From Stray to Hittin' the Hay

Synchronized Sleeping Beauties

Synchronized Waking Beauties 

Last night went down to one degree above freezing. Tonight is supposed to be one degree below freezing. I brought in a bunch of green tomatoes and several eggplant of various sizes yesterday. I think dinner will be Pasta alla Norma, otherwise known as eggplant in a garlicky tomato sauce. Procrastinator Mark has been working late every evening to get tax extensions done and he doesn't want to eat until he is finished for the night. We are eating late, later than our normal late. Anything I can prep ahead of time is welcome.

I did make focaccia yesterday and zucchini/carrot fritters. I have now used the last of the zucchini Bill gave me. Today is laundry and lunch from the deli day. Twice a week I get a break from making lunch. I think it warms up on Wednesday, which will put me back outside. I want to accomplish as much as possible while I can. I don't like mess and outside got out of hand after three years of doing only the minimum. Wednesday will be the day Mark is free from his office. At least for a day. We can both work outside.

Glowing Light and Other Things

I am a sap. I love the darkening of the season. There is a comfort in it for me. I know it can cause a depressive feeling in many people, but it is an emotional lifter for me. I love a fire and my amber light bulbs with the soft glow cast across the room. Of course, a kitty cat lounging on a piano adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the atmosphere.

 Nothing is ever complete without a Gatto pose. 

Now, off the sap  of my emotion and onto the sapping of my energy. I did what I said I was going to do on Friday. I stained the lower section of the east end of my house. It took me 4.5 hours to do it. I was surprised by that, but I was determined to be done with it. So I finished. My body was so sore, let me tell you, I wondered whatever happened to my life. I still have trim to paint, which will wait until midweek, as we are in a chilly period for a couple of days.

Yesterday I finished, or Mark finished, bringing in the rest of the plants, since we will have nights below freezing. I read petunias can do well inside over winter if they get enough light. The southeast corner gets plenty of winter sunshine, so fingers crossed. They are too pretty to just let them freeze.

There are no tasks for today. I plan to make zucchini/carrot fritters as a side for dinner, so that can be prepped in advance. Perhaps some bread may be made. Otherwise, a pottering, quiet day is expected.

Progress

In the spirit of keeping my cheering squad informed - yesterday I got the windows washed on the outside. Yes. I really did do it. I also split this old and sort of sad Snake Plant and repotted the Mandevilla. This morning I updated both Chrome and Safari (I know hard, right?) and got Mark's wireless working again. He was a bit, hmmmm, frantic. For a reason, he's trying to get client work done. After lunch I will stain the siding on the end of the house to the east. The stain has come off in many places and needs help. It's not a huge job, it only requires sitting on a stool to do. That end is mostly tall windows and I only need to stain the bottom part. The top is protected by wide eaves and has no damage. There will be a small amount of touchup on the trim. There is so much catch-up to do but I need to focus on what I get done and gear myself up for more in the spring. It's amazing how necessary I am and how much I took care of, which now excludes the care of the horses, but didn't used to. I am easily tipped over, which means handling those rather large beasts is not yet part of the program.

That's the report. Over and out.

 

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Here we are, Thursday and ten days into October already. I always believed time dragged on when days are mostly the same. I guess that is a myth. I had two exciting events Wednesday: I mowed and I made a loaf of bread. Look out world, I'm on fire. At least there are a few embers. Sort of.

Today will be low 80s F, meaning I will be washing the outside of the windows. This is done with a bucket of soapy water, a sponge mop and a hose. It needs to be on the warm side when spraying water at glass. Somehow it bounces back at you.

Plants. Mowing. Cat.

Good Wednesday to you all. This is one of the plants that hung on the front porch. The tag is lost and I don't remember what it is, but I hope it will get enough light here facing east. It's really pretty and has bloomed profusely. The excitement for today will be mowing. Yesterday I thought I would see a former neighbor and friend. We see her husband a few times a year when he brings tax information to Mark. She was planning to come with but in the end did not. It was disappointing. It's been maybe 28 years since I last saw her. We became good friends after they moved next door to us in Saint Paul. Her oldest daughter wore my beautiful wedding veil when she married. Life just moved on.

