While Amber and my husband drove down to get the mail this morning, I grabbed our leaf blower and blew the TON of leaves out that had accumulated in our garage over the last couple of days.
I had barely finished when the wind started blowing, making ‘funnels’ of leaves dancing around my head, blowing the leaves right back into the garage. It was obvious I was an idiot, trying to blow the garage out while the leaves were laughing at me, so I put things away just as my husband came back up the driveway.
I told him what I had been TRYING to do. We agreed it would be better done another day.
I’m throwing my husband into this hole I had dug in the back yard.
At 2 a.m. this morning the light went on. My husband was sitting up, pulling the covers off me as he rummaged through the sheet, blanket and comforter, muttering. I determined that he was, in fact, awake.
We played a game of ’20 Questions,’ since he wouldn’t tell me directly what the problem was. FINALLY, after I got up, we straightened the covers, and I again asked him what he was looking for, after we determined he wasn’t cold, or too hot, or….. He finally said he was looking for the rope that went around the comforter, pointing to the stuffing inside it. We discussed THAT for a good 5 minutes before he agreed that the comforter didn’t HAVE a ‘rope’ running around the edge on the inside, that we didn’t need or want one, and that we should go back to sleep.
I was so frustrated with him at that point that it took me a good hour to calm down – and warm up – enough to try to go to sleep again.
When I got up this morning and came downstairs, he said, ‘hi,’ but had the towel over his eyes and was under his throw in his recliner.
We gathered our trash and drove it down to the bottom of our newly cleared NICE driveway this morning. My husband stopped the truck before we got to the bottom so that I could get out and get the trash can and drag it down to where we leave it for emptying right beside the street. I did NOT fall on my head, though I’m thinking of trying to have retractable cleats installed on the bottom of my sandals so I don’t slip and slide so much. I’m seriously considering getting several pallets to put across the ditch to the side of the driveway and leaving the trash can down there, rather than dragging it down and then back up every week.
We drove back up and noticed our elephant ear plants were drooping. We checked the watering units in the well house and they were wonky again. Apparently every time the power even blips, the control units lose their minds, not knowing what time it is or when or if they’re supposed to come on.
I managed to figure out how to run each unit manually and we had to tweak the water in several of the planters. Then I had to set the clocks again, and reprogram each unit to run automatically. I’ll set my alarm to go out at 3pm and check to make sure that each one runs as it is supposed to.
One of the units had switched which ‘station’ it was on, so when I got the manual setting to work, water whooshed out of a faucet that had nothing attached to it, drenching me from the waist down. Yeah. :0(
I went to check on my husband and found him trying to get up onto the edge of the nook planter (the one behind the house and beside the back porch.) I got him to wait until I could come heft him up and get him settled standing in the planter while he worked on a hose that wasn’t working right. He fixed that, and I helped him get out of there and back down to the ground without falling.
Hopefully, the rest of our day will be QUIET. PLEASE.
The driveway detector sounded off again. We found some guys asking if they could look around to see where they could drive the chipper truck later.
They left, and another truck came up, this one with 4 guys who are now chainsawing, finishing up what the man with the spinning blade machine started earlier. They said they would be working on the other end of the line, the one that goes across to the shop, as well.
I guess when they finish, the chipper guy will come. I’ve asked each group if they do outside jobs, but no one does. Sigh.
I’ll just be happy with whatever they do. It’s a constant battle around here to keep Mother Nature from growing up around us, trying to push us off the land and go back to the way it was in 1987.
All the activity around here sure keeps your interest, though. What a NICE bunch of hardworking guys. I’ll offer them bottles of cold water in a bit.
Whew! My husband wanted to turn off the power so that he could install an extra surge protector for the house.
It took him two tries to get the power off. While he was doing that, it suddenly occurred to me that the generator might come on and mess things up. I found him still in the yard and he said that wouldn’t be a problem.
I left him alone for a bit and then went out to the garage to check on him. He was trying to lift up a really heavy metal cover for the house breaker box. I helped him lift that up and held the bottom up while he got some screws started. We finished that and he went out to turn on the power again, saying, ‘Watch to see if anything smokes.” Oh, good.
The garage lights came back on and nothing else happened. WHEW! I used the opportunity to sweep behind the fridge we have out there that partially obstructs the breaker box, sweeping up all kinds of yucky stuff.
