On Wednesday, two of my co-workers down here took me, Jack, and Josiah to see gators. We went here, on the trail mentioned on the first page. They are not kidding about the alligator habitat!

We saw in the neighborhood of 75 gators. We even heard a baby gator. The story is we scared this one:

Other things we saw: Great Egret, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, and Red-winged Blackbird.

Oh, and a gator eating a fish.

Saturday Cdub and I drove back up to VA to get the boys. We stayed the night at Peg’s, and on Sunday headed over to Bobby and Stephanie’s. Well, first I showed Cathy my grandfather’s house, but she has refused to buy it from us.

When I walked into the house, Orion was sitting under the table. It took him a little while to come out and see me. When I did coax him out, he ran to the back room and lay down on the afghan I had left.

Jasper, on the other hand, was no where to be found. At one point, he sprinted into their room, but was gone just as quickly. I put Orion’s harness on him (Orion: It burns! Burns, I tell you!) and we went to find Jasper.
He was on a shelf in Stephanie’s closet, which is located off of the master bathroom. We shut the bathroom door, trapping him, put his harness on, and left him in there to calm down.

We said our goodbyes and loaded the boys in the car. Ri hid under my seat for the first hour of the trip. He also had his standard riding in the car reaction, which I didn’t notice because my nose was/is stuffed up. Lucky! He came out and spent the rest of the trip between the two front seats. Except for the part where he jumped up on me and covered my face with his belly.

Jasper hung out for a little while, but then crawled under the rear seat. He stayed there for about 2 hours. He came out to join us, but had wiggled out of his harness. He spent the rest of the trip looking out the windows. Well, with the exception of the one time Cdub slammed on the brakes. Then he came up and tapped her, as if to say, “Hey, I’m back here. Be careful!” It seems it’s not the car that bothers him, but the harness.

So, they’re home, I’m home, and it looks like it will stay that way for three whole weeks. I don’t know if I can be at home for three weeks...

If you are meeting with your boss and your psychiatrist on the same day, meet with your boss first. That way, when the meeting with your boss goes the opposite of how you thought it would, you can talk to your shrink about it.

If you can't do that, make sure your shrink tells you to look out for yourself because there is no loyalty in the business world.

As far as the work situation goes, I am essentially being blamed for something that is not my fault, and even if it were would actually point to a whole host of other problems. Also, and even more frustrating, is that some of the people I worked with are telling my boss the exact opposite of what they told me. Which shouldn't surprise me, and yet always does.

But, I have been given the chance to start anew. I've got a new project to work on, and even though I've been told that I really have to make this one work (I have such power for a peon!) it is a project that is actually in line with my experience, which should help.

(Oh, and if I ever tell you that I've never done something and I don't know what I'm doing, what I mean is that I've never done it and I don't know what I'm doing.)

So, anyway, the work frustration should be over soon. Which will give me more free time to be frustrated about other things. Like the fact that I cannot find a wallet that I like.

1. Washed all the floors in the house.
2. Laundry
3. Cooked. Which I mention because it hasn’t happened in some time.
4. Bought a new (used) car.

This is for Michelle because she asked.

This is also for Michelle because I am mean.

So, the new vehicle means that I will not be buying a place later this year. I made that decision for several reasons. First of all, I love the house and neighborhood I am in. I'm not ready to give up on it yet. Secondly, I'm now not sure I'll be here (in this city) for 3 more years. Thirdly, about 3 weeks ago several rows of townhomes in a new development went up in flames. From that I learned that the building codes do not require that the firewall extend through the attic. Because, as we all know, fire never spreads through the attic.

Which is why I haven’t written much. So, here are some random thoughts:

• The more I drive my new car, the more I love it.
  
• Of course, I am writing this from the service area, because one of the seat belts is broken. I am also getting a second key.
  
• Did you see The Amazing Race on Sunday? They had these wicked cool bomb sniffing rats. The rats were huge. I mean, for rats. Bigger than a Chihuahua. I kind of want to get one, and only partially because I want to see the cats react to a prey animal that is their size.
  
• Also on Sunday I went for a walk with 2.0 and the Boo. I have not seen them in forever. It’s nice to connect with friends again.
  
• This weekend is TRgirl’s baby shower. While I am very excited about becoming an aunt, I found Babies ‘R Us terrifying. Which must have shown, because the employees kept asking me if I needed help. When I was done, I had to go to AutoZone to clear my head.
  

I fixed my storm door this weekend. It hasn't latched since I moved into the house. I took the lock apart, cleaned the crud off, and WD-40'd it. Now, I can sit in the living room and have the front door open. The cats can look out the storm door. Today, we were all sitting in the living room- Ri on my lap, Jasper lying on the rug. A backhoe drove down the street. Jasper ran to the window to see it.

TRgirl's baby shower was, well, a baby shower. The cool part was that she and Randy took me to the driving range the night before. I am now in the market for golf clubs.

Oh, TRgirl has painted the baby's room as an ocean. There is sky and waves. Except I thought it was sky and mountains. Which lead to this exchange:

TRgirl: Have you ever heard of blue mountains?
Watergirl: The Blue Ridge Mountains? The Blue Mountains in Jamaica?

We had our highest point total at Pub Quiz tonight, and were still one point out of fourth place. Which we would have tied for if someone had believed me when I told them what a calorie was.