Just Wednesday Stuff

Read this fantastic article that brings joy to TEXANS everywhere:

New Arrivals!

(By the way, real TEXANS do not call them horned lizards.  We know what they are really called.)

I found my WIP scrap blanket that I started months ago.  I put it aside because I am using end pieces of yarn and I ran out.  But I've acquired more as I finish projects, if there isn't much yarn left it gets tossed into the tote bag holding the blanket and then it will get crocheted on to the blanket.  I have several small yarn balls now, and I've been working on the blanket here and there as I get projects done.

This is so me.  The reason I dragged out the WIP scrap blanket is because I was taking a break on a cap I was making for Otter!

Froggy, this is just for you!

Way Too Early

Guess what time it is?

Its ragweed season!

It's early, but it's already started.  It usually hits in August, but it's already started to bloom here.  Thanks to the rainy, cool spring and then the rainy early summer.  I've been dealing with my summer allergies for a few days now, and I am NOT looking forward to the rest of the summer allergy season.  I think Otter is beginning to have her summer allergies, too.  I asked her if she needed anything from the store and she said one word:  CLARITAN.  At least she has an allergy medicine that works for her, unlike me.  My issues with allergy meds not working is very probably part of the Redhead Curse - the metabolism of medication part of it.

Sigh.

I know it's early, but I'm beginning to see reminders about flu shots.  I don't think anyone has the serum yet, but I generally get mine on Labor Day weekend.  Because I have a 3-day weekend and sometimes the reaction I have takes me all weekend to get over.  The reaction could also be part of the Redhead Curse, but it may not be.  A few years ago, some places started offering the shots in August and I got one the first year they offered it so early.  But then I went back to my Labor Day weekend schedule because that particular year was a bad reaction and it took me the weekend plus a couple of days.  I'll have to check with Otter and see if she wants to get hers when I do.  It may depend on her work schedule.  She does have a reaction, but it's usually pretty mild.  Although sometimes it isn't mild, but she has only had one time when it was a really bad reaction - the year that the Tulsa Health Department froze the serum and then it thawed out and they didn't know it; the upshot was that the serum was essentially worthless that year and just about everybody got the flu.  Including Otter and then me shortly after!

(Yes, I'm still getting ice cream as my after-flu-shot treat!)

Oklahoma rattled yesterday.  More than once.  Tulsa felt two of the earthquakes.  I was at work (in Tulsa) and did not feel the first one, but I did feel the second one.  I was sitting at my desk and I heard what sounded like the ceiling lights rattle, and then I realized that I felt something move slightly under my feet.  Otter was at our house (not in Tulsa) doing her laundry.  She was sitting on the couch when she realized that the couch was moving.  She called me, she sounded very surprised.  The first one was 4.0, it was as 12:49 p.m.  The 2nd one was 4.5, it hit about 1:15.  They were both centered in the Crescent, which is near Oklahoma City.  We didn't feel the first one, but it was felt in parts of Tulsa.  The 2nd one was felt in most parts of Tulsa, and quite a bit further.  Missouri and Kansas felt it and it was recorded on a sensor in Georgia.  Although we just felt it for a few seconds, it lasted several seconds.  Like Otter says, this is tornado alley - we aren't supposed to have earthquakes!  By the way, the beagle slept through both of them.  :)

So, Froggy.  Got any plans for tomorrow?  Like maybe a birthday cake?  Although I don't know what kind you could come up with, since you don't eat sugar and are mostly vegetarian.  Happy Birthday a day early!

It's Just Sunday and I Don't Know What To Call This

I'm tired, so forgive me if I ramble.  I probably will.

We picked up the remaining 6 pachinko machines today.  The one Bill got yesterday actually was a more rare machine, so he gave the seller a little more than he asked for.  He got a good price on them, fair for the seller and for Bill.  But he's out of room for more of them.  Which won't stop him if he/we/I/Otter come across another machine - kind of have to get them when you can.

I did manage to get a little crochet done this weekend.  Maggie got a couple of walks in.  Bill got more machines.  All in all, it's been a pretty good weekend.  I just wish that it was longer.  Yes, I know I was off on Friday!  I'm just not in a hurry to go back to work tomorrow is all.

Otter's plans for her move are firmed up.  They are going to sign the new lease tomorrow and hopefully they will get to see the inside of the apartment so Roomie can figure out how she wants to arrange her bedroom.  They've seen the floor plan and I think Roomie has a general idea but she really needs to actually see the space to figure it out.  Otter is probably going to arrange hers like it is now in their smaller apartment.  Bill and I are going to see about taking Friday afternoon off.  Roomie is off work on Friday but Otter has to work until noon.  The plan is to get started moving Roomie's stuff and helping her get her bed set up while she's there because she has to work on Saturday.  After we get her situated and her bed put together, then we'll start moving the rest of their belongings.  We are going to get as much as possible done on Friday afternoon, but I won't be surprised if there is still stuff to be moved on Saturday.  Roomie has to work Saturday and Otter has to work the morning, but she'll be there around 10:00 or shortly afterwards.  I am probably going to start on the kitchen stuff or anything small that I can do myself and let Bill work on things like taking their beds apart; the kitchen is basically "take it out of one, walk across the hall and put it back in the same place in the new one" and hopefully that won't take too long.  Otter said that they've been packing already and I really think it is possible that we can get all or at least most of it moved on Friday.  Either way, Saturday is to finish up moving anything left and then the old apartment will need to be cleaned.  It's a lot of work, but not as much as when they moved in - for one thing, we don't have to spend time loading the trucks, driving there, unloading and carrying up 3 flights of stairs.  Even though it's going to be sweaty work, it will all be indoors and we won't have to be outside in the heat.  They will still need a couch of some type, I'm going to suggest they consider a futon or something like that.  But they'll figure that out later on.

