Sunday Puppies

Today's title is from something Bill said.  His suggestion for our Sunday title was actually something along the lines of "puppy for sale", meaning a certain beagle we all know and love.  I don't think he's too happy with her at the moment, it might have something to do with the fact that she keeps getting on the couch.

Otter is off with BF for the day.  I think she thought that she could avoid housework and having to help with the firewood if and when it gets here.  It might not be today, it might actually be tomorrow.  But she's not escaping anything, there is plenty for her to do.

Otter's remaining hamster died Friday evening.  We expected it, Nadine (the hamster) had been acting odd lately.  When rodents get old, it hits them suddenly and they act a certain way.  We'd been seeing the signs for about a week and Friday afternoon she was unresponsive and her breathing was labored.  We made sure that she was warm and as comfortable as we could make her, then we let nature take it's course.  Which was the only thing we could do.  Sometime that evening, she peacefully died.  She is now buried out in the back yard, along with the other hamster (Helena), 1 mouse (April), 2 parakeets (Aqua and Skyler) and one sphinx cat that belonged to the neighbor.  Otter is ok, it was rough on her but she's ok.  The hamster was about 2 years old, which is a good length of time.  They normally live between 1 1/2 to 2 years.  The previous hamster was probably about 1 1/2 years old.  Otter thinks she's through with small pets, at least for a while.  She'll stick with dogs for now.  She'd love a hairless rat, however.  But Bill absolutely said no to that one!  I would have let her have one...

I went to an estate sale this afternoon but was less than impressed.  I also stopped at a yard sale I saw a sign for, but didn't find anything there either.

It's been pretty cold the last few nights.  Yesterday morning when I went outside to get the paper, the cars were frosted.  That's the first time this season.  The days have been absolutely beautiful.

I might get out and start on the tulip bed in a little while.  It needs to have all the old growth pulled off and that's not something Otter has ever been able to help with due to a specific allergy she has.  She helps with the rest of it, but the clearing of the bed is my job.

My mums in the front are blooming, they are a very pretty deep maroonish color.  I think I've changed my mind on getting mums for the whiskey barrel planter.  I really like them, but I think I'm ready for a change.  I'm not going to do anything about the one mum I have, it's pretty and can stay there as long as it wants to.  But I think I'm going to stick with replanting each spring/summer in the whiskey barrel, and probably go with different things each year.  Or at least that's the plan today!

Otter and I thought that this was funny.  It's from Harry Potter, I think from the new movie.  The point is that they are all redheads!

I just thought that this was funny.  It reminds me of Otter.  Although she's a karate otter, not a karate kitty!  Well, she was a calico kitty one year for Halloween.

This one is strictly about me!

Our spider friend is gone.  As in dead.  The web was empty yesterday morning, then Bill noticed that the spider was out there mid-morning but was barely moving.  We thought maybe he was just not quite warmed up yet because he was moving although slowly, but then later it was pretty obvious that he wasn't moving at all.  But the web was empty the last time I looked out, still there and tattered but empty.  A bird probably got the spider.  I'm surprised he was there as long as he was, as cold as it's been the last few nights.

I have finished all my throw pillows.  I have one small item to finish, a pot holder I made for Froggy but then didn't quite finish before I went to see her.  I took it with me and forgot about it, then I asked her to send it back to me and now I just have to finish it.  It's all made, I just have to put the pieces together.  That's the last thing I have to do, before I let myself start the afghan.  I thought I'd get to the afghan yesterday, but I didn't quite get there.  Sometime this week.  I still have to work on the quilt.  It was on the agenda for this weekend, but Otter slept until nearly noon yesterday (Saturdays are lazy days for us) and today she's off with BF.  Nobody was in a particularly creative mood yesterday, Otter was kind of down because of the hamster and my skin was a little painful so I didn't do much with the yarn.

Our church now has a 9:00 service, they started it a few weeks back.  We started attending the early service two weeks ago, there were 10 people including us.  The minister commented that the first Sunday, he'd only had two people!  Today, there were between 15 and 20 so it's beginning to catch on.  We like the earlier time better.

OK, I've put it off long enough.  Time to go get my shovel and head to the tulip bed!  And then I'll get back to my laundry.

Middle of the Week Catching Up! (**EDITED)

I know, I've been a bad blogger lately.  But we've just been pretty busy this week.

Monday was something right after work, I just can't remember now what it was.  Yesterday might have just been Tuesday (I know there was something after work yesterday but I can't remember), but today was grocery & errand day and my feet hurt.  I also took the recycling stuff this morning and went to the post office to clear the box all on the way in to work.  After unloading a trunk load of groceries this afternoon and eating dinner, I ran Billyboy up to Lowe's for a few things.

He's currently occupied with a hammer, he's putting new register (vent) covers in a couple of spots and the one for our bathroom is just a tiny bit too big on one corner.  The other register that needed to be replaced is the one in the kitchen.  It fit fine, just the one in the bathroom is being uncooperative.

Otter and I also went to a thrift store this afternoon.  She found a book and a t-shirt to repurpose (also known as cutting it up and resewing it into something completely different).  I found yarn, a green shade but "vintage" and I know I didn't have it in my stash.

My ever-growing stash.  I'm trying to use up some of my stash, it doesn't do anybody any good just sitting there.  I have an idea for the green I bought today, and I have also found a hat pattern that I think might work better than the last one.  I might have time Saturday to see about it.

