I was tagged, the other day, by none other than Ms. Jo Beaufoix. Its a lovely tag. A creative tag. I am to come up with six interesting facts about pygmy elk.
She could not have tagged a better girl. For I am well versed in the pygmy elk. I was raised with them. That is a little known fact. Aunt Tuna was a great fan of the pygmy elk, and if you didn't look where you were going in our house, you'd probably end up with an elk antler shoved up your arse.
They even shared my baths with me. Which leads me to my first fun fact.

1. Pygmy elk Love love love baths. With Mr. Bubbles bath soap in them. It has to be Mr. Bubbles. Calgon takes them away.
I discovered that Calgon thing the hard way one Sunday evening, when my favorite pygmy elk, Rainbow, went down the drain with the Calgon.

another fact?
2. Pygmy elk hate peas. Which made it very difficult for me to sneak them my peas at the dinner table. Matter of fact, they used to make me eat THEIR peas. My least favorite pygmy elk, Bilbo, did this frequently. I won't eat a pea to this day.

on to fact #3.
Pygmy elk like to play dress up. The fancier the dress, the better. We once had a pygmy elk, Fiona, who used to not go out the door each day until we put her in her kilt and tam. She just wasn't happy until that happened.

4. Pygmy elk use kleenex when they sneeze. And its a good thing, or we could all catch the dreaded disease pygmy elkitis. Little known fact? I used to have another sister, lets call her, uh, maisie. Maisie got sprayed with elk snot, and she was dead, 2 days later. But we couldn't tell the authorities, or they would have taken away our elk.

5. Their favorite sports team are the Mighty Ducks. Yes, they watch Hockey. Incessantly. Just ask Gretzky. He has pygmy elks of his own.

and lastly

6. Pygmy elks hog the bed your trying to share with them. It's an antler thing.

So there you go. 6 Facts about Pygmy elk. Don't say I never taught you anything. Now, if I followed rules (which I generally DON'T)
I'd tag 6 others. I am not going to do so. If you want to play, then I will follow Jo's fine example and ask you to give me six facts about....

towering giant ferrets.
yeah. thats it.

Oh, and as a bonus, here is a pygmy elk fact from MM.
They are afraid of falling leaves. They view them as predators...

Wordless Wednesday

the changing of my mind

I had this post. It was all written out, and even scheduled.
But I deleted it.
It was about cheating. But I need to think on it more, I think. I couldn't manage to phrase it succinctly enough tonight. I hate it when that happens.
So I will cheat (ha ha)
and ask you.
Cheating?
What defines it?
how many different kinds of cheating are there? (I can think of 3, immediately).
Is it ever okay?

AND
I know none of you are speculating this, but I will say it anyhow, because it bears saying.
This has nothing to do with my present life. Things are fabulous with MM and I. I watched a movie today that involved cheating, is all. It got me thinking...

this post brought to you

by the letter H

this the view from inside my hammock. Where I am swinging. And Cheese is attempting to climb in with me.
I have a 'live wire' again.
and the weather is halfway decent, the sky is not filled with smoke.
So you will all excuse me while I relax, yes?

For tonight, I work again....
and we are short staffed....

grumble

My sweet girl, Mocha, was resting at my feet this morning. Appeared to be sleeping. Occasionally, I was getting kisses on my feet.
Except she wasn't sleeping.
She was chewing the power cord to my Mac in half.
Damn it.
So, Until I get another one, probably Monday if the internet gods are kind to me, I will be MIA. I only have 31% of my battery left.....

*Edit*
Mo just had the unmitigated gall to chew through MM's connection wire for his desktop as well. So when my 20 % battery is finished, so are we. Until MM goes to work and gets another wire, and my Fed-ex arrival of my battery charger.
Grrr. Chewy puppies.......

