the woods: 5 | max: 2
I have poison oak. This is the second time I have had poison oak since I got here which means in one month. The irony of having poison oak at all is that each time I get it, it is because I am clearing poison oak from a trail or bench that is overgrown [with poison oak] so I can take the dogs there, but if I take the dogs there when it is all overgrown with poison oak, I will for sure get poison oak. So, instead, I clear the poison oak. And --
Get poison oak.
Also, something bit the hell out of me last night. It had to be during the night because there are three bites I would pretty well have noticed before I fell asleep if I had had them. Because they are as big as quarters yegads. There are fang marks and everything and I think it was a spider but I do not know. They itch and hurt and are hella swollen and red and I am mad. Whatever it was got me on the inner thigh above the knee on both legs and on the left inner arm. And only something really mean would hit both knees AND an arm. And look on purpose for the really soft skin.
Damn. It.
And the bites are worse than the poison oak and I did not know that was possible poison oak is bad. But this is worse.
[I think the bites are revenge for clearing out those wasp nests and spider webs on the porch. Damn.]
But --
Besides getting to know poison oak and what bites TOO WELL I am getting to know the local animals. I have a route I drive in and out of town to the office and there are animals in the same places every time I see them so I figure those are addresses probably registered at the post office.
There is the nefarious after dark dog hang out. That is where dogs up to no good meet after dark in a sort of clearing by the road and every time I come home real late there are at least two dogs touching noses there who give me looks like if I tell I am in trouble.
There are the curious horses. I like them bunches. Horses I think get really bored with just grass so they go lean over fences and watch the road like it is TV. I wave and they nod. They are only out during the day.
There is the red shouldered hawk. That hawk lives at the bottom of max road two, before you hit the paved road into town. It is very beautiful and has golden eyes and looks back at you as hard as you look at it. [I am looking at the hawk because it is beautiful and hoping I do not miss a curve and fall off a cliff from watching. The hawk never misses a beat landing and looking back at me so he is not as smitten because landings are harder.]
There is a deer that lives by the gate, with a white tail with a black ring, and a deer that lives further from the gate, with. um, a white tail and black ring. Okay all the deer, when they run, have white tails with black rings, but you know they are the same deer because they are built a certain way and you see a lot of deer but you start recognizing the same ones. Especially in the same places.
There are the pygmy goats -- a whole herd -- that get to run in the front pasture off the town road which is really not a pasture more a barn yard sort of, and the bad goat who has to stay with the old pony because he does not play well with other goats.
There is the fox and two raccoons. They only come out very very late and if you slow down too much one of the raccoons thinks you are stopping to give him a ride and comes over to see. I worry about them being so close to the road.
There is the hare who will not get out of the road ever. He lives on the dirt road and will run in front of you for miles. You stop the car thinking, Okay, I am not chasing you, it is time to get out of the road. And you wait with your lights off thinking he will for sure dive into grass now. But he will wait for you around the corner, watching over his shoulder to make sure you catch up before he runs more and sometimes I do not think he is running away, sometimes I think he just likes you behind him. Like a parade. The hare and the SUV. And he gets to be in front.
I am getting that hare a baton for Christmas. I think he would like that.
Love and Kisses,
Your Too Bit Adams Girl
PS: In case anyone wonders, the woods scored 3 bites 2 poison oaks; max scored 1 shower 1 hair color session