And I know I said I'd never do it again, but I think I might try thread crochet again.  Thread crochet is what doilies are made of.  It's called thread for a reason, it's not quite as small as sewing thread but it's pretty small.  I tried it years ago and hated it, but I'm really needing a challenge and that might just be it.  I have the hooks for it already, I acquired most of them in an auction box lot years ago and kept them.  Well, I might have tried to sell them on eBay, I can't remember for sure.  But they didn't sell or at any rate I still have them.  I will probably try it with embroidery thread, which actually might be too thick so I would have to take a few strands out.

Unless I come to my senses, that is.  Thread crochet can be very tedious.  But I've seen some wonderful pieces lately and it's been on my mind for a while.  I'll keep you posted, but it will be a while before I attempt it.

Sometimes, I really hate enjoying challenges!

Tomorrow has a long list of things I want/need to do, either on my lunch hour or after work.  Friday has a few things, but the library is the biggest one for Friday.  Otter's finally read most of the books we got last time, which is no easy task considering how many books she had.

Saturday can't get here fast enough!  I need several hours of uninterrupted crochet/book/nap time.

**EDIT:

When we were cleaning the hamster cages after I posted this, we discovered that the black hamster (Helena, shown above) had died.  She hadn't been acting sick, but she had been a little calmer lately and we think she may have been older than the other one when Otter got them.  They were both small, the other one (Nadine) grew quite a bit but Helena never got any bigger.  A few months back, she hurt one of her legs climbing on the sides of the cage and we thought we might lose her then but she recovered.  But the last couple of days she might not have been eating as much as she normally did.  No other symptoms, she just died sometime yesterday evening.  It's very possible that she was an adult already when Otter got her, quite frequently the breeders will send their breeding females along with babies to the pet stores when the females get to a certain age and that could well be what happened here.  They have not been in the same cage for several months, since they stopped getting along when Nadine grew to a certain size.  Nadine seems healthy, but we are watching her anyway although I don't think that Helena had anything that would be contagious as she had no symptoms.  She did not have what is known as wet-tail disease, that is the big one to cause small rodent death.  She is now in the pet graveyard in the back yard, along with a mouse & 2 parakeets.  Otter's a little upset but she'll be fine.  Her pets traditionally live long, spoiled lives and hamsters can live 2 years plus.  She has had them for a little over a year, she bought them after her birthday in 2009.

Sunday Relish

Mine is dill. Sweet pickles are disgusting!

Hello, my name is Ottermom. And I am a yarn addict. I admit it.

I have been cleaning out my stash, I had several small amounts of yarn which I've been adding to the blanket I'm making for Bill. I even donated a few small ones, and managed to get my supply down quite a bit. But then I looked at the Michael's add in the paper this morning. And they have yarn on sale. Guess where Otter wanted to go today? Michael's! It was my undoing. I bought 8 skeins. Six were clearance and two were sale priced. I still have two bamboo skeins I got a couple of weeks back, the skein I got at Hobby Lobby before the last ice storm and 4 I got at Salvation Army last week.

It's a sickness, I know. But I don't want to be cured!

But I will say in my own defense that all the yarn I bought since (and including) the bamboo is unusual and not plain or standard yarn. The yarn I got at Salvation Army is all yarn that I wanted to try but refused to pay the exhorbitant price for, however for 99 cents each they were practically free. Today's yarn includes two "wool" that I'm hoping I can use. It's not sheep wool, which I am allergic to. It's alpaca wool (like llamas) and I'm hopeful. I carried it around the store for a long time and my skin didn't seem to react. It was the sale priced yarn I got today.

Of course, my skin has been acting up the last couple of days so I'm not sure when I'm actually going to get to use any of it! But I will not use the alpaca yarn until my skin is good, since allergies are a very real issue for me.

Bill didn't say anything, he just looked at the huge bag of yarn I was emptying into my picnic basket and shook his head. But then I reminded him of the thread he started on the pachinko machine forum he's on - the one about how he's addicted to pachinkos!

The picnic basket has some structural issues, Bill looked at it and decided he couldn't fix it. So I moved my stash into a yaffa crate. Yaffa crates are similar to plastic milk crates but bigger. The good yarn is in the picnic basket, the everyday stuff including the acrylic and cheap quality stuff is in the yaffa crate. And then I have the large tote bag with my work in progress stuff, also known as UFO's.

Bill's still sick. Or maybe, he's sick again. I'm not sure. He was over most of the symptoms and seemed to be feeling pretty good yesterday. Then last night, he started getting fever again. He had the shakes, which he usually only gets when he gets high temperatures but he didn't have a high one. He did have a sinus headache and lots of pressure. The only thing we had was benadryl, so he took that and it helped him a little bit. Then as soon as I got up this morning, I went to Wallyworld and got him something that worked for his symptoms. There are so many different choices, it took me a good 15 minutes to read all the labels and find one for him! It's one of the sudafeds. He is better but not feeling the best. He finally admitted that he might need to see the doctor. Mostly because he's at the point where he'll need an excuse for work, I think that's the only reason but I'm not going to complain! I'm not sure if he's still got the same thing or something else that happened to hit as he was recovering. Froggy said that she's heard of several people who have been sick and seemed to get better before getting sinus symptoms. At any rate, I fully expect to have to haul him to the doctor tomorrow.

Otter and I went to the library today, we didn't leave Billyboy by himself too long but we did get out for a bit. We both have huge stacks of books to read, we turned in two paper grocery bags full of books we finished and still had some from the last time we were there. Now, we have more! Which is fine with me, books are kind of like yarn - addictive.

