OK Here Is Some News For You

Hello again. I'm sitting here on a so-far rainy day that is supposed to turn into a 5-day heat/humidity wave which annoys me greatly. Yes, I know we have been lucky enough here in Philadelphia to have a nice long string of lovely days and perfect nights. But that only makes the prospect of having to go back to ick weather even more depressing.  

I've decided I'm done with this summer. I know there is still plenty left, and things to do, enjoy, etc., but it's all been a lot, personally and in the universe, as it were. I'm sure we'll all survive, but you have to admit, this whole universe part of things is more than exhausting, right?

Anyway, on to better things and some news I think you'll enjoy. 😉

Say hello to Katie (aka Katie Potatey)! Even shortly after we had to return Angus to the rescue where we got him, The Tim said he thought we should still try to get a dog. After a bit of thought, I figured it was worth another try, though I am still heartbroken. But as he pointed out, you don't want to close yourself off just because of one bad experience, when there could be other good ones waiting. So we thought that we would look for another dog to add to our family this fall, when the weather would be nicer, and our house - whose a/c is questionable at best - would be more comfortable.  

Then a friend who knew the story of what had happened, mentioned that an acquaintance of hers told her about a great dog who had been at a rescue about an hour out of Philadelphia* and was looking for a family. The owner of said dog had to give her up because they had a terminal illness, and no longer had the strength or the finances to care for her. 

Well, we certainly understand how hard it is/was to give up an animal, even when you are in good health; I told The Tim and we decided it was worth looking into. I filled out an adoption application for the dog, and the woman at the rescue called me first thing the next day to tell me that a) we'd been approved, and b) to talk to me about the dog. So as the Magic 8-Ball might say, All Signs Pointed To Yes.

That was all on a Tuesday morning. Since the dog was far enough away to be a bit of a drive for us, I asked the woman if we could wait until the weekend to come to meet her, since it would work better for us. She said that was fine. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Katie is 6 years old, half Wheaten Terrier and half Golden Retriever. She is pretty well-behaved - unless she sees a squirrel and then good luck to anyone with her - and she is also quite ridiculous.  Milo loves her - we haven't seen him so happy since before Pip died. You may remember that we got him for our first dog, Dug. So Milo has always had and loved having a dog buddy. And after Pip died, he was kind of bereft, since they were buddies. And even though he gets along with Alfie and Esme, they are pretty much glued to each other most of the time. Katie is not 100 percent sure what to do about Milo's friendship, but she is fine with it. 😊 Alfie, who used to love dogs, growled at Katie first thing. So she is afraid of him, and Alfie takes full advantage of that, 24/7. Esme would clearly like to get in One.Good.Sniff of Katie, but of course is too afraid to even really try. So cat-wise, things seem to be working out fine. We always tell any dog who joins the family that there are only two rules in our house:

1. The kitties were here first.

2. You have to be nice to the kitties.

Katie is doing fine on this front.

She is unexpectedly cute - I mean, her face is cute enough, but she is kind of a low-rider, which is amusing in itself:

The woman at the rescue told me that she LIVES to play ball! And she wasn't kidding! Other than squirrels, Katie's philosophy is that Ball. Is. Life. Her favorite kind of ball is the kind with spikes on it, but any ball is a good one.  The woman at the rescue also told me that she carried around one ball all of the time, and the woman said she thought it was an Emotional Support Ball. 😃 

It's true - Emotional Support Ball (aka ESB) is a constant now in our household. The Tim mentioned that ESB was looking a bit worse for the wear, so we'd best make sure we knew where we could find another one. I took a picture and asked Google Lens where we could get one, and fortunately they are $3.99 at PetSmart! So when this one heads to the great ball pit in the sky, we can easily have another on hand - phew!

(ESB in its current condition)

Katie hasn't been here very long, but she seems to be a real keeper. She weighs about 35 pounds, so she is not very big, and we've had some success getting her to obey some basic commands. I suspect she already knew them, but during the time she was at the rescue, had a large field to be outside in, and so didn't need to understand walking on a leash anymore. One thing interesting about her is that she is not really food-motivated, which has never ever been the case with any of our other dogs. Not that that's a bad thing! 

She seems to be happy to be with us, especially The Tim, who if you have not intuited before, is always the Good Cop. She enjoys going to the dog park, not for the other dogs, but to play ball of course! And we took her to the vet who said her previous owner clearly took good care of her. 

I recently sent the woman at the rescue a text with the picture of Katie above, telling her that she seems to have settled in well and that we are loving having her. I said I wished her former owner could know that - not that it would make things better, but that maybe it would be some small comfort. The woman said she was going to forward the message, so I hope it was some comfort to the person who had to give her up, and who seems to have more than enough on her plate. 

One thing funny to us is that Katie is from Scranton, PA - home of both Joe Biden, and Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company in "The Office." The Tim says he just hopes she didn't live before with a character like Dwight K. Schrute. 😂

So that is the latest news from here, and the story of Katie joining the family. 

I will never stop loving Angus, and I still cry missing him more than words will ever be able to express (I'm crying now), but she is a wonderful distraction. ❤️ And I hope with every part of my being that Angus is as lucky now as she is. 

*An hour outside of Philadelphia = The Wilds/Terra Incognita to us! 🤣🤣

Happy Canada Day, and Happy July (Not the Heat Part Though)

Today is the first of July, which means it is Canada Day, so Happy Canada Day to everyone north of our border! I hope for your sake it's more comfortable, temperature-wise. 

