animals in your life

[billy rubin]

well, my kitchen porch is decrepit but the animals are nice

[Anne D.]

Wonderful indeed. Cute raccoon.

[billy rubin]

dammit

i was top supering the six beehives on the back a[pron of the warehouse. late in the day, no smoke, no veil, i was in a hurry. but too late in the day, and all the old fielders were in and the little bitches stung the shit out of my face.

i couldnt find the stngers to take them out and now my lower lip is swollen.

i havent been swollen from a bee sting in twenty five years. i only took six or seven stings.

obviously my cue to get stung more.

thjis would be annoying if it werent so funny

[billy rubin]

and otis, my ancient and battle scarred tomcat is back. not dead after all.

he's about ten years old, all chewed up and decrepit from past conflicts in his golden age. he disappeared when i went to maine and didnt show up for about two weeks.

well, i said, the coyotes finally got him, i guess.

(theyve been singing every night pretty close)

but this morning there he was on the kitchen porch, alive after all.

and now he's here in the warehouse with me, eating the wet cat food that the cats who hang out with me get in the afternoon. a bit more shredded, so to speak, but hes doing okay for how old he is



 so he dodged the bullet again.

[Tank]

I love your life. From a distance and I don't think it would suit my wife!

[billy rubin]

you might not say tbat if youd been with me tipping an open top box up in the air with 8000 pounds of semisolid poop in it this morning

[Tank]

That's why I say I love it at a distance lol

[billy rubin]

here

he came out this morning when i went in so i gave him some raisibs

[billy rubin]

[MarcusA]

I am an animal. I am an atheist, naturally.

[billy rubin]

well, if you hopped up on my kitchen porch in the morning to say hello, id give you raisins too.

except today he got whole banana

[MarcusA]

I want a banana.

[Tank]

You are not alone. Bananas are the top selling fruit across all supermarket chains in the UK. And are in the top 10 items across most.

[MarcusA]

I see a moth
Or it might be just a crack
Upon the wall

[billy rubin]

three vulnerable animals today tbat i could not help.

driving into town this morni ng about 0530, pitch dark, there was a chicken in the road. hunched over, obviously anxious,. it should not have been out in the dark, and should not have been in the road.  all i could think of was that somethibg had scared it out if its roost and it was seeking safety. i couldnt stop znd what would i do with a chicken for the next 12 hours, even if i could catch it? so i left it and drove on.

stopped by the side of the highway to pee. there was a large puddle on the shoulder  6  feet by two by three inches deep. in it was a small leopard frog. could have been a pickerel frog but i didnt catch it to look at its legs and it was big anyway. ten feet from highway traffic at 70 mph, this frog was sheltering in a puddle on the gravel. i knew better than to try to catch a frog ten feet from a busy highway so i left it and drove on.

later on i passed a turtle crosding the road. they wander this time of year, and people think it is fun to drive over them. about 8 ibch carapace. usually theyre midland painted turtles. i try to stop to help turtles whenever i can but there was no shoulder and i ckuld not stop. so i left it and drove on.

i hate doing that. i have a thing about killing or permitting killing through inaction. i have no hesitation about killing at all if circumstances require it, but needless death bothers me.