We might get more snow tonight and/or tomorrow. Ice is not expected, so it won't be quite so bad as the last time. Snow is a lot easier to deal with. Especially driving in it. But it's still not fun if I have to be on the road.

OK, I've goofed off enough. I told Otter I would help her clean the hamster cages, so I think I'll head in the general direction of her room now.

2009! (Edited) (Edited Twice)

It's 6:15 a.m., and I've been up for 30 minutes. I'm only on my 2nd cup of coffee, so I'm not awake yet.

But I do want to say something. I keep hearing about how the decade is ending and the next decade is going to be better/different/etc. Except that the decade isn't ending. Math Lesson: count to 10. What do you start with? 1. Not 0. The decade STARTED with 2001 and ENDS with 2010. So the last year of the decade isn't this one, it's the next one. Which means that 2000 was the LAST year of the previous decade, and 2001 was the FIRST one of this one.

Anyway. Here goes:

January

January started with mice, living in our closet. That problem was solved fast.
Bill worked on the quilt he made for me, that took a lot of time. But when he finished it, I was thrilled.
It was a very cold month and the cold caused me significant asthma issues.
A new president was inaugurated. Not one I'm impressed with at all.
We celebrated our 24th anniversary.
Ice storm - but that's not unusual!
Bill decided the time had come to switch jobs, he had an interview with the local school district and they really wanted him but they couldn't afford him. But it gave him the boost he needed!

February

The decorating bug visited, it spent a lot of time in our bathroom.
I found the quilt I started when Otter was in kindergarten and started back on it.
FutureJediMom's tribe increased!
16 years since our move to OK.

March

I started Froggy's collection of crocheted pot holders. I probably need to get busy and increase that!
Bill started clearing out unused shelf space in the garage and getting rid of some of the junk, I mean clutter!
The tulips started budding.
I crocheted a lot, working on Froggy's collection mostly.
Otter's asthma/allergy doctor agreed: no karate, so even though she hadn't been going in a while this was the month she officially dropped out. She's much improved.
Bill interviewed for a position that opened up at his current employer and got it! It turned out to be the position he was originally hired for and it was a true Godsend. But he didn't start the new position until April, it was very hard to keep quiet about it for most of March.
Snow!
Otter turned 17. Too quick! She should still be about 3 or 4.

April

Bill worked on his hydrogen generator project, he had a lot of fun with it. It did work, but not nearly as much as we'd heard that they would - which was not a surprise.
Bill's job transfer officially happened. It was a Very Good Thing.
Maggie decided that she needed to sleep in our bed instead of Otter's. That was not allowed!

Easter! We had a wonderful time at Grandpa & Sweetie's.
I mailed Froggy's collection to her.
We had the first hint of spring, we started hearing tree frogs. Fun!
Otter's parakeet died. While it was a sad occasion for her, she realized that she really did not enjoy having a bird and started thinking that maybe she should have got hamsters instead of parakeets like she originally wanted. She did the research and presented her case to her father, then two little furrballs moved in and I think I enjoy them as much as she does. "Nadine & Helena."
Sweetie's birthday was this month.
The irises started blooming!
Miss Dorothy fell & broke her hip. This was the beginning of some really rough times around the office, it was pretty bad because we were all so worried about this precious, precious lady. She's fine, thank God! But it was scary for a while.
One fun thing this month, a mockingbird outside the dining room window started imitating my cuckoo clock!
Otter had an interesting experience in school, they started disecting things. She enjoyed it, she's her mother's daughter after all.

May

We started hearing about swine flu. The media did it's usual thing, and it got to the point where I didn't even want to turn on the tv or read the paper!
The morning glories started coming up!
Maggie Moo discovered the hamsters, so the cage got moved to a higher location in Otter's room.
We got bamboo for the back yard. Which was a lot of work and then we didn't need it after all.
Work was wild, mostly due to the situation with Miss Dorothy.
We realized this month that Otter was probably going to have to go to summer school.
Mother's Day was very nice.
Rain. Lots of Rain. Lots and Lots of rain.
The tree frogs seemed to have multiplied exponentially! We enjoyed hearing them.
Put the pool up.
Last day of 10th grade.

June

Miss Dorothy got to go home from the hospital, she had been admitted again in May.
Toadles came to see us! He was the first of our summer visitors and we really enjoyed his visit. We had a train hunt, hit flea markets, and just had a great time. He got to hear the local coyotes, they talked to him. Otter also got a Toadles wake-up: ice cubes!
We saw a rabbit in the back yard, first time in a long time. The dogs spent a lot of time trying to find it, but they never managed to.
Nana came to visit! We had a wonderful time, and Otter really enjoyed it.
We saw the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Very somber, but so well done.
I finally got to see the Chihuly exhibit in Ok City! Spectacular, absolutely spectacular.
Billyboy had a birthday.
Father's Day this month.
Minor air conditioner repair needed at the rent house.
The pool split! It was not a fun thing.
We had several heat warnings, early for the heat to happen. Still not as hot or as long as S. Texas, but pretty warm for NE OK.
The builders behind us put up a privacy fence, so the bamboo came out.
Froggy came to see us! Lots and lots of Braum's trips, many flea markets & thrift stores. Lots of Fenton finds this month. :)
Talequah visit, to the Cherokee Heritage Center.
My vacation started at the end of June, finished up in the first week of July.
Summer school started for Otter. And she finished the first draft of her manuscript! (This is the edit)

