Slightly less metaphorical fire today, and I got mistaken for British. But judging by the smoke in the neighborhood, there’s a literal fire around. Also:
< thud >
Me: < looks down >
Smol Squirrel on my leg: “Mom?”
Me: Ack!
Gordie: < stares off into space >
Poor Gordie. It would have made his week if he had only noticed.
Afternoon all. The Great September shopping trip has been completed, with only 2 stops necessary. Food has been put in it’s proper places as had the non-food, and I’ve celebrated with Cheeseburgers and a banana. Now it’s wait until 5pm for soccer practice.
doggio, I have a friend out Denver way who more or less adopted a squirrel, it would come into her house and eat out of her hand and sit on her shoulder. So if you ever need an additional pet to complement Gordie…
Taters, FCM, I masked up while shopping today, I had gotten out of the habit of having masks in the car all the time, but not anymore. And Taters, best of luck on the hiring.
OK, need to start the dishwasher to dishwashering. All y’all take care.
I woke up during the hour of the wolf, and it took me the full hour to get back to sleep. (I think there was a horror movie with that title, but in case it’s not clear, I’m referring to the Bergman term for the time before dawn when people are supposedly more likely to die, nightmares seem more real, and your worst fears come crowding in, or something like that. Wolves everywhere are highly insulted.) Ugh. But sufficient unto the sleepless hour are the troubles therein: I woke up later feeling cheerful and chipper.
Why can’t I have cute Disney squirrel encounters like doggio or metalmouse’s friend? I like squirrels. Instead I get a bushy-tailed Norman Bates shrieking from the fence post, “A boy’s best friend is his mother!” and “We all go a little mad sometimes!”
shoe, if you’re out there lurking around somewhere, know that the Mumper Army stands firmly behind you, armed with hugs (for you, if you want them) and rotten fruit (for anyone who dares mess with you).
swampy, Happy Birthday to Doris! It’s a national celebration now!
What have I done today, you ask?
- Stripped the bed
- Laundered the sheets and hung them out to dry
- Tread the mill for an hour
- Fed spousal unit breakfast and lunch (at the appropriate hours)
- Vacuumed
- Scooped the cat box
- Put a chicken in the smoker
- Cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher
- Remade the bed with “fresh, clean sheets” per the instructions to FCD. Eh - it was time anyway.
Now I need to figure out what we’re going to have as sides with the smoked bird. maybe green beans and cornbread? That works. But I’ve got some time to kill now and a half-knitted dishcloth, so off to my recliner!
Susan Ivanova:
Have you ever heard of the hour of the wolf?
Lyta Alexander:
No.
Susan Ivanova:
My father told me about it. It’s the time between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning. You can’t sleep, and all you can see is the troubles and the problems and the ways that your life should’ve gone but didn’t. All you can hear is the sound of your own heart. I’ve been living in the hour of the wolf for seven days, Lyta. Seven days. The wolf and I are now on a first-name basis. In times like this, my father used to take one large glass of vodka before bed. ‘To keep the wolf away,’ he said. And then he would take three very small drinks of vodka, just in case she had cubs while she was waiting outside. [she takes a drink] It doesn’t work.
Babylon 5, “The Hour of the Wolf”
Took mom to the doctor today - so far, so good. Then I came home and had a ton of Mexican-Korean fusion and am now sitting here stuffed, having polished off far too much gogi with kimchi fried rice and tortilla chips, plus a cherry soda. Running will need to happen today for sure.
It’s freakin’ beautiful outside. I should waddle out there rather than in my basement on my ancient treadmill, but if I walk outside I have to pay attention to things like not getting run over and I’d really rather just listen to a podcast.
Happy Thorsday!
Well, not so happy as the tree dropped a branch on my truck overnight.
As far as I can tell nothing more than a dent in the hood.
My gate was broken. It looked fine until we tried to open it. The latch was twisted and the hinges were pulled out.
Lawn guy came by early and fixed the gate, was able to use the existing hardware. He’s coming back to clean up the mess. He has a lot of mess to clean up today.
I was debating getting the tree cut down. No more debate, it’s coming down.
At the rate it’s dropping branches, there won’t be much left to cut down.
Shame, the tree is probably close to 100 years old.
