Acceptance vs. Denial

I have eight pets.

Box elder bugs are gone (outdoors, swarming the neighbor's lawn), recluses-of-death are long-gone (predators are fewer; it played out that way here).

There is a cat.

She has improved in how much I care (she is nice; her medical bill has all but been forgiven).

There are six birds and, by evidence, only one very large sexually dominant squirrel of any gender, living in this house right now, intermittently, and only between floors 1 and 2.

And two Homo sapiens. As I once said to several of you: it's a big, inefficient treehouse.

The others were invited (not the squirrel).