Goings Ons

Chan and I cooked all day Friday. She made cookies, I made quiche from our Thanksgiving leftovers. Then I made cranberry sauce with fresh berries and spiced Christmas wine. Then we made deviled eggs with Bob Gibsons white sauce, relish and pesto. Those got eaten almost immediately and there is about half a cup of cranberry sauce left. The kids were spooning it on to Chan's spice cookies.

After the quiche disappeared, I made another and added polenta to make it more like a bread. We are taking that all sliced up on a hike tomorrow along with more boiled eggs, if everyone is feeling well enough to go.

There are some icks happening. I am pretty sure Chan is recovering from bronchitis, she coughed for nearly 6 weeks before it just faded out. No pain or fever, just a runny nose and cough day in and day out.

Ben sounds like the reaper. Jake had a fever all day Thursday and Friday and most of today, it broke on its own about 1.  I finally got to sleep after 3 this morning when we came up with the right combo of hot tea, Benedryl and Musinex to knock out his coughing fits, Thursday night was no better. I think getting out and getting some fresh air will help, though. We have been cooped up this week.

I washed all the inside windows and Matt tackled the bedroom and kitchen from the outside.

The plan was to finish today, but it's CHILLY.  That wind is awful.

The view now from my desk (it's been moved). Yea for clean windows!

Matt took the dogs for a walk today, Kaiju is proving to need a LOT of exercise.

I read that people who have GSP dogs either work/hunt them often or in the case of house pets, tie them to their bikes and run them for 2-3 miles a few days a week.

We are HOPING she will behave and we can take her on our long walks.  Nia nearly kills herself to go run up to people, we don't take her as often as we thought we would.  If she gets off the leash or yanks it free, she will NOT come back until she's jumped on the person of interest.  It's proven more stressful than enjoyable to have her along, and she does not need much exercise, a good yard run a couple times a day and she's wiped out all night.

Thinking of eating Ben's hand.  As soon as she's done with my camera strap.

Actively eating my hand

Worn out and full of hand
See my nest up there-ereader, dvd remote, heating pad, pile of pillows.  This fall has been great!

 Look how big she is getting!  She was 8 pounds 3 weeks ago, she's 14 pounds now.
Nia weighs 30 pounds, Kai should get around 50 pounds.  She is going to be a gorgeous animal.
Look at that baby gut, so cute!

Her outer layer has healed, but the inner muscle has pulled apart in 3 places.  They want to see if it will scar up enough to not be an issue, if she's not toughened up by 5 months or so, they will reopen that spot and sew it back up.  Right now, one good belly splat could pop her open.  BLERGH!

Dreaming of hand sandwich

Has no hands.
Though her feet get chewed on, and her tail.  But mainly her ears.

Kaiju has another horrible genetic flaw-other than her blue eyes.  She's missing a nipple!  She has the top pair, then just one, then 3 more pairs.  I am hoping she's not inbred, they are supposed to be very intelligent dogs.  So far, she's just beligerent.  And oh my gosh, she is DEMANDING.  Tell her no and she will bark!  While she's still small enough to tote, I put her out when she gets too full of sass. I am hoping she will grow out of that, none of the other dogs are interested in putting her in her place.  That's what I get for purposely selecting submissive dogs and then gambling on a puppy and getting an Alpha.  But, well, I am top bitch in this pack.  I imagine we will butt heads a while, but for now we are trying redirection, ignoring bad behavior (or removing her from the situation, like when she demands our food) and heaping praise and treats when she behaves well.  Maybe her love of chicken jerky will outweigh her need to dominate.  I don't want to fight to the death.

Also, I typed in 'dog missing a' and 'nipple' was the second auto suggestion, after 'tooth'.  So obviously it's not that uncommon.
Everyone with dogs with missing teeth should check their hands.

Athens, Puppies, Junk

Last Wednesday we went to Athens to see the Smithsonian 'The Way We Worked' exhibit and met up with Karen and Keilee!

This is Elkmont, the building at the very top is where Belle Chevre is now!

The exhibit is pretty cool.  You 'clock in' on a time card and fill in your name, town and e-mail.  At the end, you clock out again and drop it in the basket.  It's fun and it's a GREAT way for them to collect data right down to how long you spent looking!

Jake was convinced that aloe plant is Cthulhu.  Lovecraft has caught his radar of late.

Remember when they did bear bating in Athens?

I THINK it's because the college is the Black Bears,  but...well, that's odd is all.

So the exhibit is from the Smithsonian and that middle bit travels around all over the state.  It will be in Cullman after the first of the year.
The outside edges were all local to Limestone County-photos, exhibits and information.  That was really cool, I enjoyed it and I am interested to see what Cullman puts up when it arrives!

