Yesterday, as we were trying to leave to take our cat, Abby, to the vet, our progress was impeded by a 3 foot (+-) black snake. My husband tried to nudge it on its way, but finally picked it up and tossed it out into the back yard. (One sign of spring I’m not particularly fond of.)
Our tulip tree, If you look carefully at the bottom center of this pic, you’ll see the recovering Amber keeping me company as I took pics this morning.
Redbud and forsythia
It really helps my mood to be able to invite Amber to join me and to walk around the yard a bit, seeing things coming to life, or in full celebration of the joy of the weather.
1) I told the vet that Amber was still vomiting from the one pill we gave her Friday with food to fight what we all thought was a bladder infection. We now have 4 anti-nausea pills to give her one per day. We also got some canned puppy food on the way home that we hope she can tolerate for a couple of days.
2) The vet basically gave Abby a death sentence. She has a tumor (he thinks) on her right kidney. He took x-rays, did blood work, examined her thoroughly. She has bad arthritis in her back legs. He showed me the enlarged kidney that is inflamed, misshapen and surrounded by a ‘cloud’ of ‘something else.’ He doesn’t think the surgery is a good idea, given the tumor, the arthritis, sugar in her urine, and the fact I told him she has a bad intermittent cough. She is 14. We okayed an injection for pain that is supposed to last 30 days. We also okayed an injection of antibiotic also lasting the same amount of time, which may make the bleeding better.
We have had a very expensive week with them, right at $1000 – only to learn that Amber was NOT the one who had the problem (and that was only found by accident by me), and an end-of-the-road notice for Abby. UGH. (The pills we got for Amber were NOT refundable.)
SO – We concentrate on trying to calm down Amber’s sensitive stomach and enjoy every minute of the time we have left with Abby. We have shared a good life with her. She has been a happy, loving cat and our lives have been richer for having known her. We will watch her carefully to make as sure as we can that she isn’t suffering.
“Sunrise, sunset Sunrise, sunset Swiftly fly the years One season following another Laden with happiness and tears One season following another Laden with happiness and tears” ~
from “Sunrise, Sunset” sung by Perry Como, written by Jerrold Lewis Bock / Sheldon M. Harnick
Mark Gray – @GrayMarker99 on X Mark Gray“Daybreak” – Matt Pearce – @MattPearceArt on XStephen Powers – @StephenPowers77 on X
I’m on a definite roller coaster with my weight this past week. I’m still weighing daily as my accountability to myself, but I’m trying to think of it only as a ‘monitor’ – a starting point for the day. It would just be nice if the scales lost their smirk a bit. Yesterday I made keto chili. Suzanne Ryan’s recipes in Simply Keto are really good. I also had a Mission Zero little bitty tortilla, (zero NET carbs due to 7 grams of fiber) and that was good, taking the place of the dinner roll I had been eating before I started watching my carbs again.
Pinterest
I’m earning a sparkly star for my desk calendar daily, continuing since Feb. 18th. Not a ‘habit’ yet, but I’m a tough nut on building those, and will continue my efforts.
I’m doing laundry and we’ll go shopping for groceries later, and that’s the ‘excitement’ for our day, other than the “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” from Simply Keto for our dinner tonight.
We have a 1,000 gallon propane tank and then a 250 gallon tank. The large one is for the house and the small one for our shop. I painted the large one years ago, trying to make it look like a watermelon, not liking the plain white of the tank.
Yesterday two guys came to top off our tanks. One of them really liked the way I painted this, my husband told me. Made my day. :0)
I wish we could just call the delivery guys directly. The company went with a call center overseas somewhere. I ordered the propane on the 28th, going through the phone tree, which they had changed and was very confusing. I wrote a post on the 28th, whining about how long it took for me to order. I stressed that we had two tanks and needed both of them topped off. That message didn’t get through. Thankfully, these guys went ahead and filled both, though that wasn’t on their service ticket.
They came while we were at the vet with Amber. Thankfully, he left a message on our phone. I returned his call, leaving a message answering his questions, telling him what we needed, and saying I hoped he would come ahead, since we would be here the rest of the day.
