Friday Cat Blogging

TGIF

The house is clean, or face it, as clean as I can achieve in a very limited amount of time. The dust bunnies have been slaughtered and I vacuumed up a litters worth of dog hair. I also cleaned the bathroom - shattering a full container of liquid hand soap in the process, silver lining? a section of the floor is now very clean.

The cats litter box has been flushed and left to dry in the sun. The back up box is ready for my parents cat.

I vacuumed everything and everywhere, I changed the bed over and did a laundry. I emptied the dishwasher and started to refill it. I mopped the kitchen floor! I cleaned the dogs room and tidied the hallway.

I did all this so I could come home to a clean house, so that it would be like while I was gone the housekeeper fairies would have been there and left it spotless and shiny. I hate coming home to a dirty house, so I spent the last several hours making sure that I'm not going to. The house is at the very least not gross anymore.

The dogs food is gathered, the cat supplies are all in one place ready to drop off with kitty  while he is on his staycation. While I was trying to make the livingroom less offensive I found some more magazines to bring with me. I have my clothes ready for Saturday morning. I am ready.

Posting will be sporadic, but will continue.

Thursday

I got an entire one thing off my to-do list: I adjusted my hair color.

 I forgot my charger at work again and so dog and I went up to Dix and wandered around and it was nice. I found a tree I hadn't seen before and that was exciting, it really was. I've been all over that campus and seen a lot of trees but I never saw that one before.

Some total of my list completed. I feel bad about that.There is a lot of cleaning that needs to be done and the cat box needs to be nuked from space and all of that is going to be done Thursday evening. I would be cleaning now but the house gets dirty so fast and I didn't want to clean everything and only to have it go back while I'm at work.

I blame the animals, the fur is all powerful and it resists cleaning products and even the strongest vacuum. Its better to give it as little time as possible to get its stuff together. So Thursday I'll be busy . I'll be buy and my house will look really nice and hopefully I'll be out of town before it gets gross again.

My hair looks much better and much more uniform.

Tuesday

Took dog to his new backup vet, very successful visit! Such a nice practice, so clean and new and spacious and with such a nice parking lot and the whole thing a mile from my house!! I'm not going to totally abandon old vet, also a very nice practice, but, damn, is it small and poky and a bitch to get to and shite parking. OV is still going to be my go-to for his annual physical and God Forbid, sick doggy, but for quick trips like bordetella or heartworm checks I think New Vet will work out really well. Rocket now weighs 71 pounds,

See picture of fancy office. Not pictured the couch I was sitting on or the fancy fold up exam table.

I feel like I'm cheating on my old vet but he's already being seen by the vet school for his anxiety and if OV was following a chronic condition that required frequent visits, like with Daisy and Tex, I wouldn't leave, but as it is, well, its nice to have a back up thats so close by. Baby Kitty, who was a free agent, he now has vet.

And they gave me a kewl tee-shirt.

So now I have a nice, new back up vet. Always a good thing to have. And dog has a brand new shiney bordetella shot and spanking new heartworm meds after we got home I treated him with his flea meds and now he's all set to hit the road.

That was pretty much all I was able to get off the to-do list. I should be cleaning my filthy house but its just going to re-filthy it self, I should wait until Thursday night and limit the houses opportunities to refilthify itself. Yeah.

Teethy

I'm going to have to  back to the store. I went to the store and bought everything I would need for the trip, I was thorough, I even had a list. I bought snacks for me food for the dog and supplies for the cat. My buggy was full of stuff and I felt pretty good about getting those tasks checked off the list.

Now I am going to run out of yogurt before we leave and I think I'm going to really need yogurt, but, why take up the space in the cooler with yogurt? I could just as easily suck it up and eat fast food, which I like very much. Its two and a half days of  being in the car for hours. I could eat sausage biscuits instead - in which case, I would not have to go back to the store for trip yogurt, but I know, I absolutely know that I am going to be back to the store for something .  Maybe more popcorn, I'm thinking I'm going to have to just give up and go to Sam's and buy the Big Box of popcorn and just be honest and admit my weakness.

I just wish peaches weren't so messy, well not all peaches are messy, but good peaches are. A bad peach would be find in the car because its a hockey puck. I would also like to request that peaches be better labeled. If its  a yellow peach it should be marked "yellow", if its a cling stone variety, it should  be marked "pain in the ass", if its a while peach it should be marked "wrong kind". Why make it harder than it has to be?

