Otter's Not Going to be a Teenager Much Longer!

And she's excited about it.  Can't imagine why!

Tonight is what we call Taco Night.  We have tacos on March 30.  I think we've only missed one or two times, and that was because Otter chose Pancho's for her Birthday Dinner and we didn't want to have Mexican food two nights in a row.  But most often, it's been tacos on the 30th.

Why?

Because tacos were what we had for dinner on March 30, 1992.  And I went into labor a couple of hours later!  It's become one of our family traditions, to have tacos the night before Otter's birthday.  Otter probably didn't have a chance, she really doesn't have a choice - she has to like spicy stuff!  :)  While I was pregnant with her, my sense of taste changed and I really couldn't taste much unless it was very strong.  I've always been a fan of spicy foods, but I ate even more of it then.  So I guess it's not surprising that she likes the hot stuff as much as we do, even aside from the fact that we're all TEXAN.

I picked up her birthday cake today.  It's not a cake wreck, but it's also not the cake I ordered.  It's nice, it looks good.  But it's not quite what I wanted.  I picked out the specific cake and showed it to the baker who took my order.  But something was lost in translation between the order being written down and the cake being decorated.  But, they had it ready on time and it had the correct wording on it, and it is white cake (Otter's allergic to chocolate).  So it's still not as bad as the last year we ever got a birthday cake at Wallyworld!  It's just that it's not what I actually ordered.  Also, the main color was supposed to purple but it is actually pink.  Even though we've always had good luck at this grocery store, I'm thinking that next years cake will probably come from an actual bakery.  Next year is the B.I.G. one, 21.

Chirpy Wednesday. (Or Derpy Wednesday, Otter)

The birds are still chirping!  But the Robin's nest has been knocked down.  Probably by another bird, we get a number of bluejays and mockingbirds.  They are both territorial and will destroy nests belonging to other birds.  Otter noticed it was on the deck, yesterday she let the dogs out for a short playtime in the back yard and she spotted it.  The robin has not been back, as far as we can tell because there are no signs of rebuilding.  She was nearly through with the nest, judging from the size/shape, etc., but it's a natural occurance so she probably moved on to a better place.  Since it was right outside the back door, it's easier on us if it's not there but we were hoping to have baby birds.  The last robin's nest we had was last year, and it was int he redbud tree.

Allergies are kicking in!  Otter's had to take her allergy pills the last couple of nights.  I've been sneezing a lot lately and Bill's been congested for days.  The weather is absolutely beautiful, but it's also prime pollen weather.  We could get more rain over the next couple of days but nothing big.  Hopefully, it will be enough to at least clear the air out a bit.  Although rain will also cause an increase in plant growth which means more pollen!

Otter's birthday is Saturday.  She's ordered her birthday breakfast, she wants waffles.  And bacon!  She also decided on Breyer's natural vanilla ice cream to go with the cake.  Her birthday dinner/lunch is Sunday, she picked Chili's.  Her plans for Saturday itself include napping, napping, napping.  And cake, of course!  And probably another nap after that.  I think she's been talking to Maggie Moo, because the beagle has napping down to a fine art.

Otter, here's Derpy for you:

I thought the muffin cannon was something you'd like, Otter.

Also, I thought you might like this one:

Because if Otter were a pony, she'd be Pinky Pie!

Chirpy Monday

It's Monday.  The birds are chirping.

Especially a cardinal that was outside the window, he was chirping up a storm.  I think he was actually looking for bugs to eat, but he was chirping while he was at it.

This is the hyacinth that Otter planted in the tulip bed, along with the frilly daffodils I planted. 

A couple of the tulips, from above.

More tulips, along with the violets that I'm only leaving in because they have finally figured out that blooming means they don't get yanked out!

A few violets.  They are actually very pretty.  There are a few little weedish things in there, but I'm not inclined to spend a lot of time out there, working in the dirt.  Not while my allergies are trying to kick in!

Yesterday, I spent a few minutes on the business end of my tree trimming tool, just a couple of small limblets on one tree that Bill planted a couple of years ago.  I don't know what it was specifically that set me off, but I had to run take a shower almost immediately because something made me itchy.  All over and B.A.D.

Otter enjoyed the movie, she and her friend were sugared up and caffienated when I picked them up.  They had a good time.  Otter said that the movie stuck to the book for the most part, there were a few minor changes but not anything bad.