Short Story Saturday

Angus tripped through the bracken, swearing under his breath at the circumstance he found himself in. His kilt catching on a bramble barely slowed him down as he moved through the hills of Inverness. He'd been enjoying his bedsport with Seana, until her husband came home, that was. She'd married the wrong man, and she knew it well. Unfortunately, her husband was a large blacksmith with a heavy hammer, and hot on Angus' heels.
Looking over his shoulder, he quickened his pace, hoping he could outrun the man. In the dark of night, he saw a wee speck of light, and aimed for it. Sooner than he thought possible he was at the source of light. Squinting, he read the sign
"Ye olde Tyme Travel Inn".
MMMph, he said, wondering, if there was a hidey hole for him here. Hearing the bark of a dog, and the crunch of footsteps, he decided there was. Hurrying, he ran in, past the startled innkeeper, through the tavern, and up the stairs. Frantically, he tried the doorknobs to every room. No luck, until he reached the end of the hallway, and found a door marked curiously. Stopping briefly, he examined the marking. It was a box of some sort, with an apple carved in it. Curious about it, but lacking the time to consider it, he ran through the door, and straight into confusion.
********************************************
Katie started at the loud noise she heard coming out of her boss' office. She'd only been working at the MacTavish firm for a few weeks, and she had yet to meet the man who was her boss. She'd been typing memo's and letters for him since her arrival. She was not aware that he was in the office today, which is why the noise had startled her so. Tentatively, she approached his door, and knocked softly. The door swung open, and she gasped in surprise at what she saw inside. Sprawled across the desk was a tall, red headed man, in a kilt. At her startled squeak, his head turned towards her, his blue eyes looking dazed and confused.
"He's gorgeous" she thought, bemused at the sight of him, on top of his desk.
"I am Katie" she said, bustling over to him, "your secretary. Is there anything I can assist you with, Mr. MacTavish?"
"How does she ken my name?" thought Angus, his vision starting to clear. Looking around him, he was startled to notice he was laying on top of a table, with various writing implements strewn around him, and another one of those mysterious boxes with an apple carved onto it. Standing in front of him was a female, one of the prettiest he'd ever seen. Raven black hair, big green eyes. He also noted her well shaped body, and, to his embarrassment, his kilt rose of its own accord. Softly swearing, he rolled off the desk in one fluid movement, and stood behind it. Tall as he was, though, it didn't help. Abruptly, he sat down in the chair. Frowning, he pushed a few of the buttons on the box, and watched it spring to life.
Wonder flowed across his face as he saw what the box could do. Tearing his gaze away from it, he looked at the woman. "Katie" he said softly. "How did I get here, lass?"
"Well, I am assuming you flew, Mr. MacTavish" she answered, wondering what, exactly, was wrong with her new boss.
"I flew?" he asked, eyes wide in shock. In his mind, he had a vision of himself, with wings, flying to wherever it was he'd landed.
"I should be more tired then" he said.
Katie laughed, nervously, sure her new boss was joking with her. "Good one, Mr. MacTavish" she said.
"Call me Angus" he said, uncomfortable with her calling him Master. (At least that's what he thought she was saying).
"Tell me again, lass, just who are ye to me?" he asked her, confused.
"Your secretary" she answered patiently, sure that he was experiencing jet lag. "Did you just come back from Scotland? Your accent is very nice".
"My accent?" he thought. Then he said "Wait, am I not still IN Scotland?" Where am I?"
"You're in America. San Jose, California, to be exact" she said. "Should I call your doctor? Have you hit your head?"
Nay, dinna call for anyone" he answered rubbing his temples. I have nay hit my head. I am just weary, and I would like to go home."
"Of course. I will call for your car" she said, backing out of the office. Angus watched in curiosity as she picked up a black, tiny square, and spoke into it. "Who is she talking to?" he wondered, watching as she put the thing down, and came back to him. "Your car will wait for you out front" she reported. Mechanically, he stood up, and smoothed his kilt down. Walking out the door, he found himself in yet a bigger room.
"Erm, could ye take me to what you mean?" he asked her, worried.
"Of course" she said.
Wondering what sort of crazy her boss was, Katie walked him to the waiting limo that she'd been told always took him through town. The driver, Daryl stepped out and smiled a bright smile.
"How are you today, Mr. Angus?" she said.
"He isn't quite himself today......" answered Katie.
To Be Continued, because, frankly, I don't know what is going to happen yet myself.....

Friday Mieography

Meet Zelda. She grew up in a wealthy, yet prim household in Alabama. Even when she was a child, her racy behavior was a common subject of Montgomery gossip.
She was known as a fearless child, spoiled by her mother, and fathered by a stern, remote man. She did not perform well in school, with her failing grades and her careless attitude.
She met Scott Fitzgerald right before the end of world war I. He resented the fact that she was dating other men, she envied him his writing ability and considered him to be weak and indecisive. There were married in the late 1920's. Rivalry festered during their marriage, punctuated by his alcoholism, and her mental deterioration. She was eventually given the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Both of them drank very heavily throughout the '20's.
They originally settled in NYC, and after Scott achieved fame as a writer, they travelled extensively, mostly to Europe. They were constantly in the press.
The parties and copious amounts of alcohol took a toll on their health, and their relationship with each other. The squandered money on things like having their own private bootlegger. While living in Paris Scott began a friendship with Ernest Hemingway. Zelda disliked him from the first, describing him as "phoney as a rubber check". She became convinced that the men were having a homosexual affair. She once, in her jealousy threw herself down a flight of stairs, because Scott was talking to Isadora Duncan.
They had one child, Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald, who was mostly raised by nannies. Zelda had at least one affair with a french pilot. She wrote many short stories, but they were published under Scott's name. He, himself, used Zelda in many of his stories. He frequently quoted from her personal diaries, and she, in turn, would accuse him of plagiarism.
Zelda became very bored in their marriage, and felt isolated. Scott was determined to keep her home, afraid she would have an affair. She became obsessed with becoming a professional ballet dancer, and apparently had the talent to do it. He discouraged it, and it was too late for her to accomplish her goal, though she practiced up to eight hours a day. Not able to handle it, she had a breakdown, and began to exhibit elements of obsessive-compulsive disorder. She was eventually admitted into a french sanitorium She spent the last eighteen years of her life in various stages of mental distress. During her periods of lucidness, she would write, and paint. She died in 1948, while she was writing her second novel. A fire burnt down the sanitarium she was in in Asheville, North Carolina. Scott had died in 1940, of a heart attack.

* I don't know why I chose Zelda for this. But I never said my mieographies would be about happy, strong women.... this story was kind of tragic. I always wondered if she inspired Daisy, in the Great Gatsby. I am betting so....*