I got my crown put back, my dentist swears up and down that the crown was not "his" and that I came to the practice with it in place. I only remember one crown going on and its "his". I am very monogamous with dentists, I have had two my whole life - Did my childhood dentist put a crown on and I am not remembering it happening? I don't think so. I think I had a tooth with a big cavity, it failed and new dentist put a crown on it.

I just had a vision of having a temp crown fall off years and years ago and having to go back to dentist number one to have it put back. This happened in Dallas, in my apartment. I was eating taffy and it pulled something lose and I had to have it out back. Wow. Like just now I am remembering that. So dentist two didn't tell me a story. Isn't that weird? I just saw the whole thing. I'm sitting at my computer in my bedroom in my apartment in Dallas and I'm eating taffy and the  temp peice came off . I found  it and went back to the doctor who put the permanent crown on and away I went for eighteen years. He called it a "cap". Tada.

Done List

it was a very productive weekend!

1.I solved the light sensitive light bulb problem, took trips to two different big box stores to get it done, but problem solved.

2. Got a timer on a sprinkler for the front porch and got the plants reconfigured so that they all get some of the sweet, sweet irrigation.

3. Picked up food and drinks for the car trip.

4. Picked up new dust, food and litter genie inserts for kitties sojourn with Alphagal and Brosky.

5. Packed the dogs back pack with everything but his toys.

6. Packed my travel bag.

7. Paid the man to mow my yard while I'm gone.

8. Found both animals most recent rabies certificates.

9.Noticed that the house is filthy.

10. Noticed that my hair needs refreshing.

11. Noticed my eyebrows need attention.

12. Had a crown fall out Friday night.

13. Called dentist office and reported crown falling out.

14. Spent weekend worrying empty spot.

Handsome

Friday Cat Blogging

Suddenly, he cares about mice in the house.

Thursday

Glass Half Full : Rocket learned a new skill! Yay! New skill for Rocket! Wheeee!
Glass Half Empty : Rocket can now open a closed and latched door. At will.

I had him in his room when Broskey was here to pick up his mice and I figured that it might be nice for everyone if Rocket wasn't underfoot. I locked him up and Broskey and I took care of getting the mice and their crate out to the car. We came back into the house and were greeted by Rocket.

Super.

We both said that the door had not been firmly latched and if the door was firmly closed that this would not happen again. I put him back into the room and firmly shut the door. It was closed .. Broskey and I went back outside and chatted about his family's recent vacation.

And then Rocket came out to say Hi! and also, I imagine, HA.

To calm myself down and hopefully drive thoughts of opening doors from his mind, I took Rocket to Dix last night for some off leash time and while we were there, his pinch collar disappeared.  I didn't notice until I got him in the car to go home and by that time it was getting dark and I didn't want to be there after dark, I was annoyed but he could use a new one anyway and now I have no excuses. I saw it as being a write off because it has a loose section and it falls apart and off pretty easily and its a problem, now, I would just go get a new one that isn't loose and won't fall apart.

I went to work this morning I nosed around where we had gone and lo and behold I found it! And all in one piece! And I don't have to buy a new one yet. Its not perfect, but it still works, it just needs some tweaking.

So it was a good day. And Rocket wanted to stay in his room all day!  I started to think about his new skill set and  instead of immediately going out and buying a dead bolt - I decided that it's a good thing he can get out if he really wants to. If the alarm is going off, if the house is on fire, he can escape. If there are thieves in the house, he can get out and kill them - which is what he would do. He can be wild and he's very tall and  he can be a seriously butch male dog when he wants to be. He just looks like a giselle, really, he's a hyena.

I'm still going to get a new knob with a simple lock on it though because I'm not sure he has great decision making skills as to when he really HAS to get out of his room. We may not agree on what would be enough of a reason for him to bust out into the rest of the house. I don't want to leave my velvet couch unprotected or have any more of my hardwoods ruined or my poor cat terrorized. By the time he gets back from vaca, there will be a new door knob and shiney, sturdy, lock. HA.

New Toys for me

New Snowglobes for me! From Australia and New Zealand! Do you have a snowglobe from New Zealand? I bet you don't. I had asked for a koala but the one they had turned out to be a very rare venimus variety, so it couldn't come back. Everything in Australia is trying to kill you after all. Sniff,  his name was going to be Fozzy. Does anyone need a drum of Vicks?