July

Bill decided to sell some gold stuff we'd had for years. Not anything big, just a few little things.
Painted the rain barrel. It was white, now it's dark green.
Bill shot off a few fireworks on the 4th. And one bottle rocket blew up as soon as it was out of the bottle, which means that it was in Bill's face. I was not pleased!
Air conditioner at the house started acting up, turned out to be minor.
Summer school continued.
I got a raise! Totally unexpected, very much appreciated.
Billyboy's brother Scott & his family visited. Really cute kids. Otter enjoyed their visit so much, they are just great kids.
FutureJediMom had news - the first thing guessed was that the Tribe was expanding again, but it turned out to be the 2nd thing everyone guessed - they moved back to Texas. Which made Toadly very happy - FutureJediMom is his daughter, by the way.
Harry Potter movie premiered, I took Otter and a friend of hers.
We started putting trellis pieces on the privacy fence, and the morning glories took off!
Otter finished summer school with a B! She worked really hard and we are very proud of her.
Bill brought home a load of firewood in the White Lightning and broke one of the shock absorbers.
Otter went to Texas to spend a week with Nana and got to see pretty much all the other relatives. She had a great time, but it was very quiet around the house! We're glad she could go, it didn't look like it at first because of Summer School.
Dogs still looking for the bunny, it ran right in front of them and they still missed it!
Froggy's birthday!

August

The month started with a call from our tenant, they had bought a house and would be moving at the end of the month. We discussed our options and decided that it was time to sell.
Bill sold the Redneck Joke, also known as the parts car - the blue El Camino.
Otter came home from Texas, tired & happy. She had a great time.
FutureJediMom and the Tribe (or she might have called them the Herd) came to see us on their way back home to Texas. It was a short visit, but we are really glad that we got to see them. I think that Otter would have willingly kept any and all of the kids, by the way. We would have let her!
Grandpa's birthday this month!
Sales Tax Free weekend, we found a few things - mostly t-shirts for Otter to wear to school.
One particularly bad thunderstorm this month. Lots of hail. We started thinking maybe we should get the roof checked. Which we did, and the insurance started a claim for us.
11th grade started. Otter chose buffalo burgers for the special meal the first day of school.
Tropical Storm Bill! Then Hurricane Bill!
We argued with the insurance company on the type of coverage we had for the roof. We are going to change agents very shortly, since the agent we had been using couldn't give me an answer as to why we were told we had one coverage type but then didn't - at least we were not charged for the better coverage, we paid for the type of coverage we had. But it was not the better coverage we thought we had.
The tenants moved out a few days before the first, so we were able to get into the rent house this month and see what we needed to do. We started the cleaning process there. At first, we thought it was minor but then we realized that the carpet was not repairable and that there were a whole bunch of little things that were tenant related. It really added up.
Toadles had a birthday! He was hatched, by the way. Or maybe the aliens left him, we're not sure. :)

September

Busy month! Mostly related to the rent house. But we got it done, over the course of the month. There was a LOT to do. Otter helped us a great deal, and we really appreciated her efforts. She also helped out a lot at home, since so much of our time was spent at the rent house.We met with our realtor and signed the contract. He was very positive about it. We signed the contract on a Wednesday, he showed it for the first time on Friday and on the next Tuesday we had an offer. We got what we wanted for it and we were happy about that.
I had a major skin allergy attack, from something planted in the back yard - we think it was the "tree" on the neighbor's side that I brushed up against while mowing. I just about scratched all my skin off!
We realized that Magginator was having some housebreaking issues. We locked her out of the bedroom at that point. At their regular vet visit, Maggie weighed 30# and Frasier weighed 71#.
We had to buy a new lawn mower, Bill wore the old one out!
We discovered mosquitos in the rain barrel. Unexpected, we didn't think they could get in.

October

Frasier brought me a dead vole, good doggie!
Otter and I went to the rent house to say goodbye, since it was our home for 10 years. There were a lot of memories.
We saw the Toy Story movies in 3D at the theater.
I made my major Fenton find of the year - Cactus! This one made my year, as far as Fenton goes. It was spectacular! Now, I just need to top it. :)
We started redoing the rock garden.
We realized that Magginator had been leaving us surprises all over the house! We bought a steam cleaner and started cleaning everywhere.
We got our flu shots this month, as early as we could since all indications were that the supply was short.
We had to turn the heater on this month, as it got cold early.
We should have closed mid-month on the rent house sale. It looked like it, but the purchaser's title company kept messing up their paperwork. Then it was his mortgage company that kept screwing up.
We celebrated the anniversary of our meeting by cleaning the carpet!
Froggy had an internet issue - Scooter's dog chewed the cords up. So I didn't feel alone in doggie issues!
Otter really enjoyed sewing class at school.
Bill and I went to the rent house for one last check, we realized just how much work we'd done over there and it was a lot. It paid off, but we really worked hard.
The redecorating bug moved into Otter's bathroom!
We had the dryer vent cleaned out and also asked them to sweep the chimney - which turned out to need some work so along with the roof replacement, we now had to get the chimney rebuilt.
We worked on the rock garden some more.
We actually went to an auction! First time in months.
We signed our closing paperwork on the rent house sale.
We steam cleaned lots of places in the house.
Our realtor informed us that our rent house set the new price standard for that neighborhood - it raised it considerably. We're glad that we were able to do that.
Otter counted her shoes - 20 plus pair.
FutureJediMom's birthday this month.
Halloween.