I've been thinking about moving the rock garden.  Even though we put down several layers of thick plastic, it has had a lot of dirt blown in over the last couple of years - thanks to the builders behind us that left scraped dirt lots for weeks on end and it gets windy here.  Because of that, I am having to deal with pulling grass and weeds out of it on a fairly regular basis.  Sometimes I wonder why we even bothered to put the grass block down, since there has been enough dirt blown in to give the grass an easy way to still grow!  We've been looking around the house and we're probably going to move it to the front yard.  In front of the house, along the front and up against the house.  It will be long and narrow and I will probably have to get a lot more rocks.  It also might be something we do in stages.  I think I'm going to get bricks to give it a defined edge, I have sandstone on the edges now but I don't have that many and I don't want to buy more.  The sandstones I have now will be incorporated in it somewhere, along with most of my concrete animals and I'll probably put a few potted cactus plants in it but probably not the fountain/planter.  It will be underneath the overhang of the roof and slightly back from the edge.  It doesn't get enough light to actually plant most things, I did have hostas planted there and they looked really good.  They don't need as much light.  But then we had a really hot summer and it was very dry, and no matter how much I watered they just couldn't take the heat and I decide not to replant them.  It's basically just a dirt area where nothing will really grow well.  It's going to be a fairly big job and we'll wait until the Fall because it's just too hot right now.  I told Otter to ask J if he might want to help, and that I will pay him and also provide pizza.  (I think the picture above is from the original size, before we enlarged it.  It's from 2009.)

 OK, I'm tired and hungry. It's time for nachos!

Serendipitous Fleas

We ventured into Tulsa today.  Twice, actually.  The first time, we went to the Tulsa Flea Market and had a good time while we were there.  We found the movie guy and bought a few movies.  I saw a few Fenton pieces but I didn't buy any.  Bill saw one pachinko machine, but it was a modern and his machines are vintage.  But the seller said he does come across vintage machines sometimes, so Bill gave him one of our cards.  We went to a few other places after the flea market, then came home and just did stuff around the house.  Bill's cell phone was kind of going crazy today, he's had a lot of calls lately about pachinko repair jobs but then he got a call that was from the guy we gave the card to this morning.  Or that's what we thought, anyway.  He said he had several machines and that he wanted to sell them.  So, back into Tulsa for us!  Turns out, he was not the guy we gave the card to after all.  But he got the card from him.  He had mentioned to the man who had the modern machine that he had several vintage machines and wanted to sell them, and the seller gave him our card.  Bill almost didn't go with me to the flea market today, I think he's really glad he did!  The man had 7 machines and they are all vintage.  He and Bill came to an agreement on price, $40 each.  To prove that we will get the rest of the machines tomorrow (we were in my car), Bill bought one of them today and it turned out to have a couple of special features, so he thinks he should to give the seller another $10 for it tomorrow and then the rest will still be $40 each.  We can't get that many machines in my car, so after church we'll take the El Camino and get the rest of them.

I think I need to go buy more yarn now!  After all, Bill's stash has increased.  So, shouldn't mine?!

Otter's moving plans are firmed up.  They will go in to the apartment early in the week and sign the new lease.  They are going to move into the new apartment on Friday, but Otter has to work Friday morning.  I'm going to take off early, probably around noon, and head over to their apartment but I'm probably stopping to pick up a couple of pizzas first.  We will move as much as we possibly can on Friday afternoon, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it all moved then or not.  They will pay rent on the old apartment for one day, Saturday (the 1st) and then we'll get it finished up then.  They may pay for Sunday as well, because along with moving out of the old one and into the new one, the old one will need to be cleaned.  But I'm thinking that we can probably get it all done Friday and Saturday and finish cleaning on Saturday afternoon.  It won't be a lot of cleaning.  Vacuuming, the bathroom is small so it won't take too long to clean, the kitchen is probably the biggest but it won't be too much to clean either.  Once everything is actually moved, they can unpack, assemble, etc. as they have time.  The main thing is going to be getting everything across the hall and out of the way so we can clean the old apartment up.

Something tells me that today was a lot more fun than next Saturday is going to be!  :)

Just a Friday Off

I took the day off today.  Bill's not feeling too good and he is taking a sick leave day.  I took a vacation day.  He's been parked on his behind most of the day, with the exception of walking to the table for lunch but then he went back to his chair.  He's taking it easy, which is very rare!  But it's what he needs to do.

