Yup, It's Summer

July 2015 is turning out to be a very unstable, weather-wise. The 4th was really nice: clear and evening in the 70's and then the next day it got hot and rained. Then it got cool and rained and it has been raining ever since. The last two weeks of June were so hot and dry my herb garden was wilting by afternoon even with being watered early in the morning. Now we have so much moisture in the ground and the air that walking outside is sort of like swimming and breathing water - like a fish. We've been on flood and flash flood watches and warnings for a week solid. This has been a weird summer so far. The locusts were out in the countryside a good three weeks before they were out in town and so were the lightning bugs. Not sure what that means, exactly, but there it is. Now with all of this rain the locusts are quiet, but the toads and peepers are singing up a storm again. Of course it's all about to change because conditions are turning hot again, but with wind - still humid though. I'll have to record it and post what the racket sounds like with locusts, katydids, and everything else all together.

Locust shells on my maple tree

I went on my first mini road trip on the highway  a few of weeks ago to get the bike serviced. In theory, it was no different than toodling around like we do here in the county. Approximately the same amount of time on the bike, but it was the fact that we were on the highway with traffic and higher speeds and more wind that made it different. I was a bit nervous about it and did my very best to mentally prepare for it and wound up talking myself right into a panic attack within the first five minutes. We'd barely made it out of town and I had to have Hubby stop and pull over at a convenience store just out of town so I could calm down. He's like "what's going on?" Once I explained, he told me to take my time and let him know when I was ready and that at any time I needed to stop just tap him and point with my thumb to the side. I was better by then and so we continued on. It's kind of like claustrophobia for me: I start feeling trapped and stupid stuff pops into my head, usually "what if I have to be sick?" but other stuff too, completely random and ridiculous, of course, but there it is. So then I start taking a lot of deep breaths to calm myself, but then of course that leads to the thought that I can't breathe which leads to hyperventilating and then tunnel vision: full-blown panic attack. But all I needed was to have a minute to share it with Hubby and walk it off and I was good again. Still nervous about the traffic and big trucks, but good. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'm ready for a little longer road trip. I have a riding jacket, but I really need some pants, which would make me feel safer for a long trip. Whether it really offers a whole lot of protection in the big scheme of things or not, I think it will, therefore it will. My mind: a dangerous playground, lol.

My baby, S, went on his first away trip without any of us last week. He went to camp with a few of the middle-schoolers from church. He was worried and riding the fence about whether he was excited about going or not. In all honesty, I made him go. He wouldn't have even considered it if I had given him a choice. As it turned out, he had a great time. I went to Summer and Winter church camp every year from 6th grade on and it was the best experience of my life. I consider church camp to be foundational and a must-do for kids. I got to know a lot of great people and hear some outstanding personal testimonies from kids in my age group. And we had a lot of fun. Of course our cabin always had KP duty for being noisy, so eventually they moved us out to the furthest cabin where no one could hear us. But then we still had KP all the time because we were out bombing the guys from our church with water balloons through the screenless windows, or wrapping their cabin in toilet paper...you get the idea. I had some of the best ideas because my dad went to the same camp and I got to hear all of his stories ;)

So this past weekend was relatively quiet. Hubby was working, so the boys and I spent Saturday just messing around, playing games, and doing some art projects. It was way too hot to do anything outdoors, so it turned out to be a nice relaxing day. We made this awesome summer salad found on Pinterest. Great if you like cucumbers, onions, and peppers, if not - not so much, then. I changed the recipe a little because I didn't have celery flakes so I used several shakes of celery seed instead, and I used orange bell peppers instead of the green because I think they are sweeter and less bitter than the greens ones. I found it hard to fit everything in the narrow-mouthed Mason jars I had, so I used three jars that I saved from Vlasic Farmer's Garden Bread and Butter Pickles and it was a perfect fit. I love those pickles, by the way. The jars are great because they have a wide opening, a good solid lid, and the labels come off easy. Very useful! I have a refrigerator pickle recipe (which I thought I stored on Dropbox but cannot find or I would share) that I want to try and I'll probably use one of those jars.

I leave you with some of my doodles. They are loosely based on Zentangles or Zendoodles. I say loosely because those have some simple rules associated with them, while I just kind of do my own thing :)

 

 

That Overwhelming Feeling

Does anyone remember that stupid game based on the phrase "the straw that broke the camels back"? Well, I do, and it has been on my mind the last several weeks because the phrase has been rattling around in there too causing this annoying word association thing to happen. 

