Grimace is from the McDonald’s universe. You may recognize him from his recent controversy of being revealed as a large purple taste bud. I call BS on this, McDonald’s.
I did some research and I found that Grimace started out as Evil Grimace in 1971 and had four arms so that he could steal more milkshakes. But his arms and persona scared little children so they amputated two of his arms and made him be a taste bud. Please note, I was never scared of him as a child, and I’m just not buying that other kids were scared of him. He is also Ronald McDonald’s best friend.
But make no mistake about it, Grimace is a thief. He steals milkshakes. He’s not like Hamburglar who steals hamburgers and looks suspicious and – let’s be real – is kind of weird. He’s a big purple blob who is friendly, but also will steal your milkshake. I like this about him.
I think having four arms to steal more milkshakes in the heat of the summer makes a lot of sense. (Evil) Grimace is my guy for this prompt.
🎶” My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they’re like…“🎶
This was definitely a previous prompt, and I know I have the visuals saved in the media library.
*heads to the library, starts rummaging*
While I look for my previous post’s visuals, I have to say that melatonin gives some crazy dreams and it doesn’t always work in terms of improving sleep. It does help me to fall asleep, but it doesn’t necessarily lead to me staying asleep. And while I’m sleeping, I’m having crazy dreams. Like last night. I don’t know if it’s because of this extreme heat and that I was outside in, it or if it was strictly the melatonin side effect, but I had dreams that were off the charts weird. Of course I cannot remember them now. So I guess I would recommend trying melatonin to help one fall asleep faster, but not necessarily to improve sleep.
I highly recommend the gummy version, as it is a delicious way to fall asleep.
Emperor Palpatine has announced open elections for a new Emperor — and he’s nominated Darth Vader. You get to nominate one challenger.
I said what I said. Yes, I know he was Han Solo, and that I have crossed out of the Star Wars Universe into the Indiana Jones Universe, but 👏I 👏said 👏what👏 I 👏said👏
As a challenger to the creepy heavy breather, who looks like walking chicken skin with a hairdryer mouth, my candidate can do the following:
Math:
Here you see math
He has critical thinking skills:
Hmm…
He can outrun big boulders, unlike the nominee, who probably can’t outrun a piece of gravel, let’s be honest…
Indieeee!
I shouldn’t have to convince you – you either think he’s cool or you’re wrong. And if you like Darth Vader for this job, I can’t help you. There is no universe in which Darth Vader is a better ruler than Indiana Jones. None!
Can Darth Vader do this? Exactly.
Finally, I would like to wish a very happy early birthday to my birthday twin, Mr. Harrison Ford!
🎂👫🎉
May the force be with you all, but only if you vote for Indiana Jones!
What’s something you used to believe as a kid that seems ridiculous now?
It didn’t start with questioning the guy with the white beard . It was the tooth lady. Something wasn’t making sense. The math wasn’t mathing. At the age of six I started to have questions – which is also when my baby teeth started to fall out. I can’t remember why I started to question things, but it didn’t really make sense that there would be money under my pillow from a tiny being that would then take my teeth. What are you doing with my teeth, ma’am?!
So it just clicked one day. I received confirmation from the parental unit about my suspicions. But then my brain immediately rapid fired into questions about the bunny and the man with the beard. I asked for confirmation that these individuals were also not of the reality realm. I received confirmation. 😑
In that moment, as a six-year-old, I had cracked the code. I might as well have had a full-time job working 80 hours a week carrying a briefcase and a 30 year mortgage because I had it all figured out. The world had lost its shine.
But it really hadn’t. Because the teeth would weirdly keep getting stolen and now the cash payment could just happen in the open. Like a drug deal maybe. (But where are my teeth???) And the bunny would still bring candy, but the bunny had a different name, a human one. And the guy with the beard still had plenty of jobs at the malls, but after the disclosure, the presents would arrive a day earlier, via a different method of transportation. So that worked out well.
