Dog art

more of same

Playing with my phone

Friday Cat Blogging

 

Doing his best  Lil' Bub 

Out.

Because its my birthday and a holiday weekend : I am taking the weekend off . because the dog wet the carpet and I got stung by  the worlds largest most vicious wasp, I'm taking off and feeling like I deserve to.

Happy Birthday to me!

I joined Instagram so I can post pictures of my pets and my food more efficiently and to a broader audience of people who genuinely appreciate  pictures of pets and food - and I suppose pet food as well, but that might be too on the nose.

Oh, and a Rocket sack update - It continues to shrink.

I had a cavity filled this afternoon and I celebrated by fixing myself homemade mashed potatoes with home grown spuds. It was delightful. I can't open my mouth all the way and I could only chew on one side, but they were tasty and post- Novocaine friendly.

After dinner I thought I could stay at home and watch TV or I  instead could go to Big Lots and buy canned dog food for Rocket - I could spend my lunch hour running that errand but do I really want to shop for dog food on my Birthday? No, I'm going to spend my Birthday stocking up on BOGO  twelve packs of diet ice tea at Lowe's. That is after I deposit a couple of checks and pick up my free Birthday bowl at Noodles. Nummy - and later? I'm going to watch Project Runway and read my Kindle! I live on the edge.

Happy Birthday to me!!! V.1

Rocket on Cuteoverload.com!!!!

Post Op Follow Up 2

Took Rocket back for his second and final follow up with the surgeon. His nads are finally shrinking up and the vet said that by Christmas he'll be as smooth as a babies bottom.

I felt bad at first because I didn't take a picture of his business before his surgery but then I realized I didn't miss them and he didn't seem all heart broken about them magically not being there any longer... and they were enormous and not really his beast feature .If I hadn't figured out he was um, blessed, the vet pointed out today that he had a really big set when he walked in and that it takes a while for that much skin to tighten up.. And after his little "bleeder" they didn't really go away any way, in fact, they got bigger!

But now they seem to be getting a little smaller and the skin is getting a little looser and hopefully we'll be back to our regular activities and long walks  soon.

Desk Duty

Between trying in vain to ice the dogs nads, watching TV, mowing the yard, supervising Rocket taking it easy,  washing the laundry - a job I now hate because my  washing machine is broken and it must be supervised to get the load done, and resting from all the non-work I was doing, I picked up my new desk! Out in Garner, which is a much bigger place than I had thought. I ended up driving out to Egypt! I passed Bedouins and  cops in riot gear.

I have needed a desk for some time but didn't have anywhere to put one. Now that Jurassic desktop has been permanently banished to the upstairs, I have some free space. I also decided that the thousand pens and out of date stamps and boxes of crayons and markers the kitchen was not an ideal storage system.

I found  New Desk on Craigslist and paid exactly the figure I had in mind for getting a desk. The fact that its a nifty roll top model is a giant perk. I also thought about getting a Secretary style desk , but for some reason the folks on Craigslist are more proud of those and price them accordingly.

Enter Desky The Wonder Desk! It protects my mess from both prying eyes and curious dog noses and looks cute while doing it! Its not going to live against that wall but there is currently a dog crate in the way of his true home. I am hoping that at Rockets second follow up at the vets on Tuesday, that she release us to our regular schedule and we can move back upstairs, or not, I really like staying downstairs, its much cooler than the attic this time of year.

Its not quite the Eames era piece the house really calls for, but its nice and well made and if at some point I want to , say decorate it, it will be fine, Its no antique and options abound.

Dog

Garden Day 10

Since the gardens been producing so well, I haven't really been paying that much attention to it, I go on my daily Easter tomato hunts and I search for green beans and check in on my watermelons but I haven't really been looking at the plants themselves closely enough.

Example "A"

 Do those look like happy plants? This doesn't even include the two plants I took out Saturday because I noticed that they were very dead. The plants pictured are still alive and have fruits set, but once those fruits either come ripe or get eaten by 1) squirrels or 2) some sort of  evil caterpillar, I'm pulling the plants out. It won't be long.

The plants in the back of the garden are still doing well though and have some time left.

The green beans have made a come back and I have been pulling a handful of beans off every day.

