My friend, Cathy, has been reading about my efforts to get Monster Cat to be at least a bit more cooperative. One of my ‘training tools’ is a small cosmetic bottle of water that I can spray to TRY to get her to –
You get the picture.
Yesterday she sent me this –
I’m still laughing.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Funny Signs - Humor
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear about the weather today? It’s 72 and slightly cloudy – a perfect condition for working outside. Since I got snafued from starting to weed our flower planters yesterday due to rain, I’ll plan on getting out there today.
The planters need work, but they’re not nearly as bad as they were the last time I zeroed in on them, so I’m hoping they won’t take a whole lot of time and effort.
The above pic shows you what I have, except that I have a less-expensive version with only one ‘pen.’
I’m going to drill holes in a couple of wood-burning pieces, attaching hooks to one of them, finishing them up today. I’ll take pics to show you when that is done. I’ll plan on listing them on Etsy later. I’ve started a new piece, too.
I feel like a kid at Christmas, playing with my new wood-burning tool. I definitely feel as if I have won the lottery with this newest set. It’s light-weight, easier to use, heats up quickly, so I don’t have to wait each time I want to change a tip. The tips fit securely and are easy to change. I’m learning some of what I can do with each tip.
I’m going to see if I can find a video on YouTube that shows these and see what the people-who-know-what-they’re-doing do. I’m thinking about more earrings in a totally different style and Christmas ornaments now…
My husband is hoping that mowing season is over, even with the new mower, and I can’t blame him. He did finally get a cover for the new mower yesterday. He ordered it so long ago he had forgotten about it! I’ll be interested – quietly – to see what he’ll do before he drains the mower for the season. If he washes it, I’ll know he’s as proud of it as he is the Vette. :0)
Enjoy your Friday and the coming weekend.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
It’s dark, rainy, and 69 degrees here. I love it. It’s such a welcome change after all the super-hot weather we had for so long. We have the front and back doors open to the fresh air. It’ll keep me from starting to weed the flower planters – at least this morning – but I’m sure not complaining. :0)
I mixed up two 2-gallon containers of Killzall yesterday afternoon and sprayed the rock beds, around the planters, under the deck stairs and deck, on the sidewalk edges, around the driveway pad, the front porch pad, etc., so that job is done, unless weeds start springing up again.
We sold our old mower yesterday! A retired couple drove from Webbers Falls, Oklahoma (about 1-1/2 hours from us) in a truck with a really nice trailer attached. The man backed their rig close to the shop door. We have some ramps, and the guys used them so that my husband could then drive the mower up into the trailer. The man had a tie-down he put on the back and we gave him a short length of chain with a closure the man could use on the front of the mower so it wouldn’t roll forward and back on the trailer bed on the way back home.
I was super-impressed at the backing job the man did, plus the great job my husband did of driving the mower up the ramps. They were super nice people and we had an enjoyable visit with them. It was good that they have the mower they can either repair or use for parts, and we’re happy it is gone and out of the way in the shop.
This is the latest wood-burned piece. I listed it on my Etsy site yesterday and started two more pieces. I’m having a great time and feeling more confident about what the various burning tips will do. I’m learning!
Monster Cat and I are developing a good communication now. She is food-driven (hey! so am I!) and so tries to lead me to her bathroom when she wants more food. She is more attuned to the routine around here, so this is coming to center around times when she needs to be in there when our dog is eating. I’m giving her just enough food each time to get her to come in, and she seems happy to come – or lead me – to the goal. Hooray!
As of 3 days ago, there is 36 pounds less of me. I’m a bit frustrated that the scales haven’t changed in three days, but the other part of me is grateful that it hasn’t gone up again. I’ve been watching what I eat like a hawk and have been working hard in the yard, so maybe I’ll see the scales move down again soon. That would be encouraging.
I hope that your Thursday is a fun one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy – Colorado Signs – BoredPanda.com -Giedre Vaiclulaityte
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs
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…
Filed under Challenges
I guess that 9-11 was the first time I realized how vulnerable we are, and with the way things are going in the world now, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries it again. I’m trying to concentrate on only worrying about things I CAN control these days, trying to live each day to the fullest, wringing out every drop of joy from each one, so I will remember, honor the good people who died, their families, the responders, and then try to move on.
My husband put a listing on CraigsList for our old mower, which is only valuable for salvage. We have a couple coming this morning to look at it. Hopefully, we can check this one off our list today.
Yesterday I gathered the last of the tomatoes and then spent much of the rest of the day cleaning out the tomato planters. I had to cut the plants since they were so large and curled around the supports. I filled our large trash can overfull three times before I had everything out. I then cleaned up.
Today I’ll mix up a 2-gallon container of Killzall and spray it around the planters, along the edges of the sidewalks, under the deck, in the rock bed, etc. I’m hoping that we’re reaching the end of the mowing and weed whacking season.
I just hit some weird combination on my computer and my control pages for WordPress went wonky with the font size going to almost zero. I’m touch typing now, even with my glasses on, trying to edit this post I was writing when I did whatever I did. So far, I’m not able to make the dashboard get things back to usable, so I’ll finish this and then try to fight with it. If you don’t hear from me for the rest of the day, this is why.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California.” Wikipedia
Date: September 11, 2001 at 7:14 AM CDT
Number of deaths: 2,996
Location: World Trade Center, The Pentagon, Shanksville
Filed under memories
I’m struggling to wake up fully this morning. I feel tired and blurry.
