Sunday, June 18, 2017

June This-And-Thats

I'm overdue to catch up on things so once again it's time to start typing and let it all out.  Well, not all.  I've not posted lately mostly due to stress.  My work had become, and still is, more stressful than it ever should be.  I'd like to elaborate but I really can't without giving too much detail.  Ever see that cartoon with the birds on the branches of a tree and the lower birds are getting shit on?
    20170611_123212 b
  • I did take a vacation a couple weeks ago.  I didn't have any big projects but I did have a lengthy to-do list.  I managed to get most of it completed, including building an umbrella stand that my wife wanted to hold my grabber and the walking stick I got in Jamaica when we got married.  Just a small project, but I like making things out in the garage.  I'm certainly more of a rough carpenter than a finish carpenter, but I seemed to manage with this and my wife is happy.  The time off was mainly spent getting my head back and learning to deal with my job status and what I need to do if I want to change that.
  • My wife has been healing well recently and has a few more weeks off work.  Basil hasn't had it so well, though.  He completed his round of antibiotics but it still didn't fully clear the UTI so he had to go back to the vet.  He now has more medicine and special food to help clear up the crystals in his urine and the infection.  We also found out he has a bad tooth that is causing him pain so we will have that taken care of as well.
  • On a related note, I've shampooed the carpet in the computer room several times now.  Kate's friend Terry lent us her machine, and it has worked very well.  We've not found any spots where he's peed in quite a while but I kept smelling it so it may still have been happening, especially since we find he is not quite over the infection yet.
  • Weather-wise we have been hot.  Hot and humid and sometimes very stormy.  Today is refreshingly comfortable, finally, and is the first time in a week we have been able to open the windows and enjoy the breeze through the house.  Now, if my wife would hurry up and heal we could go bike riding together!
  • We've had our first fire pit of the year, the first of many, I hope.  I've been considering putting in a permanent fire pit in the back yard, I feel we would use it more often then.  I have enough cut wood for probably two more fire pits before I'll need to cut up the scavenged branches I have on the side of the garage.
  • A Night Out for Goodman, a beer and chocolate tasting at the local Goodman Community Center was a lot of fun out with some friends.  I didn't manage to get a taste from all the vendors but as many as I could!  There were a dozen or so local bakeries/chocolatiers and maybe fifteen local breweries/distilleries giving out samples of their wares.  It was a beautiful evening with also a band and games, and all goes to charity.
  • I've also not updated the garden blog in several weeks.  I plan on taking pictures today and posting over there another tour of the yard.  We lost one plant that I really like in a storm, but my wife brought in the flowering stalk and we've had it inside for almost a week now.  Something, either squirrels or rabbits, has been nibbling on some potted plants.  I moved one into the area between the gardens and it is still getting eaten so it must be squirrels there as rabbits can't get in.  And I've missed the full bloom of the lilies as all the petals have now fallen, same for the peonies.  But the day lilies are blooming now and the garden is looking very well.  I'll link it here when I post pictures over there, probably later today.
That's all I can think of for now.  There are a couple things I'm thinking of for an LLP post, but I need to find the time and gumption to do it.  After typing on a computer all day at work it's not exactly what I feel like doing in the evenings.  Oh, and we have another quarter cow coming real soon.  Well, I have pictures to take and I think my wife and I are going to get out for a bit now.

4 comments:

Blue Witch said...

Sorry that your work is such a drain on you. I do wonder how any employer thinks they get the best out of any employee by treating people the way almost all do these days.

I think that gardening is fast becoming a case of 'outwit the predators'. It certainly isn't the fun it used to be here.

Nil carborundum illegitimi as they say, nil carborundum illegitimi.

Scoakat said...

Thanks BW, I just had a pretty good job interview this afternoon, we'll see.

Keeping up the weeding in the garden and yard has lapsed a bit lately. I should keep better track of the plants I get in spring, I'll figure out what they leave alone eventually. Maybe.

I had to use google translate for the last bit! Rats do not illegitimate?
We had a rat scare last year, verified several blocks away behind a fast food place. I'm not very sure if we had them in this area or not, I've never seen one here. Our pests are mostly rabbits and squirrels, maybe chipmunks. I've also seen raccoons and opossums in the wee hours but I don't think they get into our plants or garden.

Blue Witch said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimi_non_carborundum

"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

I don't think it translates well though, because in English English we use 'bastard' to mean an unpleasant person.

Scoakat said...

That sounds better. I should put that on my whiteboard at work! Until someone figures it out, anyway.