We don’t usually buy propane until November, but we wanted to take advantage of the sale they were having and didn’t want to worry about not being able to get a fill up when we needed it, or the prices having jumped to something completely astronomical.
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Amber
Amber had an accident on her bed, something she almost never does, a couple of days ago. When she did it again yesterday, we took her to the vet along with a sample of some pee with a bloody tinge. He ran the sample, gave Amber an antibiotic shot, and some pills for a bladder infection.
This morning Amber had been sick on the floor around her bed. I cleaned that up and let the cat in before feeding Amber. I happened to come into the utility room where Amber’s bed is, and found Abby, our cat, on Amber’s bed in a funny position. I moved her, catching her in the act of peeing on the bed – something she never does – a blood-tinged pee.
Abby
I called the vet’s office. We will
1) stop the pills with Amber, and
2) bring Abby for an appt at the vet Monday morning. Apparently, it is SHE who is having the problem. The lady at the vet said we could bring back the rest of the pills for Amber for a refund.
Yesterday was a stressful and expensive day for us. Luckily, we are all still in one piece. Hopefully, we can clear up Abby’s problem. She is 14 now and has other health issues.
“Susan works organically – constructing an armature of wire, upon which she builds layers of textures and stitching, adding glazed papers and metal foils. To complete the work – carefully chosen beads, pearls, antique adornments and semi precious stones are added from a collection she has built over the years.” ~ “about” Susan Horth on her website, SusanHorthArt.com
Since not many folks feel as I do about February and I did NOT receive a gazallion signatures on my petition to do away with the month, I’ve decided to quit whining about it. You’re welcome. :0)
I’m seeing signs of spring in our yard and it makes me smile to go outside, though it’s still a bit too brisk to stay out there long. My daffodils are nodding happily, forsythia is starting to shoot forth yellow blooms, my iris are shooting their spears up, and our tulip tree is starting to bloom. NICE!
This is my desk calendar for February. As you can see, I got serious about my yoga practice on the 18th. I finished the month in fine style, earning 12 stars for the month. Hopefully I can earn 31 stars for March, building to a habit of yoga each afternoon.
vladimircech-Freepik.com
On my efforts to lose the lard, I reached my 20 pounds off goal. I’m planning to set new goals in 5-pound-increments, since they seem more attainable than the entire amount of lard I would like to lose. I’m trying to eat low carb. I’m eating cauli-rice instead of rice, zoodles instead of spaghetti, no pasta, a low carb tortilla instead of bread (though I haven’t tried them yet), careful choices on very little fruit, as little sugar as possible, cutting down on salt, lots of low carb veggies.
Cooking for us is a bit of a challenge, but so far, it’s going well. My husband has no interest in low carb. He has no interest in low sugar, either, but I’m adamant about him watching that. I’m hoping that by the end of March, I’ll be making good progress in my diet and exercise, moving more, feeling pretty good for an old broad. :0)
My husband is having trouble with his computer. I’m typing for him as he chats with various Microsoft techs. It’s tedious, but doable. Once this is over, I hope to get up to my art room.
Our family had two pet rabbits. One was named, “Welsh,” and the other “Peter.” They were special, well-loved members of the family.
Study For A Silent Hare_Beth Cavener 2007
“If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” ~ Confucious
Annie-Peaker-contemporary-figurative-ceramics
“Bunnies will always have a special place in my heart. They are often discredited as being good pets because they don’t ‘do anything.’ — ask any rabbit owner and watch how they laugh.” ~ Shenita Etwaroo
“If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animals would be a rabbit, followed by the animals most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit.” ~ Robert Brault
“If there are nine bunnies on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one.” ~ Jack Ma
firwelcrafts-Moon Gazing Lunar Hare Sculpture-reconstitued stone
“A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.” ~ Chinese Proverbs
Japanese-temple-rabbit-Okazaki Shrine-Kyoto
“The older I get, the more I see a straight path where I want to go. If you’re going to hunt for elephants, don’t get off the trail for a bunny.” ~ T. Boone Pickens
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” If the old dog hadn’t got distracted by the fire plug, he would have caught the bunny.” ~ Hayes McClerkin
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“If things don’t come easy to you, you have to pull a bunny out of a hat.” ~ Steve Coogan
Do we wish each other ‘Happy Leap Year?’ I really don’t know. It seems odd for ME to be doing it, since I’M the one behind the petition to do away with the entire month of February… I really don’t want to be in the position of having something unusual happen, though, and not wishing everyone I care about well, so, I DO wish you one. :0)
I discovered that I need to renew my driver’s license in March. I plan to try to get this done Monday. I looked online to see what I needed. Since my Social Security card is in my maiden name, I’ll need to go to the bank safe deposit box today and get our marriage license.
