Monthly Archives: April 2014
Uh oh, da mumma said ears
The Curmudgeon ran out of jelly beans the other day. I need to go get more, not so much for him as for the dogs. Yes, they each get a half of ONE every couple of days or so when his candy dish has some in it. Gavin and Patty will often try to get him to eat some so they can have theirs. Funny to watch two dogs sit in front of the stereo cabinet and stare at the glass candy dish on top of it.
I’ve been working on getting Gavin and Patty’s ears clean this week. Gavin will not let you work on his floppy ear at all. Therefore he gets drops in that ear. Once Patty sees me grab one of the ear cleansing cloths from the container or sees me pick up the drops, she’s gone into hiding.
Today was no different. I called Gavin into the kitchen to clean his ears and Patty disappeared. Someone had shut her crate door, so she dove into the back of Gavin’s crate. He was not amused later when he started to go into his crate only to find her there.
Daddy, you haz candy?
Yard Crashers welcome!
The magnolia tree got frosted this year. The last two years it managed a full bloom without getting frosted. Not so lucky this year, the poor tree was about 1/2 in bloom when the temperature dropped to below freezing and we had a small amount of snow. All of which managed to turn the lovely pink blossoms into ugly, nasty brown gunk hanging in the tree.
Good thing, fewer petals to rake up this year. Bad thing, fewer flowers to enjoy the eye-catching beauty of and the splendid fragrance I will miss out on.
I have succeeded in addicting The Curmudgeon to the Yard Crashers, Desperate Landscapes, and other programs on DIY network. Too bad he can no longer do the work. He’s been very interested in my ideas for making the yard more garden and less grass, raised beds, wrap around back deck, and patio.
I still want this!
Remember the leaky roof?
Well, we got the estimate to strip the ancient slate roof off the house and replace it with shingles. No way can we afford to redo it with slate and the other half of this twin has shingles. So don’t go telling me I should use slates. Yep, I’m gearing up to fight the historic district on this one.
As it is, we will now have two loans to pay off. The one for the shower we had to put in so The Curmudgeon could bathe safely and now for the roof. Don’t get me started on the crumbling front porch or the yard. Those expenses will come in when the two loans go away. We’ll have to refinance for the porch work.
Life in the money pit never gets easier.
Yes, there will be June yard sale so we can defray some of the roof loan. I’m hoping the antique dishes and collectibles will bring in enough to help us out there. I plan to take the MIL’s jewelry to a local jeweler to sell. I don’t wear a lot of jewelry and her taste was nothing close to mine. Might as well use it to pay off what we can. I think the only piece that I’ll hang on to is his great grandmother’s ring, I love it.
To top it all off, we got snow. Effing SNOW!
Little of this a little of that…
Nothing like dentist appointment to finish off your day. Now my teeth are clean and I don’t go back there until October.
Gavin has developed a pressure sore on the one rear ankle. He’s always rumpling his cushy bedding into one corner for his head and sleeping on the bare crate. All I can do is soak the entire foot in hot water and Providine, dry it, and put on a triple antibiotic ointment.
Patty is feeling good and is playful again these days. We can only hope that continues.
The Curmudgeon is still not doing great. We’re hoping he has some improvement, this weakness he’s having is for the birds as far as he’s concerned.
You all have a good one.
Come on brudder! I get you!
Let the walks begin.
We had a gorgeous sunny and warm day yesterday. So lovely it was that I popped over to G’s to suggest going for a walk. Seems she had the same idea and was just going to come to my house. LOL!
I drove us over to the park where we had a lovely walk. Met a few nice people and dogs and enjoyed listening to the birds as we walked by trees just beginning to wake up for Spring.
Happily, I didn’t get winded at all on our walk as I feared I would. We are both looking forward to many more walks.
You all have a good one!
I hate panic mode
MS sucks. We all know that. The Curmudgeon’s MS tends to suck in multiple ways. Yesterday it sucked by stranding him in the kitchen in the morning. Which in turn had him using his cell phone to call the house and leave a message knowing that the phone next to my bed would pick up the message and (most likely) wake me.
