Middle of Vacation at Home Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Three Hour Tour...

Name that tune!

OK, the point of this has nothing to do with the theme song to Gilligan's Island.  :)

Thursday when I got home, there was a hanger on the front door from the electric company.  We were dealing with Frasier and frankly, the electric company was the last thing I was concerned with at that point in time.  They said that they needed to get into my yard for something and I did call the number to arrange them to come out today when Otter could be here, but other than that I didn't have any interest in anything they needed.  They were supposed to be out here at 8:00 a.m. today.  They were needing to get to just a small part of my yard, to dig up an area and re-run some cable - or maybe run in new cable to either the next door neighbor or one of the neighbors behind us.  Or at least that is what it sounded like on the very bad connection I had when I called the number on the door hanger.  Because of a past issue with them leaving the gate open and Maggie getting out, we do not let anyone have access to our yard unless we are here at the time.  And they know it!

Otter got here about 7:00 this morning, she dozed on the couch until I woke her up at 7:30 to let her know I was leaving.  She called me about 8:10 or so to let me know that they were here and that she'd blocked Maggie Moo in.  Otter also mentioned that it took a while to convince him that yes, she is an adult and could let him in the yard!  I told her she should just get her driver's license and glue it to her forehead!  She called me back shortly after that to let me know that the (one and only) guy on the digger had come to the door to tell her that he'd cut the phone line accidentally.  He told her that he would call the phone company himself.  About 11:30, he was still digging and that's when I decided I'd better head on home.  I ran by Sonic to get lunch for Otter, and I was home just as the digger operator was walking back to his truck.  He said that he had called the phone company and told them that the homeowner was livid, so they'd better get out here on the double.  Which is funny, because most of the time I have to deal with the phone company I am livid! :)  I told him that, and why, and also that the joke about Redhead tempers (especially on Redhead Women) is not exactly a lie.

I asked him how many of my crepe myrtles they were going to have to replace and he said that he'd made sure to dig the trench well out of range of them.  He said he knew how mad his mama would be at her plants being destroyed, so he always tries to avoid them if it's at all possible.  He also said that they will lay strips of sod over any exposed dirt areas when they are through.

Otter hung around for a while so we could visit, and she could also spend a little more time with a certain beaglebrat.  She gave the dog a short walk to visit the grass in the front yard, then she headed home after that.  The telephone company crew showed up somewhere in that time frame, and so did about 3 other electric company employees.  I let Maggie out later on, she wasn't really sure about going out in the yard with all those people out there - which is unusual for her, but she's still obviously adjusting to being an Only Dog.  The 2nd time I got her out there, she was much more relaxed and did what she was supposed to do.  I talked to the crew at that point and they were working pretty steadily.  In fact, the only time that they weren't working was when they went on their lunch break.  When Bill got home, he went out to talk to them and they were pretty much done by that point - at least three of them were using shovels to cover the trench back up by hand.  It turns out that the man on the digger was actually the supervisor, and he was working along side the crew which is unusual.  They didn't quite get finished, there is one spot in the corner where they have to do something else involving cables and they will come out tomorrow.  I set up a specific time so that I can be here.

The three hour estimate lasted from 8:10 this morning until shortly before 5:00 this afternoon!

Does this look like a small spot in the corner of the yard to you?  It sure doesn't to me!

The pictures were all taken from inside the dining room and living room windows.

I did upload my pictures of Frasier from last Thursday, I took them when I got home about 3:15 before the vet visit.  I don't think I'm going to post them.  They are not bad, he looks happy in a couple of them but they are very hard for me to look at still.  In most of them, I can tell that he was not feeling 100%.  I may eventually change my mind, but not right now.  We're still adjusting ourselves and it's slowly getting better, but he was very much part of the family and it's been tough.

The hummingbirds are here!  Bill saw two of them this afternoon, one flew out of the trellis where the honeysuckle is and the other one was flying up into the tree at the same time.  It's rainy and cool, so I was kind of surprised that they were here already but I'm happy that they are.

This also makes us happy!  I took this a few days ago, there are even more buds and blooms now.  The scent is so strong, it's almost intoxicating.

At Least Monday is Over

But it's not Friday yet.  Unfortunately.

Bill sanded the switc hplate down to the wood, the one I threw out and then rescued from the trash.  I painted it again, with the white basecoat and when the paint is dry I'll cover it with modge-podge glue and put the scrapbook paper on it that I found.  It's supposed to be small doily-ish patterns and I like it.  After the modge-podge is dry, then I'll apply a sheet of clear mylar.  Then the fun begins!  The part where I kept messing up.  Cutting the holes out and cutting it around the edges!  After all that's done, I'm going to hit the painted (but unpapered) sides with clear sealer and then they just have to dry.  Then I can actually put them on the wall.

I'm not as tired today, but I do still have Redhead Anemia issues.  Not as bad, it's just "there."

I'm also having more allergy issues this afternoon, but that generally happens after I pull weeds in the rock garden.  Literally, IN the rock garden for part of it.  And around the edges.  I found a frog in the rock garden.  Actually, I almost picked "him" up with a bunch of weeds!  Did you know that frogs can give dirty looks?  This one did, anyway!  :)  He was not a huge frog, but I think he was still fairly young.  He hopped away from me, to the other side of the rock garden and probably is happily hiding in the honeysuckle now.  He might be the one I've been hearing the last few nights.

I've also heard tree frogs lately.  Especially when it rains.  I haven't seen them yet this spring, but they are obviously here already.

No sign of hummingbirds yet, but I put out two feeders Sunday.  I thought I might have seen one zipping by but it was hard to tell.  It's still a little early though.  But sometimes they arrive early, and just because I haven't seen them does not mean that they aren't here yet.

Fraiser is a little creaky today.  He and Maggie Moo were happy to go out in the back yard with me.  While I was pulling weeds, Maggie Moo was sitting on her behind and staring at the ground.  After a minutes, she reached down and pulled a large beetle grub out of the dirt.  Then she ate it!  Frasier was walking around like he does, looking for spots to water.  But then I noticed he was laying down in a grassy spot and when I called him to come in, he didn't want to get up at first.  He seemed to be more than a little stiff, but he did get up and came inside.  Then he went out the dog doors and to their yard.  He laid down in his usual spot, and I took an anti-inflammatory to him.  He hasn't needed them lately, but it's been cool and damp which seems to affect him  I called the vet and ordered a refill.  I still had one pill left for him, but I also had some from Maggie Moo's bladder infection she had last fall and the vet said that I can use them.  They are still within a safe date, they are the same dose but were cut in half for her.  I was going to take the brush to Frasier while we were outside, but that will wait a day or two.  Mostly because of my allergies, I didn't want to stay outside any longer than I had to.  He love the brushing, and so does Maggie Moo but she's not long haired so it's just a fun experience for her.  At the moment, they are both in the living room and both of them are snoozing.  Frasier is probably snoozing because of the medication, but Maggie Moo is just napping because it's what beagles do best, after all!

More Trip Stuff and Miscellaneous Rambles

It's been a busy week.  Monday was spent dealing with the Houston airport and waiting for Southwest to get it together and a) get a pilot, b) get a plane for the pilot and c) the weather to cooperate so that they could get a) and b).

