Hot Diggity Dog

  The continuing saga of feral cats ..... I sent the man for cat formula, and he came back with some kitty milk in a carton much like a juice box. I read the instructions, and it was indicated to be fed to cats and kittens over 8 weeks old. All they had, he said. Three syringes were free from the pharmacy. Having nothing else, I fed the FOUR kittens. The master of all feral cats had found another kitten that was apparently underneath Mama cat. This is when he decided that I must be wrong about Mama eating her baby. He surmised that she was only "cleaning" the kitten and I must have seen that and thought she ate it. I saw her crunch down on the tiny cat and heard it as well. It sounded just like that time Martha, the boy cat, gifted a half rabbit to his canine siblings. I know what crunching bones sounds like. Perhaps he should have come as soon as I yelled for him and not made me back-track to the house to get his attention. He would have seen the tiny striped tail dangling f...

  I am horrified beyond belief! The day started as most days do with me in the yard, a bevy of cats at my heels. I checked my garden and proceeded to straighten out the storage shed, but that is another post for another day. We left to go get our haircuts and then came home with some take-out from a new restaurant. You know how it is; you have to try out the food before committing to pay for a dinner. Came home and I continued moving things around and putting away all my craft stuff. Drew went out and I am sure he told me his plans, but I admit I wasn't listening. He came in with pictures. Prego had her kittens while we were out and about. Not in the nice cat bed I had put in the Catdominium for her, but under the steps going up to the upper deck. Of course I went out to see the new babies. She seemed okay with the four kittens in various shades of gray. I came in and made some food for her and took it out, along with some water. I noticed that she was chewing on something as I app...

  This could end up being a very long post! So many things are annoying to me. I imagine others have the same gripes and I am not alone with my irritation. Sandy floors. I absolutely hate walking barefoot and have the feel of sand on the bottom of my feet. I could just wear shoes, is that what you are thinking? I could, but I like my feet bare unless it is cold. I purchased one of those dirty paw rugs advertised everywhere. It was buy one, get one free. I gifted the second one to my daughter. I love it, it does hold a lot of dirt from paws and shoes coming in from outside. It doesn't get it all, though. I vacuum endlessly and have even vacuumed the soles of my feet.  Another pet peeve is salads in restaurants lately. I ordered a salad just the other day and was sorely disappointed in the tiny amount of lettuce. You would expect lettuce to be the main ingredient, right? I know that the price of lettuce has gone up but so has everything else. I ordered the strawberry/pecan salad...

  My insomnia is still with me. I have been napping every day, then feeling guilty because I am not getting much done. I picked some green beans this morning, along with collard greens and turnip greens. I cleaned and cooked them to go with the chops on the grill. Made a pan of corn bread, too. I have had my shower and am ready for bed at barely 7:30. Seems like winter is beginning to tease us. I am prepared to bring all the potted plants in and hope for survival. I lost my asparagus fern last winter. It was huge and I had managed to protect it for many winters. I cried, then bought a couple of small ones. This year I have the little green house on the porch that I made from a bakers rack I found on marketplace. I already had the one I made last year. The most problematic thing is finding shelves that will not block the lights and will let water drip down into the pots below. Bigger problem is knowing that the giant Boston ferns will not fit in either green house. I have three of t...

  Have you ever wondered why you get up every day and carry on? Or is that just me? I perform the same chores daily that are required to run a household. Some days are easier than others, but most of the time I feel like I am in a battle to succeed and failing.  The only highlight of the day is bedtime. I go through the motions while in my mind I am counting down to that magical hour when I can slip between the sheets that I so carefully smoothed out when I made the bed. I always have high hopes of drifting off to a peaceful sleep uninterrupted by outside forces. Outside forces being just that, outside of myself. That would be a loud TV, a dog peeing in my bed, or one dragging the floor vent around the house trying to escape. A husband moving his legs restlessly like he is in a swimming match and talking to who knows what. He says he never dreams, but it is more likely he just doesn't remember. After all, he can't remember where anything is in this house. Once awakened, I can ...

  I lost a day this week. I woke feeling tired, but that is nothing new. The man of the house said I should go back to bed, so I did. I slept until 4 in the afternoon and was back in bed by 7:30 and slept all night. I suppose I must have needed it. Now I am still feeling foggy headed and tired. No other symptoms that would explain why. I don't want to drag myself to the doctor's office. It just sounds so vague. But maybe that is why I should. I would say I don't want to be a bother, but really, I don't want to look silly.  In other news, the feral cat population on the side of the mountain can now look forward to a cat-dominion with 6 bedrooms. You may recall me suggesting to the cat whisperer that he should build a structure to keep them warm in the winter. Did I suggest that he BUY one? No, I did not. It is like those plastic storage sheds you put in the yard to hold garden tools, it looks like a double decker barn for livestock. Three rooms on top with a deck! Three ...

Yesterday, while out buying the steppingstones, we decided, on a whim to pull into the Verizon store and upgrade our phones. It is supposed to be free. Well, the new phone is free, but there are all these other charges to deal with and transferring the stuff on the phone. Long story short, we did not complete the transaction yesterday and the man who likes to run errands was all about racing back over there today for what was supposed to be 10 minutes. We all know that old folks such as myself, hate new things. I chose NOT to go and savored my alone time. Maybe I savored it a little too much. I traipsed up the driveway to check on the zinnia I recently transplanted and ponder life. I am adept at multi-tasking, so I decided to lay some paver while pondering. Yes, my back and shoulder are still bothering me, but those steppingstones were not going to lay themselves. We only got 20 yesterday, so I thought I could get those down, since the man with the new phones was going to purchase the ...

  I knew when I stumbled out of bed this morning that I was not in for a good day. Rain came down in a steady stream as I looked out my window. Lord knows we don't need rain. But there is nothing to do about it but try to look on the bright side. My dogs are no strangers to pee pads and are willing to relieve themselves on one. I bought them for trips but then bought more to handle bad weather. I like to rinse them with copious amounts of water before putting them in my washer. I add a half cup of vinegar to the wash and that keeps them smelling fresh. Yes, I have sniffed them. So, the good thing about the rain is that I currently have four of them draped over the fence and they will get an extra rinse. Then I thought and thought and realized that was the only bright side I could come up with. I sat with my cooling coffee, staring at a wad of dog hair scuttling along like a tumbleweed on the floor. I just cleaned yesterday and even mopped. The mopping made my shoulder scream. I hav...

  Today is the big day! I will be glued to the dentist chair for an hour while they make a mold of my mouth and then, ultimately my new tooth. I am excited. I won't have the tooth installed today, but I am one step closer to eating popcorn! Why is it that you always want what you can't have. I don't even like popcorn that much, but since I don't have the ability to chomp it up, I want it like nothing I have ever wanted before! This upper garden is trying to kill me! Just when I think I can almost see completion, something happens to put me two steps behind the one step I took. I am praying that I will be able to eke out my last bag of mulch to cover the carboard.  I have since changed my mind several times about what will surround the steppingstones. First, I was going to use gravel with no steppingstones but walked on some of the gravel I have on hand and didn't like the way it felt to my feet. Not my bare feet, mind you, but I could tell there would be a balance i...