I mentioned in a recent post that I was feeling overwhelmed. I'm taking care of the kittens in my house and the kittens outside and worrying over their health and safety. I recently wormed all of the inside kittens - a five-day treatment of Panacur and one of Cestex. Cestex kills two types of tape worms and Panacur only kills one (plus every other type of parasite) so that's the reason for doubling up, I guess. I gave the Cestex first and then waited a week because two days later a couple of the kittens had no appetite and weren't as bouncy. Then I did five days of Panacur granules in their food. Two days after the last dose I had five lethargic kittens with no appetite and diarrhea; I say five because Lola wouldn't eat the last two doses, so she was only slightly sick. I asked the vet if these meds could give them a reaction and was told no. So I got a second opinion and heard the same thing. But I'm here to tell you that THEY WILL! Your kittens are ingesting a toxic cocktail intended to kill parasites in their intestines, so there is going to be some after-effects. What would I do without Google? I searched specifically for my problem and found what I was looking for and so I knew that they would be sick for about four days. By about the fourth or fifth day they should feel like eating again - and that is pretty much how it turned out, but it was nerve-wracking for me. They lost so much weight from the combination of not eating and diarrhea that I was losing sleep from worry. What I did was mix up some kitten milk replacer that I have stored in the freezer and forced them to drink from a dropper. It's an easy trick: hold the back of their neck and gently but firmly tilt and hold their head back and slowly drip the contents of the dropper in their mouth. This gave them a little nourishment and together with the water they were drinking kept them from dehydrating. I prayed every day for them and I was in happy tears the morning that they all began eating and playing. During the time they didn't want to play, all they wanted was to lie on me and snuggle, so now that we are all bonded, it is going to be very difficult to find them homes. But that has to happen because I just don't have the room for seven cats and three dogs.

Shortly after I could sleep and breathe easier, the kittens outside began to get sick, one by one, and disappear before I could figure out what was happening. We managed to get hold of one who was clearly so sick he didn't even think about trying to get away and took it to the vet. She said it looked like feline distemper and once they were sick, there was very little we could do. She gave it an antibiotic and we labored over it for three days, noticing some apparent improvement, but then the fourth morning he was gone, and hubby had to dig a small grave in the back. Since we had him separated from the rest of the kittens, no others have gotten sick, which is good. But now the new worry is that they keep climbing up into the vehicles and we have to do what we call "pre-flight" checks so that we don't accidentally take any for a ride or run over them. And every day or so I see new kittens for me to worry about. This is why I keep asking myself "will this be the last straw?" hence the whole straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back thing. At this point, calling me crazy is just a silly waste of energy...

Hubby and I have decided that we will get some humane traps and gather as many of the cats as we can to take them to people who told us they wanted barn cats and the rest will get spayed and neutered and released back to our neighborhood. My neighbor to the south and the one in back who is also feeding the cats (I've mentioned her before) said they would help us with the project. 

So I also mentioned in a recent post - the same one, actually -  that I was back in school. I just finished up my first class - Psychology. I learned all about how stress affects the body and the mind. I learned that everybody responds to stress differently and that everybody's stress-triggers are also different. We had to take a stress analysis and I did well, scoring as not very stressed. But I felt that they didn't ask the right questions. All they needed to do was ask me if I was responsible for the health and well-being of an outrageous number of kittens and my scores would have been off the charts. I also learned how to properly manage and relieve stress, so I am going to start applying my new knowledge and hopefully avoid completely wigging out.

When things were slow, I managed to harvest a bit of my herb garden and dry everything using the food dehydrator we have just sitting in the pantry taking up space. I'm so glad I discovered I could do this! It's super easy to do as well as rewarding. Plus, the dehydrator is getting some use since my hubby hasn't made any jerky in like, forever.

From this....

Pictured here in the before is oregano and spicy basil, and in the after there is also some sweet basil and some rosemary. Not pictured is some lemon thyme that I dried along with more oregano and both types of basil. I'm a little disappointed in my lavender this year. It really never took off like the varieties I had last year, so I haven't done anything with it yet. But maybe I need to do a bit of harvesting anyway and it will encourage it to grow?? 

...to this!

My chocolate mint is doing fabulously, but my orange mint has turned brown on the edges and is looking sparser than last year. This one is the only one from last year. Everything else is newly planted this season. I planted plain mint down by the edge of the deck and it did well until the snails and slugs discovered it. I thought they didn't like mint?? Apparently they love it. And apparently they also love cat food. I went out the other night to let the dogs out and noticed a couple of the cats sitting looking at the food dishes but not eating. I went and got the flash light and discovered big nasty slugs all over the food. Now, I'd read somewhere that they will drown themselves in beer and all you do is put out a pie pan with beer in it. Well I've got a bunch of kittens out there that will no doubt be all over that, so instead I grabbed an old ice cream bucket and a really old Sam Adams that was way in the back of the garage fridge and poured it in the the bucket. Then I grabbed an extra pair of hair coloring gloves (because I knew where they were, but didn't want to spend an hour trying to find the other ones) and went about drowning slugs and snails in beer. I put the bucket up on the deck railing to dispose of later and went to bed. The next morning I remembered the bucket, but when I looked into it there was about two inches of nasty-looking foam on the top, so I opted to do something with it later. Much later. Like have-the-hubby-take-care-of-it later. And that's what happened.

Let the Insanity Commence

It is, once again, that time of year; the first weekend in June, Good Ol' Days. Every year, as sure as the sun sets in the West, the insanity known as Good Ol' Days takes place. 

Some quick Good Ol' Days facts: 
1: It kicks off with what we call (loosely) a parade on Friday night consisting mainly of pick-ups and tractors, a few "floats", horses, and Shriner's (old guys wearing fezzes) driving mini cars in circles, and anyone who wants to be in the parade can be.