I'm not going to have near the amount of frozen beans I've stock piled in the past, but I'm going to have  a little supply handy for the winter.

I had thought my corn farming days were behind me until next spring, but apparently I might have an ear or two coming up.

My sunflowers are over for the season and I pulled the last one up on Saturday. I have a good pile of seeds that I need to roast so they will last for me to feed to the birds this winter.

And then we have the watermelon, and again, no melon for the actual summer but isn't fall really watermelon season? I thought I just had the two

But I was shocked to find Baby Watermelon! I can't believe I've missed him or missed stepping on him!

While I was usy doing nothing on Saturday I started to think about things I could do. I had been thinking about re- potting my smaller fern because it has had a great spring and summer and has really grown.

 I did a quick internet search to see when I should do that and it turns out the plant needs to be looking down being root bound before it really needs to be re- potted. Smaller fern is not root bound and really seems happy where he is. He still has plenty of room in his pot and his roots look happy. So no re potting for him until maybe the spring.

And then I started to think about Big Fern

He has had another good growing season this year. I replanted him last year and I was worried that maybe he would need a new pot. A really big new pot. A pot perhaps out of my price range - but he too is not pot bound and he seems happy. I don't know where he is going to live over the winter because he is huge, he has lived in the past in the front entry way but I think small fern may take over that spot and big fern might end up in the back bedroom. I would say that he could live in the bath tub but I'm pretty sure I can't life big fern anymore.

My carnivorous friend Bill also has had a good spring and summer, he has grown three pitchers!

 

( two pictured)

 

 

This makes me very proud. But also a little freaked out because Bill really does need to be re- potted and I'm not sure how is pitchers would like that. Maybe I'll wait until he's sleeping in the winter to do that.

 

 

So, so far so good.

Friday Cat Blogging

The fact that the dog didn't kill you for making him wear this only proves how unworthy he is.

Bits on Ice.

It was time for Rockets first post operative vet visit. He hasn't lost any weight since his procedure but he hasn't gained any either. We went back to the exam room and the vet came in and looked over  her work and declared that he looks "good". Good not great. Apparently if you want to return to normal activity you need to look great.

We have another seven days on the injured reserve list and that makes long walks through downtown and even our traditional "shorter" walk to the post office a no go. I didn't tell her we all ready had gone for long walks - I  could have asked her to go into detail as to what constitutes a "long walk' but I decided to not incriminate myself.  We are benched. He supposed to be a couch potato.

It was also suggested that I put ice packs on his bits because his bits are a bit more swollen  than the vet really likes at seven days out. They? It? the bits he has left are swollen because the "bleeder" he had on the way home from the office after his surgery. He now has a  swollen nut sack full of blood clots. Lovely.

Have you ever tried to put an ice pack on dog bits? Rocket made it clear that while he wasn't exactly Born This Way, he does not have body image problems and that he pretty much has to insist that we forgo the whole ice-on-bits idea entirely. The more I try to put ice on his bits the more he runs around and the more he runs around the less we are following doctors orders. I think she would rather have him at rest  than on ice. We have an additional follow up appointment next week that hopefully will return us to active duty. I see a long weekend of  bit icing if we want to go back to our routine, hopefully he will grow to at least not run from towel wrapped bags of ice? Maybe he'll listen to reason? Maybe I'll just double down on his Benadryl.

"Guests"

Recently, because our unpopular Governor is a  liar and all around dishonest sack of shit, the People are getting restless. A couple of weeks ago, he  handed out cake to protesters. He sent his minions  -better paid and with less education than any one in my office, to give them cake, because when you have had your sovereignty over your body stripped from you, you want cake. I'm not sure what group supplied the course material his Mama, used but clearly, his homeschooling did not cover anything French. Too bad, but I'm sure he knows a lot about  Jesus' pet dinosaur. Pat and the Tea Party Republicans for which he stands have  Caused a general decline in North Carolina which is cheered by the Tea Party Republicans but has caused the rest of NC to learn about protest.

Today we got an  email letting us know that we should expect to see some "Guests" from a  group called Progress North Carolina on campus. "Guests" with bullhorns and slogans and signs. We were instructed to be polite to them but under no circumstances let them into a state building. If these "guests" were to  impede us in any way, we should call the capital police at once.

