Skwerls = Terrizts

Suicide skwerl strikes again:

Squirrel Prompts Boil Water Alert in Fort Worth, Texas

The Fort Worth Water Department on Friday warned some customers to boil their water after a power outage disabled two pump stations.

The department said the outage was caused by a squirrel that entered a substation and made a connection between two high-voltage points, causing an arc, killing the animal and shutting down a transformer.

Wake up, people. Jihadi Skwerls are coming to get you.

Happy little star-shaped leaflets... and the "C" word

At Mom's this afternoon I spotted a number of gray-green star-shaped leaflets peeking up through the mulch. The bluebonnets are getting ready! (For those of you unfamiliar with bluebonnets, they are the state flower of Texas.)

Mom said she had the most luck getting them to germinate when she just pitched the dead refuse of spent bluebonnets on top of the mulch and left them. They seem to like being left alone; disturbed soil equals no germination.

Today was the first time I've been back to Mom & Dad's since I broke out with shingles and had to quarantine myself. The lesions are completely gone from my scalp, although the stinging and itching does linger.

It's also the first time I've seen Daddy since he broke the news to me that he has incurable bone cancer (multiple myeloma).

This afternoon I told him that he could have as much of my bone marrow as he needed. Y'all pray I'm a match, so that if the time comes, I can step up and help.

Tomorrow he's having a bone scan to try to determine the extent of the cancer's progression.

Recent commentary

Isaac has been glued to the computer for a significant portion of the evening. "Isaac seems to be making up for lost time," Rick said, referring to the week of having been grounded from the computer and computer games.

"He's a born gamer," I said. "Think about it. He was practically born at the computer." (My labor with him started abruptly while I was IMing with a friend from California.)

Rick thought about it. "You're right. I guess his idea of motherly comfort originates with the glow of the CRT."

The only good skwerl

Squirrel is served: Rodent dish among hunting fare at church celebration

TANEYTOWN, MD — They lined up, plates in hand, a platter of cheese and crackers and fried chicken spread on a table before them.

But many who came to the Taneytown Baptist Church’s End of Hunting Season Celebration Dinner opted for something else: a lone squirrel potpie.

Within minutes, the dish was empty.

The squirrel potpie included vegetables, onions and Italian dressing and contained the meat from between six and eight squirrels.

“I’ve tasted a lot [of the dishes served tonight], but the squirrel potpie is pretty good,” Steve Baker of Taneytown said. Baker, a hunter himself, came out for the camaraderie of fellow hunters and churchgoers.

Sounds like my kind of church.

My next shoe purchase

Guiseppe Zanotti, E80173

For a mere $750, I could be 5'5". Seems reasonable. Although I'm guessing that, mathematically, they wouldn't work well as a total percentage of my height.

Happy Caturday!

PWNED!!!1!!1!

Missile Hits Dying US Satellite

Leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Venezuela experience simultaneous adult-diaper moments.

Wankers.

Eclipse!!

No, not the car. The MOON, foo'!

There isn't a cloud in the sky here in North Ruralville, Texas, and tonight's lunar eclipse is absolutely, perfectly visible from the front porch. Splendid!!

9PM UPDATE:

Skwerl Sings The Blues

Pathetic commie greenies. Here's the blurb from the skwerl's web site, to save you the trouble:

What would the world be like without trees? A pretty bleak place, my friend, I can assure you. Without trees, words like "dreary," "dreadful" and "dismal" would dominate our conversations. With trees, however, you have great things like oxygen, fresh fruit, shade and erosion management. My mission is to spread the word about the importance of trees, and maybe find myself a branch to call home in the process.

Funny... what I got from the video wasn't that we need more trees, it's that skwerls make really lousy roommates. That, my friend, I can assure you is the TRUTH.

Stormy Saturday

Not really Stormy Monday, of course, but it'll do for some fine, fine blues.

Staying home tomorrow

I went to school today because the photographers were going to be there and I'm responsible for those sorts of things. I felt pretty okay early on and was pleased that perhaps my case of shingles was an extremely mild one. The later it got, though, the worse I felt. By the time school was out, my co-worker who mans the front desk offered to get a substitute for me tomorrow. "That way you'll have three days to rest and recover a little bit," she said.

