Bringing down the house...lights...

Bird and I made it outside after all.

Holy crap, it's cold out here!!

Who dressed this child? Pants too short, shirt too long...good grief.

It took an act of congress to get him dressed - he's a budding nudist, I swear - but I managed it. I even got his jacket on him, after he realized it was a bit chillier than usual out there.

That's better. Where are we, Siberia??

Thanks for the lips, mum. Next time, can you use something that isn't pink??

We call lip balm "lips". I use Burt's Bees Lip Shimmers, Champagne color. So does Bird. Heh. Think I'll get some mileage from this when he's a teen?

He helped me with the lights, a little...but mostly he played with the Tonka Trucks his Aunt J gave him for Xmas. Even I noticed the chill, and that's unusual. I put my shawl on, and my ears got positively icy before I was through.

I'm helping! This string of lights keeps going...

...and going...

...and going!!

I'm not all the way done - there are still a couple of garlands to take off the front banisters, but Bird was cold and hungry, so we came in for lunch. I was a little disgusted, anyway. One of the neighbor's cats has been spraying my front door. No surprise, he's been doing it since we moved in here. Now, though, he's also climbing up onto the railing and spraying there - right on the garland, lights, and my little fairy that sits there year round. Now it's personal. I am considering my options...is a shotgun loaded with rock salt too harsh?

Don't get me wrong, I love cats - I have three of them, for goodness' sake! I spay and neuter, though. In this case, spay, since all three are girls. My neighbor, it would seem, hasn't taken care of that. My thinking is, if you're going to let your animals roam around (and I'm fine with that, I respect the need to wander), then you should be responsible about it. Remove their ability to tax the environment with mini-thems. I think I'm going to have to chat with the neighbor, who's really a nice guy, about this. It's nice pleasant to come home to that smell.

Also, his cat and another neighbor's cat have decided that they are going to sit right next to my front or back door (they alternate which just to keep things interesting) and, at the count of meow, try to kill each other. I am really tired of hearing all that hissing, spitting, and yowling at all hours, not to mention witnessing the blurry orange, black, and white tumbleweed of doom they become as they whirl around my yard with the intent of destroying each other or my house, whichever comes first. And these aren't even my cats. Why can't they fight somewhere else??

So I'll finish taking down the garlands, throw the ruined one away, and give the fairy a good scrubbing. Then, it's a chat with the nice neighbor about his cat, and maybe he can tell me who belongs to the other one so I can talk to them. I really don't want to have to call animal control and be responsible for these otherwise friendly beasties being killed...but I am also averse to coming home to a urine soaked home for the next ten years.

Spay and neuter, people, spay and neuter!!