One of the things I managed to get done today was to go to the grocery store.  And order a cake.  I'm going to pick it up Friday morning, then probably bring it home on my lunch hour.  I'm going to have to rearrange everything in the refrigerator to get it to fit!  And then I'm going to be mean and not let Otter actually see it until Saturday morning.  I'll probably even make her wait until after breakfast!  (She wants waffles for her birthday breakfast).

Sunday Discoveries

We've discovered a couple of things lately.

Like this.  It's a robin's nest and is still in the construction stage.  We've been watching mama bird for a couple of days, she is very busy.

If you look at the left near-top corner, you can see what appears to be a string hanging down.  If the picture wasn't so shadowed, you could probably tell that the bird nest is being built right outside our back door!  She's picked a good spot, right up under the roof so it's protected from rain and would be hard for a predator to get up there.  We're not going to stop using the back yard, but we are going to give her as much room as we possibly can.  The dogs big yard time is going to be curtailed for a while, at least once the eggs appear.  (I'm partially reflected in the glass on the back door with the camera in front of my face).

This is Maggie about to make a discovery of her own.  That's a cactus she's sniffing!  She didn't actually come into contact with it, but her little nose was close.  Otter thought that she was going to have to pull cactus spikes out of her dog's nose, but the beagle seemed to figure out quickly that she needed to leave it alone.  She might have actually touched it just enough to know that it was going to bite her and then she left it alone.

It was so nice yesterday that I moved all of our cactus plants out to the deck.  I'm probably going to leave them out now, unless I know we're going to get a lot of rain.  The one that Maggie Moo was investigating is one that we got last spring at a cactus show.  I can't remember the name of it, but the spines are the prettiest pink/lavender color.  It's planted in a cast-iron cooking pot that I found at a thrift store for next to nothing last summer.  I think it might have cost me around $3.00, and it also has the lid.  It worked great for a cactus.  The cactus planters will eventually get moved to the rock garden.

Quite a few of Otter's tulips are now up.  I forgot to get a picture when I had her camera earlier.  She's gone to the movies with a friend, and she keeps her camera in her purse so it's not here.  But the tulips look really good.  The movie she's at is The Hunger Games.  She's read the books and enjoyed them, although she said that the ending was not very good.

My allergies are starting to ramp up.  Early, but not unexpected given the weather we've had.  I don't particularly like having allergies, but I do so I have to deal with them.  Otter said that hers are starting to bother her as well, and Bill's been sniffly the last couple of days.

It's also supposed to be a bad year for ticks and fleas.  The dogsters will probably go see the vet in the near future, Maggie will need her routine butt squash next month.  I'll probably start the frontline soon, although I usually don't buy it at the vet's office because it's about 1/3 less at another place.  Frasier is probably going to get a good brushing out soon, he's very fluffy and he's also shedding.  He gets regular brushings during warm weather, and he seems to really enjoy it.  Maggie usually gets one too, although she's smooth coated so it's just affection for her.  I have noticed that the birds also seem to like it when the dog gets brushed; Frasier fur was part of some of the bird nests we had last year.

Tomorrow, I'm ordering a birthday cake!

Rainy Thursday Stuff

Well, you can probably tell by the title that it rained today.  No surprise there, I think it's rained every day this week.  We might get a rain-free day tomorrow, then the weekend should be nice.  By nice, I mean back in the 70's and not in the 50/60 range that we've had for the first week of Spring.  And dry, no rain in sight for a few days.  The usual weather pattern has been that it stops raining when I am inside, either at home or at work.  But the minute I step outside, the skies open up again.  That pattern held true today, especially when Otter and I hit the grocery store!  The store we prefer has drive-up service, they have a covered area and will bring the groceries there for the shoppers and then load them into the car.  We don't usually do the drive-up, but we did today because it was raining.  We managed to get it all out of the car and into the house in record time, too.  Of course, it quit raining as soon as we got it all inside...

Froggy asked about Otter's job opportunities with an English degree.  Instead of answering with a comment, I thought it would be easier to just answer her here.  Among other things, and English degree is very helpful for any type of journalism field, as well as writing (as in being an author, something else that Otter probably has in her future no matter where she ends up).  Her plan will still be to become a librarian, she just would have to go about it as a "going back to school" situation after (hopefully) getting a job in a library system.  It's fairly common to do that, based on what I've been told by many of the local librarians.  Especially with the fact that there really is only one school in this state that offers the actual Librarian degree program.  And we've already discussed why that is not an option for us.

