Progress

The family/library room

this is looking at the library/family room from the living room.  The long object is a quilt in the frames

moving counter clockwise - the continuation of our wall of books

French doors to our screened in porch (note the hammock on the porch - helps the back!)

more bookshelves

looking back into the living room/towards the front door

Cat pictures and update!

We've been working inside the house since it's rained almost every day.  My garden needs weeding but the flowers and indoor plants are doing wonderfully.  It feels good to have growing things around us.  We decided to start at one end of the house and work our way to the other.  We started in the library.  I put bracers on each shelf (ones that I hadn't done before) 30 of them.  Pull the books down, drill hole in bracer and shelf, screw down, drill 2nd and 3rd hole, repeating, put shelf back, restock books. We're taking advantage of the work to rearrange the books in an order more conducive to our reading and research.  While Jackie rearranged books I went through all the stacks of papers, bills, odds-n-ends on desk shelves and cleared off the LONG quilt top that had become a catch-all over the last year and a half. Maybe I'll start learning how to quilt.  More accomplishments: I reached my goal for words written in the National November Writing Month summer camp - first time!  I managed 15,000 words in 20 days.  In November we'll see if I can reach 50,000 in 30 days.  Eeeek!  I also completed a college course online on English grammar.  Ugh.

 

Next is scrubbing the floors and the family room will be done.  Jackie has started on the screened in porch which is a task with the carpet out there and we finished that today. We have two tubs to go through out there but the carpet was swept and powdered (for fleas getting in from the yard).  We’ll vacuum tomorrow and then in a few days to break their cycle.  Eventually we'll work our way to the craft/guest room and then downward to the basement and garage and the stuff in boxes and tubs.

I did the running all over town routine trying to find affordable non-gluten flours and baking goods.  Try and get healthy and your wallet becomes very unhealthy! 

 

On the 3^rd I was petting a feral cat that we’ve been working to tame.  We’ve gotten to the point where I could pet him and he’d do “cute kitty” – rolling, twisting, presenting his belly, etc.  He routinely hisses and has scratched me but I could usually avoid damage.  Not that day, something startled him as I was squatting near him and he leapt for my hand and sank his fangs in.  Ow to the ow!

 

Jackie and I cleaned the wounds as best we could: antibacterial soap, peroxide, rubbing alcohol and Neosporin.  I had a bad bite four years ago and the red streaks got past the middle of my arm before the antibiotics (FOUR days of IVs) worked.  I did not want to repeat that!  I kept the wounds open and marked my hand to the point where the redness extended.  That night the veins were more pronounced, darker and the redness was spreading.  We went to the emergency room and I got some antibiotics.  We had the SPCA on the phone before I was even seen in the ER.  They brought a trap cage and we got Henry late that afternoon.  Yeah, we named him and made a commitment to claim him after his quarantine.  Henry went into 10 days of quarantine.  We got Henry back from the SPCA on the 14^th and got him into the vet the next day to have his life changed.  No more being a papa!  LOL

 

3 days after I got bit I found a turtle in the weeds as I was weed whacking one handed.  Jackie picked him up to move him to a safer place and he bit her!  He didn’t break the skin but it pinched.  He had the most p*ssed off expression!

 

Today (the 24^th) Henry ventured outside for the first time since he bit me and went into quarantine. He didn't dash out quickly like we thought he might. He sauntered out, came back in, spent time getting stoned on catnip and checking out the house before going outside some more. We've gone from hissing and growling if I pet him for more than 30 seconds to headbutting me, snuggling under my chin and begging to be petted. He still has his Edward Hyde moments but doesn’t bite or attempt to scratch me.

Another cat falls to the cat whisper's charms!!!

Henry, Part 3

Henry made it through his surgery just fine. He's very tired and a little sore today and growled at me once. That's overshadowed by his loud purr and snuggling up to be loved. I wouldn't say he's totally tame yet, I have no idea if Jackie could pet him or not. We'll continue to work on it. I'm going to keep him inside for another day or two.

The pictures are of Henry day before the surgery and today. The night we got him home out of quarantine he slept snuggled up or stretched out next to my leg. Boy wants to be a pet.

 Before the surgery

 After the surgery

Henry, part 2

We got Henry home from quarantine today. He's almost a totally different boy. Once we let him out of the cage he's loving and calm. We'll see how he is when we get him back into the cage in the morning.


He has an appt with the vet - life changing event, Henry! No more being a papa!

The people at the SPCA were so thankful that we're claiming Henry and getting him fixed. They said most of the time no one will take a feral on and they can't be adopted out so the only alternative isn't a pretty one (they gave us a break on his quarantine fee).

So, in the morning, Henry will have his sex life altered and get his rabies shot and we're going to work at taming him some more.

More of the garden

 Celosia

 crape myrtle

 Persian Shield

red salvia

Garden Time

On a day we plan to rest - totally rest. The only work is tending to the pets, making a loaf of bread and dinner.

Well.....I got waylaid by weeds.  Checking out the garden and beaming at how well I did this year, I had to pull some weeds, of course!

That's me looking somewhat scruffy. 

Deacon - the mighty coyote hunter orange tabby cat supervising

Sunflowers, crape myrtle, and more

Experiments in Sleeping

Okay, that's a weird title, I know, but its accurate.  I've read some news reports and blogs on the benefits of sleeping in a hammock.  Not the kind with the spreader bar but the kind that make you look like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

I bought an inexpensive one at the sporting goods shop and set it up in the screened-in porch.  It took awhile to figure out how to get comfortable with the least amount of effort with bedding included. 

Surprisingly, it works!  I'm not in as much pain in the mornings as usual, even after a day of working in the yard or doing errands all over town.  There are times when I only spend an hour or two before switching to my bed because I get cold or the sunlight is too bright.

Last night I went to sleep at 1:30am and slept until 9:30.  After a day of WAITING AND WAITING at a clinic with Jackie, I thought I'd have a rough night with leg cramps and back pain.  I don't think I shifted very much at all in the hammock.

There are few pressure points in a hammock and the rocking motion sends the sleeper into sleep faster and deeper than someone in a conventional bed.  I can attest that is the case with me.

Henry the Cat

Oh, the other player in the saga concerning my hand - meet Henry! He will now be considered as one of our cats. We'll pay for the quarantine and for getting him fixed. Henry will come back home in about 8 days.

Weed Whackers, Turtles, Crape myrtles and Persian Shields!

What's on my mind is yard work, adding blood to the garden, turtles and wood chippers - all in the same morning.

I was weed whacking in back and saw a familiar shape and called Jackie out - a small turtle that was EXTREMELY p*ssed off at being disturbed and not a scratch on him (he bit Jackie).  We put him in some weeds near a downspout.

the slashes are from the weed whacker.  My hand slipped while holding it and it "whacked" my leg.  I was wearing cammie trousers and that was the damage.  Good thing I don't wear shorts to do weed whacking or trimming of branches!

The bush is a crape myrtle - for Mama.