NaBloPoMo #4

This morning the news is about the women and children killed in Mexico as they were caravanning to AZ for a shopping trip. Made me stop and think about living in a foreign country.

I have made jokes that if I ever decided it was time to leave the USA it would be to Canada, BC or Ireland. We were so impressed with the cleanliness of Vancouver and Victoria and just fell in love with those areas. And the people in Ireland - so friendly and so supportive when we were there over 9-11.

But honestly, I cannot imaging leaving the USA. Mainly because of SOSDD - Same Old Shit Different Day. No country is perfect. They all have their issues.  Either it is political - or language - or something.

But to leave this country and move to another country that has been dangerous to live in for years?
I would like to understand what makes people do that.

The logistics of moving to another country are daunting - but to move somewhere where they are murders and kidnappings just about daily? And where those murders are divided between their own citizens but also citizens of other countries? And the criminals are rarely found - and the punishment does not deter a repeat of the action? Like I said, I would like to understand why people would think "it wont happen to me".

Ok, off the soapbox. Woke up to a very foggy morning. And I need to pick on the dog. She has a sore on the bottom of one of the pads, on the paw that had surgery. So last night I cleaned it up, bandaged it, put the donut on her.

(I just realized that the last several photos I posted on facebook I put into the October album - but it is actually November! Wow - time flies!!)

Did this about 2200 last night and by bedtime, an hour later, the sock was off. And sometime after we went to be the donut was off.

So today the Shame Collar comes out. And I found another sock to try to see if it would stay on longer! Have tried explaining to her if she wants out in the yard - this place has to heal - and it will not heal if she keeps licking it!

NaBloPoMo #3

Well, no baking today. But got several more boxes cleared out of the den. And the desk top cleaned off. And some Christmas presents wrapped. Overheated the shredder. And still a lot of shredding to do.

The file cabinet is almost bursting at the seams. But it will get cleaned out again next year and that will help.

Hubby got the other side of the walk, on the side of the house, cleared out. Now he needs to dig out the dirt and pack it down and then we will buy some concrete to put down there. And talking about moving the table - a picnic table my dad repurposed into a plant holder many many years ago - to the side of the house so when I want to repot plants I have somewhere to work. Unbelievable that the table is still in such good shape - the one remaining bench was not and we trashed that.

The side of the walk that he bricked in for all the trash bins and all looks great. Funny when he was clearing it out he got very frustrated at one point because he could not get the grown over paving stones out - turns out it was a concrete slab that I can now remember that my dad put in to put the garbage can on top of (back then there was only one garbage can - not 3 bins!!)

And that was our day!

NaBloPoMo #2

Well, holiday baking has commenced!

Took over 1/2 the frozen bananas and I have 4 loaves of banana nut chocolate chip bread in the oven, and 2.5 more to go when these are done!

Later this week I will make the date nut bread.

Then right before Thanksgiving will be pies, maybe a cake/maybe not, the cranberry sauce (trying a new recipe this year) and 24 hour salad.

After Thanksgiving will be cookies and candy.

Hoping to drop off some cookies and candy at my old job on the way up to daughter's at Christmas; or on the way home!

We were supposed to go see youngest grandson in his water polo games today. Husband feeling (and looking) better but he just wasn't up to a 3 hour round trip drive. And I didn't want him to share this bug with daughter and grandson. So we will see him another time. Daughter says we have to come up when they swim at the pool in Atherton - says it is a gorgeous pool (which it should be!).

No working on house today. Working on Christmas presents.....have 3 out of 5 done, with the 4th on the needles. One cross stitch project almost done (it is at the very very boring part so I can only stand working on it a bit at a time) and want to start on the other cross stitch project but trying to be methodical - have to finish the first 5 projects before I start that one!

NaBloPoMo - Day 1

First I have heard of this - and it is already November 2 - but it is "National Blog Posting Month. The idea is to commit to writing a blog post daily in November. It’s a riff off of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month."

So wonder how many days I can do that this month.

Just read an article in the paper for a writing contest - 101 words. I would love to try that. But have to decide what to write about in such few words.

These are 3 pairs of socks I have knit since September.

There is this awesome yarn store in CO...nope, never been but it is on my bucket list. And several years ago they started Camp Loopy. A virtual knitting camp with challenges each summer. A great way to get some Christmas presents made!

They then branched out to Loopy Academy -  All 4 years. Which I finished. And now there is grad school. And this semester you could choose 1 of several 'majors' and do 3 of something in that major. I chose socks. And I am done and the semester lasts until December. 

Hello Again!

Isnt that cute? A friend from HS has posted about this craft show called A Gathering of Friends and I have been wanting to go. We went! And I bought this adorable set of blocks - the opposite side has a Christmas message. I love it - and do not begrudge the money I spent on it - but I keep looking at it and thinking "I could do this!". And then I laugh and laugh.....

So we are surviving nursing a dog, unpacking more things, discovering that we do not have enough bookshelves in this house, and little room to put them in.....

 So she had her surgery. And they kept her overnight on Morphine and antibiotics. Came home and she was still so zonked that we could barely get her up to go to the bathroom. So she dribbled. And we wiped it up. The next day we went to buy doggie diapers - and they don't make them big enough! We got the largest size and only needed them for that one more day until all the drugs were out of her system. Of course, after that we found out she really needed to be on her Trazedone. How did we find out? A week later taking her in for a bandage change and she ran down the driveway - jumped into the truck - and broker her splint....so she went on her trazedone until her 3 change. That is when they took her stitches out and left the bandage off.