Because you know "guests", especially libberl "guests" , who are definitely going to impede you at every turn! They are violent and dangerous and you had pretty much better call the popo right now. Not mentioned in the email  is that due to state budget cuts  the reason you have to call the State Police if you are being impeded or mugged or flashed on campus, is that because due to McCrory and the Tea Party Republicans budget cuts, they are no longer on campus.

Progress North Carolina is a group that protests Pat McCrory and the Tea Party Republicans and Pat McCrory's Tea Party Republican policies . They have been busy and are going to stay busy because Pat and The Tea party for which he stands, just got started and its going to take a while to get the state back to 1951 but due  to Tea Party Republican financed gerrymandering, they have plenty of time to get the job done. I hope that Progress North Carolina comes to my building, hell, every building on campus.

And they aren't the big dogs either, Moral Monday's can draw a crowd. A big, boisterous "Arrest Me Pul-Leese! Mr. Officer!" crowds. There is no cake big enough to satisfy that group and in the coming months,  the people are going to become increasingly restive, Pat and the Tea Party for which he stands have a problem and its spreading across the state. Raleigh was fun, but the anger is everywhere.  Bon Appetite Pat.

Litter

Rocket and I took out first long-form walk today. We left at 4:20 and we didn't get home until 5:40. Its been a long time since we  got our walk on and it was nice to be back. We took a couple of walks when he came home from vacation but it was too warm and it wouldn't stop raining and so our walks were abbreviated or not at all. Sad really.

He didn't want to eat when we came home. I had been thinking about food for the last hour but he his mind must have been elsewhere - the hormones will take awhile to leave his system. I fed myself and put his bowl down but he wouldn't eat it. I had to go to the store and I left him with his food and hoped for the best.  Still not interested. By the time I returned from the store it was after 8pm and I was concerned.

Apparently, his internal clock wants him to eat at 8:15 at night.

I got a letter from the Church, they want me to give them money and as a to butter me up for this, they included a Pope Francis holy card. Thanks Church! He's  kind of cool, ya'll could learn from him. I'm keeping the card and throwing away the letter.

 I might have been a little more likely to help them out, because I actually do like this new Pope, but two weeks in a row the new priest reminded the congregants that we really, really hate gay marriage and that birth control is sinful. The priest also said that Jesus didn't love or even tolerate all people and that tolerance is bad and hating is good and being on the wrong side of history is a good place to be! Our hate makes us strong!  And when  those evil tolerance pushers are out there being tolerant of others they are being intolerant of hateful people and this is intolerable! We demand to be hateful! And you should respect our hate and adopt it because hate is great!  Everyone should hate people who aren't like us.  And we are all like us! Because we say so!

The priest is an ass and the Church is still not getting any of my money. The priest also bragged that when he came to the parish in Greenville that  some of the congregants left the parish because they didn't like him and found him pushy and judgmental. He was proud of this. Ass.

Didn't give them money then, ain't gonna give them my money now. Thanks new priest for keeping me strong.

Wet Dog

I made an executive decision and took off Rockets E-Collar. I don't see that it is protecting him from himself and in fact, it seems to e injuring him more than any licking he is doing. So, no more E-Collar but more frequent applications of Bitter Apple - which despite having no past experience with, he hates. he has yet to see the connection between licking his incision and me zapping him with the spray.He does learn, but he learns better with heavy application of treats. For someone who isn't really interested in eating he is very food focused and will actually do tricks to get food. Tramp!

I decided to finally read Amy Sedaris'  I like You, Hospitality Under the Influence, and in protest. all my other cookbooks promptly jumped to their deaths! Literally, my other cookbooks fell off my shelf onto the floor without any assistance. I will not be guilted or slut shamed by Ecoiffier! I just started it and found a recipe for Oxtail ragout  and I am going to make it, it is in my favor and I believe, my fate to make this, as  my ghetto grocery stocks oxtails! Also the recipe calls for tomatoes and I have lots of tomatoes. I think it sounds like fun.

I've never actually met an oxtail that was not currently in still in use by a cow, or really, they use steers. Maybe cows have less meaty tails? Does getting castrated lead to a more meaty tail? I guess I'll find out. Also, I'll keep an eye on Rocket to see if there is any change to his tail girth post neuter.