2: There is a carnival (again I use the term loosely) which my children have never attended because it is unsafe and unsavory. All of the riffraff comes out of the woodwork - both from here, and from other towns. (when they were younger, they complained, but now they see the wisdom of avoiding it at all costs)

3: There are vendors selling all kinds of crap - er, stuff, as well as food. Actually, most of the food is very good, and some of the crafts are good, too, it just depends on who comes. There's also a load of junk - ugly stuff your grandma wouldn't want.

4: Good Ol 'Days is not unique. In any way. There are all kinds of these festivals all over the Four State area and beyond, I'm sure, with various names like Bushwacker Days, and Little Balkan's Days, etc., but  a good majority of the vendors and bands are the same. 

5: Downtown is a parking nightmare. People get stupid(er) during Good Ol' Days and will park absolutely anywhere, even in clearly marked "No Parking" areas. If there's anything you need downtown and if you are a Good Ol' Days hater, you get it done on Friday before 5:00 p.m. or you wait until Monday.

You either love Good Ol' Days or you hate it. Some really dread it and absolutely avoid the downtown area the whole weekend, but usually even the haters will pop in for something specific like funnel cake or smoked meat, etc.  We used to always go, but in recent years it has been boring - same old stuff and not worth the hassle of getting there. Of course here at the funeral home it's always crazy because the Good Ol' Days Committee uses our garage to house the golf carts for management and law enforcement to use over the weekend. That and we have to rope off everything or we get people trying to park in our staging area, parking lot, and breezeway. There have been a few times when people have moved the ropes and parked anyway. We always have to put signs on our garage doors telling people not to block the entrance, because they sure have done it and will continue to do it. Happens every year at least once, even with the signs.

This year, our Youth will have a float in the parade, which I am curious to see. We haven't been going to the parades the last three years or so, but since both the boys will be in this one, we'll be there. Or, it might just be me, if Hubby will be driving in it this year. The city got new police cars - Ford Explorers - so they will probably have more than one car in the parade this year. One rule of Good Ol' Days (for the PD) is that everybody works it. So even though he is technically off this weekend, he really isn't because he will be working downtown. When I worked dispatch we didn't have a separate dispatch center for officers working downtown like they do now. We also didn't have two-person dispatching - just one dispatcher running the whole show. If things got crazy like when the river was out or grass fires, etc., firemen would help handle phones, and if it got really bad, off-duty officers and dispatchers would come help. The nice thing about the emergency services family is that when it hits the fan, they are in there helping, without fail.

The only good thing about the funeral home being downtown during Good Ol' Days is that I always have a parking space in the garage if I want to come down. So, if Bobby is driving in it, I will just hang out at work until parade time and maybe see if Dad wants to go watch it with me. If he's working the parade, then I will go hang out with him on whatever street corner he's stationed at. Sounds like a fabulous way to spend a Friday night, right? It's not so bad - some of the people on the floats throw out candy, and the people-watching is spectacular ;)  

I leave you with a shot of Howie peeking at me from his perch on the base of the chaise of the couch.

Everyday Things

When you take the same route everyday you see the same stuff: same people, same houses, same cars. This is true whether you live in a small town or big city. When you travel the same route over a period of time, you notice not just the sameness, but also when things are different. 

There is a house along my route that always has these tall brightly colored flowers that grow along the curb and alongside the walkway every year towards the end of May; blue, purple, and two shades of pink. I always think that some day I'm going to stop and ask what they are, but so far I never have. Last year, just as they were starting to come up the man of the house mowed them all down (I know this because this is a small town, after all). I really missed seeing those flowers all summer. I heard soon afterward that the man had moved out and they were getting a divorce. These are elderly people, now, and it's hard to imagine people upwards of 70 that have been together so long calling it quits, but it is apparently true. She has the house up for sale, but so far it has not sold. I can't help but wonder if the whole mowing-down-of-the-flowers thing was a catalyst. At any rate, the flowers are blooming again this year; proof that one asshat with a mower isn't man enough to keep them down for long...

Similarly, sometimes it is what you don't see that draws your attention. There is an elderly brother and sister here in town who after their respective spouses passed away moved in together for company and to save on living expenses. They adopted a dog that no one wanted when he was just a pup. He was part Basset Hound and Golden Retriever: he looked like a Golden Retriever but with a long sausage-shaped body and short stumpy legs like a Basset Hound. This is presumably why no one wanted him, but they took him in and named him Barney. They would walk him every morning and evening downtown for years, so everyone knew Barney and would stop and visit. As he got older and lost his eyesight and his short legs tired easier, they cut their walks back to just in the morning and not as long. I stopped seeing Barney and later heard that he had passed away. Now the brother and sister can be seen walking every morning, but without Barney. When asked if they thought of adopting another dog, they say no - there's only one Barney. 

Flooded!