I asked again how the generator – which is wired to act with power system, turning on when the public power is off, and then stopping when public power comes back on – tells the ‘difference’ between US shutting off the power and NATURE causing the power to go off. He said something vague (to me) about the generator reading the electrical dial. I still don’t know, but we’re back with power, nothing smoking, and hopefully more resistant to any problems caused by power surges.
We put the fridge back where it belongs and my husband has switched to the previous project where he was having someone send a code to my phone. I’m now monitoring that for either a message or a direct phone call. Sigh.
In another 45 minutes we’ll take a break for lunch. I’m looking forward to that.
Yesterday I was happily reading posts and responding on X.
One showed an image of two men trying to fix an air conditioner, I think, and doing it in a very unsafe manner, just asking for trouble. The post asked readers to respond to it in three words. I wrote, “Accident Happening Soon.”
As soon as I posted it, I received a message from X that my account had been blocked for ‘violent content.’ I could appeal, so I did. They acknowledged that I answered and said they would review it. My account was blocked for 12 hours. I am now in good standing again now, since I can post, but I think I go on a terror watch list or something and my account could be suspended.
So much for free speech. So much for humans making decisions.
Oh, well. Be advised that I MIGHT be a terrorist and that I should have either skipped the post, not responding at all, or should have ignored the fact that the method the guys were using for the repair was dangerous. I will be more careful in the future.
I’ve just come in from weeding the trio of brick planters that divide our front yard from our driveway area. They weren’t as bad as the last time I tackled them, but I’ve been working hard for a couple of hours.
The temperature is only 81 degrees, so it shouldn’t feel so hot. My computer says the humidity is 58%, so it only feels like 87, but my BODY is reacting like the conditions are much more challenging.
I filled up a big trash can with weeds and pruned stuff before the job was finished. I’ll work my way around the yard, but the trio of planters was the worst. I’m beginning to see the end of the most important tasks now. YEA!!
I’m drinking a huge glass of ice water now, trying to cool off. I’m going to go sit in my recliner in the living room and relax for a bit with the ceiling fan on.
When I finally cool down, I’m planning to head up to my art room to reward myself with time to play. :0)
I’ve been fighting with my computer for over an hour, trying to undo whatever combinations of buttons I pushed that caused all the control pages to shrink to unreadable. I contacted ‘help,’ but their suggestions didn’t work. There was, finally, a mention of trying ‘control’ and ‘0’ to get things back to normal. I tried that and IT WORKED! HOORAAAAAAY!
I kept the page and saved it in case I do this again. I’ll probably come up with something ELSE that will create panic and gnashing of teeth around here again, but for the moment, I’m jumping up and down inside and running a victory lap. :0)
I’m beginning to get a confidence complex. I just tried to take and upload pics from my camera, and it showed the folder was empty. Twice. THEN I figured out my husband had changed some of the settings. I took the pics again and STILL the folder was empty. The final time I noticed that there was a new folder on the page. I clicked on that one and all my husband’s pics showed up PLUS the ones I had taken earlier. So now THAT problem is solved, but I don’t think I’ll try to drive our truck today…
This is a nice mental picture of what it’s like to live with our new cat – “Monster Cat” (aka Jet).
She fits in well with us, as she may have mental/emotional challenges. One day she’s quiet and prefers to find places in the sun on the floor to sleep. Other times you cannot walk around without her attacking your leg, pouncing, with claws out and trying to bite. I’ll be reading in my chair and suddenly the cat flies past me, apparently after a catnip mouse, or attacking the empty box on the floor.
She has only actually hurt me once, and that was a long time ago. Usually the bites could be considered ‘love bites,’ I guess – very noticeable, but not breaking the skin. The claws are more problematic. Since she is a ‘house cat,’ rather than going outside as our last cat did, I’m thinking of trying to clip her toenails – one at a time – with great care.
Two days ago I found a roll of paper towels on the floor in the pantry. She had gotten the roll out of the opened package on the shelf, dragged it to the floor, and riddled it with claw holes and bite marks. It looks like a pretty serious fight was enjoyed. I’m not sure who won. I THINK we can still use the paper towels, just maybe not on the roll holder on the kitchen counter…
Sometimes she will allow a bit of petting. If she starts waving her arm, though, back off. She follows me around, jumping up to say “Hi,” then lying down by my feet in the recliner. She doesn’t want to sit in my lap. Just says a quick. “Hi,” and then moves to lie beside my leg.
When I pick her up to put her to bed at night, I kiss her head and cuddle her as I walk and she PURRS – the only time she does this.
