November 13

My dog sees ghosts.
He thinks his water bowl is haunted.
I wish I had taken videos of him.

I got tired of refilling the small indoor water bowl. And since the dogs are not spending that much time outside, I brought the giant one in from outside.

And our terrier thinks it is haunted. But only after dark. He shies away from it - walks around it - and stares intently at it and into it. He will take a small drink and then jump away from it, run, and hide.

So I got tired of this and switched the bowls back last night. You would have thought this dog had not drunk anything in days, or weeks. I had to refill it twice, between him and his big sis.

Ok, so he is just neurotic.....but if you watched him you would believe that he can see ghosts!

So the kitchen guy came bright and early today - did the work in about 1/2 hour. And the landscapers showed up when they said they would.

But the door guys? Yup, no show. I swear I am not paying out any more deposits.
Called the guy who did all our inside work - and whose brother we gave the deposit to. And said, hey - your brother said he would be here Tuesday, and worst case scenario today. And Elvis (yes that is his name; and no, there is no way he is Him!) said - oh no - he is coming Thursday. Nope, he marked it on our calendar as Tuesday after checking with his wife....oh ok, well I will call him and get back to you.

Phone silence ever since.

Busy/Not So Busy Day

Well, we thought today was going to be very busy. Supposed to have the new front door put in, and the backyard landscaping started, and my hair cut.

0800 came and no one showed up. Just before 0900 the landscaper showed up and they have been busy at work today. Building planter areas.

But the guys for the door never showed up. And never called. Which is very frustrating because we had this long conversation with the one guy about the importance of communication....

So we will see. Maybe tomorrow is going to be very busy. Because early tomorrow morning (we will see - giggle laugh snort) the guy is coming to put in the new slide out shelves on two cabinets in the kitchen, and some shelving thing under the sink....and the landscaper....and maybe the door guys?

The dogs are being exceptionally good.  I feel so badly about Bella though. I gave up and went to bed before hubs last night because I knew we were having an early day today. And besides I didn't want to watch the show he was watching. And even then I fell asleep before he came to bed. So that meant he had to bring the dogs in after I put them out - and after I put the bootee on Bella's foot.

 Ever since we started using the bootee (as in 2 days ago) I have emphasized that the bootee needs to come off when she comes in.....so what happened last night? The person who brought her in did not take the bootee off. When I saw that I immediately took it off and changed her sock and bandage - both of which were soaking wet from sweat. And her poor paw was puffy. But the boo boo looked better than it had yesterday after she licked it to pieces!

Husband is pacing like a prisoner in his own home! Which is good cause that means he is letting the guys work without talking their ears off....

Speaking about communication: the two Sagittariuses in the family are pointing fingers at each other right now! I sent an text to both my daughters about what we will bring for Thanksgiving.....and the one wrote back saying essentially - wait, what? First I have heard about this...

So I spoke with husband who said, since older daughter speaks to other daughter more frequently he ASSUMED that she had spoken with her sister.....And then said older daughter wrote back and said that since he was the one doing all the planning she ASSUMED he had spoken with other daughter...

So of course I had to write back to point out what the definition of ASS...U....ME is!!!!!!!!

Post #????

Uh oh - it has already happened....I skipped a day!
The funny thing is I remember planning what I was going to write about!

All the moving of things in storage and piling some of it in the truck, bringing in parts of the china hutch to make sure it was gonna work.....and I woke up Sunday morning and my shoulder felt fine.

Then later that day I started doing Christmas wrapping and the next thing I know, I have to take some Tylenol because my shoulder is hurting.....go figure.

So today is an auspicious day - worldwide, nationwide, and in out family!

First of all - today is my oldest grandson's 17th birthday! I thought the years went by quickly with your own kids - that is nothing compared to how they fly by with grandkids! No more babies in the family, sigh.....and one is almost an adult (in chronological age at least).

This was just a little over 16 months old - with both his grandmothers.....time has flown!

And today is also Veteran's Day. So we bought some red carnations, and went to both cemeteries to put flowers at our family vet's graves. And the roads in the San Carlos Cemetary were lines with flags - and all the vets graves had flags on them. Looked so pretty! But when we got to the mausoleum area where hubby's father is - none of them had flags??? Wonder why?

Then we drove out to where my parents are entombed. And we got there  minutes before they were having a Veteran's Day Ceremony. It was very nice.....but TAPS gets to me every time.

Of course there were flags out, but this is a military cemetery and there are ALWAYS flags out! After the ceremony we went over to their crypts, and someone had already put mini roses in the vases, different colors for the men and the women. Very nice!