OK, Froggy said that I can tell her news, so here goes:  She's moving to Austin!  Crazy Uncle took a job in Austin, it was a contract job for 6 months but it turned into an offer of a permanent job with a very well-known company and it's a very good job.  They have a spectacular relocation program, among other benefits.  So, he's working in Austin and living in temporary housing but Froggy was staying in SA because they have a house there and didn't want to do anything permanent until they knew for sure that Crazy Uncle had a secure job.  Which is what happened.  It's happening fast, and there is a lot happening.  Froggy has her hands more than full, but I think it's going to work out great for them - provided that Froggy doesn't work herself into exhaustion with all the details she has to attend to!  They will be putting their home in SA on the market, sometime in the near future but not yet obviously.  After they get moved, all of "my" side of the family will be gone from SA.  That is going to be kind of strange.

Obviously, "we" will still have family there but "I" won't.  If you know what I mean!

Otter Asthma Update and Other Stuff. But Mostly Otter Stuff.

Otter had her annual lung/asthma recheck today.  She came through with flying colors, and a very impressed doctor.  He made a change in her rescue inhaler, the one she's been on is now available generic so he changed her to that.  Her daily inhaler is the same, she still has to take 2 puffs daily which she does after breakfast - she keeps it by the vitamins so that she will remember it.  She used to keep it in her bathroom, but she would forget it most days so it got moved to the kitchen table a couple of years back and it works great.  She goes back in one year.  Incidentally, she's 5' 4".  I think she was 5' 3" this time last year.  She's probably as tall as she's going to get now.

She's right in with the rest of the family as far as her height goes.  Bill is the tall one in his family, but the rest of his family are shorter for the most part.  My mom was 5' 7" if she stretched, but Dad was around 6'.  Dad's Dad was very tall, but I'm not sure exactly how tall he was.  But I'm 5' 9", Froggy is 5' 10" and Toadles is probably right around the same height as Froggy although he might be a touch taller.

I took Otter by the office after the doctor visit, so my older boss (the 95 year old teenager!) could see her.  He was not happy when I didn't bring her back after lunch, but he forgave me!  I took her to Cici's pizza and we had a nice lunch, although they were very crowded.  Then she spent the afternoon at the library.  She didn't get her weight in books, but she did find several.

Otter's rethinking her college plans a bit.  She still wants to be a librarian, but it turns out that the school she was probably planning to go to does not have an accredited program after all.  Even though they said they did!  What they do have is an accredited program for a school librarian degree, which requires a teaching degree first.  There is another school that she would consider, but it doesn't have the degree program either.  Which is kind of a problem, because the only one in the state that does have it is that particular school that no self-respecting TEXAN would ever even consider for any reason whatsoever.  Although we did tell Otter that if that was what she chose, we'd make it work - although it would be a very difficult situation because frankly we are not impressed with that school's librarian degree program.  Otter pretty much said that she wouldn't go there if it was the last place on earth, so that is not even on the radar.  Which doesn't upset us one bit!  (For the record, No the Longhorn emblems would not come off of the cars and Otter wouldn't let us take them off even if we wanted to!  Not that we would want to.  Although it would make for some interesting parent visits!)

However, she's been thinking about something for a while (before we found out about the degree program issue) and she thinks that maybe this is the indicator that she needs to change her mind and go for a general English degree.  With an English degree, she still has working in a library open to her and quite a few certified, degreed librarians started out with the English degree and then went back to complete the master's program to become certified librarians.  I think she wasn't really sure about a 5-year program and then having a specific degree in case it turned out that she didn't like being a librarian, it's not a degree that would work for too many other fields.  With the English degree, there would be other areas she could go into, if she decided that working in a library wasn't what she wanted - although I don't see that happening!  If she decides that she is changing., then the school she originally wanted to go to in 1 1/2 years is now back on the playing field.  She's still thinking, but I expect her to make the switch.  It won't affect her classes/college at this point, she would still be starting out at the college she's at now no matter what field she chose and the general classes she's taking would still work either way.  We did tell her that we'd support whatever decision she makes, but that this is one she has to make although we will help/advise her as much as we can and when she needs it.  It's not the first "adult" decision she's faced, but this is a big one.

We have faith in her.  She'll make the right decision for her future and then she'll do what she needs to do to ensure that she's able to reach her goals.

(Froggy, can I talk about your big news and your upcoming ch-ch-changes, yet?)

Um, It's the first day of Spring?

OK, I guess so.  But it's been cool today, and very wet.  The very wet part of the equation actually started yesterday, and we've had records rains.  I'm not sure what the rainfall total is but there was a lot of water that came down.

