R.I.P. Ozzie, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Some of you may remember me posting pictures of this muscovy duck, whose name, as it turns out, was Ozzie. The other day, some teenagers killed Ozzie at the park. This is very upsetting, for many reasons. First, it's just cruel and stupid. Second, kids who harm animals often go on to harm humans. I hope they catch these kids, punish them, and that they learn from their awful behavior that this is wrong.

I will miss Ozzie. He was friendly (I was sitting right next to him when I took this picture) and unusual. It's so sad that the place where he took refuge turned out to not be safe after all. :(

front page news, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Our friend Mr Prissy made the front page of the local daily newspaper today. Seems he attacked a woman and her small children the other day.

OK, here's the thing: they are territorial animals. Who are nesting. There are signs all over the park admonishing people to not feed the wild animals. Which people go ahead and do anyway. With small children in tow.

Even if these folks were not feeding them, other people (and we all look the same to them) have. They were probably too close to the nest (which is fenced off and signed now).

As a friend commented on Facebook, these are wild animals, not lawn decorations. Have a little common sense, people!

You can read the whole story here. Do not read the comments if you wish to stay sane.

handwritten, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I got this lovely note in today's mail from someone who was placing a prayer ad. How nice that he took the time to make it look so pretty!

As a weekly newspaper, we don't usually get to cover breaking news. Our MetroWest reporter was at a press conference this morning with our new intern, and someone ran in to inform the mayor that there had been an explosion at a nearby car dealership. So they hopped in the car, went over to the dealership, took pictures, and put the story up on our website. I saw her right after she got back, and she was a little stunned. They're still not sure what caused the explosion. Very sad that someone was killed.

In other news, guess what? It's snowing. *sigh*

in my eyes, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

This is what I see for a good part of my commute home these days: not much of anything, thanks to the sun. While it's nice that it's not dark when I get out of work, I do rather like to see where I'm going. *g*

I feel much better today. Not quite back to normal, but not that ugh feeling I had for a few days. I just had a sandwich, the first real food I've had since Friday. I haven't been able to do more than nibble since then.

I was disgusted by the gas prices I saw today. I don't care what the AG says, it's gouging. There's no way the rise in oil prices can have affected gas prices this quickly. They're up nearly twenty cents since Monday. Greedy bastards.

150K, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

...and I'm glad it's done. My car hit 150,000 miles on the way home, and I sympathize. As Indy said, it's not the years, it's the mileage. She turned ten last month. I still love her.

Since I'm poor this week, I decided it was time to use my gift certificate to Armata's, so I headed over there on my lunch break. I got a chicken pot pie, which is quite yummy and will provide several meals. My treat was a brownie, because their baked goods are unbelievable. The owner, Joe, is always bringing cakes, brownies, and cookies over to our office.

I was so beat last night, I was in bed by 9:30, and I slept straight through to almost 6:00. I felt much more human today. Hooray for sleep!

Some sad news today: Socks the cat has passed on to the great kitty playhouse in the sky. I love that there was a First Cat. :)

Have a wonderful weekend, all!