When I think of all the people coming into our country who don’t need ANYTHING and then get free everything, and “I” need my marriage license (55 years old now) to explain why the name on my SS card is different from the one on my driver’s license in order to renew – it is another indication to me that our country is weird. It makes me a bit hostile.
I hope that the people born on February 29th have an extra-special celebration today. If I were born on this date, or knew someone who was, I would make a special effort to show them how much they are loved, whether the actual date occurs every year or not.
I had just finished my first blog post here this morning and noticed the green dot on my calendar tab, indicating a reminder of something. I couldn’t remember anything, so I checked it.
Oops! My husband had a haircut scheduled for 10:00 today. It was 9:56, so I texted Michael, our miracle-worker hair stylist, to tell him we would be late, but we would be there. I woke up my husband, who was taking a nap in his recliner. He got up, washed his hair quickly, and we left. We were about 10 minutes late. I apologized to Michael, who was very gracious about it, and we got the haircut. On the way home we got gas, got our mail, and I dragged our now-empty trash can back up to where it lives higher up on our driveway.
My husband told me about a sale on propane and suggested that we take advantage of it, topping off our tanks. (We have one 1000 tank for the house and another 250 tank for the shop). I spent a LOOOOONG time on the phone. The lady who answered apparently works from home. I could hear kids screaming in the background. I think she was from India. Her accent was very thick. She spoke quickly and I only got maybe 15% of what she said. We labored our way through what I wanted. She put me on hold for 10 minutes, which seemed like forever, finally coming back. I THINK she said we would get both tanks topped off for the sale price and that the delivery would be this coming Friday. I told my husband that I wasn’t at all sure of this, but that I had done the best I could. It will be interesting to see what happens.
My other call was to Cards Trash service. I was trying to find out a ball park estimate of when our trash was picked up these days. I was on that call a LOOOOONG time, too, waiting on hold through the same 4 ‘announcements’ over and over before finally getting to the lady. She said she was unable to get that information, but did tell me that the truck drivers worked until 7 pm. So next time the trash hasn’t been picked up when we get back from errands. I’ll wait until 7pm before checking on Tuesday to see if the can is ready to be dragged back up.
So now we’ve had lunch and I have the sleepies. Maybe I can catch a nap and then hope to be productive, as well as doing my yoga for the day.
Good morning! It’s sunny outside and 34 degrees F. right now. It was 80 yesterday afternoon. This afternoon’s high is forecast to be 51. What a difference a night makes. We avoided the severe weather threat, and for that I’m very thankful. The wind blew and ‘gusted,’ but that was it. HOORAAAAAY!
Bill Oxford-Getty Images-istockphoto
Our bug spray guy came just as we were getting things together for lunch. He sprayed inside and out, for everything including elephants, so we should be in good shape now. I really don’t like to have scary things crawling around or flying around inside the house, if possible.
Fillistimlyanin-freepik.com
Even though MyFitnessPal said “You are not likely eating enough” and I was careful, apparently I also ate lead or something that made me retain water. I was up almost a pound this morning. I realize that weight can fluctuate for many reasons and that I shouldn’t be upset – and probably shouldn’t be weighing myself every day – but this is working for me and keeping me on track and motivated. I just gnashed my teeth, stuck my tongue out at the scales as it laughed at me, and will do my best to stay on track today.