It is also when we discovered another swelling, in the same place, on her other front paw. So yes, she is going to have to have surgery again. But we are hoping to wait until January so we can get through yardwork and the holidays. She will also have plastic surgery done on the granuloma on the foreleg on that same side. I really do not look forward to having her go through this again....or having to nurse her again....and force more pills down her....And there is not garauntee that this follicular problem will not occur again on her other paws....

 This was the temporary enclosure that husband built to keep her out of the dirt yard. She only has the patio and the side, with the concrete walk, and she. does. not. like. it. But we have to keep her boo boos clean. And she has learned how to take the socks off that we put on her.  She also learned on to take her diaper off - and how we cant put it on her if she sits down cause she is too heavy! I will measure her and get non-disposable diapers for her before her next surgery (I already got her bootees).

BUT we are hoping to have the yard done before that. When we went to the pathetic Home and Garden Show we got the number for 2 companies. The first one came out - and showed us gorgeous photos with lots of suggestions for concrete work...….and a price tag of about $42,000.00! More than double what we expected!

So we called the other guy and he came out with some ideas that were more along the lines of what we were thinking (after all, we are not Pebble Beach...) using flagstones. And a price tag of $7500.00 which is less than what husband expected! So now that Bella has healed, we are waiting on his availability - and hoping it comes before the rains start!

Those are just some pretty photos from the vegetable stand we go to in Moss Landing. Much better selection - and much better prices that any of the Farmer's Markets around here.

Happy Anniversary!

30 years ago this past June we moved back to CA to be closer to my mom who was ill, and to help my dad out. So we initially moved into their house with them. And we lived there for a few months - not the most ideal situation. I got a nightshift job in Salinas, and husband was looking for a job.

On October 17th my dad went in for cataract surgery and was home. Husband, kids and I were all in the back bedroom watching the World Series when it happened.....yep, the Loma Prieta earthquake. Very surreal.

First earthquake for our kids. One of the biggest we ever felt. We lost power and communication. I did not even try to go to work that night - not knowing the road situation, and with my dad fresh from surgery.

So …. 30 years go by. And we move back into this same house in June. And here it is October and the 30th anniversary of the earthquake. And we have had earthquakes. A big one up in the Bay Area. And then an even bigger one down here. Don't know if Mother Nature is just dancing with us or what.

The day of the one here - we were outside getting an (outrageous!!) quote for landscaping of the back yard. The estimator and I just looked at each other - not even the usual "Was that an earthquake?" Nope, it was - "THAT was an earthquake!". And my husband never even felt it - only believed up when he saw things still moving.

That estimate - wow! Even shocked my husband. Their work is beautiful. But it really was a bit more over the top than what we wanted or visualized.

So yesterday another guy came. And immediately his vision was more in line with what we wanted. And way more within our budget! So we put a down payment down. Now it just depends on Bella's recovery and when they are able to start....

Took Bella in on Monday. They said her incision is healing nicely but we needed to get her on her tranqs. We realized that when she RAN down the driveway, jumped into the truck, and kept jumping all around. So we came home and gave her 2 tablets - and I had to keep going over and making sure she was breathing! So Tuesday we tried 1 pill, and it did not phase her. Yesterday went to 1.5 pills and she is awake, going to the bathroom, eating, but still spending most of the time laying around sleeping. Bingo!

She goes back again next Monday. We will see then if she is ready for stitches to come out or not.

And So It Continues....

We have received some decent news about our friend and his heart issues. He went to the appt at Stanford and the cardiologist there told him that the only change he would make right now would be his medications. He does not think, at this time and based on his tests thus far, he is a candidate for surgery. Says that overall he is looking ok.

Got our floors/baseboards done - well, 99.75%. They ran out of the trim for one side of the hearth. I love how they turned out. My only complaint is that we listened without questioning to the salesman, the one who actually came to the house looked around and did measurements. And we chose the baseboard he recommended. We did not question that our furnace registers are very close to the floor on the wall. So they had to do cutting around them. Which means eventually hubby will have to patch, sand, and paint the joins.

Then hubby spent yesterday moving everything back into the house. And we were able to get the desk inside also. And got some clothes put away so we emptied (he mostly) emptied out some boxes.

Me? I spent Friday deathly ill. I know it couldn't have been food poisoning because all this week we have eaten the same thing, while we spent every day outside sitting on the patio with the dogs while the guys were doing the floors. I did go out and run some errands so I must have picked up some GI bug somewhere.

But I have recovered. Yesterday was spent on trying to get my energy back. Hubby has been building a temporary fence to keep Bella out of the dirt yard. Her surgery is Tuesday. Tomorrow we will take her and bathe her (well, both of them - they both stink!).

They are just going to do the paw surgery. We discussed with Aaron - not sure who Aaron is - winder if they are called VA's instead of PA's? Anyway he said that the more he and the vet discussed doing both surgeries they realized that both of her front legs would have to be splinted and it would be very hard for Bella to get around. So we are prioritizing and doing only the paw. Which is good; she has had some not so good days this past week. But oh boy is she going to be mad at us!

We were supposed to go camping this weekend, Thursday through today. We cancelled because they weren't don't with the floors by the end of Wednesday as we thought (could be because they don't start work until around 10 - 10:30 but knock off before 5!!!!) and then we needed time to move things back in - and build that fence.....and I am SO GLAD! I could not imagine being that sick in a trailer!!!

So we will be spending a lot of time at home over the next couple of weeks. And that will be good - we can get even more work done around the house!