It’s drizzling, so “Princess Pretty Paws” is refusing to go out. Making Redneck Stirfry for dinner, with an Old Fashioned.
Me: < comes home coated in 15 diffrent animals worth of hair >
The late Nellie K. Beagle: “Whore.”
Yeah, seems a decent amount of people I know are nucking futz. No wonder the aliens won’t communicate with us.
Nah. Your presence is good enough. 
Y’all are too kind to/patient with me…but I’ll take it. 
My company offers free Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) exam prep—which includes covering the pricey exam fee—twice a year, and yesterday I learned that the next course will be starting on 9/9. I’ve had a goal of getting that certification before the end of the year, so I registered for the course. PMI makes you submit an application and be approved before you can take the exam; you’re required to have a certain amount of project management experience and education. And I need to be approved before I can take the course. I’m pretty sure that I’ll qualify, I just need to spend some quality time with my work history and a spreadsheet and then submit my application (and have it approved) by the end of the month. It can be done, but I just added that work to an already packed August (day job + proposal, all of the appointments for my surgery, prepping to possibly sing a tune or two with that guy’s band on Sunday, etc.). There was a moment today when I started to feel a bit 
.
That made me laugh out loud, because earlier tonight when I changed the Band-Aid on my nail-less toe I started wondering if it’s healing OK and I took a picture. I plan to send it to my podiatrist tomorrow with pretty much exactly that caption! But I promise I will not post it here. 
Oh! Right! 
I have one S&S, and it’s my monthly supply of protein shakes.
Evening all. Went out to help on the coach training for the 4 and 5 year olds. Didn’t do much besides take attendance and schmooze with some of the parents who were just watching the other one take the training. Temps were in the high 70’s, so not a bad night to be out. Mac-n-Cheese has been assimilated, so stomach is happy.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
FCM, there are family members I don’t discuss politics with for the very same reason…I don’t want there to be a permanent breach. Still have no idea if they got there vaccinations or not. And sounds like the IRS wants you to pay them for their mistake. Go get 'em, Moooommm!!!
Sari, glad the apprasial accomplished it’s goal, however messed up it was.
VanGo, glad it wasn’t anything serious.
swampy, good luck with plan C; but have plan D warming up in the bullpen…
Oopsie, good wishes on the Prep Course.
OK, Mac-n-Cheese has been assimilated and work has been done, so all y’all have a good night (or good morning to our Euro MMPer’s).
shoe, yeah, vaccinations don’t mean you can’t be positive (Delta variant), it’s just a much better situation than being non-vaccinated. Hope they are doing OK.
Wait, wut? What kind of screws, in what, and what’s the connection to Tom? I’ve had more than a little experience coaxing stripped/galled/goobered/beheaded screws out of things.
Less than lovely news on the Mom front. Her congestive heart failure and a-fib are plotting against her. She’s puffed up and added 15 pounds in about two weeks, and her heart is randomly running amok, much like mine did last year. She’s in hospital now, probably on a bunch of Lasix to drain her ankles, and another cardio version is scheduled for tomorrow.
That’s roughly the welcome I received.
WORTH IT.
Oh, yeah, Friend backyard butts up (heh) to the property of someone with a little backyard ranch. So not only do I get accosted by 5-7 cats (depending on my math skills) but I get to wander over to a fenced yard with several goats (I really like goats) plus some chickens, a few ducks, and a pig.
Goat scritches happened today as well. Monkey just didn’t know WHAT to make of me when I walked in.
One of the goats is coal black, with pale blue eyes. 
I used to be one of those rumpled looking middle aged women sitting in a pet store with cages of homeless critters up for adoption. One day we got a stray Tom who had been fixed that day and Tom was a very stinky boy. He was also a very sweet guy so we spent most of the day with him on my lap while I wiped him down with kitty wipes.
When I got home and walked in the door, our male cat sniffed me up. Thought about it and sniffed me up again. He thought about it a little more, then he turned around and sprayed my legs. All I could do was laugh.
I wanna goat. I wanna goat and some geese. Hubs says no geese ever because his grandmother’s geese once pecked him to death after he kicked them and now he has a complex and all. If I can’t have geese, then we would need some burros or peacocks to protect the goat from the coyotes and we don’t have enough yard for them to be happy, so I can’t have a goat.
Mom and I have been “fighting” over VBC. I’ve known that VBC has wanted a kitten since forever, and their relationship has been big sister, pesky little brother since a week after George got home. At bedtime, VBC wants to sleep and if George starts bouncing around on the bed, she will give him the look and he settles right down. This makes VBC a very valued bed partner because nobody in this house seems to be capable of shutting the bedroom door with the kitten on the other side. Odd that.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Morning.
