56 years ago today my parents got married and have managed to make it through raising two less than perfect kids and putting up with each other's quirks. I'm not sure if Sparky and I will make it that long, but it's a nice thought. The photo above is from their wedding day and the more complimentary one below is soon afterwards. Handsome couple, don't you think?
OK, first off, I hate practical jokes, so April Fool's Day is probably my least favorite holiday. Luckily, my husband hates them even more than I do. But the day was unnerving despite our wishes.
Sparky came in to wake me up this afternoon, which he does by opening both the bedroom doors and then the bathroom door (really bright window in there), and our kitty runs right into the bathroom and starts staring up at the ceiling. Sparky fiddles around with the TV and VCRs for a minute, then shuts everything off and leaves the room. Now that the room's quiet, I suddenly hear an angry buzzing sound coming from the bathroom, at which time, still under the covers in bed, I scream for him to come back in. Turns out two bees have somehow gotten through one of the tiny cracks in the old bathroom window (one of two windows in the house we didn't have upgraded last year) and they're flying around the bathroom.
I hate bugs, especially any but that can fly and/or sting me. I'm like a magnet for bugs, they've flown right into my face (I still have a scar from a hornet which literally knocked me down one summer day walking into the Elk's Club to go swimming), I've been chased by swarms of yellow jackets that made a nest in my childhood swingset, so you get the picture. I holler at him to close the bathroom door, but he bravely goes inside and closes it and whacks the shit out of the bugs till they're dead. But we can still hear buzzing really loudly...
We go around to the patio door in a panic, and there is literally a huge swarm of bees trying their damnedest to burrow into our house! They're crawling into cracks in the bricks, trying to get into the eaves of the house, bleecchhhh!! What the hell??? The only bug spray we have in the house are flea spray (which I still think are not dead yet) and some old ant and roach spray. Not being a bug-o-phobe like myself, Sparky grabs the flea spray and bravely runs into the back yard and starts spraying as many as he can, and sprays into the walls, and then runs back inside. But back they come, undeterred. At our last house we had two bee invasions, but both were further out in the yard itself, we've never had them try and actually get into the house.
So back out he goes with both sprays in hand, and just drenches all the areas they're trying to get into. They finally do seem to discouraged and most of them by now are either dead or retreated to the tree in the back yard. After much shuddering, I realize I still have to run my errands, but fortunately my car is in the garage which faces the front of the house which doesn't seem to be under attack. I get dressed, hop in the car, whip my head around to back out and feel a wave of vertigo hit me. Apparently, I'm having inner ear problems today because of allergies. That's what I need, to be dizzy. But I make it to the post office and then run by the grocery store to get a can of wasp killer (that he can spray at them from a distance). And come back home.
I think the bees chose our yard because the grass has grown so high in the back, it's got to be appealing to all sorts of unsavory critters. The phone number we have for our yard people is not working, and they usually come around the neighborhood and check, but since our front yard has been pretty short, they haven't been stopping at our house for way too long. Sparky doesn't want to offend them by having someone else do our yard (and they're cheap!), but perhaps after this he'll break down and snap someone else when they're in the area. I don't care who does our yard, I just want all the damned fleas, bees and whatever else is out there to go away!
The rest of the evening was pretty calm, watched Mad Mad House, really good (and disturbing) episode tonight, I'm a piercing wussy. Art's ritual was really amazing, though, the mental discipline required must be incredible. Next week looks like we're going to have some actual blood drinking with Don so that should be fun. Then just before midnight, our little desktop grandfather's clock sounds like it's trying to chime. Then, at the next quarter hour it actually does chime. Which wouldn't be weird, except we've had the chimes turned off for the last several years. It's almost 5 am and the damned thing's still chiming every 15 minutes, I wish I knew how to turn it off, it's on the top shelf of the bookcase.
Iím still dizzy, hope itís gone by tomorrow, that's all the weirdness I can stand for one day, now on to pleasant things...