Work has been somewhat busy this week, it's the one week of the month where I have a lot to do in a short period of time.  I scheduled my TEXAS trip for the days prior to Crazy Week at work.

No particular reason for this next picture:

Well, there is a reason.  Froggy knows why!

 

Otter had to be in at 7:00 this morning.  It was originally 6:00 a.m., but the boss called her yesterday to reschedule her.  She wasn't complaining, 7:00 a.m. is still early but it's better than 6:00!  She got off at 1:00 and went to the post office for me (we have a p.o. box) to see if we had mail.  Froggy, remember the post cards I mailed from your house last week?  They got here yesterday (the one to work) and today (the ones to home.)  I was beginning to think that they had been lost in the mail.

Or maybe this is the reason the mail is "confused"?!?!?!

 

I put two hummingbird feeders up yesterday and we saw a female on one of the feeders this afternoon.  She was probably wondering why I hadn't gotten o the ball and put the feeders up yet, but at least they are finally up.  Better late than never, I guess!

Slightly Accented

OK, so I'm a little more than slightly!  Happens after spending several days in TEXAS.  I make a serious effort not to lose my TEXAS accent, but it does soften over time.  But then I go Home again and get my TEXAN batteries recharged.  The TEXAN batteries power up my accent, among other things, and I always talk "right" upon my return to Okieland.  I'm even noticing it today, so it must be more pronounced than usual.  Not that I'm complaining!  Never about TEXAS or things TEXAN.

 

Froggy commented that the little town I couldn't remember the name of is Round Rock.  We hit several places in our shopping frenzy and they weren't all in the same town(s) so I got a little confused.

 

Otter had one night last week when she had to work until midnight.  She was scheduled for it, they were getting ready for the parking lot sale which involved a large tent and stocking it.  However, this is Oklahoma and it is Spring.  Which means that it rained.  A lot, from what she and Bill told me.  Enough that some of the merchandise got wet and the tent was basically useless, so after a few days and many hours of setting it up and stocking it, everything had to be moved back inside.  She texted me when she got home that night (I was asleep in Froggy's guest bedroom) and it was somewhere around 12:20 a.m.  She said that an owl flew in front of the car as she was leaving the parking lot, it was probably chasing something it wanted to eat.

 

Bill was sick over the weekend.  He didn't tell Otter because a) she would have worried and b) she would have told me.  He didn't tell me because a) I was several hundred miles away and would have worried and b) I was several hundred miles away and couldn't get on him about taking care of himself!  I think he had a cold-ish bug, he is still somewhat congested.

 

I managed to get to the grocery store today.  It was kind of busy, I intended to go yesterday but I was just too tired to deal with it.  I got in and out in 45 minutes or so, but they were out of the specific ground turkey meat we like so I still have another trip ahead of me but it's going to be a quick one.

 

I finally got my hummingbird feeders up.  This morning.  I put two of them up, I'm a little behind where I normally am.  By this time they have usually been up for a month or 6 weeks, but it's been rainy and cool too often to have them.  Hopefully, we'll still have some.

 

That's it for now!  More in a few days.  When I'm caught up on my resting.  And I'll still be accented then, too!  :)

Thursday Already? Thursday Already!!

It's been a long week.  On one hand.  On the other hand, it's been a fast week.

 

Whatever, tomorrow is Friday and that is all that matters at the moment.  :)

 

Along with about a billion other errands after work today, I went back to the nursery and got 4 more honeysuckle plants.  I also got my Mother's Day present from Bill - I told him I thought I wanted something for the yard but that I'd have to let him know when I figured it out.  I figured it out today, I found a clematis that should have a deep reddish pink bloom.  It's going to be planted at the fan shaped trellis that is between two of the honeysuckle trellis we put in last summer.  The honeysuckle I bought a couple of weeks ago is on those three trellises, the new 4 are for the lattice on the back fence.  The nursery I went to is a neat place, they have a huge variety of plants and a huge stock of everything.  They are a local store, not a chain and they are generally very busy.  There is a resident cat and dog, they spend their time inside the indoor store area.  Along with a bunch of parakeets.  They have a pretty unique pest control system in the outside areas:  chickens!  Big, black, furry ones - the kind that look like they have fur on their feet/legs.  They wander all over, I think they probably have a protected area to reside in overnight.

 

Everything will get planted tomorrow when Bill gets home from work.  I was originally thinking about a rosebush on the fan trellis, but I really like clematis and so do hummingbirds and butterflies.  Roses are a possibility in the future, but Otter is very allergic to roses so I decided to plant something else there.

 

I also went by the booth and collected for the sales in April.  When I took that to the bank, they asked me about an account that I closed and were wondering if I knew a check had come through it.  The only account I closed was the one the checks that were stolen were written on.  I was in the drive through, the teller told me to come in and talk to someone inside because she thought it was fraudulent and if she hadn't told me, I probably wouldn't have known that there was an issue until the bank mailed me the notice.  She told me to come inside and start the fraud charge paperwork so we'd be protected, which I appreciate but it turned out not to be necessary.  But if I hadn't had a deposit to make, it would have probably been days still.  It turns out that it wasn't actually a check written on the account, I was afraid that we were about to have Round 3 in ID theft to deal with.  A few days back, Bill bought something online and used PayPal to pay for it.  PayPal has goofed up more than once, usually involving taking the wrong amount or taking it from the wrong account - it's supposed to be charged to our credit card but way back when we first started using PayPal, it was set up to come out of the checking account.  Which is the account we closed when the checks were stolen.  In 2007, I think.  Guess what PayPal decided to do?   For no good reason that we can figure out, PayPal apparently decided to go back to the old checking account instead of the credit card!  We've updated and changed things with PayPal many times, yet they keep screwing up and each time it's worse.  The bank refused the charge, since the account was closed and wanted to charge us $22 but they took the $22 charge off and Bill's going to give PayPal "What For" tomorrow.  At least it's not ID theft, like the bank originally thought.

 

The April sales at the booth were better than I thought, Bill sold one pachinko machine and a couple of things but most of it was my stuff.  We're going to keep the booth for a while longer, it would be nice if we could sell another pachinko machine.

 

Is it Friday yet?  Almost.

It Is Officially Spring Today

Because we switched bedspreads!

 

Much as I love the camo quilt, it is very warm.  It's wonderful to sleep under it during the winter, but it's getting warmer and that means that it's time for my quilt!

 

Bill got up around 6:15, the dogs were still quiet and calm.  That never happens, they want breakfast at a regular time and that time is generally no later than 5:30 a.m.  He brought coffee back to me (I was still in bed) and we enjoyed having coffee without actually having to get up.  It was nice, we didn't turn the light on and just enjoyed watching the sky get lighter outside the window.

 

We've been running errands and doing stuff around the house.  We went to several stores for stuff Bill needed (usually it's for me or Otter.)  Bill and Otter just about ran my feet off, but it was fun.  One of our stops was Otter's store, Bill wanted to get stuff for his soda blaster (like a sand blaster) and I got knee pads.  My knees have been really bad lately, Bill suggested I try knee pads and Otter said that they carry some good ones so I figured it's worth a try.

