Friday Cat Blogging

House Elf/House Cat

Boo!

Yadawg

Doggy is a Free Elf!

Today we went for a nice, long, dry walk. It was lovely. All it takes is one wet walk to make you really appreciate being walking and not being wet. We walked much further than normal for this time of year in celebration of being not wet.

Look at that smile! This was a much better day for the dog.

It doesn't matter how hard it rains, if you are outside, you will get wet.

Below please see Dog and I on the way home from our walk, I took this picture because it didn't matter, we weren't going to get much wetter than we were, so why not stop and take a picture to remember the moment by.

 We left on our walk because it was "just misting" and he hadn't gone for his walk the day before because I wanted to go se Lil Bub and there was so time for his walk. This was my penance for enjoying myself so much.

It started off wet, which was fine because we both had on spiffy rain coats, and his worked very well. Mine worked too, but I really need to get a rain hat. His coat comes with a hood, but when its on, it makes him look like a Grand Dragon, so he goes without it, he doesn't mind, he's not a hat person anyway.

I had thought that since he doesmn't care for the rain or wetness in general that he would do his business quickly and I could turn the bus around and go home, but he seemed to not have any interest in business and so we kept on walking, further and further from home. And it just kept raining and raining and not letting up and we got all the way downtown where it was very wet and even less warm than in the neighborhoods. So. Much. Fun.

He finally cut me some slack and we headed back home in the rain. By the time we got there we were were both soaked to the bone and cold. I have also decided that there is nothing romantic about walking in the rain, this is a lie. A big, wet lie.

We got in the house and I dried us off and I changed into my footie jammies and made us dinner. He had his kibble with some added cheese and I thawed some chicken soup. We spent the rest of the evening curled up together watching my DVR . 

Before I had been rained on I had planned on running some errands after dinner, but I decided there was nothing I wanted so much that I needed to change out of my footed jammies and get off my chair to go get in the rain.

Lil Bub!

I just saw Lil Bub in person! or in "cat" as it was, it was so exciting! I think to order ticket when I saw the notice in the paper because who else would show up to see some random internet famous cat? Well, I should have put in for tickets when I saw the story in the paper at 5am because by the time I called that evening, it was sold out.

I was sad but the girl I spoke with said that I should still show up because they always have no-shows for these free events and I would probably get in. The day finally arrived and I got there early and there was almost no one there and I thought 1) Victory! I'm in! and 2) That it was kind of sad that no one else showed up.

3) College kids work on their own schedule. By the time it was supposed to be starting the whole damn university was standing in line. I was getting worried because the more it seemed I may not actually get in, the more I really, really needed to get it. It was becoming an imperative.

I waited and waited  and the line finally got moving and at long last I made it in! I got what seemed like a good seat but really was a bit challenging for taking pictures. I managed though.

It was so fun and I'm so excited I got to see Lil Bub and her Dude in person, they raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for care for special needs animals and increased research into animal health needs. I also got a  2016 calendar and some socks.

Garden Update 10

I spent an entire weekend and I didn't paint anything! It was amazing, I hardly knew what to do with myself.

I figured it out. I also spent my first night back upstairs and it was great.


I knew it was time to end the season for the tomatoes and while they could have hung pn for a couple of more weeks but I don't think it would have really mattered, its now more about kind of beating the weather than squeezing a few more tomatos. This way, I could do it slowly and relatively carefully and do it in the warm. In other years I've had a better harvest and the plants were healthier and it made sense to wait until the last possible moment, but its a big job made larger if you are doing it in the cold. And with a poor harvest and sick plants it was just a good day to get it done.

The ripe looking fruits were mishapen and then eaten by someone and I didn't bother getting them off.


After I pulled out the tomaotes I looked around and saw a lot of things that needed to go, stuff I should have taen out a long time ago but the state of the garden did not motivate me to do much of anything with the area. I pulled out a lot of stuff.

There was a lot of stuff that needed to go and I've been in the mood to get things out. I'm much happier with the way the yard looks now. The peppers are still very peppy and producing like champs, I'm probably going to be out there in the snow pulling them out but I'll be okay with it because they have worked so hard and my harvest has been great.

I haven't been this happy with the garden since I got it planted in the spring.

After I took care of it I mowed the yard and made it all pretty.

Also? I bought my Silver Christmas Tree!