I had to drive home in it yesterday, while I've driven in worse storms I can honestly say that it wasn't fun!  Mostly, because I got soaked getting back in the car from my one fast errand on the way home.  Umbrellas are great, but getting back in the car with rain coming at you in 3 directions at once makes it impossible to stay dry even with an umbrella.  And then getting the umbrella folded up and back in the car is also impossible to do without getting lots and lots of water inside the car (and on me) as well.

Wonder What Dad Would Say To This?

Froggy had a taste of our type of spring weather last night.  She is in SA but she was in the firing line of the tornadic storms mentioned in the link above.  Neither one of us can even begin to imagine what Dad would have said, but it's possible that he would have changed the subject and refused to discuss it - tornados were always his main talking point in trying to get me/us to move back Home.  But seriously, the storms in S. Texas were bad but could have been so much worse.

On this first day of spring, the Tulsa area had a rattling experience.  But it wasn't an earthquake!  Around 3:15 or so this morning, there was a very long thunder roll that apparently shook enough houses and windows that most people thought it was an earthquake.  We slept through it, but 99.9% of the rest of the people that live in this area were awakened.  Apparently, it was what is called a Super Strike.  The lightning wasn't extremely bad and the thunder wasn't as loud as it sometimes gets, but it was long and intense.  Or so we've been told, since none of us were awake!

Otter's annual lung recheck is tomorrow.  I'm going to take her to lunch after her doctor's appointment.  She wants pizza, so I think we're going to Cici's.  I don't expect her to have anything but a good report tomorrow.  Except for the flare caused by the flu, she's had very little asthma to deal with in many months.  In fact, when she has allergies now, she almost never has an asthma spell.

Wish I could be so lucky!

Sunday Seasons

The seasons are changing around here.  Well, actually it never really was winter except on the calendar!  It's not officially spring for a few more days yet, but spring has already sprung in the NE corner of OK.  The birds are out and about, and they seem to be looking for nesting material.  Most things are already blooming, including my redbud tree, Otter's tulips, just about everything that we are allergic to and the bluebonnet in the whiskey barrel has a bud.

I changed out our bedding a couple of weeks ago, the camo quilt Bill made is now back in the chest where all the other blankets are and the colorful quilt Bill made is back on the bed.  I turned off the humidifier last week and put it away, and we started using the fans in the bedroom Friday night.  Otter put her comforter bedspread in the laundry room while ago, she's now using the lighter quilt that I made for her (over a period of many years).  Bill's had to mow twice already.

Which is why he's in trouble today, because he promised me that he did NOT need to to point out any of the wild/surprise bluebonnets that sprung up.  Guess what he mowed over?  He is denying responsibility, but it wasn't his evil twin!

We've also had the air conditioner on, Bill turned it on a couple of days ago.  It's not particularly warm, but my asthma triggers easily this time of year and cool air helps.

Otter's on Spring Break this coming week.  Her plans including sleeping as late as she can, watching as much tv as she can and eating as much junk food as she can.  Sounds like a good plan, actually.  Although I'd probably change the junk food part of it to chocolate!  She also is going to the doctor this week, for her annual lung recheck.  When I made the appointment, I mentioned the flu and the clerk told me to make sure we tell the technician that will do the pulmonary function test.  Even though it's been two weeks, it could still affect the way Otter breathes and the p.f. test can be hard on the lungs on a good day.

My dishwasher decided that it'd had enough, one day last week.  It had been going out for a while, frankly I was surprised it lasted as long as it did.  It had a few years of use before it became ours when we bought the house, and we used it a LOT.  I'm not in a hurry to replace it.  I will probably eventually, just not yet.  A lot of it depends on my skin.  My skin used to be pretty bad in terms of sensitivity and allergies, so a dishwasher was actually a medical necessity for me.  But it's been a lot better the last few years, so I'm not going to run out and buy a new dishwasher immediately.  The last one we bought was for the rent house while we were still living there, and it was actually the 2nd one we'd had to buy for that house.

It's cloudy and windy today.  Otter came in from her outside chore (cleaning up the things the dogs leave in their yard) and she commented that it was time to weigh the beagle down, because the wind was so strong.  We could get rain, possibly starting tonight, and lasting over the next couple of days.  If I get around to it, and it's a maybe, I might get the rake/hoe and see about the area in front that I might make into a raised flower bed.  I'm not sure about the raised part, but at least a bed of some sort.  It's right in front of the windows and is a low-light area.  I planted hostas there a few years back and they were doing great, spreading out like they do and looked wonderful.  Until last year's extreme heat and dryness.  It takes a lot to kill hosta plants, but they don't seen to be coming back this year.  I'm thinking that I'm going to level off the area a little bit and then see what I come up with.  I'm thinking of some type of edge barrier, but I haven't figured out what I want yet.  It needs to look good with the sandstone the house is made from.  I'm also going to hit the area heavily with the orange cleaner Otter and I got at the dollar store while ago.  The neighbor across the street from us has cats, and they seem to think that right outside of Otter's window is a good place to be their litter box.  Orange spray does work, we just haven't put it out lately and the cats seem to be coming back.  I might not actually get anything planted out there this year, I haven't found anything that I like that will work in a low light area.  I love hostas, but I'm not sure if I want to put them out there again or go with something else.

