And Speaking of Critters

Mr. 114 has often told me the antics of Ms. Shirley. I have never been sure why he tells me the goings on with his next door neighbor. Perhaps he is just making conversation. Or perhaps he is just weirded out.

Most of Ms. Shirley's idiosyncrasies are benign and didn't really phase me. Until about two weeks ago.

You see, Mr. 114 has regaled me in the past with stories of Ms. Shirley honking her horn repeatedly in her driveway because there was a frog crossing the drive and she wasn't getting out of her car until it was gone. The reason she was honking the horn? So Mr. 114 would rush over and save her from the beast.

Then there is the time she ran over because there was a snail on her front porch. Apparently Mr. 114 wasn't available on this occasion to save her from the dastardly critter, so she sacrificed her 12 year old son instead. She handed him a container of table salt and the directive to remove the creature from her yard.

So, you will have to forgive me if I turn a skeptical eyebrow at the e-mail I got about two weeks ago. It said: "There are some holes in two strips of the wood siding on the back of the house that wasps are getting into." In her e-mail, she suggested this has been an ongoing issue.

How many of you in my viewing audience of three actually believe there wasps there? Or there have been wasps there for any length of time. Yea, I'm not buying it either. Now in all fairness, there were other repairs on this list, but the whole wasp thing just didn't lend itself to credibility.

I have asked Mr. 114 for a reality check--though I didn't say "reality check." I phrased it as just wanting a simple quote to fix this. And just to make sure I was totally accurate, I forwarded Ms. Shirley's e-mail to him. He can sift through it and figure it out for himself.