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I HAVE to train myself to read labels at the grocery store before buying anything. That will drive my husband nuts – but I’ll just tell him it’s necessary, and that he can stay home if he wants to. I pulled out a frozen dinner to eat this evening, since I’ve been cooking a lot lately. It’s ‘high protein’ and I assumed low carb since it’s Lean Cuisine. NOOOOOO! It’s 38 carbs! I’m trying to stick to around 20 carbs per day, so this one meal is almost two days’ worth! ARRRRRRGH! Needless to say, I won’t be eating that tonight.
I will drive down to the bottom of our driveway soon to get our mail and check to see if our trash can is empty. I checked it at 4pm yesterday and it was still full. I’ll call the company either way. When we started with them, the paperwork said they might have someone picking it up at 4am the pickup day, so to have the trash out there and ready. We started putting it out mid day Monday for Tuesday pickup. The last few weeks, we’ve tried to stop, either going or coming back from errands, to put the can away, but it’s still full. I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on, or maybe they just missed us this week. Such a TERRIBLE problem, right? :0)
ClipArtLibrary
I’ll be earning my third sparkly star for the week today for yoga practice. I’m TRYING to make this a habit, but learned last year that I defy the odds on making something become a habit. The sparkly star on the calendar right now is enough to keep me going. Maybe I’ll become more of an adult later…
David M. Bird creates his cute little ‘Becorns’ from natural materials and then places them outside where they can ‘interact’ with birds, insects, animals, etc., snapping beautiful photos that will capture your heart.
It’s official. I FINALLY got to the 20 pounds down mark in my efforts to lose the lard. Apparently, my latest efforts – cutting the carbs WAAAAAY down – is getting my body’s attention. The MyFitnessPal website is really helpful in planning my eating for the day. I can list what I plan to eat and then see if I’m eating too many carbs and change out something until the numbers are better.
I will also earn my second sparkly star for my desk calendar today with my yoga practice. Yesterday I did 13 reps of the abdominal exercise, and 6 of the leg-out-behind-me exercise on each side. Improvement!
Our ‘excitement’ for the day is the bug spray guy is coming. I have no idea when. I’ve seen ladybugs and a spider lately, so I’m happy he’s coming. I have nothing in particular against ladybugs. I don’t like spiders much. The thing is, when you live in a rural area, scary bugs aren’t far behind when you begin to see other things, so LET THE SPRAYING BEGIN!
The forecast is for really gusty winds today (up to 45mph), super warm temperatures (82 degrees F. in February), followed by thunderstorms, a cold front, and possible severe weather this evening and overnight, followed by a 35 degree drop in temperatures for tomorrow. Think roller coaster! WHEEE!
My big chore is to hope the trash people empty the can at the bottom of the driveway so I can drag it back up where it ‘lives’ before the thunderstorms this evening. Fingers crossed.
We voted in the Arkansas primary yesterday. I LOVE early voting. We drove to town, thinking the voting would be at City Hall or the court house. Nope! We asked a policeman at the court house and he told us the voting was at the fairgrounds. We drove there and voted in about 5 minutes. I thanked the volunteers there profusely. I think early voting is so civilized. It really helps to be able to go when the weather is cooperative and at a good time for YOU.
Not sure yet what the plan is for today. Some of it will depend on when the bug spraying guy comes. I’ll just hang loose and see what happens.
It’s a pretty Monday here – quite spring-like, with a high of 83 forecast for this afternoon. We have a cold front coming through tomorrow night, reminding us that we have some winter left, but I think we’re through the worst of it now. Every morning when I open the front door, the sight of the daffodils blooming their heads off all around the well house makes me smile.
Our big things for today are 1) gathering the trash and putting it out at the bottom of our driveway, 2) getting our mail, and 3) voting in the Arkansas primary.
