oy sniffle oy

so not long after i posted last time, i was struck down by the dengue fever. i'm sure when i vacuumed the 20-year old dust out of my closet, there was a small piece of it clingy ever so tightly to a dust bunny. then i stirred it up, and BAM. i was down for the count. ended up coming home early on Monday (everyone was grateful, as i was coughing and blowing my nose like i was getting paid to do it). got up tuesday and went right back to bed. decided to make it up by going in today. still a little on the crummy side, but since i'll be gone next thurs & fri and then all of the following week, i figured the effort would be appreciated. everyone is getting burned out at work...even with full staff onboard, it isn't enough. and the longer people wait on hold, the nastier they get. and they've had to wait a long while lately. thankfully i only get the joy 3 days a week, however the paperwork is a regular Mt. Everest. so between the Fever and the Frustration....no art this week, i'm afraid. i did drop off an entry to the Schweinfurth, so keep your fingers crossed for me. and friday (just under the wire) i drop off another to the Everson. so keep them crossed for a few weeks, would you? Criss Cross the squirrel is back - a sure sign of spring. we have a neighborhood squirrel that everyone thought was rabid at first....he spins around on the ground, then climbs part of the way up a tree and launches in a backdive back down to the ground - continuously. he'll hang by a foot from a branch while he eats whatever he's munching. after 3 months of watching this, we realized he would have succummed to the illness by then if he was infected. then we saw him the next year and realized he's just marching to a different drummer. we never see him in the winter...just spring through october. our neighbors & I do a neat thing every halloween....after the last of the candy is gone and all the ghosties are tucked in, we line up our pumpkins around someone's tree and let the squirrels tuck away some extra food for the winter. it's a riot watching them - they get right inside and chew their way out. the 1st time i caught one inside, i thought i'd wet myself laughing....i saw a pumpkin with a lopsided grin and a little head peeking out an eye. then a tail stuck out of the head. then a little furry head popped up, with paws propped on the rim...cheeks all full to bursting. so rather than toss the pumpkins out in the trash, we repurpose them into squirrel feeders. so i'm off to medicate - better living through chemistry.....maybe some Nyquil tonight....diva had me up 3 times last night to make sure i was sleeping okay....she paws at my head, then cozies down next to my face and sighs and goes right back to sleep. i, of course, am awake for the next 30 minutes. oh well...at least she cares! L.