 

Especially with the fact that Spring has sprung and I'm going to be outside a lot in the near future, planting things.  Lowe's and Home Depot seem to be getting their stock of plants in but I don't think that they have a lot yet.  Honeysuckle and trumpet vines are on our list, as well as a few smaller things that can be potted and put on the deck.  I put out more yarn bits yesterday.  I have seen several robins lately, and one woodpecker that was happy running around the tree beside the garage yesterday.  It's a little early for hummingbirds yet, I probably will not put a feeder out for a few weeks but we'll be watching for them anyway.

 

I also ran to Wallyworld this afternoon.  My tennis shoes were starting to get a little uncomfortable, they are Dr. Scholl's brand and weren't cheap and I was afraid that I was going to have to replace them.  But then I realized that they have removable insoles and that the gel pads were just worn out.  I bought some more Dr. Scholl's brand gel insoles and they feel much better now, soft and nearly as comfortable as they did when I bought them last summer.  Other than the insoles, the rest of the shoes are in decent shape and should last a lot longer - I've finally learned to buy better brands!  They are worth the extra $$.  I also bought foam pad insoles at the dollar store, but they are for my leather house shoes.  They have an attached foam insole which has gotten flattened out a bit but the suede is still in very good shape.

 

Otter's runnoft with J today.  He went to a local arcade and she met him up there.  She's been getting her cosplay stuff together and she needed a slightly large magnifying glass for the main character she'll be at TNT this summer.  It occurred to me that a bubble wand could be refurbished into what she needed, but when I was at the dollar store I found a plastic bug collection kit that is basically a large, plastic magnifying glass - the bug collection is in the clear handle.  I texted her a picture and she said it was what she needed so I grabbed one while I was there.

 

We've been cleaning out stuff.  Bill found 4 old boxes of household records, 1996 - 1999.  They mostly had things that could be gotten rid of, he's been keeping busy with the shredder this afternoon.  Anything like taxes are being kept, but I don't think we need receipts from when Otter was in daycare!  I think that there are probably still a few years of boxes stored around here somewhere, I'm sure he'll come across them soon.

 

Froggy, I got a little work done on your non-crochet "other thing" yesterday.  It's almost through, then I will get started on the crochet "stuff" again.

 

Speaking of crochet, which I frequently do, I started a lap blanket out of scrap yarn.  I think I already mentioned that.  It's going to take me a long time to complete, since I don't have a whole lot of scrap yarn at the moment.  I'm thinking I'm also going to make a couple of non-scrap yarn lap blankets while I'm at it.  I have quite a bit of the cream yarn left over from the afghan (I've decided it's finally big enough) and I might use some of it.

 

Movie review:  Frozen.  We were disappointed.  The animation was mostly good, but the story was basically the same story that Disney has told for years.  Except that it was worse this time.  And even though the animation was good, there were several glaring animation mistakes that Disney should have caught.

 

Next Sunday is Taco Night!  That means that next Monday (week from tomorrow) is Otter's 22nd birthday.  She's requested bacon, no surprise there.  Because her birthday is on a Monday, her birthday breakfast will actually be on Saturday.  She's off next Saturday, so that's why she's having it then.  Bacon and eggs for Bill and me, but Otter said that she'd be happy with bacon and bacon!  We usually only have it 3 times per year, her birthday is the first one.  Bill's birthday in June is the 2nd and then Christmas is the 3rd.

Lasagne is in the Oven!

And we will eat in about an hour and a half.  More or less, we're also having garlic toast with it.  Texas Toast Garlic Toast made by New York company.  Anybody else having a TEXAN moment?  (New York City!?)

 

It's rainy.  It's cold.  It could well freeze tonight in areas to the north of us.  I have 3 baby blues coming up in the whiskey barrel, so it's about time for a freeze. :(  Although they might be able to handle it, they have come up in December before and then hung on until April or May and then still managed to bloom.  The cold weather means that the tulips will be planted soon.  We're going to get out and work on the bed again Sunday, turn the dirt and treat it again.  Then about a week later, more or less, the bulbs will be planted.  Then, it will be ignored again and left on it's own.  Until Spring!

 

Froggy, I don't usually feed the birds in the spring and summer and not always early Fall.  If I can see bugs, the birds can too.  Except for hummers, they get fed early spring until their migration in the Fall.  Which I think has already happened, I'll probably take my feeders down next week.  Then they'll get washed and put away for the winter.

 

Found out a new way to freak out the Otter today!  I ran several errands at lunch and I had to drive by her store.  I left her a package of peanut butter cookies in the car she drove, on the cup holder between the front seats.  With a note from me.  I get this slightly panicked phone call from her because she has gotten to the car (but not in it yet, smart girl) and she sees that there is something in the car that wasn't there when she got out of it when she got to work!  Geesh.  I had to explain to her that I knew about it already, eventually she figured it out but it took her a couple of minutes to re-adjust her thinking.  :)  She was not amused that I thought her unexpected reaction was funny, but she was thankful for the cookies.  Guess it's my fault that she's a tad bit on the paranoid side, but I have valid reasons for being that way myself and by association, so does she.  (My reasons are by necessity kept private but just accept that I have reasons and they are very good ones).  I guess she forgave me, because she called me from Wally to see if I needed her to pick anything up for me so I wouldn't have to stop on the way home myself.  But it was funny!  However, I'm also glad that she was aware of her surroundings and that she realized something was different - even though that was not my intention.

 

Tomorrow won't really be "cold" but it will be cool.  The morning might be cold.  I've got blankets ready to grab, I love to camp out on the couch on cold mornings with a blanket (and coffee!), and it's pretty much 100% guaranteed that I'll also have a foot warmer in the shape of a beagle.  And maybe even a chupacabra for company!  Dogs got their priorities straight, that's for sure.

Still Only Tuesday!

But it feels like it should at least be Thursday.  Just one of those weeks, I guess.

 

Bill has decided that he is going to the dermatologist on Thursday.  He had been thinking that it might be best to wait until the plastic surgeon could see him, but that would be at least the end of October and probably later than that.  He was concerned that the spot would continue to grow, which is probably would, and that it would be as big as it was or even bigger.  So, he decided to keep the Thursday morning appointment with the dermatologist.  It's going to take at least an hour and it's not going to be fun.  But it is necessary.  I'm taking Thursday off and going with him.

 

Otter and I are getting our flu shots Friday.  We think that Bill will have definitely earned some of our traditional post-flu-shot ice cream!  Which I might get at Braums, in case you are interested Froggy!

 

In the meantime, we've been working on the trellises.  Yesterday, Bill set the middle posts in.  Today, he installed the top bar pieces.  Tomorrow, we'll go get the lattice pieces and attach them.  Then it will be ready for me to plant my honeysuckle starts and let them do their thing.  He might also get the wooden frame assembled to hold the new rain barrel but I'm not sure when he's going to get the rain gutter hooked up to actually put it in place.

 

Bill got some cuttings of trumpet vine today.  It's now happily (I hope) rooting in a plastic coffee can filled with rain water.  I'm going to order the crepe myrtle soon, but I'm not sure when.  They won't actually be delivered until after November 1st.