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately because a lot has been happening. We rescued the five kittens that were under the AC unit as mama moved them to an unsafe location at the back of the property. We moved them the evening before we flooded back there, so they are in my house and safe. Then about a week later, I came home at lunch to feed kittens and discovered a pile of wet, crying kittens in my carport. The poor things were cold and wet and at first it looked like some kind of attack because they were lying all broken-looking and I immediately went into panic mode thinking something had mauled the babies. Bobby was home, thankfully, and we gathered them all up and began drying them and warming them. He sat with them for four hours getting them dry and warm and then put them in a box all together with blankets and towels until I got home. Then we began feeding them all with milk replacer - thirteen kittens! Four of the original five didn't need the bottles anymore, so they were drinking from a dish, but try to picture bottle-feeding nine kittens. It was a family event - we each took a couple of kittens at a time when we could. This lasted for two days until we could sort out what had happened and who the mama was. We figured out it was Miss Gray because she was hanging around more than usual and she was coming up by the door. We also knew that she had her kittens somewhere across the street and she must have gotten caught by the rain while moving them. They are close to being ready to wean, so she was moving them closer to a consistent food source - me. So when we we were sure they were all okay with no signs of pneumonia, we took them outside to the carport. Where we discovered her feeding the Carport Mama Cat's kittens. So now Miss Gray and Carport Mama were feeding each other's kittens and everyone's happy. Now I just need to find homes for all of these cuties. 

Another bit of insanity, I got accepted at Southern New Hampshire University and have gone back to school for my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design and Media Arts. Even with an academic scholarship from Art Institute, I couldn't afford to go back there as it was way too much money, so I started looking at alternatives. SNHU was in the top five best online schools, so I decided to give it a shot. So far I really like it, but it is really different than my previous experience. For one thing, this is a school not dedicated solely to creatives, so the standards of excellence are a bit higher when it comes to core, non-creative classes. I also like how everything is organized and works as it should. Each class gives you links to appropriate resources specifically related to that class. So for my first class, Psychology, the resources links take me directly to articles and books, etc. on psychology. I don't have to search through an entire library of stuff looking for what I need, it's all conveniently organized for me. Also, they offer free online interactive and personal tutoring. I never had to use the tutoring at AI, but they only gave you a certain number for free and then you had to pay for it. So, I am once again a college student :)

This Summer is going to be a busy time for my boys as they have several activities throughout summer as well as camp and the yearly mission trip to Oklahoma to help with VBS at a church that serves a tribal community. S is super excited because he is now officially in Youth (grades 6 thru 12) and can participate in all Youth activities. T is less excited because now his little brother is in Youth, LOL. I heard him tell S to "not act stupid" which of course guarantees that he will. S won't be going on the mission trip until next year, though. It isn't a designated Youth activity, but rather a church event, but T and several other young people go every year. I just felt that S wouldn't be seen as a 'helper' by the other kids at the VBS, and therefore carry no authority and potentially be a distraction. He can go next year and he's okay with that.

I leave you with a photo of Percy smelling some peonies. He apparently really loves them as I caught him licking them. Uh, okay....

SO Done With Rain!

The weather in my little corner of Kansas has just not been cooperating with my weekends. Last weekend it rained and stormed the entire weekend, and this past Saturday it was sunny but cool in the morning and cloudy, windy and cool the rest of the day with scattered showers. Sunday was cloudy and cold all day long. Blah. I managed to get my chocolate mint, sweet basil and some flowers potted during a sunny period, but I still need French lavender, dill, and parsley. I found this great idea that I would love to try for my herb garden and pinned it on my Pinterest. Of course, I may need to move it up on the ol' project list in order to see it realized. It's a long list.

Last weekend was a Civil War encampment at the Fort and I felt sorry for them because it rained and stormed the entire time. Those are usually fun to attend, but not in the rain and not in heat, either. This year's annual Civil War Encampment was celebrating the 150th anniversary of the end of the "War Between the States" and was to be a big deal. Although the turn-out was less than expected, it wasn't too bad. What I thought was interesting, was the person who did the writeup in the paper described the participants and their clothing mostly accurately, except that he referred to the women as wearing "Victorian dress". The reason I think it is interesting is because while the Victorian era lasted from 1837 until 1901 and the American Civil War was right smack in the middle of that (1860-1865), regardless of what was actually being worn during the period, the clothing typically worn by women at these encampments is mostly frontier and prairie with a few 'Southern Belle' style, which is, technically, early Victorian.  When I think of 'Victorian dress', I mentally see the narrower skirts with the bustle in the back, not the full-skirted earlier version typical of the 'Southern Belle', even though that's what they technically were. The bustle. That is something I just don't get. You gotta wonder why anyone would think adding that much acreage to a woman's ass was a good look. The 'Southern Belle' dress with all of its many layers and accoutrements enhanced and emphasized a number of features and hid a multitude of sins underneath all of those yards of fabric, but it was also a highly sophisticated form of torture. I wonder how many women dropped dead from heat exhaustion or lack of oxygen? The numbers must be staggering...