Froggy, I can't believe you almost forgot about the rocks!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Hope you are all wearing your green!

Texas-isms

(Reminder:  We TEXANS have our own language.  Some of the words we use are words that are fairly common, but they might have a meaning to us that is different from the "rest of the world.")

I was blog surfing today, and someone mentioned her husband being in "hog heaven" over something.  The fun part?  Reading her next sentence.  It was directed at non-TEXANS and referenced our own language.  It got me to thinking about just how many phrases and words we use in our own way.  We always understand each other, even when the rest of the world doesn't have a clue what we are talking about.  And that is just fine with us.

(By the way, Hog Heaven means that you are extremely happy.)

Some of our words are shared, such as "y'all" which is common throughout the south**.  But very, very few non-TEXANS are brave (or stupid/misguided) enough to use "fixin" (with or without the s on the end) and when they do use it, they generally get it wrong.  It's funny to hear non-TEXANS attempting to speak our language, especially when they are obviously trying to pretend to be one of us (they usually fail miserably).  It's always easy to spot them, as they frequently attempt to use the accent - which just doesn't work if you aren't born to it!  Also, there is no single TEXAS accent - the TEXAN accents are regional.  And there is a lot of region to TEXAS!  The different accents have some similarities to each other.  Not that I think we really have one anyway, it's the rest of the world that sounds funny!

Just what's on my mind today.

**Just because TEXAS is part of the southern half of the US, we don't really consider ourselves to be "southern."  There are a lot of similarities, especially between TEXAN women and southern ones, but we really are not "southern."  However, we do have a lot in common and a lot of admiration for certain aspects of the south and southern culture.  We just aren't part of that, is all.  They are as unique in their own way as we are.

How in the World

Did all this dog fur get on my desk?  And why are there paw prints all over the keyboard?  And what looks like dog nose prints on the monitor?

Barooooooooooooooooo!

Hi! Hi! Hi!

It's meeeee, Maggieeeee.  I gots to talk to youse.

The dday beforre todday was our beffday.  We didn't knowed it was our beffday until our peoples tolds us.  Wee gott treeats!  They were goooodd treeats.  We're goooodd doggiees.

But my momm playeded a trick on me.  I hadda get a baff!  I didn't wanted a baff.  But my mommm and Frasier's momm saided that I smelleded.  I likeded the way I smelleded.  But they put me in the water place and gotted me all wett.  I didn't likeded itt.  My mommm made me all dried and fluffied.  Then I got to runn and play and Frasier playded wiff me.  Thenn hee groooomeded mee.

Then momm's momm who is also big brudder Frasier's momm gave us the treeats.  They were gooooodd treeats.  We're goooooddd doggieees.

Wee like beffdays.  But I don't likeded baffs.

Birthdays and Beffdays

Today's March 12.  It would have been Mom's 88th birthday.  I didn't make a peach cobbler, but I did think about her all day long.

Because Mom loved animals so much, we decided that the dog's "beffday" would be today.  (We don't have dog parties, it's just a fun way to remember Mom).

She also loved babies.  I don't think that there was ever a baby she was able to walk by, without stopping to hold it.

The dogs?  Well, they got treats.  They got a particular type of dental chew bone that we get them sometimes.  And a couple of pieces of uncooked spaghetti.  And Maggie got a bath!

Maggie would probably have preferred not to get a birthday bath, but she was kind of smelly.  Now, she's a clean dog.  She was also a crazy dog, after the bath.  Frasier was not as playful, but he did look amused as he watched her zoom around and around and around and around...  When he got tired of her craziness, he started grooming her.  Which caused her to immediately fall over in the floor and not move until he was through.

And the entire time, I was thinking about how both of my parents would have been laughing at the crazy dogs.

Sunday Shaves

There is a strange man in my house.

He sounds like Bill and he's about the same size.  He looks the same from the nose up.  But the lower half of his face looks totally different.

