Before this week is over, we’ll have experienced the longest day of the year, at least in the northern half of the globe.
That’s all I’ve got. Nothing inspirational, entertaining, or poignant. Just statement of the obvious.
Happy Monday!!!
First! (More statements of the obvious)
2nd. blurf
3rd. Blurf!
I had a near-death experience on the way home from my doting parent yesterday. Car came screaming out of nowhere down the motorway behind me, veered into my lane and almost took the back end of my car off. Evasive action was required! That part of the motorway has no hard shoulder so I ended up halfway up a small embankment instead…luckily no damage done other than to my nerves. I had a couple of glasses of wine when I got home, I felt I deserved them.
{{{BooFae}}} - dang, that sounds like a close call! How sad that getting a driver’s license doesn’t require an intelligence test and a sanity check…
With luck, the pergola will be erected today - weather permitting. It rained a bit overnight and there’s a chance of storms today, so we shall see. And yesterday, we finally (I think) decided how we’ll finish the project.
What we’ll be assembling today will be two identical sections, each 10’ X 6’ installed on each end of the deck. That will leave a 4’ void in the middle. We had discussed several possibilities for filling that void, but yesterday, inspiration struck. We will put up “rafters” to suggest a peaked roof spanning the 4’, and in the center, we’ll build the framework of a cupola, topped with the copper roof and weather vane seen on the garage in this pic. We had the cupola removed 3 years ago when we re-roofed the house and it’s been sitting since then. So we’ll get a little more cedar and we’ll have a pergola with a cupola - how cool is that?? 
I’s excited! 
Depending on the weather, we should have this all done in a couple-three days. I hope.
Good morning!
So much to do today.
Much blurfage will ensue for a Moanday.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’. YAWN 'Tis 73 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 92 for the day and a sixty percent chance of rain. We shall see.
BooFae :eek: Glad you’re ok!
MOOOOOOM that there is gonna be one fancy-schmancy clothesline.
Ok, now I need more caffiene (Yes, Who? even more caffiene :p) and rumbly tummy says it wants to be fed. Then, alas, irk purtification must commence.
At least tonight is men’s night over to the church house so I got that to look forward to this evenin’.
Happy Monday Y’all!
**swampy **- my spousal unit keeps making snarky remarks about how much it’s costing. Funny - when I made cracks about his aquarium life-support system, I was being mean… :rolleyes: And I’d have been fine with making it all from pressure treated wood, but he insisted on cedar.
In any event, yes, it’ll be one fancy-schmancy clothesline and I’ll be doing my part for the environment. Plus I love line-dried clothes. And it’ll help reduce our electric bill, which has spiked due to the demands of the aquarium life-support system… 
MOOOOOM you could say you know how expensive it is. Why, it’s almost as expensive as ownin’ a motorcycle!
So far irk is not irksome. That, however, is subject to change at any second.
Blurf.
I’m concerned about a friend of mine. I’ve left messages for her several times but haven’t heard back. I sent a message to another mutual friend on fb. Hopefully she knows something. My friend is now a grandma and spends quite a bit of time babysitting so I hope she’s just busy with her granddaughter. The thing is that she lives alone and doesn’t get around too well so I worry about her.
In other news, it’s Monday and after the breakfast follies are over I’m heading to the flea market. Wheeeee!!!
I was in a hit & run; all I saw was the company name, “Blurf Paving” on the steamroller that flattened me! 
Eesh.
The college called about the security course I finally managed to talk the inept work scheme people into signing me up for- and according to them, though the course itself will be free for me, I’ll have to pay for the license- something the inept work scheme people assured me would also be free, as I’m on qualifying benefits. Then as she was telling me where the start is, the phone cut off (reception can be dodgy in my house), and it turns out that the college reception doesn’t take incoming calls, so I missed the last bit of the directions.
I’m going down there tomorrow (really early, so I can find the place) for the induction, so I’ll find out then if I can actually do it- if it’s a few hundred quid for the license, which is the standard price, then there’s no point in my doing the course, 'cos I don’t have the money. I’ll probably still have to go even if I’m not going to get anything to show for it, because I’m signed up now.
That does sound somewhat scary BooFae, glad you have good reflexes!
and a hefty Pepperblurf to all of you fine Dopers this morning…
Blurf. Terrible morning. Last night, the younger of my two cats (who is ten years old, not quite a spring chicken … err … kitten) made some horrible noises while failing to vomit spectacularly, then ran away and hid. This morning he’s lethargic and maybe a little bloated, and he can’t manage to jump up on the bed by himself. Vet appointment has been scheduled for noon, and I’m quietly freaking out until then. He’s being very quiet, and just laying in one place and reacting quite calmly when I pick him up or check on him–which is how I know something’s wrong, because he’s usually an asshole.
So I was awake every hour or so last night because I was afraid there’d be a lump of dead cat at my feet the next time I checked. I’m actually kind of surprised that I’m such a wreck over this, but part of it is probably guilt that I went out last night because I had plans rather than rushing him to the emergency vet when he was making those horrible noises. So I’m a terrible person and there’s something wrong with my cat.
Oh yes Monday morning blurf
Blurf
Hope everyone is all right** BooFae, Spidey**
Jim
**Drae **- that would make me a terrible person, too. We went to work one morning when our cat had been vomiting during the night, and when we got home, he was dead. We do our best to care for our critters, but they aren’t the focus of our lives. If there’s blood or obvious trauma, we will take them to the vet, but in our experience, most of what seems alarming tends to pass without incident. Like 2 days ago - Higgs had one really red eye. But the next day, it was cleared up. We’d have spent a lot of $$$ to go to the emergency vet only to be told it was nothing. In the grand scheme of things, they’re just critters, and especially now when we’re retired and on a limited income… Cold, but that’s life.
Meanwhile, Higgs is getting tummy skritches on the couch. Our last 3 dogs weren’t allowed on the furniture, so we may be mellowing…
That’s exactly what I told myself last night–cats puking is not a big deal in my house. My older one just has a sensitive tummy, I guess–he’s been puking like clockwork in the most likely place I’m going to step for the last fifteen years. I usually just clean up the puke and move on with my day. 
Last night I decided I was likely overreacting and the emergency vet would charge me a fortune for what was probably nothing. But the poor guy was so miserable this morning that I feel like the worst pet owner on earth.
Maximum blurfage achieved! Work sucks! Its only Monday. Hold me.
Drae, you do the best you can for the critters. I try to avoid taking mine to the emergency vet because in the past whatever ailed them had passed off by morning and I would have spent a fortune in unnecessary fees to be told it was nothing at all.
If he failed to puke last night, perhaps he has a blockage and something simple will sort it out. Even so, you are not the worst pet owner for leaving it a while, and the fact that you’ve made an appointment for today means you are still being a responsible owner.
Nuts, good luck with the course, I hope they have a section on pointy-stick training for the arachnoforce!
I has an afternoon blurf.