Long after the disclosure of the bearded guy, there was a man from a place I used to work who would dress up as the bearded guy every holiday season and ride through my neighborhood on a fire truck. Parents would give the bearded guy gifts in advance and he would come to every door and give the little children their gifts. He would drive by our house every year and we would wave from the door. Since we knew this bearded guy, it was quite exciting. He stopped doing it and we missed that. And in fact, I hadn’t worked at this place since college so I hadn’t seen the bearded guy, who was at the time a young guy with dark hair and a dark beard, but dressing up as the guy with the white beard.
Yesterday, I was in my backyard, and my neighbor told me her godfather was helping her with her shed. I looked at this helper, and I saw a man with striking white hair and a beard and the way he walked was quite familiar. So I asked my neighbor if her godfather was the guy with the beard from the fire truck and she said yes. It’s been years, but his transformation is complete: he is now the white bearded man from the firetruck! We chatted for a long while, and it was good to see him again. I should have mentioned to him his old gig as the white bearded guy on the fire truck, but I didn’t. I forgot. I really think he’s missing out on an opportunity now, though. He wouldn’t even have to really dress up. Just that red suit thing and the belt.
Happy Saturday morning from these parts of the woods! This day is also known as Caturday, but the only cat I have right now is the one who visits my backyard naïvely thinking I won’t capture him and force him to go to the vet and live inside the house forever and ever. Oh, silly, silly boy.
Tom Cat stopping by for water and a meal – he was unsuccessful and the birds told everyone who would listen that he was there 
In other news, Foxy Red is back. He thought he might have a little snack, but I caught him. Fox look like a combination of a dog and a cat in the same body. And their behavior is much the same. I heard from a neighbor there are two fox, so I deduce there are many more. I also heard from a neighbor there is a deer nearby and that a small group of them live up in some small woods behind a few houses at the front of the neighborhood. This makes me sad. I hate that their homes have been demolished for human greed. I have not seen this deer, but others have seen it walk through the yard of my neighbor directly next to me. I did see one deer walking down the middle of the road early one summer morning about three years ago. I thought it was hallucinating, because I’ve never seen a deer in this neighborhood, and I have lived here a long time. It walked so quietly it didn’t make a sound. And it didn’t notice me. It was a peaceful moment.
But I’m not here to talk about peace. I’m here to talk about a compact, pudgy, fluffy, black-and-white striped, armed with stinky solution in the rear ball of fluff. Yes, that’s right. I’ve got a skunk. And if you think he is not the cutest thing in the world, you are wrong. I’ve seen him on at least two occasions now and I have squealed both times. I got nervous because he crossed the street and did some weird investigating in my neighbor’s front yard. And it wasn’t even dark. But this skunk appears to be very well fed,  so I suppose he needs to get an early start on the grub.
Squee!! 😍…I’m gonna dieee!!!“
I also have a bunny, but I’m not sure how long I will have a bunny, due to fox plural. And a stray cat.
🐇💨 + unhelpful 🐧 + 🐿️
Oh yeah, and a bunch of squirrel moms dropped off their crazy babies in my backyard and took off. Two of my favorite squirrels have taken off and left crazy babies in their wake. I don’t think that’s an equal transaction, but who am I to say? I just live here. 🤷🏼♀️
Good morning. I was waiting for you to open the blind and see me here. I have left you my children and I am going off to greener pastures. But before I go, do you have a moment to talk about your car’s extended warranty?
I also have plenty of flowers in bloom, and although one of the three late frosts that we had killed off the leaves on the weeping cherry tree, everything else seems to have come through okay. Everything is very slow to bloom, however. But don’t worry, we’re getting three or four 90°+ days coming up this week before returning to somewhat reasonable weather. I can’t wait because I don’t have any air-conditioning at the moment. I guess I’ll have that dewy glow, au natural. 
IrisClose-up of the iris The first penny bloom on one of five peony plants My favorite: black petunias! 🖤Black and white Petunias 🖤🤍Are you sensing a theme here?I plant pink petunias around my mom’s tree every year because those were her favorite. 💞
I better go. I hear the birds in the tree outside the window and they know I’m late. I expect there to be a crowd on the porch when I open the door. And sometimes, the sparrows bang on the door for birdseed if I’m too late.
Enjoy your day/afternoon/evening wherever you are in the world.
