At Last, a Break in the Weather

Last week was just plain nasty. Very hot, very humid, and lots and lots of thunderstorms and just plain rain. I was uncomfortable, the cats and dogs were uncomfortable, everyone I met was uncomfortable. It was a little cooler yesterday, but it was still quite warm (83). Today the humidity has gone and it's dry and breezy, and supposed to reach a high of 80. The week coming up is supposed to be sunny, dry, and in the mid 70's, so I should be able to get a lot of work done outside during the day, and a lot of work done inside after dark. It's been too humid for paint to dry quickly and thoroughly, so I've gotten nothing done this past week as far as that goes. At least I have more energy now that it's cooler.

The change in the weather has had a profound effect on the animals, too. Everyone's raring to go. Sparky and Dudley have been playing tag and wrestling for over an hour straight so far, and show no signs of slowing down. They are awfully cute together, and it's clear they really love each other. Of course, ChuChu loves Sparky, too. A little too much. But he doesn't seem to mind.

I've got 3/4 of a gallon of paint leftover from the bathroom. I think I'm going to use that in the L-shaped hallway that goes from the kitchen to the family room, past the front door. I'll have to check that color, and the hallway tile, against the color I've picked for the living room trim, but I'm pretty sure it'll work. I'll have plenty of trim paint left over from the living room, and I can use it in the hallway.

I'm taking Sydney and Ginger to be speutered tomorrow. I'll make a quick side trip to Costco for food when I go back to pick them up. Then I've got to get home and get them settled in pretty quickly, so I can leave to be at my Mom's by 6:30. There's a come one, come all choir up there that does a gospel concert every summer to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Mom's participated for years now, and last year she finally talked me into going up for the concert. I really enjoyed it, and there was lots of opportunity to sing along. Afterward, the director mentioned that I'd be welcome to join them this summer. I haven't sung in a choir in 20 years, so both my voice and my sight-reading skills are pretty rusty, but that should come back fairly quickly once I'm working it again. I'll have to find out what the rehearsal schedule is, and whether or not it would conflict with my summer-term Monday night class before I can commit, but I hope I can participate. (My summer class might not get enough enrollments, anyway.)

Last week, the bank along the creek that I pass on the way to the spay/neuter clinic was covered with flowers. I took these pics a week ago Thursday, on the dismal rainy day:





I was past there yesterday, and the flowers are all gone now. Such a brief display, but such a pretty one!

Ginger continues to progress, a teeny bit more every day. Right now she's sitting about 6 feet from me, and every time I look at her she grins and her tail wags like crazy. Her tail wags when I talk to her. Her tail wags when I look at her. She readily takes treats from my fingers now, and actively solicits more. She still doesn't want me to "catch" her, or hold her, but she''ll even tolerate that when she's in a pickle, like when she's stuck on top of the woodpile and needs help getting down. She and Ruby climb the wood pile on the patio and nap on top of it, where they're not bothered by crazy puppies. Ruby can get down by herself, but Ginger can't. She barks at me to come get her, and her tail wags like crazy even though she hunkers down like she doesn't want me to pick her up, but she doesn't move away from my hands, either, and allows me to lift her up and carry her inside. She's a funny little thing. She sure loves Penny, whenever she can she snuggles up to her big, solid, non-threatening friend. I want to start some clicker training with her, see if that helps her come around more quickly.

I've got jelly jars in the dishwasher, and cherries draining in the collander. I need to make a quick run to the store, but I'm going to make cherry jam when I get home. I need to get the rest of the meatballs and sauce bagged into individual servings and into the freezer. I got a ham last week that I need to cook tonight; tomorrow I'll grind up a lot of what's left and take some to Mom tomorrow for sandwiches. I've had a craving for scalloped potatoes and ham. I don't know if I'll get around to making it with this ham, but if I've got time and it's cool enough to use the oven in the next couple of days, I might give it a shot. I need to finish getting things into the garden, too, or I'll still have all unripened veggies when the first frost hits!

Rainy Days and Thursdays

It's a very dismal, wet, foggy day here. I was up very early this morning because I had to take a group of dogs to the spay/neuter clinic, and the fog was so bad I could barely see my pole barn from the house. Despite the gloom, the ride down to the interstate was beautiful; everything is so green, heavy with drizzle, and softened by the fog. There's one spot that's always pretty, but this morning it was absolutely gorgeous - wild blue-purple flowers carpeting the south bank of a little creek, cupped in a hollow of hardwood trees in full leaf. I'm going to try to remember to take my camera with me on the return trip, and take a few pics along the way.