The worst thing is the swollen lymph nodes around my right ear, the still-twitching right eye, and the burning headache. The doctor gave me some Vicoprofen for pain and a strong antihistamine for the itching... but she warned me that if I take them, I'd better make sure I had at least eight hours to sleep because that's how long I'd be out. For me, I can double the allotted time and I still feel groggy, particularly with antihistamines. I never EVER take anything like that if I know I have to be able to get up in the morning. Tomorrow, though, I'll be snoozing.

I really do hate missing school; my job is my favorite place to be. Maybe that sounds weird, but it's true.

I'm hoping to catch up on some blogging tomorrow while I'm relaxing...

Symptom check

Pre-Rash Stage

Pain, burning, tickling, tingling, and/or numbness occurs in the area around the affected nerves several days or weeks before a rash appears. The discomfort usually occurs on the chest or back, but it may occur on the abdomen, head, face, neck, or one arm or leg.

Check.

Flu-like symptoms (usually without a fever), such as chills, stomachache, or diarrhea, may develop just before or along with the start of the rash.

Check.

Swelling and tenderness of the lymph nodes may occur.

Check.

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Active Stage

A band, strip, or small area of rash appears. It can appear anywhere on the body but will be on only one side of the body, the left or right. Blisters will form. Fluid inside the blister is clear at first but may become cloudy after 3 to 4 days.

Check.

A rash may occur on the forehead, cheek, nose, and around one eye, which may threaten your sight unless you get prompt treatment.

Oh, for Pete's sake. Check.

Pain, described as "piercing needles in the skin," may accompany the skin rash.

Check. Oh, yes, definitely check.

Blisters may break open, ooze, and crust over in about 5 days. The rash heals in about 2 to 4 weeks, although some scars may remain.

Ewwww... not yet... [shudder]

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The Fun That's To Come

Post-herpetic neuralgia is the most common complication. It lasts for at least 30 days and may continue for months to years. Symptoms are: aching, burning, stabbing pain in the area of the earlier shingles rash; persistent pain that may linger for years; and extreme sensitivity to touch.

The pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia most commonly affects the forehead or chest, and it may make it difficult for the person to eat, sleep, and perform daily activities. It may also lead to depression.

Cranial nerve complications may include:

Inflammation, pain, and loss of feeling in one or both eyes. The infection may threaten your vision. A rash may appear on the side and tip of the nose (Hutchinson's sign).

Intense ear pain, a rash around the ear, mouth, face, neck, and scalp, and loss of movement in facial nerves (Ramsay Hunt syndrome). Other symptoms may include hearing loss, dizziness, and ringing in the ears. Loss of taste and dry mouth and eyes may also occur.

Nice. I'd heard of people having shingles, but certainly never considered the notion that I might get them someday, too. Thank goodness for a couple of alert friends at work who recognized it and directed me to the immediate help I needed. My own doctor couldn't see me until Friday afternoon; my co-workers told me about a local clinic that would treat me immediately and try to arrest the progress of the virus.

I had seen "Thelma's Hometown Clinic" before, but honestly, I'd thought it sounded amusing at best. But when I went to visit Thelma this afternoon, she saw me right away (even though I didn't have an appointment) and knew exactly what to do. I came away with a prescription for Valtrex as well as a couple of palliative pastilles to attempt to relieve some of the extreme discomfort.

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Two or three weeks ago I began noticing a spot on my scalp right above my forehead. It felt as if I'd burned it with the styling appliances I use every morning, and I always noticed it because it had showed up right at the spot on the right side of my face where I part my hair.

I've been battling fatigue and flu-like symptoms on and off for that entire time. I've had diarrhea that didn't seem to originate with anything I'd eaten.

Yesterday morning, I noticed that the burn-spot was now several bright red, very sore bumps, but because of the location, I couldn't really see it clearly. I figured it was a couple of acne lesions. On the way home from school yesterday afternoon, I tried to touch the area and found it to be so painful I couldn't bear to put any pressure on it at all. Was it a ringworm? I thought.