We had lunch together and talked non-stop, but barely made a dent in catching up.  I hope we can get together again soon!

Thursday, of course, we adopted Kaiju and Jake went to dance class.  

Friday, Matt took the van to pick up the puppy after work (she had to stay IN Madison County until she had been spayed!) and to borrow a trailer from friends.

The kids and I spent the whole day cleaning out!  We hauled around ALL the dead appliances from the shed and backyard.  Then we cleaned out the rest of the shed and it's EMPTY!!

We piled it in the front and headed inside.  I cleaned out bookshelves and we bagged up clothes and books to donate, I burned some paperwork we no longer need, we took a few bags to recycle.  We worked the WHOLE day.

Saturday, Matt and I got up early and loaded the stuff into the trailer.  It ALL fit!  We got it to the dump and it was 1080 pounds!

After the dump, we went to see my father and meet my new brother, Butterbean!

He's a 6 week old Maltipoo

Hello Big Sister!

When not asleep, he is a MESS.  I have no idea if Daddy regrets getting a tiny baby dog-he's never had a dog inside and it's been 30 years since our last 'family' dog, but he is  hard at work spoiling him rotten. I told Matt I enjoyed my 4 decades of being Daddy's favorite, but I think I have been replaced.

Back at home, I have no photos of Kaiju one on one because when I try, three jealous other dogs show up and distract her.  Well, I DO have about 40 photos of her.  All BLURRED.

We think Kaiju is 100% German Shorthaired Pointer and that she was surrendered to the pound by the breeder when it was discovered that her eyes were not brown.  They are currently blue and could stay that way or could change into yellow or green.  Anything other than brown is undesirable, therefore to anyone looking to sell or show-she would be useless.  She has every other marker of the breed, including webbed toes.  When Nia comes to her senses, she will be thrilled to have a little swimming buddy

I could not resist this one today, though.  I was on the steps and Kai was jumping around like a crazy thing trying to get Nia to play.  Nia just me this look like, "Why, mom?"

Here is another accusatory stare I snapped from the side, it's blurry, but telling. hehehehe

Kaiju has HER boy, keeps drinking HER water, lays on HER bed and worst of all, Kaiju was menacing Camo Moose.  That has been Nia's lovey since day one.

She is not happy at all. 

Sunday

Chan has been scarce, it's Nanowrimo month and I doubt I will see her until early December unless there's need for transport or feeding.  She's at rehearsals now, the play is in 5 weeks. I keep waiting for Suzette to go insane like every other director we have had.  But she's hanging in there and doing a good job all around.

The kids go in 2 weeks to audition for the next play they have decided they want to be in.  Thankfully, of course I mean unfortunately, the whole year has gone by without them being really interested in being in another play.  I know they really enjoy performing, but it's not their life's blood.  I think they just like being part of something and hanging out with other kids.  The behind the scenes dramatics and other kids being nice and then not nice-or flat ignoring them upsets all three of them.  Playing favorites and typecasting and letting certain kids get away with crap attitudes, it's like a zoo sometimes-or like public school.  If you are not an alpha, you are nothing and the unfairness of it eats at them.  Plus, the germs flying around and the silly crushes and the 'he said she said' makes the couple of minutes on stage not really worth it.  But they have had a long break away from the drama of the theater and are ready to at least try out.  Nothing saying they will even be cast.

I have been super busy with the house, getting things done, making my lists, hiding from ladybugs.  The Lackeys came to spend the night Halloween-it rained all night.  We stayed up watching scary movies (Gina brought us a little TV/DVD combo they were getting rid of!) and they headed out the next morning.  That night Chan went to a carnival with them and we have not seen her since.

I worked in the house most of the weekend, now both bathrooms have fresh caulk, repaired grout and are sealed with the 5-year stuff.  I have it marked to do again in 3.  All we need now is the new trim and a fresh coat of paint. I bought a bright blue and turquoise shower curtain for the hall, I think I am going to ignore the gray floor and go super bright.  That's what rugs are for, anyway.

Today I was ready to get out and stretch my legs, so we went for a quick hike at Hurricane Creek.  The fall colors are just amazing, I am surprised because it is REALLY dry.  Usually that means loads of dull yellow leaves that quickly go dull brown and fall off.  The climb out, I swear, nearly KILLED me.  I am not fully over this bout of pneumonia and it felt like someone was pressing my chest the whole walk and that rib I cracked a couple months back is still aching like I have been kicked.  If I had not just SAILED through a stress test, I would worry about my heart!  I can do 45 minutes on a treadmill with the incline going up and down and barely break a 100 heart rate.  I am not out of shape, I am out of breath capacity.  I SO want to be all well.