 

Froggy, I already mentioned this to you.  There was a toad in the dog's outside water dish yesterday morning.  I was dumping the water out so I could rinse out their dish as it was getting green.  After I took the bricks out, which are there for frogs so that they don't drown, there was a little hopper looking up at me.  It hopped out and went underneath the rain barrel.  I refilled the water dish and replaced the bricks.  Last night, the toad was on the front porch (Froggy, I think I told you it was the back porch) and was sitting underneath the light.  The light was on and it was bringing bugs by the billions.  As a result, we had a happy frog!  This morning, it was back in the dog's water dish.  I'm pretty sure it's the same one each time.  And it's really a toad, not a frog - they are not the same animal although they are related.  They're very welcome, by the way.  They eat lots and bugs and that's fine with me!

 

I had an interesting bird sighting yesterday.  It was coming in for a landing on an electric wire and the wire actually sagged - but then that is probably expected when an eagle lands on it!  It didn't stay long, it turned around and took off across a field.  It went pretty low and just skimmed the ground.  I think it got something, it looked like it had something in it's claws.  Today was hummingbirds, there were two and they were not willing to share any of the three feeders I refilled this afternoon.  Hummingbirds are fairly common, but eagles are not.  We've seen them before, but not often.

 

We also saw one of Lovely Neighbor's hairless cats yesterday.  It was out in her front yard, Otter went to the door to let her know but she said she already knew.  I guess she's quit blaming her daughter for letting her expensive cats out.  At least it didn't come over to my yard, Frasier would probably have done what he's known for and I don't think that we would have been responsible.  That was one UGLY cat.  Ugly with a capital UG!  The words "Butt Ugly" just about describe it.

Birds

We usually see a lot of birds.  Most of them have feather.

Like this one from a few years back.

Sometimes we see these:

Of course, we all love mockingbirds.  It's in the TEXAN dna code, we have to.

These guys are pretty common here, too.

Today, we saw this one:

And she is gorgeous!  And loud, no mistaking those engines for anything else.

National Donut Day

It's National Donut Day, but before I get to that I wanted to mention something.

 

Froggy's sweet dog died last night.  Her name was Cookie, she was one of the sweetest dogs.  I think she was a beagle/dachshund mix.  She was about 18 years old.  She's going to be missed.  Froggy, I am thinking about you and your family.  Mom always taught us that animals are God's creatures, and everything he made has an afterlife.  That includes His animals.  It might not be the same place we (can) go, but they go somewhere and it's good.

Today is Donut Day, and it's about the one time all year long that I actually eat one.  I went to Krispy Kreme on my lunch hour today.  They are not my favorite, but there are not a lot of other choices in Tulsa and it was also the only one really close to work.  I was going to get a half dozen, but I did the math and it was better to just get 12.  They were passing out free ones to everybody, I hadn't planned on eating one but it was fresh and hot and I caved.  It was very good!  I might have one or two more in the morning for breakfast, but that's going to be it for a very loooooooooooooong time.

 

My dogs are being silly, they just came in and Maggie wants to play.  But Frasier's not interested, he wants to lay at my feet and beg for affection.  He's been talking a bit at night lately, I heard him a couple of nights ago but in all honesty he might have just been answering Bill's snores.  At 1:30 this morning, I heard him and he wasn't quite barking but he was close.  I shut the bedroom door because it was too late to give him a tranquilizer.  I am going to give him the pills for the next few nights, which is what I have to do every so often.  I had 5 left so I called the vet and got a few more.

 

We've had so much rain lately that I've had to dump empty flower pots out every day or so.  We don't want skeeters!  Bill put a mosquito dunk in the rain barrel this week.  But they will find any available water and lay their eggs in it, including dog water dishes and anywhere else they can find.  I was dumping the flower pots out yesterday evening and there were a few mosquitos trying to land on them so I'm glad I got it done then.  Anyway, while I was pouring water out I heard a loud buzz and felt a breeze very close to my ear.  I got buzzed by a hummer!  She was not pleased with me, I was too close to her feeder for her tastes.  I got the message, and she's been all over all three feeders nearly every time I look out.

 

I posted a new recipe on the cooking blog, pan fried or broiled pork chops.  We had them tonight with rice, brown gray (yes, Pioneer brand!) and corn.  Can you say stuffed!  I'm probably going to have a glass of wine and put my feet up, that's going to be the extent of my exciting evening.  And I'll probably read the paper and maybe the book I'm currently working on.  Real exciting, huh!?

I Guess! it's Just Sunday?

Can't think of a good title.  That's probably pretty obvious! :)

 

I think that we just might have the goosiest dog on the planet.  In the form of a beagle, specifically.  Maggie likes bugs.  She likes to eat them.  She sometimes catches flies out of the air.  But when she doesn't catch them, it confuses her.  To the point of cowering in terror sometimes.  That's what she's been doing today.  She couldn't get the fly, so she spent hours trying to hide behind my legs while I was sitting on the couch, and at one point I think she tried to actually get under the couch.  She eventually fell asleep and I guess she forgot about the fly after that, because she was back to being her normal silly self.  But she is a goofy, goosey dog.

 

Frasier isn't being ignored.  He's actually in a bit of disgrace.  Otter caught him chewing something and it turned out to be a small piece of plastic - from a pachinko machine.  But I have to state for the record that his habits are well known, and I've been warning Bill that he was asking for trouble by leaving stuff within reach of the dog.  Especially if he left it on the floor, which is what he did this time.

 

I put my hummingbird feeders out yesterday.  I thought I saw something tiny flying by the other day but then I never saw it again so I decided that I'd seen something else.  But apparently it was a hummer.  Because I saw a female on one of the feeders about half an hour after I put them out.  I also saw an oriole, it couldn't quite figure out the new feeders so I put the old one out that the orioles always liked.  I haven't seen the oriole again, but it's probably still out there.  At this point, I've only seen a female hummer and it's probably the same one.  But there will be more, in all probability.

 

I'm going to harvest seeds from the bluebonnets tomorrow.  They could probably stand a few more days, but Bill wants to mow and since there are no more blooms to speak of he's wanting to just mow it all down.  So I'll get the seed pods in the morning, he promises to wait for me to get them all before he mows.  I also weeded the rock garden this afternoon, I'm already feeling allergy related issues due to that.  But it needed to be done, the morning glories were taking over.  There was also a lot of clover, no telling where that came from.  I pulled most of it up as well.

 

I'm off from work tomorrow, Bill has tomorrow as a holiday also and then he's taking some of his vacation/comp time and will be off all week.  Otter has to work tomorrow.  We aren't doing anything big for Memorial Day.  Sometimes we grill, but I'm making tacos for dinner tomorrow night.  No particular reason, other than that we just like them.

 

Guess that's it for now.  Not an exciting weekend, obviously!  But that's ok, it was a stressful week and I'm not complaining. 

Thoughts About a Lot of Stuff on Friday

First off, the North TEXAS tornadic storms are on my mind.  Obviously, because it's TEXAS.  But also because of the specific area of TEXAS.  Bill has some family connections to the area and it's an area I/We've always loved.  TEXANS are tough, our history has shown that.  We can handle a lot, there's no doubt about that.  But this is more than "a lot" for most people, TEXANS included.  All we can do at this point is pray for the people who have lost homes and the families of those who lost their lives.

