Random Thoughts- Monkeys, Perfume and Seeds

A beautiful quiet moment

One of my life dreams has always been to play with a real monkey. Aren't they so captivating? 

I finally had a chance to hold a Capuchin monkey last week at one of my face-painting gigs. It was a circus-themed party and one of the entertainers was a clown with a trained monkey. It was SO interesting to let him climb on me and wrap his tail around my neck. She instructed the monkey to kiss me, so I presented my cheek... but he kissed me on the lips! Yikees! Who knows where those lips have been?! (And he used his tongue.....yuckers. Monkey slobber on my mouth is not appealing) Even with the unexpected 'surprises', I still relished the interaction. It was magical for me.

Remember our recent experience with a cat flea bath? Some product developer wasn't very bright. The flea shampoo we used must be 99% perfume. Poor Saffron smells like old grandma perfume (and his bath was four days ago! He still reeks!). You know....the really nasty kind of overly-floral perfume that stings your nostrils and makes you cough. I can smell him from 10 feet away. We smell his arrival into a room the instant he enters our space. I feel really bad for him. What kind of person loads animal products with perfume? Don't they know how sensitive animal olfactory glands are? I'll be amazed if Saffron has ANY sense of smell after this week. 

I'm planting seeds this week! I have several seed flats lined up and ready to welcome little vegetable seeds. I'm using plastic storage totes (the big flat kind that fit under the bed) for seedling flats. In our city house I used to store seasonal items under every bed. I can't handle having anything under the beds in our country house. I am too paranoid about insects hiding behind the totes. (I'm kind of OCD now about keeping the space under each bed EMPTY, just so I have peace of mind.) 

Instead of throwing those totes away, I now have a ready supply of seedling flats to use all year. This week we're planting peas, lettuce, and spinach. By the way, I discovered Malabar Spinach this year (technically it's not spinach, it's a tropical vine that tastes just like spinach)....it sounds like a 'miracle' plant for hot humid areas like ours. It's supposed to produce greens ALL SUMMER LONG! (This is virtually unheard of in Texas...it's too hot for Spinach to grow for 6 months of each year.) And it's a perennial! I can hardly contain my excitement. (Look it up if you are a Texas gardener! You might LOVE it!)