major obstacle to returning to blogging. I do so miss you all.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend.

My Promise

Yesterday was "Your Mission," so today is "My Promise."

This is the last Political Friday, I swear, but I have a promise to make and it is important because none of my blogger buddies knew me when we had a Democratic president and therefore probably assume me to be a liberal based on the last eight years. I am not a liberal, although I do lean left on65% of the issue, but what I am is a libertarian and a strict Constitutionalist who believes it is the sacred duty of all citizens to never allow their governments to rule unquestioned. I am promising to you that, even though I voted for Obama, I will hold him to every standard I held Bush too and will never look the other way simply because he is a liberal. I will watch every move and question every choice. My loyalty is to my country and to my state and to my family and that is all, and it is also in the reverse order since my family comes first and my state does come before my country. Does this make me a traitor or simply someone who believes in the 10th Amendment? That is for other people to decide.

My sarcasm, my quick wit, and my incredibly partial analysis will continue in the name of all Wayward Lemmings, regardless of who you voted for or who you voted against.

Have a great weekend...even if you voted McCain =P

Your Mission

Our jobs as Americans is to support our candidate until that time that they are no longer "OUR" candidate and are instead the President of the entire nation. Once that happens, it is every American's duty to watch and question and demand answers to every action that person does. Once they are POTUS, they are no longer totally trustworthy.

American Pride

I have not been this proud of my country in quite sometime and it has nothing to do with the fact that my candidate won the election yesterday, but rather how the losing side accepted their loss. I watched Foxnews for most of last night’s coverage because I was looking for some good schadenfreude. What I got instead, from both Foxnews and McCain, was a humble and approving defeat…the kind of defeat we imagine those qualified to serve as President accepting rather than the bitterness we have come to expect from the losing side. Perhaps Republicans take defeat better than Democrats or perhaps they never really expected to win and were prepared for the loss, but either way, their gracious defeat brought tears to my eyes and I believed for the first time that this partisan divide could possibly be coming to an end.

Quick Political Humor for Election Day

Quick Sarah joke....
Move the "L" and it shows Palin is really Plain.
Drop the "L" all together and see what a Pain she really is.


Sorry, just Biden my time until an Obama victory and that is the Palin truth, so don't McCain about it.

INFORMED VOTERS ONLY PLEASE!

That is all. I am not going to say who to vote for or who to vote against. I am not going to say who I am voting for or against. All I am going to say is that you should spend the next day learning as much as you can about the things you know very little about (for me, it is the economy), and to make an informed vote tomorrow, not one based on hearsay or fear. If you cannot find the time to educate yourself then it really is more patriotic of you to stay home tomorrow rather than to make an uninformed decision.