 

There were a total of 16 twisters Wednesday that hit the area.  16.  The Cleburne tornado was probably an F3, which is mid-range on the scale.  The Granbury tornado was worse, it was most likely an F4.  Those are both bad numbers, there is only one number higher (F5) which is what his Oklahoma City in 1999 and Joplin in 2011.  Even an F1 can do damage.  But F3 is very bad and F4 is even worse.

 

Other stuff:  My post yesterday referencing the new ST movie and sharks was based on some early reviews I read.  Yes, I did read spoilers!  But only enough to answer a specific question.  I didn't like the answer.  They did what I (and many, many, many others) hoped they would not do:  Khan.  The movie itself might be good, but it does sound like they changed Khan's character too much.  Khan is an iconic character and one that they should have just left alone.  The Borg Queen is not pleased, even if turns out that I like the movie I still say that they should have stayed away from Khan.  From what I read, it also sounds like they were trying to remake the TOS episode that introduced him, Space Seed is the title, and not the TOS:TWOK movie that brought him back.  TWOK was inspired and was without a doubt the best movie in the TOS movie series.  That is largely due to the character of Khan.  From what I've read, he's been reduced to a) a terrorist, b) an environmental terrorist possibly (hope not!) and/or c) a generic terrorist.  Instead of the rich, strong character he was in TOS.  I will in all probability eventually see the movie.  I'm waiting a bit, I want to see how it does at first and then I'll decide.  The first weekend is not always a good way to judge, because so many of us (and we are legion) will rush to see it just because it is Trek.  But Trek movies are traditionally judged by the number of repeat viewers.  That's the best way to judge a Trek film.  So, I'm reserving judgment (only to a point, I am the Borg Queen after all!) and will decide a little later about it.  Otter's majorly bummed out about it, she had no choice:  she couldn't avoid being indoctrinated into ST fandom.  But we're going to (try to) keep an open mind in the (possibly slim-to-none) chance that it turns out to be good.

 

The other thing we're watching for is what is known as the Star Trek Curse.  A/K/A Even numbered Trek films don't suck!  This one is an even number.  The first one of this series was number 11 or you could say number 1 - both odd numbers.  The first movie may well have done as well as it did for one reason:  It's Trek and we'll see it.  It's the Rule:  we must see all Trek.  Even if it sucks.  We just don't have to repeat.  But we do have to see it.  And at some point, I will.  Even with the fact that most of the actors in the first of this movie series were woefully miscast!

 

Birds:  The robins have fledged.  The nest has been empty for a couple of days, the last time I actually saw the babies I could tell that they were pretty close to flying.  The wrens are definitely nesting in the front planter again.  Third year in a row for that.

 

I haven't gotten my hummingbird feeders out yet.  I intended to do that last weekend, but we were running around with Nana on Saturday and Sunday morning, then I just never quite got around to it after that.  I am not sure if the hummers have made it to this area or not, but they will be here soon if they aren't already.  So I'm going to get my feeders up and then watch for birdies.

 

I guess that is it.  For now, anyway.

 

RIF, y'all!

Just Chilling Out on the Couch

Have I mentioned how much I like this laptop?  Well, I do.  I think I like the portability of it a lot.

 

Busy day.  Busy week.  It's only Wednesday, but it should be Friday.  I only have one day of work left this week, I'm off on Friday and so is Billyboy.  Otter has to work, so she won't get to spend Friday with us (and Nana!) but she's off on Saturday so she'll get to spend time with her TEXAS Grandmother.  No idea what we'll be doing, but with Nana it usually involves shopping!

 

The evildeniziensofhellbadbugs also known as yellow jackets have made their arrival.  My younger boss was outside of the duplex where our office is and he came in with a request that I look at his back and tell him how it looked because he thought something stung him.  I could tell that he had two stings, I put some of my always within reach hydrocortisone cream on the spots and then he went outside to finish what he was doing.  Then he called me on his cell phone to tell me that he'd just found a squashed yellow jacket where he'd been standing when he felt something sting.  I was hoping that they would just skip this year, but I guess not.  I've been seeing bees for a while, but we try to ignore them and let them do their thing.  Yellow jackets are a different story, they get killed as soon as we see them.  I trimmed some limblets on the tree in the front yard when Bill was mowing this evening, I didn't see any but I did look carefully.

 

I did see something else:  wrens are starting a nest in the planter on the front porch!  There are two baby robins in the nest on the back porch, and sparrows have built a nest on top of the bat house.  Not in it, on top of it.  Lots of little bug eaters!  I'm thinking I'm going to put up one of my hummingbird feeders this weekend.  Bill and Otter each gave me a new hummingbird feeder for Mother's Day.

 

Froggy, KN#3's box should have arrived in your mail today.  Let me know please.  I hope she likes what's inside of it.  It's an exciting time for her, starting out on her own.  I'm sure she'll do well in nursing school.

 

Bill's hammering away at a pachinko machine.  He's putting the pins in the machine that is our family project:  Steampunk!  (Google it if you don't know what it is.)

 

Otter and I are thinking that we might want to see the new Superman movie.  Which sounds strange, if you know anything at all about us you know that we think Superman is a wimp!  Actually, we usually use the word "weenie" but it is kind of impolite.  But the movie looks good.  We'll wait until after it's opened and see what the reviews are, but it looks good so far.  We will eventually get to the theater for the new Iron Man movie, I'm just not sure when.

Froggy, you mentioned Frasier being lucky.  Yes, he was.  But so were we, he's a spectacular dog.  Just spoiled rotten!  And so is beaglebaby known as Maggie Moo.  They are supposed to be spoiled, so they are.  Very much so!

I Guess it's Just Monday?

Can't think of a good title, so whatever! :)

 

I'm really liking the new laptop.  I probably should have given in and got it earlier, but I'm glad that I finally listened to Bill and got one.  (Don't tell Bill I said I should have listened to him!  I'll never hear the end of it!)  It makes me realize that the old one was a lot worse than I realized.  Old age and a lot of use, mostly.  Just keep in mind that I'm still adjusting to Chiclet keys, frequently I'll be typing and the cursor will vanish because I've somehow managed to put it on a different line.  So, nonsense in the middle of a word or sentence are not on purpose!

