While I was away, the morning glory vines executed a successful junta, and have now completely taken over the fence and surrounding terrain. I'd been peeling them off the sunflowers every day before vacation, but nine days of non-interference allowed the morning glories to essentially lay claim to the sunflowers, the lanterns I've hung on the inside of the fence, and the wrought iron plant stands that contain The Socialist's prized hot peppers and the now more-than-abundant supply of catnip I grew for my Three Stooges. Speaking of catnip, Taco, the black-and-white kitty from next door, has taken to snoozing between the fence and the catnip, and has scared the crap out of me twice while I'm puttering around in the garden. I begin to suspect that he's claimed the catnip for his own and is now protecting "his" territory. I give the little creep a couple of leaves, and the next thing I know he's performed a coup and now owns my catnip. Between the morning glories' junta and Taco's coup, it's a war zone out there.
I miss The Socialist. He remains on vacation (with The Colonel and his aunts) for the remainder of this week. I'd gotten accustomed to having him around 24/7, and while this temporary freedom is allowing me to get quite a few chores done, I'm not yet used to the silence. I'm thinking of having a DVD-athon this weekend, and renting things that I know The Socialist has no interest in seeing. It sounds more than a little pathetic, staying home alone with my cats and my rentals, but I'm actually looking forward to it.
What I'm not looking forward to is having to work Saturday morning. USDA is running a very lame seminar in The Big City on Saturday, and while it doesn't pertain directly to my company, they were pestering the hell out of my boss to get someone to go. I agreed to go, on the condition that I could take a short day to make up for the time I'm losing to this meeting. That was agreed to, and as luck would have it, it turns out that I really need to take that time tomorrow or Friday. My appointment with the neurosurgeon is coming up quickly, and I need to get to my old neurologist for a copy of my file and to the hospital to pick up my MRI films.
And now I'm off to catch up on the sleep that I deprived myself of last night when I stayed up far too late formatting pictures for yesterday's entry. I haven't the energy to catch up with diaries this evening.