I’ve learned that since she follows me, I can get her to go into her bathroom when needed by rattling her food container in there. She is suddenly right there. I can give her a few pieces of food and shut the door. HAH! She is seeing the pattern that we keep her and the dog separate for eating and then use the cat door cat door latch holder –
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that props it open so she can go in and out readily while keeping Amber out when it’s safe for her to come out again.
I’m having an easier time working with Monster Cat, trying to train her a bit, than I am my husband, who I’ve been working with for over 55 years now. I had to yell at him yesterday because he was actively trying to get her to go outside while holding open the door! I think I finally got through to him, but he’s a stubborn former Marine Corps guy and he is quite recalcitrant about cooperating.
Every day is a challenge, with both the cat AND the husband. I’ll just keep on keepin’ on.
I’m trying to ‘unplug’ and not worry about my husband presenting for jury duty this morning. In Arkansas, you’re on the panel for 6 months, unless you are excused for some reason.
I was called years ago and was ‘invited to leave’ because I said I would follow the judge’s instructions “if they made sense to me,” and when asked, told the guy I didn’t have faith in the judicial system anymore. I guess they marked off my name in big, black magic marker or something, never to be called again. That’s fine with me.
My husband WANTS to serve. He would answer the same as I did if he told the truth. He has no compunction to do that, since he WANTS to get on a jury so that he can vote the way he wants regardless of instructions, to hang the jury or whatever is necessary to get someone off or to put them in jail, as HE deems just.
He is hard of hearing, rigid of opinion, extremely confident that he knows more than anyone. He will be 81 in November and has several health problems, none of which he will admit. He won’t ask to be excused. I just hope he doesn’t embarrass himself in any way. He’s a mess, but he’s my guy and I kind of like him.
One of the things he’ll have until he is no longer with us is a strong sense of who he is. He washed the Vette in the driveway yesterday because it was dusty and had cat paw prints going across the hood and over the top. Since our new cat stays inside, the culprit is ANOTHER, strange cat, who has come through the cat door in the garage. When he came in, he told me he threw up in the yard he got so tired washing the car. He refuses to stop work until the job is finished no matter how I encourage him to work in ‘sessions,’ as I do, resting and re-hydrating in-between. The important thing to him was that his Vette was clean and shiny for his trip to the court house this morning. It’s part of his image.
Since they keep the court house like a freezer, I made sure he wore jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, socks, and tennis shoes, rather than the tee, shorts, and sandals he usually wears. I also suggested he wear his leather vest. We gathered his glasses, his phone to keep in the car, made sure he WASN’T carrying the two pocket knives he usually has, and that he had his admittance ticket. He also decided to take his Kindle. He’ll probably start reading and won’t hear anyone call on him.
This is something I can’t control, so I’m really trying to simply let whatever happens happen, hoping he doesn’t embarrass himself in any way. I’m doing my normal stuff, but staying ‘available’ if he needs me. It’s kind of like sending your child to the first day of school…
UPDATE – he’s home. He didn’t ask to be excused. He says they will call him on my phone if they want him to appear. He said if we have a doc’s appt, or other appt, we can simply call and be excused for the day. As he sat down at the computer, he said, “I’m old and I walk funny.” I’m not sure what brought that on. I did mention that when “I” get up, I limp for several steps before my joints loosen up and I can walk more normally. He’s not getting old all by himself!
I’m just now back at the computer after errands and chores.
We went to two grocery stores, then got our mail on the way back. We carried things in and put everything away.
I then got the makings of chili in the crock pot for tonight and then cut up a humongous Honeydew melon my husband grabbed. It took three large storage containers to hold all the chunks.
Then we cleaned up and started the dishwasher. WHEW! That’s a lot for these years-challenged people.
Now I’m resting, drinking both ice water and coffee at the same time. I know, it’s weird, but I need the coffee to stay awake until I can fix and eat lunch and then I’ll take a nap. I need the ice water to re-hydrate and cool off.
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The rest of the day, once lunch stuff is cleaned up, will be devoted to fun stuff.
I tried to get up to my art room yesterday, but ended up trying to find Jet (aka Monster Cat) OUTSIDE. I looked and looked inside, but couldn’t find her. When I asked my husband, he said, off-handedly, that she MIGHT be outside, since he found the door from the utility room to the garage standing wide open.
I quit listening at that point and ran outside to walk around and around the house, calling for Jet, getting more and more upset as I searched.