And for those of us who live elsewhere, Happy July 1! We are officially starting the second half of 2026, which is - at least for me - always hard to wrap my brain around. We are supposed to have temperatures in the 100+ degree range over the next 5 or 6 days, and that's not even taking into account the infamous "feels like" temperature that includes the humidity! Gah. My reverse SAD is kicking into gear. 

This morning, however, felt very very nice, so Alfie and I took advantage of time out in the garden, since the next few days will probably not be good ones to be out there. 

He was very pleased to be out there, but not so much to come back inside. But I told him that after we fill the bird feeders, we have to come in so that the birds and squirrels can have a chance to eat. He usually give me a dirty look, but then once we are actually inside, he remembers that the window looks out onto the garden, so it's all good. 

We were supposed to go to a baseball game tomorrow - our annual Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the Philadelphia Phillies - but since it's supposed to be at least 104 degrees, and we don't do well in extreme heat, we sold our tickets. I just hope the person who bought them is sensible about being prepared for the weather. Our seats are under an overhang, so at least they won't be out in the direct sun, baking away. It's extremely disappointing, but July is a crap shoot with a few nice days mixed in with mostly awful days, and this year we lost that bet.

Saturday is of course July 4, and the 250th birthday of America (as well as a World Cup match here in Philadelphia). I am beyond disappointed that Orange Foolius is in office and doing his asinine things during this special time, which I've looked forward to for years. I had already decided that I was going to ignore his plans, and enjoy being in Philadelphia instead. But now a lot of things are being cancelled or time-shortened, etc. because of the extreme heat. Which I am also blaming him for, BTW, because he makes life hell on earth, and now it even feels like it!

Oh well, we'll just have our own little party together here in the house. Happy 250 indeed. 

Speaking of the World Cup, it has been wonderful to be in Philadelphia with so many people visiting and seeming to enjoy themselves so much! Last week, I took a walk, and stopped at a neighborhood coffee shop, and while I was waiting for my order, there were two young men in soccer jerseys sitting at a table. One of them asked me if I lived in the neighborhood, and I said yes, and we spent about 20 minutes chatting. They were visiting from Munich, Germany for some of the World Cup matches. They had been in Houston for a match a couple of days before, and told me it was too hot there, and hard to walk around, with no good public transportation. But they LOVED Philadelphia! They said in some ways, it was a lot like Munich - but "not as many lakes" - and they were enjoying themselves immensely here. After here, they were headed to NYC and then back home. They were kind of disappointed not to see more matches, but until they tried to book their trip, they didn't realize that "America is so big that it's hard to get to some places easily." And I know that, but I tend to forget - especially since here in the Northeast, things are so close together. 

Anyway, they were lovely, and I was glad they were getting such a good impression not only of the city, but the country at large. One of them said, "Americans are MUCH nicer than Donald Trump." Low bar, but still. I told him to please tell people that when they got home. 

I was telling this to a friend, and she told me that she read that someone said that the New York Knicks victory parade, Mayor Mamdani's speech there, the opening of the Obama Center, and the World Cup were all the 250th celebration we deserved. I completely agree, and I'm going with that.

Someone posted on Instagram that having the World Cup in the U.S. was like having your cousins visit after you haven't seen them for years, because your respective sets of parents are no longer speaking to one another. 😄

OK enough blathering from me about all of this. I hope if you are somewhere that is too hot, or too cold, or suffering too many fires, or just whatever else is being unleashed, that you can manage to keep safe and comfortable. 

And I hope if you are Canadian, you'll have a Tim Hortons for me. (A donut or cruller, with a hot tea with milk. Or, Timbits are also good - you choose!)

Take care, everyone!

FO: Angypang Socks; Getting There; On the Needles; Local Wildlife

Hello everyone and thank you for your such kind comments on my last post. I think I may still have problems responding to comments on this post (which you'll understand soon), but I do feel like I might be getting there slowly. Thanks for sticking around and caring.

*****

Now for an FO to show you - TA DA!

Project: Angypang Socks

Pattern:  Little Boxes Socks by Summer Lee

Yarns: Farmers Daughters Fibers  Highwood Sock in the colorway Morning Honey; Farmers Daughters Fibers Rocky Mountain Purls in the Rooted Eartb colorway. Both are part of the Sock Squad 2026 club.

Needles:  US size 1/2.25 mm and US size 1 1/2/2.5 mm

Notes: I was cruising Instagram one day when I came across a post by Edble Thoughts Makes, where she showed her completed pair of these socks. I was so immediately hooked, and even knew what yarn I would use! So I bought the pattern, and cast on. 

This was in the middle of April, and I zoomed along pretty quickly (for me). While I knit the first sock, we still had Angus, and he would sit with me while I knit. I told him we should call these socks Sunshine and Blue Skies because I felt like that's what they showed and how I felt when he was with me. Then the day I was finishing the first sock, it was the day we were leaving to return him to thei rescue. He was leaning against me as I finished kitchenering them. I decided then and there they would be the "Angypang Socks" because I would call him Angypang when I was teasing him. 