One problem with that, is when he does it, he puts me in adrenalin zapped heart pumping overloaded panic mode. Too many times of that and one day I’ll just die of a panic induced heart attack before I get to the top of the stairs.
I spent the rest of the day cranky, completely out of sorts, too tired from only 4 hours sleep, head achy, and unable to fully function. Nothing got done.
You all have a good one.
I need a vacation.
Oops! Poor kitty.
Last night I was in the basement getting ready to load the washer when I heard a cat yowling. We don’t have a cat. They do have an inside cat next door. The sound was not coming from their cellar though, it was coming from outside. Felix never goes outside…wait, yes he does. He will go out once in a while with them and usually doesn’t leave the back porch steps.
“Felix is that you?”
“Meow!”
“Did you get left outside?”
“Meow.”
“Hold on a minute. I’ll let them know.”
“Meow meow meow MEOW!”
“I know it’s raining. I’m hurrying.”
It was nice and warm in the late afternoon and early evening. I’m betting he slipped out when they had the dogs out last and they didn’t notice him. He is a black cat after all and practically invisible in the dark. He’s now inside and happy.
Another day in the money pit
Slow progress on cleaning up the yard and getting it ready for the make over I hope to be able to do this spring, summer, fall. Yes, I think it will probably take me that long to do it. After all, I won’t have a whole heck of lot of help now will I?
I managed to clean up half of the crap alongside the house and filled two barrels full of leaves. Still have that amount left to do there too. During my clean up, I found one small snake-I played with it a bit before I let it loose under the tulip poplar. There were many large night crawlers re-homed to the side garden and I came across one hyperactive salamander. He was fun to play with too and also found a new home in one of the gardens. It’s no wonder it takes me so long to get things done. I get so easily distracted.
Hiring someone to do the garden clean up looks better and better as my muscles were screaming in protest after only a short amount of time but very intense work.
Neighbor’s friend the roofer guy showed up today to check out and see what our roof is going to cost us. He’s going to do up an estimate. Plus there’s that falling apart front porch issue we need to address. We might as well stick our hands in the air and smile. It seems there’s no such thing as us getting a break.
Rain tomorrow may slow the clean up progress even more. However,I will plaster a smile on my face and keep moving forward. Might be a good day to finish hanging the blinds.
You all have a good one!
Magnolia today. Full bloom won’t be too far off.
The bright and dark sides
On the bright side, I had a lovely lunch with a Facebook friend yesterday. It’s so nice to meet up and truly enjoy someone’s company. The pups love company and were very happy to meet her too. I think they would have skipped their naps for her. 😉
On the dark side, we got the results from The Curmudgeon’s MRIs and even though they don’t show any new lesions (good news), they do show that the lesions he already had are worse.
We have no idea what is looming but we can only keep moving forward.
If you’re in the area, stop on in. The Curmudgeon could use a bit of cheering up.
You all have a good one!
Time to breathe…
Yesterday was some day. The Curmudgeon had two MRIs scheduled. Both were with and without contrast so you could say he had four of them. I couldn’t go with him because I had a doctor’s appointment as well in the opposite direction.
I had wanted to get the last set of the downstairs blinds up but was too danged tired after the day before and the crazy up and down the ladder a million times blinds fiasco. Talk about sore muscles! I was one big ouch.
Today I am not going to think about it, I am off to lunch with a friend.
You all have a good one, I plan to.
What to do next…
Brand new white blinds on windows sure do make the rest of the house look dingy. Glad I have paint. Can you guess what my next project might be?
Yes, it could be painting the house. However, don’t be surprised if it is gardening and working in the yard. The yard needs an overhauling too. Yard Crashers where are you????
Now if only I can find a roofer and someone who can rebuild our over 100-year-old cement front porch.
Better yet, hitting the lottery comes to mind. I’d buy a nice lot somewhere without an HOA and build a new house the way I want it.
It won’t be long …
And the front garden will look like this!
Now we have only greens peeking through and crocus blooming.
Looking forward to this!
And, Yes, the skelemingoes are up year round.
Doggonedmysteries 