Finally, the third time around, she was at the steps in the garage. I brought her in, checked to make sure she was okay, and gave her some food in her bathroom. I then read my husband the riot act, and went into the office to try to calm down before poisoning his dinner.
Our world is becoming more and more challenging. I know I’m getting older than dirt and have less patience than I used to have, but I find myself getting hostile often lately.
I listen to the news and get angry. I read articles on my computer that make me mad. I get disgusted by many song lyrics. I have little patience with actions of celebrities and just plain folks, tending to get offended when they step on or scoff at things that mean a lot to me. I’m tired of people being so judgmental, but I guess I’m the SAME.
I spend a lot of time avoiding. In fact, maybe ‘avoiding’ should be included as an Olympic sport. If it were, I would see if I could qualify for the seniors team from the U.S.
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I propose the use of two emojis – Emoji ONE – showing a person with hair blowing in the wind. This would mean that YOU are letting bad stuff blow right over you, choosing not to react. It could also be encouragement to others, not to LET all the aggravation get them down.
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Emoji TWO – a person with their lips zipped, reminding yourself that your opinion might not be shared by others and that insisting on telling people what you think all the time might be supremely irritating and probably won’t change any minds. It might also be used to quietly ask others to let you go on in your ‘bliss and ignorance,’ rather than trying to loudly tell you that you’re full of it.
We’ve had several ‘wins’ lately, and I AM ‘smiling on the inside.’
The most important is that we are finishing up on the generator project. We had put a new car battery in it and a new starter solenoid. We changed the oil and the oil filter. The generator tech/electrician did his magic, getting all the red lights to go off and pronounce it ‘good to go’ again. Yesterday my husband removed what he called a ‘tach (and something else) combo and has a new one ordered. We looked on the general log we keep to find out when we bought the generator and found it was 2008, so it’s old. In fact, the tech said he had never seen on as old as ours. Of course, WE are also older than dirt, so it fits right in. We’re HOPING that the generator will last as long as we do. The generator did its weekly automatic test yesterday – the first time this has happened in about a month. HOOORAAAAAAY!!!!!
Second, for the first time in a couple of years, it’s a pleasure to go down and up our driveway. We had to plan to be able to afford someone to do the project because the driveway is 650 feet + and STEEP. It really needed some reshaping and scraping, as well as a couple of huge truckloads of a special gravel that the city uses when it does roads, plus the work of spreading it. THEN nature was trying to go back to what it was 37 years ago when we first cleared it for our house, our shop, and the driveway. We had done what we could each year, but it just wasn’t enough. We hired a guy who calls himself “The Tree Man” to cut away the branches and brush and even trees that were trying to close off our access to the road. Happily, he said he would make himself available if during the winter we had any problems with trees coming down into the driveway.
Third, my husband mowed the grass last night, so we look as civilized as we ever do around here. Plus, he waited until 6:30 to do it, not risking heat stroke. The weed whacking and weed killing I’ve done in the past is holding up so far. My husband had an easy time of using the riding mower.
Fourth, I’m still alive and mostly sane after riding in the Vette with my husband to our teeth cleaning Wednesday. The hygienist is now used to my blood pressure being sky-high when I first get there, and down to the only-mildly-elevated-about-going-to-the-dentist reading by the time she finishes with me. We don’t have to go back until January 27th of 2025. Ahhhhh!
Fifth, our foyer corner is empty and clean for the first time in about a year, since it holds waiting-for-donations stuff. I’m letting it bask in all its glory for a few days before starting to gather more donations.
Finally, I hit the 33-pounds-down mark this morning, so I’m re-motivated in my efforts. I’m exercising, eating right, and making slow, steady progress, PLUS I’m having a blast experimenting with the concept of wood burning. I have two more pieces in the works and the ideas are keeping me up at night. I have a pad of paper and pen beside my side of the bed so I can write down some of the ideas that are swirling around. :0)
We still have many challenges to work through, but the progress we’re making is encouraging.
I’m feeling a bit swamped this morning. I know I can’t control things happening in the world. I can’t even control much of what is happening in my own, personal world. I have to fight the urge to cover up my head and just escape.
The 20-year-old trying to assassinate former President Trump at the rally in Pennsylvania yesterday is the latest example of how lost our world is. We are filled with frustration and hate. We have forgotten how to communicate. We want freedom of speech for ourselves, but not for those who have views differing from ours. Once again, innocent people have lost their lives or have been injured.
I feel guilty that I want to escape. I want to insulate myself from all the bad stuff going on around me. Feeling helpless, I strive to find something that is beautiful, something that touches me, something that gives me hope. Me, me, me. Yes, I feel guilty.