In the photo above, if you look closely, you can see a few extra yellow stitches in the middle of the first toe round across the top. I told him that was the two of us, working on this sock together, and I would always be able to know that was the first sock I knit and that he was there. And now I'm sobbing again, which is why it took me so long to post this FO. I'm not sure I'll be able to wear them anytime soon, but they will be there when I'm ready. 💗💔

As for the pattern, if you want to try colorwork on a small area, this is a great pattern! So clearly written, and truly so simple. Once you get the first pattern repeat finished, it's pretty much in your head. And since they are Shortie socks, they go so fast! (Though I'm definitely gonna try this pattern on a regular pair of socks down the line.) This is the first time I've knit a Summer Lee pattern, and I get her popularity now, it's well-earned.

*****

OK I'm back after a good cry break, to show you one of the things currently on my needles. After I finished the Litle Boxes, it was about two weeks without any socks on the needles - I know, for me that's nuts!

First some background for you. The week before Memorial Day, Alfie and I spent some time in the garden cleaning up. I thought since we weren't going to WV for the holiday weekend, it would be nice if the garden was ready for us to be out there (spoiler alert: it rained all weekend, but we at least had cleaned up the garden!). 

Anyway, since then, Alfie and I have been going out into the garden first thing in the morning and hanging out, just enjoying it. Right now at least, the weather is pleasant, and there are no mosquitoes around yet (YAYAYAYAY!), so being out there is just perfect. Last week one day, instead of reading like I usually do, I decided to work on a pair of socks I've started. I've gotten more done since this photo was taken, but I am nonetheless really happy with how they are looking:

These socks are the Cottage Hearts pattern by Crazy Sock Lady Designs. They will be regular socks, as opposed to shorties, and again, I am having fun with colors. I have finished the leg, and just yesterday finished the gusset on the first sock, so they are zooming right along as well. 

While Alfie and I were out in the garden last week and I was knitting, we had a visitor:

This little squirrel youngster showed up. He got closer to both of us than he probably should have, but I of course was no threat. and Alfie was interested, but not enough to do anything about it. I'm not sure if he didn't want to get up, or if maybe he realized it was a young squirrel and was not going to engage. But anyway, we all sat out there together for about half an hour more after he showed up. We thought about calling him Tiny, but I told Alfie that was too easy, so instead we named him Petits Pois. It was a lovely time, our little trio just enjoying a nice morning.

*****

And that's catching you up with things, more or less. Unfortunately, the hits keep coming in my family, but they are interspersed with some nice things, so I try to keep those in mind. We had a lovely Bloomsday yesterday, and also belatedly celebrated Milo the Koodle's birthday since we couldn't easily do it when it actually came around. And fortunately, he didn't mind. 😊

So I hope all of you are doing well, and finding some good/nice/happy to be thankful for even in any of the bad. I'm hoping to get myself more on track, and hopefully the universe will give me a break so I can pick up a little bit more momentum with everything. But regardless, once again than you for being here and being so kind. Enjoy your day!

Trying To Be OK

Hello Friends, and Happy June to all of you! I'm afraid I'm still having some troubles getting back into the swing of things. Besides having to say goodbye to Angus, there's been some not so great health news in my own family that is also causing me to not feel much better about things. But I really am trying to be OK, I absolutely promise you. And I know I'll be OK, it's just a never-ending pile up of stuff at the moment.

Which is also why I haven't responded much to all of you who have been kind enough to leave comments on previous posts. Even doing that is more than I can handle some days. So I'm not blowing you off, I just don't currently have bandwidth. I'm hoping that any comments I get on this post will be ones I can get the wherewithal to repond to, since "talking" to all of you is such a happy thing for me.

I'm still behind on other things too, though I am doing the things that absolutely are necessary to do, so I'm not a complete zombie. Which is good, because distractions (even cleaning things up, UGH!) are a good thing at the moment.

Other that that, I picked up a stitching project I started last summer, and did only a small amount on, and I did manage to finish a section (did I already show this to you? I can't remember):

I'm happy with how it is turning out. Hopefully I can finish it this summer. 

I also finally get started on a knitting project that I've meant to do for over a year - even had the yarn ready!  This is the start of the Skyline Tee, by Tori Yu. This is the first time I've knit one of her patterns, and it's so well written and clear. I was a bit hesitant because there were some things I've never tried before, but her instructions made things incredibly understandable. 

Like the stitching project, hopefully this will be finished this summer as well. 😜

After Alfie and I cleaned up the garden a few weeks ago, we have been able to enjoy sitting out there together first thing in the morning. He enjoys watching the birds and squirrels, and just hanging out. We usually go out for about an hour or an hour and a half, and it's nice because it's usually so quiet. I generally read and enjoy my cup of tea, and on very rare occasions a squirrel will not realize he is there and he'll go to chase it, but fortunately, the squirrels are MUCH faster than he is! It's become a pleasant ritual, and other than rainy days, we do it for sure. I don't know if we'll continue once the extreme heat and/or humidity arrive, but it's nice for now.

So that's the news from me. I hope all of you are well, and trust me, I've been reading all of your blogs even if I don't comment that much at the present. Thanks for hanging in, it's nice to have comments to read, even if currently I'm quiet at the other end of things. 

It's Time For Another Birthday!

Today we are celebrating the fifth birthday of Alfie, the fluffiest boy in town!

What a kitty he is! He truly is one of the most unusual cats that have ever been in our family - unusual in the best way possible, that is! He is always happy - this boy even loves going to see the vet! I think he likes it because he goes someplace where everyone talks to him and gives him 100 percent of their attention. 😊

Over the past few weeks, he has snooper-vised the cleaning up of the garden and planting of flowers in pots, to be sure that it's all to his liking. Because he is nothing if not a Nature Boy.