November

We finished the rock garden! It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it.
The Dirty Jobs show Fenton episode aired. Obviously, I really enjoyed this one.
After who knows how many delays, the rent house closing finally happened! We had reached the point where we told the title company that we were not delaying anymore, it either happened by a certain date or we were cancelling the sale. All of a sudden, the tenant's mortgage company got their stuff together and it happened at about the last minute, on the last day we gave them. But it happened!
Bill bought a compressor on Craigslist. It meant that he had to clean out a lot of clutter in the garage. Good Thing.
I bought a bike, to replace the one that I'd had for a while but gave up on because of the fact that it is old and falling apart. Of course, the weather turned then so beyond a test ride I haven't actually got to use it!
Since we finally had time, Bill started getting estimates on the chimney and signed the contract for the roof repair. We really weren't sure that they would happen this year.
We got banana trees. 3 of them died, 3 of them might make it - we'll find out for sure in a few months.
I finally, FINALLY got to see the new Star Trek movie! It was tremendous!
I got new glasses. After a delay caused by the tech who made the new lenses.
We enjoyed Thanksgiving, we went to Grandpa & Sweetie's house and had a wonderful time. Great food and great visit.
Bill got a new chain saw! He used it on tree limbs. No blood this time!
Bill finally got around to replacing the windshield on his Impala.

My friend Virginia lost her husband. Two years after their daughter died, and completely unexpectedly. She retired in the early spring, they only had a few months together where they were retired and they were raising their grandchildren. It was a really rough time, he died the day after Thanksgiving. This overshadowed everything this month. They still need our prayers.

December

The roofing company had an opening and were able to work us in!
The chimney rebuild happened on the same day, it took a couple of weeks for that because they had rain delays but they were able to get it finished and in perfect time because it started to get really cold shortly after they finished.
Bill bought a few pachinko machines.
Otter had to seperate her hamsters, they quit getting along and now she has two cages.
We got our first freeze. It got cold early this year, but then it got warm again and the trees were confused - they started budding out.
For the first time in all her school years, Otter got sick and school and I had to go get her!
Nana & Carolyn had birthdays this month!

Christmas happened this month. We had a nice one, very quiet and relaxing. I did get one present that I need to mention - FENTON! It's pink, it's a rose bowl style vase and it's perfect. It's on the shelf in the bedroom, which badly needed another piece.
We had an ice storm, it was actually an official blizzard and hit Christmas eve. We were really glad that the chimney work was done!
We had a nice vacation week (we're technically still on it today).
I caught up with Bill! I'm 48 now.
Paul graduated from Texas A & M! Froggy was very happy.
Carolyn & Jim visited, we enjoyed getting to see them.

Otter made a wonderful find at a thrift store - no Fenton for me, but she had a good day. She found a jacket. New with the original tag. She paid $2.00 for it. The original price tag? $169.00.

We finally decided how to rearrange Otter's bathroom! She chose a burgundy shower curtain and is using jewel tones for the other colors. It is turning out wonderfully.

I made another major Fenton find, on Dec. 31. It's a footed compte, milk glass in the Rose pattern. The one I've been looking for, and in the shape I've been wanting. It wasn't quite as good a deal as the cactus, but it was a good deal. (This is the 2nd edit).

This has been such a busy year, but it has been a good one. We got to see a whole lot of people, family visits were so much fun. We accomplished a great deal around the house and the rent house sale was something that took a lot of work but was so worth it. We have had very little in the way of health issues, just a few things but they were all relativly minor. Otter's asthma has improved so much, it looked like she was going to have bad problems for the rest of her life but instead we got a Miracle. Bill has a great job now, he's so much happier and the reduction in his stress has helped a lot. It's been a very good year. Our wish for everyone is that 2010 will be a good year for us all.

And now, it's 8:38 a.m.!

Come Play With Us!!

On second thought, don't. The game we are playing is the Asthma Game. Otter has been playing it since last night, and she was obviously on the losing end this morning. She went to school, but only because she had a project due. Then her group didn't get to present their project, so she could have stayed home. She called me after the class period ended and I went to get her. She's on the couch with her pillow and a couple of blankets, and a beagle for good measure. She's had a sore throat off & on the last couple of days, not bad but just there. But her lungs are now involved, so that changes things. We'll just play it by ear as far as tomorrow goes. The cold aggravates the asthma, and it's certainly cold!

We decided to see how the hamsters would get along, after a couple of days as singletons. They were fine as long as we were holding them, they groomed each other and got along. So we put them both in the same cage to see what happened. And immediately had to take the little one back out and put her in her own cage! Then they went back to being happy, alone girls.

Frasier just collapsed in a heap on the floor, then he stretched out and yawned. Now I think he's going to sleep. Smart dog! They didn't particularly want to go outside when we left this morning, but we filled them full of treats and I poured hot water over their frozen water dish. When we got home and let them in, they were warm and happy so I think they'd been cuddled up in the garage on their carpet, snoozing most likely.

I did manage to get two birdfeeders out this morning. I might head out there later and hang a couple more. I should have put them out days ago, but with the roofers & chimney people here there were a lot of things like shingles flying off the roof and I didn't think the birds would even come to the feeders.

OK, I'm off to start a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, wash the dishes in the sink, pet a dog or two, feed my Otter and then I might possibly get some crochet started. Like a hat for Kid # 3!

Updates

This is a pachinko machine, which is what Bill's current project involves. This is not one of his, I'll get pictures when he gets through cleaning & restoring them. See all the little dots in curved shapes on the face of the machine? They aren't dots. They are metal spikes, a couple of inches long. The machine in the picture doesn't have all that many. The machines that are currently sitting in my living room (2) and garage (1) have a whole bunch of little spikes. They are all somewhat dirty. Each one has to be cleaned individually with a q-tip. It's very time-consuming. Bill's been cleaning spikes for days now...

