Saturday I rented a log splitter. I borrowed the hardware store’s dolly to get it into the back yard. After spending about three hours making little ones out of big ones, I realised there was no way I’d be able to get the machine out of the back yard even if I went back to borrow the dolly again. The only option was too back the Jeep back there. There’s a rhododendron, a broad-leaf evergreen bush, and a holly bush on the property line; and the side yard is barely big enough for the Jeep. I scratched the hell out of the right side. (‘How to buff it out’ in GQ.) Some of the logs had termites in them. I’m going to sort out the wood that has termite damage/nests and put it out at the street for people to burn at the beach. The ‘clean’ wood will be firewood for Winter.
Yesterday we went out to Silver Lake Park and drove through a campground. We only caught a glimpse of the lake from the main road, but there must be trails from the camping areas to it. Mrs. L.A. drove the Jeep, which was nice. She knew where she was going, and I got to enjoy the view. An Italian restaurant in Deming required reservations to eat in, so we went to Round Table in Bellingham.
I’m taking the cats to the vet this morning; Abbey for her initial check-up, and Goo just on GP. Abbey is still hidey. Goo just seems to be curious, but Abbey’s having none of her.
There is…water…falling from the sky. I’ve only read about such a thing. I’m scared.
No, really. Rain in July in these parts is unheard of. But we had thunderstorms all night and rain off and on this morning. Supposed to all go away by noon or so, but it was nice while it lasted. Saved me a watering day in the garden.
It’s officially 2 weeks until I go back to school. We are fully in-person but masked until some unvaccinated asshole sends his diseased spawn to school with Delta. We shall see. We still don’t have a new principal, but that’s not a problem. We know what to do - Admin just gets in the way.
Good Morning, all. Got up early and managed to get twelve miles in. My greatest accomplishment this morning was triggering the speed camera in the neighborhood. Really - why build a road on a 20% incline, if you don’t want me to ride down it at six in the morning (not) shouting, “Weeee!”?
I took Spike to band camp, returned home, and drove back to the high school with his water jug. It’s now raining pretty heavily, so I guess they’re marching in the gym this morning.
Mrs Magill got her blood tests back the other day. Everything is in normal range! Just to double check that her leukemia is in remission, I’ll be driving her in Wednesday morning to get a bone marrow biopsy. Fingers crossed there.
Fang has some friends coming over in a little bit to play D&D, one of whom will be at UT with him in the fall, so it looks like they’ll be able to continue the game… Whoa - I just realized that move in day is less than two weeks away. On the one hand, I’m excited for him. On the other, he’s been running the Little Brother Taxi Service; now I’ll have to start hauling kids around again.
I had a very weird dream just before the alarm went off this morning. I was watching/participating in a show called “Celebrity Bonfire”. It was hosted by Bruce Springsteen. He was tying Nick Jonas and several other celebrities to stakes to be burnt alive. It was all good, jovial fun. Man, my brain is a weird place sometimes.
Ugh! I delivered the host stand to the client, but there is an unexpected fire alarm pull thingy right next to the spot it’s supposed to go. The fire marshal might make it either go somewhere else or I’ll have to adjust it. If they can raise the alarm pull like 3 inches everything would be fine, but I expect those are set at a legally restricted height.
Good wishes on all the pets going to vets and/or recovering from vet visits. Cinnamon has his annual checkup later this week.
Christmas in July is now a thing, primarily a retail thing. I kinda like it since winter is my favorite season and I hate summer. I ordered a replacement Christmas tree last week.
Christmas in July has been a thing for a while in Australia and New Zealand, but that kind of makes sense- it’s just weird having furry Santa hats and fake snow when it’s midsummer and stupidly hot.
Christmas already takes up October- December though, so I really don’t think the Northern hemisphere needs another one.
Thanks for the appendage crossings- now just hold it for another 4 days please…
I hereby retract my whimsical view of the squirrel who showed up on my balcony the other day. He was merely casing the joint. Yesterday I discovered a dozen holes in the soil around my giant potted geranium and piles of dirt on the floor around it. I considered challenging him to pistols at dawn, but despite his lack of opposable thumbs, he’d likely win. I read you can thwart them by placing pointy stakes in the soil around the plant. Lacking such, I used forks and pointy knives. It looks like the Wolfgang Puck Ultra-Max Penitentiary out there, but it seems to be working.