Yesterday I vacuumed a LOT, getting the first floor carpeted areas (our office, the foyer, and the living room) plus the tiled areas (the hallway, two half baths, the dining area, kitchen, pantry, and utility room.) The result was that when I emptied the jammed-full vacuum canister, I was throwing away more than a full dog’s worth of hair. UGH. You would think Amber would be completely bald now, but she has a full complement of hair ready to be shed…
lowbird.com-boredpanda.com
Yesterday afternoon I almost decided that all the vacuuming I did should count as my exercise for the day. Then I hauled my old, aching body out of the recliner and got down on the mat for my yoga practice. My husband happened to be reading in his recliner. I managed to do a good practice. I did 11 reps of my abdominal exercise and 5 reps on each side on my knee-to-nose-and-then-lifted-out-straight-to-the-back exercise, rather than 3. My husband nodded at me and said, “Good job.” I looked at him and said, “Tomorrow you’ll practice with me?” He looked at me, and then started reading again, not saying a word. :0)
Sent to me by Madeleine Jacobs
For some reason, one of our investment outfits decided to ‘recertify’ us or ‘update our records’, requiring that we send in everything including our first grade report cards to prove who we are. They closed down access to our account until we produce all this stuff. One of the requirements was proof of residence – with something listing both of our names. I don’t know if Arkansas is different than the rest of the states, but all the utility accounts are in the man’s name only. (I’m chattel, I guess.) We sent in our electricity bill, but they wouldn’t accept that. I finally thought of our reverse mortgage statement. It DID list both of us. We scanned that and sent it in today. Hopefully, that will satisfy them and we can have access to our account again… ARRRRRRRGH!
Curtis and Jordin are photographers by trade. Curtis is a sketch artist by hobby. He creates sketches that clearly show his love for his wife and children doing ordinary things. Sometimes the sketches make me cry – both from the actual sketch and what he SAYS about them.
I’ve done several posts about this couple. If you’re interested, please scroll down to Curtis Wiklund Sketches for US in the list of categories to the right of this post.
Hayden-Life-DrawingI-cry-when-I-look-at-youmorning-with-casenParenting – We are scaling mountains.
I really wanted to sleep later this morning, but my bladder insisted I get up. I’m still feeling a bit bleery-eyed, drinking coffee to try to wake up my system.
I’m feeling hopeful this morning, bleery-eyed or not, that the emphasis on lowering my carbs is getting the attention of my scales. I’ve lost 3-1/2 pounds since I started my new regimen. (No handsprings or anything, since I have a gazillion more to go, but it’s NICE to have the scales laughing a bit less several mornings now. )
I’m going through my Simply Keto recipe book, finding new recipes I plan to try, adding to my grocery list. I really like the fact that Suzanne Ryan doesn’t glory in spending time in the kitchen. Her recipes are simple, using ingredients you can readily find in regular grocery stores, and they don’t take a lot of prep or time. Just perfect for me.
Recently I used my spiralizer to make ‘zoodles,’ or pasta noodle type stuff from zucchini. The one zucchini yielded enough for three 1-cup servings. I ate one with my spaghetti sauce and froze the other two.
Love and Lemons
Today I’m going to make ‘cauli-rice,’ a rice substitute from cauliflower. I’m hoping that my efforts will yield enough for several meals. I’m going to cook some stew meat in my slow cooker, starting at lunch time, then combine that with Paul Newman’s Alfredo Sauce (3 carbs per serving.) I’ll serve that over regular rice for my husband and over the cauli-rice for me.
I have also discovered a way to work with the MyFitnessPal program better for ME – when I’m eating the number of calories I CAN eat, it tells me that, if I keep eating the same way, I’ll weigh “X” in 5 weeks. (The actual results of this is that I don’t lose weight.) If I eat fewer calories, it tells me, “You’re not eating enough.” I used to go find some foods to add to get the calories up. Now I list what I’m comfortable eating for the day, plus my exercises. If it says I’m not eating enough, it means that there is a chance the scales will show a bit less the next morning. :0)
I will earn my 7th star on my calendar this afternoon for daily yoga stretches. That feels good. My calendar is sparkly with the stars, feeding my spirits emotionally, and the yoga practice is making my body stronger and more flexible. Win/win.
So, feeling positive – even though still a bit bleery-eyed – on a beautiful Sunday. Hope YOUR Sunday is a good one, too.
creativeartworksblog 