 

My errand yesterday that allowed me to take Otter to work was to PetsMart.  They are in the same shopping center as her store.  Because it was a weekend, they had various pet rescue groups there. We always, always have to visit with all the doggies we can.  We pet most of them and quite frequently fall in love with many and want to bring them home - we don't, we just want to.  I mentioned to one of the ladies working with one of the groups that we'd adopted one of our dogs at that particular store and she asked me which one.  I was not prepared for her next remarks:  "you probably saved that dog's life."  Not the usual way of saving him from not having a home, either.  She elaborated and there are a lot of questions I had that were suddenly answered.  The group in question is essentially not in business any longer.  They never filed the required paperwork to be recognized as a rescue group, including the tax forms that the IRS requires.  They never were able to produce records that proved that their dogs had ever had any vet care OR inoculations.  When we adopted Frasier, we were told that he had been placed with a family that would never get proof of shots & care to the group but what I found out yesterday is that the group in question didn't usually use individuals to foster the animals and that the group itself was responsible for ensuring vet care and shots.  When she told me yesterday that I'd saved his life, she meant it.  Apparently, they also have a bad reputation for animal survival rates, probably due to not getting them the vet care they need.  We wondered at the time, Frasier came with a few health issues that should have been addressed and didn't seem to have been - his ears being one of them, he still gets ear infections occasionally but not as frequently as he did at first and his ears were really bad the.  He had been fixed and he was house trained - although we were told he wasn't housebroken as far as they knew.  Their ad, which is where we first became interested in him, stated that he did NOT dig or jump/climb fences - but he's a natural-born escape artist and he does dig.  A lot, in fact.  About the only thing we know to be true that we were told is that he does not like cats.  Well, he likes them - as toys, he kills them but a lot of that may be the coyote instinct and he can't help that.  But he's always had health issues, among other things he had a spot on either his leg or his tail (I can't remember) that didn't have hair and looked odd but wasn't mange.  We brought it to the attention of the person we got him from when we picked him up for our "try him out" visit and she acted like she'd never even seen it.  It wasn't huge but it was visible.  It healed up eventually, now I wonder if it might have been whatever it is that causes him to have those tumor-like spots.  I told the lady yesterday about some of his health issues, she basically told me that she isn't surprised and suspects that he never had vet care while he was with that group.  (His "try it out visit" was supposed to be several days but we knew within an hour or so that he was ours.)    They were also supposed to check references on us and follow up, but they never did.  Needless to say, when I got home I had to have a long play/petting session with him!  Which he liked, by the way.

 

I finally have house shoes!  Probably sounds like a strange thing to be happy about, but I have had a flare-up of Plantar Fasciatis and going barefoot is not an option for me at the moment.  I was going to get a new pair in December, but decided my old ones would last a while longer so I never did.  When the old ones did wear out, we discovered that most stores don't keep them in stock beyond Christmas time.  So, I've been using padded shoe inserts from the dollar store and they worked ok but they eventually get flat and need to be replaced.  At lunch today, I finished with my errand earlier than I though so I decided to waste some time in Tuesday Morning.  And they had a large selection of house shoes.  Otter was in the same boat I was, she needed new ones badly.  So, after I picked her up from work we went back and she found some immediately - she picked the red ones with black polka-dots that I thought she would as soon as I saw them.  I tried on almost every other pair there, and none of them worked.  Either my high arches, weather toes or they didn't have enough padding for my heel because of the PF issues.  I was about to give up when I realized that there was one pair I hadn't tried and they fit, don't aggravate my toes and are very softly padded.  They are a kind of maroon-ish red, but I wouldn't have cared what color they are.  So, it's not so strange that I'm about house shoes.  Sore feet can kind of be a problem!

 

When Otter and I got home, we got the vacuum out and took care of the car.  It needed to be vacuumed out badly, we hadn't done it in so long I can't remember.  It was pretty bad, but now it's nice and dog-hair-free.

 

Mama Robin has two babies, Bill thought that there was just one when he was hurridly cleaning the rain gutters the other day.  He was in a hurry so that she could get back to her nest and didn't look closely.  But I went out on the back deck yesterday and could see two little alien heads popping up.  Not sure when I'm going to put the hummingbird feeders up, but soon.  Maybe this weekend.

Early October

It's October already.  I find that hard to believe.  This year has been a whirlwind, so many things have happened and there are still 3 more months to go (counting this month).

Fall allergies are hitting us right now.  Otter is having an especially hard time with hers.  She's running through kleenex at a record pace.  She's living on tylenol during the day and allergy pills at night.  She woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat and she was very congested.  After she'd been up for a while, the congestion improved some.  Her throat was sore most of the day, but it got better after a cup of tea with plenty of honey.  She didn't have any fever or anything and her throat isn't sore any longer so it's probably "just" allergies.  Mine are bothering me, but not anywhere near as bad as hers are.  It's mostly ragweed, it's a really bad year for it and we'll be dealing with it until we get a good, hard freeze.

The weather is definitely turning!  It's been cool & nice the last couple of days; the early mornings have been wonderfully cool.  It's going to get cooler, we are expecting a cold front and it will probably bring rain with it.  The rain is supposed to end Saturday, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it does, since we are going to the Fair on Sunday and it would be really nice if Otter can actually ride the rides - since we already spent $$ on a ride pass for her!

Bill mowed the lawn after he got home this afternoon.  Depending on the weather, he might not have too many more times to do that this year.  Probably at least a couple, but not many.

I brought in the hummingbird feeders today.  I was going to bring them in the other day, but I saw a hummer so I refilled one of them and put it back out.  But I think the bird might have been a migratory hummer on her way south because she didn't come back.  However, there are a bunch of very happy honeybees now!  They emptied it in a matter of 3 days!!  There were also a few casualties - some of them managed to get inside of it and drowned.  I rinsed out a bajillion ants and about 5 or 6 bees.  Both feeders have been washed, bleached, rinsed and rinsed and rinsed..., and are now drying on a towell on my kitchen counter.  After they are well dry, they'll get put out in the garage on my shelves.  Soon enough, it will be time to put the seed and suet feeders out.

We changed Otter's appointment for her oral surgery.  It's still in the same week in December, we just moved it back to Monday from Wednesday and it's at 4:00 instead of 3:30.  While we don't anticipate any problems, since the dentist is out of the office on Fridays and the weekend, and the next week is Christmas, we decided it would be better to get it done a few days earlier.  I'm thinking that she might also be able to get the stitches out that same week, about Thursday maybe.  I can't remember how long she had to wait between the first wisdom teeth being removed and going back to get the stitches removed, but it seems like it was only a few days.

Either way, she's already put in her order for Bill's famous mashed potatos!

Sunday Tacos

(Bet you can't guess what we're having for dinner tonight!)

Fall is not for another two weeks, but today feels very much like a Fall day.  It was nice & cool when we got up this morning, Pastor Dave remarked about how much he liked the Fall weather in church this morning and it's still nice.  It's sunny and a little warm, but not hot.  Bill mowed the lawn after we got home and he said that it feels cooler outside than inside the house.

I trimmed a bunch of limblets off the trees in the back, and did NOT see any sign of bugs with stingy ends.  We did see several dragon flies, but since they eat grasshoppers and there are billions of those, I'm not surprised that there are so many dragon flies.  We saw a couple of hawks as well.  Also, I forgot about this, but the other day (Sunday or Monday morning), we saw an eagle on top of one of the houses under construction behind us.  It stayed there for a long time before it eventually flew off.  We couldn't tell what kind it was, but Bald Eages are in this area and it's possible.  We've seen them before.  It was B.I.G., whatever variety it was.

I'm wondering how much longer we'll have hummingbirds.  They usually start heading south about this time, and I've only seen one lately instead of the three we'd been seeing.  I'll keep the feeders up for a while, because the migrating birds need food on their journey.

There are 4 baby bluebonnets in the whiskey barrel, with two possible other ones.

