Wasp

-More here.

I've gotten to know the local wasps, and have no trouble with them. I was taught to be afraid of them as a child, like most of us. Thread-waist wasps and some variety of paper wasp. They are important creatures, and I will fight the arrogance of people who hate all wasps in lordly contempt. What right have we to disdain any creature because they are inconvenient* to us? Reduce their numbers because they destroy our food or are in a dangerous spot is one thing. Hate them because they'll defend themselves from our attempt to kill them out of distaste? That's monstrous.

Everything eats everything. We all compete for space and resources. This is normal. But to deem an entire classification of insect evil out of overblown fear? This is vicious. This is projection.

This is dualism.

All things dull and Ugly
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.

Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom,
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid,
Who made the spikey urchin,
Who made the sharks, He did.

All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.

Friends came over last night. Zeppo appeared. Hopped up for me to pet him, then... went over to Nicole. Briefly, but then tried again. This is the first time we've seen him approach anyone but us, and we quietly cheered him on. I figured it would be Nicole he tried first, though. She has a deep kindness. Yeah, he's going to be a sociable cat, in his own way and in his own time. Watching him become his best cat self is going to be fun.

Eleanor was all over them, sniffing John's beard, and loving on Chris. She's gotten more confident. Especially if there might be a bit of really good cheese on offer. And with this crowd, there always is. Feels really good that we've given her the space and peace to become her bold and cuddly self.

Two days work in a row, and although I am tired and my feet hurt, I'm not entirely exhausted and feet are nowhere near as bad. I'm getting back a measure of elasticity.

In my dreams, I was walking around the steep part of town, it was cold with snow on the ground. Couldn't remember where I'd left the car. A skinny middle aged woman with a mullet is walking behind me, telling me my shoes are going to hurt me and I shouldn't wear them. I thought, no - these are the shoes that are helping my feet heal. I tried to hurry away, she kept following me and shouting at me, using my name, about the shoes. Until she ran up in front of me, yelling at me for not responding and listening to her, went to grab me, and I grabbed her throat to choke (compress carotids) her out. She was so confused and angry as she passed out, and I left her unconscious on the lawn. I woke afraid I'd be arrested, even though I was defending myself.

*Ok, I do hate snails, but they are invasive here and destroy my garden. They aren't evil, I don't want to eradicate them from the earth, just from my garden. I think it's fair to say I hate 'too-many-snails' not all of them as individuals. I get freaked out by swarms of anything, especially bugges. The gut horror of being overwhelmed.