Flying Squirrel Follies

I was sitting here in front of this computer earlier tonight and I though I heard some rusting and scratching. I wrote it off as the noises my son makes before he goes to bed since his bedroom is directly above my office.

A few seconds later I heard scurrying and caught a glimpse of something moving on the floor in my peripheral vision. It went around my desk and in a corner piled up with miscellaneous shit. The scurrying noise stopped. I stood up very slowly to get a look. At first I assumed it was a rat but when I saw it I noticed the wide tail. Then it jumped from the floor to the wall. I have a grass cloth wall covering in my office. It climbed right up the wall (as if it had done it many times before- it obviously knew it could get a grip on the wall) and then ran around the perimeter of the room, behind the filing cabinet (I hate papers and I need to get rid of that damn thing) and then to my window sill where it stopped.

It sat there on the window sill about five feet from me and just looked at me. Staring at it closely I noticed that it was a squirrel. I had an old folded shirt on the floor in front of the window so I stood up very slowly and slowly picked up the shirt while the squirrel just stood there looking at me. I threw the shirt on the squirrel and grabbed it up. I squealed a little bit but it was unhurt. I put it in a large bin made of see through plastic and took it upstairs to show the wife.

It didn't look the same as the squirrels we see around here in our yard by the thousands. It was grayish brown and had some stripes that ran from its front legs to its back legs along the sides of it's body. It wasn't much longer than 6 or 7 inches with its tail and it had large eyes. We assumed that it was just a juvenile gray squirrel with an eye problem.

Instead of killing it we decided to let it go. So I took it outside, put the bin on the brick wall surrounding our patio which is about four feet high. I opened the bin and jumped out and then glided about ten feet away before hitting the ground and running away.

At that point I realized that it was a flying squirrel. I didn't even know that we had flying squirrels in this part of the country but by Thor we do!

So now I want to know how that little bastard got in my house and then in my office!

Demanding Little Minions of Satan

The following is a conversation between my almost 3 year old daughter and me:

Adrienne: Where is my blankie Daddy?
Me: I'm sorry honey, I don't know.
Adrienne in an annoyed tone: Well, go get it!

Gimme a 1098, 1099 DIV, 1099 INT, and a K-1

Preparing the information for my accountant to prepare my tax return is becoming extremely burdensome. The properties I own are sucking me dry and I am spending way too much time keeping up with all the bookkeeping. I need a personal secretary. I have already put about five hours into this and I will probably have to take a day off work to get it completed.

Grrrr. Maybe a flat-tax would be better. I better study up on that one.

Life Goes On as Kids get more Smartassed

The wife is sick. She has a cold.

Lolo likes to watch the Food Network. She wanted to see a person's cooking show who she said looks like Uncle Greg but with skikey hair. Well no such person has a show on at 8:00 pm on Monday so she was disappointed.

I need to fill out the forms to turn over my information to my tax accountant but I am so tired and I have been procrastinating.

Out.

Another Glorious Day

We had a great time last night with our friend coming over. They brought their kids and our hellions and theirs played very well together. We ate steak and drank. So I guess I am trying to kill myself with cholesterol and saturated fat.

I had put the trailer on the bike and rode the kids around. Up and down the very steep driveway and up and down the road in front of our house. It was one hell of a workout. Especially after walking the greenway in the morning, picking up sticks, working outside and washing both Volvos. It tired the shit out of me. I guess I am not 20 anymore. Plus my heart rate is still in the 80s, I have not exercised pretty much at all since mid-November, and I am a slacker. All the activity pretty much slammed me. The drinking certainly didn't help. I had two beers and two Makers and Ginger. I was feeling no pain. But I am kinda stupid because I am still on warfarin sodium (coumadin) and I am not supposed to drink because of that medication. Maybe I really am trying to kill myself.

The hellions were SO tired last night after all the play. The twins went to sleep about 8:30 and Lolo didn't go to sleep until about 10:15! I think that might be a record for her.

The wife and I got in bed about 11:30. No nookie for me this weekend.