My plan was to have a relaxed day at home, but I never got to the grocery store this week and we were running out of lots of things.  So I went this morning.  It wasn't too bad, the store was just starting to get busy as I was checking out so I had good timing.  I did have a couple of other errands, one of them took me right past the post office so I stopped in to clear our box and I also checked Bill's UPS box since it was across the street from the grocery store.  I had a couple of things for Otter, so I went over to her apartment and we had a nice visit.  I also went to her store later on, after she had already started her work shift.  I used to have a set of pliers but they have run away somewhere.  I gave her 2 of them, but the rest of them have probably migrated to the pachinko work/junk/Bill's play room.  I bought a fairly large set this time and they are MINE this time.  I might mark the handles with a paint dot or something.

While I was in the grocery store, Otter called me to let me know that they are going to move to the 2-bedroom unit like they were talking about.  She went down to the apartment office and talked to the manager.  The unit right across the hall from their current apartment is a 2-bedroom and it is available.  The manager said that they can come in any time next week and sign the new lease, it will be another 1-year lease but the deposit from their current apartment will transfer with them.  She said that they can move a day or two before the first, she'll prorate the rent at the new one for them and that might be what they do.  Or, they can wait and move next Saturday, the first.  I think the plan is probably going to be moving on the first.  It will be easier in a lot of ways, for one thing nobody has to run up and down the stairs repeatedly and they don't have to worry about arranging trucks, etc.  However, it all still has to be moved and that means lots of lifting.  Bill's got, wal a dolly that we'll take with us. Otter will need some boxes but not as many as the first time.  She can pack dishes for example, then they can be unboxed and put up immediately which will then mean the box can be taken back to be refilled.  After they get moved, we'll take her the coffee table.  They will still need a couch or chairs for the living room, but they'll worry about that after they get everything else moved.  She'll get the rest of her craft and sewing stuff out of my house and to her apartment after the move as well.  The old apartment will still need to be cleaned after they are moved out.  They don't need to worry about cleaning the carpet at least.  She is actually taking the smaller of the 2 bedrooms, it has the larger closet.  The bedrooms are really not that much different in size but the closets are.

Maggie is spending her Friday afternoon under the futon.  She got her walk this morning and she was very interested in sniffing everything she could.  We took a slightly longer walk since I had the time.  She seemed to enjoy our route being varied.  I took the baby gate down from the door to the craft/guest/front/YARN room and let her have access.  She made a beeline to the futon, then she scooted underneath it and was probably asleep as soon as she got to the spot she wanted to be in.  She'll slither out a few hours from now, if it's like the last time I let her in there!

Crazy Week

I know, it's only Thursday.  The week isn't over yet.  But it has been crazy.

It was a little easier at work than last week, at least in terms of adjusting the the Teenager's absence.  There is so much to be done to take care of things like the banks, all the details to cancel his health insurance, making sure that Miss Dorothy is not lacking for anything, etc. and all the normal issues involved with the oil company.  It's a hard adjustment for Younger Boss because it was his father, after all.  We are finally beginning to be able to see daylight, but there are still a lot of little details.

Otter and Roomie talked to the management at their apartment complex.  The unit across the hall from them is a 2-bedroom like they thought, and it is available.  The manager said that the could transfer to it, but that they would need to let her know within a certain time frame.  I think that they are going to take it.  Otter called the manager today but she was not in.  She left a message that it was about the subject they'd been discussing and will talk to her tomorrow.  I'm not sure what the actual game plan will be as far as moving date.  She said that they could move before the first and that she would prorate the rent for them, but since the first is only a week away they might actually move at or right before the first.  The rent is not that much more than what they are paying now for a 1-bedroom unit.  They will each have a bedroom with a closet, as it is now they share the closet but it's pretty big.  But Roomie will have her own room with a door she can shut when she wants to, and they will have an actual living room since it won't be doubling as a bedroom.  Otter wants our coffee table since we don't want it.  They will have to figure out what they want to do as far as seating, they might see about a couch or they might decide to go with a couple of chairs.  They'll figure it out.  We just have to show up at the appointed time and play pack mules!

That's the exciting news for the week!

Are We Really Surprised?

Because nobody should be.

Not Surprised At All!!!!!

Adjusting Monday

It was odd at work today.  Younger Boss got there before I did, and he was attempting to go through all his mail, etc., from last week.  Around 10:45 or so, we both realized that we were waiting for the phone to ring and it be the Teenager on the other end to let us know he was ready to come in.  Younger Boss's son had lunch with him today, which was nice.  When Younger Boss came back from lunch, I found myself waiting for the Teenager to come in after him.

It was that way all day.  I guess it will be for a while.

Younger Boss found a really nice portrait of the Teenager which we put in his office.  We aren't making any changes to his office, at least not for a long while. Maybe not ever, actually.

The phone is still ringing fairly constantly with condolence calls.  Cards are starting to arrive in the mail and most of them have notes about funny stuff the Teenager did.  Such as walking into an acquaintance's office during a meeting - while wearing a turban and pretending to be a sultan.  Which was greeted with lots and lots of laughter.  That's the kind of crazy stuff he did.  He was very charming and truly joy-filled.