Anyway, he's having fun. And no power tools have been used! So I'm not complaining.

The roofers came back today and finished up. We had them install attic vents, there were a couple already and now there are more. They also cleaned up anything they missed yesterday and took the rest of the unused shingles. The roof looks wonderful. I'm just glad we were able to get it done this year, because we really didn't think it would happen since it's so close to the end of the year. But we simply did not have time when we realized that there was an issue with the old roof because that's when the rent house became vacant and most of our time was spent in getting it ready to sell. Now, we're just waiting on Monday for the final chimney work to be done.

We sure could use that chimney tonight! It was 18 degrees this morning, I think it got to the mid-20's this afternoon. Very cold. Looking out the window, it looked like a nice day - blue skies, just beautiful. However, looks can be deceiving. And they were! Tonight will get to 12 degrees. Just thinking about it makes me feel cold. There was a little breeze, just enough to make the cold feel worse. Especially to my asthmatic lungs! The dry, cold air is also affecting another problem. I keep trying to have nosebleeds. They are a normal occurance for me, not frequent but they do happen from time to time. I don't like them!

The hamsters seem to be doing just fine, now that they are on their own. Both are still friendly, both wheels are being used and they are active and seem happy. They just live alone now. When Otter had pet mice, they usually got along great. One one time was there a problem. Usually, when introducing a new mouse to the existing cage we would have to watch them and occasionally there would be a spat or two while they adjusted. But it only took a little while, then they got along great. One time, the dominant mouse killed a new one. But that was the only problem. With hamsters, they almost never accept a new cage mate although if they are raised together, certain breeds will generally be fine together. Usually, that is. Otter's are not the same species, although they are both dwarf types (small) and both of their species are supposed to get along with cage mates provided that they are raised together. But Helena and Nadine seem to be much happier as singles. We heard lots of chirping from Nadine this morning. She was happy, and I think she was singing. Happy little furry.

Hamster Tales and Other Stuff

Hamster tail, get it? Yeah, I know. It's a bad pun. But I think it's a cute one. This is not one of Otter's hamsters, by the way!

Lots of stuff going on around here.

To start with, the title Hamster Tales refers to the fact that Otter's hamsters have now decided not to get along. It happens sometimes, they have been raised together which usually will work out. But hamsters are by nature solitary animals and sometimes they will simply stop getting along and once that starts, they seldom go back to being peaceful occupants of the same cage. Otter's two girls have been fine, just the occasional spat, since she got them. However, as of last night, it's all changed. The smaller one has always been the more submissive of the two. But last night she apparently decided that a change of command was in order. She kept attacking the larger one, and it wasn't just a spat. They were seriously fighting. We kept separating them and every time they got back into the cage, the smaller one (Helena) would attack the bigger one (Nadine). We finally realized that they were going to have to be in different cages if we wanted them both to stay alive. A few months back, Otter bought a smaller cage which was attached to the larger cage with plastic climbing tubes. We took them apart and blocked the openings, she had a second water bottle and a second, smaller food dish that came with the smaller cage. This morning, we tried to put them back into the same cage and Helena started another fight so we put her back into the smaller cage. This afternoon, we went to Petsmart and bought another wheel as well as a larger food dish for the second cage. The cages are now seperate and both have wheels, good sized food dishes so they don't have to be refilled every day and water bottles. The larger cage had a climbing tube set up that went to a smaller room and a second climbing tube to an area that can be accessed via a lid on the top. We moved the climbing tube set up with the smaller room to the smaller cage, since Helena was pretty much the only hamster that used it. Nadine has always climbed up to the access area so she's still got it and Helena has the one she always used. Among other things, they are not the same type of hamster although they were sold as the same. But that's not a major deal.

The chimney repair started today. It's a 2-day job. The roofer called Friday evening, he had an opening in his schedule so he was going to start today as well. Billyboy was off work today and also tomorrow, for the chimney work so he told the roofer to come on. The chimney crew left around 5:00ish, they said that they hope to be able to finish up tomorrow but honestly, it might not happen. Because we might get winter weather. The roofers did the back of the house and the side/garage area, they stripped the previous roofing material off and put the felt/membrane down, then the shingles. They did not get to the front of the house yet. They did it in stages in case they weren't able to finish it all because of the afore-mentioned winter weather possiblity. Both of them are planning on being back tomorrow, if it's at all possible. Otherwise, it will be sometime later on in the week or possibly Monday for the chimney and I'm not sure about the roof schedule, but it's similar. The way that the roofers did their job today actually worked out very well, in case we do get bad or wet weather. But we can't use the fireplace yet, it will be 24 hours after they are all done anyway. I just hope that the winter weather holds off enough or is mild enough so that the chimney at least can be finished up tomorrow. The roof can wait a few days if it has to, I'd prefer not to have to wait but it's ok if it can't be finished up tomorrow. I hope that they finish soon, there is a very large truck parked in my driveway and piles of roofing shingles & supplies stacked in the front yard!

I spoke with Virginia tonight. She is doing pretty good, she said that she's been so busy with the kids & moving into her mother's house that she hasn't really had time to process everything. But she's finished up with moving, and now she's trying to get the kids back into a routine. She hasn't been sleeping too well, which is probably normal. She said that she knows it hasn't really hit her yet, but she is coping as much as she can at this point. She misses her husband badly, but she knows that he is with their daughter and that they will all be reunited some day. She wanted me to tell everyone again how much the prayers mean to her.