This morning, when I went out to feed the cats before I left for work, I discovered that one of the young first-time mamas had her kittens in the carport - again, right out in the open. This one had hers on the blanket that she used to cuddle up on with her siblings last year. I sure hope she gets them moved somewhere safer soon. Thursday or Friday of last week Mama Cat had her babies - in the shed again. So I have kittens under my AC unit, kittens in my shed, and kittens in my carport, and I know there are at least two more that I've seen that are pregnant. Seriously praying that they have their kittens elsewhere. I can't take the stress. Why on Earth do they want to have their babies in my yard anyway? I have dogs! Why not in my neighbor's yard where she doesn't have any pets or even kids out there to bother them? It's a complete mystery.

This afternoon when I got home from work, I checked on the newest mama and her babies. She was away from her kitties and I was able to count four. Three different shades of gray - possibly some stripes? - and one orange-ish one. The older babies (by two weeks) I still can't get a really good look at so I don't have a clue as to how many there are. After I checked on everyone, I watered my herbs and took a moment to enjoy the lovely scents in the air: lilac, rosemary, oregano, basil, mint, and the spicy-floral scent of my little Stock (Matthiola) flowers. Ahhh! Now I need to get a nice patio set for the deck. I can sit outside on the deck enjoying the evening, listening to the spring peepers and toads and this summer watch...some old guy in a wife-beater riding his lawn mower down the street behind us. Yikes! But that is exactly what I saw as I was thinking about how I would be watching the lightning bugs and listening to locusts (again, cicadas to the rest of the world) later on in the season. This more than likely is a guy who has had his driving license taken from him, so clearly, he can just hop onto the ol' riding lawnmower when he wants a drink from Sonic. And, unless he does something stupid, which is highly likely, actually, no one will think anything of it because it is so common. These old guys who can't drive anymore, for whatever reason, understandably don't like losing their wheels, so they find a way around it. They still want to run to the hardware store or get a Coke whenever they want, and by golly, they're going to, and if that means hopping on the mower or a golf cart, that's what they do. Oh yeah, that's legal here too. Some cities have policies about driving golf carts, but so far nothing has changed here. It is a rare event indeed when something around here changes... I leave you with some beautiful Kansas sunrise shots.

Tuesday Morning

Monday Morning

Planting Season Part Deux: Herbal Endeavors

The weekend was good except we did get some storms and rain. We didn't get to go on a ride at all this weekend, but we did get lot's of planting done. Last year we planted a ton of stuff and nearly all of it came back. This year, we didn't need to plant as much, mainly just take care of our problem areas, which was where the plants that didn't survive were; the north side of the house and the south side. The north side gets a lot of shade and the south side gets a lot of sun, and although we planted accordingly, some things didn't do well at all. We have discovered, however that peonies do well anywhere so we filled in some places with a few more of them. I'm super excited because my Kwanzan Cherry tree is finally blooming! Every day there are new blooms :) It, like my lilac, is apparently a late bloomer. My neighbor's lilac is in full majestic bloom, and mine is just barely starting to show a few blossoms. Hopefully it will get with it soon. It smells heavenly when I walk outside though, so the nice thing about mine being slow is that I will have that scent longer ;) 

My neighbor's lilac

My lilac

Since dipping my toes in the pool of herb gardening last year, I have decided to expand this year. I planted Rosemary, Oregano, Basil, and French Lavender in pots. I placed mint on the east side of the back deck so that it can fill up that space every year, but now I'm seeing that mint can completely take over a garden, so maybe I should rethink that and put it in a container instead. Or move it somewhere by itself. My Orange Mint is in the process of coming back, so I don't need to replace that. They didn't have any Chocolate Mint, Sage, or Thyme but they are expecting some herbs in this week, so I will hit swing by over the weekend and check. I think I will get some dill and parsley, too. I don't use chives much, but lemon balm might be good, although I'm not sure what use I will have for it. Last year I mainly wanted them for their scent, but this year I plan on using them. And of course they do smell wonderful - especially the basil! I found some wonderful pins on Pinterest with lots of great information and ideas ;) I just wish I had a good place indoors to put them all for the cold weather. I basically have just one window, and it is right above a heater vent and about four feet away from the fireplace, which we use a lot during the winter months. It gets pretty dry right there, so I need to figure something out.

We woke up to a little surprise Saturday morning. Or, I should say, several very small surprises. For weeks now, we have noticed at least three pregnant cats in the vicinity and I have been hoping that they go elsewhere to raise their small ones. One of them decided to have her babies in a little corner of our yard where the original part of the house meets the familyroom addition - almost in exactly the same area as Mama Cat - and almost right in plain sight. The only thing hiding her was that the grass was a tad high there. Later in the day she moved them - underneath our air conditioner, which sets up on a base and is enclosed at the bottom so little ones can't get in. We are hoping that the need for the AC will hold off for a couple of weeks until she moves them again because we're certain that when it kicks on it will scare the living daylights out of them, and we don't want that. They can't all stay under there for very long - it's just not that big. This just happens to be the same cat that put her kittens briefly in the little well area last year first, before Mama Cat moved hers from our shed to under the house, if you recall. We call her Other Mama - yeah, we're original like that. I am noticing that Mama Cat is pregnant too, and bet anything that she plans on having her babies in the shed again. We will have to watch very closely when we take the dogs out - don't want any kitty tragedies in my yard :(

Anyway, all day while we were working we would keep tabs on the family living under our AC unit, trying to do our work without disturbing them. And while Hubby was a little put out that he couldn't mow near that area, he didn't complain too much. "Hey - there's some blonde-looking ones in this batch!" Gotta love a guy who puts off his need for yard maintenance for the good of a mama cat and her babies :)

 

wink-wink

If Mama Ain't Happy...

