I live in a lovely neighborhood with lots of lush landscaping. The trade-off for mild winters, beautiful flowering trees and being so close to the ocean is the less than desirable creatures that thrive here and appear in my apartment. How they manage to get in is an on-going mystery. Typically, they creep in at night, making my cat screech, which wakes me and as I head for the bathroom light I notice that EWWWW!!!! a worm, a slug, a little bitty frog, or tiny ring snake is creeping along the floor; all be it at a snail’s (sorry) pace. I do not have the heart or inclination to kill these intruders and since my cat is a pacifist, I use a Kleenex to pick up the offender and set it right outside of my front door. The success rate of my re-homing program has been 100% as evidenced by seeing an empty Kleenex the next morning. I am the Marlon Perkins of my living room.

In the early 1960’s, our Sunday night family plans never altered. We knew the routine – bath, dinner and then the anticipated Sunday night TV lineup. The highlight, of course, was Walt Disney presents Disneyland with Tinkerbell’s sparkly wand revealing the Magic Castle. When the black and white version of the program was upgraded to color, it became Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. The familiar “when you wish upon a star, make no difference who you are” tune was a keeper. Before Disney came on there was an exciting and exotic nature program. We didn’t know it then, but today it would be considered an educational program. Just as well, knowing might have taken all the anticipation out of it. The sponsor’s name was part of the show title, so we looked forward to ‘Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom’. It was about all kinds of wild animals hosted by zoologist Marlon Perkins from all parts of the world. Jim Fowler was his assistant and danger could be near when the featured animals were poisonous or aggressive.  Am I channeling  Marlon Perkins when I use my Kleenex catch and release process? Maybe. I sure could use an assistant some nights.