I had Rick take a look at the patch last night. "Do you think this might be ringworm?" I asked. He looked closely at it and said, "No, that doesn't look one bit like ringworm. It's like bright red blood-blisters."

I put some clotrimazole on it anyway, just in case, and went to bed... but I couldn't sleep well at all.

This morning the lesions were very noticeable, and the pain was significant enough to prevent me from using the straightener. I left it in its natural mop-like state in hopes that the messy-look would be a distraction from the bright red rash on my scalp. Then at lunch I mentioned it to one of my co-workers, who looked at it and said, "Sounds to me like you've got shingles."

It had never even occurred to me. "Go back to your computer and look it up on WebMD or someplace like that," she said. "I bet that's what you have."

When I did, I was stunned to find a rather comprehensive list of my symptoms all neatly tied into one package.

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The needling, burning pain is unpleasant, certainly, but the most aggravating thing I'm experiencing right now is the persistent twitching of my right eyelid. It's a symptom I usually get when I'm having a migraine. I guess I *do* have a rather nasty headache now, but this headache isn't going away anytime soon.

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But you know what? The sun is shining down here, and the temperatures have been deliciously mild. I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of weeks I started seeing things blooming.

Change is in the wind.

Westminster!

I love watching the Westminster dog show... and that Akita is absolutely the most beautiful dog EVAR. I've seen some beautiful dogs, but there's something very special about that one. She's my pick for Best In Show... although that little Beagle is rather splendid as well.

And the Beagle wins!!! I think that he was the crowd favorite, for sure. Good grief, he got a standing O! Now he's doing what Beagles do... barking. heh

The Week's Best Mugshots

Courtesy of The Smoking Gun.

Check out Unibrow Guy, Purple Paranoia, and The Facial Tattoo Twins... they're especial favorites of mine.

What a week

We began the week still down to one vehicle, with a prediction from the repair shop of Friday for finishing.

This was VERY unwelcome news, as it meant our entire routine was completely upended. This was the last week of basketball and I seriously needed to attend the games (both high school and middle school ones) to take pictures and to support my students. We also have Isaac's piano lessons in Denton each Tuesday. It was not shaping up to be a pleasant week trying to coordinate our far-flung schedules with one van (which had grinding brakes itself).

Tuesday during my lunch hour, I got a call letting me know that Isaac's piano teacher needed to reschedule the lesson for Thursday afternoon.

Then Tuesday afternoon Rick called to say that his vehicle was finally fixed and he'd gotten a church member to drive him over to the repair shop to pick it up.

Hallelujah!! I missed the Monday night games, but the Tuesday ones were a "go."

This morning, after attending a morning tournament game for the middle school girls, we drove down to Denton to the JustBrakes place. They charge $99 for a regular servicing, and I knew the brakes were sounding really, really bad. The guy there manning the phones was super-nice and very professional. After JoeMama picked us up and took us to her house, he called with the bad news. Apparently my calipers had been set improperly the last time someone had worked on them, and I'd been driving around with too-tight brakes which had worn down to metal-on-metal. He said it wasn't my fault, that I hadn't been treating them badly, they were just not fully releasing.

And, unfortunately, because everything on the front brakes had to be completely re-done, it was going to cost five times as much.

I knew he was right, though. I can usually sense pretty well when a mechanic is BSing me, and I had known all week that the brakes just didn't feel like normal squealy brakes that needed pad replacement. I told him to go ahead with it.

There's a great deal to be said for a specialty repair place such as JustBrakes... since all they do is brakes, they've got the needed parts on-hand for pretty much anything to do with brakes and they get it done right then. Rick seems to be fixated on using a Midas repair shop, no matter where we live... which is fine for him, but because they're an all-purpose place, they always have to order the parts and it takes a lot longer and we're out a vehicle while we wait.

This time, I decided to just take care of it myself instead of letting Rick work out the details as usual. It had only been a couple of days since we'd gotten his van out of the shop; I wasn't terribly keen on spending another week being shuttled around in it, waiting for mine to be done.

