Thick heavy comforter for the bed?  Don’t got one. 

A bed?  Don’t got one. 

Thick heavy winter coat?  Negative. 

Thermal shirts to wear under my normal shirts to keep warm?  Don’t have any. 

I’ve got to try and fix this.

Today is day two of a job hunt for a job that is within walking distance (or at least close enough that my family doesn’t worry I’ll wreck their car if I borrow it).  Getting a job now isn’t as much fun as it was when I was a kid; now I’ve got to worry about things like medical insurance and paying bills instead of “oh, money for books!”  Granted, I still go “oh, money for books!” but you get my drift.

And not too many employers want to hear their newest hire say “by the way, I’m gonna need about a week off really soon”.  Just doesn’t bode well for getting the job, you know?  But I do need the time off because 99% of my stuff is still at Fort Knox with D and the family.  And it won’t move itself.

The drive across the country was interesting, to say the very least.  I moved from southeast Georgia to Montana, passing through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming before getting here.  I saw swamps, forest, corn fields, desert landscape, and finally rolling range land. 

I pulled out of Casper Wyoming at 0515 local time on Monday morning, heading on the I-25 N, and it had just started to rain.  A few moments later, as I was trying to navigate the rain, the unfamiliar road, and the fact that some jackass in a semi thought racing me in the Honda Fit was a good idea, lightening split the sky open like an too ripe melon.  My heart jumped straight out of my chest, up to my head, and leaked out of my ears as I saw the flatlands as clear as if the sun was shining.  It happened again, and I pulled off the side of the road to awe at Mother Nature and her sense of timing.

It rained the whole way from Casper to the town I’m in now (population <2500 people), and some of the turns I had to navigate, I was sure were going to kill me.  The town of Judiths Gap was one that I just knew the bottom was going to fall out of my car on the loose gravel and dirt road, and then Thunder Butt and I would have to hoof it the rest of the way.

Then came the twisty-turny highway, with hairpin turns and “slide area” signs. 

I made it one piece, the car is perfect, and Thunder Butt likes her new surroundings.  And her new playmates (three dogs, one overly friendly cat, and one cat who is a bit squirrelly) and all their various toys.  I even kenneled her today for the first time in years; she needed a spot that was ‘hers’ and hers alone, and there was a spare kennel folded up by the washer, so we unfolded it, hosed it down, I stuck Thunder Butt’s smaller bed inside (along with a pillow of my own), and two of her toys.  She went it in twice today without a fuss and seems to like it.

I’m going to sign off here, I’ve got a tortie cat using my left hand as a bed which is making it hard to type.

1. What bill do you hate paying the most

The cable bill; I don’t watch a lot of television, but I do have shows I like being able to watch when they’re on.

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?

Oh Lord, it’s been years since I had one of those… I can’t remember where.

3. What do you really want to be doing right now?

Lying on a private beach with Vampire Eric.  What can I say, I’m shallow.

4. How many colleges did you attend?

3, with another one probably in the works.  I’m doing my level best to become a professional student.

5. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?

It was clean.

6. What are your thoughts on gas prices?

I remember when they were a lot worse, and a lot better.  Right now, I’m not going to borrow trouble.

7. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?

Didn’t I just fall asleep?

8. Last thought before going to sleep last night?

Get off me Thunder Butt, I am not a pillow.

9. Do you miss being a child?

Sometimes; the rest of the time, I kind of miss being a teenager.

10. What errand/chore do you despise

Dusting.

11. Get up early or sleep in?

Sleep in.

12. Have you found real love yet?

Yes; but sometimes it doesn’t last.

13. Favorite lunch meat?

Honey ham.

14. What do you get every time you go into Target?

Archer Farms tea

15. Beach or lake?

Lake

16. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?

No

17. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?

Neither.

18. What famous person have you or would you like to have dinner with?

Mary Zimmer-Bradley or Elizabeth Zimmerman

19. Have you ever crashed your vehicle?

No, knock on wood.

20. Ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?

No

21. Ring tone?

Generally, a normal phone ring, but certain people have certain tones.

22. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?

In the woods

23. Somewhere in California you’ve never been and would like to go?

Anywhere!