While I was admiring my new globes, I was also waiting on the men from the gas company to come and fix something. They never came, I called and asked where they were and I was assued that they wern't late, they just hadn't gotten to me yet and they worked until all the jobs were done! I called still later and was told that my job had been struck from the list and tey didn't know why. When I asked about the song and dance from earlier I was told that it may have still be on the list at the time. I think that "all the jobs" translates to "all the jobs we can do before 6pm".

They are going to call me tomorrow morning and I am going to tell them when I am available and when they are going to be at my house. They can be there while I am on lunch or they can be there after I get off work. I think that I am being very reasonable.

Tuesday

I found myself wanting to go to Wallyworld. Its clearly a low point for me.

Today was a daycare day for the dog so I could have gone at lunch and did my shopping then but I needed butter and I couldn't leave butter in the car and I couldn't risk forgetting it in the office refrigerator and I really wanted to enjoy my twice a month chance to not have to go home and take care of the dog. I miss eating like a real person. I also get tired of protean bars, once in a while a Burger King chicken sandwich is just heavenly.

 I needed to go to Wally to buy cat dust at some point before I leave my baby kitty with Alphagal and Broskey - I'll need to buy more before I leave town, but I needed somenowish and it's also peach season and I was almost out and I had run out of sugar free pudding cups and while I could have gone on another day... It seemed like a good time to go and stock up.

So I set out, I was going to hit Wally right after I left work but it was so hot, I couldn't work up the energy to to do. I was going to go a little later on, but a nasty squall came through and instead I rode the exerbike in loo of my rained out walk.

It cleared up and I ran out of DVR stuff I wanted to watch and I had finished my dinner and fed the dog and made sure my basement wasn't under water- its feet got wet. Once I was certain the house wasn't in imminent danger,  I went and got my groceries. Very exciting stuff.

Garden 2015 Update 8

As I was watering my patio and it came to me that I am going to be gone and there will be no one to water my patio - not daily like they like. I need to remember to take care of getting the timer set and do right by them.

I also need to find the lawn mower guy and have him mow my yard while I'm going and for the time being while my machine is in the infirmary - rather,  mow my yard for me after I take the machine to the infirmary and ask if they will board it while I am gone.

I am not as worried about the back yard. I have the irrigation set up and that works well. The garden on the other hand... Worst Year Ever.

Its not making as many fruits as it should be, what few are produced don't grow and don't get ripe. I think I've pulled three off so far total, and that is way, way, way below normal. The peppers are doing well, they are all ready producing and seem strong. They are in a different garden.

There have been three tomato plant deaths thus far, two more then I normally get. I don't know if it's the way they are being watered or the heat or bugs or whatever, things are not happy in the garden. Its very disappointing for me. I think the onions are doing well, I can't tell, I don't know about onions. They seem to be not dead, so I have them in the win column.

I am really stressed about the tomato plants though! They majority that are not dead, look strong and tall and green. I see little tomatoes left right and center but they aren't maturing or they are and they are getting nabbed by a garden pest or pests - I have found greenies withe bites out of them. I don't know who to blame for this : Birds, squirrels, rats, bunnies, bugs? There is a whole list of suspects.

My volunteer potatoes and tomato plants seem to have frozen in time. The plants are not getting bigger but not dieing back either. The volunteer tomato plant is covered with blooms but isn't getting pollinated, so its not moving forward. The potato plants were doing well but now seem to be static.  If they would bloom I would dig them up and get my potatoes, but they aren't maturing or growing any more .

Could it be the heat? Can it be too hot for tomatoes? I could understand the potatoes being uncomfortable since they really are not a summer crop but the others?  I think I should be try watering with Holy Water.

Monday.

My father came up on Saturday and went a long way to improving the curb appeal of my house and protecting my roofing from being molested by my tree. He helped to move my much-larger-and- much-heavier-and-unwieldy-than-it-appeared-on-the-curb free dresser up my 90 degree attic stairs.I sear to Gawd it didn't look that big on the curb!

