Happy and Pepe and Bursting with Love....

There's nothing like the anger of an enraged mother. Just ask Bellatrix or, soon, Beowulf. On this occasion, though, it's Mother Nature who's playing the Bitch.

But why us, Mom?

Late yesterday morning, Eleanor was gardening around a normally happy and oblivious bunch of bumblebees. One of them got particularly peeyoed at her for unknown reasons, and she's now sporting a bunch of sting marks just above her left eyelid. Fortunately, she's not allergic, and just as fortunately, the little bugger didn't get her in any number of places that would have been far worse.

Then, twelve hours later? Our younger dog went out in the yard one too many times and got nailed by a visiting skunk.  Blessedly, Emily caught wind of the critter before things got too combative, and the stink out in the yard was far worse than anything actually landing on the 60-pound dog. A quick bath in mere baby shampoo and she was little worse for wear. But it did serve to remind that, no matter how much we can fuck up this planet, we are still far from subjugating it.

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This has little, if anything, to do with that, althought there's a smidge of Mother Nature bitchery in it at the end.

Bless me, Fathers and Mothers, for I have sinned. I do not watch, nor do I particularly like, The Simpsons.  But once upon a time, I did. We go back to when they were mere filler on a way-underrated sketch comedy show in the late 80s called The Tracey Ullman Show. The first appearances of Homer, Bart and the rest of the crew came between live performances by Simpsons voicers Julie Kavner and Dan Castelanetta and the rest of the repetoire.

This was the first-ever Simpsons short, which we still reference at least once a week in this house, bug-eyedly crying, BEDBUGS?!?: