5.6

When we moved to Oklahoma in 1993, we knew that bad weather was part of the deal.  But we never expected earthquakes!

In November of 2011, there were a few small ones and then one very big one that hit in the middle of the night.  It was interesting, to say the least.  At the time, it was the highest on record for this area.

Until yesterday morning, that is.  We were sitting on the couch enjoying coffee and discussing out plans for the day at about 7:00.  Maggie Moo was acting really weird.  She's an affectionate little fluff most of the time and likes to be with us.  But she was acting like she wanted to glue herself to me, she was leaning on my leg and acted like she was surgically attached to me.  We also noticed at about the same time that the morning bird chorus was suddenly silenced.  At 7:03, we heard a very strange sound almost like a sander or grinder and it was coming from the direction of the outer kitchen wall which is the west side of the house.  We looked at each other, Bill said "what is that?"  Then the couch started shaking and the floor rippled - we figured out that it was an earthquake at that point, obviously.  We got up and went very quickly to the door frame and Maggie Moo went right with us - I called her name but she was going anyway.  We had the tv on and I must have turned it to one of the local stations because the channel changed and the weatherman was on.  He was in the midst of a forecast when he suddenly started saying things along the line of "OK folks, we seem to be having an earthquake."  It seemed to last for a long time, the hardest part of the shaking was probably about a minute but the actual quake was a few minutes long in duration and we felt most of it.  Once we could tell that it was over, the tv was still moving slightly and we could hear what was probably everything in the china cabinet vibrating still.

It took a little while, but the strength was revealed to be a 5.6 which is a pretty big quake.  It was centered in Pawnee, which is about 50 miles west/northwest of Tulsa.  It was shallow, just a few miles deep, which is why we could feel it so strongly.  It was huge and was felt as far as Memphis, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, parts of north TEXAS.  There was quite a bit of damage at the epicenter, no deaths but one injury and at least one fire caused by either the gas lines being ruptured or the electric lines.

There have been several aftershocks, although we haven't felt any.  According to the news this morning, there were at least ten.  It also appears that it was a previously unknown fault.

Maggie Moo was a goosey girl for a while, but she got back to normal after a couple of hours.  The birds did start singing again, but we didn't hear them for several hours.  There was a weather radar picture released that was taken at the time of the earthquake hit - all the birds took off and there were so many of them and so fast that it appeared on radar!

We didn't have a lot planned for this weekend, I got my flu shot Friday afternoon and I can never tell how much of a reaction I will have.  Otter went with me, we decided to get them at the same time.  She got hers first and then I got mine.  It was 5:39 when I got mine.  About 3 minutes later, I felt cold - not like a severe chill but definitely cold.  By the time we got to the front of the store and got cokes out of the fridge section, I was feeling warm. Not hot flash warm, but warmer than normal.  I dropped her and J off (he was visiting and went along with us) and headed on home.  I felt ok then, but in the 15-ish minutes it took us us to get home I started to crater.  We had Digorno's pizza for dinner, I had a drink and went to bed early. I felt like I had a low grade fever and was slightly achy, I didn't sleep too well and woke up with a headache yesterday morning.  I didn't feel as bad as the night before but I did not feel too good.  Bill had a couple of errands and I decided to ride along with him.  Obviously, that was after the shaky start to the morning!  But mostly I spent the day parked on the couch, with a crochet hook in my hand part of the day and the tv remote as well. I didn't actually nap, but I did rest and stayed on the couch.  I went to bed somewhat early last night and slept better.  I woke up this morning with a slight headache and didn't feel 100% but I was still better.  I've been taking it easy for the most part today, although I did ride along when Bill went to the booth.  It's been a much lighter reaction this year than last year.  I am not complaining at all about that!

OK, Froggy. I blogged.  I told you I would, and I did!  :)

Waving Hello

I'm riding the Wave, in case that isn't obvious from the title.  The flu shot wave, to be precise.

I was a little achy when I went to bed last night and I didn't feel too good.  I slept well and woke up about 7:00 this morning with only a slight headache so I was hopeful of a mild reaction.  But after I'd been up for a while, I started to feel cruddy so I decided to stay home and hibernate today.  I did have to get out briefly, aside from the mandatory beagle walk, I had to go pick up mail for someone who is out of town but that was just a quick trip.  I was feeling better after lunch, so I ran my errand then with the idea of possibly stopping at a specific store but I realized that I was pretty tired out from just driving to get my errand done so I came home.  I took a long nap on the couch and it helped, but I feel a little feverish and just not very good at all.  I was afraid that I might have a stronger reaction this year, based on how fast it hit me yesterday.  The speed of the wave hitting doesn't always mean a worse reaction, but I've never had it hit me within 2 minutes like this year.  I expected a worse reaction last year and I had it, but this year seems a little stronger.  Otter is doing pretty good, she said she woke up with a headache and felt a little tired but she was thinking that she'd be able to work her closing shift tonight.

I made myself a nest on the couch with several things within reach (3 of them are crochet!) but I haven't done anything beyond just take it easy and watch a little tv, aside from my errand.

Bill has been sneezing his head off and coughing a lot, but the congestion he has had is beginning to break up and it's actually good that he's coughing so much.  He's not enjoying it, but it will help to get his lungs cleared.  He's not asthmatic, but the principal is the same.  He is probably going to sleep on the couch again tonight so he can be propped up better.

I really need to get back on Otter's poncho, it won't take me that long if I can just get on it and have some time to work on it.  Fall is not that far away.  We're also going to start getting firewood soon.  I don't think we'll need it very soon, but I'd rather be prepared early than wait and wish we'd gotten it sooner.  We do still have some left from last year, but not enough to get through the winter.

OK, Froggy.  You can't get on me now!

Got It Done

Otter and I both got our shots today.  I picked her up after work, we stopped at the UPS box to clear it and then we both needed to go to the bank so we did that.  We stopped at Wallyworld, yeah I know - on a Friday afternoon and a holiday weekend Friday at that!  But we got in and out of there fairly quick.  It was a required stop, I got our post-shot ice cream at the grocery store yesterday but I told Otter I'd get hers as well.  We took her ice cream (and cranberry juice) to her apartment and then we went to Walgreen's.  When we took out our new insurance, they said that flu shots were covered but that it had to be done at a doctor's office.  But the clerk ran the insurance through to check and it turned out that it did cover the shots at pharmacies as well, so we saved $64.00.  We had to wait about 20 minutes until the technician could give us the shots.

It was about 5:30 when we got them, and I felt the first hint of the Wave hit me at 5:32.  The first thing I noticed was a sudden feeling of coldness, more like a wind hitting me than a chill and I thought it might be breeze from an a/c vent at first.  We went to Subway to pick up dinner, where we were waited on by the slooooooooooooooooooooowest sandwich maker ever and were stuck behind the ditzyest mother and daughter customers ever.  We were probably waiting in there over 30 minutes.  We discussed going to another store, but it was peak traffic time so we decided to just stay there and wait.  By the time we left there, I was really feeling tired and my (left) arm was beginning to feel a little sore.  We went into the liquor store in the same shopping center - where Otter was promptly carded - and that was at least quick.

I dropped Otter off at her apartment and then I headed home.  I didn't get home until around 7:00.  The sandwiches were good, they just took a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time for the girl to make them.  But I think she was fairly new and she was just trying to be thorough, she was nice and it was obvious she was trying to do a good job so we didn't say anything about the lack of speed.

Bill spent lat night on the couch again.  He was feeling bad last night but the congestion was beginning to loosen up.  The air was a little dry and that was causing him problems, so I set up one of the humidifiers for him.  He still needed the fan, he figured out where to put the fan so that it didn't blow away the steam from the humidifier.  I heard him sneezing and coughing a few times - in the opposite end of the house, other his fan, my fan and the humidifier.  He felt feverish last night but he didn't feel feverish this morning.  He wants to sleep on the couch again tonight with the humidifier, so I'll make him another nest.  He doesn't get a flu shot, but he does get ice cream since he has to put up with me after I have it!  He just had a bowl and he said it was good.  He feels better but he's still sick.  He's still insisting that it's allergies, but I think he has what I had last week.  It takes a few days to work it's way out.  Otter said that J might be coming down with it, too.

I'm probably going to bed early tonight, I feel really tired.  My arm is a little sore, I had to take the bandaid off already because of my allergy to the adhesive.  I did bleed a little bit, but not much at all - even for a non-red!  I think a big part of the way we react is probably due to the RedHead Curse.  I'm hoping not to have a bad reaction, but then that's what I say every year.  But I'd still rather put up with the reaction and not have to deal with the flu itself.

Sheepies! And Other Stuff, Too

I find this very interesting, and also very strange:

Baa Baa Baa

They got 80 pounds or so of wool off of this animal, enough to make 30 sweaters!  Bet he feels a lot better today.

I was thinking that Bill had the bug I had or was coming down with a sinus infection the last couple of days, but now I'm thinking he's having allergies.  He isn't allergic to much, but ragweed is one of his triggers.  Ragweed is going crazy at the moment, I'm having some issues with it but not nearly as bad as what Billyboy is dealing with.  He was home sick yesterday but he went to work today.  He already had tomorrow arranged as a vacation day and Monday is a holiday (for both of us!)  He's been sneezing his head off since he got up this morning.  He slept on the couch last night so that he could be propped up and he might do that again tonight.

Otter came over yesterday to do her laundry, and she also babysat her sick dad.  She was gone before I got home, but I will see her tomorrow.  I'm picking her up after work and we are going to get our flu shots.  I picked up ice cream for us at the grocery store just now, along with a trunkload of other groceries, and I told Otter I'll get her some tomorrow before I take her home.

Hopefully, I won't spend all weekend reacting badly to the flu shot.  If I feel halfway decent on Saturday, I might go to the flea market in Tulsa.  Bill will be home, holding down the couch is my guess due to his allergies.  Of course, I may well be holding down the couch myself, if tradition holds!

Thursday Already?

Wow, tomorrow is Friday!  I just realized that.

PBS is having their annual August pledge drive, which is when they have the music features.  I've been in musicobsessive heaven all week!  I did manage to see the BeeGees special from the beginning this time (I usually miss the first part of it), the John Denver special was very good and there have been a couple of others that I've enjoyed.  Tonight is Celtic Woman - watching them makes me realize that the most influential Teacher I ever had was probably Irish!  Obviously, it was the Choir Teacher I'm referring to.  He was probably university professor level, and his lessons are still with me.  One thing he drilled into us was breathing.  Breath control is probably the most important aspect of singing, and to this day I still find myself remembering what I was taught to do and it drives me absolutely CRAZY when so-called professionals can't even figure out when to breathe while singing!  We were taught to the level of ability and performance professionalism that the members of Celtic Woman have, and he made sure we learned it!  I wish Mom had not gotten rid of my Choir Sweater, but she apparently did because it was nowhere to be found when we cleaned out the house after Dad died.

Otter came over to do her laundry today.  She was originally going to come over yesterday, she was scheduled to work Tuesday night (as in all of it, until early Wednesday morning) but the supply truck was delayed so she was rescheduled to work on Wednesday instead, when the truck actually arrived.  She was exhausted after unloading the truck and restocking all the shelves, which is probably her least favorite part of being the Pricing Coordinator for the store.  She is part of the Inventory Control Department.  She decided to come do her laundry today, on her day off.  She mostly came over to play with the beagle I think!  :)  Bill saw a Sonic commercial, they had half-price cheeseburgers today so that's what he wanted for dinner.  I told Otter that I'd get her something from Sonic as well so she had dinner with us.  She's very happy with the new apartment and having more room.  She was really happy today, she found what they refer to as "dumpster furniture."  Somebody put a short dresser out by the dumpster, she and Roomie borrowed a dolly from the apartment office and it's now in their apartment.  On the 3rd floor!  She said it probably weighs at least 100 pounds, and it took them a while to get it up the stairs but they did it.  All that is wrong with it is one drawer needs a little glueing to hold it together on one spot.  They got it into the living room and then left it there, they will figure out exactly where to put it but she said they were tired after having to get it up the stairs and into their apartment.

It's been cooler this week, the last couple of mornings have been almost sweater temperatures.  Maggie Moo has really enjoyed it on our morning walks, especially this morning.  She was so bouncy!  She really had fun this morning, she sniffed everything, and I do mean everything, and she was so playful.  At the moment, she is asleep at my feet.  She wiggled herself around until she is underneath her bed.  I guess she's comfortable because she is snoring!

Nevermind, the beagle is up!  She woke up and curled her tail around my ankle.  Then she got up and shook herself, now she's sitting in front of me and may be watching tv.  She has been known to do that.

It's back-to-school time.  Otter has been out of school for 4 years now.  For some reason, I keep thinking that I need to get school supplies!  She hasn't even lived here in nearly a year, and she's been working for the last 2 1/2 years, for pete's sake.

We do need to start getting firewood soon, though.  That's another thing that the cooler morning temps have got me to thinking about.

Walgreen's has the flu shot vaccine in stock.  I'm getting mine on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, like I usually do.  Last year's was much earlier, in August.  As a result, it was a normal weekend instead of a 3-day weekend.  I really could have used that extra day off to recover from my usual reaction, so I've gone back to the Labor Day weekend schedule.  Otter is going to get hers then as well.

The crepe myrtles in the back yard are doing wonderfully.  Some of them are blooming.  The mimosa tree in the front yard is finally blooming as well.  The mimosa tree was planted from a sprout that showed up in the back yard and was probably grown from a seed from the neighbor's tree.  Each year, it would come up and have a few leaves then it would die down in the fall but it never got taller than a couple of feet.  Last winter, it died completely and disappeared - or so we thought.  It did disappear, but there was still life left in it and it came back up this year.  And it's now over 7 or 8 feet tall!  It's fully leafed out and it beautiful, but I was afraid it might not be a blooming tree.  Then last weekend, it suddenly put of blooms.  Just a few, but that's fine with me because that means it will bloom each year and should increase the number of blooms.  I guess it just took it a few years to get really established.

We have a meeting with the associate pastor at the church we've been attending, next Tuesday.  I think we'll make the decision after we talk to her.  In all probability, we will be joining that church but we won't decide until after our meeting.  Otter will be transferring her membership with us.  We realized today that we haven't been to our current/about to be old church in over 10 months and not once has anyone ever contacted us!  Except for one time when I mailed my tithe check in and made a mistake on it - they contacted me immediately when it concerned money, I noticed!

I think that's very telling.

Still Hanging In

But now I'm thinking that Bill is partially right:  it's probably not the flu.  But I'm also thinking that Bill is partially not right:  It's still more than a cold!

 

Anyway.  We are both home today.  Bill was very restless last night, he had a lot of congestion and coughed a lot.  I got up at 5:00 (the alarm went off, not because of a barking dog!) and let the dogs out.  I fed them and then went back to bed, Bill got up at that point and he let me sleep until about 6:15.  I had a headache when I got up the first time, which is the main reason I went back to bed.  After breakfast, I took some motrin and it did help with the headache.  We both called in, I think we mostly just need to rest at this point.  I don't feel great, I feel better than I did but not well yet.  But what I am mostly noticing is that I feel extremely tired.  Just enough potential symptoms that it could be a light case of the flu, or might not be.

 

I did have to get out, I had to go to the post office for something we expected to be delivered to the post office box.  I stopped at Wallyworld for milk that I forgot when I got groceries the other day and I grabbed us a salad each from their deli.  My headache was back by that point, I took some more motrin and then we had a cup of tea.  The caffieine and motrin helped some.  The crockpot soup is in the fridge, we'll have that tonight with some of the bread I made yesterday in the bread machine.  I don't know if I'm going to cook anything tomorrow or not, there is still plenty of soup and also sandwich and salad stuff on hand.  As well as a couple of things in the freezer.

 

Otter came by for a little while, some of the mail was something she'd been waiting on so she came over to get it - and check on us, which was probably the real reason!  Maggie Moo was overjoyed to see Otter, but I noticed that the second Otter was out the door the beagle was back on her blankets, crashed out again!  Such a hard life the beagle leads...  Frasier was happy to see Otter as well, Maggie was just funny.  One of Otter's friends lives in the same apartment complex and has a dog.  Friend's dog just had puppies, 8 of them!  That's a lot of puppies, but Otter reports that mama dog is able to feed them al.  Anyway, Otter finally got to see the puppies today.  She reports that they are just learning to walk, their eyes are open and they are total fluff balls.  Because Otter is who she is, mama dog was charmed and had no problem at all with Otter playing with the babies.  So, when Otter came in the door, Maggie had to do the sniff test on Otter.  Even while Otter was playing with Maggie, the beagle would stop in the middle of being petted and sniff more.  Her tail was wagging the entire time, so she wasn't mad but it was funny.

 

Bill has a pachinko project, he has 5 machines being refurbished/restored/repaired at once.  The idea was to get them to the booth as soon as he possibly could.  Every time he thinks he's going to get them done, something comes up.  He hasn't really been able to work on them at all this week.  He really wants to get them finished up and it is really bugging him that he hasn't been able to.

 

I haven't done much crochet the last couple of days, ok none really.  I did a little early in the week, but then my arms started hurting.  Which I wasn't sure if it was tendonitis or flu aches.  There have been a few body aches, which is why I'm not positive that it isn't a light case of flu.  But I also think that the tendonitis is part of the problem.  I have a couple of craft projects that shouldn't aggravate the tendonitis.  IF I feel up to it tomorrow, big IF, I might work on one of them.  Or maybe not, I may just park myself on the couch with a blanket, book and beagle.  With frequent visits from BigDog, he isn't quite as blanket-crazed as the beagle but he does like to check on me on a regular basis.

 

The plan is still for Otter and Bill to get the boxes up to the attic on Sunday.  It really can't wait much longer, I can't get to the deep freeze for pachinko machines!  I think it might be time for a pachinko machine intervention.  Or maybe not, Bill probably thinks the same thing about my yarn stash! :)

It's a Flu(ke)

Title inspired by the fact that I think we are dealing with a mild case of the flu.  Bill still insists that he "only has a cold."  But I don't think so, for one thing colds don't have body aches!

 

I did some research, it is possible to have the flu without having a high fever.  Bill did have fever the other day, but he wouldn't let me take his temperature.  I think I might have had a little fever today myself, but I didn't actually take my temperature because I have been drinking as much water as I can.

 

It took him a couple of days to come down with whatever this is, then he was home for a couple of days but he went back to work today.  And he was exhausted when he got home.  I started coming down with it a couple of days after he did.  I left work early yesterday, I went to the grocery store because I had no choice on that but other than that I was at home yesterday.  I didn't sleep well last night, and I felt pretty bad this morning so I called in.  I had a horrible non-migraine headache, too.  Then I realized something else:  what I thought was tendonitis is probably actually the body aches associated with flu.  I did have some tendonitis issues because I've crocheted a lot lately, but that only explains my left elbow hurting.  It does not explain the rest of me aching!  I am pretty sure that it is the flu, but it's a so-called mild case.  Bill may not go in to work tomorrow, I am pretty sure I'm not going too either.

 

Today's activities included starting a loaf of whole-wheat bread in the bread machine and also starting a pot of beef/vegetable soup in the crockpot.  Mostly, I've been parked on the couch.  I did get a load of laundry done, but that was because Bill woke up sweaty in the night and the sheets needed to be washed.  About 2:00, I was feeling really tired so I decided to lay down for a little bit.  And I woke up 2 hours later, so I guess I was more tired than I realized.  It took me a while to wake up, I felt groggy for an hour or so.  The dogs have spent most of the day snoozing, Maggie has discovered the afghan I made and she keeps stealing it from me.  She prefers to sleep on top of it instead of underneath it - it is pretty soft yarn and her little beagle rear is delicate!  Frasier isn't really into blankets, but he has spent most of his day napping as close to me as he can get.

 

Bill needed to get something from Hobby Lobby this evening, so I decided to ride along with him.  We were only in the store about 5 minutes and it nearly exhausted me.  But Hobby Lobby is not a place I can let him go without adult supervision - kind of like a hardware or tool store!  Froggy, I'm sure you know what I mean. :)

C is for Cookie!

And that's good enough for me. :)

 

How many people actually sang that song in their head?  I did.  And in the voice of a certain furry, blue monster!

 

Anyway.

It's National Cookie Day!  Which has got to be one of the best "invented holidays" ever.  EVER.

 

I changed out my table décor this morning, I finally got the Fall tablecloth put away and took the Thanksgiving placemats, etc. off the table.  I put my Christmas décor on the table and it will stay there until probably about 2:00 or so Dec. 25th.  Because after that, it becomes clutter!

 

While I was digging out the Christmas table stuff, I found a few more doilies that I'd bought recently.

 

This is a general idea of what I'm going for, although my idea doesn't really look like an actual curtain but is more of a side-drape/window scarf style:

It will be quite a while yet, this project is going to take a huge amount of doilies.  I'm always on the hunt.  Size, color, shape, age - none of that really matters although I don't really want anymore huge ones and I prefer not to have a lot of damage.  A slight amount of damage on very old ones is ok, but I want this to look nice.

 

The CDC announced today that they have probably missed their prediction as to what flu strain(s) would be dominant this season.  By as much as 50%!  That is not good, and they are predicting that it will be a bad season.  It was probably because the virus mutated, which is what viruses do.  I thought that bug I had a couple of weeks ago might be the flu, but it was probably "just" the flu-like bug that was going around.  I hope that is all I have to deal with.  The last time they missed with the vaccine I got the flu and it was not pretty!  Same thing for the time before that when they missed.  I'm normally an optimist, but this time I'm almost pessimistic because of past history.  IF at any time I think I might be coming down with it, I'm running myself to the doctor immediately and getting it confirmed so I can get Tamiflu if I do have it.  I might not get it, but like I said before - past history.

 

We're concerned about Frasier.  He acted like his teeth were chattering last night, but he was begging for a treat and he does that sometimes.  But this morning, he was actually shaking like he was shivering.  He wasn't cold and he didn't feel like he was feverish.  It was not a seizure.  He was awake and seemed glad to see me.  He was able to get up and he eventually ate his breakfast, but he was shaky for a very long time.  Bill was off today, he took a personal day and was busy replacing the rest of the light bulbs so he kept an eye on the dog all day.  Frasier eventually stopped the shivering, he was happy to see me when I got home, but he was very careful and tentative.  That's the only way I can describe it.  He did greet me when I got in, and then he sneezed at me.  After I petted him for a while, I decided his ears were dirty enough to need cleaning.  I took him outside and did that, which he did NOT like but he at least let me - the first one was easy, the 2nd ear took a bit of patience because he kept trying to turn his head away from me.  After I let him go, he went to the opposite side of the yard from me.  And pretended not to hear me when I called him!  He loped by me a few times on his way around the yard, and he would sort of look at me and then look away - bratty baby!  He finally decided to come to me and then he was much happier after he got a treat!  He seems better this evening but he's still not 100%.  Bill thinks it's probably just old age catching up with him and that is probably what it is.  I've talked to the vet about him before, and at this point I don't think it's necessarily time to take him in but we'll watch him and see how he does.  And we'll keep spoiling him as much as possible.  And Maggie Moo, she won't be left out of the spoiling!

 

It has been rainy all day.  Not a hard rain, just enough to be messy.  And it's been foggy all day, again not bad but still there.  But it's gotten really foggy this evening, by about 4:00 it was really starting to drop and now at nearly 6:00 p.m. the visibility is down to very bad.  Of course, Otter works tonight.  She goes in at 6:00 p.m. and works until "2:00 a.m." or whenever they get finished with the repricing or restocking, whatever it is that they are doing tonight.  Being her mother, I can't help but worry.  The fog is supposed to lift a little bit in the next few hours but it will probably be rainy.  Tomorrow could be very hard rains, at least in the morning.  She goes to the dentist tomorrow afternoon to get the permanent crown put in place, hopefully it will not be hard rain then.

 

Frasier just came back in from their yard.  He grunted, shook his ears and is now parked on the floor.  I think he's about to join Maggie Moo in a nap.  Hopefully, he won't snore as loud as she does!

My Biscuits Are Burnin'!

NOT.  It's been an interesting day, to say the least.

We tossed around a couple of ideas for breakfast this morning, seeing as how we're almost out of cereal, we're out of syrup and don't like plain pancakes (and I think I'm about of pancake mix) and we are down to just have two eggs.  I'll get to the grocery store soon, I promise!  Anyway, we came up with biscuits and I did have baking mix at least, so I got a batch of biscuit dough ready to go and was about to start cutting them out when I realized that the oven I'd turned on over 15 minutes before was ice cold because it had never come on.  Bill looked at it and decided that the "igniter" (not sure of the actual term) was bad.  It's not a particularly old oven, we bought it a couple of years at least after we moved here in 2004.  I've had no problems with it, when it comes to appliances we tend to get the biggest and best ones we can afford with an eye to not having to replace it again anytime soon.  Bill eventually found the model number (down near the floor, inside the door) and then he had me check it to make sure he'd read it right which means that we both had to get down in the floor!  Harder getting up than getting down there, let me tell you!!  He found the part online and it will be here sometime this week.  It won't be too difficult for him to replace the part.  It's a gas oven because I don't like electric to cook on.

 

But it might not be here in time to use the oven on Thursday.  We had plans to make homemade pizza for Thanksgiving, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  I can still use the stove (top burners) but Bill's thinking he'll probably be grilling something for Thanksgiving.  Not sure what it's going to be, Otter still has the temp crown and has to be careful about what she eats, she could have managed our thin-crust pizza though.  We have discussed burgers and also steak.  Otter voted for steak, but she'll have to cut hers into tiny pieces if that is what we go with.  I am not getting anything for the meal until Wednesday, if we do go with steak I'm going to get it at an actual butcher shop and see if some of it can be tenderized for her.

 

We did eventually get breakfast and it did include biscuits!  It's just that Braums baked them. :)  I looked online and biscuit dough can be frozen, so I cut the biscuits out and they are in my freezer.  Hopefully, next weekend we'll be able to actually cook them!

 

I just took a rock out of Maggie Moo's mouth.  She was trying to eat it.  Nutball dog!  I was concerned about Frasier earlier today.  He has a tendency to curl around me when he wants to lean on me and sometimes he stands that way on his own, curved.  He came in from the back yard walking curved and it looked like maybe he couldn't uncurve his body.  Also, his right rear leg looked stiff and like maybe he couldn't really use it.  He came to me when I called him, he leaned on me much harder than he normally does and I ran my hand down the right side of his body with just a little pressure.  It felt like his muscles were stiff but theyrelaxed underneath my hand and he straightened out.  He seemed to be walking better after that and he seems fine this evening but we are keeping an eye on him.  He's an older dog and could have a little arthritis.  Bill thought that maybe he'd been snoozing on the hard ground and was just stiff.  He does like to be inside, but he seems to be just as happy to be left outside and will stay outside for hours on end by his own choice.  That may be because of his coyote heritage?

 

I got two rows on Otter's blanket yesterday and one more today.  I've got about half of the skein I'm using now (# 5) and then one more skein after that.  The end is in sight!  The blanket is big enough to be a lap blanket for me now but I want it to be bigger.  Otter isn't picky, she's just glad I'm making it for her.

 

Speaking of Otter, she brought the car and her laundry this afternoon.  She works tomorrow but I'm going to pick her up and get her to work, then I'll get her after work and drop her back at her apartment.  Bill wants to work on her car tomorrow, the part was in the mail Friday.  Yesterday was cool and slightly rainy, today was supposed to be very rainy (but never was) so he never was able to get the part replaced this weekend.  Tomorrow is supposed to be decent weather for car repair.  I'm going to take it for the oil change it needs on Tuesday, then I'll get Otter after (my) work on Tuesday and she'll bring me home.  Then she'll have the car the rest of the week.  While her laundry was in the washing machine, we went to Goodwill but didn't find anything.  While her laundry was in the dryer, we cleaned out the rest of the pile in her old room.  There is still just a little bit to go through, that will be done on Thursday.

 

Also on Thursday, the tulips will be planted.  The plan was to do them last Sunday but that was the day it snowed.  Then we planned on Tuesday or Wednesday but I was sick.  Then we planned on today and I am better, but I haven't quite gotten back up to 100% yet and was tired out just from doing my own laundry, dishes and vacuuming the living room so the planting day has been rescheduled.  I don't have a problem with planting them on Thanksgiving.  It just needs to be done and done soon.

 

Now I just hope that the microwave holds out!  It first acted up about a year ago, then it started acting right so we never actually replaced it.  But it's starting to act up again.  It is definitely going to be replaced this year, I'm just hoping to wait until slightly closer to Christmas because there are generally pretty good deals on that sort of appliance then.  Just in case, I'm not planning a whole lot of meals that have to be microwaved this week since the oven is out of commission.

Warm Feet

I have warm feet.  In other words, I have my afghan over my legs and a beagle at my feet.  Usually, she is UNDER the afghan and ON my feet but this afternoon she is on top of the afghan and next to my feet.  My left foot, to be precise.  And she's close enough that her body heat is radiating to my left foot.  It's very warm.  She stretches her beagle self every so often, but she never really moves away.  Frasier is parked in front of the coffee table, nap # 4958477 of the day is in progress for him.

 

I'm home today.  I do feel better, but not well yet.  However, I am now back to thinking that this is the flu-ish bug but not the actual flu.  Whatever, I'm still treating the symptoms and taking it easy.

 

I did have to go to the post office.  Bill had something that needed to be mailed but got left at home, so I ran it up there for him.  He has my car today, so I got to drive the Big Car.  With the blocks holding the driver's side window in place, so I couldn't roll the window down.  It's cool and misty, it was raining earlier so I didn't really need to window to be down.  But the weather stripping that goes around the window is also messed up, it falls out of it's track every time the door is opened.  Anyway, I stopped at Wallyworld because I ran out of Kleenex and thought I'd better get more.  Walmart was in the middle of being re-stocked, which is almost never seen by customers.  I guess that Friday mid-morning is not normally a busy time for them, but I'm not usually in there at that time so I'm just guessing.

 

I haven't gotten any crochet done today, I mostly have been parked on the couch reminding myself why I dislike daytime tv!  I finished my Stephen King book last night, Cell I think is the name but it might be Pulse.  I don't think I'm actually going to collect all his works, I don't think I have enough room for what could fill a large library!  But I am going to add to my collection a bit.  I still have several that I haven't read, they were part of Otter's horde originally.  I'm not sure which one will be next.

 

Anyway, it is at least Friday.

Not Really Sure Why I Bothered

with the flu shot.  Because I'm pretty sure I've got the flu!  It could still be the flu-like bug that the Tulsa Health Department talked about, but I'm pretty sure that the bug does not include the Hot/Chills combination that I've been dealing with today.  I've also had a few spells of achiness.  If it is the flu, I'm past the point of time where Tamiflu would be helpful.  If it is the bug and not the flu, I still have to treat the symptoms the same and just wait it out.  Ugg!  Also, this is at least the 3rd time in the last few years that I've (maybe this time) gotten the flu after the shot.  If you get the shot and then get the flu anyway, it's usually a slightly lighter case.

 

I felt better this morning, not well but at least better.  So I went in and wasn't even to work when I started to feel worse.  I got a few things done that I figured I'd better do while I was there, they weren't urgent and could have waited but I was there so they are done.  I left somewhere around 10:00, after telling Younger Boss that I thought I had the flu and watching him get to the other side of the office in a hurry!  He apparently hasn't gotten the flu shot yet, so I don't blame him.  If it is the bug and not the flu, it's still contagious and I still don't blame him!  I told him that I'll see how I feel in the morning but he told me not to push myself if I'm not up to it.  The Teenager called me this afternoon and told me that he does not want to see me until Monday, at least.  I'm probably not even going to try to go in tomorrow, but I won't actually decide until the morning.  I'll have to decide pretty early, Bill will take my car if I don't go in.

 

The doggies were happy when I got home today.  They were also happy yesterday because I was home all day long.  I took about a 2-hour nap on the couch yesterday afternoon, it was interrupted a couple of times because of a certain large, furry coyote that had to check on me a couple of times.  When I woke up, both Frasier & Maggie were snoozing on the floor beside the couch.

 

I did have to take the office mail to the post office so I went to the office where our box is and cleared it out.  I had to drive right by Otter's store and the grocery store next to it, so I stopped there for OJ and milk.  I got a bottle of cranberry juice and left it in Otter's car, she's probably safe but a little more vitamin C certainly won't hurt her.  I texted her, I didn't actually see her because I don't want to infect her - she was having some mild asthma issues like I started out with but she was also in a dusty situation at work the last couple of days so it might just be that.  Probably is, but I didn't want to take any chances.  She texted me (in fun):  DO NOT GET NEAR ME YOU GERM-RIDDLED PLAGUE MONKEY!!! It really was joking, and I was amused.

 

Bill's not so lucky, he has to live with me.  He's on vacation next week.  Bill + scheduled vacation quite frequently = sick boy.  I'm not kidding when I told him that it is NOT allowed, he can NOT get sick.  If he does, I just might make him sleep on the front porch.  After all, there is a porch swing out there so he wouldn't have to sleep on the cold concrete porch! :)