And always remember: the Disney Princess life isn’t chosen, it is given. ✨💫✨
It’s been a very warm week. We’ve broken records and hit 9000°F. I’m sorry, it only feels like 9000° but it’s been 88°. Everything is blooming and it shouldn’t be. Not quite yet. We’re dropping down into the 30s again next week so I will likely be covering everything that’s starting to bloom that shouldn’t be. Sigh.
Speaking of blooming, the azaleas are in full bloom, and the squirrel teenagers are in full zoom. And I mean zoomies. The squirrels have been splooting – the term for what they do when they lie on their bellies to try to cool off – and they have been doing this:
Menace 2 Society
Sploot happens:
Splootin’Extreme Splooting
I brought out the ground level birdbaths and the hose, so now we have three functioning birdbaths/refreshing water sources. Yesterday, the mourning doves couldn’t figure out how to all get into the same birdbath at the same time, which is not surprising because mourning doves share one brain cell. They are beautiful birds, and they are very fast in flight, but they are afraid of me on foot, but not afraid of cars. They often walk to their destination, even though they have wings. And when they look at you, it gives you a feeling of the most beautiful creature with not much going on behind the scenes, if you know what I mean. Anyway, while the doves were trying to figure out how to all fit into the birdbath, a sparrow showed up. Sparrows are not shy, and it came in for a landing. The MoDo’s were not impressed. This was their reaction:
👁️👁️ 👁️👁️ 👁️👁️ 👁️👁️
It was really awkward. I, of course, recorded the whole thing and could not contain my laughter.
Sparrow: “HEY, YA’LL! 🤠” MoDo: “Darlene, is that a sparrow? Tell me that is not a sparrow sitting right there next to us?!“ 🧐
These are two couples (not seen: Daryl, who made an early exit after being pecked by Dave.) Doves mate for life, so tensions were already brewing between the two couples and the fact that they couldn’t figure out how to all fit into the birdbath without ruffling feathers. I mean that figuratively and literally. One of the doves got too close to the other dove and got pecked. This caused an indignant, awkward hop out of the birdbath as one couple *had* to leave. And then the sparrow showed up. It was utter chaos.
It’s Saturday morning as I’m writing this, and don’t for a second think that the birds and the squirrels don’t know that I’m already awake in here. I’ve been sleeping with the windows open, which is necessary because I don’t have air-conditioning at the moment and it has been very hot. I would also like to point out the trees are pollinating and all of the yellow stuff you see on your car is now in my nose and eyes when I wake in the morning. But the birds and the squirrels don’t care about any of that. They just know that I’m awake and that I should be refilling the fuel sources and the watering holes, and they will come knocking if I’m late.
Happy Saturday, everyone!
YOU ARE LATEHello, can you spare a morsel? Also, umm, i think maybe…you’re a little late…
Some of you may know I recently started creating videos for my YouTube channel. If you read my last post, you’ll see a video I posted to my YouTube channel that unfortunately was pilfered by someone else and that someone else got way more likes than I did. Sigh.
This made me very sad and I made private most of my videos for about a week and a half. Today I decided that I would not only continue posting videos, but I would make public the videos that I had made private.
I really like to share my love of animals, and if someone steals my content to make it theirs, well, isn’t that flattery? I’m not making money off of my channel, and I’m not posting videos to do that. I want to spread a little silly joy.
For instance, today I chased down a honeybee. It was very cold this morning and was not very warm this afternoon, but I found the first honeybee of the season gathering pollen in the Hyacinth. Poor girl. But so it begins. Approximately eight months of me chasing after bees, butterflies, and any other flying creature, quite frankly. I got it on video and I posted it. I also posted a squirrel video because the squirrels are so silly and make me laugh every day.
Maybe other people need to laugh every day too.
If you want to check out my YouTube channel, you are welcome to do so. There is no obligation.
She’s doing very well and has babies again. If you see this video anywhere on the internets, it’s mine. I had that surprise this morning. I was watching a short on another platform, and the next short was this. Except it wasn’t from my account and it had thousands of likes. The good news is now Ma’am lives on the internets forever. I’m not going to talk about the bad news, because the good news is Ma’am now lives on forever. I hope everyone is doing well, and guess what?
“It's Amy,” I said. 