Frasier is doing pretty good.  He's tolerating the cone, but he'd much prefer that he didn't have to wear it.  The spot looks grody, but it's definitely starting to shrink.  I'm spraying it twice a day, which he's not a fan of, but since he's also getting petted and ear/chin scratches at the same time he will put up with it.  It hasn't bled since Friday.  I'm thinking that he might be ok tomorrow without someone coming home at lunch and letting him in but we'll decide officially tomorrow morning.  He did manage to get into the garage while we were at church, but then he was apparently stuck and couldn't get back out.  So, their indoor water dish is going to be out in the garage so that he can at least get water.  He is able to get water with the cone on.  I can tell he's feeling good because he's getting playful again.  Even with the cone on, he's terrorizing poor Maggie! :)

I have decided that I'm going to work on my afghan now and not wait for cooler weather.  If we actually get any cool weather this winter, that is.  I originally planned it as a winter project, because it's getting big and it is warm.  My thought was that I'd be able to finish it last winter, but I kept waiting and winter never really got here.  Then it got to be summer again and it was really just too hot so the afghan stayed in the closet.  I got it out yesterday and started back on it.  I put two rows on it.  I like to have a couple of UFO's going at a time, so that if I get bored with one particular project but still want to crochet, I can.  I just don't particularly like to have huge projects or projects that take as long as the afghan has.  I think it's about 1/2 way done.  I intend to finish it this year.  I'm not going to hold my breath about winter, just in case!

We didn't really have any major tree damage from Friday's wind, but there were a few tiny limbs that had broken off.  Nothing major.  But there were some places that had it really bad, including a mobile home or trailer that was destroyed and the three people inside were killed.  And that was just "regular" wind, not tornadic.  We got enough rain after the wind so that the cars aren't all red & dusty at least.

This week will be both a busy week at work and a slow week at work.  Younger boss is on vacation, and I'll have the Teenager all to myself.  Sometimes, I get nothing at all done during Younger boss's vacations!

Movie Review:  Battleship.  It was ok.  Not spectacular, but some of the special effects were really good.  But we would have been disappointed with theater prices.

I've finally decided that my oneofthesedaysifIevergetaroundtoit mosaic project is never going to be gotten around to.  I'm going to clean out the glass pieces and either donate them (marbles & craft pieces) to Otter or (broken pieces) toss them in the recycle bin.

OK, back to my neverending chore of laundry.

Sunday Coneheads

(Grossness ahead!)  Well, I don't think it's particularly gross but then I'm not particularly squeamish.  So, in case you are:  pictures 1 and 2 are safe.  3 and 4 are the "grossness" in this.

The Conehead in the title is Frasier!

This was right after we got him home on Friday.  They had to use an extra long cone, since he could reach the spot with a normal sized cone.  This is actually an extra large cone and it's adjusted down to it's smallest size.  I'm almost afraid to image the dog that it would fit!  It would probably be the size of a horse or elephant.  Frasier's a big dog, but he's not that big!  Although he did seem to think he was a lapdog earlier, he tried to sit in my lap when I was sitting on the floor - all 70+ pounds of him!

Closer shot of a sad puppy face.

Sorry this is sideways!  This is the spot where the golf ball sized growth was.  The vet shaved a square area.

There's a little bruising showing up now, it looks grody but it's not as bad "in person" as it kind of looks in the pictures.  The place that was removed was just so darn big that the incision is fairly long.  Frasier's Golf Ball

Frasier's actually done pretty good.  I spent Friday night on the couch, which is pretty comfortable for naps but not for extended periods of sleep.  Not that I actually had much sleep!  Frasier needed his mom a few times in the night - I woke up more than once because I had a large dog head leaning on me and there was a plastic cone on the dog at the time!  He didn't act like it was an intense pain, but I'm sure that it was tender and probably hurt a little.  They gave him a pain shot before I picked him up and I've been giving him his pain pills.  They make him a little sleepier than normal, but he seems to feel pretty good for the most part.  He spent most of yesterday napping, he normally takes several naps anyway but he definitely seemed to sleep more and deeper than normal.  (Since it was Saturday, he's not the only one who took an afternoon nap!)

The cone has not been on him all the time.  It's been on him at night, but if we're in the room with him we've been leaving it off.  It's been off when he eats and drinks, and most of the times he's been outside but someone is with him the whole time.  He's only tried to lick the spot a couple of times, the cone goes back on him right away even if we're staying in the room with him.  Like now, Bill just had to put it back on him because he thought he was out of Bill's sight!

Frasier grooms Maggie a lot.  She likes it, she'll manuever herself to where her ears, belly, whatever are in front of him and then he'll groom her.  He cornered her earlier today, for a forced ear groooming.  He had the cone on at the time, she was kind of squished up inside of it!  She was not amused, but we were.  It was kind of funny.

I am really glad that tomorrow is a holiday.  Not that I will get to sleep in, I have gotten up early the last couple of mornings to feed the dogs.  Frasier can't eat with the cone on, and he also can't fit out the dog door so I have been staying in the kitchen while they eat and then making sure he gets outside (with supervision) and then back inside.

The plan for today included pulling both the couch and the love seat out so that I could vacuum behind them, but we haven't gotten that far yet.  Bill did some cleaning out in the garage, which was mostly just some wood that he didn't need.  It was shelving, etc., that he got for free and used a lot of with the pachinko machines but he had a bunch that was either too small or odd shaped so it got moved to the wood pile.  It will still burn, if we ever get winter.

I'm pretty sure that I have a bunch of baby blues coming up in the whiskey barrel.  Bill noticed them when he was mowing Thursday, and I noticed them yesterday.  He was pretty sure that they were bluebonnets, the initial leaves don't look like they do when they are bigger but they are still unique.  The normal pattern is that the plant goes to seed after blooming, then the seeds lie dormant for several months until the next spring.  But that's in TEXAS, where they don't get a lot of rain during the dormant months.  This is not the first year that they've come up in the late summer, I've even had them come up in the winter before.  This crop might actually have enough time to make it to the bloom stage, we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.  There are several and probably still several seeds that are dormant.  Wild Blues!  I have also transplanted them into pots when they came up at the wrong time.  They don't spread out as far as normal and look funny, but they are still bluebonnets and are still special.  If I have to do that this time, then I will.

I'm also wondering how long the hummingbirds will be here.  I'll keep the feeders out as long as I see them and then for a while after that, in case of any that need a snack during their migration south.  The ones I have now are fun to watch, there are three birds but only two feeders and they have a lot of spats.  Gotta watch out for the little needlebeaks!

Bill saw a preview for a tv show in the fall season.  He thinks it's the same TEXAS hog-hunters.  The real ones, not the wannabes.  Hope so, it was a good show and we enjoyed it.  But I'm not holding my breath, considering that the producers, etc. felt the need to subtitle the father of the family!  He wasn't speaking a foreign language - just TEXAN.  Well, I guess to them maybe he was.  But please, if you are going to subtitle:  at least get it right!  The word is FIXIN, not FIXING!

We don't like it when people change our words.  We don't take lightly to misuse of them, either.  Use them at your own risk, but be prepared for an "attitude adjustment" if you get it wrong.  One thing you do NOT want to do is get a TEXAN riled.   :)

Wednesday. Just Wednesday.

