The Merovingian Twins: Can We Be Your Friends?

It was morning, and we were doing stuff around the house, when we heard the loud noise of chainsaws. Then a gentleman walked up our driveway and told us that he and several other guys were here to chop down a couple of our new neighbor lady's trees. He wanted to chat with us about WHICH trees, to make sure nobody would get their knickers in a knot over it.

Well, our knickers were already in a knot, because we HATE the sound of the cutting down of trees. But they explained that they would be taking the one tree that already partially fell, as well as the rest of it, weakened, that was left standing. And another tree - cherry - that was "leaning heavily," and they feared it would fall. What could we say? They are HER trees.

So we bid good day to that gent, packed up a couple of things, tossed them into the car, and took off for what we hoped would be the bulk of the time of noise and excitement around our house, as they removed the trees. We fled to the former Dry Hollow Camp property, where my husband jogged and I walked, with camera.

A vehicle arrived just as I was leaving the parking lot, and my husband was stretching. I didn't know it yet, but the vehicle belonged to two of my Facebook friends who are locals, whom I'd never met in person yet. I was off-trail and saw people in the distance, but our paths didn't connect.

My husband got to meet them, though, and warned them (as we do any other visitors we see) about the ticks we often encounter locally. "Take your clothes off and check each other for ticks when you get home," my husband advised them; "In fact, that may be my WIFE's favorite part," he joked. (He's not wrong. <grin>)

And I would, in fact, get about a dozen ticks on my clothes by the afternoon's end, including one who made it all the way home, crawling out of my sleeve and onto my hand as I sat in the driveway reading my book later. Wow. And it was scary-small. It is probably my own fault for crawling through the weeds the way I do. If you have a tick-phobia, keep to the trail!

I spotted a very interesting bug on the pathway, that looked like some kind of beetle with a big blue booty. You may see that picture in the extras. Baby's got back! She has a very fine, ample posterior indeed. A local friend has identified this bug as some kind of queen of the forest ants. Wow, I guess blue = royalty.

Then we headed for home, and passed by the llama farm on Marengo Road. Somebody had just finished mowing a strip of lawn along the road, and there was freshly mowed grass tossed into the llama pens. The llamas were feasting on it like it was an all-you-can-eat buffet!

My husband dropped me off for a few minutes of pictures, and then came back for me, and I walked up and down the line, taking as many photos as I wanted. This is a picture of the two fuzzy youngsters I often see together. They look very pettable but I resisted. I just don't know if they'll bite!

I wasn't sure who they reminded me of most: the Twins from The Shining ("Come PLAY with us, GirlWithACamera!") or the Merovingian Twins from The Matrix. Maybe more so the latter. I bet they can walk through walls and float through the air too!!! Perhaps one of them may have appeared in a prior llama blip.

Now, I wasn't sure what they were saying to me, but I bet it was one of those Facebook friend requests that goes a lot like this:

Hello gorgeous lady, sorry you don't know me, I was browsing through my suggestion list when I come across your adorable profile picture. and I thought of being friends with you, I tried sending you a friend request but it didn't go through so I decided to leave a comment here, can you please send me your Gmail address so we can always keep in touch Via Email or kindly send me your phone number if you don't mind. I apologize if I bother you with my comment here, It will be nice to meet new friends like you beautiful woman. May God bless you and your families.. 

This is, in fact, the exact wording of a very polite friend request I received on this morning - well, actually overnight. About six months ago, I'd left a comment on a public Facebook page devoted to a favorite tree. A stranger had found my comment and left me the friend invitation.

I copied the full comment (without his name) and posted it on my Facebook page, remarking at what a FRIENDLY place Facebook is! Many ladies mentioned having the same experience, and blocking the senders. (I have never blocked anybody on Facebook yet, but the day is young!)

Eventually, I went back to look at my original posting on the page about the tree, only to discover that the fellow who issued the friend invitation had left THE EXACT SAME REMARK on the comments of every single female on that posting! Sheesh. I guess I'm not special at all!

I did wonder, though, about how does this person know that I - a stranger on the Internet - am not actually a serial killer in real life? I mean, I could break his heart into a million pieces! I've done it, but not to him yet, and not lately.

My good friend Bill (who is, with one or two others, responsible for the State College police breaking down my door and macing my cat that one time, but I digress - that's a separate tale, for some other day) added, "Meet Tess Bundy, the most dangerous woman on the Internet. Poor guy, he never saw it coming. . . . "

Whew! That was a long and winding road, wasn't it? But now we need some tunes to go with these two friendly Merovingian twins, and the beetle-bug queen of the forest ants, with the biggest, bluest booty you've ever seen!  For the two fuzzy llamas above, I know they want to send me friend requests, like that friendly fellow online. So let's go with this song: the Rolling Stones, with Waiting on a Friend.

Second, we need a tune for the booty-bug, and I always say, if you have a fabulous booty, shake it, but don't break it!!! I couldn't decide between these two tunes, so here's a big-booty bonus: let's have them BOTH! Yay! Sir Mix-a-Lot, with Baby's Got Back. And Shakira, with Hips Don't Lie.  *GirlWithACamera shakes booty with glee; blue bug shakes its booty too*