Probably one good reason I got distracted so easily is this darn cold. It’s on the way out, but the lingering cough makes me feel like I’ve gone a few rounds with the heavyweight champion of the world and taken every blow to the ribs and gut. The problem is the way women’s muscles work when they cough. What tightens and spasms are the ones over the ribs and lower abdomen, the ones on the sides of the waist and the groin muscles. Apparently, or so my doc says, men use different muscles when they cough, muscles they use a lot anyway so they don’t get the same muscle aches as women when they have a bad cough. Anyway, every time I cough, it leaves me gasping for air and with muscles spasms sort of like the heaves. I lose track of what I’ve been doing and end up off on tangents. If the work I did this weekend wasn’t so darned pretty, I’d be growling “Eff you, Cold!” for more reasons that the obvious ones of discomfort.

So here’s what I ended up with at the end of the weekend. A total count of three banners, a Twitter background page, an avatar, and four covers. None of which were for me. The stuff that hasn’t been approved yet, I won’t post, but the stuff that’s already been finalized is below.

So pretty! So sexy! Which leads me to something – or rather someone – who is also pretty and oh, so sexy! It’s time for a Marcus!

I want to pillow fight with him! Of course, I don’t look that good in my underwear…Leastways, not any more! *Winces at the thought of my upcoming birthday* That does remind me of something though. This year my birthday is on a Monday so I think I’ll give away some books. Make sure you come back on Halloween for a chance to win.

Okay, that about wraps it up for me and my sore ribs. Have yourselves a great Monday!

So my co-worker with his cold stood next to me and found out he couldn’t get the shot. I sat down, got the shot and obviously breathed in his germs or something because voila! I have a cold. Sniffles, sore throat, croaky voice, cough, and a fever. Unpleasant to say the least. And I’m joking about my co-worker getting me sick. I’ve been run down for weeks because of stress. I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken much to get me sick after the shot took me down another peg or two.

Rott has been feeding me vitamins, Power-C vitamin water, soup and cupcakes all weekend. Okay, the cupcakes were my idea. This morning, I still had the fever. So I’m up for a bit checking my work email to make sure nothing needs my attention from home (yes, I am the computer geek who can get on the network from home) and then it’s back to bed and maybe some downtime with Z.A. Maxfield’s Book of Daniel. I need to read that one.

Anyway kudos to all of you who got your shots and didn’t get shot down. This is the first time it’s happened to me.  I rather think I’m gonna lose my voice. Some of you are probably thinking that’s a good thing and you might be right.

Here’s a Marcus and then I’m off to bed to let the babies pile on me.

He looks uber healthy there. I need healthy so I’m hoping the photo rubs off on me. *snort* Have a better than I’m having Monday!

The thing about commutes is that I usually think of them as total freeway time. And in the past, for me anyway, they always have been mostly freeway time. The new commute has very little freeway time. Most of the time is spent on surface streets and a stint down my own road, Carbon Canyon. The canyon road reminds me of the highway between Salinas and Monterey, the one that winds past Laguna Seca. I’ve driven that road more times than I could ever count. After all it’s home turf for me and I lived there 29 years. I made a lot of trips down that road in nearly 30 years. Every time I go down Carbon Canyon Road I think of home as in where I grew up. But honestly, this canyon is becoming home to me now in a very short space of time. I like it so much in the canyon that I don’t mind the drive. As commutes go, it ain’t much of a commute and hardly any of it is spend with my foot on the brake inching my way up the freeway.

Sure, the Chino Hills residents use my road as a commuter short cut to their homes just over the county line into San Bernardino County. And yeah, that means that sometimes I do spend some time with my foot on the brake inching along. But it’s not on the freeway. It’s on the canyon road itself which is loaded with stuff to look at. Personally, I’m a little fascinated by the trees that were burned in the 2008 fire. I stare at them and stare at them as I inch along. Most of the canyon has grown back it’s vegetation so it’s not very burned out looking but I try to imagine what it must have looked like and it creeps me out a little. It’s still not much of a commute despite the crawling that sometimes occurs on Carbon Canyon Road. And I’m home in about 30-40 minutes.