"Time to take a rest now that things are the way I like them. That was a lot of work!"

He's never met someone he didn't like - he was the only one of the cats who tried really hard to be friends with Angus. (Which of course ended poorly. 😢) One of his favorite things is to have a worker come to the house to fix, repair, check, build, whatever. He is beside himself with happiness that someone is here in the house that he hasn't met before, doing interesting things that they surely would like him to assist with. We have been lucky that any people coming to the house have been cat lovers, and gotten a real charge out of him. Then he cries for about half an hour after they leave! (The Tim: "So ... he wants us to pay people to just hang out with him longer??")

Whenever we've been out in the garden, Milo the Koodle and Esme are always at the door, watching and looking curious - but God forbid they also come outside! But it always cracks me up when we come back into the house, Milo is right there, and licks Alfie's forehead for a few minutes, I guess to return him to the smell of the house - it's really funny!

I just took this photo of Esme and Alfie on the bed in the guest room. That's a favorite spot, because it's a small room with two windows. And right outside of those windows are trees with birds and squirrels. Once I open the windows, it's not unusual to look in the room and see all three cats distributed in various permutations sitting in the window. 

He also considers himself to be quite fierce, and as a three-legged cat with no front claws, I'm sure you can imagine how dangerous he actually can be. 

His favorite person is The Tim. When he is in a room where The Tim is, he sits on the floor right in front of him like a guard cat. And he is such a big boy, that when he wants to actually cuddle with you, there's not a lot of choice left on your part, LOL.

So later all of the kitties will get some special food for their dinners, and then we will have a little birthday party for Alfie with a two-person mousse cake from a little pastry shop nearby, topped with a candle. We will sing "Happy Birthday," the kitties will get treats, and Alfie will get a gift (I found a little catnip fish like we gave Esme but with a different fabric - all of the cats LOVED it!). So he is going to be very pleased to be the center of attention, even if no one comes to fix something today ...

So I hope you can find something to celebrate today - and if not, feel free to celebrate Alfie's birthday. That's what we'll be doing. ❤

And A Good Time Was Had By All

How and why is tomorrow the twelfth day of Christmas? Why does it have to go so quickly? Yes, I ask myself this every year, but I never have a good answer, because the answer that time goes on is just unsatisfactory in this case. 

But we've had a good time this Christmastime.

As expected, Santa came and brought the kitties a lot of good stuff!

Milo in particular was *very* excited.

It was hard to convince him to wait for the others.

One of the packages had catnip toys with silverine in them, which apparently made them even more irresistable than if they had only had catnip. Milo got things started, but Alfie helped out, and so soon the package was nearly unwrapped.

Once everything was opened, it was time to chill for a while. 

Alfie was particularly interested in one of the packages I opened that had a LOT of ribbon on it!

Esme split her time between watching us open things and looking at the squirrel on the chair right outside the window into the garden (if you look over her right shoulder, you can see the squirrel's butt).

Christmas Day was lovely, and all of us had a good time. We just enjoyed being together, and had treats, listened to music, and then later in the day headed upstairs to watch a couple of holiday shows we had recorded.

We have been enjoying the season so much, just being able to be together, but also having nothing really demanding to fill our time. We had a very quiet New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and if you ignore certain activities of certain people who think they are going to rule the world, you could say it was all perfect.

Two more wonderful things: on both Tuesdays before Christmas and before New Year's, there was only one kitty left to be adopted where I volunteer. They were each especially sweet, and I was sincerely hoping that they wouldnt have to spend Christmas Day and New Year's Day alone. Well, they each got adopted - one on Christmas Eve by a woman who stopped by when I was there on Tuesday and was in love with the one kitty left - and one on New Year's Eve - adopted by another volunteer, who had a cat who had died over the summer, and didn't want her other cat to keep being lonely. I have to tell you, those two adoptions just made my holiday season! And it also seemed like a wonderful way to end the year. 

I sincerely hope that your holiday season contained even just a few moments of joy and happiness. The world is on fire, so it's more important than ever to find good things wherever and whenever we can.

Monday Is Here Again

Did I know yesterday was Sunday? Yes, I did. So why was it shocking to me when I woke up this morning to realize that today is Monday? I mean, it shows up every week, right on time, so Why The Face? 

We had actual snow this past weekend, which was surprising only in that for once, the weather predictions played out. According to the predictions from a couple of weeks ago, we should be on our third fourth "major storm." Sometimes we've gotten rain, but mostly we have had no type of precipitation, meaning they added extra hours to their newscasts for no reason.

Anyway, the snow hasn't really melted because it's too cold to do so. So you have to be careful walking around, but since I am the queen of falls, I am always careful walking around, and frankly there's only so much you can do, you know?

Our weekend was lovely, full of busy things related to Christmastime. The Tim baked some cookies, we decorated our tree, and we received notifications that all of the boxes I mailed last week had been delivered, which is so nice, I can't believe I had it together this year. Probably because I didn't spent a lot of time thinking about it like I usually do. Also the Eagles finally won a game, and yes it was against a crap team, but they actually looked like the Eagles used to look before they started forgetting that you also have to play football in the second half of the game ...

