And In BULLY CAT and NEVERENDING WINTER News...

• Cat, 4; Taiko, 0. Two matches resulted in blood drawn.

• 4 inches of snow with more on the way; 19 degrees.

Things I've Seen While Commuting Lately

A black bear
...that turned out to be a really fluffy cow.

A blue horse
...that turned out to be a horse with a blue blanket.

A barn roof
...no barn, just a roof. And half-a-roof at that. I drive past this phenomenon at least 3 times a week and for the life of me can't figure out how this happened. I do have a theory: The side walls of the barn rotted and it collapsed. Then the people were too poor to buy firewood so for the last 5 years, they've just been going out to the barn and pulling board after board out so now, all that's left is the half-a-roof. I am so not making this up. I'll take a photo one of these days.

Half-a-house
...Honestly. Same story as the roof. Except that the house is brick and I seriously doubt that anyone burned it.

A TEENY-TINY chapel
...in someone's side yard. Perfect for a TEENY-TINY wedding.

A pancaked black cat
...at least I think it was a cat... Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I just report the facts.

A hawk stomping on something in a roadside ditch
...he was deadly, but beautiful.

A river
...turned into a lake.

An unopened bag of Doritos in the median
...Cool Ranch.

A grandma on a moped
...DUI, do you think?

Six deer
...conferring in a cornfield.

A haunted house
...I have no proof that it was actually haunted, but if I were a ghost, I would totally move in.

Winnie-the-pooh
...no explanation. It is what it is.

Oliver

This is Oliver.

He belongs to Mackenzie. She adopted him from the local Petsmart. He is a "young adult" kitty and the sweetest of the sweetest of all the cats she held. There was the hissing one, and the one with the twitchy tail; there was the one who had been "treated for tapeworms", and the big giant calico one who rubbed his head against her hand, but then sunk his claws into her shoulder. Oliver was the first kitty she held and the one she went back to in the end. They were meant for each other.

Dear God: Please Give Me a Break. (And by a "break" I don't mean make more of my shit break.)

End of the month reports and billing kicked me in the ass - I have yet to recover.

Dillon's car got totaled (he's ok but a very, very sad boy).

My basement has sprung 2 leaks - there's actually a 1-inch hole under the stairs with a tiny little river running out of it. If it were in my living room, the sound would be very Zen.

Taiko has many symptoms of this: Syringomyelia - he has slowly been degenerating and he had a seizure last night.

Turns out that I (barely) make too much money to qualify for Mac to get 4 years paid tuition at an Indiana University - FYI: I make an absurdly meager salary - Dillon's salary puts the household over, even though his paycheck is irrelevant to me and Mac and goes towards fast food, cigarettes, gas, and insurance.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, those Sundays that I've been working since September and was so excited to have free starting this week have just gone bye-bye with the incredibly bonehead move of One Selfish Person. And because I anticipated having Sundays off, I have taken on a new client and scheduled them for Friday Afternoons. I'm back to one day off a week again. But it was awesome to have 2 days off each week (Friday and Saturday) for the past 2 weeks. Like a mini-vacation to Hawaii... albeit with snow... and bills... and dustbunnies.

And I have to take Lucy in for a check-up on Friday. I suspect they will inform me that I need 4 new tires - I despise buying tires.

I very much would like to go to bed and sleep for a Very Long Time.