If we are going to be damned, let us be damned for what we really are.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard

So, a much needed update...

I've been in Florida for almost five weeks now and I'm having a blast. I get to work with plants all the time and I effectively live in a tropical paradise. Maybe ~Tonar will post pictures some day or give me pictures to post. I'm now working with ~Tonar, my dad, with his landscape maintenance business and we are working on expanding it. Mostly we only mow lawns or trim shrubs and trees but we've had irrigation, landscaping, and repair jobs as well. We work from around 9AM until the sun goes down, and sometimes even well after nightfall. The work is difficult at times and strenuous at others but I have never felt so alive.

Of course we have our share of rough times, like people who want beautiful lush yards that don't need fertilizer or water, or the guy who had us scalp a nice thick zoysia lawn to make it golf course height. Then there was the time I ran over and shredded a hose ~Tonar forgot to tell me about that had been lying in the yard for two months. The guy didn't appear to be home so we stuck it in a wheelbarrow in the middle of the driveway while we finished the yard. The guy stormed out and accused us of trying to hide the hose from him. In a wheelbarrow, in the middle of the driveway, in plain sight of everyone, when we had a perfectly good 20 foot trailer to hide stuff in. It wasn't the last time I was put in a hot seat either. The tractor did a pretty good job of that last week when it caught fire while I was mowing a lawn.

Also, ~Tonar has turned me into a biker chick. Whenever we get a chance we ride his motorcycle to events or even running errands. This past Saturday we went to an event for a local children's hospital called a bunny run. It involves a bunch of bikers gathering at a Harley shop and then going on a police escorted 21 mile ride to the Children's hospital to drop off toys. I wore my lopunny costume to the event, if I find them, I'll post links to pictures of me and ~Tonar on the bike in the event.

While we were at the hospital I got to see some of the kids in the back of the lobby who weren't able to go to the front where the official Easter Bunny was. People started calling me the chocolate bunny. I was able to cheer up a few of the kids there, mostly a couple of little boys who were worried that the Easter bunny wouldn't bring them anything because they had been in the hospital for so long. The adults with them told the kids I was the Easter Bunny and we had an interesting interaction:

Adult: Ask the Easter Bunny if he'll bring you an Easter basket.
Boy: Will you bring me a Easter basket?
Me:
Boy:
Adult: Ask the Easter Bunny if he'll bring you a chocolate chicken.
Boy: Will you bring chocolate chicken?
Me:
Boy:

And so on and so forth for a while, it was cute.

There was also a ferret wearing a Harley jacket the was getting passed around for the kids to hold. It was fairly limp and looked tired. Towards the end I ask if I could get a picture with it. Almost right after the guy put the ferret in my arms it started trying to curl up in my fur. Poor thing was exhausted after a long day.