I thought I would share how my morning started. I took the dog for a walk in the mist and halfway home the mist turned into a pouring rain. I really did want to change clothes before work and Rocket did need a bath. But really, walking in the pouring rain at 5:30am is not fun. Don't try it. But I have to say, if getting drenched is the worse thing that happens to you all day, don't complain too loudly.

More from my train of thought, the music on Dog TV is hold music. I bet you didn't know that your dog would really like that. Who knew?

Young dog is doing well post op. He is now wearing an E-Collar, because despite being warned of the consequences of licking his incision, he wouldn't stop licking his incision. I told him if he wouldn't stop he would end up in an E-Collar and he said he didn't care and then I put the collar on him and suddenly he was all "I won't do it anymore, I'll never lick anything that itches me ever again!" and then he wriggled out of the collar twice and I told him I wasn't one of those parents and I made the collar tighter. Now he a bruises around the site from being rubbed with the edges of the collar. So now in addition to the hated E-Collar I am also following him around with bitter apple, which he hates even more.

He can't go up the stairs, get on the furniture or into the car. He can chew on his toys, look out the window and plot. All things he has met with much success  with over the last few days. I am counting the days until I can move his crate and myself back upstairs where we belong. I am sleeping on the futon in the office with him so he won't be alone. When he has healed, I am taking the large metal crate upstairs and substituting it for the plastic crate that he has now outgrown.

My father installed a new gadget for the office door that allows it to stay just open enough to allow for ventilation  but not enough for Rocket to escape. I think he will not like it as much as being out in the whole house, but he will like it better than if he was locked up in his crate. I think he's going to have to adjust his expectations. He lives in my house, I do not live in his.

He and I have either between seven to ten days of  unjoy before he is considered "healed" or ten to fourteen days of unjoy ahead of us, depending on your source. The vet  leaned pretty heavily towards the ten to fourteen days school, but I think he's going to be healed up much, much sooner.  Or not, he could rip open his stiches or cause himself internal damage or any of a dozen other grim outcomes. In his favor, he doesn't seem to be infected ( his scrot is cool)  or still sick from the anesthesia - he isn't vomiting or refusing to eat , he is successfully drinking and voiding like a champ.  I am voting for seven days to a healed up scrotum. Lets all join hands and pray.

Post Op

When the puppy becomes a dog

Today was a very dogcentric day. I ordered Dog TV because it works for Rocket like tranq. I turned it one when I left this morning and when I came home for lunch he wasn't waiting at the door to launch himself at me and then race around the house in hysterics. I came in  today and he was calmly gnawing on one of his toys and was unbothered by me. He did alert to me but it wasn't the same level of mania it has been at all, it was just  a healthy  normal level of "Hey its Mom!" . He also went all day without destroying anything. I did also lock the cat upstairs, and so he was removed from the situation and I think this was a contributing factor.

Later on I went out  after dark on a school night! to buy him a kinder E-Collar for after his surgery tomorrow. I hated watching Daisy wears hers and she was miserable, if  I had known there were better alternatives on the market I would have. bought her one She hated wearing the wretched thing and I hated having to put it on her. I promised myself that I would never put a dog through that again.

And then I found out what kinder E-Collars cost! The Kinder E-Collars I saw at Petsmart and Petco run between $26-$39 . The cost difference is between the blow up version and the reinforced canvas models. I liked the canvas models because they looked more comfortable. The blow up version looked like something he would find a way to chew. Also the blow up version was more expensive.Daisy wore the traditional hard plastic version over and over for weeks on end and in her case, a kinder collar no matter the price would have been money well spent. Rocket dog KNOCK WOOD, isn't going to wear it for long and I am almost certain that the vet will give me one anyway. He's going to hate it, but it isn't going to be a bad relationship.

He's getting fixed tomorrow, my baby is going under the knife. Think a happy thought for my little guy.


And because I can, here he is pictured year apart roughly.

A break in the storm.

I gave up. I bought the dog his own cat food. He really likes it, which is huge for him, and he eats it happily when presented with it, and its not "bad" for him - it is much higher in fat and protean than dog food, and under normal circumstances, this would make your dog fat . My dog is not fat, my dog looks like a whippet! My dog is supposed to look like a weimaraner! My dog will be okay with some cat food in his life. I will transition back to full on dog food, but for the time being, I can find the Fancy Feast pretty much everywhere they sell pet food and after working really hard to find his dog food, I find this refreshing. And cheaper.