We did get some upsetting news over the weekend. You have all heard me blather on about my niece Amanda who lives in Baltimore, and her husband Patrick. We do a lot with them, and they are our usual partners in crime for Inappropriate Easter Eggs, and trips to Rehoboth Beach. Well, I guess for the past few weeks, Pat hasn't felt good, kind of like he had a low-key version of the flu. He went to see his Dr finally, who did some blood testing and sent him to Johns Hopkins immediately! They have diagnosed a form of acute leukemia, but they have also assured them that it is a very treatable form. But wow, what a kick in the butt for the whole family. I would ask you if you are a praying person, to please keep Pat in your prayers, and if you are not a praying person, please send some good thoughts his way. 

But there is good news too - not in the same level as Pat being sick, but - 

***DRUM ROLL***

Saturday afternoon, the people interested in the remaining giveaway chair picked it up, meaning that Chair-palooza is OVER!

They seemed especially excited once they actually saw the chair, and the husband said, "That would be *perfect* for video games," which earned him a dirty look from his wife. 😊

My stress level dropped about 75 percent! (It would have dropped more, but see previous paragraphs.) That was what actually made it possible for us to decorate the tree, because we finally had room to move around. Other than cleaning, which I'm planning to do on Wednesday, and a few final touches, we are now finished decorating the house and the tree, and can just enjoy the rest of Christmastime without anything waiting for us to finish it. 

This morning, I worked on a few things, odds and ends type stuff, and then unpacked and put this together for the cats. Stuff like that always takes me longer than it does for most people, but it was really not a big deal to put together. 

Alfie immediately had to check it out.

He does love cardboard scratchers, and seemed to think this one was pretty great. Of course, he's the only cat with no claws ... I'm hoping the others will want to try it, because none of them want to think one of the others is getting/doing/eating something special. I'll report back.

And that's it for today. I hope your weekend was a good one, and that you are keeping warm and cozy. Unless kitties are adopted tonight, I have my volunteer shift tomorrow, so it may be another day or two before you hear from me again. Take care!

This Morning vs. Monday Morning

Alfie and I just got home from his annual check up at the vet. Needless to say, a very thorough bath was necessary. But other than that, Alfie was and is quite pleased. He doesn't mind being in the carrier at all, and sees the entire thing as a chance to be social, and then visit with people who are completely interested in being with him. They talk to him and make a fuss, they give him treats, they let him sniff around the exam room - I mean, what's not to like? Yes, he got a shot, but no biggie. 

And that's this morning. Then there will be Monday morning, when Milo the Koodle will be making his annual visit. Let's just say it ... won't be pretty. For anyone and everyone involved. I need to spend my weekend preparing for the trauma that will be felt not just by Milo, but by me. Because not only will I be seen as the enemy who will be trying to get him into the carrier and then taking him to the vets, but when we get home SOMEONE MUST PAY. 

Send prayers. 😉

You may ask, well, what about Esme? Well, what about her? At some point, I'm hoping that she will let me get to the point where I can pick her up, but right now it isn't happening, so we're just lucky that for all intents and purposes, she seems healthy.

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" 

*****

Anyway, this too shall pass, and hopefully with minor injuries to me. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the rest of today, and likely do some knitting in between the other house chore things I want to accomplish. Can you believe that at this moment in time, I have only one project going? I can't remember the last time that was the case. I'm enjoying it, and making a lot of progress, but I also think this weekend I will cast on at least another pair of socks.

Meanwhile the other afternoon, I knitted a pine cone for my fall garland:

This was the fiddliest little item so far, but it didn't take that long so it wasn't like something I was trying to work on all day long. 

Next up will be the pumpkin, and then I'll start over again. I think I would like to have at least two of each thing on the garland, so I'll see what it looks like once I have that amount - maybe I'll need a few more! But in any case, I'll have fun making these little things, even once the garland is done. Because they are the perfect little spurt of paying attention but not for too long.

The Tim especially wants me to make a green pine cone to see if it looks like a tiny Christmas tree. I'll let you know.

I'm so glad that so many of you commented that you also like to put up decorations for yourself to enjoy for holidays. It's nice for once to not be an outlier on something! 

In other news, I *think* fall is finally here to stay in Philadelphia, and I couldn't be happier. Cool sunny days, and chilly nights are so wonderful. Though it is supposed to rain later next week, which is actually good since there is a serious drought happening. And unless I have to be out in it all day, I actually enjoy rainy days. 

Next week is our anniversary and also Halloween. And then November will be starting, which I'm sorry, just seems crazy. Originally, we planned to take a trip next week somewhere to celebrate our anniversary, but neither of us did much about it, so we'll probably go out to dinner someplace that's nicer than usual for us, and that will be nice. We have agreed that for gifts, we are going to buy ourselves some new chairs for our TV room. The current ones are at least ten years old (probably much older), and frankly I'm surprised they are still in one piece. So one of these weekends - maybe even this one - we'll look for replacements. I always think it's fun to get new furniture or a rug or something in a room - it makes the whole place seem different!

And that, my friends, is the excitement around here. I hope all of you enjoy your weekend, and have a chance to do something you really like or want to do. See you next week!

September

 

Hello and Happy Labor Day! I for one am always glad for the "official" reminder that a lot of the things we take for granted - set working hours, a limit to working hours, etc. - are in place thanks to labor unions. Even if you are not a union member, you benefit from many things they fought long and hard to gain.

So here we are with Labor Day actually taking place on the first day of September, which for many people, marks the start of a new year. I have been out of school since approximately 1893, and I still think of Labor Day and the beginning of September as a new start. This year is no different, but I'm taking a slightly different approach.

