My wish for you

Oh no you don't!!!

Behind my back yard there is a bit of fencing and a row
of mixed trees. They are under the power lines and two
years ago after a particularly bad ice storm, the power
company did much trimming. The crews were back last
week to mark trees for removal. All of those trees had
green plastic bands on them to indicate they were all
to be cut down and removed. It has snowed here and
we have below zero temps even during the days. I
thought, "Poor squirrels, they will come and cut down
your nest trees just when you need them the most."
Two days ago I was surprised to see a squirrel up
and about in the freezing weather and wondered what
he was up to. Well, he was busy removing the
green bands off his trees, just his trees. He
carried off the bands and I think he stuffed them
in his nest. A couple of hours ago the crew to
cut the trees arrived in their heavy weather
coveralls and hard hats. They kept staring up
at the trees in the corner and the huge Cotton-
wood tree. They seemed quite puzzled. They left
and soon others came to look too. Now they are
out there cutting. I didn't 'rat out' the squirrel and
so far, his trees are still standing.

This is what passes for excitement when we're
snowed in.

On the squirrel front:
One complete tree w/ nest remains.
One trunk and large branch of Cottonwood tree remains
Small set of trees in corner of fence remains (heavily trimmed)
The rest of the trees are down and stacked into firewood.
Tree crew was not back today for whatever reason.

Tuesday morning. The squirrel nest is gone! He's packed up
and moved in the night. Two hours later the cutting crew
arrived, down came the squirrel trees. I wonder who
tipped off the squirrel?

Thursday: Squirrel has returned, his nest is now in
a tree away from the power lines. He is climbing
the power pole and using the trunk line like his
private highway once more. All ends well.

Above and Below

A whimsy to combat the "Grays"

I'm actually rather excited today,
after much time with the creative
blahs, I have and Idea. The perfect
Idea. It will allow me to play
without restrictions and it is
something I believe will be easily
accomplished as I can work on
The Idea in fits and starts.
The best part is it is something
I think will be fun. I have been
low on fun (and energy) the
last few months. It should get
me perking around again.

Paper, marker, old mop

Heads I made for Halloween.

I continue walking my dark side on a leash. How far can this go? I have no idea at this time.
I am finding out interesting facts on my path to mayhem. (Sounds like a town name doesn't it? Mayhem Mississippi, home to swamp-light ghosts and catfish hunters.)
55 words, does it work? Click on the can if it is too small to read here.

Some notes........

Loki is one of the major deities in the Norse pantheon. He is a son of the giant Farbauti ("cruel striker") and the giantess Laufey. He is regarded as one of Aesir, but is on occasion their enemy. He is connected with fire and magic, and can assume many different shapes (horse, falcon, fly). He is crafty and malicious, but is also heroic: in that aspect he can be compared with the trickster from North American myths. The ambivalent god grows progressively more unpleasant, and is directly responsible for the death of Balder, the god of light.

Cream of Tartar is a natural, pure ingredient left behind after grape juice has fermented to wine.
Potassium bitartrate crystallises in wine casks during the fermentation of grape juice, and can precipitate out of wine in bottle.
This crude form (known as beeswing) is collected and purified to produce the white, odorless, acidic powder used for many culinary and other household purposes. It is also a major ingredient in baking powder.
Cream of Tartar has no aroma and has an acidic flavor.

Playing Chicken

I've been working on a small collection of Ten Tiny Tales of Retribution. They are shamefully fun to write, and hopefully will improve my writing skills. They are each 55 words. It is really interesting to see how one changed word can affect how a story is perceived. Let me know what you think!

Makin' Bacon

We're doing a 55 word writing project, fast, easy and most of all, fun. Click on the pic for an easier read. Hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day.

I can explain this picture.

This is a picture of the Werewolf of London's tailor. He was at his Senior prom bringing a refreshing beverage to his date Candy, who had just been crowned Prom Queen, when he got the emergency call on his Nokia 1650 cell phone. Alberto, the werewolf's real name, had been drinking Pina Coladas (made with light rum, coconut cream and pineapples) at Trader Vic's when a full moon rose into the evening sky. Alberto proceeded to have a howling good time, but once the moon set, he realized he needed immediate repair work done on his elegant evening apparel. That's when he called his trusted tailor Bob. Bob and his date Candy left the prom in a hurry and found Alberto slumped against the side of an office building. Bob set to work and in no time he had made the much needed repairs with his trusty portable Singer sewing machine. Bob, Candy and Alberto planned to go to Denny's for breakfast, but Bob's POS Bumblebee ‘77 Chevy Camaro wouldn't start, so they did the only thing they could do. They hijacked the UPS man as he was leaving a package off at Fowler's Office Supply, telling him he would be unharmed as long as he delivered them to Denny's and kept his mouth shut. Fred, the UPS driver, didn't have a problem with that because Candy was very large and charming below the neck and also he wouldn't mind a coffee. They were fast becoming friends when the accident happened. The Singer suddenly took a liking to Fred's pants leg. In the act of trying to kick the machine off his leg, Fred lost control of his delivery vehicle,ran off the road, into a construction site, and ended halfway up an embankment, his van impaled by a chain link fence. Fred called the Singer every name in the book and used the Nokia to call the cops. Alberto took this picture of Bob and the machine that took a bitching and kept on stitching. Bob was arrested soon after the photo was taken.

They still haven't come up with the money to bail poor Bob out of jail and the Camaro has been impounded. Alberto was last seen walking with the Queen.