His new dog food is hard to find and expensive when it is found.  I think what I may very well try out is a half dog and half  cat food mix , until I run out of the good dog food and then maybe try a full on cat food diet for a bit. He is getting fixed this week and after this he will "need" fewer calories - he all ready gets fewer calories! I'm actually looking forward to the dreaded weight gain.

Today was a better  behaiver day. I kept the cat upstairs to see if having him out of dight would make a difference, and today, Rocket didn't destroy anything, all day. Tomorrow I'm going to leave the cat upstairs again and have Rocket spend the day with the last day of free Dog TV.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Dog

I came home for lunch on Monday curious to see how Rocket was faring on his first real day home from vacation. I couldn't get the door open because he had knocked a large bag of rocks off the counter and a bunch of coupons I had clipped and forgotten about and he hate my favorite umbrella! So I cleaned that up while he danced around and begged me to pay attention to him while I counted to ten over and over and tried to reschedule my lunch plans around this fresh hell.

He didn't know it but his punishment for this was no lunch walk for him! And I gave him the silent treatment, because dogs totally "get" passive aggression behavior.

I came home to try out my new Lunch Plan. I tried to think what my favorite lunch and I decided to DIY the little bastard. I thought about what lunch I liked the best when it was available and I decided that a tuna sandwich on a croissant was my favorite lunch, I added some baked lays and a small bottle of Dr. Pepper and I would be set. Sunday night I thought I could save some time by making up the tuna the night before... I don't have a can opener anymore. It went on vacation and didn't come back and so I got to leave the house at 9pm on a Sunday night to go to Food Lion and buy a new one.

And so I cleaned up the kitchen and ate my lunch and went back to work. I got a phone call once back at work that informed me that I had won a silent auction I had signed up for over the weekend and they needed me to come in and claim my prize.  I was very excited, I never win anything. My Monday was suddenly looking up!

I go home, the house in clear mostly because there is nothing for the dog to destroy - Note to self, evacuate computer  and camera to safer location...

Anyway, I have to go right back out to claim my winnings. I decide that I will experiment with another way to contain the dog.  I put him in the office with a bowl of water and all his toys and the door closed.

The door is still hanging on its hinges when I return but it looks like its been attacked with a machete. Then my Dad calls and tells me what really happened while the dog was there without me - he destroyed everything he was left alone with and made them miserable! I  am now wondering if they make military  boarding schools for incorrigible bad dogs and wondering what kind of a warranty I got with him.

And then we went on a walk and he was a prince to everyone we met, calm, friendly, collected, polite, obedient and well behaved. A completely different dog. I got  compliments on this dog! What a well behaved dog he is! So well trained! So patient and calm! The persons dog would never be this good! What a beautiful animal! I was so proud of this dog! Why can't that dog live with me! Why! Why! Why! Why is he so nice to everyone else while still making me cry and wonder about how I messed him up so badly?  How did I break the puppy? Why is he so good when I'm here and such a nightmare when I'm not?! He is getting fixed on Thursday, hopefully this will change things.

Post Vacation Blues

I took Rocket on his very first post-vaca "real" walk . He was okay when we first started out but then he started to pull on the leash and look back at me as if to say Yo. The leash? For reals? You know I'm cool! I won't run away! Eyes on man! Please! I want to explore! and I looked at him and said "Dude. I know you're cool, but you really do not want to "explore" Tarboro Street.

When it became clear that I wasn't letting him off the leash he started up with Hey. Did we miss the turn off to the beach? And why are we walking on the road? I prefer the path through the forest. Where is my beach? This doesn't look at all familiar...

And I said. This is all painfully familiar. There is no beach here and the "path through the woods" is a half block stretch of Bloodworth through the historic district. This ain't the historic district. Dude, vacation is over. Welcome back to real life.

I tried to point out some positives to this: We had been outside for  ten whole minutes and neither of us were covered in flies or crawling with ticks. He replied that some of us never went out without protection and thus were not bothered by flies or ticks and that he really misses his Michael and that Michael prepared his food "the right way" and I suck at it and even when I make the same exact thing, it isn't as good. He then went on to point out that the quality of available sticks here is tragic and if I think that "a lame leash walk to the post office " is the same as " an unleashed run on the beach" I am sorely mistaken.