Add to that, the postal worker who he replaces on the weekends is very, very pregnant and due at any time. Once she goes on leave, he'll be working Monday through Saturday driving the postal route. And once that happens, we really do need both vehicles to be in working order. He had had to use my van twice to drive his rural postal route, and it's just not set up to operate from the passenger seat well.

Five hundred dollars poorer, but my van doesn't grind to a halt now.

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I just got an e-mail from Dawn in Haiti; she said that one of my friends from Cayes was killed in an accident coming back from a trip to the Dominican Republic (the country on the other side of the island of Hispaniola). He was a music minister in his church and was the one who had gone out of his way to find me a "tambou" (a Haitian goatskin drum) as a gift from the Haitian teachers.

She also mentioned that music camp is scheduled for July 20.

Yes, I'm tempted. I have air miles collected on a credit card that HAVE to be used up this year. And if I have the repair surgery in early June, that should be a decent recovery time.

I *so* miss Haiti. I'd really really really like to go back.

We shall see.

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Last night, the varsity girls basketball team played in a game which would determine whether or not they'd go on to the playoffs. We were all quite excited about the game; the principal had asked me to put together an impromptu "pep rally" during lunch, which I did cheerfully. hehe "Cheer" fully... ha! I got the teachers together and we did cheers in the cafeteria.

At the game, the cheerleaders asked me to run a sign across the floor in front of the stands to get the crowd excited. I'm game for that kind of silliness, of course, so I did. I ran across the floor, holding the sign above my head. The crowd cheered crazily. I switched directions to run back, but my feet didn't follow along willingly, and I landed on the floor with a >SMACK<. The crowd laughed hysterically, and I hopped up and finished my run with a laugh.

After I got home, however, I realized that I wasn't unhurt. My left shoulder (which I had landed on) was complaining loudly. I took some Aleve -- which is a no-no with my tummy in such bad shape, but my pain relief choices are nil since Tylenol has been nixed due to possible liver issues -- but I puked it back up shortly afterward, so it didn't matter anyway.

Today it's still very sore. If it's no better on Monday, I'll be scheduling a visit to an orthopedic doctor to see what's wrong with it.

I swear, if it isn't one thing, It's another.

*******************************

The pediatric shrink decided to try Depakote instead of lithium for Martha. We're in transition for the next few weeks, which means lots of explosive moods and abusive verbiage. (Why is that different from the usual? you might ask) She seems to be completely oblivious to the effect her behaviors and words have on the rest of us. She wanted to go to the Valentines Dance next Friday night, and the requirement for this privilege was that she couldn't get any "time-outs" (we've had to resort to this sort of toddler-esque punishment to effect any change, since nothing else seems to work). Today she was in one of her perpetually rude moods, which eventually resulted in a time-out. I feel bad about her not going to the dance, because I want her to develop friendships. Sometimes I really, really don't like motherhood. I'm just hoping I can make it out alive. I pray continually that she can get some relief soon; it must be exhausting to be that angry all the time.

Boo. hoo. hoo.

Nature notes: It's a rough season for squirrels

Lately, it's almost been pitiful watching the local squirrels having to eek out an existence out here in north Lafayette. It happens each and every year between mid-January and mid-February. Crunch time in the squirrel world.

As a nitpicky aside, Mr. Fontenot, I'm pretty sure it's "eke," not "eek." But forget the syntax error. I'm really, really broken up about the skwerls. [inadvertent snicker]

Broken up.


Right.


Skwerls, my man, are the ninjas of the rodent world.

I caught sight of the squirrel in my rear view mirror. He wasn't flattened, or even ruffled, he just stood there. Somehow this little guy had the intestinal fortitude to stare down the Royal 'Rolla's bumper and duck.

The poor widdle skwerls ain't gonna be thwarted by a little thing like starvation. They're like anthrax spores... lying in wait...

The Super Bowl Bridgestone commercials have been humorous, but the one with the people missing the squirrel in the middle of the road? That ain't sellin' me a tire. Heck, I want a tire that homes in on the tiny terrorists. Build one of those for me, Bridgestone, and you'll have a customer for life.

Lock 'n load, man.

And we ALL know what TODAY is!!!

Taking Caturday one step further...