It's been rather stormy here the last few days - and not just weather-wise (although we have had severe thunderstorm warnings almost non-stop for the last 12 hours). Some recent events have set me off and I'm just picking my moment to set things right. Most of them little, and they do pile up, but one of them happens to be a big deal. To me, anyway. 

As a general rule, I am non-confrontational when the situation applies to myself. I let a lot of things go (part of that whole forgiveness thing). I might stew about them a bit in my own mind...or here, but generally I take a step back and take a moment to think about whether it is worth it or not, and usually decide it isn't. I'm very quick, however, to jump in when it involves someone else. Most of the trouble I got into at school was due to taking up for others who were bullied, etc. This time it involved me. I took my step back and my time to think and decided a course of action is necessary. Let me 'splain:

My husband and I decided when we moved into our current home that the family room was his to arrange how he liked and the living room was mine. I don't mess with his room and he doesn't mess with mine. Normally. We do of course ask each others opinion when rearranging or whatever. As I mentioned a few posts back, we moved my computer and art/craft stuff out so that the boys could have separate rooms. That has made the living room a bit crowded, a fact that I was aware of and in the process of figuring out. My husband decided to take matters into his own hands and rearranged my living room. In a way that I had already expressly and firmly stated I did not want. Mama ain't happy. The thing that really makes me angry about this is that we discussed it and he knew I didn't want to do it that way, but he did it anyway, and then tried to hide from me when I came home from work - knowing exactly how I would feel. I was so mad, I didn't speak to him the rest of the evening. Not as punishment, but to keep myself from crossing the line into scary. Did I mention I was mad? The reason I am still mad is because the way he arranged things (and moved out a few things!) messed with my overall plans for that room and threw everything out of kilter. I am somewhat OCD, and I favor symmetry and balance. Where he put the couch absolutely jacks with the balance of the decor on the wall behind it. And every time I look at it, it drives me crazy because it's all out of whack.

So, I dwelt in the valley of evil for a bit thinking up a suitable revenge: move all the furniture around in HIS room while HE'S at work in a configuration HE will hate; or, change the orientation of his computer desktop upside down every day after first locking him out of his computer. I like that second one because he will have to ask me to fix it for him - every day, until I decide he has suffered enough. But, "vengeance is mine saith the Lord", so handling the matter in such a way is a no-no. Instead I will just rearrange everything in the living room. And tell him I will lock him out of his computer if he jacks with it again. I can't arrange it while he's home, though, or he will try exerting his preferences.

Another thing that has me a little peeved happened today. Well, I guess it happened yesterday, but I discovered it today. It involves something of mine that got "borrowed" without asking me - no bad intentions, but still...Good manners say you ask first and you don't pass it off as yours. 

The topper to my agitation: I've been forced to listen to some really crappy music from the 70's. This is stuff that hearing as a child, hated then. It hasn't gotten any better over time. What's worse is that it is all cover stuff by Glen Campbell, so even the good ones like Otis Redding's "Dock Of The Bay" isn't good because it's not him singing. Simon and Garfunkle's "Scarborough Fair" (Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...), Judy Collins' "Both Sides Now", (which I don't like, but is worth mentioning because it is an odd choice), Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" - All of them Glen, so not just his own greatest hits, but everybody else's too. I never cared for Glen Campbell and a few of his songs I truly despise like "Wichita Lineman", and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". Today is day three of non-stop Glen Campbell. Proof that there really is a Devil. *sigh*

Looking out my backdoor

This is a photo I took with my phone in my back yard yesterday morning. I had to hurry because the clouds were moving pretty quickly. It was a brief break in the weather that I wanted to capture. Then I took a moment to check for new spring growth on last year's plantings. I noticed several peonies coming up and my lilac has buds, but not blooming yet. My neighbor's lilac has started already. My butterfly bush still looks like dead twigs, so I'm not sure what's happening with it. I think I am going to plant a couple more peonies on the south side of the house where those silly Live-Forever's died. The peonies do really well over there. I'm hoping for some good weather this weekend so we can do some work in the yard and maybe get a ride on the bike in, but it looks like Friday is mostly sunny while Saturday is partly cloudy and Sunday is stormy. Might have to plan a ride for Friday after work, and then yard work Saturday morning. That'll work! 

Quick - Someone Grab the Marshmallows!

It is officially Spring now, and all kinds of green sprouts and buds are popping up, and certain trees are flowering. The daffodils are up, too, and I've already seen the first dandelion. I think they are like cockroaches and will survive a nuclear explosion. I'm anxious to see what of everything we planted last year comes back, and I'm really excited about our cherry tree - can't wait to see blossoms! We had our first round of thunderstorms for the season night before last, and yesterday afternoon we had our first 'dangerous thunderstorm warning' - a quick-moving storm that dropped some grape-size hail and buckets of rain. Today is more of the same - lots of thunderstorms and rain.