The truck goes to the shop for an estimate tomorrow. At least I had the option this time, to choose a shop up here instead of one 25 miles away. I have all the claim irk submitted and everything straightened out, I hope. I have to get a rental car this time, my son has too much irk and even though his 7 days off should be Wednesday next week until Toosday, he is going to have at least two overtime days in there. More likely he’ll have to work four of those days.
Snowball day got reschedule, so he is happy about that.
And yes, some people like marshmallow topping on their snowballs. I was never a big fan of it.
When I was a kid, a man down the street sold snowballs off the back of his jeep. He’d drive around the neighborhoods and when he got home, all of us would go down to his house to get one.
To this day, when I smell diesel exhaust I think of snowballs.
Nelson looks quite adorable in his coat.
{{{Shoe}}}
I have no use for squirrels. Years ago, my mother’s then boyfriend threw peanuts to the squirrels every day. I walked outside in my bare feet and one ran up and grabbed my toe. I guess it thought my toe was a peanut.
They were cute, now I hate the bushy tailed tree rats. They have chewed their way into my house three times. One of my friends at the park is taking his truck in for the third time to be repaired after the squirrels chewed the wiring.
I feel for y’all having irk issues. Been there, it sucks.
I hope you’re doing ok. I have every sympathy with Ivanova.
talky Mexican-Korean? We have a Hawaiian-French place here that is very yummy. Fusion is fun.
sari I liked squirrels just fine until I had a garden. Little furry rats were always digging holes to store nuts for a winter that we weren’t going to have in CA. At school they frequently would short out the electricity by chewing through wires or getting into the transmission equipment. Rats with furry tails.
The chicken wasn’t very smoky. It was tasty, but not smoky. I’ll use hickory chips for the next one - I’ll probably smoke that on Saturday. I’m thinking of splitting it in half first. We’ll see.
FCD got a call from the hospital confirming 7:30 arrival tomorrow. We’ll do his second medicated shower tonight, and the third in the morning. I have to help him because he can’t reach his back, and it’s really hard for him to clean his legs. I miss the huge shower we had in FL - working thru the shower door opening is a challenge. But we get it done.
The house has been open all day - it smells so nice in here! So do the sheets that hung on the lines all day - they’re folded and put away. Chillage shall ensue till shower time. Plus he has to take some pre-surgical meds tonight and before we leave in the morning. I need to find out where they want his walker - I assume I bring it to his room after surgery. I’m also going to stop at Food Lion for a bag of Nurse Bribes - mini candy bars. 
I’m trying not to worry - this isn’t nearly as scary as the spinal surgeries. But I worry. It’s what I do…
awww he just wants to repay the nice lady who feeds him… and rabbits good eatin’ soo (deep fried and in a nice stew… and my foster dad made me the best pair of rabbit fur lined gloves i ever had
hmmm Korean bbq carne asada… although I did have an orange beef and fried rice burrito offa food truck once that I wish I could find again …
Aww SIL dropping Rox off at school was cute … I was worried he’d be one of those dads that didn’t engage much …
heh, I don’t know who amazon has packing this month but my cousin gets a couple of boxes of a certain cappuccino brand on the subscription and the packing is ridiculous 5 of those airpocket things and the actual box was big enough to hold at least 8 boxes …I mean I can always use a nice sturdy box (the box would be like 9.99 at the UPS box store) but yeesh this was overkill
Oh and my ancientnetss kitty almost needed those condolences from last week because 1 she jumped on the kitchen counter she wasn’t supposed to be on and 2 she broke the rooster coffee cup I bought my aunt for Xmas like almost 25 years ago… because she didn’t jump down right …but all is forgiven now since kitty knows she did something to upset grandma shes being obnoxiously loveable …
I forgot to say, I looked at the house you linked to FCM.
One of those houses that makes me confused. The decor is all over the place. There’s no cohesion.
Not that it matters in the long run, but I look at that house and think WTH?
Reminds me of
this house
in Williamsport. Like somebody took three different styles of houses and crammed them together.
Thank you, all, for the kind words. I feel better - have mostly processed my neighbor getting overly handsy (and kissy) and am trying hard not to dwell too much about losing Other Shoe.
The weather is lovely, which helps.
Again, I appreciate everyone’s protective sentiments, and the overall support.
{{ huggzz }} back to y’all.
{{{shoe}}} I’ll go with the posse to kick this @$$hole’s butt.
Birthday wishes to Miss Doris, swampy.
sari, that house looks like someone built a whole 'nother house between the main house and the summer kitchen.