Goats are one of the few animals I’m not keen on- when I was a teeny tiny, the neighbours acquired one, with a dim idea of it producing milk. They did get a female at least, but they missed the whole bit about goats not producing milk for kicks, so never got her mated. Her main hobby was trying to piss us off. She’d attack me and knock me over whenever I left the house to visit the kids three doors down, she’d break into our garden and eat all our vegetables, and flowers, and anything else she could find.
She was a horrid thing.
Put me off goats altogether really. I don’t mind geese; they may be little psychopaths a lot of the time, but at least they’re small.
I think maybe the sleepy pills I got for FCD actually helped him have a decent night. He seemed almost human this morning!
Speaking of this morning - mowage shall ensue. It’s in the mid 60s and doesn’t seem to be particularly humid. Once it’s a reasonable hour, I’ll don grubbies, push the Toro across the hill and the ditches, then hop aboard John Deere and finish the rest. I have a little sewing project to do for FCD, and I may go ahead and finally get to the preggo dress for my daughter. Hard to believe I used to love to sew.
And I need to get back on my eating-right regimen. Almost 10# have crept back on and I refuse to allow them to stay. Dammit! Where did I leave my willpower?? 
Happy Wednesday!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 71 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 89 and partly to mostly N.O.S. for the day. The plan of the day is to procure comestibles and I have some church janitor Junior Warden duties to perform over to the church house. In addition, I shall get Tom plopped down. I shall. Oh and I get to go to Sam;s to get some cleaninin’ supplies for the church. The fun just never ends. I have no idea what sup will be except to say I believe it will involve some form of takeout.
gotti Tom is a recently dearly departed church member and his ashes are to be interred in the columbarium. I am dealing with a stripped screw on the metal plate in the space he is to be plopped down. I must get that screw out so I can plop his cremains into the columbarium. This is a very weird thing I do that I shall be most glad to give up come January when I am no longer church janitor Junior Warden.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas, alack, and bother, I suppose I must purtify and don appropriate bein’ about the public attire. Life is so hard!
Happy Hump Day Y’all!
Morning all!
Got up at 4:45 this am to begin drinking the other half of my prep stuff. It’s called Gavilyte-C and it doesn’t taste half bad. More like three quarters. (I hardly ever get to use that joke.) 
So far I’ve prepped the doggos’ breakfasts and fed Gibbs’ his. Vinnie’s is ready to go down when he wakes up. I can’t put it down now 'cause if I do Gibbs will eat it too, and it has CBD oil on it.
I have a 10:30 checkin at the hospital and they plan to shove a garden hose up my nethers at noon, if all goes well. I hope they don’t call it off on account of Wifey being sick.
See, what happened was, our local grandson went to junior olympics with his water polo team. Turns out, one of the other boys on the team was sick and just tested positive for Covid. His parents, GirlChild and Hubby, have been exposed to him, and we to them, so it’s possible that Wifey has Covid too. She’s getting tested today.
I got tested Friday and was negative, and I’m not sick, so I dunno. Hopefully it’s just her usual sinus thing.
Hope you can get Tom put away properly, Swampy.
Time to go drink some more. I’m getting really tired of this.
Happy Hump Day!
Was an overcast 65 degrees this morning, now up to 70 degrees and the sun is shining.
I had an icky morning, did not want to get up. It figures that today would be the day my son got out a bit early, so he had to wait for me instead of the other way around.
The brats went to daycare, so I have a break from them today. They have been more wound up than usual. I think it’s the cooler weather.
Today I’ll finish up the laundry from yesterday, and make the shrimp I didn’t make yesterday. I may stir fry them with peppers and onions, or with broccoli, or I have some orange ginger sauce I may pour over them.
I need to order groceries to pick up tomorrow. I’d rather shop on Toosday when I get the senior discount, but tomorrow and Saturday are the only days my son has off this week. Not about to shop on a Saturday. I have a shit ton of paperirk that needs to be done. I need to put the rest of the subscribe and save stuff away.
I’ve also decided that today will be a mini spa day. My hair, skin, and nails could use a little pampering. Really should go to the car wash today too, since the dogs aren’t here. The seats need a good vacuuming, Ripple is shedding like crazy, and then put the covers back on. That might wait until next Hump Day though. My son wants to sleep in. He’s PDT.
Afternoon, mumpers! It’s a lovely 22C/72F outside according to my computer and my phone. It does not feel like it in here, feels much cooler. But what do I know? I haven’t been out there, just sitting here with my window open.
I don’t have any strong feelings about goats, our neighbour back where I grew up had some goats, it was never going to be a success after he tried to milk the billy goat, and then let the rest of them trample all over his neighbour’s vegetable plot. Eventually the goats were sent off to the orchard behind our houses where they lived out their lives, occasionally getting out if someone left a gate open, and were responsible for one or two broken and bruised toes if they happened to tread on your feet as they ran past.