I had to take some stuff to Otter after work today.  She showed me some of the pictures they took at TNT over the weekend.  They had a lot of fun.  They were all exhausted, but they are already planning next year's cosplay.  She says that it will probably be something without makeup.  Even though she uses good-quality makeup, her skin reacts to it and she is lucky to be able to wear it for 4 or 5 hours.  She took it off about half way through Saturday, some of their friends had a room in the hotel that hosted TNT and they gave her their room key so she could go take a shower and get all the makeup off, but even with that she has some zits breaking out.  She has very good skin, it's just extremely sensitive to things.  She gets that from me.  But other than that, she really enjoyed herself.  She wore some of her Lolita style dresses on Friday and Sunday.  She wore one of her wigs on Sunday, the white/blonde one and it looked really cute on her.

We had a little rain this afternoon.  When I was on the way to Otter's apartment, it looked really bad with lots of strong lightning.  It was moving fairly quickly and not tornadic, but the clouds were dark and heavy.  It skirted by where she lives, it went between there and our house.  The area it covered got a lot of rain in a short period of time, but we didn't get too much.  We got some rain, which is good.  Just not a lot of it.  It could be rainy the next couple of days.

Maggie is snoozing, she's curled up in her bed and I think she might have hiccups.  She's so silly, but she's such a sweet little fluffbutt.  Beagles are a lot of fun.

There was more, but I'm tired.

Unplanned Day Off

The biggest thing I've done on my unplanned day off is to take Magginator to the vet for her "rear alignment" also known as getting her rear glands cleaned out, and we also got her claws trimmed while we were there.  She weighs 26.6 pounds which is the same as 2 months ago.  She was somewhat impacted but not as bad as when we took her in every 3 months.  At this point, we'll stick with every 2 months.  The vet tech said she's gone one dog that comes in every 3 to 4 weeks and needs it badly, so I won't complain that we have to take her in every 2 months.  She was funny - she was happy to get in the car, but she wilted as soon as we turned into the parking lot.  She got out of the car easily, but she was not too thrilled with me.  She went in the door and immediately turned back around to go back out.  That didn't happen and she was not pleased!  The vet tech took her back as soon as we got there - we didn't need to see the vet for this - and it was a case of "drag the beagle" today.  It didn't take too long and she was overjoyed when she was brought back to me.  She immediately ran to the door and stood in front of it, wagging her tail.  She was very happy when we actually left.  I took her over to visit the grass and when we walked back to the car, there was another doggy arriving.  She almost went back inside with the other dog!  Little goof.

When we got home, I put her tick and flea drops on her and put her out in the garage for a few minutes.  Someone came over to see Bill and they were standing in the front door chatting.  I didn't want to have to worry about the dog getting out so she got to visit her treat can and spend about 10 minutes in the garage.  She came back inside pretty quickly, and promptly resumed the nap I'd had to interrupt to take her to the vet.  Although that nap as underneath the futon, and the 2nd half of the nap is in/on/all over/next to her bed in the living room.

I also went to the post office and to check Bill's UPS box, then I remembered Maggie Moo's feeder is getting low so I stopped at Wallyworld to get another bag.  I grabbed a few other things while I was there, I didn't get too much but they were crowded.  Guess that's normal, it is Friday after all and most people seemed to be buying lots of groceries.  I thought about going to Hobby Lobby, but I might do that tomorrow and I also might go to our favorite used book store then.  Maybe.  Or maye not!  I'll figure that out tomorrow.  Bill mowed the lawn this morning and I think his main plan for tomorrow and probably Sunday is the pachinko machine he's in the middle of restoring.

Otter is at TNT this weekend, along with J, Roomie and BestFriend.  Otter said that they weren't dressing in cosplay today, but that they were still fairly dressed up.  I think Otter probably wore one of her many Lolita dresses (the very fancy, full-skirted dressy outfits like the one she showed you in June, Froggy) and she'll probably wear another one on Sunday.  The cosplay will be worn tomorrow.  They are wearing their Joker and Harley gender switched costumes.  She had to stretch out the wig a bit, she said it was a little tight when she wore it when they went to the con in Dallas.  She's promised me lots of pictures, and yes she will find the Borg!  The Collective will be wandering around the con, but it might be tomorrow before she locates them.  They managed to get a reasonable parking spot and didn't have to walk too far to get to the con.

I'm tired today but not as exhausted as I was yesterday.  I talked to Younger Boss this morning, he said that a few people were over at their house yesterday after the Teenager's services and that they didn't leave until nearly midnight so he was still exhausted.  He hadn't seen Miss Dorothy yet, but he said that his sister spent last night with her so she wasn't alone.  She's very precious to us.

I managed to get a lot of crochet time in today.  I finished the crochet part of Otter's latest scarf,  She wants fringe on this one so I just have to attach it.  The scarf I made several days back is done but she decided she does not want fringe on it, so it just needs tails buried and it's done.  I made a hat to match the first scarf, but she needs to try it on again before I tie it off and bury tails.  I'm going to make a cap to match the 2nd scarf also, I'll make it to the same size as the first one but I won't complete it until she's tried them both on.  Then, it's back to her poncho.  I'm not sure, but I think that's the last UFO I have.  Well, I still have a blanket I'm working on but it's made with little pieces and ends so it's going to be a while anyway.

