Cynthia wants to say hello before I go back to work.

It's almost time for me to start watching out the window for Paul. Work calls, and that's OK.

I wonder what will be for dinner tonight.

Maybe I'll cook for mom. She did start work today-- I bet she'll be sort of tired tonight.

Oh, and Cynthia is here, as well. She says hello to everyone out there.

I have to go find my umbrella and brush Cynthia's fur before I leave with Paul.

Have a good day, all.


-Kevin

Yep, I can see Paul. Riding up to house on his truck (skateboard)-- gotta go!

In the spirit of my new found feeling of adventure and accomplishment, I bring you-- Mr. Bill Withers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk

I hope everyone else out there in cyber space is having an equally lovely day. This rain really isn't so bad.

Who am I kidding? I know what I want, and that's for things to stay exactly the same as they are-- right now.

I really like working with Paul, and sometimes really interesting things happen while we're collecting trash-- like random ground sandwiches popping up!

I also feel happy, maybe a little adventurous, even. I know that dad would be proud of me.

Plus, with the extra money mom and I will be making between us, maybe she and I can start planning a trip somewhere..

I've always wanted to go up to Montreal. I hear that the squirrels up there have wonderful accents, and delicious food. A real winning combination of both interesting and eating (which I love to do).

Oh boy. Mom's at work?

Finally got a hold of mom-- she is at work right now! I can't believe it. In fact, I didn't even think she had a job to go back to after being away from work the past three or four months.

Good for her. Granted, she just texted me that she would be at work until 2:00, but she included a little heart icon in the text, so I guess she's pretty glad to be there.
I wonder what this means. For me, I mean. My work situation..

Maybe I could go back to working for DELL with mom bringing in money again.

Do I want that? Going back to sitting in my room all day, offering the occasional customer trouble shooting help over the phone-- I'm not even sure how I feel about doing that anymore.

I kind of like going out with Paul on our adven-- I mean, trash collecting trips.

What would my dad ever say if I went back to working from home?

..I already know..

Dad: "Kevin, you should get outside more often! You're wasting your life away in this room! There is a world to see outside your window, and it's only steps away from this tree! So, put on your belt and let's go!"

Me: "Dad, I can't. I know what would happen, and that includes barf, and general embarrassment and anxiety. Do your thing. I am happy here."

Dad: [Disappointment]

I have some real thinking to do. What is the best next step for me?

Rainy day skateboard thoughts

This rain is a drag. Paul decided to call today a split-shift sort of day, in hopes that the rain will let up by late morning. That means we work from 6:30-8:00, then 11:00-1:30, instead of the regular 9:00-2:00pm trash  workday.

My fur is soaked, and I am cold. Miserable, miserable weather to be outside collecting trash in.

Glad to be home right now. Mom isn't home-- not sure where she went. Since coming home from the hospital, she hasn't been out too much. I'm not surprised she went somewhere, though. My mom seems to be doing a whole lot better these days.

I do wish that she was here to make me breakfast, though. Those acorn pancakes we had yesterday were really good.

I guess I do know how to cook a couple things for breakfast. If there was one good thing that came of Mom being hurt, then sick for so long-- it was that I learned to make really good toast. Plus, I do kind of like my job.

Yeah.. the job is a good thing after all. I can actually go outside with less worry, nausea, and fear of humans and other potential hazards. Paul really helped with that, since he's so much bigger than me. Well, and because of his truck-- who knew skateboards could be so versatile for non-human creatures? I almost wish that I could find a skateboard made for a very small being like me...

This isn't me. Just some lucky devil with a squirrel sized skateboard!

Time for breakfast, and to figure out where mom went.

Kevin

Happy (almost) birthday, Uncle C! 40 months old and counting!

[So that I don't forget to do this before or after work tomorrow--]

Happy birthday, Uncle Charlie! Another month older, and still dashing a squirrel as ever!

Just don't celebrate so seriously this month, please. It may be warmer outside, but I am highly uninterested in picking you up from Ray and Leanne's den again, drunk and smelly off your rocker, like I did last month on April 10th.  (That was a really nauseating excursion)

Still. I love you, Uncle C. Enjoy your big day tomorrow.

None of this, Uncle Charlie. Not this month.

Just went to find mom. She's holed up on the couch with Cynthia.

Cynthia growled a little when I sat down next to mom, but mom shushed her.

I apologized again for cyber criticising the TNC mom made tonight. Actually, I started crying myself.

Mom seemed really touched that I actually felt so bad. I guess the anti-biotics the doctors prescribed to her after getting out of the hospital for that skin infection on her back has some side effects to it which include increased sensitivity. I think mom was just trying to make me feel less guilty about making her cry. Maybe she felt guilt that I cried.

Well. We hugged, and everything seems a lot better. I actually really liked the Tuna-Casserole-Minus-The-Noodle. It was hard to realize it over dinner because I was so worked up about the lack of noodle in my meal. I'm doing much better now.