Its going be a groovy Christmas!

Friday Cat Blogging

Thursday

Not really an entry this time. I had to go to Target to pick up Rockets meds and get my flu shot. The pharmacy at Target was so many times better than Walmart! The facilities don't even exist in the same plane. Target was fully staffed, they took care of their clients quickly and they were polite and professional. My Target pharmacy experience was just so much better and more pleasant. I did pay more, but I was paying for the superior service and that was more than worth it.

I also now have a very spiffy flu shot that will protect me from four different strains of flu. I feel better already.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by TJ Maxx and while I sadly, didn't find anything for me, I did find a nifty Christmas  tie for Rocket and a Reindeer hat! I tried them both on him when I got home and he looked fab! He clearly, did not feel fab, but beauty is pain and you just have to work though it. The Reindeer hat came with a jungle bell collar but I don't think I'm going to do that to him, its a little much.

I came home and made the bed upstairs, took the trash out to the curb and took the cats box upstairs for the season. I did a lot of housekeeping stuff, not very interesting.

Wednesday

Not much or today, walked Dog. I walk dog just about every day, except if it's raining or I'm tired or I decide it doesn't "feel right" or I'm just lazy or it gets dark. Its pretty much about me.

But today I was walking along and like most days, all these people wanted to talk to the dog, pet him, ask questions about the breed, just love on him. They were all so happy to spend even a little time with him. We spoke with two DMV people and they just smiled and were so happy to visit with him.

Then we got downtown, we talked to several people on Fayetteville Street. Lots of friends along there, we talked to one guy - looked like he took a beating or hit the street the hard way. He had new wounds on his face and he looked ill. But he was thrilled to talk to the dog! Pet his ears, ran his hands over him, the guy was just so happy to have a few minutes with the dog.

Rocket, is going to sleep in a nice bed in a warm house, the poor guy isn't. But for a few minutes he was warm and happy and cuddled up with a puppy.

He was smiling and the dog was happy and everyone had their days brightened. I don't just walk the dog for me, I walk the dog for everyone who needs some pet therapy at the end of the day and I need to think about that when I don't want to deal with it. I don't always want to walk the dog but I should always walk the dog, someone out there really needs to visit with the dog and he isn't going to provide pet therapy downtown himself.  And to be honest? Some of these people he serves? I don't want coming around to the house. He brightens  and brings warmth into a few minutes of peoples days and a lot of then don't have a lot of brightness or warmth. Its not always about me.

 Have to say, this makes him look a little bit like a fascist uberdog, I'm not sure what Google was thinking here. 

So arty

#pixlr

Tuesday

Today the ladies on my hall who come in early so they "can get work done while it's quite" were making a lot of noise. They were loud because the crows outside their windows were louder.

We had to talk about the crows. Crows are big birds, they seem bigger than they were years ago. Crows and ravens are the same bird, if you live in a poor neighborhood you have crows, if you live in a rich neighborhood you have ravens.

They are different birds The raven has a larger beak and they have different tails and feather arrangement.

The crows being loud outside means something about the state of the winter, either it's going to start snowing next week or it's going to be warm.

A quick check online to see if I need to invest in antifreeze told me that crows very often roost together in the winter for safety and warmth I would presume, hundreds, thousands, millions in cases can be roosting together. What we were experiencing was dozens maybe and it was too late in the day for roosting. They were  however making a huge amount of  unscheduled noise.

Why do they make noise? They are threatened, unhappy, protecting themselves. But from what? There were blue jays in the trees too, and they were also very unhappy. But why? Were they made at each other? Were the squirrels involved? Is this about the pecans? Who is watching the wood chucks? Are they in danger?!

I went and looked out the window and I found out why all the noise - I thought I was seeing a hawk, we have a lot of  hawks on campus. It was not a hawk, it was an owl! A predator of crows, and it was just sitting there being a great big owl. It was probably a Great Horned Owl, as the internet told me that they hunt crows, this morning it was just stalking the crows. It looked at us and looked at them and was all owl-y and vaguely threatening because it was big, really big and had big talons and a huge beak . Not friendly or cute, not like a Harry Potter owl at all.

The owl took off and the crows all flew away and we got back to work.

Petcentric

This morning I became afraid that Kitty had  either been locked in a bad place all night on accident, or he ran away on purpose.