So now that we finally got some rain, we're not as dry as we were and hopefully the county will stop burning up. At least for a while, anyway. Intelligence-challenged folk have been out playing with fire during the dry and windy conditions causing most of the chaos. There's a reason that the weather service puts out fire weather warnings and tells you not to do any burning. So you have those brilliant people who decide to burn off their fields in a supposedly "controlled burn" only, it gets out of control. Then you have your true idiots who think it's fun to set huge round hay bales on fire. Those things burn forever. This behavior is found everywhere, of course, because stupidity is rampant. 

In Southern California there are Santa Ana Winds, when the wind blows the other direction out from the deserts and dries everything out (even more) making it a perfect environment for firebugs and accidents. I say accidents, but come on: smart people who use their heads don't build ANY kind of fire outdoors while a hot wind is blowing 40 miles an hour. Can you really call that level of stupidity an accident when there's all kinds of warnings on the news, radio and alerts pushed to smart phones? Why do they think there is such a HUGE fine for getting caught throwing a lit cigarette out the window in California? Oh - silly me: they DON'T think!

Here is a shot of the front page of the local newspaper the other day. I've mentioned this before on this blog somewhere, but I really feel that they should set up some kind of system of fines and compensation to the county for the enormous strain on our resources their lack of foresight causes. And notice it says "typcial number" - that means it isn't just me that has noticed the trend. Before the rain depending on what was burning, it either smelled like someone had a smoker going or someone was burning trash. The one smells kind of yummy and makes you want some barbeque; the other, not so much.

So I promised some photos of my lunch 'bento' lunchbox and here they are. The one tray has cauliflower, carrots and strawberries, and the other tray has leftover pork loin and yellow and orange sweet peppers. The strawberries are in my new silicon baking cups, and you can see the eating utensils on top of the lower tier lid which nestle under the top tier, and an elastic band to keep things together. There's also my infuser water bottle with cut up lemons. My next appliance is a spiralizer so I can make 'noodles' out of vegetables, but first, I need to get either some very small containers for sauces to put in my lunchbox, or some kind of other container or bottle that will hold sauces and dressings, etc. Hmmm...I might need a bag to put it all in, too...

It's thundering and hailing small pea-sized hail right now. I hope my outside kitties are safe and dry. I don't really know what Percy thinks about thunder and lightning. The other night I could hear him making these funny 'chirping' sounds - something between a purr and a meow, maybe - and alternating with something that kind of sounded like a yodel. Not being a cat owner prior to this, I have no idea what these sounds mean. When he is in his crate, he has learned to pull the sheet covering it open and closed kind of like curtains. When he doesn't want to be seen he pulls it closed. When I got up and checked on him, he was in there with his curtain closed making his little chirp-yodels so I put his stuffed parrot in there with him for company. He's really growing fast and I sure miss the sweet baby stage, because we are currently in the petulant toddler stage, I think. Everything must be stalked and attacked. But I like how he wiggles his backside just before he pounces :)

A Breach in Protocol

Had a nice day Saturday in Joplin: went by Hideout Harley Davidson to say Hi and look around. Got some gloves while I was there, which will look a whole lot nicer with my riding coat than my electric blue fleece gloves that I currently have. They are the only ones I have left since every black pair of gloves I've had have been (mis) appropriated by my boys. Typically they would cut the fingers off to use as army sniper gloves...Whatever, I finally learned to buy girly gloves so they would leave them alone. These new ones are black, but they have the HD logo in pink - matches my helmet :) - and they are a whole lot more expensive than previous pairs, so a certain 10 year old better leave them alone. Went to Hobby Lobby - they were having an awesome sale! 50% off wall frames and iron decor! So I bought a really nice frame for my degree and some others for some other certificates I received, etc., and got a couple of metal decor pieces ;) I can easily get lost for hours in Hobby Lobby, but my boys (and I include Hubby in there) won't let me. The lovely day was briefly marred, just a bit by some disturbing, but all too common behavior.

There are some weird things about people that I just don't get. You know, like when you go to a movie and you're the first one there - nobody else and all seats are open. You sit at the end of a row because you get semi claustrophobic and don't like to be blocked in for bathroom or vending trips, or, oh say, in case of fire...anyhoo, someone else comes in and sits right next to you. There is a whole theater available and they could sit at the end of any row, but they choose to sit right next to you, albeit one seat in between, but still! Or, as happened Saturday in the restroom at Sears, there are twelve stalls open - not two -  with just me in one, and someone comes in and sits down in the stall right next to me and poos. OMGosh, REALLY? Wow...just - wow! Why?? It must be some psychological thing, but I really just don't know. Is it for moral support? Is it a compulsion disorder like OCD? What is it about these people and who are they? Everyone I have mentioned this phenomena to feels the same way I do, so unless they are all lying, I don't know anyone who does this. Whatever is going on with them, it's seriously disturbing to the rest of us. I liken it to a breach in personal space like when people stand too close. Or a breach in protocol. What is the etiquette or protocol for public restrooms? If you see one occupied stall in a public restroom of more than two, you choose the one farthest away or at least put one stall's distance between. Everybody SHOULD know this. Clearly some do not. Maybe an experiment is in order. The next time it happens, and it won't be all that far in the future - it happens fairly regularly - I will talk to them. Maybe I'll ask them why they chose a stall next to someone when there are so many other options. Or, I could pester them for toilet paper. Over and over. Or maybe just flat out tell them how unwelcome their proximity is. They have violated public restroom etiquette as well as common courtesies; what should the penalty be? I'm thinking something along the lines of one of those prankster Japanese games shows: a hole opens in the floor and the offender and toilet drop onto a ski slope...Just a thought.