He then went on to add that being "misted by the hose in the yard" is not the same as  "taking a refreshing dip in the lake" and he would thank me very much to not try to do that again as it cheapens both of us. I chose to not divulge that we have a very nice baby pool in the basement that he might want to take a refreshing dip in, but I have a feeling that this will also cheapen both of us.

When the dog is good he is very, very good. When the dog is bad he's...

Rocket and Ace Come Home Blogging!

Doing Something

Today is about accomplishment!

I got the rest of Rockets prescription filled, I put very cheap gas in the car and I maybe found a much closer vender for Rockets special new food.

I came home and parboiled my tomatoes, cooked them down and made a delicious spaghetti sauce! I decided after straining the whole pot and looking at it for a few minutes that I like a more  rustic style of sauce and  (after a consult with Broskey) unstrained the sauce. When it was strained it looked like tomato soup, great to know, should I be in a mood to make tomato soup, but it just was missing the heartiness that I look for in a good sauce.

This sauce is different than the first batch in that it has ingredients that aren't tomatoes. It has green peppers, onions, fresh garlic and ground meat - also lots of fresh basil and chives. I think I used my tomatoes wisely.

It didn't make a gallons and gallons but I don't need a lot and I got enough for me . I now am going to have to get my pasta maker out because I would love to be able to use my homemade sauce on my home made pasta. I'm thinking ravioli.

In addition to the cooking I emptied and filled the dishwasher, paid my water bill and took us both for a walk to the post office.

Doing Nothing

Today was a day that I did not get things done. I get so bored of being efficient and useful and a contributing member of society.

After work I did not:  Take a walk, pick up recyclables,  go to the store to get ingredients for my next batch of tomato sauce,, do the laundry, vacuum, clean anything, empty the dishwasher, fill the dishwasher, upload pictures to Walgreen's, call my alarm company, go back to Sam's to point out they filled only half the dogs prescription or pay my water bill.

I am contemplating going to Walmart to get some ice cream because its much cheaper than going across the street to get a milkshake . I was able to accomplish maybe finding a local source for Rockets new food that we found in Marquette, the downside being its only a "maybe" source and its located in deepest, whitest North Raleigh and its kind of a drive to get out there and they look expensive. I do have a back up for them though, there is a store in Chapel Hill that sells it but I'm not going out there for dog food, no mater how much he likes it - that same store has another location in Raleigh, very close to me and if Store A carries I maybe I can get Store B to at the very least, order it for me from the Store A.

I'm going to blow off  Wally World and hit Food Lion instead.

Garden Day 9

After considerable editing, the garden has retreated back into it's assigned places and we are again living in harmony.

The second lesson I learned this year, after "plant corn next year!" was "do not plant as many watermelon next year" . I planted three of on variety and three of another. I did not think this was going to be a big deal. In the past I have planted three plants total and got a reasonable yield for one person and a couple of gift melons. I do not know why this did not seem good enough. In years past I got multiple fruits that grew to maturity, this year with twice the number of plants I think I'm going to come out with maybe two watermelon total! This isn't good enough, next year I am back to three plants and hopefully better outcome.

The most mature and mostly likely only melon I am going to get this year. There are a few of others, but one has stopped growing and the others are still too young to get excited about.

I had to do serious pruning of the vines or I wouldn't be able to get around in the yard. I do not think this was harmful to the plants as the vines had grown thick and matted and there as very little light getting through. The plants seem happier and the baby fruits have a better chance of growing to maturity.


Another crop that isn't going to have a big year is the green beans. This is just not a good year for the green bean.  I planted them in questionable soil and then I didn't plant nearly as many seeds as I usually, thus I have far fewer plants and predictably, many fewer beans.  Next year I am going to really work to enrich  the soil much more than I did this year and I am going to bring the trellisi out of storage and put them back into use.

My experiment with the corn paid off. I didn't get a lot of corn, but I got enough and that was enough to earn them a place next season. I'm pretty sure I'm going to pull the plants up soon because I think their growing season is over and there are no young corns? cobs? growing.