This morning got rolling like insane as usual. The wife was running late for teaching Sunday school so she took off and I kept all three hellions. We rode bikes and played on the swings. When the wife got back she came to me and pulled me aside because she didn't want to tell me what she was going to tell me in front of the kids. She said through tears that she got a speeding ticket on the way to Sunday school. I guess she was terrified of my reaction.

I just told her not to worry about it and gave her a hug- being the perfect husband that I am.

Since we have been married she has received four speeding tickets- in eight years. Once she had a cop follow her for 5 miles. He told her that he gave her every chance to slow down but she never looked in her rear view mirror and she continued at about 80 mph so he pulled her and ticketed her.

Then last year- I think summer - she got another one and now this one. I used to give her hell about driving too fast. When she got the ticket last summer she told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to rag her about the ticket and that I was not to bring it up again. I have observed her wishes.

Now she has done it again.

I was very nice to her today but I just don't understand it. She is smart enough to know that speeding is dangerous. She is smart enough to know that speeding tickets cost a LOT of money. She knows that she speeds. I have explained to her about how the odds of getting killed go up exponentially when you speed. None of that seems to matter.

At the risk of being considered hypocritical, I have had two speeding tickets in my life. The last one was about eight years ago where I did not notice the reduced speed in a work zone.

This shit really pisses me off. I just don't understand why someone would continue to not pay attention to their speed when they know the facts and that the odds are that they are going to get a ticket. I guess I will continue to keep my mouth shut but it really pisses me off because she drives the kids around. Her failure to pay attention to how fast she is going increases the odds that our kids will be hurt or killed. I guess it is just like that fact that the wife will not normally tighten the 5 point harness in the twins' car seats. She routinely leaves them loose which also significantly increases the probability that they will be seriously injured in a wreck.

Ok, I am finished venting but I am still pissed off about it and the fact that she knows she is wrong but refuses to attempt to modify her behavior even when it can mean that she is sacrificing hers and the kids health and safety. I guess it is kinda like me drinking while taking coumadin. So maybe I am a hypocrite- well at least my behavior is not putting my children's health at risk.

I'm out.

Skiing for the second time and Miscellaneous Rablings

Lolo skied for the second time on Tuesday. She did such a great job! I bought her a private lesson that lasted an hour then she went up the slope called Easy Street with me about five times. She loves skiing.



A-man really wanted to ski too but he is too damn young. Maybe next year he will be able to go.

My business sucks big ones. Orders for our manufactured goods went from an average of 11,000 dozen in September 2007 to an average of about 3,000 dozen this past week. If this keeps up I am quite possibly fucked. I will have to lay off more people and do some drastic downsizing. The economy really, really sucks.

I am listening to Kiss 95.1 in Charlotte. I have been listening to it for about 5 hours while working around the house outside. I washed both Volvos and cleaned out the garage. This damn radio station has played the same songs repeatedly over and over. I hate top 40 radio.

The kids are at the in-laws right now. They went down there yesterday and the wife and I had a night out on our own. We just went to a local Mexican restaurant and then came back home and crashed.

The water heater in our Mountain House is dead and will need to be replaced.

We have friends coming over tonight. Two couples and their kids. Wow, it is nice to have somewhat of a social life every now and then.

Snow Job

I didn't take Lolo skiing since last post because it was raining at the slopes.

Last night it snowed about 4-5" so I spent most of the day at home but did go into work for about 3 hours. I was supposed to fly to Lafayette, LA today but that trip was rescheduled for Wednesday. I am hoping to put the finishing touches on a licensing agreement.

I took the kids sledding in our yard down a small hill. They loved it but it didn't last long. We decided to head to our house in the mountains to hopefully enjoy some skiing with Lolo tomorrow. She is complaining about her ear huring and it is about 7 degrees F here now at our house in the mountains. There is abour 12" of snow on the ground. So with Lolo complaining about her ear I don't know if we will get to go skiing tomorrow or not.

The economy sucks and I am concerned about my business.