There is also a pile of fluffy hair in the bathroom trash can.  Lots of grey!

I wonder if there's a connection between the two?

Time change today.  I guess we all know my opinion already, but this about sums it up:

It's raining today.  It was actually supposed to start yesterday, but yesterday was dry.  It was a little breezy, but not a bad day.  But we woke up to rain this morning.  Just hard enough to be messy and to mess up my outside plans, which included some work on the spot in front where I'd like to make a raised bed.  Bill (or whomever he is!) was going to mow the back yard this morning, but that's been put off as well.  So's the beagle wash, most likely.  That won't wait too much longer, dog needs a bath!

Otter seemed to be recovering from the flu, but she's not feeling the best this morning.  I think she's mostly having allergy issues today, but coming right on the heels of the flu & asthma spell is not good.  She had a few issues yesterday as well.  Not bad, but just not good either.

I did manage to get some crochet in yesterday.  It was wonderful!  I did a couple of rows on the scarf-turned-lap-blanket.  And now, my elbow hurts.  The other elbow!  It's been bothering me a bit, since I've been using my left arm instead of my right arm and I'm not surprised.  But that is the nature of tendonitis.  It's better, just still has a little more time to go.  My left arm was bothering me before I picked up the yarn and hook, but I think it probably did aggravate it.  Which was not unexpected.

I have a few projects to work on today, there are a couple of things that I need/want to to do that are indoor projects.  For one, I need to clean out all my craft paint.  Since I've pretty much quit crafts that involve paint (because I've done just about all of them by now), I really don't need much (if any) acrylic paint.  I'm going to go through what I have and see if I want to keep any of it, or if Otter has a use for it.  But considering that most of it is probably dried up, I'm thinking that it's mostly going to be trashed.  Most of the bottles were nearly empty anyway, the last time I was into any of it.  So, if they do get tossed I'm not really wasting paint.  I can also use the room on my shelf.

Wow, the sun just came out!  Guess we'd better enjoy it while it lasts, because I think we're probably going to be rained on all day.

Pond Water and Honeysuckle

I got sprayed with the first and transplanted the second!

We have an indoor atrium/garden area at work.  It's really nice, it's full of plants and I have made it my job to care for it.  Translation:  I don't let the boys near it because one waters everything until it floats and the other one just doesn't know anything about plants but thinks he knows everything!

Anyway.  There is also a pond with a fountain in the atrium.  We had several power fluctations yesterday, due to the extremely high wind.  The fountain was a victim of a power surge.  Younger boss (the one who thinks he's an expert) found an older fountain piece that came from who knows where, and he put it in the pond today.  Then he left for lunch and I got to deal with the now-working-but-not-working-right fountain.  After getting sprayed numerous times, I finally turned the beastie off and left it for younger boss to deal with.  But I had to deal with the aroma of pond water all afternoon and couldn't get home fast enough.  My jeans are now in the dryer, they were in the washer about .03 seconds after I came in the door - carrying the multiple bags of groceries that I bought on the way home because I'm apparently a glutton for punishment.

Bill built a trellis for Otter a few years ago.  It's between the deck and the rock garden, in the back yard.  Otter has had black-eyed Susans and morning glories there for most of the time.  The last couple of years have not been good ones for morning glories.  Bill wanted to plant honeysuckle there.  So I clipped a few pieces off of the honeysuckle that is growing on the fence between our yard and the (nice) neighbor last summer.  Only one strand survived my attempt to root it over the Fall and being transplanted to a pot and dirt sometime in the "winter" we just had.  It was as ready as it was going to be, for transplanting.  So, since it's (maybe, possibly) going to rain tonight, the honeysuckle got transplanted to the trellis when I got home.  OK, so the jeans didn't get into the washer until .03 seconds after the planting of the honeysuckle.

Otter hopes that the honeysuckle dies.  She wants her morning glories and I have to admit that I'm on her side on this one.  I love honeysuckle, but it usually brings bees and I don't want them right outside my back door.  We'll just have to watch it and see what happens.  Honeysuckle is very hard to kill, but so are morning glories and there was a high mortality rate at the trellis last year.

(No, we are not going to sabotage the honeysuckle).

Otter's a lot better.  I picked her up at school after her classes today and brought her home.  She was pretty tired, as expected.  She spent most of the afternoon being lazy on the couch.  Which is what she was supposed to do.  I think she also had a dog or two keeping her company.  She's still having asthma issues, but that's normal and will probably last a little while.  She is supposed to go to a party Saturday evening, so she's really hoping that the asthma will go back to sleep before then so that she won't have to deal with it while at the party.