Think I'll go surf the internet for a while now.

Tired. Blessed.

The Teenager's funeral was this afternoon.  The church was pretty full, he knew just about everybody and it's a tribute to him and an indication of the immense respect people had for him.  He was one of the happiest people I've ever known and he wanted everyone else to be happy.  He enjoyed his life and always tried to find the fun in things and the good in people.  There is going to be a huge hole in the lives of a lot of people, mine included.

Otter obviously went with us, and so did J.  J never met the Teenager, but he wanted to support Otter and also to show respect to someone who was so important to her - and we really appreciated his obvious concern and care for Otter.

The office will be closed tomorrow as well.  The Teenager would probably be unhappy with us for that - there wasn't much that could keep him out of the office.  :)

Since I have an unplanned day off tomorrow, I'm taking the Magginator in to get her rear parts squished and her pedicure.  But mostly, I'm just going to take it easy and do stuff around the house.  I may get some crochet time in and I am partially through with cleaning pins on a pachinko machine for Willy.  But I desperately need some down time and I'm going to get it tomorrow.

Tonight is going to be spent sitting on the couch with a beagle at my feet and the tv remote in my hand.  Possibly a drink as well.  But that's about the extent of my activities for the evening.

But I do think we gave the Teenager a good send-off.  He was special and he deserves every bit of respect possible.  I truly feel Blessed to have had him in my life for the last 21+ years.

Stress Tuesday

Yesterday was awful.  I went in to work early and Younger Boss was ahead of me.  It was so hard, we both just kind of hugged & cried for a while - and we don't normally hug, but this time we did.  He was pretty well overwhelmed, there is so much to do normally when you lose a parent but when the parent was the owner of the business it seems like the stuff to be done was quadrupled.  I ran a couple of errands for Younger Boss in the afternoon.  On Sunday, after he called me and let me know, I went into the office and worked on the obituary.  Younger Boss and his sister had put a lot of things down on paper, but I "professionalized" it and added a few things that they'd forgotten - it's hard to remember everything in that situation but I think that between the three of us it's pretty good.  We hit the highlights anyway.

He left after a couple of hours, to go meet with the Pastor about the service for the Teenager, a couple of meetings with banks, the cpa, etc., and he also spent a couple of hours with his mom.  She's doing pretty well, considering the circumstances.  I talked to her for a while and she was trying to be strong.  She's so precious to all of us.  But she's 97 herself and has had some rough health issues.

Today was better.  Most of the day has been spent in dealing with various banks, the Teenager set everything up a few years back so that the business would continue to run but the banks need specific paperwork, which is understandable.  That's been the bulk of today.

The obituary was supposed to run today, but it got to the paper too late so it will run in tomorrow's edition.  The phone has still been ringing non-stop with condolence calls.  The Teenager pretty much knew everyone, and he would be so flattered to realize the high regard he was held in.  Everyone needs someone like him in their life.  He was special.  He was one in a million, that's for sure.

The funeral is Thursday afternoon.  Otter is getting off work a little early, I'm off obviously and Bill is taking the day off.  It's going to be a very emotional service and I anticipate a large crowd.  The Teenager deserves every accolade he can get and he's getting a lot of them.

98 Years and 9 Months

The Teenager left us this morning at 8:05.  He was 98 years and 9 months young.  He was a spectacular person and I will miss him forever.

Warm. Saturday. Drowsy.

It's Summer, and it feels like it.  It's not particularly hot, it's just that it is hot enough to notice but the humidity makes it worse.  Humidity is a big asthma trigger for me, so I'm spending a lot of time indoors.  Which I don't like!  I need my outside time.

I got a little bit of outside time this morning.  I walked Maggie Moo, she was very happy about that - she sniffed every single thing she could and I don't think either of us got much exercise because it was a "stop and sniff" walk with a great deal of stopping.  But she was happy about it.

I followed yard sale signs today.  I was going to the post office to drop some stuff off to mail and I saw a sign not too far from my neighborhood.  So, I followed it.  Nothing I was interested in, but I decided to just follow signs for a while.  I only drove around for about an hour but I saw several sales.  I stopped at a few and drove by a few more.  Didn't buy a thing, except for when I stopped to get a coke (which was a real coke and not a Texas Coke a/k/a any flavor/variety/brand I wanted at the time) but I still enjoyed getting out.

As of about 4:00 this afternoon, the Teenager is still with us.  Younger Boss says that it's very hard to see him linger like that.  I know how he feels, it was that way with Dad.  It is very tough.  But he is as comfortable as possible and his family is with him.  I guess that all we can do is pray.

Stressful Friday

As of now, 6:30 p.m. the Teenager is still with us.  He was able to be moved to the hospice/nursing home section of their community and his wife and family have been able to spend the day with him.  Younger Boss said that the Teenager seemed to relax a lot once his wife started talking to him and holding his hand.  He is on morphine and is not showing any signs of the discomfort and possible pain he had yesterday, but he is not medicated enough to be unconscious however he has not awakened and probably won't.  But he is more comfortable and seems to understand on some level that he is home and surrounded by his family.  How long he has left in this life is up to God, but now that he's at home where he wanted to be it is possible that he might be able to let himself go.

