Fleas!

This has been a loooooonnnnnnnng day. I'm sitting down for the first time... I've been at the circulation desk at the library all day...circulating.

I have fleas in my house. I have sprayed the dining room carpet twice and put medicine on 3 cats, Poppy, Buttercup, and Bunny.  And gave Gretchen, the dog, a flea pill. I'm worn out from flea fatigue. So, this afternoon I have to go buy another package of cat flea medicine and apply it to 3 more cats, Musey, Aussie, and Big Tom. Then I'll have to get a flea bomb for the garage. Then I'm done. Hoping the fleas will subside. Hoping for no more hopping.

So, I wrote a flea poem. Trust me, I wrote this from a true-life experience.

Flea
A flea, a flea
a flea on me
it’s on my toe
it’s on my knee
it’s hopping high
it’s hopping low

it’s on my neck

and my elbow

It’s on my leg

it’s on my shoe
it hops so fast
what can I do
it’s hopping here

it’s hopping there

on my shoulder

in my hair.

A flea, a flea
a flea on me
and I’m as mad
as I can be
I took a bath
I took a shower
I soaked and scrubbed

about an hour

and now the flea
cannot be found
I’m glad to say
I think he drowned.

© Ramey Channell 2012

Buttercup and Poppy

Poetry in Fairhope

Soooo - I went to Fairhope with sister Joanne and nephew Jed, for the Alabama State Poetry meeting! We had a wonderful trip, beautiful weather, good conversation on the road, everything delightful for an enjoyable week-end.

Here we are, the traveling poets, enjoying the beautiful weather and brisk wind on the bay.

My poem, "Eden Road" won 1st Place in the Alabama Residents Only contest, and my poem "david's blood" won an Honorable Mention in the David Cato Prize contest.

Joanne won a truckload of prizes, including a 1st Place, a 2nd Place, two 3rd Place prizes and 2 Honorable Mentions.

Apache Indians at Mt. Vernon, Alabama

We had a great time, and cruised around Mt. Vernon and McIntosh on our way home, hoping to see some historical sites and glean some knowledge of the history of The Old Man, Geronimo, and his time spent in south Alabama in the late 1800s. We saw Searcy State Mental Hospital, the original building which was the military fort around which the Apaches built their cabins, and there were some little white houses which we guessed may have been from the Apache period.

We all thought that visiting a mental hospital after the poetry readings seemed like a logical progression. Jed, who was the designated driver, did "joke" about leaving me and Joanne there, but ended up bringing us back home!

The hospital is scheduled to be closed in September, and we saw no one around to answer questions. I think I'll have to do some online research and make another trip down.

All in all, it was a fun little excursion.