I wish there were a “reset” button. A “reboot” button. A “wipe-the-slate-clean-and-start-over” button. While I’m wishing, I wish for a “listening-and-truly-HEARING” button. An “understanding” button. “Empathy.” “Compromise.” “Cooperation.” A “live-and-let-live” button. What about old-style values, such as “respect.”
“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
There are two instances staring me in the face right now. I’ve been trying to resolve each of them for a couple of weeks or more, and I’m getting NO action. NO resolution of the problem. NO answers, even.
The one thing that I’ve gained from achieving the status of ‘older than dirt’ is that I don’t give up easily. I’m relentless. I don’t give up and I keep good records. EVENTUALLY good things happen, or at least I get some satisfaction.
Can you see me gritting my teeth and preparing to dive in once again?
Lately our coffee hasn’t been as good. I’ve been mentally blaming it on my husband, who makes the coffee a lot of mornings. His hands shake, and I was assuming that was the reason we’ve had ‘grounds’ in the coffee lately.
I used a commercial pot cleaner, and then followed that up with a suggestion I found on the net to use baking soda. I made sure to run several pots of just water afterwards to clean out the cleaners. I ran the coffee pot carafe, lid, and filter holder through the dishwasher, as well.
The result is the same. This morning, as I was refilling my cup from our large coffee thermos – the thought occurred to me that maybe the THERMOS is the problem. I’ve cleaned it, of course, but we’ve had it for years, and maybe what I’m seeing isn’t ‘grounds,’ but bits of ‘stuff’ from the inside of the thermos.
I have thrown caution to the winds now, ordering another large thermos with pump from Amazon because my husband is really serious about his one cup a day of coffee (rarely two), and I EXIST on coffee all day long and into the evening until all the coffee is gone. (My only ‘limit’ is that I don’t make another pot). It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.
We’ll start using the new thermos as soon as we have it and then will decide if we need to buy a new pot, as well.
I just went out to the well house to see when our two irrigation system water timers are set to begin today so I can monitor the watering.
We have two different models of the same brand, so the directions on creating the settings are different. I couldn’t tell when they were set to start, so I came back in, got the the directions for each, plus my glasses, and went out again.
I saw that the two units had two different ‘current times’ on them, so I tackled that first. I looked at the new system, trying to scroll through the different settings, and that was confusing. I then noticed that by scrolling through, some of the settings had changed, so I started over.
I now THINK I have the new system for the back set to start at 3pm. I THINK I have the system in the front set to start at 3:20pm, each of them running for 10 minutes automatically, every day.
I now have an alarm set so I’ll go out to check the watering starting at 3pm. WHEW!
I feel lazy because I have always depended on my husband to install and program stuff around here. Our situation has changed now. He installed the new system yesterday for the back, but didn’t think to check the batteries in the old system. It turns out that the old system was fine and just needed new batteries. So that’s the first lesson for me – check to see if there ARE batteries and see if changing them causes the system to work again.
We put the old unit in the well house on the shelf as a back up if we need it.
If I haven’t programmed the systems right, I’ll find out at 3pm and I can try again. If they DO work, I’ll monitor to make sure the water is going to the right places with no kinks in the hoses, breaks in the system, etc.
I’m feeling humble and stupid because what should probably be intuitive – (our son can look at something and start ‘messing’ with it, figuring how to program it faster than I can find the directions in the file cabinet) – ISN’T intuitive for ME. I have to read the directions carefully, taking them out there with me (remembering my glasses) and then painfully work my way through the settings.
I’m getting quite a few character-building exercises on how to be a functioning adult these past few days. I’m working on my attitude about it, trying to find a ‘can-do’ person in there somewhere, and the determination to make this work as it should. Fingers crossed!
Things will hopefully be quiet around here today. We have some errands, but I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time in the yard weeding the flower planters today. We’re having a nice day, with sunshine, and the high temperature today only in the mid 80’s and kinder level of humidity. We have the doors open now, with a nice breeze coming through. :0)
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We had a demonstration yesterday of how we are, indeed, older than dirt. We went to meet our new insurance agent. We took a CD with information we needed added to one of our policies. Our agent was a nice man with a very appealing smile and good manner. When we gave him the CD, he looked flustered for a minute and then said he had no way to read what was on the CD. Technology has once again bypassed us. We have some thumb drives, but none large enough to handle all the data we have on a DVD of info and pics about house items in our safe deposit box. Thankfully, my SIL sent me a URL to data storage options, so we’ll research that and decide what we need to do.