Home’s the key word here. I love coming home. I love the canyon and the wildlife. The longer I’m here, the less that the word “home” means Monterey County. I guess I’ve found my place here in Southern California. I never would have thought it would be out at the edge of a once burned out canyon but there ya have it.

Since it’s Monday, it’s time for a Marcus.

That would make a nice avatar. He’s got great arms! Hope you all have a great Monday!

A couple of nights later on the other side of the house, in the yard, Rott was on his same nightly mission and reached down to pull some weeds from the slightly raised planter box where the orange and lemon tree are planted.  That’s when he noticed another rattler about a foot from his hand. This one was about the same length, fatter, with fewer rattles. And about as non-aggressive as the other one had been. Rott spotted him, yelped and jumped back, but he didn’t even move. Rott ran in the house for his camera but when he got back the snake was gone.

The next wildlife encounter was early in the morning. Rott heard Neko getting loud and playful. When she ran by he saw something in her mouth. She dropped it on the floor and starting batting at it. Rott chased her away and it jumped onto the wall. It was a tree frog, sticking to the wall with his little suction cup feet. Rott caught him and turned him loose outside.

Now, the wildlife count is up to wasps (Rott killed it with a torch without scorching the couch it was on), lizards (I almost stepped on one trying to get in my car one morning), baby possums, coyote packs, birds that knock on the windows (this freaks out the babies) , gophers, rabbits, hawks, owls, hummingbirds, rattlesnakes and tree frogs. Our life is kinda wild learning to deal with all the wildlife. It’s an adventure I tell ya! And despite all the wildlife adventures, Rott did get the fountain to work! Yay!

Well, last week was hellish at work. Major deadlines and only me and the part-time person to get it all done. I coulda cried. It was so stressful. I needed the three day weekend but I don’t need the fact that it will put me behind a day. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes my head pound. I must need a Marcus…

Ahhh, much better! Wishing you all a wildlife free Labor Day!

Anyway, one night last week Swirly the Guard Cat was sitting in the window sill of my author cave hissing. The window is on the front of the house with a view of the carport. It was open a little (not enough for one of them to squeeze out) and he saw/heard something outside. He’s a pretty good alarm. Anything, anyone comes into our carport and Swirly hisses. The closer they get to the window, the louder he gets until eventually he starts growling. He stopped hissing pretty quick though because the person in the carport was Rott.

Rott comes up to the window and the babies all crowd around as he starts to tell me why he’s wandering around outside at 1:30 am. He’d found a couple of coyotes in our yard stalking a baby possum. Or in Rott’s words, “Coyote Take Out.” He chased them off but they didn’t go any farther than our carport because of the presence of their snack to go. So Rott shooed them out of the carport into the street. While he was telling me about the baby possum and that he saw the rest of the coyote pack up the street, the coyote take out took a hike and made good his escape. With the possum gone, the next time Rott shooed the approaching coyotes, they left and joined the pack, running up the street and around the corner.

After that, Rott and I went to Denny’s for an early morning breakfast. The coyotes stalking the baby possum in our yard was pretty much the highlight of our week. Rott now tells the babies if they aren’t good, he’s going to put them outside to be coyote take out!

Work is going to be pretty crazy for me starting this week because my co-worker is leaving. I’ve no idea how I’m going to get all the work done and I’m seriously unhappy about this turn of events. So I’m hoping to get a bit of a jump on month end over the next couple of days before she leaves. After that, I don’t even want to think about how tired I’m going to be.

Between coyotes in my yard and my co-worker leaving, I need some serious cheering up which of course means I need a Marcus.

Oh, yum. He really does make my Mondays much better! Hope you all have a wonderful day!