I have another prayer request, along with continued prayers for Virginia. Miss Dorothy, who I had requested prayers for in the spring when she broke her hip. She has come down with pneumonia and is hospitalized. She's doing very well, I talked to her today, but she is 93 and that makes her more fragile. She'll probably go home tomorrow, but I would still like to ask for prayers for her. Her husband, the young old boss EL, had it a few weeks back. He's doing great now.

Goodnight!

So Many Titles!

The first choice for a title is Pat the Ottermom. Remember the kid's book, Pat the Bunny? Well, I know exactly how that bunny feels. I was "radomly selected" at the airport this morning to be checked a little closer going through security. I don't buy the "random" part of it, because it's happened to me a lot. Like nearly every time! I was going to be put through the full-body scanner, but they were having a problem resetting it after having to scan the guy ahead of me more than once. The officer running the machine told him that his clothing had a reflection and that it might have been residue from the detergent they were laundered in. In my case, it almost always happens that I have to be screened closer after I go through the metal detector.

Another title choice would have been Because It's a Nice Day. Which was Bill's excuse for driving the El Camino today! Yesterday's reason was because it needed to be test driven after the shock replacement. Except that it got the test drive on Sunday! I'm not sure what his reason will be for tomorrow, but there will be one. I would be willing to bet money on that. :)

Otter's in TEXAS. Like I mentioned earlier, I took her to the airport this morning. We got there just after 6:00 a.m., and they let me go to the gate with her. I was surprised, I really didn't think that they would let me. But they did, and I was glad because otherwise I would have had about an hour to kill and no idea what to do! She called me after she got to her final destination and she said that she had a good flight. She had no trouble with her plane change, she's done it a few times now. Otter was very excited to get there and I know she will have a good time.

Nana asked me what Bill and I are going to do this week. Usually we have something planned, movies or dinners out, etc. But this time, we are just going to enjoy the quiet house! We have had so much company (which we really did enjoy) this summer that we think it's time to just relax. By quiet house, I don't mean that we'll be enjoying an Otter-free house. We already miss her and so do the poochies. The fuzzbutts (hamsters) haven't commented yet, but they were very glad to see me just now. Of course, that might have been because I was refilling their food bowl!

I Know It's Already June!

But here's the book list for May. Better late than never, I guess.

1. The Stand by Stephen King. The best of the best. I've read it several times and will read it several more times. It's just that good. Otter agrees with me, by the way.

2. CSI: Secret Identity. Steven Grant, Gabriel Rodrigues and Steven Perkins. CSI in manga form. Otter checked it out at the library, then she told me I had to read it. It was good.

3. Stalking the Plumed Serpent & Other Adventures in Herpetology by D. Bruce Means. Waste of time, I didn't get very far before I gave up. Not well-written and for an expert, he doesn't seem to know much!

4. Water Dogs by Lewis Robinson. OK, a quick read but not the best.

5. The Roots of Desire, the Myth, Meaning and () Power of Red Hair by Marion Roach. Can we say total complete waste of time? Most of what was in this book is stuff that I have seen many times over, a lot of it is on the internet. The author is a redhead, but she didn't do any research. At all. Filled with extremely incorrect information.

6. Spiders, the Ultimate Predators. Stephen Dalton. Interesting, lots of cool pictures. We like spiders.

7. Lone Wolf, the Search for Eric Rudolph. by Mary Anne Vallers. Rudolph is the person who bombed the Atlanta olympics and also several murder factories (abortion providers). I don't agree with his tactics, by the way. But the book was interesting. The author was pretty obviously pro-death (choice) and most likely feminist. But the book was well written and she obviously spent a lot of time researching it.

8. Wedding Belles by Haywood Smith. The was actually part 3 in a series and the first I've read by this author. It was funny.

9. The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith, part one.

10. The Red Hat Club Rides Again by Haywood Smith. Part three. I hope that she writes more in this series, it was funny.

Frasier is not happy. He's confused. Seems he discovered the hamster cage this morning. We've been moving them to the office the last several nights, since the wheel that was attached to the cage could probably be heard all the way in Texas. We move it back to Otter's room in the mornings. I was checking my email this morning before the cage got moved back, Frasier was in his usual spot - trying to get all my attention - when he caught sight of movement inside the cage. He sat and stared at the cage for about 10 minutes. Then he scooted closer. The cage was sitting up on something, so he couldn't reach it. But then he started getting into the position that prefaces standing on his back legs. Which is when I grabbed him by the collar and then took the cage back to Otter's room. Where it sits on top of her chest of drawers and is much higher up. Frasier has very seldom gone into Otter's room for more than a few minutes. But when we got home this afternoon, we cleaned the cage and also attached a new set of climbing tubes which have an external wheel and it's very quiet. The dogs are shut out of Otter's room while we clean the cage. Frasier waited patiently, then he immediately went to sit in front of the chest of drawers and stare at the cage. At one point, Otter said he was about to stand up on his back feet so she stopped him and chased him out of her room. He doesn't seem to understand why he can't have the scooby snacks that he can clearly see and smell. Life's not fair! Poor dog is so spoiled...

Toadles arrives the day after tomorrow! We can hardly wait. Maggie and Frasier are eager to meet him. Frasier probably will ask Toadles to take the snacks out of the cage for him, and Maggie will probably spend her time trying to monopolize his attention and then sneak into bed with him so she can steal the covers. She does that.

I Know it's Really Spring

Because I've been hearing tree frogs lately. And bullfrogs. And sometimes both at once.