Meanwhile, we came home, gathered the little bit of information we needed to give the new agent and emailed it to him. At least we were able to do that.
We realize that we’re no spring chickens, but it’s a bit demoralizing to be hit with how very OLD we’re getting when stuff like this hits us right in the nose…
We were extremely lucky that this was merely scary, rather than resulting in real damage. I’m HOPING it got my husband’s attention and it results in him making SURE the water hose is working before he burns trash again.
You can’t see in this picture, but the flames were active all along the side of the shop and then down the hill. (This is also where the NEW working hose wouldn’t reach. We had to stomp the flames and I grabbed Amber’s water jugs from the shop to douse the flames before we could get the spray attachment on the new hose.
It’s on my list to weed whack the remaining greenery from around the trash barrel ASAP.
Yesterday my husband yelled at me. “Linda. I have a problem!” I went running all over the house, trying to FIND him, upstairs, all around the first floor, then down in the basement, then yelled out the front door, then out the back door. Finally I went outside onto the driveway pad and saw him kneeling down out by the shop. The grass was on fire!!!!
He was trying to get it out, but the hose we have out there wasn’t working. He was trying to hook up another one. Part of the fire was right beside the shop. He had been burning trash. One of the pieces of trash came out of the barrel, fell down onto the ground, and WOOOSH! He finally got the hose hooked up and I used my thumb to spray it everywhere there were flames as much as possible. The flow wouldn’t reach the farthest flames, so he went out and stomped them while I ran to the shop to get some water jugs we keep for Amber in the shop. We used those to dampen things down. I went and got the sprayer attachment off the hose that wasn’t working and we got it on the replacement hose and I sprayed everything down again.
We are both okay and, other than the burned out grass, no damage.
He is NOW agreeing to check to make sure the water hose and sprayer are working BEFORE he tries to burn trash again. He also agreed to try to let me know where he IS the next time he yells for help. He did NOT agree to let me know when he decides to burn trash. ARRRRGH! I can’t rest for 5 seconds without him deciding to DO something.
Jet likes the old woven bread basket I put on the countertop beside my computer. She jumps up on me, walks over my keyboard, and either settles down to sleep in the basket, or goes the other way to simply sprawl in the corner between my part of the L-shaped office counter or my husband’s.
Jet, and Amber, our 95 pound yellow lab are not babies. We adopted Jet recently. The only thing we know about her is that she is about 14 months old and had a litter of kittens. Amber is now 7 years old.
So they each have a history and have taken the better part of a month to achieve disdainful detente in the house. They can both be in the same room now without hissing or spitting (unless Jet is startled for some reason). I even found them yesterday both sleeping in the doorway on the tiles by the back door to the porch! I tried to get a picture, but Jet tends to jump up and follow me around, so I need to learn to sneak around a bit.
The cat door latch has saved my sanity. This ingenious piece of heavy plastic goes over the door knob on one end and has a screw-in metal piece in the selected hole on the other end, allowing Jet to go in and out freely, giving her access to her food, water, and kitty litter (plus a safe space if needed) while keeping Amber out. This is working really well. I still close the door completely any time Amber – or we – are eating, and at night.
Our previous sweet cat, Abby, liked to be outdoors. She was very happy with a cat cube on top of the woodpile in the garage for sleeping. We fed her out there, too, plus had a water dish. We have a cat door in the overhead garage door, so she could go in and out of the garage as she wished. We let her in the house and she stayed with us inside as long as she wanted, but was ready to go out at night and much of the day. My husband would like us to ease Jet into this, as well. I’m happy with things as they are. Since I’m the one doing all the extra work on this, I’m HOPING that I can be the one doing the deciding…
Jet initially was really unhappy when I turned on the hair dryer in her bathroom several days ago. Today she actually came in and started rubbing against my legs as I used the dryer. She is definitely adapting. :0)
All of a sudden yesterday our power went off. It wasn’t storming. The sun was shining. No power. Our generator is wired to come on automatically when the public power goes off, but it DIDN’T. (It runs everything in the house EXCEPT heat and A/C.)
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5 hours later (the public power was back on) but we couldn’t get the generator to work. We went to town, bought a solenoid and installed it. The generator still didn’t work.
This morning we bought another battery. We will wait until after lunch – when the generator is in the shade – to work on it again. Fingers crossed the new battery solves the problem. If not, I’m not sure what comes next.