On a much brighter note, I hit well over 10,000 steps Saturday and all in all walked a little over 5 miles, according to my Fitbit :)  Yay me! And, the weather has been so nice the last few days, even though the Weather Service has put us in a Fire Weather Advisory and the county is burning up so that everything smells like smoke. Hubby and I went for a ride on the bike Sunday evening after church. A little smokey, but still nice!

More Ch-ch-cha-changes...

So do you have that song stuck in your head now? I do. But it's not as bad as that stupid Narwahls song - ack! Vintage Bowie is definitely preferable. 

Back on topic - more changes: I bought a FitBit Flex from Amazon, along with a Bentgo lunchbox, and some of those silicone muffin/cupcake baking cups - for dividing up food within my bento lunch (I don't like my food all jumbling up together - touching is okay, but getting all mixed in with each other, not so much). The Fitbit is for tracking my activity and exercise as well as food and sleep if I want. The Bentgo lunchbox is for bringing a healthy lunch, portion control, and it appeals to my inner-OCD self. I can organize my food and no one can say anything about it because that's what a bento box is for. I also bought a treadmill a while back. And, I'm seriously considering doing the Whole30 program too. Weight loss is of course a byproduct of the program, but it's more about food and eliminating the junk that we eat on a regular basis. It's restrictive, yes, but not as bad as some of the "diets" out there. It's just time to change things up; do things differently, hence the recent purchases. Plus, getting new stuff is fun, amiright?

The Fitbit Flex is an interesting little gadget. Of course I am always entranced by gadgets so it makes sense that I would end up with one of these, or something similar. The Flex won out over other such devices by ratings, cost, and the fact that I knew people who had them and could verify their performance and usefulness. The Samsung gear version would have been nice but it was way too much money. This thing has five wee little LED lights on it and I haven't quite figured them all out yet. I tried to do the sleep thing last night, and apparently it worked, but I didn't get it switched to "awake" properly because it showed me as "in bed" until 9:00 am when I got up at 6:00. But it also showed me as super restless those three hours, lol. It has a silent alarm feature where it vibrates on your wrist to wake you up, or, get your attention, depending on when and what you've set the alarm for. This will make it easier for me to track my walking both at work and on the treadmill, because I won't have to carry my cell phone (my Sammy came with a Health app that tracks steps) or wear something with pockets in order to count steps, etc. A friend told me to put it on my shoe while I'm on my treadmill because it won't track very well if I'm holding onto the handles - good to know!

I was so excited! I washed my Bentgo up and got my lunch stuff all set up then put on some eggs to boil to add to my veggies, etc., and went into the family room to watch a movie with Hubby.... and fell asleep. I woke up when T came into the room and wanted to know why the stove was on, and why there were eggs in the pan, but no water. Shoot! Apparently nobody heard the timer go off, which means Hubby was probably over there sleeping too! I cooled the eggs down and put them in the fridge, thinking I would check them out in the morning. But this morning I had to just grab everything and go because I forgot the guys were leaving early for a funeral at a church, so no time. I still didn't know if that egg was okay. The funny thing is that none of them cracked. I usually wind up with at least a few fissures, but these babies look perfect! And actually they are, or at least one of them is, because at lunch I peeled the one I brought and although the inside of the shell was a little discolored, the egg itself was fine - not even rubbery or anything! 

Update on the boys' room situation: S is discovering that change is not so bad after all. He isn't fully moved into his new room: one corner still has some things I need to get out of there, but no idea or place for where they should go just yet. For now, he is sleeping on two stacked mattresses with a nightlight and an outlet handy for plugging in his Kindle and finding that he quite likes it. since he slept on the top bunk, it plugging in his kindle wasn't easy, plus he had to share the nearest outlet with T. As for T, he is very happy to have a nice big bed, all to himself. Proof of that is visible every morning when I wake him up for school - he is smack in the middle of the bed at an angle and all sprawled out. Of course all of my boys sleep like train wrecks, so sharing a bed would be less than restful. As for me, it is quite lovely to not hear the constant fights over "crossing the neutral zone" or "stop breathing on me" etc.

I'll post pics soon, but so far I've been in a rush to get everything together in the mornings so no time for photo shoots! I really need to manage my time better and do it the night before so I'm not rushing around frantically in the morning. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll still be rushing around in the morning cuz it's how I roll...So no pics of my nicely organized food yet, but I'll post this pretty flower photo from a recent funeral arrangement. And one (or more) of my four readers just went "Eew!"... Why? - they're just flowers.