The bluebonnet we transplanted is doing great, it's blooming along with the first one and both have other buds.

Dorothy is also doing wonderfully, she came through the surgery well and I talked to her this morning. She said that they got her out of bed and into a chair, she got a little dizzy but her husband and son got really dizzy! They don't handle anything medical too well, which I thought was really funny and it apparently made Dorothy's day.

The hams have had a good first week with Otter. They are very hand-tame and quite friendly. Although I did get a nip from Helena, but I was adjusting a part of the cage and I think she thought I was about to squash her. They have started sleeping up in their excercise wheel, they keep it full of their bedding and when we cleaned the cage and took the bedding out, they carried more up there. They seem to like their house and they frequently run up the tube into the top area when they see anybody by the cage. The top area has an opening so that they can be reached easily. They seem to like to be petted.

Frasier's ears are bothering him this week. I've had to treat them several times and I'm thinking I might have to get him into the vet if they don't improve in a few days.

I'm very glad that it's Friday.

Surprise!

The first surprise was Maggie's, last night. She came running in to get me, as fast as those little legs would carry her fat body. It was obvious she wanted me to follow her. I had a pretty good idea as to just where she was going to lead me, and I was right. Straight to Otter's room! She "showed" me this strange thing that suddenly appeared on a low table on the other side of Otter's bed. She was very curious about it, then she couldn't seem to understand why that strange thing suddenly got relocated to the top of Otter's chest of drawers! (Because the little, furry things inside of it are not Scooby Snacks!).

The other surprise was mine and Otter's, this afternoon. We found another bluebonnet! This one was several inches away from where the naturalized ones were last year, outside of the whiskey barrel and on the verge of blooming. Bill was about to start mowing the front yard, I told him that if he mowed it then I was going to kick his behind all the way to Texas. Otter said she'd help! We got the shovel and I dug it up, it's been relocated to the whiskey barrel. I hope I didn't kill it, I dug as deep as I could but it was in a "nest" of tree roots. Otter watered it and time will tell. It was wilting, but that is normal when plants get moved. I wish I had seen it when it was smaller, we did look but it was a lot farther than last year's were. I'll get pictures in the next couple of days, as soon as I'm sure it's going to survive.

Otter was surprised at 3:00 a.m. today, by the sound of hamsters running in their wheel. The wheel is actually outside of the cage, the cage is similar to the Habitrail cages with plastic tubes they can climb through and they have to go up a slide and through a small tube to get to the wheel. They seemed to be having a good time in it, when I saw them this morning. We went to Petsmart this afternoon. Otter forgot to get them a house yesterday, animals like that need some place they can snuggle up to sleep in. She got a wooden house that they can chew. They were very curious about it, they were all over it but then they decided that they would rather crawl up the tubes for a while. That's when I noticed that they moved a lot of their bedding material up to the wheel. I looked in on them later and they were cuddled up, sleeping, in the wheel. We'll probably have to clean out the bedding from the wheel, but they still seem to be able to use it for it's intended purpose. I'll probably play with them as much as Otter!

What A Ham!

Two of them, in fact. Otter finally spent her birthday money!

This is Nadine. It's a Stephen King reference, anyone who has read his tremendous book The Stand will get it. (Otter was thinking Raven for the name, the bad guy's alternate form is a raven. His girlfriend's name is Nadine and since the hamsters are females...).

This is Helena. I'm not sure why, but Otter will enlighten me I'm sure!

Nana, they are not mice! But they will be moved out of Otter's room when you visit so you won't have to worry about them.

Otter has been wanting hamsters for a long time, she nearly got them instead of parakeets a few years ago. In hindsight, she probably should have gotten hamsters. She finally decided to see if she could talk her father into letting her get them, and he agreed. She did the research she knew he would ask for, that was last week's activity. Then she called Petsmart and got prices, and also we checked on how they get along since she wanted two of them. We made a trip Friday after work to look at cages. Then she got all of her information together and talked to Bill. And we went to Petsmart today to get them. So far, no interest in them by either dog. Frasier very rarely goes into Otter's room anyway. The girls will not be taken out of the cage if the dogs are in the house, Otter's door will probably be shut even then but the girls won't be taken out a lot. Who am I kidding, Otter will play with them as much as she can! They are pretty well socialized and seem to like people already. They have a life span of about 1 1/2 to 2 years, but Otter's pocket pets generally live a longer life than usual. At least, the mice did. Mice usually live 1 to 1 1/2 years, only one of hers died under two years. One of them lived over 3 years, which is extremely rare.

They are Russian Dwarf hamsters and are about as big as they will get. They might get just a little bigger. They are pretty hand-tame and since they have been raised together, they should get along. Hamsters don't always like other hamsters, unless they have been raised together. It's nearly impossible to introduce another hamster into an existing cage.

I'm sure we know who this clown is! The white part on the side that looks like a circle cut out of the picture is actually the part of the rain barrel that was between me and Frasier. No Maggie picture today, the camera battery died just as I was attempting to take a picture of her. She was nose to the ground in search of a mole. Frasier was probably checking to see if we'd finished mowing the yard.

They're blooming! This is against the back of the house.

Wider shot of the back of the house.

A close-up. They are just starting to bloom and they are going to be absolutely georgeous this year. Quite a few of the ones I transplanted last year are blooming, it can take them a couple of years to bloom after being moved but mine have always bloomed the first year after transplantation. That might be because they are well-established bulbs in the first place and not new bulbs. I know, rhizomes not bulbs! But bulbs is easier.