Just a quick note to let you know it’ll be quite a bit later before I post much today. Our power went out yesterday, but our generator did NOT come on as it always does. We spent 5 hours working on things, trying to figure it out. We then went to town, bought a new solenoid (a switch type thingie that goes between the motor and the battery), but that didn’t solve things. We are taking the battery in this morning to get a new one. Fingers crossed that that is the last part to getting it to work again.
My husband was SURE we replaced that battery less than a year ago. He couldn’t find it in the computer log he keeps. We couldn’t find a receipt for it in the files, either. After a lot of looking and bad words, he FINALLY found a listing in the log that said the battery had been in there since 2019. Then he told me he was getting dingy and losing his self-confidence. I ‘calmly’ pointed out that he wasn’t getting older by himself, that I was there right along with him, and that we needed to work together to devise strategies for keeping track of things. I pointed out that when I drove him to get the solenoid (a very unusual thing for him to ask) I had to CONCENTRATE to remember where the place was. That seemed to help. Will write more when we either get things working again or take a break.
This is our utility room. The big bed on the left is our dog, Amber’s. There is a dog gate between the utility room and the dining area/kitchen/pantry area.
Jet, the new cat, and Amber, our 95 pound dog, have finally reached detente, we think, though we still keep a close eye out for any problems. The remaining areas of concern at this point are protecting the cat if there is any kind of food involved – for her, for Amber, for us. Amber has NO sense of humor or compassion where food is concerned. She wants HERS, OURS, and the CAT’s. ALL. OF. IT.
My wonderful SIL sent me some pics of a cat door latch. I had never heard of one before. I researched it, then sent a link to several options to my husband, asking him to choose the one he thought would be the easiest to install and use. He ordered one and it came yesterday.
We didn’t even need tools to install it. It’s heavy plastic. One end fits over the door knob. The other end has several holes into which you can screw a metal thingie whose other end sits in the hardware of the door. It is easily ‘used’ or ‘not used’, so I can shut the cat inside, if needed (as when we’re eating), or at night, when we don’t want her wandering around. Otherwise, it keeps the door propped open enough for Jet to come and go easily, but strong enough that Amber cannot ‘nose’ it open to get in and eat Jet’s food (or used kitty litter.) With its use, this is also another ‘safe space’ for Jet.
I shoved her in and out several times yesterday, but wasn’t really sure she would use it on her own. This morning I was cleaning the bathroom and used the latch. Jet came in, wandered around while I cleaned the area. I put more food in her bowl and she went out with me. I set the latch. She started to follow me (as she does a lot), but then went back, walked through the opening, and started to eat. HOORAY!
I left her ‘in’ there with the latch set. I came into the office. Suddenly, Jet jumped up into my lap. :0) HOORAY!
Now Jet and I have much more freedom. I don’t need to figure out when she needs to be put in the bathroom in order to do her business, or be let out again afterwards. She is going in and out at will, except when it’s dangerous. Win/Win. THANKS, ML!
My SIL wrote this morning, telling me about a ‘cat door latch’ that can help solve some of our problems trying to get Amber and Jet to co-exist. We’re researching the various options (I didn’t even know these existed) and we’re excited about Jet being able to go in and out from the back bathroom (and her food, water, and kitty litter) whenever she would like without Amber being able to go in and wreak havoc.
My husband immediately wanted to cut a cat door in the bottom of the door, but I would really rather not. We don’t have anything to go over the door and the optics would be less than great. I’m hoping that my husband can look at the options, decide which one would be sturdy and easy to install, so we can get one ordered. I would still need to shut her in there – without egress – when Amber (or we) are eating, but that’s a minor detail.
IT’S NOT RAINING! I’m thinking about spending some time in the yard this afternoon, weed whacking, spraying, pruning, etc. I’m hoping that the man who specializes in greenery removal will call sometime soon and come to give us an estimate we can afford for clearing up the driveway. The trees on both sides are attempting to merge…
UPDATE – My husband has chosen a cat door latch that will be easy to install and use, plus still gives me the option to actually prevent Jet from coming out when it might be dangerous for her. He is ordering it now. HOORAY!
I love the fact that “when the world is too much with me”, I can mentally and emotionally escape for a bit –
It may be looking at a gorgeous photo like this, where I can imagine being there, walking beside the lanterns on the stepping stones in the beautiful green, wooded area.