Cynthia actually licked me with her feathery tongue before heading back to my room. She also wacked me in the eye with one of her legs. That was fun (not).

Still happy.

Wah! Maybe not that happy.

-kevin

That last post made mom pretty upset.

She's crying.

I made my mom cry! I don't know what to do. Will anyone out there tell me what I can do to make my mom stop crying and being sad?

This is all my fault. I should have never gotten so god damn attached to those TNC noodles in years past.

*pace pace pace pace pace*

*scratch scratch scratch scratch*

Ok. I am going to open up my door and re-approach mom to apologize again. I should have realized she checks up on my blog.

Then again, I guess anyone can see what I write.


I need to be more conscious of that. Especially when it comes to criticising other creatures culinary creations.

Apparently, hold the noodle.

Forget about my excitement over tonight's dinner. Mom decided to make her signature Tuna-Noodle-Casserole alright. Minus the noodles.

Tuna (NO NOODLE?) Casserole

Once we both were seated at the kitchen table, mom noticed my stunned face over the lack of noodle.

(As an aside, please note that noodle is my favorite part of TNC, besides the tuna.)

Frowning, she replied "Kevin, wipe that look right off your face! I am trying to lose the weight I gained from all that sitting-on-my-beehind over the past few weeks. Be more supportive and eat your Tuna Casserole!)

Mom. Don't sacrifice the taste of noodle goodness in your TNC for a slim physique. Don't do it.

*sigh*

Petty? You bet. Ashamed? Yup, that too. Guh.

I thought mom getting better and cooking again would mean things, well at least meals, would go back to being more normal and delicious than what I was cooking while mom was out of commission. Guess I've got to lower my expectations a bit.

.. she's still great. I'm just being a jerk ..


(I'll go apologize to mom now)



-kevin (an asserole)

Human work

An ad for a pizza place that's opening near Burlington just came up in the advertisements section of my facebook. Its mascot is kind of funny:

Get a load of this guy.

Geez, that squirrel looks like he ate one too many slices of pizza...

...

I wish that I had something more negative to say about this ad. Then I could call the humans stupid for using an image of a squirrel in a weird/demeaning/incorrect manner.

But they're right-- we squirrels love pizza. just love it.

I think balloons are kind of scary, though.

stupid humans.

[take that!]

Guess what I found today..

Collecting trash this morning with the boss, I came across a brown paper bag near the Grackle family's nest in one of the pillars of the UVM chapel. I saw it because Paul lit up a cigarette just as we got there.

I still suck at being around Paul's cigarette smoke, and I've been working for him almost two and a half months now. At least he's really nice about warning me when he's going to light one up-- and he's also pretty OK with my random barf bouts-- the smoke really triggers that stressful reaction in me.

Anyway, we were halfway through the morning trash run, arrived at the Grackle residence like usual, and Paul warned me he was going to have a smoke.

Bam. I could hardly utter an "OK" before the acorn pancakes I had for breakfast (mom's specialty-- Yep, she's cooking again. More on that later...) came up and splattered right in front of me. Paul just sighed and told me to take a walk-- "I'll take care of the Grack-Trash today," he said. At that, I went over to one of the grassy spots nearby to catch my breath and clean my face up.

That's when I saw the bag. Plain old brown looking bag-- nothing particularly speciali about it, except that it looked sort of damp, and like something was inside it.

I pattered over to the damp clod and tore it open with my front teeth. To my delight, a whole half of sandwich was in there!

Salami and cheese on a bulkie roll-- wow. The name on the snadwich wrapper said "SODEXO"-- whoever that is, they make a good looking meal.

Somehow my overactive nerves and unreasonable sense of general fear paid off for once; I got a sandwich out of it!

Split the half with Paul. Think it made his day, too. And maybe took his mind off of the acorn spew that came out of my mouth.

I'm also lucky, because mom has really been on a cooking kick lately. Tonight, we're having tuna-noodle casserole. My favorite fish-dish! (Fish aren't creatures, by the way. They're just fish...)

Eating well, and even feeling well.

Kevin

Got her home... barely.

Mom's home from the hospital, and her once infected skin spot on her back has healed!

Had a doozy of a time walking her home, though. Guess those first couple steps outside were a bit much for my mom after having been laid up a month in the hospital- because she went right down.

"No, Kevin! I can get up by myself!"

It's ok, though. My mom bounced right back up. I even tried giving her a hand out of terror that she was suddenly on the ground. But she just turned her face right at me and said "No, Kevin! I can get up myself!"

Oh mom.

Anyway. I got her home to the tree, and now she's resting comfortably in front of the television. I really do think she's on the up and up from here-- this morning, she mentioned a desire to use the spin bike again in the near future. (*gulp*) I just smiled and told her to be careful.

A small part of me was also thinking, "Boo-Yah Grandma! Mom's almost better!"

Optimistic,
Kevin