Grocery shopping was accomplished last night, although the store didn’t have five of the things on my list so I will have to pop into the big supermarket on my way home from the gym on Saturday morning. In other news, I have managed to break my activity tracker. The USB bit that plugs in to charge it has broken so half the plastic casing bit is still inside the strap, and the metal bits are outside. That’s not going to work…have to see if I can find some needle-nosed pliers to get the plastic bit out of the strap, otherwise I will just have to get myself a new tracker. This one was only a cheap thing so I’m not too upset about it, just annoyed that I can’t track what I’m doing for a while.
Finally got fed up with the length of my fingernails and have chopped them all off/filed them down so they’re not irritating me now. Obviously I was inspired by Sari having a mini-spa day. My toenails also need some TLC but they can wait until I decide if toenails will be on show while I’m on holiday and thus whether they require varnish, or whether I’ll just be wearing boots and trainers all the time which means I don’t have to bother.
swampy I hope you get Tom plopped in the ground where he needs to be. Junior Janitor Warden thingies don’t need that kind of hassle.
Since it’s Hump Day, I will be off to the pub tonight with friends. Taking a mask, just because.
Good morning, Mumpers.
I got shit to do, and having visited my sick friend yesterday, have no more available opportunities to procrastinate.
Thank goodness for the Dope!
Mowage is done, and it was pretty easy - the front yard and side strip really didn’t need much, the ditch only had a few tall weedy flower things, but the back yard had some thick, lush growth - probably because I’ve been watering my veggies and the grass benefits from the sprinkler.
Once mowage was done, I decided I needed to drive the path thru the woods, lest it become ridiculously overgrown. There’s still a large pine tree across part of the path, but I drove the larger section, mowing the undergrowth. Then I went back thru with my nippers and nipped back overhanging branches and vines. I have to go again with loppers - there are a few branches/small trees that are too big around for nippers. But that’s for another day.
I’m showered, dressed, and I loaded several things for the thrift store into my car. I’ll head that way shortly, then wander thru the store to see if there’s anything I need. I may even splurge and get lunch out. When I come home, I’ll do the sewing I’ve been putting off and I’ll finish tidying FCD’s old office to be used as a nursery come January. That should fill a good chunk of afternoon.
Still overcast and quite cool. This is the 3rd day without a/c - next electric bill will be a happy one! 
So now, off to the thrift store!
I like goats.
A friend had one, and while I understand she (the goat) could get a bit nasty with other people, we got along. She would gently butt me until I scratched her behind the horns. If I ignored her, she would walk around and pee on my foot, which always got my attention. I heard she had butted some other people pretty hard, but never me.
A friend of that friend raised mini-goats, which are adorable, but kind of overwhelming when there is a whole herd of them. If was from that friend of a friend that I learned one should never kiss a pet goat on the lips, especially after they have been nibbling on the poison ivy. Kind of wasted info on me though, as I never intend to kiss any goat on the lips.
I once got goosed by one of the geese. Not so bad, kind of surprising, but it didn’t hurt. I heard a number of others had had blood drawn when goosed. My friends didn’t keep the geese for very long. I hear they are great if you live on the water where water moccasins live, as the geese think they are delicious.
Happy Empire (Greco-Bactrian) Day!
Not even 9 of the AM and I’m done with the list for the day. Watered the garden, filled the bird feeders (seed and nectar), hung a new seed bell, fed and skritched the Overlords and Ladies, got breakfast and consumed same (today with a very nice mezcal & red chile hot sauce) and put out the cans for the garbage guys. No appointments or meetings for the day, so I’m going to crack open a book, pour myself a margarita and kick back. One of my best friends started back today and is already pissed off. 
Better you than me, Lisa!
Stay cool and dry, Mumpers!
Morning all. Stay slug-a-bed until 8:30am today, good thing there wasn’t much on the agenda. Did make an appointment for a COVID test for Saturday, figure if I’m going to be out among the kids and parents for the next few weeks with soccer, might as well be able to assure them I’m clear. Actually should have done it earlier, but lazy me…
81F but only supposed to get to 84F for the high, which is acceptable for Ali-bama in August. Kids start back to school next week, hope the AC is working in all the locations.
Never been that close to goats to form an opinion one way or another. Geese, on the other hand, are the spawn of the devil and could disappear from the earth without a tear from me.
Swampy, hope Old Tom gets interred today.
Bumba, happy nether-invasion day! Take care.
OK, been a couple hours since taking my medicine on an empty stomach, so need to forage for sustenance. All y’all have a good Hump Day.
I made my delivery to the thrift store but didn’t find anything I wanted to buy. I did have a burger for lunch and now I’m going to dig out the sewing machine and tend to some chores that require needle and thread. I think I’ll boil some eggs and either devil them or make egg salad. That should fill my afternoon.
Oh dear. I believe those are usually tamperproof Torx or hex heads, so there’s precious little space to get a screw extractor onto the head. Any chance of getting vise-grips onto the edge of the head, or is our problem child recessed?