Bill didn't see the dentist today.  The dentist herself came down with the flu and her appointments for the next several days have had to be cancelled/rescheduled.  He now goes for two of the three remaining fillings at the end of the month.  While he's not happy that she's sick, I don't think he was too upset about not having to get his teeth drilled on today.  Not that I blame him!

Also, Otter and I have rescheduled the beagle wash for Sunday.  And it just might include a certain coyote we know!  He'll be so pleased (not!).

Only Tuesday?

It feels like it should be at least Thursday.  Maybe even Friday.  Not only Tuesday.

I didn't forget about Texas Independence!  I knew I wouldn't have enough time on Friday.  I had planned on something Sunday.  But the weekend got kind of derailed, and I just never quite got there.  It wasn't the weekend we had planned, obviously!

But, while I'm on the subject, Texas:  Always on my mind, like the song says.  Texas is and always will be a part of us.  We take Texas with us wherever we go.

Otter's better, she stayed home today and because she was still having asthma symptoms Bill stayed home with her.  She's still having some asthma symptoms, but she's shown a lot of improvement today.  She had some real problems last night.  Otter is a redhead and is very much her mother's daughter, so she had a nosebleed.  It wasn't a horribly big one, but it was big enough.  She was very stuffy afterwards, so she used Vick's and took an allergy pill.  Along with having to use her rescue inhaler several times yesterday.  She also had a steam treatment at one point yesterday evening.  She's still somewhat stuffy and her voice is a little rough, but she's over the bulk of the flu symptoms.  The asthma could last for a couple of days still.  She's planning on going to classes tomorrow, and I'll get her at my lunch hour and bring her home for the afternoon.

I voted this afternoon.  I didn't think I'd have enough time this morning, so I waited until after work.  But considering that I was only # 149 at nearly 4:00, I probably wouldn't have had to deal with much of a line.  And yes, I did vote for Santorum.

It's really windy today.  This time of year in this part of the country, wind is a normal occurance.  But it's really strong today, probably a lot stronger than normal.  Driving was an adventure today!  I literally nearly got blown off my feet when I was walking to the door of the polling place.

It's also very dry and dusty, which is not helping anything.  Bill thinks that he could probably make a sail for the beagle, but I don't think she'd even need that.  Not with those ears!

Frasier would probably just stand and watch her, and wave at her as she sailed away!

Spring Monday

It feels like Spring today.  Nice, a little cool, sunny and just pleasant.  Birdies are chirping all over the place!  And they are also looking for nesting material, judging by the activity I've seen in the back yard.  Well, they have plenty of yarn to choose from.

Otter's still "flu-ing" but she is better.  She hasn't had measurable fever since sometime this morning.  She's feeling a little better, but still not feeling good.  However, she's at least able to keep food down now.  But she's in the midst of a flu-induced asthma attack, which is what we were expecting but hoping wouldn't happen.  Because of the asthma, Bill wanted me to stay home with her today and he's going to be home with her tomorrow.  By Wednesday, I'm hoping that she'll be able to go back to classes.  If she does go, her classes are only in the morning and I'll go get her when they are over to bring her home, I can schedule my lunch hour for pretty much whenever I want.  She's spent most of the day in bed or on the couch, just resting and dozing.  She had a long shower, the steam helped her breathing.  I also made chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, which is always good.

I had a lot of help making the soup.  Help in the form of a beagle!  At one point, Maggie Moo scooted her food bowl out of the way and parked herself in it's place.  After being ignored for a few minutes, she decided to lay down and wag her tail so that it kept hitting the cabinet doors.  Sounded like a drum in there for a while.  Frasier was mostly outside, he did come running in when he heard the sound of something hitting his food bowl.

Dogs got their priorities, I guess.

Sunday Potato Soup

Always good for what ails you!

Also, what we had for lunch today and will probably also have for supper.  It's the first real food Otter's had since Friday night.  She said it was very good.  She's also had plenty of water and sprite, as well as some of the bread I made yesterday.

Otter's still sick, obviously.  But she's doing much better.  She had 100 degrees temperature this morning but she's now back to normal.  She still feels cruddy, she's coughing & sneezing and still has asthma issues.  But the fever is gone and she isn't complaining about that.  She's in her bed at the moment, with her laptop open and I think she's working on her research paper that has to be emailed to the teacher today.  This particular teacher always has them email their stuff in on Sundays.