I vacumed the entire office, neatened the Teenager's office and his desk and cleaned out a lot of old medications such as peroxide that was so old it didn't have an expiration date and so forth.  I've also spent a lot of the day getting checks done and other things that need signatures situated so that Younger Boss doesn't have to worry about things at the office next week.  I spent a while working on a list of things that Younger Boss is going to need to do once his dad is gone, things like calling the insurance company, medicaid, social security - all the miniscule things that have to be dealt with in this situation.

I'm very tired, I have been all week.  But as tired as I am, I'm sure that it doesn't even begin to compare to what the Teenager's family is dealing with.  I remember how hard it was after Mom and then later on after Dad died.  I didn't think I'd ever get to sleep again.  They are dealing with so much, and I would like to request prayers for them as well as for easing the Teenager's transition from this life.

But life goes on around my house, and we discovered this when we were in the back yard after we both got home from work:

I think we know what has Maggie's attention under the shed.

That's a raccoon track.

They are not an animal we want her to tangle with.  She's up to date on her shots, but they can be very mean animals and we don't want her hurt.  We don't want a raccoon to be hurt, either, but Maggie Moo is our first consideration.  We thought we maybe had a possum, but I'm thinking that the raccoon that left these tracks is what she's been chasing under the shed.

I'm going to have a drink and vegetate on the couch for a while.  It's been very stressful and will be for a while yet.  The Younger Boss will update me over the weekend on his father's status.  As Froggy said, the Teenager is very like our Dad.  In a lot of ways, and Otter considers him to be one of her grandfathers.  It's going to be rough, even though we do see it as a release for him and have absolutely zero doubt as to where he's going next.

Prayer Request

It's been a tough few days.  And it's going to be tough for the next several.

You probably have seen me refer to the Teenager on here.  He's my 98-year old boss and he is wonderful.  Everyone should have someone like him in their life.  I'm blessed that he's been a part of mine for the last 21+ years, and that also includes his delightful wife.  He's one of Otter's favorite people.

One day last week, he was hospitalized with what the doctor described as extremely low sodium levels and possibly potassium as well.  He was getting better and getting stronger.  A couple of days ago, he didn't really wake up in the morning and the doctor was concerned about a stroke.  The plan was to give him an MRI but they would have had to anesthetize him which is the last thing anyone wants to do when the patient is 98 years old.  So, a ct scan was performed instead.  The probably diagnosis is that he did have a stroke, but it was probably while he was asleep and he probably never knew it.  His son talked to him and thought he was trying to wake up, but he never really did.  Since then, he's been getting worse.  We pretty much all expected to hear what the doctor said today.

This morning, the doctor said that he's dying.  It is just a matter of days, and probably not very many days at that.  The plan was to transfer him back to the retirement community he lives in, to their nursing home division so that his wife can spend as much time with him as possible.  Her son has taken her to the hospital several times, but she's pretty frail too.  But the hospice nurse is concerned that he might not survive the transfer process.  He isn't in pain, but he did seem to be having some discomfort when he was moved for the ct scan so the nurse wants to give him a little morphine and then possibly he may be transferred tomorrow.  Younger Boss (the son) has been spending a lot of time at the hospital and I suggested he take his mom to the hospital this afternoon, in case the Teenager isn't able to be transferred and also because they time is very short.

Please pray for his family, his wife and that he has a peaceful transition from this earthly life.

Idiocy

Castro, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

This is the wrong thing to do


KEEP IT

Day 9

Last day of my 9 day weekend.  Back to work tomorrow.

Bill and the mechanic neighbor looked at the car seat and determined that the part that broke is not the seat itself, but it is the frame that holds the seat in place.  Bill made a few calls on Friday but apparently a lot of places were also closed on Friday.  So he's going to check on it tomorrow.  Chevy was open but it was somewhere close to $700.00 just for the part (no labor!) from them and we are NOT doing that unless we absolutely have to.  Bill did consider getting a replacement from a salvage yard, but since it is a fairly important structural piece he's decided against that option.  I'll ride with him in the morning, he has to be in at 7:00 but leaves the house earlier to beat the traffic.  I'll get myself to work in the El Camino and then I'll pick him up after work.  Hopefully, we can go pick up the part right then and get home in time for him to install it.  The seat should just come out and go right back in.  We are probably getting rain mid week, starting Tuesday, so Bill's kind of in a hurry.  Me too!

Otter came over Friday morning.  She got her laundry done and then we went shopping.  We hit a few yard sales, drove past a few more and went to a few stores.  We got lunch at Long John Silver's to bring home and share with William.  Then we went to the booth store and another similar store.  We had a good time but didn't really buy much.  We did get to Big Lots, which is probably the only place I really bought anything at and that was mostly household stuff.  I bought her a little gasoline to replace what we used.  She and Roomie are still discussing their options but I think that they are leaning towards a 2-bedroom unit.