As you may have heard me blather on about mention, I have been working hard to create new exercise/activity habits, along with my niece Amanda and my friend Lisa. We all keep each other updated and accountable, and I have to say, this has worked better for me than anything else. Having support and people who give you grace when you fall short of what you hoped to do is game-changing in my life. Not that I didn't have support from The Tim before, but it makes a big difference when you are also supporting the others as well. The Tim has always been pretty fit and never has health issues for the most part, so he didn't really need me saying "Good job" to encourage him to continue.

My niece Amanda has a personal practice that I'm going to try to adopt for myself. Instead of trying to keep track of overarching goals over the course of a whole year, she thinks about what she hopes each new month can be. In her case, she creates a type of vision board and uses it as her wallpaper on her phone. I am not that advanced, but I like the idea of thinking/working on a month-by-month basis rather than a yearly one. So starting this month, that's my new practice. I have a few things roughly thought out, but one of my activities today is to actually put them on paper - yes, I still use paper! - so I can see them and remember them more clearly than if I just tried to put them in my brain for storage. 

I'll let you know how/if this works for me, in case you are interested in trying it. Though it wouldn't be surprising to know that a lot of you already do this type of thing, since you are more on top of your lives than I may be. 😊

So here we go - enjoy these -BER months!

*****

Thank you for the nice comments for me and especially for Alfie and his newfound freedom to roam in the garden. We spent a good deal of time out there this weekend, and here he is just enjoying the chance to be outside. 

In the comments, Jose asked if Alfie was on pain medication because I mentioned that he is declawed. First of all, before you give me a lecture about the evils of declawing cats, please know that when we got him, he was a three-legged, declawed cat already. So we were not in any way involved in that. 

But to answer the question, Alfie doesn't take medication at all. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, and gets around very well - especially if he is chasing something! He goes to the vet regularly (as do the others), and we have never had any indication that he is uncomfortable. So as far as we can tell, and based on his activity levels, Alfie seems to be just fine as he is.  He was on medication briefly last year for ear problems, but those are resolved, and now he's just busy in his true destiny of Nature Cat. 

I hope all of you have a good holiday, if Labor Day happens where you are. Unfortunately, it turns out that The Tim did in fact have to labor today, so we'll be glad to see him later to have a good evening. I'm going to attempt to make shrimp kebabs for dinner, so wish me luck!

Yes, Cat Dreams Do Come True

Especially if your name is Alfie.

As you may or may not remember, a few years back (prior to the pandemic), we took down the door that leads to our garden in our outside entryway. It was already in place when we moved in, and had simply rotted to the point that there wasn't much left of it.

Now this wasn't really a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. It did mean there was slightly less privacy if we were in that area of the garden, but the biggest issue was that if the cats were outside in the garden with us, they could just stroll out onto the street, which is less than an optimal situation. So we knew we needed to replace it, but at the time funding was extremely low. And the garden was seriously full of mosquitoes, so we didn't spend any time out there unless we had to. 

Over the past few years, we've been able to make some headway cleaning things up, and though the mosquitoes were still in force, at least the garden wasn't a complete mess and eyesore anymore. And once our mortgage was paid, we suddenly had some available cash to make some of the repairs and improvements we'd had to delay.

The first few things that were the most necessary were taken care of, and so now we could move on to thinking about other projects that had been waiting. I was "assigned" by The Tim the project of getting the garden door replaced.

Of all of our most recent cats, Alfie was the one who insisted - no, NEEDED - to go out into the garden whenever we went outside, even if for just 5 minutes. And then he would immediately run out onto the street as part of his routine. That is of course dangerous for any cat, but Alfie has only three paws, and is declawed. And let's just say his reaction times to things are not in the top 5 percent. It drove him crazy that he could not go out, because as far as he is concerned, he is a Nature Cat. I kept promising him that we would get a new garden door, and his dream has finally come true.

I was finally able to find someone to come and give us an estimate, in the first place, which was no easy feat. The person was just one of those people you can tell are the real deal when you meet them, you know what I mean? And he was very fond of Alfie, which of course Alfie assumes everyone is. And so this past Monday, one of the guys who works in the company came and both built and installed a new garden door!

Going into the garden (yeah, a weird angle because the entryway is very narrow and this is the best way I could take a photo):

And then if you are leaving the garden to go out onto the street:

It's a nice, solid, cedar wood door and it took the person about 5 hours from start to finish to get it all accomplished. The handle is a simple latch, which is nice. Now you may be saying, "Aren't you going to install a lock on it?" and yes, we could, but in order to get into the entryway where you could then open the door into the garden, you would have to get through a wrought-iron gate. And frankly, if you can figure that out, a simple lock isn't gonna hold you back. So for now, we're leaving it alone. This coming weekend, The Tim is going to put a cedar finish on it, for weather protection and aesthetics. But it's finally in place, and Alfie and I ventured into the garden yesterday, and he was the happiest cat in Philadelphia, I'm pretty sure. 

As soon as I finish this post, I'm heading downstairs to go into to the garden - with Alfie, of course - to water the plants, replenish the birdbath, and fill the bird feeder. I have found a mosquito repellent "system" that seems to be working pretty well for us, so now I don't need to put on long pants and long sleeves for those activities, which is nice. So it's actually nice to be out there. I'm hoping that we can spend some time there this weekend and into the fall, since during the heat and humidity of the summer, none of us has much interest in being out there unless we have to.