I came into the kitchen in the morning and his food hadn't been touched. I started thinking back to when exactly I had last seen him.  He hadn't come to see me when I went to bed before I went to bed, normally, its the only time he voluntarily spends time with me, but Sunday night he was a no show.I hadn't noticed because I am a bad cat mom.

Monday morning I couldn't find him. He normally is very interested in me in the morning not because he gets fed, because he doesn't, but because the dog eats in the morning and he helps the dog eat breakfast.

Fortunately, he showed up. I think he is really excited about the upstairs being ready for occupancy and he's all ready spending time up there, to prepare it for the rest of us. He's nice like that, thoughtful.I am surprised though, it was cold Sunday night and where ever he was, he was alone and not warm.

Monday was a test for Rocket and I . I was going to go home for lunch and then I remembered that there was a fund raiser for the Combined Campaign and I wanted to go. I couldn't go and get home for Rocket. I decided that the charity needed me and I needed the soup, it was good -  a lot better than a protein bar and yogurt.

I kept and eye on him over the course of the day with Dog Spy and while he did have periods of agitation, he calmed himself down and didn't damage anything and he didn't pee the floor. I was and am beyond proud of him! This means that I might be able to spend some, but not all of my lunch hours running errands instead of having to run home every day for lunch like I have for the last three years. I would like to have options. It would be nice if the damn daycare had some sort of time frame for reopening, but they don't yet, but maybe, going forward I won't need them as often.

Sad Dog

Rocket has been lonely since his daycare closed.

Weekend

I was very busy this weekend! My Fitbit was not at all impressed, it is not possible to make it understand that "errands" and "housework" or viable exercies. It does not help that I forgot to put it on Saturday morning and I lost all those steps I accrued on my errands.

But it was not all for naught. I got stuff accomplished and I feel really good about it.

First

After much sweat and tears I got the handles attached. It was hard! They don't just pop on! "Oh, just paint it out and replace the hardware! Fix it right up!",  Now I know why people buy new furniture, because painting it and replacing the hardware is hard! and the project becomes progressively less and less fun as time goes on and its work, lots of work. HGTV lies to us a lot.

I spent a lot of time shoveling out the room and making its lone, tiny closet useable. I found magazines in there that pre-dated my moving into this house! Some were, in my defence, issues that came out immediately after 9/11 and those do have some significance. The many, many issues dedicated to Ben & Jen, not-so-much.

I did a lot of throwing away and recycling and that always feels good. I found the curtains that had hung in the attic that I took down because they are ugly

But I never did anything with them. Now, I think I'm going to take them to a hip, downtown Collectables store and see if they are interested in them. I know there is some over monied Hipster out there that would be all over them, So Kitschy! So Vintage! . If not, they are going to Goodwill where a smarter Hipster will find them. Either way, they will be out of my life.

The room is not where I want it yet, and there are projects in every corner - I think Its Time to get rid of the computer that I haven't turned on in three years and the desk it lives on, both could get taken down and put in the attic - along with everything else I have consigned there and not yet put in there - A huge project in itself. But it is time,  and its taking up valuable real estate and I'm not using it for anything, I do want to get the stuff off the hard drive though but I don't know how to do that. I have an external drive thingy I bought when I got the lap top but I haven't been able to put the two together. I need help for that.

There are a lot of things up there that still need to be either re-homed or  put away or gotten rid of. Its a lot more than I had thought it was going to be. I need to get the ten thousand tee shirts out of the brown dresser up there and into the dresser down stairs so that I can keep my seasonal clothes together and have room for my larger, bulky winter clothes that are homeless at present.

The Great Tee-Shirt move and Dresser Clean Out are an entire thankless project in itself and I'm not ready for that yet. Soon, but not yet.

But, that being said this is what the upstairs looks like now, in its not-entirely-finished state

And then I blanched and cut up all my available vegetables! Yay! Boo for all the tomatoes that got eaten on the plants before I had a chance to rescue them! Something or someone has been feasting on them. I got some though and that is more than I had expected following the dismal summer harvest. Those plants that did not die over the summer are due to come out of the garden themselves very soon, The pepper plants are still happily producing and they can stay where they are.

Friday Cat Blogging

Did it Myself

Before

After

Almost all my sweaters have a real home in a real piece of real furniture - no more rubber bins!