This is what it looks like when it is not in pieces in the back of my car

I've been going back ad forth with what I want to do with it. I started out saying I was just going to paint it dark brown and be done with it but then it was pointed out that the upstairs is all ready a really dark space and do I really want to make it more dark? So I then said I was going to go green and I looked at a lot of greens at the store but now I'm not sure and I was also saying that I wanted to use wall clings, like I'm using on the other furniture downstairs but then I started to think stencils! The upstairs is going to be themed back to its Camp Knotty Pine identity. I'm going to get  some time in the fall, pine themed bedding and curtains and make the place look nice.

All I do know is that  in the now I hate the hardware and it has to go because it is ugly,ugly, ugly and does nothing for the overall appearance. I also have to find out if I can buy replacement tracks for one of the drawers, the wooden track broke and the drawer doesn't slide very well.

What ever I do decoratively for the dresser I am also going to do to this

It also need some work and new hardware.

My Dad also tried and was unable to diagnose out what went suddenly wrong with my electric lawn mower. It worked and then it didn't. It just stopped and neither of us know why. I had to make more calls than I thought I would to get it serviced. Lawn Mower service places should be open on the weekends because when it is that you use the mower? You mow your lawn on the weekend! and Sears was not helpful at all. Dicks.

Speaking of outside

Really amazing progress from something I thought was dead.

On Sunday it was really hot, my lawn mower was broke and as it turned out, it was going to rain hard, as evidenced by my wet basement -Not so wet it bothered my exposed water heater,Thank You Gawd! but it must have rained like a bitch.

I have no proof of the strength of the rain because I was at the movies! It was dry when I went in and dry when I left. I did hear some very strong thunder but I thought it could be bleed from the theatre next door - But I was a t a very nice theatre and I don't think bleed is a problem anymore in modern, really nice theatres. ANYWAY. I saw Trainwreak and I laughed like a loon right up until I got teary. I really liked it a lot but the reviews are right, its awesome right up until the last half hour and then it dips its toe into schmaltz. It was too good a movie for that and yes, I know we have to see our Hero's  journey and her rise and fall and how she Learns her Lesson and Becomes a Better Person and Woman.

SPOILER






But a little less Sandy from Grease would have been good too as well as serving the characters trajectory and finishing her story. Bill Hader is a hotty, BTW.

Adventure Dog

Cat Blogging

Ace felt bad that Rocket was so featured this week and when he feels bad I feel bad. SO this week, two pictures of kitty!

So cute! My little boy cat.

Friday

While I was having daydreams about how awesome my new dresser is going to look, I remembered that I had an existing piece of furniture upstairs that has been pleading to be fixed up and could also look awesome if I would work on it.

When I started thinking about two pieces of furniture rather than just the dresser, I decided that the mahogany idea was not the best way to go. Instead of trying to camouflage pigs ears  to match up with the silk purse, that I would just make the pigs ears into silk purses! Why not add to the work?! The dressers is going to be a lot of work, the biggest thing I've tackled so far so why not just double my work load? Yay!

Here is the new entry into the furniture olympics, be careful, its very ugly.

I mean, it is really ugly. If this was on the curb I wouldn't even slow down.


See, but it lives in my house and it has lived here longer than I have, I owe it to try to put it back to work.

So. New idea, they are going to be green - but a really good green, a non-tacky green, something to brighten up the (dark,dark,dark) space and kind of re-establish the Camp Knotty Pine theme I had/have going on up there, I am also going to use some of the same cling things I used downstairs, except pine and pine cone themed. The interiors I am going to paint either a light brown or neon green. I haven't made up my mind.

 The upstairs space AKA my winter bedroom, where they are going to live  looks like a paneled submarine, so there are limits on what can be done up there without major structural changes. I am not up to to the challenge, so we're going Knotty Pine.

Birthday Day

For Rockets birthday dinner he had a real steak and real chicken and dry cat food, and that was the real treat, he loves cat food!  He also spent the day in daycare.

 New birthday horn

He had a very good day.


After dinner we went for our walk and I gave myself a gift for his birthday

Its nice, its going to live upstairs and hold my homeless slacks and pjs and whatever else fits. I'm going to paint it out to match the existing dresser so its going to go mahogany.

Happy Birthday Rocket!!!!!

Weather update, nothing happened. Nothing, no rain no wind no problems. Kind of anticlimactic

 TODAY IS ROCKETS 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!!! WHEEEEE!!! 

Here are a bunch of pictures of him from the  last years in no particular order, because order is not his thing.