We had a fairly quiet 4th.  We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to Hobby Lobby to get some sinew-type thread/string to repair Bill's houseshoes with.  While there, I did cruise the yarn aisles.  The summer colors are out and are everywhere, but the fall colors are beginning to be stocked.  I saw a few I really liked but I didn't buy any.  Yet!  Bill actually had the "unsmartness" to tell me that I have too much yarn - which is when I asked him to tell me again exactly how many pachinko machines he has!?  I also reminded just how much room his machines take up vs the corner of the craft/guest/YARN room that holds my stash.  He stammered out that he meant I had a lot of $$ invested in yarn and then I reminded him how much a skein of yarn is vs the $30 - $several hundred he's spent on machines.  At that point, he saw the light and shut up. :)  Which is good, because I was going to take no prisoners on that one!

Speaking of yarn, I finished the mink scarf yesterday.  I had it about where I wanted it when I realized that I'd made a mistake several rows back and had to frog out several inches.  It wasn't a mistake I could leave in and ignore, it changed the stitch per row count and the shape.  Mink yarn is harder to frog than regular yarn, I'm thinking it might felt very easily.  I used less than one ball of yarn so I still have plenty left.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, it is fairly expensive ($33. per skein 2 years ago) but I'm sure I'll find something.  (No, Bill.  It's still cheaper than your machine stash!)  I started a new scarf for Otter, we got the yarn for it a while back but I hadn't gotten a chance to work on it it yet.  I started it and did a few rows because I wanted to see if she likes the pattern I made the mink scarf it - which she does.  I will get back to it soon, I just wanted to get it started so I could show it to her.  She had two sets ordered from different yarns.  I had one scarf made already and made the matching hat this morning but I have to wait for her to come over again so I can check the size before I call tie it off and call it done.  But I'm going to get back on her poncho soon so her 2nd scarf/hat combination may wait a while - but they go fast.

I have some sort-of TEXAS flag printed wall border, the kind that a teacher would have used years ago over the blackboard.  I got it at a thrift store for about a buck many years ago and it's just been stuck in the closet.  I took two pieces of it, it's long, and taped them together.  Then I took one of my many yard sticks and marked it off in 1" increments with smaller marks at the half inch marks.  No, I would not have done that if it was actually the TEXAS flag!  It's now hanging on the wall, attached with pushpins at the top and bottom.  Now, when I'm making a scarf or one of many other projects that need to be measured I don't have to drag out the measuring tape or yard sticks, and then fight to get it flattened out on the floor.

We had homemade cheeseburgers for our July 4th meal.  We were going to grill steaks but it as supposed to rain so we decided against that.  Of course, it didn't rain.  There were quite a few neighbors that had fireworks, including some of the really big ones, so we stood outside and watched the show for a while last night.  There were several lightning bugs, I always wonder if they get confused on July 4th?  The mosquitos eventually showed up, so we came inside but it was fun.  Otter took her sparklers left from last year when she came over on Friday.

I have a prayer request:  The Teenager was hospitalized Friday for low potassium and general weakness.  He's a tough old bird, but the key word is old - he is 98, after all.

Remember What I Said?

The part about the Amish being on the right track as far as electricity goes?  Well, I agree with them about something else now:  no cars!  No cars equals no car trouble.  When I got in my car to leave the grocery store, the driver's seat had apparently turned into a rocking chair while I was in the store.  I just about wound up in the back seat.  I had a couple of things I'd picked up for Otter and her apartment was just down the street so I went on to give her the stuff I had for her.  Then I drove back roads to get home and drove very carefully - it would not be the time to have an accident!  Not that there ever is, but the issue with the seat is that it might not have kept me inside the car in the event of an accident.  Bill looked at it when he got home, and so did our mechanic neighbor.  They were hoping it could be welded but they both agree that it can't.  The neighbor said he's never seen one break in just that spot before.  Bill's going to check with salvage yards tomorrow and see if he can find a replacement seat.  Hopefully, pretty quick.  Obviously, Otter and I are not going shopping tomorrow.

But that's ok, we'd already decided to stay in town and just hit a few thrifts along with the steakhouse.  She's coming over in the morning to do her laundry and we might or might not go to a couple of close by thrifts.  If we don't get to, it's not a big deal and we'll reschedule our shopping trip.  If I need to go anywhere tomorrow, she'll either be my transportation or let me borrow her car.  I got most of my errands done already, I only had one stop that I still needed to make and it was just BigLots for toilet paper.  Depending on what Bill finds, I may have to go with him to a salvage yard to get a replacement seat.  Hopefully, he can find one and it won't be too much trouble to get it out and then in to my car.  I don't even care what color it is!  I just want it to be intact and safe.

