Folks,

Skies are overcast, it is chilly and wet. Present temp at 3:45 PM is 44° F, with additional rain likely. 60's and maybe 70's F. tomorrow with drying. Good news. Our ladies should expect to have their chocolates arrive undamped on Thursday. Valentine's Day looks good.

Fttop:

A virus no doubt. No fun, surely, but mercifully it was unlikely to punch your boarding ticket onto the express bus to the afterlife. My son woke with a scratchy throat and diminishing voice this morning. It may be a bad year for those who like to shun the hospital. I remember when I was gainfully employed how hard it was to do business with Laryngitis. My doc treated me and just advised me "to whisper".

Yeah, right Doc. So much work needed to be done by phone. There were several secretaries manning the phones but, efficient as they certainly were, there were decisions they could not make and information they did not know. Antibiotics keep down secondary infections but do nothing for convincing any virus already drowning in Pepto and breathing Vicks fumes to raise the white flag and retreat forever down the porcelain convenience.

I was guilty, I admit to risking the wellness of others by working with my senses dulled by fever, eyes red and squinting, and with mouth covered, still coughing out clouds of infectious droplets as I madly dashed to the executive washroom. Why was I there? I was paid regardless. Others could have gotten most of the the work done.

So, again, why was I there? Surely not to set an example. When a coworker came in with a sneezy coughy affliction during flu season, I was the first who genuflected, gently closed the door to my office and start spraying Lysol and taking handfuls of vitamin C tablets. Glad you're well.

I always think of Texas rabbits being bigger. Jack rabbits in fact, and not the cute, cuddly little cotton tails we too often see in our gardens and hopping happily about on our lawns. Not at all like the cute, tasty chocolate ones we put in our kid's Easter baskets. OK, I've seen too many cartoons, I guess. I apologize profusely for my error. Surely Texas' rabbits are as cute as any state's.

Bugs wasn't a Jack rabbit; was he? Speaking of Bugs, have you ever noticed how much Newt Gingrich resembles Elmer Fudd? When he lost the Speakership after masterminding that first Govt. shutdown. You know, the one that did not work out so well for anyone. Well, I drew a cartoon with Mr.Gingrich's face on Elmer's cartoon body. It was published locally. I'd hoped it might have been picked up by the AP. Sadly, it was not. But lucky me. Now I can add to my resume, "Failed Political Cartoonist".

I grew up a couple of blocks from a river. All manner of critters showed up at our house. Rabbits, Raccoons, snakes, possums, squirrels, red and gray foxes. A wolf, leading a pack of mutts came near one moonlit night. Once, a black bear spent the night in Grandma's garden. And, my friend, think about it. That menagerie is just what I personally saw. A pet dog treed a raccoon which spent the night on our roof when I was in elementary school. No one at school believed me... until I got the film developed.

When my wife and I moved back to our home town after 30 years of marriage, the score was people 99, Snakes 0. No, I don't hate any snake I can see. They have a place of service in the world and keep the rodent population in check. It was my wife who would not tolerate the slithering reptiles in her world.

I'd relocate what I could without her seeing me. However having small children about I did kill many of the large, poisonous varieties of snake that are prolific here. Snakes like Cottonmouths and Copperheads. I never killed a Black snake, Garter or Green snake in my life and even retrieved one black snake from a tree and relocated it in the woods near the river. That also saved a bird's nest from being raided.

Early one summer day, when my wife had just been threatened by a particularly large and active Copperhead, my young son asked me why we had killed the creature. I simply explained that it would be far easier to replace the snake than replace his mother. If we had not killed it, she would have packed her bags and left for the snakeless Arctic.

My wife was the only person I ever knew that showed evidence she had "Snake RADAR". If that woman woke me from a sound sleep and told me there was a snake in the backyard, even without having herself moved from bed, I would have believed her. How she always seemed to be able to find a snake, no matter how hidden from view, I do not know.

Most snakes, even poisonous snakes, are not aggressive. I've read that hundreds live out their lives in the areas around around most people's houses in the US causing no trouble.

Frankly, I am more scared of spiders than any snake Ican see and easily avoid. I have never been bitten,however I have been bitten by spiders. Yes, indeedy, I have seen Black Widows and Brown Recluses eyeing me with malevolent intent from the assumed safety of their sticky, bug covered webs. That made me shiver. Right up until the dear wifey, so bravely, made them commit insecticide.

During our 40 years together, we divided our two paranoias between us equally. She took care of those wicked Arachnids bent on my destruction and I took care of all those sneaky, fanged critters slithering about looking to get her.