But Alfie would like you to know that after waiting SO long and hearing promise after promise, his fondest wish is now a reality. He can truly enjoy his role as Nature Cat of the Outdoors. So remember that if you just wait and hope long enough, perhaps your dreams can come true as well! 😊

*****

No major plans here for Labor Day weekend. As I said, The Tim is planning to work on putting the finish on the new door. In a pleasant turn of events, he may not have to work on Labor Day like he usually does. So it would be nice if the long weekend would be a long weekend for him for a change. I'm on a bit of a decluttering spree, so I'll likely spend at least some of the time working on that. But it sounds like it will be a good few days for walking, bike riding, and just generally being outside, so I'm sure we'll find a way to take advantage of that.

Here's hoping that your Labor Day weekend, or just your weekend in general since - GASP! Everyone doesn't live in the U.S. - is a good one, and that you can enjoy it however you like. 

As the song says, "See You In September." 

I Think I'm Finally Back On Track

Have you ever had a week where for the ENTIRE week, you are mixed up about what day it is and what the date is? That was me last week. I spent the whole week either a day ahead or behind, or just confused altogether like someone who just arrived from another planet and had only a tenuous grasp on how time works here.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I was back on track, and it's a good thing, because I have obligations every single day this week. This morning was a doctor's appointment, which thankfully was short and sweet. So I should be good to go for this week, having started it out successfully.  I told my brain that I hope it enjoyed its vacation last week, but there was no response. I don't think it likes sarcasm.

Anyway, June is moving along here. In general, I like June - or at least I used to. It was always the month when it was summer, but not SUMMER. Fortunately so far we've only had a couple of miserably hot/humid days, and I think we're supposed to have one or two this week. So I have been enjoying things so far, and even though we've gotten a lot of rain, it has supposedly helped with the drought, so I think I can live with that.

Alfie had a good birthday. He got one of those catnip "kickers" - it's like a tube filled with catnip, that cats grab onto with their front paws, and then kick with their back paws. It was a big hit, with everyone to be honest. And there were kitty treats and some fancy canned food, so they had a good time. I bought a small cake for The Tim and I to share, and Alfie was both mystified and annoyed by the birthday candles. 😊

Not much is going on around here. I was knitting away on a project I'd started a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I had completely messed it up. So I frogged what I had - not a whole lot, but more than 6 rows - and put it away overnight. This afternoon I sat down and restarted it and to be honest, since I know more what I'm doing, it actually looks a lot better. So maybe all's well that ends well with that. 

I finished the first sock of a pair I'm knitting, though I haven't woven in any ends yet. I like the pattern, and enjoyed knitting it, but haven't cast on the second sock yet. Not that there's a big hurry to have the pair, but I also don't want to let it sit too long. I made a couple of modifications and don't want to forget what they are/were. Why yes, I could write them down, but so far I have not ...

I met two former co-workers on Saturday for lunch, and one of them told the funniest story. She said that a couple of weeks ago, she had stopped to get coffee, and while she was waiting to pay, a guy came in that she saw from a decent enough distance that she couldn't see him clearly, but she noticed he was really good-looking. A few minutes later, he got in line to pay for his coffee and she realized it was her ex-husband, who she had a bitter divorce from! So she tried to get her stuff together to walk away quickly before he saw her, but her headphones got tangled in one of those signs next to a jar that asks for donations for some cause or another, causing it all to fall onto the floor and spill the money! She said that normally she would stay to clean up the mess she made, but she just ran out the door. "I dont' think he saw me." Hm. 😂

I guess just being confused about the day and date is pretty much a non-event compared to that.

I hope your week starts out well, take care!

P.S. I have no idea why the first paragraph is indented like it's "special." And I haven't been able to fix it, so there you go ...

Decorations and a Visit to the Vet's Office

If someone could contact the fall weather and ask it to please return, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Well last week I finally got my act together and pulled out the Halloween decorations. I always try to have decorations up at *least* two weeks before whatever they celebrate, but sometimes I'm just not with it enough to get it together. 

Anyway, I pulled out these little ghost decorations, and they made me smile. You can't see it in the photo, but they have ribbons to use to hang them up. But what I like the best is that my nephew's wife had her kids help her make these and sent them to us years ago. At the time, the oldest kid was maybe about ten years old - she is now 24 years old.

But if you look closely, you can see that what they are are pieces of clay with footprints of each kid! Then Liesl (their mom) painted and glazed them, and voila - a family of ghosts! Isn't that cool? I just love the whole thing.

 

So they come out every year with the other random things we've collected for Halloween. 😊

*****

At the end of last week, I had an appointment to take Alfie to see the vet. He was overdue for a yearly check up anyway, but he has also been scratching his right ear a lot more than usual, so I was worried there might be a problem.

Now, you may remember that we refer to Alfie as our "affectionate weirdo." And he is - he's a cat who sincerely marches to his own drummer. For instance, he has no clue that the cat carrier is something to be dreaded. Which means when it's getting to be time to go, you pick him up and put him in it - no drama, no trying to escape. And then he sits there waiting to see what is next. (Meanwhile, the others who are not in the carrier are all hiding, and act scared the rest of the day, even once it's put away.)