24. Do you go to church?

No

25. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?

I have to pick one?

26. How old are you?

27

27. Do you have a go-to personality?

Sometimes.

28. Are you where you want to be in life?

It’s not what i expected, but it works.

29. Growing up, what were your favorite cartoons?

Thunder Cats and Care Bears

30. What about you do you think has changed the most?

I don’t know, a lot has changed.

31. Looking back at high school, were they the best years of your life?

Yes and no.

32. Are there times you still feel like a kid?

Yep

33. Did you ever own troll dolls?

Yep

34. Did you have a pager?

No.

35. Where was the hang out spot when you were a teenager?

Alli’s house

36. Were you the type of kid you would want your children to hang out with?

No.

37. Who do you think impacted your life the most?

I do.

38. Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out for you?

Yes.

39. Do you tell stories that start with “when I was your age”?

Not yet.

40. Is it better to love and lose it or never to love at all?

Love and lose it.  That way you know it exists and it’s possible to have it again.

The last few days have been jam packed busy for me.  I moved on Saturday (you should convoy across a few states in a small car with a U-Haul trailer sometime, it’s a lot of fun), unpacked on Sunday, returned said trailer, and have been settling into the new place since. 

A new place calls for new hair, so a friend of a friend (and now one of my friends) came by, and lopped about twelve inches (real inches, not man inches) off my hair and it’s now above my shoulders for the first time in four years I think.  I don’t hate the heat so much anymore

And hard candies make the world a better place.  Especially root beer ones.  Go ahead, try one, tell me you don’t feel like smiling more often.

Mention of smiling, children are much more likely than an adult to smile in the morning.  I am going to try to smile every morning from now on.

Thunder Butt is settling into the new place very well; she has two children to play with and a yard she can run in (she likes to sniff out the bunny trails), and there is even an inflatable pool.  I’m trying to get her to stop liking the pool so much, she might pop it.

The drive was long, my butt went numb somewhere around Pembroke and it just got feeling back into it today.

I have no idea how people did that kind of crap in a covered wagon with livestock, dozens of kids running around, and no possible chance of a hot shower anywhere.

As a side note, I have an idea for a Clio short story.

If it was possible, I’d go hide in the tiny little house with Snow White.

“I don’t know, I think it has something to do with global warming.”

C’s answer was better “An Alaskan that gets high?”

Still have no idea what it actually is, but I like their explanations.

Donning heavy gear to battle the weeds, bugs, grasshoppers, and occasional snake that likes to camp out in the clover that runs along my fence, I prepared to do battle.  After gallons of blood, sweat, and tears, the weeds are pushed back behind their lines, the bugs retreated, and the snakes are off wherever snakes go to nurse their wounds for the time being.

My luck, the rain will come tonight, but at least I know that I’m fighting the good fight.

The gray and gloomy clouds have perked me up.  Winter weather, and stormy weather, make me happy.  I laugh more, smile more, and just love it, where as the intense heat of summer, with the bright sunlight and cloudless skies have me running indoors and refusing to leave my bedroom.

Thunder Butt the Wonder Dog, however, doesn’t like the rain.  She doesn’t like the heat either.  She doesn’t like winter.  She’s a fall sort of dog, so she’s really cranky living in Georgia like we do.

She can suck it up and deal, as my writing has gotten a swift kick in the proverbial ass since it started raining.  Which is great, since I’ve had an idea for short story cooking away on the back burner, but I just couldn’t find the drive to sit down and write it out.  Professional writers have my undying respect in that they sit down and make their word count, whether they’re in the mood for it or not.  Hopefully, some day in the not too distant future, I too will be having to sit down and make word count

I’m looking for silver linings here people, I’m taking them any way I can get them.

No such luck.

“Booty enhancing panties” are real, and they’re for sale. 

I’ll admit, I went to the bathroom and looked at my butt in the full length mirror I hung over the door.  And tried to figure out why anyone would want to buy underwear that puts a huge wad of padding on top of their butt.  Padded butts are like a padded bra; eventually, someone is going to see you without that bit of clothing on, and then you’ll have to explain where your butt (or your boobs) went.