This cracked me up. 

He does this in the kitchen doorway.  Grabs it flips up and touches his feet on the ceiling.  I panic EVERY time.

One legged GeoSquatch

The week ahead is looking happily hassle free.  Painting and cleaning, I have a list.  I will probably be back on here by Tuesday afternoon bitching about how boring painting and cleaning are.  hahaha.  I wish I had some magic way to get the cabinet fronts all clean without scrubbing.   I need some kind of laser thingie.  Just zap it.  I tried using the new mop on them when I was scrubbing the floor last week, but it did not really help, I am going to have to actually apply some effort.  *sigh*

Work Weekend!

Saturday, Matt and Jake took down that huge tree in the front  yard.  It was covered, COVERED in wooly aphids that had drained the leaves until they were black.  It had lady bugs, blood sucking cone nose and other undesirable things all over it.  It had started to spread to my maples, I ended up cutting several of their branches to add to the fire we kept going all afternoon.  Luckily there was no wind and it was totally clear, so the smoke went straight up-no lung attacks for the hacking population.

The tree was also directly in front of the internet antenna, so our connection speeds are better now.

We mowed, I mean super mowed where you get the corners and edges and all that.  I ran around with the clippers and clipped down the bigger weeds growing along the fence across the front and foraged into the brush pile across the road and an hour later, found the mailbox.  Well, 1/3 of the mailbox, but it's the third she puts the mail in, so that was good.  The past couple of months it's been just a door in a wall of green things that was fast becoming a tunnel to a door in a wall of green things.  I had to take scissors with me if I needed to raise the flag. I trimmed the rose bush, the butterfly bush, the forsythia, the quince and took down one million or so privet springs with the clippers or the mower.  Then I raked them all up and burned them.  Then I put weed killer directly on the stumpy bits.  YES.  Death-dealer.

The tree limbs and all the brush were burned over the weekend, all that's left is a stack of wood from the trunk and bigger limbs and the stump.  And a huge pile of ash.  Update: we made a fire pit!

I love it!

We bought stuff to finish fixing the hall bathroom floor and redo the shower floor in here, we bought enough paint to at least finish the front of the house and the kids already have a whole section double-coated, it looks great!  We bought wood to replace that last row of fascia board, we bought curtains for 3 more windows.  I bought paint for Ben's previously pink and purple closet doors.  Now they are green.  They need one more coat to be done.  We bought solar lights to go next to the frog pond I dug as a joke in the spring.  It has 11 frogs now!  It's very badly located as far as walking around at night, so now there's a little light right by it, I hope the frogs don't mind, but I did not want to step in it and squash them all.

The new curtain for the front door.  Still lets in light, but makes it more private!

.

The budget house is spent for this month, but it's a great start.  I got up one day last week with enough energy to do something big, but not enough lung capacity to exert myself, so I tackled the budget for next year and worked out how much we can set aside to put on to projects and still do things like get a down payment for Matt's newer car, replace the roof, pay off Ben's braces and take a vacation.

I have tried to take it somewhat easy this week, after making the fire pit yesterday I felt like my rib was jabbing into my lung.  I ended up calling the nurse line out of sheer nothing else to do for myself.  She went over my symptoms and said it sounded like that rib may be broken.  Well, there's nothing to do for that other than prescription pain meds, which honestly have never helped much anyway.  They make me feel more like I don't care that I hurt than actually make it NOT hurt.  Tylenol is fine, thanks.  Found out if you wrap it, you can give yourself pneumonia.  Makes me wonder if bras are such a good idea.

We have a camping trip next week and Matt's vacation is coming up next month, I am looking forward to being elsewhere for a little while, even getting so much done around here, I have been around HERE for a solid month, barely even left the yard.  Have not even seen friends since we got back from Tennessee.  It's been a very lonesome summer!

Summer Day 30: Death and Taxes and Bonfires

I spent the week cleaning out and part of that was culling old tax returns and piles of irrelevant paperwork. I did not want to toss things with SSN's, financial info and old addresses on them, so we burned it all.

There was something primal about watching things that used to be important simply release their stored energy as light and heat and then cease to exist.  Maybe I want to be cremated.

I think this looks like a head and face with shoulders at the top of the shot.

 A recent funeral had the fringe benefit of being able to spend a little time with my father, niece, brother, step-mom and SIL.  First time since 2007.
I may write more about the whole thing later, I don't mean to be crass as if dinner at Cracker Barrel was the only important event.  It was a hard day for everyone.

Daddy said, "I don't feel like smiling, say something that's funny."  I said, "Your head."
He paused for a minute and we both cracked up.