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There’s a new little monkey in the band of neighborhood kids. I was sitting outside drinking my coffee when said monkey skated up and started talking to me. She looked about 11′ish.

“Do you dye your hair?” she asked, with obvious sincerity.

I laughed. “Yeah….it doesn’t grow in like this,” I responded. She paused.

“Oh….it’s a lot of different colors.”

“Yeah. I like colors,” I smiled  at her. She went about her business, but came back in a few minutes to ask a few more questions–about a stray dog, the camera in my window (”It’s so I can see who’s at the door when I’m upstairs working”), and another one asked about my cats. Normal kid chatter. I went about my business and thought little of it, although I was aware the fella that has dubbed me the “crazy cat lady” was sitting outside and probably heard the exchange. Whatever. I mostly ignore him.

The next day, however, I was doing something outside, getting ready to go in. I glanced over, and Mr. CatLady looked over, waved and said, “Hello.” Huh? He’s never done that before.  I acknowledged him and went on inside, puzzled.

And I was wondering, what prompted his change? Usually, he acts kinda scared of me, except when his friend Captain Redneck is nearby. Like I’m going to scratch his eyes or something. And his kid gives me a WIDE fucking berth…  :lol:

And the only thing I can think of is the exchange with that new kid. Maybe she’s connected to him somehow–I dunno. Whatever. There is always a pack of munchins around here. They usually like me, because I’m weird with bright hair and I’m nice to them.

I mean, I’ve thought about this since the whole Crazy Cat Lady incident. Not obsessing or anything–just finally realizing how certifiably nuts I might appear to the casual observer. I hadn’t realized it before, if you can imagine that. I mean, sure, OK, I have pink and purple hair and I’m a little eccentric. That’s what I call it. But you know…after that, I started noticing more. I take pictures of trees and clouds all the time, and often retreat back into my home when someone appears. I talk to myself frequently, and usually don’t notice what I’m doing. I dress oddly. I chat with my flowers to thank them for blooming and tell the flies and bees and wasps to go play somewhere else. I tried to finish barbequing one day that it started raining–but Hell. I’d already started the coals! (And I did get it done, so how crazy could it be?) To somebody who just sees what I do outside and has never heard me speak, they might think I’m nuts. (Ok, ok, maybe if they’ve heard me speak too. Let’s not belabor the damn point, ‘k Sparky?)

So I dunno. I guess I could give goofball a pass on crazy-cat-lady rudeness. I think I’ll upgrade his neighborhood nickname from Neanderthal Man to Bubba. His friend is still Captian Redneck, though.