Nelson’s ducky slicker was a gift from his auntie. When the velcro on his old Paddington one bit the dust, she brought him a new one. He’s OK with coats, slickers and even booties in the winter because I think he knows the practical side of them.
Around here, we have hula ice and raspada stands. Most of the good ones even have some tasty sugar free options.
In my last town, I lived within walking distance of the county fairgrounds. It was a bigger fair than even the state fair and this year, was combined with the Tennessee state fair for a mega fair, just what was needed during a pandemic in the I don’t need no stinkin’ mask or vaccine midsouth.
Irked, came home, got comfy when my reminder pinged to tell me to pick up a printer that I bought on Marketplace (my 10 year old Canon has a roller going bad, making a mess of the first half page of printing). The one I bought for $20 takes the same ink (I have a nearly new set in the old printer and a set back) and is familiar to operate to boot, so’s it was a good buy.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
**FCM,**I hope all goes well tomorrow.
Know what I like about the house linked above? The lot. The house is awful.
The work day was crazy, but much better overall.
Yeah, my reaction also. When it was on the market a few years ago, it was even worse, if you can imagine. The decor was, um, striking…
Taters, the lots here are really nice - big and wooded.
Suddenly, I’m beat. Hope I can sleep tonight.
A normal (non-diabetic) person’s A1C will range from 4.6 to 5.9. On 6/1, mine was 10.8. It has to be 9 or lower for surgery, because extremely high blood sugar affects the body’s ability to heal. My current A1C?
{drumroll}
7.5 
I actually laughed when I saw the results, out of sheer relief! And my doctor was proud of me. Proud! I don’t think a doctor has ever been proud of me before. So, the march toward bariatric surgery proceeds. 
I have four more scheduled appointments, all this month: an abdominal ultrasound, an echocardiogram, a stress test, and an upper endoscopy consult—which will lead to another appointment for the actual endoscopy, but hopefully that will be the last one before my pre-op meeting with the surgeon.
Due to skipping the office yesterday, I didn’t go to Burger King (there isn’t one near home). Tonight, I did way better and let myself order dinner from one of my favorite places. They make the best grilled chicken sandwich, with havarti and basil aioli on freshly-baked rosemary bread. They also make a mean banana and chocolate muffin, which is currently sitting on my coffee table waiting for me to have enough room to eat it.
Today’s weather was spectacular! Low 70s, sunny, and breezy. This morning it actually felt like autumn. I had the windows open almost all day; I closed them a couple of hours ago because the house was getting a tad warm. Once the sun finishes going down, I’ll open them again. I may even leave one bedroom window open all night, because tomorrow’s supposed to be even a touch cooler. I hope the breeze continues overnight.
No sundaes, just snowballs with marshmallow topping. Yum!!
{{{{{{FairyChatMom}}}}}}}
You probably won’t sleep—at least, not well—but everything will go just fine tomorrow and then you can exhale and get some rest. In between taking care of FCD. 
Howdy Y’all! Bzzy(ish) day here. Ribs and chikin boobs got smoked, we did the drive-thru bday for Doris (she was beyond thrilled but ready to go back in to the a/c after half an hour), fixed and et sup and even managed nappage. I have two Boston < snerk > BUTTS! < snerk > ready to go on the smoker tomorrow. Lots of bbq and smoked stuff this weekend plus some for da freezer for later consumption.
MOOOOOOM hope all goes well with FCD’s surgery tomorrow. I had a mental image of the two of you showerin’ together OO LA LA!
Wow, you guys gave me a burst of energy. While nowhere near the level of FCM tonight after work, I took out a lot of what I call “depression trash” days of accumulated takeout containers and booze bottles. Plus I fed both snakes, all the rats, got everyone water, washed a few dishes 
and got back to a friend I’d been ducking a bit.
I’m gonna go water my plants before I forget, start a grocery list (though I doubt I have the wherewithal to go tonight) and contemplate dinner. Tossup between soup, and some sort of drive-through.
… and I have a rat customer coming in a few, apparently.
This was a lot to accomplish, considering the state I’ve been in lately. Go, me!
Moomm around here the hospitals have added the pre-surgery wash regimen. My sister did it before her open heart surgery, and I had to do it before my last spinal surgery. It may be one of those safety practices that are slowly being adopted everywhere. Best wishes to FCD tomorrow.
shoe I’m glad you’re feeling better. 