Thursday, September 23, 2021

I've had better weeks.

Sunday afternoon was a day to remember. Marco got away from us, flew up into a tree, and refused to come back. We were scared that he was gone for good!

The way it happened was like this. Gregg was on the back porch working on some projects with Marco riding around on his shoulder. After a while, he forgot he was on there, and without thinking walked out the door to the backyard. Mistake. Marco immediately took off and ended up in a big tree on the edge of our yard. We spent an hour and a half trying to coax him down, to no avail. We offered him his favorite treat (walnuts), we called his pal Georgie to come out to stand with us under the tree, we pretended to start walking back to the house while cheerfully calling for him to come with us, we demanded he come down, we shouted. We even threw a rope over the branch underneath him and shook it to try to scare him down. Nothing worked. The little bastard crawled around on his branch, chewing on leaves and occasionally responding to us with "Hey baby!" "Whatcha doin'?" "Woooo!", and, infuriatingly, "C'mere! C'mere Marco!" I swear he even laughed a couple of times. It started to get dark and he seemed to be perfectly fine with the idea of sleeping up in the tree with his newfound freedom. 

Finally, out of sheer desperation I took a chance on a pretty extreme solution. I went and got the hose, turned the water all the way to the "on" position, set the flow setting on the nozzle to "jet", and I blasted his ass out of the tree with a mighty gush of water. He fluttered down to the ground at our feet, dripping and stunned, and we grabbed him up and took him inside. I couldn't believe it had actually worked. So Marco is still with us, safe and sound, and having learned nothing.


                                          The next day, stealing a sip of my wine.

The rest of this week so far hasn't been much better. Gregg had to visit a dermatologist recently and he found out he has another basal cell carcinoma on his face that must be removed. It's right beside his nose whereas the previous two were on his forehead. All those years of sun exposure on his fair skin are catching up with him. He's been pretty bummed about it. 

Work continues to be busy and stressful with Covid still spreading like crazy around here. Another friend of ours got sick this past week and felt like he had a horrible case of flu even though he's vaccinated and very careful. In fact, it's the friend that helped us get our vaccines relatively early on. He works in a hospital so I guess he's exposed to Covid more than most. At least since he was vaxxed he didn't get sick enough to end up in the hospital himself, though. Just last weekend, an unvaccinated young mother who teaches in the school district next to mine died from it. Her reason for not getting the shot was that she was breastfeeding her youngest child and was afraid it might hurt him. Now he and his three siblings are motherless and her family is begging the community to get the vaccine so no other family will have to go through the pain they're experiencing.  This teacher was healthy and active (she coached volleyball) and was only 28 years old. When are people going to wake up and take this virus seriously? How many more people need to die first? 

Speaking of illness, you might notice I'm posting this at an odd time of day for me. I'm at home taking a sick day. Last night out of nowhere I started feeling like I had the worst heartburn of my life. I was walking around, trying to get my stomach to settle down, and all of sudden I started throwing up violently. It was really strange and upsetting. I feel better today except for a bad headache, but decided to stay home just in case I have a stomach bug. I hope that's all it is. This Delta variant is known to have some unusual symptoms sometimes.

What a week so far, and it's only Thursday!

53 comments:

  1. What a cheeky little green devil Marco is.
    Sorry you have been sick. good you took a sick day.
    Bad news is all around us, some days it is hard to understand.

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    1. "Cheeky" is a very good word for him. He drives us crazy sometimes.

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  2. Good thinking! The hose- brilliant! We have had some cockatiels that have gone to the great outdoors but they do not stick around, finding them is a challenge, apparently they have no sense of direction and are dumber than rocks. I LOVE Marco- such a little sassy outfit!

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    1. I knew right away I needed to blog about Marco's adventures in the tree for the amusement of his many fans around the world. :)

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  3. You sound to have had a rough week so far Jennifer - and so sad about the death of one so young and her leaving young children behind. I must say that now that Marco is safe and sound again it did give me a laugh - what a canny chap he is. (and he knows it)

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    1. I'm glad his naughtiness made you laugh! Life with a parrot is never, ever dull.

