Personal Rants

As far as Fio's concerned, there's never a red light available when she's on the road and needs to jot down notes for whatever she is writing.
*
Your's truly is so bitten up by mosquitoes that it'll be a miracle if she has any blood left for her INR nurse to draw next time around.
*
Fio hijacked Husband's little red cushion for her car seat, and the world has really opened up now that she can see over the top of her steering wheel.
*
Fiorella was a top-notch student, but she thinks it's a lot more important to be a good person. She also supports public schools, which have long been the melting pot of the nation.
*
Husband is watching a football game on TV, but Fio couldn't care less. The only time she ever got excited about football was years ago when she was in a stadium and got carried away by the enthuiasm of the crowd. 

Hodge Podge

It irritates the heck out of Fiorella to watch HGTV shows about people who toss money around like it's water. And they're all so young!
* 
Did you know Price's exodus has brought the tally of number of Trumps' drop-outs to fourteen? And he hasn't even been in office a year yet?
*
With the heavy rains we've had, Fio's bayberries look like they've grown a foot taller. Too bad they don't know she's going to be chopping off their heads come November.
*
Why is it Fio has nine mosquito bites on her left arm and none on her right?
*
Fio got hit by an older man backing his truck out of a parking space at Walgreens the other day.  Apparently, he couldn't see that Baby Car had already started backing, but, luckily, the man sitting in a car next to Fio realized what was happening and honked his horn long and loud. Fio stopped. The truck didn't. CRASH! The older man parked and hobbled over to look at the damage to Baby Car. Surprisingly, there was none, so Fio's going to stop by Mazda and tell the all guys what great rear ends they have.

Personal Stuff

Fiorella is the filet mignon of the mosquito world, which means that when she sprays her arms and legs, they go after her less protected flesh, and since Fio sleeps with covers drawn up to her chin to defend herself while she's asleep, they feast on her face, which is now decorated with five new bites. Fio is not happy
*
It turns out that Fio has been usimg the wrong term for her driveway guardians. Instead of rocas, they are piedras. Rocas are more boulder size, and Fio can't lift over thirty-five pounds. Mea cultpa.
*
Fiorella doesn't see much future for Young Sheldon. It was cute idea with a cute cast of kids, but what is ithe show's targeted audience?  The main character is a kid, but children aren't going to warm to a weird, totally non-empathetic know-it-all. And if Sheldon develops empathy every week as quickly as he responded to his father in the pilot, he's going to be as considerate as Leonard when he reaches his twenties. Also, Fio doesn't think a precocious child can carry the show as the main character. It would have been better if Sheldon's mother had been the main character, like Leonard is in BBT. An outrageous character like Sheldon isn't interesting unless he plays off of a more stable character.
*
The vet prescribed the same ointment for Sonia Dog's pussy eyes that Fio's ophthamalagist told her to put on her healing eyelids. Wonder which prescription costs less?
*
The young actress who plays Linda, the sister who teases her sister and is mean to her brother's wife on Mi Marido Tiene Familia, is destined for a great career as a telenovela villainess, if she'd just enlarge that mole to the left side of her lip. A prominent facial mole is a sure mark of female villainy in Spanish-language soap operas.

Nature Notes

Fio had decided not to deal with las rocas yet, but as she walked up the driveway, they called out to her, so what choice did she have?
*
After a brief late-summer break, the cardinal is hammering away at the dining room window again. Maybe he's hungry. Sorry, Red, the armadillo has eaten all the grubs and worms.
*
As Fiorella got out of the car at H-E-B, she noticed that not only was the parking area littered with acorns, but the front of the store was piled high with pumpkins. Despite the temperatures being in the 90s, it looks like October is waiting in the wings.
*
Speaking of wings, will the mosquitoes ever depart? Trying to plant a new bush out front, Fio was kissed up and down her left arm, and the stings still hurt. Her only consolation is that obviously she's the belle of the ball. .

Speaking Of

Fiorella is the beloved of the mosquito community. There's something about her that attracts them even as she sleeps.  Blame her DNA.

Speaking of DNA, the headline in today's newspaper is "Illness linked to SUVs hits APD hardest," which reminds Fio once again that we  live in an acronym age, an age of LOL, WTF, LGBT, GOP, DNC,  and POTUS. Linguists of the future will have no trouble tracing the decline of American English back to the internet.

Speaking of the internet, it will also have to take responsibility for print news going down the tubes. Newspapers in the thick of the action like the NY Times and the Washington Post still attract readers, but for how long? It's so much easier to listen to broadcast programs or read capsules on your computer.

Popularity

Fiorella spent an hour outside replanting the cast iron plants for the umpteenth time, and the midges and mosquitoes had a field day. It was like she was the newest girl in the brothel, and all the guys wanted a taste of her.

Favorite Time of Year

Autumn is here. It was below sixty degrees yesterday evening, and Fio didn't get a single mosquito bite when she hiked up to the mailbox.. She does have a cold though, but she can deal with that.
*
Fio is, at last, back to work on her book. Strangely enough, the heartbreak of last week has strengthened her resolve and sharpened her pen. She will write deep, she will write strong. She will send her messages out to the world.
*
Sonia Dog has had a couple of re-occurrences of her leg problem, but she is now bouncing up the stairs with ease again. Of course, while she was down, Mommy and Daddy had to switch on and off sleeping on the couch with her so she wouldn't yelp all night.
*
Fio and Husband got some important gardening work done just before the temperatures dropped, and twenty-six boxwoods now guard the edge of their front yard.  Next spring, Fio plans to plant nandenas and a third ligustrum. Anything to cover the AC units.
*
Husband is talking about chopping up some dead tree limbs for firewood. The time is at hand.

Learning Curve

Guess who went outside yesterday afternoon and cut the limbs off a fallen tree that she and Husband want to turn into firewood?  Guess who learned that, despite what Husband said, it's not too hot for mosquitoes?

Belle of the Ball

Fiorella's sweet blood is irresistible to mosquitoes.  She is roast beef, fried chicken, baby back ribs, and fried shrimp combined into one.  Her legs are especially juicy, and her arms are also in demand, but discriminating diners have also been known to feast on her neck and face.

Try explaining away what looks like a hickey by saying "a mosquito kissed me."

Mosquitoes--3; Fiorella--1

Three or four deer were standing by the side of the road as Fio drove home this evening--and those were just the ones she could see.  It was like they were hitching a ride.
*
Despite the spray, the mosquitoes are out in full force again.   And, unfortunately, Fiorella is their kind of gal.
*
Don't hold your breath, but Fiorella may get some recompense for the crappy job ol' Jason did.  She's talking to Home Depot about it.  Next time she needs something done, she'll work up a contract.
*
And, at the same time that Fio was writing this blog, she (1) was bitten by another mosquito, (2) she squashed the beast in mid-air, and (3) she accidentally let a replacement mosquito in the house when she opened the door for Sonia Dog.



.

Hail to the Queen!

Fiorella is queen of the mosquitoes!  They adore her, swarm her, suck her blood, especially in the early twilight when she is helping Husband push the riding mower into the woods after their attempts at hauling it down the driveway didn't work out.

Eighteen bites in twenty minutes--top that!

Stressed, You Say?

This has been a hard week for Fiorella,  That engine light was still on so Fio had to take the car to the dealer for a $400 repair, she was diagnosed with GERD (good-bye, chocolate), attacked by a herd of mosquitoes, hit the concrete face-first again, is still recovering from having her false vocal chords shot up with botox, is agonizing over revisions of her new book, and is preparing not only for the NY writers' conference, but for her birthday,

The good thing is that she's lost two pounds.