Otter and Roomie have been discussing their options.  Renewing their lease in a few months, getting separate apartments or seeing about a 2-bedroom unit.  Hopefully in their current complex.  I think they are leaning towards getting a 2-bedroom.  I don't think either of them can really afford their own apartment at this point, but they really do want more room/space/privacy - especially Roomie, since her room is the living room and she doesn't even have a door to close.  I think they are going to see about a 2-bedroom unit, which would probably be their best option.  They will have to pay more in rent but it will be less for each of them than if they went with separate apartments.  Otter thinks that there might be one available in their current building, she's going to check with the manager.  It would be good if it was on their current floor (easier on the parental moving crew!) but I don't think anybody would miss having to go up to the 3rd floor either!  One of the people Otter works with also lives in the same complex, she said that she was able to move to a larger apartment within just a couple of months of moving in so Otter and Roomie probably won't have to wait until the end of September if they decide on a 2-bedroom, and if there is one available.

Maggie Moo is currently sprawled across, in and out, her bed.  Snoring.  Loudly!

Middle of Vacation at Home Week

I don't like the word "staycation" so I don't use it.  I'm just having a vacation at home this week.  Mostly by myself, Bill had had to work.  He is off today, but that's because he wasn't feeling too good this morning and he's been pretty much doing nothing today - kind of like me! :)  Except that I'm goofing off by choice and he's just not 100%.

Anyway, I'm glad that he was home today (although I wish he hadn't been feeling icky.)  Because the electric company showed up unannounced this afternoon.  They figured out that last Friday's problem was caused by a line in my yard (they're buried where we live) and that it might need to be replaced.  They brought their backhoe and got right to work digging a fairly deep hole.  Pretty close to one of the maple trees and they did have to break through roots to get to the line.  The line did have some issues, it was probably nibbled on by voles and they'd eaten into the insulation which exposed the actual line to the dirt.  They had to turn our power off for about 10 minutes while they replaced the line.  They did that, put all the dirt back in the hole and took the cable that they'd laid all over my yard last week.  I think that we are finally done with the problems.  Although I won't be surprised if there are other problems with the lines, considering how many underground rodents we have to deal with!

Yesterday, I went to a fabric shop to get something for Froggy.  I also went to 2 antique-ish stores I had been meaning to get to but just never quite did.  They are both booth-type stores and are in a neighboring town.  I wasn't impressed with either of them, but it was still fun.  I also went to the library and to our old booth store looking for something specific and then Bill came home early because he wasn't feeling too good.  I went to the post office, also.  Big exciting day!  Actually, except for the part about Bill not feeling too good, it was an enjoyable day.

Today I went to another fabric store for Froggy, but I will be going back there for something else she needed but I'm not sure when because I think Otter wants to go with me.  I had a couple of other stops, I went to Atwood's because they had coffee on sale and then I went to Wallyworld for misc. grocery items.  But I've spent more time at home today than I spent out, I did some crochet and had time to just sit and read.

I'm enjoying the stay at home vacation.  Yesterday, after Bill left for work, I went back to bed for about an hour.  Actually, I curled up on the futon and snoozed, and Maggie Moo went underneath it for her nap.  It was pretty comfortable, although the beagle snores!  Maggie Moo has enjoyed being able to stay in the house and not get put out into the garage, but she's slept just as much inside as she probably does in the garage!  She has access to the outside when she goes to the garage, but she doesn't seem to like being outside nearly as much as Frasier did.  Her water dish always goes out with her and she has two padded places in the garage which she snoozes on.  And she gets to visit her treat can...

I'm not sure about tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll probably just hang around the house and read, craft, crochet and possibly take a nap.  I might also make a loaf of bread, the one I made on Monday is just about gone.  On Friday, Bill will be off and he'll be at home working on pachinko machines but Otter and I have a shopping day scheduled.  Destinations depend on the weather, we could get rain.  Until then, it's just hot and humid!  But it might affect fireworks displays Friday and Saturday evening.  Bill wanted to grill steaks on Saturday, but they might be broiled in the oven instead of grilled.

Maggie Moo went out to the back yard with me this morning.  And she went straight to the shed.  She did not want to listen to me when I told her no, so she came back inside.  She was funny when we took our early-morning walk today - there was a lady who was walking 3 dogs (and carrying a 4th) one and at least one of those dogs is not friendly to other dogs - which Maggie apparently knew, because it started barking at her at pretty much the same time she was angry barking at it, with a beagle baroo thrown in for good measure!  We haven't walked the last few evenings, the humidity has been too bad for me to be able to breathe.  But I don't think she particularly has wanted to, I don't know if the heat is why or if she's just lazy!  Probably both.

There is a mockingbird that is building a nest inside the trellis on the back deck.  I saw it several times but I haven't seen it since we were outside with the electric company.  It's possible that mama bird decided that there was too much traffic and went elsewhere, but I'm not sure yet.  I did finally get my hummingbird feeders refilled this week, after they were empty for a while.  At least one hummer was on one of the feeders this afternoon.  We also have had two very large squirrels playing chase across the top of the fence.  Not sure if it was a boy chasing a girl, if they were just playing or if one was annoyed with the other one.  But I've seen more squirrels since we lost Frasier, I think they know he's gone and maybe they feel safer now.

Since I was home and had time, I made a pecan pie this morning.  I found a frozen pie shell in the deep freeze when I moved everything from it to the kitchen freezer.  I figured that was a sign that I needed to make pie!  We're having mini pizza for dinner tonight, I think pecan pie will go very well!