Came home and finished cleaning up the back yard for the landscaper to begin work tomorrow. And found that yes, we were gone longer than we expected and Missy had taken the sock and wrap off her foot and licked the sore - which had been healing nicely - raw......I am so mad at her!

Post #8

Some time ago I bought a china hutch at a garage sale.
I think it was $20 - $25.
My plan was to redo it and use it.
Of course I never got round to that.

Came time to move and hubs wanted me to get rid of it.
I wouldn't.
Well, there is no place in this house to put it.

But then came an idea!
we have been looking for a TV stand and cant find what we want - mainly because we want wood and not the crap they sell (and we can afford today).
Why don't we take the hutch part off and use the bottom 1/2?

hubs actually liked the idea so we went out to storage today.
Boy - things from past eras are made well!

I forgot to take a before photo - I think this is from the 50's or 60's.
The craftsmanship is amazing.
And although it is just pine - oh my gosh - is it PINE! The top piece, the piece on top of the cabinet part, and the bottom part has to be at least 3 - 4" thick. Solid. And it is all put together with screws. Not staples. Screws.
It took us a while to get the top piece off - and then we had to take the piece off the top of the cabinet part because we just could not lift it to get it into the truck.

So now, we are going to bring it in the house, set it back together, and see if it will work.

If so, then we will refinish it and rebuild it (my hubs would say - what, you have a mouse in your pocket?).

Meanwhile today we also bought the lumber for the first of the 2 bigger bookshelves he is going to build for me. Says he is going to start tomorrow.

Next week, the guy is coming to install the pull out drawers in 2 of the kitchen cabinets, and whatever he built for under the sink. We both finally booked haircut appts. And Tuesday the front door is going to be replaced. And now today the landscaper called, and he is going to start on Tuesday too!

Boy the dogs are gonna be a mess....

NaBloPoMo #7

A year ago, one of the most generous and genuinely NICE women I every worked with organized a drive to help out a family who was burned out in the Paradise CA fire.

We donated items needed - or money - or gift cards. And Lisa and another staff member drove them all up to where this family was living in a trailer.

I cannot even imagine having children (3 in this case) and losing literally every. single. thing. you. own.

Mind boggling that all you have are the clothes you were wearing and the few items you were able to save.

This family posted a one year later post on their blog. And showed exactly what they lost, and what they were able to find.....the frame of a bike....a Christmas angel....a climbing gym thing in the backyard...3 handprint stepping stones. Also what was left of her parent's house.

On June 28 she posted what is basically PTSD, and what common everyday things that can trigger absolute terror of another fire .I cannot even imagine.

 And this year there are more families facing this. But we are not hearing about them as much as we did last year. Because whole communities were not destroyed? Because we have been saturated with this kind of news? I don't know why.

Some firemen on the @Ellen Degeneris show talked about how few fires we really hear about. If it is not big enough, it doesn't make the news. And yet, no matter the size, someone(s) have had their lives devastated by something that is beautiful if it is in a controlled setting.

Please please please make sure you are taking all possible precautions - keeping weeds down, and brush trimmed back. Remember to have an emergency TO GO bag. Make sure you have contact information with you at all times.

NaBloPoMo #6

Grey, chilly day. But what should I expect - it is November after all!

Took the cone of shame, and the dressing off the paw of Bella for a little bit - and of course she started licking it - and it started bleeding. Tracking blood all over the house. So redressed it. I thought it was starting to look better but I don't know. Might be time to take her to the vet again.

Fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes for dinner tonight - a fire in the pellet stove - all comfort time.

Wrapped some presents (Christmas) today. Mailed oldest grandson's birthday card and present. Boy that makes me feel old....don't know how #1 can be turned 17 already!!!

Plugging along of the Alices Embrace shawl. Have everything ready to begin the Bob Ross Christmas ornament for middle grandson but just haven't gotten started yet.

Need ideas for presents for the grands and the kids! Gets harder each year!

#5

Today was chilly....the sun was warm, but the wind was wintery.

Hubby did a Dump Run with friend....And was amazed at how cheap it was compared to Alameda County!

While he was gone I decided to make the date nut bread for the holidays. And found that I had thoughtful wrong dates!!

So I had to chop up 3 packages of (luckily they were pitted!) Of dates. And because they were so sticky, I had to do them by hand. Oh well, 6 loaves + 2 mini loaves. And I thought I was only doing 4....

Work in away on a shawl for www.alicesembrace.org and last night I thought there were some mistakes, but the yarn (which I am totally in love with) is dark and hard to see at night.

So looked at it today and sure enough there were several mistakes ROWS back....thank goodness it is only 58 stitches wide because I think it was about 8 rows I had to rip out. But I am all caught up again