Not even a Whine Wednesday, just Wednesday!  Well, there might be a little whining!  But not much.

It's warm today, it was supposed to be right about 100 or 101.  But it is actually somewhere around 105 this afternoon.  However, tomorrow is supposed to be our last over 100 day.  At least for a week!  We're supposed to be in the low- to mid-90's for at least a week, with some good rain chances as well.  We really do need the rain, so I'm hoping that it is going to actually rain and not just a tease!

I went to the grocery store this afternoon.  I got in and out of wallyworld in 40 minutes, so I'm not complaining!  Much. :)  I have noticed that certain things are increasing in price, which kind of goes with what I've heard recently.  Orange juice, for one thing.  Other things have increased as well, but I really noticed it with the oj today.  Bread is probably a little higher.  But it's going to be even higher in the near future due to the poor wheat crop which is the result of no rain and higher tan normal temperatures.  I don't know about pricing on things like cokes, we don't buy much soda.  Eggs have also increased - but we pretty much only eat them on Saturday mornings, so a dozen usually lasts us a long time.

I have a sore shoulder.  My left one.  Last night, I was putting something in the refrigerator and when I straightened up, I collided with the handle of the freezer door.  I have a nice bruise on the back of my left shoulder and it's tender.  It was sore last night, I usually sleep on my left side but not last night!  I took a couple of motrin then and will probably take another one or two tonight.  It's better, it's just that it's still a little sore.

However, it does not keep me from crocheting!  I got a little yarn work in this morning and it didn't seem to bother my shoulder at all.

I refilled one of my two hummingbird feeders this morning, the one that is owned by the male bird.  The other feeder probably could use a refill, it's still got feed in it but it's been hanging up for several days and we've had pretty hot weather.  It might be fermented by now - maybe that's why the little female keeps coming back to it? :)

I also discovered another evilmonsterdeniziensofhell nest in the process of being built.  (Yellow jackets, in case you are wondering).  It's in the tree that I was trimming when I was stung a couple of months back, but it's only been there a couple of days.  I found it last night, when I was refilling the bucket I was using to water a couple of baby trees.  Bill's going to take care of them, but probaby not tonight.

Otter comes home the day after tomorrow!

Nothing Spectacular Going On Today

Just Tuesday, I guess.  Which is not a bad thing.

Since I put the hummingbird feeders up, Bill's seen the bird once and I haven't seen him at all.  Or her, he's clueless when it comes to hummingbird gender!  But since femals tend to outnumber the males, at least the ones we've usually had, it was possibly a female.

The wrens on the front porch are all gone.  We've been watching them and they have been getting bigger by the minute and they were standing up in the nest this morning.  Mama bird was in the tree beside the porch, and she was chirping her head off.  When I was getting in the car, I saw her swoop back to the nest and keep going - chirping all the while.  I was pretty sure that she was calling them out for flying lessons, and apparently she was because they are all gone this afternoon.  I'll wait awhile before I clean the nest out.  That's two families of birds on our porch this year, the first was a robin and was actually underneath the overhang on the opposite side of a pole from the nest in the planter that the wren seems to like.

In 3 weeks, we'll be on vacation!  This is the stay at home vacation that we really need.  Otter probably only has class on the Monday of the week, then the rest of the week is free time for her as well.  Other than going to the zoo, if the weather is cooperative that is, we don't have any big plans.  We are going to tackle the doll house refurbish, though.  It's been sitting on my workbench for about a year, since I haven't had any big craft projects that required the use of the workbench it hasn't been a problem.  But I'm wanting to get it done and so is Otter.  We were originally going to work on it last year when we had our summer vacation, but that is when it got so unmentionable hot and we put it off until our December vacation.  But the December vacation became a trip to TEXAS, so it didn't get done then either.  We're going to get it done, or at least as much as we can, even if we have to bring it inside the house and chase Bill & the pachinko machines out of the way!  Actually, I don't think it's going to take forever, we should be able to get it done in a week and still have time to spare.  It's not like when we (ok, Bill) built the thing!

I have a load of laundry going at the moment.  From the sounds, I'd say that somebody had a coin in their pocket and it's rattling around the dryer.  Rule is, anything not removed from pockets before I wash the clothing becomes mine - especially if it's money!  I do check the pockets, but I might have missed something this time.

Otter's very much her parents daughter, so that means that she is a crafter.  Her room is a nice size for her, but she doesn't have much in the way of storage space.  What she does have is an exploding craft/fabric/sewing/etc. stash and no place to put it.  We have plastic shelf units in the office closet, one is holding my misc. stuff as well as the overflow yarn (lot of that!) and some stuff such as our emergency supplies (necessary when you live in Tornado Alley).  Bill's shelf unit is on the opposite side of the closet and has computer stuff, his shipping supplies, junk (he has a lot of that).  There are two or three other shelf units that are in the shed, they were used in the garage and also in the old house to hold our eBay inventory.  I got to thinking about the extra shelves and the fact that Otter needs something in the way of storage.  I measured the shelf unit that's in the closet, then met her in her room and we had a brainstorm.  Upshot is, Bill's getting one of the shelf units out of the shed on Sunday if not before, and it's going into Otter's room.  It will probably block a short part of her window, but not that much.  She's probably going to have to move a couple of things around, but it should work well for her needs.  She's mostly glad she'll be able to get her stuff up off of the floor.  The Borg Queen approves, by the way - BQ hates clutter. :)

I haven't crocheted this week.  My arms are a little sore, after moving stuff around at work and cleaning out old stuff.  I've made a lot of headway, but I still have a lot left to do.  The tendonitis is a lot better, it is never going to go away completely, but when I do stuff like shift files around it tends to act up a bit.  I'm not sure if I'm going to do any more de-cluttering/cleaning out, etc. or not this week at work.  It depends - it's not a busy office and I have a lot of down time.  I hate to be bored almost as much as I hate clutter!  The boys have learned to just stay out of my way, although 95-year-old-teenager has moments when he thinks he needs to help me.  He was in a much better mood today, no political arguments!

Frasier is a wuss.  He is seriously afraid of the electronic fly swatter that Bill has.  He usually will go outside or into the other part of the room when he sees it.  This morning, we had two stupid flies to deal with while we were at the table eating breakfast.  Bill grabbed the fly swatter and the dog saw it.  Frasier was going to go outside, but Bill (and the swatter) were between him and the door.  So, he tried to go around the other side of the table which is where I was sitting.  I grabbed his collar and he buried his face in my lap.  Then, as soon as Bill electrocuted the fly (which bounced, of all things!), I let go and Frasier more or less flew out the dog door.  He didn't come back in, about an hour later I had to go physically bring him back inside and then I had to block the dog door to keep him inside!  I opened it up before I left for work, he ran back outside and Otter said that he stayed out for a long time.  When I had to go get him, he was in the lean-to like he was hiding.

Maggie Moo was the opposite, she was crazy this morning and wanted to play.  Which we did, until I got tired of it but she would have been content to run in circles for hours.  She eventually wound down, and then I think she spent the next several hours napping.  Which is normal for her!