This fellow takes over my side of the bed. Every night. Bed hog. He lives the motto ~if you are going to do something, do it big~. And he does. I never thought my life would be filled with cats and yet, here we are. I can't have dogs anymore and life without housepets would seem empty, although much less work. So, yes. Here we are.

 

Take a Bow

I had a busy AND productive four days. Loping saplings, washing windows, sills and baseboards. Steam cleaning rugs and then  starting the bringing of plants in for winter.

Gatto and Frieda have always been deeply intrigued by the palm. I need to keep it far enough away from the piano (cat perch) so they cannot maul it. You can see a spattering of color on the maples through the clean windows. Well, almost clean, I still have outside to do.

We have been surviving on leftovers the past few days. I'm done-in by the end of the day, making dinner just hadn't been on the agenda. Last evening I had no choice, all leftover food had been consumed. So, a boneless chicken breast with a bit of pasta and the usual suspects. Also a bushel of spinach to end up with a tablespoon.

As a believer in acknowledging accomplishments, I toasted myself at the end of the day with a glass of zero alcohol Sauvignon blanc. 

 

Rest & Relaxation

Just another Saturday night in the cat house.

 

Wool Eaters

Last winter teeny flying insects showed up in the house. They were minuscule little things which I couldn't identify because of the size. I had a dead one I put on a finger and took a photo, but they were so small I just couldn't figure what they were. It would seem they were some sort of moth. In the spring I had moved the chairs to do the periodic vacuum under them and found this. Yesterday I was steam cleaning the rug and decided everyone should share in my misery. Photos seemed appropriate. I like this rug and I can still use it as long as the chairs stay where they are, which in this small space is about the only choice. As unhappy as this made me, I feel grateful to the little bastards for not eating my other wool rugs. I have checked. I found mothball sachets I can put under furniture throughout the house.

We have a long stretch of pleasant weather showing as far into the month as my app goes. We desperately need rain, not happening. I'm continuing the window washing and rug cleaning over the next couple of days. If I stop to work outside I likely will just stop. I need to get things sorted inside for a reason other than it should be done. I have a house dust allergy. Not barn dust. House dust. Poetic justice. These past few years the minimal has been done in the house. My sinuses have been very unhappy, worse than I can remember for some years. I have air purifiers throughout the house, which helps, but a good cleaning helps even more. In the meantime, I'm kicking up a lot of allergen. Happy days. 

Oh, the Excitement

My gluteus is giving me a maximus pain. I spent several hours Tuesday afternoon bent over as I lopped what seemed like a forest of saplings. Wednesday I was made very aware of my limitations. Owie! It will be a couple more days before I can resume that job. I did wash the interior of 12 out of 18 windows yesterday, so I did something. Oh, the excitement of the life lived by an aging person.

Hello October. Nice to See You.

Hurrah! Hurrah! Autumn has arrived. At least for today. Currently 52 F, high of 65 F. My kind of weather. The afternoon will be spent clearing out the multitude of saplings growing everywhere. Take some advice:  don't move into a softwood woodland. Spare yourself. I plan to make soup for lunch, another thing I like to do. I consider myself the soup goddess. That's my story, anyway.

Yesterday was a good day. Laundry, some puttering and a nice hour or so on the deck with an audiobook. Life felt good.

I used the remainder of the shrimp from Mark's family gathering for dinner last evening. This time was cajun shrimp and rice. I have enough for another meal, but I think we will put that off for a day or two. I think an egg bake will be on the menu tonight.

We intend to watch the debate tonight. Walz has said in the past he is not a good debater, we shall see how it goes. I expect chaos will develop. CBS will not be doing in-real-time fact checking.