When we got into the exam room, the vet said just to let him out of the cage to explore a bit. He was enjoying that, and then the vet teck lured him onto the scale to weigh him with one of those squeezy treats. Well, he LOVES those, so he was a willing participant - though it was funny, because he kept looking around while eating it. I'm pretty sure he couldn't believe he was getting one all to himself, since usually they have to be shared!

Then the vet and the vet tech wanted to go back into the lab to take a look at his ear culture. So they left the room for a few minutes. Which led to sitting by the door, crying because they had abandoned him ...

Spoiler alert: they did in fact return, and he has a slight bacterial infection in his ears. So we came home with ear drops to be given twice a day. But the good news was that once they returned, there was still time for some attention for Alfie, since as you have probably always suspected, he gets none at home.

To review:

Alfie had an adventure;

He got a whole squeezy treat to himself;

They left, but they came back.

As far as he was concerned, it was all good. And as to getting ear drops twice a day? Well, that ends well too, because after the ear drops, he gets a treat!

It's a good time around here to be Alfie, you know? 😉

Snooper-vision

Well, the guy showed up yesterday to start working on the floors, and Alfie was right there. I left the cats alone, rather than closing them up in a room, because I knew that three out of four of them would hide. I told the guy that if Alfie was becoming a pest, to let me know and I would remove him. The guy assured me that he loves cats, and it wouldn't be a problem.

The whole time he was here, Alfie hung out with him - snooper-vising, I guess, since I didn't see him do any actual physical work. To Dan's (floor guy) credit, he kept up a conversation with Alfie most of the day. Covering a variety of topics. (And proving that we're not the only weirdos who have entire conversations with our cats. 😊) Alfie is not much of a "talker," but he does make sounds that sound either approving or disapproving, and he never takes his eyes off of you if you are talking to him.

After the work day was finished, Alfie sacked out until this morning. Because today is another day of floor work, as is tomorrow. And if you never realized it before, snooper-vising is exhausting work. 

Fortunately, he gives us a discount on his rates.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Resurfacing After Being MIA

Well here we are, almost in the middle of the month, and I'm finally checking back in with all of you. The past couple of weeks have been difficult, but things are looking up, so fingers crossed that it stays that way.

At the end of July/beginning of August, my Reverse SAD finally got me and got me good. It was so hot and so humid for so long that I got to the point where I could barely function. I was tired and miserable all of the time, and my depression and anxiety ramped up like it has not for a while. I was in pretty bad shape to be honest.

I did manage to get myself together enough to enjoy a weekend visit to NYC to see a lot of family, which was really nice and I'm glad we went, but then we came home to the same slop and that caused me to crash big-time. Fortunately, last week, even though it was still humid, it wasn't as hot and the rain did a lot to make the flowers, trees, etc. look and obviously feel better.

This week has felt so good! It's so nice to be able to have the windows open, especially at night, and to take walks without being soaked in sweat after a block and a half. And considering that it's August, it's a nice surprise that it's feeling that way now.

As mentioned above, we were in New York to see a lot of family for a weekend overnight. My sister Nancy and her husband live in Southern California, but they come to NYC usually every summer to visit with a lot of his family who live in the area. This year, their kids and families joined them. My nephew and his wife in Arizona have four kids, and the last time we saw them was 11 years ago. Three of them were able to make the trip, so it was nice to see them as young adults now. My niece and her husband who live in Northern California have two kids that we have never met, so we got to meet them in person, which was nice. Then my other sister and her husband from WV came for the weekend also, and one of their daughters and her family live in Brooklyn, so it was really great to get to see nearly everyone! It was loud and funny and frustrating (none of them are planners, ugh!), and of course, we always enjoy the train ride to and from there. It would have all been perfection if it hadn't been in the high 90s Fahrenheit with the ever-popular "feels like" temperature of 108 degrees. 😡

Only for family would I even consider braving it!

Then, we had found someone who could do our bathroom and kitchen floors - meaning that sooner rather than later, the new refrigerator would be in the kitchen where it should be! There were a couple of blips - the original date they said they'd start had to be pushed back, because the person they dealt with at Home Depot/Lowe's (I forgot which one) ordered the wrong bathroom tiles. 

The guy who was the head of the crew then said they would show up "early afternoon" on this past Saturday to get started on one of the bathrooms, after they finished another job. Which was fine with me. So I was going along in my day, and about 1:15 in the afternoon, The Tim informs me that he called and told the guy not to come, because it was "way past early afternoon." WHAT? I consider early afternoon  to be until around 3 p.m. Then he went on about how he told him it wasn't professional to treat people this way, etc. All I could think of - and I really don't think this very often - was WTF??

This, from the person who weeks ago explained to me (even though I already knew it) that contractors are usually working on several jobs at once, so they seldom devote all of their time at once to your project only. So I don't know what kind of needle ended up in his butt to cause him to do that, but I was really afraid that the guy would say, here's your down payment back, find someone else.

So currently, they are supposed to come tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday to get all three floors replaced. The lead guy texted me yesterday and told me he would text me again today to let me know what time tomorrow to expect them, and where they were starting, so I could have things ready. I hope it all works out this time. Otherwise, The Tim better have something else lined up.

In the meantime, Alfie will be in heaven when they finally arrive. I told a friend that it wouldn't surprise me if he has been watching floor repair videos on YouTube so that they have no excuse to not let him "assist" ... 😄

And now you are all caught up on the high-/lowlights. Cross your fingers that the next time I post, the floors are at least underway!