Bye-Bye Blackbird

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(Alternate Title: Psycho Killer)

Once upon a time, on a sunny day in late summer…

“Hon, that bird that’s in the attic has got.to.GO.

“Okay.”

“Now.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

Mister Fever, upon hearing this demand expectation voiced aloud, realized that I Meant Business™ and chose to hustle his buns up into the attic to see what he could do about chasing the little winged rat chirp-head out.

Unsurprisingly, the Attic Bird* was not particularly interested in flying toward the Giant Invader it saw poking its head through the ceiling door, and chose instead to hide from my spouse.

So said spouse came back down the stepladder, walked a few steps down the hallway…

One step…

One and a half…

…and was immediately dive-bombed by the Attic Bird, which had taken the opportunity to fly through the attic opening and must have been thinking, “My GOD, look at this place! So many nooks and crannies for storing twigs!” (or some such equally distracting thing), because it immediately did a u-turn when faced with my stained glass peacock window hanging then flew itself head-first, warp speed – THUD! – into a wall.

Like, if it was a cartoon bird, it would’ve had miniature cartoon birds flying around its head after that kind of crash.

So the Attic Bird slides down the wall after braining himself – a wall which is two stories high, seeing as it is the stairwell wall – all the way to the bottom stair landing, prompting my cat (who has *no* killer instincts, and in fact has very little in the way of ‘instincts’ at all***) – who has thus far been watching these goings-on with the Yeah, SO? insouciance the species is known for – to trot down the stairs after it…

Causing mad chaos while the humans trip over each other, trying not to fall down the stairs themselves, yelling variations “Oh, shit! Get the cat! Don’t let him eat –!”

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The Name Game

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scarlet red car - named Scarlett

^This is Scarlett.^

She is somewhat heavy-bodied, but quite roomy. She gets great gas mileage and is _just_ sporty enough for the likes of me.

I’m still getting used to her, having only been her driver for a little over three months now.

However, one thing that took me zero time whatsoever to get used to was her name.

‘Scarlett’ was quite a natural fit for her sassy belle-ness, particularly since she is painted – as per the manufacturer’s description/definition – Scarlet Red.

So: Scarlett.

My husband, who is now driving our SUV as his get-around vehicle, was wondering aloud the other day what he should call ‘his’ car. (Up til now, ‘his’ car has been ‘my’ car, and has just been ‘the Escape’.)

I suggested he name it Rhett.

Which, due to the fact that my spouse is relatively clueless about all at least a gazillion pop culture references (how this happened, I have no idea), brought about a response of Massive Befuddlement.

“Get it?” I asked. “Rhett Butler?

Nope. He did not get it.

“Well… I was thinking maybe… Beast?” he offered.

Hmmm… While Scarlett *is* a Beauty, I’m afraid my tastes – literary and cinematic – do not quite run along those lines.

HOWEVER

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I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”

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The thing about working in a very specified field of Communications, is that sometimes the very specific communications themselves are…

ODD.

People randomly — MISTAKENLY — believe that because I can communicate in a way they understand, of course I *want* to listen to Absolutely Everything They Have To Say.

This, dear readers, is a fallacy.

FALLACY, I say!

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Two Tickets To Paradise

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It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time but have been unable to, primarily due to my husband’s health unsurety.

BUT

Now all that What if… and When will… and Oh, well we *could* except… business is done with.

He passed his three-month post-transplant check-up with flying colors.

Less than a week later I’d booked us on a cruise for this coming spring.

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