Yep. Definitely spending too much time by myself at work.

Last night, as I came back from the ladies room I heard the unmistakable call of a hoot owl. Who-who-who-who! It sounded, really and truly, like it was in the office. Of course, me being me and my overall life being what it is, I assumed it WAS in the office, and so my thoughts went like this:

"Now how did an owl get in here? Maybe it was going after a chipmunk or something and it flew/ chased it into a vent. Maybe came in through the vents somehow. How am I gonna get it out of here once I find it? They have really sharp talons! What if it's injured? I didn't even bring my coat. Maybe I can get that blanket that L. uses when she's cold and throw that over it's head..."

In telling this story to my boss, she stopped me here, "Didn't you call security?"

"You know, that never entered my mind." I said. And it's true. I had done what I always do when encountering a weird situation a) assume that there's a problem and b) assume that it's 100% up to me to solve it.

Anyway, after wandering about the office with a blanket for several minutes, listening for the owl, I realized that it was loudest right by my desk.....outside of which, on the other side of the window, there is a large tree. There was not an owl in the office. There was an owl, albeit a loud and particularly talkative one, in the tree out side.

At the same moment I realized that I had been singing The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Out loud.

Me:"Virgil, quick come see...There goes Robert E. Lee!"

Owl "who"

Thankfully, the phone rang, which jolted me into acting like a professional person, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.

You know, if there HAD been an owl in the building, and it wasn't hurt, I might have taken it downstairs and stuck it in the office of the woman who fired Friend Will without any good reason. Like I said, they have sharp claws.