After the potato soup, Bill spent about an hour unclogging the kitchen sink.  He thinks that I didn't use enough water when I ran the disposal to get rid of the potato peelings.  He got it unclogged, but it took a lot of work.  We have not had any problems with the disposal, but it is the one that was here when we moved in.  Which has been over 6 years, so it's had a lot of use.

It's a really nice day today.  It's cool but not overly so, and it's sunny.  I might have to get out in the back yard and play with the dogs.  We were going to have a beagle wash, but that's been put off until I have help.  Dog's like a greased pig when she's wet!

It Wasn't Exactly the Sabbath Saturday We Had Planned

Today started early.  Normally, we sleep in a little bit on Saturdays.  Not late, because the dogs will start making noise to be fed but usually one of us at least gets to sleep in until at least 6:00 or 6:30.  Usually, the one that gets up (usually Bill) will feed the dogs and frequently come back to bed for an hour or so.  Today, Bill actually got up way earlier than normal because he couldn't sleep.

Which means that he was up at 5:30, when Otter vaulted out of bed and to the bathroom.  Where she threw up.  He came and got me at that point, because a) he's a sympathy puker especially if he smells anything and b) there are times when you just need your mom!  I could tell she was probably feverish, and she went back to bed soon.  I took her temperature a little later, and she was about 101.  She had tylenol at 10:30 and went back to sleep.  I took her temperature a couple of times, and it got up to over 102.  That was after she'd had a shower which usually helps.  Which is when we decided it was time to see the doctor.  Since it's Saturday, we went to the walk-in clinic we sometimes use.  Being a Saturday, they had a few people waiting but we really didn't have to wait very long.

As a precaution, they did a flu test.  I mentioned that we'd had the flu shots, but apparently a lot of people who also got the shots are getting the flu.  Including Otter!

She is taking tamilfu, which she has taken before but it didn't really work then.  Of course, she'd had the flu nearly a week before we realized it and tamiflu really should be started within 24 hours of the flu coming on.  When she had it before, we'd also had the flu shots but that was the year that the Tulsa health department improperly stored the serum and just about everybody got sick.  At that time, Otter's symptoms never really matched the normal flu symptoms, and even the doctor was surprised at the positive test.  Today, I really wasn't surprised given the fever and the way it was coming on and not really responding to the tylenol.  She has had some body aches as well, but she was thinking it was because she'd slept in one position for several hours.

She's going to be home at least through Monday.  Maybe Tuesday, but that depends on the fever.  Because she has asthma and the flu generally does affect it, I'm going to stay home with her on Monday.  If she's home on Tuesday, Bill will be with her.  She will email her teachers tomorrow and make arrangement for any assignments, notes, etc. that she'll need to get.

We aren't even going to attempt to go to church tomorrow, or probably not anywhere else beyond returning the movie I rented yesterday.  I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that what Bill and I have also been fighting is in fact allergies and not the flu.

Happy Seuss Day!

Hats off to one of our absolute, all-time, forever favorites!

This & That Thursday

This is my Presidential candidate:

The One I'm Voting For

We don't really expect Santorum to make it all the way, but we are hoping that he will.  We are not comfortable with Romney's record, he's not really Pro-Life although he claims to be.  We don't like Ron Paul at all, he's an isolationist and anti-Israel.  I'm not sure if he's pro-death or Pro-Life, but we don't like most of his other stands on things so it is kind of a moot point.  Gingrich has the potential to be a good President, but we don't think he's got enough of a following to become the Republican candidate.

We feel, and Bill said this months ago - and I've heard Gigrich say this as well as Rush Limbaugh and a couple of others, that the liberals want Romney to be the candidate because they know he's probably too divisive to actually beat obama.  (No respect = no capital letters).  Each time there has been a viable, strong, conservative candidate who really could win - he's attacked in the press and the feeding frenzy starts.  Cain wasn't the first one, but he was probably the one who was attacked the strongest - after all, if he were the candidate then there's no way that the liberals could claim racism.  Which they have done and will continue to do, especially if their chosen one doesn't get re-elected. We would have voted for Herman Cain, if we'd had the opportunity.  Gingrich has said that he will not drop out, he's in it until the end even though the liberal forces are marshaled against him.  Santorum is currently being attacked, the ads are really ramping up and I expect them to continue.

We're part of Super Tuesday, although Oklahoma is not an open primary state.  Which means that if you aren't registerd with a party, you don't get to vote in the primary.  We don't agree with that, but it's the way it is.  So, I'm the only one who can actually vote next week.  That's also the only reason I am registered as a Republican.  We are all extremely conservative, and our voting reflects that, but none of us like to be labeled to a particular party.