Nettie, I’m also not a fan of Christmas in July. I wouldn’t like Independence Day in January, either. Christmas is special because it only happens annually. But as long as I don’t have to listen to Christmas music over store PA’s this month, I’m good.
MetalMouse, glad you got home safe and sound.
VanGo, hope the fire alarm fix turns out to be simple.
I like the way you think. And a hardy WAHOO on Mrs. Magill’s excellent lab results!
quietly, do not panic. Move any Wicked Witches of the West outdoors. Stay away from windows. Also witches
Please use clippers, if you’ve got them. Cat skin is 1a.) very thin and delicate (as opposed to, say, ferrets, which have thick-ass tough skin) and 2b.) very loose, so it pulls upward easily.
It’s ridiculously easy to cut right through the cat’s skin, using scissors. It “tents” upward, if that makes sense.
… which reminds me, Nikki has a couple of small mats on her hip.
Time to bust out the clippers over at Casa De Shoe, before those damn things get bigger.
Today is the Feast of St. Ann, which makes today the nameday (it’s a Catholic thang) for all people named Anna.
… so I called my mother. So. Very. Many. Polish women from her generation are named “Anna” or a variant, that today is basically an old-lady feast day.
We chatted, for over an hour (!!) I guess we were both bored, and lonely, and united in our understanding of what a P.I.T.A. my dad can be.
… now I guess I gotta be productive, or something. Bah.
Moommm I shan’t mention that birthday that’s coming up to anyone. Shhhh!
Here in the NorCal Bay Area we also have rain. WTH weather? The skies are cloudy, which is lovely. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll take every drop of moisture we can get.
I chopped up some tumbleweed plants before they could get old enough to tumble. I unclogged sink, sorta. I think it needs more help. Now I’m drinking coffee and contemplating my options.
Mooom - Get yourself a grooming tool. Something like this. Havoc has gotten matted where she can’t reach easily anymore and a comb like that helps tremendously. Just work at the matting bit by bit and from the outside in. It will take a couple of days of grooming, but will be worth it.
Back from the vet. Neither cat enjoyed her excursion.
Abbey sneezed a couple of times, but her sneezing has been much less since we adopted her with a kitty cold. She weighs 9.25 pounds, down from 10.6 pounds on June 24th. She’s not food-motivated, and she’s keeping to herself in her new home. I’ll let SWMBO know we need to ensure she eats more. The vet was not concerned.
Goo is down to 10 pounds. When we took her in for shots in March, she was up to 12 pounds. SWMBO cut her gooshy food rations in half, and now she’s back down to the weight she was when we got her.
No worries - I only use scissors when the mat is obviously way off the skin, tho it doesn’t happen all that often. What I’d like to do is soak her ass in Nair, but that’s probably not a good idea…
My maternal grandmother was Juliana - does that count? The other one was Marya, so no.
The trick is getting Ziva. She’ll let me pet her when she’s on the floor, and on very rare occasions, she’ll jump into my lap. But picking her up is tantamount to a declaration of war! Trying to get her into a crate is a team effort - altho if I can get her by the scruff, she tucks up like a kitten, which makes her easy to handle. I just don’t think it’s good to lift a full-grown cat that way.
Maybe I’ll just call then cat dreads and let it go… < snerk >
Well, interesting turn of events. FCD is going back to work at the company he’s been subcontracting for. He’ll have an office there and while he’ll gross less, he’ll be able to have a 401k and we won’t have to pay for an accountant or his self-employment taxes, plus he’ll just be working a 40-hour week - no more 7-day work weeks. Starting Aug 2, so yay!
Plus we’ll get to go to the Christmas party and the company picnic! Woo hoo!!
Added bonus - we’ll be able to use his office as a nursery for Tobias when I’m babysitting. We’ll set up the pack-n-play, and he’s been using the changing table as a printer stand - that’ll be easy enough to move.
The new bumper cover arrived for the Prius. It’s plastic, of course. It was folded into thirds to fit into the box. I’ve stretched it out in the sun so that (I hope) it will return to its original shape. I was going to take it to Maaco to have them spray it and put it on. Now I’m wondering if I should take it to a real shop.
The Missus had them paint her 2000 Toyota Tacoma. (Sadly, she sold it a couple of years ago. I loved that truck, and she really took care of it. The buyers were car guys, so I know it has a good home. I saw it on the freeway once.) Maaco did a very good job.
I took the MGB there. They did an adequate job. I had to refuse delivery at first, because they’d backed a truck into it. They repaired the damaged fender, but left overspray on the bonnet.
