Pandemic Journal, Day 680

I was putting stuff away before our house cleaner’s visit this morning when Diane called me over to the patio door and showed me a dead squirrel on the deck. When our house cleaner arrived, I told her about the squirrel so she wouldn’t be surprised if she went outside, and then we left to run our normal Tuesday errands.

While we were out, I called County Vector Control; they told me that they didn’t deal with dead animals and suggested I call the City of San Jose’s Animal Control department (they serve Los Gatos, too). After fighting my way through their voice menus, I was connected to a dispatcher who told me that they didn’t deal with squirrels, and that all I had to do was wrap up the corpse and put it in the garbage.

When we got home, we left our masks on and donned gloves; then I got out the long-handled shovel and some plastic bags. The squirrel’s corpse was quite stiff, so it was easy to pick it up and put it in a bag, which Diane put in two more layers of bags; we tossed the masks and gloves into the outer bag, and put the whole thing in the garbage bin.

The day got brighter after that – Diane got her second hepatitis A shot at Costco, and as long as we were there, I picked up a discounted Microsoft 365 renewal, eight bottles of wine, and quite a bit more.

There was yet more shopping to be done, so we walked to Safeway to pick up some yogurt in smaller-than-Costco quantities. On the way home, we walked past these roses – as I said, the day got brighter as it went on!

I also received a “Certificate of Proficiency” from Toastmasters International for completing the “Engaging Humor” path with the speech I gave last night, so now I’m officially a proficient humorist, or maybe just a proficient engager. I’d put it on my résumé but I don’t have one any more.

One thought on “Pandemic Journal, Day 680

  1. Gosh, David-
    I don’t know, Masks, gloves, long handles shovel, and multiple layers of bags. Sounds like your OCD took over again. (My wife says she has CDO – OCD in alphabetic order.)

    Were you worried that the squirrel might have the plague? Now that the squirrel community knows you provide free first class funerals, you can expect to see an increase in your patio population. Worse yet, the word may get out to cayotes, birds, elephants and other animals in need of your services.

    You might think of a catchy name for you new business. D&D’s Garbage Truck Cruises. D&D’s Hot ticket to Heaven.

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