Friday, September 5, 2014

Friday Mishmash

Another weekend, another massive amount of traffic in town thanks to the students returning.  Here's a picture from a friend's Facebook feed of last Saturday afternoon:
This is where we would be, if we wanted to go to Yogurtland (it's in the building on the left).  Don't you just love all the vehicles blocking the intersection?  Everyone is going nowhere, fast.  You are looking at layers of dumbness here.

One of the comments on this picture made me laugh - it said "shelter in place" (meaning, don't leave your house).  Honestly, we avoid certain areas for a good part of the year, but dang it, Yogurtland is right in the midst of this mess!  Our once a week treat!  We waited until nearly 8:00 pm on Saturday night to go there, and by then the traffic wasn't too bad - we only had to wait through two cycles to get through the signal to turn left.  Got into Yogurtland, got to the machines...and about a million sorority girls converged.  It was the end of rush week and I guess they were all celebrating.  Egad!  We got our yogurt and got out of there as fast as we could.  It's just insane.  I wish Red Mango was still open - it was a little more off the path and was rarely this crazy - plus we could get to it without hitting a ton of traffic.  First world problems, I know...but geez.  Student enrollment is up at Texas A&M and the town isn't any bigger - it feels like we're getting squeezed out.

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On Tuesday we were up early for the hill workout.  I took Paco out to the front yard to pee (so as to avoid him getting skunked in the backyard - fool me twice, shame on me).  I stood on our front walkway while he was on the grass near the street, and all of a sudden I heard the sound of clicky-clacky nails behind me - I turned to see a freaking skunk running right by me!!  Not ashamed to say it was every man for himself at that point and I abandoned ship...er, dog, and ran back inside the house.  Luckily, the skunk didn't spray, and Paco made it back unscathed as well.  I have to tell you, this is getting OLD.

Later that day, I tried to make Paco sit at the spot where I was when the skunk ran by me.  Instead, he's showing how I turned and ran!
Dramatic reenactment:  Paco says "Mom turn and run like dis, only I make it look smoother."
Dramatic reenactment part 2:  Paco says "and den I was at the front door and mom was inside and wouldn't let me in until I passed the sniff test.  Hmph."

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Speaking of night critters, there was a very relaxed deer watching me walk on Tuesday morning.  He let me get really close and since I was carrying my phone, I tried to get a picture.  He was under a streetlight, so it's not the greatest shot, but you can get an idea of how close he let me get to him:
A young buck, based on his size and antlers.   

Now this is the kind of wildlife that I like to see.  Skunks, not so much.

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Have a great, critter-free weekend!

19 comments:

  1. Paco is heartbroken that you totally left him to fend for himself. He told me!!! :-)

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  2. Hahaha! That last photo of Paco where his tail is a blur is cracking me up!

    Some engineer needs to get into that traffic mess and straighten it out. And what about fines for what we call "blocking the box" up here? That's where those cameras on poles would come in handy - block that intersection and you get mailed your fine!

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    1. Paco is such a nut. ;)

      The police could make a mint if they issued tickets for blocking the box, that's for sure. We had red light cameras for a couple years but they removed them. Nothing political about that decision, I'm sure...

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  3. I always flip out when I see deer ( and take pics too).
    Sorry about your yogurt troubles...lol
    PS, My dad went to A and M ( I don't know where the AND symbol is on my phone). I've always wanted to visit there!

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  4. Gridlock. I hate gridlock. It's just people being inconsiderate.

    The lake is a big tourist draw around here and while the economy loves the tourists, it is nice to go to the lake and not have it be jammed with people and cars during the off season.

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    1. Sounds like your tourist season is relatively short, as least?

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  5. Love the pics of Paco! I would have abandoned dog as well!

    I feel your pain with the bombardment of all the students. Our traffic and craziness happens during the winter. Where it normally takes me 8 minutes to get from my house to the grocery store will triple once all the ski tourists arrive in December.

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  6. Ah you're a bad momma :) you didn't even save your dog from another bath. Lucky for Paco he wasn't skunked. I love him looking up, Bella can do that too, so adorable.

    My colleague who moved to the US lives in a college town now too (his wife works at the university) and she has a blog too and was mentioning too how crowded it was when all the students returned. Even in the grocery stores the isles were empty at the first weekend they all came back.

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  7. It sounds like your property is now on the skunk's established route. I wonder if you have a neighbor leaving cat food out? (haha--not saying I have any personal experience with this…) And I guess I already mentioned trying to get the county agent to leave a live trap for it? They probably only have that in rural areas.

    The traffic and the college kids? Too bad you can't call the country trapper for them : ) Blocking frozen yogurt is just unacceptable!

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    1. Loling on calling the trapper on the students! Some days, I wish...

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  8. Raccoon's are now taking over our deck where all the peanut shells are from the squirrels. The other night we heard something LOUD on the deck - I turned on the light only to find a momma raccoon and three of her babies under our deck table - didn't care that I was there at all, in fact almost gave me a look like "get the F out of here, we are having dinner!"

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  9. Oh gosh, the clickety clack of skunk claws is very vivid writing! It's painting a realistic picture for me--Too creepy!!
    Have calls been made about this? It has to be stopped; ya can't live like this!
    So ironic that you've learned now, so you went out front.
    Glad Paco didn't attempt an attack or chase. Gah.

    I just sent my *baby* off to college... :(
    Chrissy

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    1. My neighbor has tried to capture the skunk with a live trap but no luck so far. :(

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    2. Oh and your youngest left for college?! It's weird, isn't it?

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