Another successful addition to the garden this year were the Sun Flowers. They did spectacualllry well. I wish I had been here for their few days of full on blooming, but I did get to see pictures and now I have many, many, many seeds.

The peppers. My poor sad peppers. I had eight plants. I have two.

The tomaotos are doing spectacularly well, pepper stomping good.

I do now understand why people hate squirrels though. They are greedy and wasteful and spiteful. I now really get why people go to war with them. I was really happy because I came home for lunch and managed to "rescue" a ripening one and was very proud of myself.


Not proud of the fact that both my spell check features crapped out on me.

Wolves and Turtles and Bears!

My last "free" weekend. I'm getting custody of the animals back he end of this week and  my lazy days of leaving shoes out or anything else I value lying around, my glasses unprotected and coming and going as I please - will be over.

Yay! I have purpose beyond that of a tomato farmer!

On my last free Sunday I went to see other animals

 

I am not dead, I am on break.

He's touching me!

I am not on break, this a work slow down until the up my hourly voles allotment.

Just pretty

I has a sad

My sense of mortality got bitch slapped and pushed down the stairs.

Friday Cat Blogging

I can almost see Mama from here!

Couch Surfing

I came home from vacation and sat on my couch, because I sat on the couch in Marquette and now I was in the habit of couch sitting. Its why we have couches, we don't have couches to act as overgrown dog beds or as a place to store laundry while you wait for it to learn to put itself away.

My Couch is Uncomfortable. I have had said couch since 1998 and I don't think other than a few nights involuntarily spent on the it  back in the nineties due  a psychotic cat, I have never voluntarily sat on my own couch. I have a couch because  in general,  most living rooms have couches in them. Its a nice enough couch, wellish made,  a good color, not offensive in any way -  but still I don't use it. I wore out the chair that came with it and yet all this time later, the couch looks like it just came off the wholesalers' warehouse floor. And that's after two dogs and two cats and  now  fifteen years.

Its too narrow. You can not get comfortable on it and it makes me feel like I'm in a waiting room, I am sitting down but I need to be ready to launch off it at any time - this is not relaxing. Years and years ago I noticed this, and I took an entire trash bag stuffing out of the back pillows to give  them a little more  give - Okay, perhaps it was time to do this again. I took another entire trash bag of fluff out of the two pillows and still the couch was still too narrow.

How wrong is my couch? The dog won't use it. The dog curls up on the back pillows instead of using the couch itself. Dogs are not picky creatures and he rejects this couch.   Why not just buy a new couch? Couches are expensive and there is no budget for a new couch and even if there were (Hello Craigslist!), then I would have to deal with either re-homing it or unloading it and neither sounds like something that I would do for fun. Bad Couch and I have a relationship and I can't turn my back on it because my feelings have changed about over the years.

I removed the back pillows and tried it out. It was much deeper and instantly more comfortable - However, the couch back was not designed for this and I was afraid it might tear, also it was a little stiff. Enter the too many throw pillows I have collected over the years clearly waiting for just this moment! At last they have purpose! Now I have a comfortable couch! I can lean back and feel like I am leaning back! If I decide this idea is a keeper I might go to  Big Lots or Ollies or whatever and buy some matching pillows. It might be a little boho, but I can do boho, its a whole lot cheaper than new coucho.

More working out

It rained today so instead of taking a walk I did 5 1/2 minutes of the 7 minute work out twice. I don't see it as "skipping" sections as much as "editing them out", I don't care for singing the same song twice.  Still even with my skillful editing, I managed to work up a sweat any how - which I suppose is good but working up a sweat in my living room just seems gross but on the upside, post workout I can collapse on my conveniently located couch.

You don't realize how long thirty seconds is until you have done enough jumping jacks to satisfy  your personal recommended jumping jack daily allowance and you still have to do more. I do no care for many of the other exercises but I muddle through. I complain about them but since I am alone, its not the same as bitching and moaning about them to another person. Which is whining, which is wrong and bad for every ones morale and is negative and does not help and makes me look like "that girl" and everyone hates her . Bitching to myself is just  self talk and is part of my process.

I think I'm going to have a bowl of ice cream, my second,  to reward myself. Perhaps working up a sweat in the comfort of my own living room and in such close proximity to my own refrigerator, is not that bad an idea.