Don't Mess with Mama

For this weekend's challenge we're asking you to include some hyperbole in your piece.  It doesn't have to be the whole piece, but it needs to be in there, and we're looking for 33 words, as usual. For my non-English teacher types, hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a way of adding emphasis to a story.  It is not meant to be taken literally, but to form a more vivid picture in the mind of the listener. 

Our cat Zena, who weighs a whopping 8lbs, has 'adopted' our puppy Maisy, who weighs a demure thirty pounds. We did not realize just how much Zena cared until one night when I found two adult raccoons on the patio---after I had opened the door and let Maisy outside. When I saw the prompt, that is what immediately came to mind.



She exploded from the house like a growling, furry, ballistic missile, her tiny body hurtling toward the trespasser, and the startled raccoons were last seen frantically leaping over the fence into the night.

The End of A to Z

April 30th marked the very end of the A to Z Blog Challenge. Many thanks to Arlee Bird at his blog home and his team of eager writers. I feel like I've run a marathon, at least mentally!

Not only was I attempting to use the alphabet as my muse for writing, I also continued participating in the Red Dress Club's writing prompts, so those prompts had to reflect the parameters of both challenges. That was kind of hard. A couple of times I had nothing to submit to the Red Dress Club, mostly this last week, because we had the horrific, vile, and completely useless TAKS test to administer to middle school students. Administering that test always makes me feel vaguely dirty, like I am participating in some sort of horribly random experiment in the mind control of children. I'll stop talking about it now, since that would only bring back the post-traumatic stress reaction.

Sometimes for the A to Z, I would look up a word or two that started with that letter, and try to build a post around that. Other times I had an idea of what I wanted to post, but I had to make the letter fit. Other times, like my post for the letter U, just flowed right out of me as fast as I could type the letters. Apparently that one had been rattling around in my brain for a long time! It was good to get it out.

What I have learned over the last 30 days? Well, the first thing I learned is that I CAN do it. I can write every day. I used to struggle with that, but the challenge sort of gave me a push.

Next, I've learned is that there are a LOT of very talented writers out there in Blog Land. I've gotten headaches because I've stayed up too late reading all the different posts. Published authors were participating, and they were wonderful in offering up advice about writing, poetry, and blogs. One blogger was gracious enough to feature some bloggers on his site that began with the letter of the day--clever AND helpful!

I have enjoyed every second of the A to Z Blog Challenge. I hope that I get to participate next year. I loved it.

Midnight at the Mos Eisley Cantina

We have a feral cat living in our back yard. He's a very round, yellow, shorthaired cat that we named Lalo(because that rhymes with 'yellow'). Well, at least we think it's a 'he', because it's never been preggers as far as we can tell.

Lalo lives on our patio, sleeping on the chair cushions when it's sunny, and underneath various places when it is raining. Sometimes he wanders off, but he always shows up eventually We put food out for Lalo, and make sure he has water, and that's about it. I always wondered if other animals were eating the food we put out, so one day I started watching.

There are other feral cats who wander into our yard; Two Socks, Blondie, and Moe are their names(I give them nicknames, sue me). But Lalo has planted his flag on the patio and no matter who else comes through his territory, he stays. Birds of all sizes/varieties show up during the day to grab some of Lalo's food(I wonder if they can tell they're eating chicken? And if so, what do they think it tastes like?). Some of the birds will dunk the cat food into the water dish to soften it up; which I think is pretty cool, except it messes up the water. There are possum who come by at night to snack on Lalo's food and get a drink as well. One night we saw what was probably an entire possum family--Mom, Dad, and the two kids--chowing down. Also cool. Lalo just sits or lays on his cushion and watches(or snoozes), and none of the other critters seems to pay much attention to him. Watching all this makes me think of that bar in Star Wars, if all the characters had been animals.

Tonight as I was turning off all the lights for the night, I glanced outside and saw Lalo curled up asleep on his cushion. And nearby, chowing down, was a thirty pound raccoon. I did a double take. My friend Jillsmo often speaks about all the raccoons they have in Berkeley and how they will come into your house and eat your food and drink all your beer and play all your Xbox games before sleeping in your bed. I thought about going outside and shooing it off--my husband will not share his Call of Duty game under any circumstances--but then I decided to just turn off the lights and go to bed.

After making sure the door was locked. Raccoons are tricksy.