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  4. Marco, you little bugger! Are you sure he doesn't need an AA meeting, lol? I had a patch of skin cancer cut out of my leg about a month ago -- I'll be posting about it next week. I hope you feel better soon -- are you considering going for a Covid test just in case?

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    1. I texted back and forth with the school nurse this morning, and she said that if I haven't been exposed to a positive person for more than 15 minutes in close proximity, chances are pretty good that it's just a random stomach bug. We've had a few students suddenly throw up at school recently so something may be going around.

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  5. That has been a rough week. Hope you are feeling better.
    Hope next week will be a better week for you and for Gregg too!

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    1. Thank you Ellen. There's been some other minor stressful stuff going on, too, but nothing worth blogging about. This whole school year has been rough so far.

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  6. Big breaths
    And be kind to yourself

    Stress comes out in physical ways

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    1. Thank you, John. I believe that stress could definitely be a contributing factor.

      I can laugh about almost losing Marco now, but it wasn't funny at the time. I was scared to death he was going to fly away forever. :(

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  7. We went through a similar scare last week when Consuelo escaped the house AGAIN. She was out and unseen for about eight hours until spotted her under the deck stairs and snatched her ass back into the house,

    So a vaxxed co-worker gets COVID and feels a little sickly, while an unvaxxed coworker gets COVID and dies. You'd think that would be all people who are anti-vax should hear before changing their minds.

    Hope y'all feel better soon!!!

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    1. That tricky Consuelo! She and Marco could be real partners in crime, I imagine. I'm glad you got her back safe and sound.

      So many people still deny COVID around here, and harass others for wearing masks, and spread outrageous lies about the vaccine. It's infuriating and I'm tired of the rest of us being at the mercy of these fools.

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  8. I bet Marco was having a wonderful adventure - and then you wooshed him right out of his tree! He will be thinking of ways to get his own back. Hope things go better for you next week.

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    1. Hee hee! He WAS having a wonderful adventure and was obviously stunned when he ended up on the ground, wet as a drowned rat. And you're right, he will be thinking of ways to pay us back for it!

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  9. I laughed my ass off reading about your solution to get Marco out of the tree. Little booger thought he had you over a barrel. You showed him!! It's funny how our beloved animals think and act. I have a cat, Nubby, that makes me laugh all the time. Her favorite antic of mine is when I tell her it's night night time and she'll go hide under one of my end tables that is on the way to the bedroom and when I pass by she jumps out as if she's going to pounce on me.

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    1. I laughed reading this comment! "Little booger thought he had you over a barrel" is SPOT ON. Nubby sounds like a lot of fun, too. I don't know what people who aren't pet owners do for entertainment!

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  10. I'm sorry about Gregg. I'm sure it's frightening every time he has a health problem. Marco can be such a little asshole. So many teachers and kids in Florida are sick and some have died, yet some parents persist in their anti-mask war. I hope your illness is gone.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I feel much better today, thank you. Gregg is dreading the procedure next month, and it doesn't help when I remind him that he's dealt with SO MUCH WORSE in the past. He's been under a lot of stress, having to deal with covidiots when out in the public. We're almost in as bad a shape as Florida here in South Carolina. Same kind of people, same kind of governor.

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  11. Oh thank heavens!!!!! We must remember that even though they are pets, there natural instinct is to be flying and in trees. I was with bated breath reading to see if you got him back. Thanks heavens. Had you not done that, do you think he would have stay up there or flown away???

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    1. I think he would have spent the night on that same branch, but then the next morning....who knows? We were nearly sick while it was all going on. It was a very close call!

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  12. So, Marco was in the tree pretty much giving you the bird... so to speak. Didn't realize he was that much of a smart ass.😁

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  13. That's your basic bad week. Did Marco realize you were responsible for the Niagara of his undoing?

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    1. Oh, I'm sure he did. He tried hard to hold onto the branch but the water spray was too strong for him after a minute and he was forced to let go!

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    1. I was actually pretty proud of myself for thinking of it!