Yesterday I had a productive day outside. I finished weed whacking the yard, front and back, weeded the rock bed in the back, then used the leaf blower to blow the debris off the back and front sidewalks, the front porch, and the driveway pad. My husband mowed, so we look pretty civilized – for us. :0)
Today I plan to gather the last of the tomatoes and then pull the plants for the season. My tomato sucker plant got pretty large and actually produced some blossoms, but with the lowering of temperatures, it won’t produce fruit, so it goes, as well. Good experiment. I also plan to mix up a two-gallon container of Killzall and spray the areas that need it. The weather people are saying we have today with lower temperatures and lower humidity before a warm-up, so I’ll try to take advantage of that.
In the art room, I painted the finished wood-burned piece with a coat of varnish for protection. I’ll bring it down sometime today, take pics, and see if I can get it listed on my Etsy site. I also worked on another piece, making a good bit of progress. A third is outlined.
I fell in love with these, bought them, and received them yesterday. I’ve never seen any like them before and look forward to wearing them.
I wish you a happy Tuesday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I just drool when I see these. I want them ALL. – ALL. OF. THEM.
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Authors & Books, Favorite Quotes
Filed under glass etching, Stained Glass Art, Wildcraft Light Sculptures
I love this little guy.
I did a LOT of weed-whacking yesterday. We had ‘weed-trees’ under the deck which were too much for the weed-eater, so I ended up pulling them up or cutting them off with a handheld cutter and THEN weed whacking. I’m going to try to finish the back yard today, plus weed the rock bed in the back that runs along the house. Then I’ll spray needed areas with Killzall.
I’m trying to get outside right after lunch each day the weather is cooperative. By then the vegetation has dried from the heavy morning dew we’re getting, but the current heat isn’t oppressive. GOOD situation for trying to get things under control outside.
We will gather trash and drive it down today, plus get our mail. I don’t know if we’ll do anything in town today or just do things another day.
I hope you are well and happy today.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Felted Wool Art, Fiona Finlayson Art - Etsy
This is truly stunning. I can’t say enough about it.
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I had a fun day yesterday. Instead of going out and weed-whacking, as I “meant” to do – I played in my art room. I had a great time, only feeling a bit guilty about not starting my clean-up of the yard. I will TRY to get out there today, right after lunch. REALLY. :0)
Our weather is wonderful. Really fall-like. Our high is due to be 81 today! And the humidity is down. You can actually walk outside and breathe at the same time, not frying like an egg. Truly amazing.
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I’ve been considering getting new covers for Amber’s dog beds for quite a while now. I’ve been dragging my feet because we got new covers once before and spent a fortune on them. I decided to see what I could find.
I couldn’t find any covers offered for beds as large as we need them. About a week or so ago, I found a man on Etsy who does custom replacement covers using denim – exactly what I wanted. I still dragged my feet because I need THREE of them (Amber has a bed in the living room, another in the utility room, and a third, smaller one, in the office. ALL of them are looking thoroughly disreputable.
I reread the information provided on his site, read the reviews again, and finally bit the bullet and ordered today. When we get them, I’ll take pics for you and then let you know if they last a reasonable amount of time.
Monster Cat has sleeping places all over the house. She doesn’t, however, have one in the bathroom. I’m going to look for a cat bed to put in there, too.
I hope that you’re having an enjoyable day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
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 –
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.
Filed under Amazing Animals, cats, Challenges, Family
We had a busy day yesterday.
We had another blowout on the irrigation system in the front yard. It was the same place it blew out before, right outside the well house. My husband fixed it again, using a bit different technique. I reprogrammed the two units (one for the front and a different style for the back and we tested both manually to make sure they were working and that nothing blew out.) Then we came back out twice later to monitor the actual watering, tweaking the flow in several planters.
I set my alarm to see if the generator actually turned on and did its test at 2pm. It DID, so we’re good on that. :0)
While I was out, I was shocked to see that Mother Nature had turned the ‘ripen’ switch on and I had a BUNCH of ripe tomatoes. I gathered a whole basket full. I’ll see if any more need to come in. It had been a while since I’ve been out there, so several of the tomatoes had gone bad. I’ll need to clean up the plants soon.
First, though, I will start a daily get-out-and-work-in-the-yard session now that it’s finally cooling off some. There is a LOT to do, but I’ll TRY to be smart about it and do a bit each day and not hurt myself. That project starts today.
I did two loads of laundry yesterday, folded things and took the basket upstairs. Today I’m washing sheets. My husband asked me to tell him when I’m ready to put clean sheets on the bed, so I’ll do that.
This is my new motivation to lose my lard. It was delivered recently. I like my tops to be loose, so I’ll need to lose a bit more before I can wear this. I absolutely LOVE it, so it’s a good motivation for me to keep my mouth shut. :0)
One of the nurses from our primary doc’s office called yesterday to tell me that our doc has to have a SECOND surgery for the shoulder she broke several months ago snowmobiling with her husband on vacation. The last time we saw her she had her arm in a sling and was going to physical therapy. This is a real bummer.
The nurse asked me if we would agree to see the nurse practitioner at our next scheduled appointment. Since this is a routine appointment, I readily agreed. I asked her to make sure that I was NOT scheduled for the one thyroid blood test that my insurance won’t cover. (I’m disputing that with the company now).
I asked her to tell our doc she’ll be in our thoughts and prayers and thanked the nurse for all the extra work she was having to do to reschedule everyone.
When we go, we’ll be going to the new facility they just moved into, so that will be interesting, too.
I hope today is a nice day for you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 