Peacocks and scorpions...

From the sublime to the ridiculous.... which is the way of life here in this country bubble.

As I type, the neighbor's peacock (whom I have named Mr. Carson) is out on our porch gobbling up what's left in the bowl of Meow Mix that's out there for the cats.  Actually, I shouldn't say 'gobbling up' in reference to that beautiful bird because he eats quite delicately for a bird of his size. (Is that comment politically correct? Probably not, but nothing seems to be 'politically correct' these days anyway.)

Mr. Carson will eat up the Meow Mix, then walk across the porch and into the yard, and then fly up into the mesquite tree by our backyard deck. And there he will sleep till morning, high up in those branches where (hopefully) he is safe from night-time predators like coyotes, bob-cats, snakes, and huge raccoons.

Earlier today, my husband was out in the garage intending to mow the grass by the barn inbetween the bursts of rain-showers that we've been having.  Taking either the push-mower or the riding mower out of the garage means opening up the garage door, and as he was doing that, he got stung by a scorpion. He came into the house saying "I guess you didn't hear me scream out there?" -- which sounded funny to me because that's my line.  I've said those very words thousands upon thousands of times when I've seen something out on the property that these mascara-ed eyes were just not meant to see.

The scorpion sting was very clearly on his hand, and we put Neosporin on it before covering it up with a bandaid.  (I resisted the urge to tell my husband that I didn't have any Spiderman bandaids.) Then my husband decided to check the Internet for information on scorpion stings instead of mowing the lawn. Which happened to be a good decision because the pouring-down rain started about ten minutes after the scorpion got him.  Since moving out here to the Hill Country six years ago, we've seen hundreds of scorpions but this is the first time either one of us has been stung. (Our neighbors would call that "beginner's luck.")

It's getting dark outside now, which means I have to go out on the porch and take up the bowl of cat food. If I leave it out there and a raccoon comes up on the porch for a midnight snack, he will take that bowl and turn it upside-down or toss it to the other end of the porch. Either the raccoons don't much care for Meow Mix or they're dissatisfied because there's not enough of it in the bowl.  You never know with raccoons... they're very judgmental and usually very destructive. Just another blip in the country bubble.