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  15. I can just see Marco up in the tree laughing at you trying to get him down! You came up with a smart way to do it and thank goodness he is home and safe now. He drinks wine too??? I guess if he flew away you could check the bars!

    I'm sorry you have been sick. I imagine even with masks you get exposed to a lot at a school. Feel better fast!

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  16. Oh, I hope you’re already feeling better. I have no patience anymore for these idiots and their justifications for not getting the vaccine because they have concerns of their own or they’ve read online... (or listened to idiot politicians and celebrities, who are themselves vaccinated but tell you not to be). Follow the advice of the professionals, dammit! Glad you thought of the hose for March (the adorable little shit).

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    1. He is an adorable little shit. It would be horrid to lose him after all these years.

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  17. Phew! That is quite a lot to take in Jennifer. I am so glad that you managed to get Marco down from the tree. Your neighbours must have been giggling like crazy behind their curtains as you called to him and he called back. "C'mere Marco!" Ha-ha!

    Sorry you have not been well the last couple of days and I am even more sorry to hear about the 28 year old teacher's tragic death and about the small carcinomas on Gregg's face. In the same regard, I should reconnect with the hospital dermatology department even though I was signed off in the early days of the pandemic.

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    1. Gregg said the same thing as you, that the neighbors were probably getting a kick out of the situation from behind their curtains!

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  18. Hope you are feeling better. A lot going on and it is taking a toll on you. Here's to a better week.

    Now, I will admit that Marco's Adventures in Tree Sitting had me in suspense until the denouement deluge had me bursting out laughing. I am imagining Marco, once restored to the house, thinking: "Son of a Bitch!! Never saw that coming."

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    1. I swear there's never a dull moment around here!

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  19. Oh no! I hope you feel better! It does sound like there's been a lot of stress in your life lately -- that's probably not helping. Thank goodness Marco came home! (Well, with a little coercion.)

    That's a horrible story about the teacher. No matter how many young and youngish people die from this disease, all the other vaccine-avoiders seem to think it won't happen to them.

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    1. People still act like there's no pandemic going on at all. :(

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  20. Your Marco story is a gem. The way you told it made me laugh and lordy, I can always use a good Marco story and a good laugh. I loved the detail about how he called back to you, Come here, Come here Marco! It's a good thing I wasn't drinking wine when I read that because wine + spit take = unfortunate consequences to my computer. Thanks for the Marco update and I hope you feel better soon.

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    1. I'm glad you got a good laugh from it! We did too....once it was over!

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  21. Okay...the mental pictures of marco's great adventure are hilarious. Your words described it perfectly. Sorry you are sick though.

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    1. I was only really sick for that one night, thank goodness.

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  22. I love the Marco story! What a stinker he can be.

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  23. Glad you got Marco back indoors after all the failed attempts to shift him!

    I'm baffled by all the anti-vaxxers. The reasons they give for not vaccinating are just ridiculous. And as you relate, this ill-informed position can lead to a family suddenly being depleted.

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    1. The vaccine is totally safe for most pregnant women and nursing mothers, so I can't understand why this woman didn't get it. Especially working in a school with lots of exposure. For that matter, I don't understand women who intentionally got pregnant and had babies during this pandemic. The timing seems awful.

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  24. I am late to this post! I hope as I write this things are better for you. Glad Marco didn't get away, and I hope you are well. Covid is a nightmare here too. I have a student out with it now. Luckily all of my students are required to wear masks. Every time I feel a little "off", I think I have contracted Covid.

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    1. I hear you on the thinking you've caught Covid every time you feel a little off. I'm the same way. Thanks for stopping by, Michael. I've been thinking of you often. I hope you're doing okay!

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  26. Oh, your poor heart when Marco was sitting in the tree enjoying himself, and you could imagine him gone forever. Thank goodness the blast of water worked and that wild boy returned home to you. I hope you are feeling well when you read this.

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    1. Thank you Terra! We were so scared. Gregg kept saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" because Marco rode out on his shoulder when he wasn't paying attention. I'm beyond thankful we managed to get him back. I make a lot of jokes, but I love Marco to pieces and was horrified at the prospect of losing him that way.

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