It may be diving into another world provided by one of my favorite authors or the joy of finding one who is brand new to me, replacing my worries with the situation of other interesting people dealing with issues totally different than mine.
It may be doing one of my hobbies – like I escape to my art room. I can visualize what I’d like to create, or even just take some time to straighten up the materials I have..
It may be wandering around outside in the fresh air, tending my plants, planting new things, seeing how things have grown, enjoying new displays of scents and colors.
It may be listening to music, enjoying someone’s breathtaking talent, reacting viscerally to the lyrics, the story, the emotion, the sound –
I feel very lucky that I have so many “places I can go” when I need to get away for a while!
This is how I feel after fighting with trying to get my ‘subscribe’ or ‘follow’ button to show on my blog website. I just checked and it SHOWS on my iPhone, so I have no clue why it doesn’t show here on my regular computer.
I will keep trying to figure it out, but I’m feeling pretty defeated right now. I’m going to go get a cold drink, stretch out in my recliner, and read a book. Maybe some solution will occur to me.
A nice person commented on one of my posts recently, telling me he wanted to subscribe, but couldn’t find a way to do it on my site. I looked and discovered my “subscribe” button had disappeared. I’ve looked in all my settings, options, etc. and can’t find anything. When I write to get help, I get lots of tutorial stuff or canned answers that aren’t helping.
I’m now trying some weird stuff in an attempt to get something working. Please bear with me if you see something odd on the next blog post you read – maybe even THIS one…
I have enough trouble with tech issues without having mysterious stuff happen to what has been set up for years now.
FIRST – We’re now under a severe thunderstorm WATCH until 5pm. We just got home from running our errands, so we can batten down the hatches and hope things go well. I don’t mind storms – I just don’t like worrying that ‘heavy heavy hangs over your head’ for long periods of time.
SECOND – We put our groceries away and I was trying to get a roast in the crock pot for dinner. Amber was barking that she wanted to come in. Jet was meowing that she wanted out of her bathroom area. I asked my husband to please leave things alone while I got the roast into the crock pot.
I did that, then cleaned up the cat’s bathroom where all her stuff is, handled the kitty litter situation outside and all is now good. She was adamant she wanted to come out, so I carried the cat to my husband, and started to let Amber in -only to find the CAT in the area I was going to let the dog into! Shriek! I took the cat back to my husband, asking him to HOLD the cat until I could get the dog in and behind the gate.
Yesterday the cat sat on one side of the dog gate while the dog was lying down on the other. No hissing or spitting from the cat. No barking, lunging and snapping from the dog. So that’s progress.
It looks like we’re in for a lot of that today, as well. I’m HOPING that enough of this and they will both calm down and decide that living together is not so bad after all… We’ll have to be extra careful going in or out of the kitchen, making sure we know where all parties are before opening the gate until we’re sure they have finally accepted each other. Fingers crossed. WHEW!
*Aside – I read an article about things that can stall weight loss. One of the main things listed was tension. Imagine that. I may be a round shape until they throw dirt over me….
The new cat tower was delivered – to the HOUSE – yesterday by Fedex about 2:30. It took us both working together until about 5:30 to get the thing assembled. We joked about remembering when we were up most of the night of Christmas Eves putting toys, bicycles, etc. together for our son…
The fur on the pieces made getting each screw started really difficult, but we finally developed some techniques that made the job go a bit easier. There were at LEAST 5 million screws (maybe a slight exaggeration).
The tower is well made with a sturdy design. It JUST went in the place we wanted to put it – to the side/under a mounted music speaker beside the entertainment center and beside the fireplace. We used a bungie cord to attach the tower to the heavy mounting of the speaker, so it won’t go anywhere no matter how strenuous a jump Jet makes getting on it.
Some of the spacers are wrapped in rope for good scratching posts. There are places to sleep in the open or inside cubes, if privacy is preferred. There are a couple of balls-on-strings to catch the attention of a cat.
We were thinking that it might be another safe space from our dog, Amber, too. We now have a chair in front of it to try discourage Amber from getting really close to the tower.
You can see Jet actually sitting on the larger cube! She, of course, immediately jumped down when I put her on it last night, choosing to sprawl on the fireplace bricks, instead. I had almost given up when she decided to jump back on it. She explored quite a bit, going up and down, batting one of the balls when it moved as she passed.
I really have no clue how much the cat tower will be liked or used, but I’m glad we got it for her and put it together. She is already finding safe spaces in the entertainment shelves, and I assume she will find many more places to get places to snooze as time goes on.
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