For the 4th of July, one of my friends rented a boat to take us all out on the lakes. The day was overcast and it rained a bit, but mostly it was nice weather to be out on a boat on a lake. A few of us swam a bit – just enough to make us tired enough that we had trouble getting back in the boat.
On Friday it was back to work and a nearly full web-server. Spent most of the day trying to clear enough space to keep us going while we figured out what the problem was.
Today, I helped one of my friends set up for a garage sale and when I got home I figured it would do a few chores around the house. I had noticed a bit of trash in my backyard – a cereal box – and after I brought the garbage cans back up from the curb I went to pick up the box and throw it away. It was partly under the fence and I had to hunker over to reach it.
I grabbed it.
Felt something squish under my thumb.
Then I saw the 1.6 billion slugs crawling all over the box.
Now, I’m generally not that squemish – when I’ve not been surprised about it. My rational mind is perfectly capable of being detached about things if given warning.
However, this was a “slug-gut-surprise” and I swore like a little sailor.
I gave up on the box, went inside to wash off the orange guts with very hot water and soap. After I was done and rinsed off my thumb I realized something.
IT WAS STILL THERE!!!!
The orange slug guts had stubbornly resisted multiple applications of soap and hot water.
I got some paper towels and scraped/scrubbed until the orange was gone – then dunked my hand in scalding soapy water for a while. It finally came clean and I finished off with some hand-sanitizer – though I haven’t ruled just cutting my thumb off.
Thunder(cat) just lay there and watched me like I was the biggest idiot on the planet. I wasn’t aware that one cat could generate that much contempt, but he was putting it out there.