October This-And-Thats (Part 2)

It's been a busy few weeks around here.  I've been worried about our cat Hamish, excited watching the Brewers, and exhausted due to not enough sleep.  I've also not been writing very much and I have a few things to touch on so here's a second TATs post this month.

Hamish has Irritable Bowel Disease, and has medicine to take for it.  Well, he stopped eating his med in treats or pill wraps, so we tried crushing the pill and mixing it in with food.  That worked for a bit, then he stopped eating that food, like he could taste it or something.  Without getting his medicine he got sick, basically continuous, terrible indigestion and lost weight he couldn't afford to lose.  My wife took him to the vet just over a week ago for help.  His med is now doubled and in cream form that we rub into the tip of his ear.  In his other ear he gets a medicine to make him hungry.  He has shown improvement, but still has a ways to go, I think.  The good news is he should get better and his kidneys are just fine.  It can be hard to watch when he's really feeling ill, purring and dry heaving, so I hope he comes around sooner than later.  If he loses even an ounce more he's going back to the vet.

The Milwaukee Brewers had a dominant run though the Major League Baseball playoffs, culminating in winning the World Series on Wednesday night.  This is the main reason for my exhaustion.  I've been up late every night this week watching the Brewers then last night the Packers.  I'm very thankful that I had vision to take today off.  I managed to sleep in today and there is no game I want to watch tonight so probably in bed early.  Anyway, it's been so much fun watching this team all year, and following them through their first championship has been very gratifying.  I watched all the hoopla, interviews and ceremonies, just taking it all in.  You never know if something like this will ever happen again.

The new furnace was installed a week ago Tuesday, a day after the salesman was here.  It has been working well and is much quieter than our old one, but not before an initial setback.  The installers verified everything was working with the furnace and the new air conditioner, set the furnace on heat for us and went on their way after spending all day.  Then we noticed the fan didn't stop.  The furnace got the house up to temperature and turned off, but the fan ran on.  I had to manually turn off the furnace for it to stop, so we ran it manually to heat the house that night, then again the following morning when I also called the company back.  They had someone out after work for us, one of the original installers and another.  It seems they just forgot to set something correctly in the new furnace.  The original installer accepted blame and apologized, and now all seems well.  But nothing can go smooth for me, it seems.

My wife's car has been fixed but I still have not booked mine into the shop yet.  I'll get that done soon, but oil, shocks and brakes is going to be another hard hit in the wallet.  I'm still trying to get the stains out of the driveway from that and the old air conditioner, but it hasn't rained enough to was away the cat litter I have ground into the stains on the concrete now.

Sunflowers are done, leaves and branches stripped but for a few small late blooms.  The stalks will dry out and I'll remove them, chop off the roots and lay them by the garage for winter.  In spring they will become kindling.  The cone flowers in the stump area are done, but for one.  Sometime this weekend we'll likely spread those seeds and cut them down.  Lily of the Valley along the garage have been strimmed and the hostas are starting to melt.  Still no fires, but maybe tomorrow night?

Halloween decorations have been out front for a couple weeks now.  I still haven't found something to replace the mummy in the front windows, but I found something I bought on clearance after Halloween last year that might be good.  I'll likely post pictures tomorrow night or the next day.  I seem to remember not many trick or treaters last year, so not sure what to expect this year, but we have two big bags of candy so hopefully more handed out than eaten.

And, finally, Blue Witch is back!  She had issues with her site recently and thought she lost everything - 24 years worth of posts and comments.  Thankfully, she found someone that went above and beyond to help her and her site is now back online.  After this, though, I think she's going to look into a different platform to use.  Good luck, BW!

That's enough for now, I think that's all I had on my mind.  I did hear back from Matt today about finishing our roofing project, but we'll just have to wait and see, I guess.  Have a great Halloween weekend, everyone.