I saw a dog standing at the end of a driveway at the edge of the road, and though I was already running late I couldn't just leave him there to get hit, so I turned around and went back. I chased him up the driveway and he ran behind a tree, when I followed him I saw he'd gotten back into his yard. I found the spot I think he got out and did what I could to block it at least temporarily, then I left a note on the door saying I'd found the dog in the road and had put him back in the yard, but they needed to fix that spot! I didn't see him on my way back, so I hope he was still in his yard. I'll check again on the return trip this afternoon.

I took Sparky and ChuChu along for the ride, I like to have company coming home after dropping dogs (and cats) off at the clinic. (On the way down, I had a pile of three beagle mix puppies snuggled in between the bucket seats, next to my hip and under my elbow. Sweet, snuggly babies.) As we got about 5 miles from home, a line of thunderstorms caught up with us. ChuChu got very agitated, and tried desperately to get into my lap, or under my feet. I had a hard time holding her to prevent her from getting there. Poor thing, I'll bet she went through lots of thunderstorms unsheltered. It wasn't until we were almost to the house that she started to calm down a little, perhaps realizing that the car was protecting her.

I'm going to be a sort of sattelite scheduler for the s/n clinic. When I book appointments in advance, they're going to tell me how many other slots are open, and for what (cat or dog, male or female, large or small). Then they'll give my number to anyone from this area who calls and is interested in transport, have me schedule the appointments for the day I'm going down, and get the consent paperwork ready. Then I can have folks drop their pets off here and transport them down and back with my own, for $10 per dog, or per carrier. That'll at least pay for my gas, and the bagel and coffee I like to get at New York Bagel for the morning drive home. All I have to do is call them a couple of days in advance and tell them what I've already booked, and they'll schedule any other open slots themselves.

I stopped yesterday and picked up a few plants for my garden that I didn't have seeds for - regular and pickling cukes, habanero peppers, another heirloom tomato, regular watermelon (instead of the Sugar Babies I grew last year), and a Big Bertha bell pepper. If we get a break in the rain, I'm going to do a little planting this afternoon. It would be the perfect day to transplant. I also got a tall, double shepherd's hook plant hangar last week, for two more hanging tomatoes; I hope it's easier to get into damp ground than it was trying to get it into dry ground. I may have to use a sledgehammer anyway, to put it in the spot I prefer it to be.

After finishing the half bath (except for a little touch up), I've reconsidered using the Sensations paint on both walls and trim. I think I'm going to use Ace's regular semi-gloss for the trim, I can get it tinted to the colors I want and I think it'll cover the white semi-gloss that's already there in one coat. (The Sensations satin finish needs 2 coats.) I like the look of the semi-gloss better, and it's less expensive; not by much, but it'll save a couple of bucks and hours of re-coating.

I got one corner of the family room cleared, and I'm going to get a patch of the carpet and pad pulled up by bedtime, so I can put it out with my trash tonight. I've been kind of stuck, not knowing what order to do things in so it'll flow the smoothest, but I think it makes most sense to get the carpet out of the family room first even if I don't paint the floor in there until later. The concrete will clean easily enough until it's painted. And once I've got some room in there I can move stuff out of the living room so it'll be easier to get the walls in there painted. I haven't checked yet, but I suspect I'm going to have to pull the base molding off the walls before I paint them. If the folks who lived here before put the carpet down and then the baseboards, there'll be a gap between the baseboards and the floor so I'll have to pull the baseboards and reposition them after I paint the walls so they're flush with the floor. It'll help to have somewhere to move enough furniture (and crates) out of the living room so that I can easily access a whole wall, and then work one wall at a time. When the walls are done, I'll pull the carpet, replace the baseboards, and paint the trim. Then finish by painting the floor.

I did some stocking-up grocery shopping yesterday. Ouch. You know, when you look at the price on a single item you think "yeah, well, it's gone up in price, but 20-30-40 cents really isn't that much." But the cumulative total is shocking. I gasped when I heard it. And this was at Sav-A-Lot, where the prices are lower, sometimes lots lower, than other grocery stores. I got a 2.5 pound package of ground chuck, I'll make a big pot of meatballs later today or tomorrow, divide it into individual servings, and freeze. (Speaking of which, I need to clean out the refrigerator and freezer later, so that'll go into the trash that'll be picked up tomorrow too, and won't sit for days in the sun in the trash cart.) I'll take a couple bags of meatballs and sauce to Mom, too. I got a picnic shoulder ham, after a dinner of ham and slicing up enough for sandwiches, I'll grind and freeze the rest to make ham salad with. (And take some to Mom.) I'm going to start making my own bread again, too; even if it doesn't save much off the grocery bill, at least it won't be stale in a day or two.

This rain makes me want to crawl back in bed so bad. Guess I'd better get up and get working before I give in and do just that.