What Day Is It Anyway? May 17, 2020

A Day In The Life

Country Style

When we moved into this mobile in the country we knew that there were sacrifices in lifestyle we’d have to make. We’re still getting used to it. In the first year, we only had heating in our bedrooms so we spent the winter there. I was closest to the bedroom door. These guys:

Rosey (sorry, I never seem to get a good picture of this shiny beautiful black cat.)

and Teddy,

had me opening and shutting the bedroom door all night long. Not only did I lose a lot of sleep, but it chilled the room.

One day, kind hubby made a pet door so I didn’t have to do that anymore. The room stayed warm and the cats could come and go as they needed.

Rosey is a sweety. She likes to share with her humans. In the middle of the night, she will bring in socks or other presents.  Here are some of the gifts:

The Snoopy and the Phantom were gifts from a very good friend. I tried to keep them on the piano but Rosey thought we’d needed them in the bed with us.

Teddy is a sweety and lays on our shoulders and purrs. It helps me. It hurts my husband. Teddy switches between us all night.

Oh, the Ninja Turtles? They came with Kali. She never plays with them. But Rosey knows we need them. They are nearly as big as she is. It is difficult for her to get through the pet door with them. But she manages to yell in kitty meows about what she is bringing from the livingroom. She has brought us big hiking boots, even my rainboots. I don’t know how she does it!

Anyway, last night or rather ‘at stupid o’clock’ as my friend Willow21 calls it, this time it was about 5AM, we hear the meowing and thumping that let us know we were in for a present. But there was a jingle sound that didn’t sound like her tags. I got out my phone to put a flashlight on the situation. There she was flopping something that looked like this around.

 

Pixabay.com

 

Yeah, not my picture because the phone was the light.

Most of the years we have lived here there have been mice. But not many and things were generally okay. This year before COVID19 we were inundated. So we were already fighting Hantavirus. We’ve, well, my brother mostly, set traps all around. We had been catching two or three a day. It had calmed down a lot lately, so a mouse wasn’t what I expected.

I hate killing them. They are so cute. One day, a few years ago, I went into the bedroom and saw one like this on my made bed.

Pixabay.com

Except that the one on my bed was more cinnamon with white on his/her belly and feet. It had its hands folded together in prayer form like it was pleading for its life. My heart was broken. I wanted to pick it up and pet it. I wanted to sit and draw it so puffy and soft. But I remembered Hanta and called my brother to see what he could do about it. He didn’t have the heart to kill it either. He scooped it up with a kerchief and set it free outside. We didn’t have the rooster yet. Nowadays the poor thing would be eaten. We have tried the live traps hoping not to kill them. But I think, no matter how far away from the house we set them free, they call their friends and tell them about the big house full of free meals. Yeah, they didn’t read the contract. Sometimes I’m tempted to put them in cages to tame them and hold them. But we barely have enough money to feed ourselves and the three furry friends. I don’t need to start a colony of more pets. So the quandary stands. The only choice is to trap them then feed the chickens.

So this was Sunday, yeah the usual Zoom church and CBS Sunday Morning defined it for me, even though it’s been a long, long day since rooster crow time. Let’s hope tomorrow is kinder to all of us furry or not.

What Day Is It Anyway? is another blog prompt by Linda G. Hill in her words:

Why I’m writing this post:

Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.

Let’s keep in touch!

One-Liner Wednesday A, Animals

Animals

(Kali, Teddy, and Rosey) Social Distancing on my bed while I get morning writing done.

This is how it started.

Then Rosey (you can barely see her but the blackness with the blue tag on the right) wanted to join.

Yep, that’s when they all got up and chased through the house.

 

 

One-liner Wednesday prompt hosted by Linda G. Hill

And that was the start of #A-to-Z Challenge.

 

 

What Day is it Anyway? Friday, March 27th, 2020

 

 

Food, Friends, Frustrations,

& UNFinished

Pixabay.com

How many of you are finding it hard to finish anything? I’ll raise my hand.

Sure the lack of things in stores added to the end of month lack of funds, make creative group cooking takes some of my time. In normal times I cook about once or twice a month for group meals. Now we need to make things like potato/beans/rice burritos. Today pressure cooker potatoes, and frozen asparagus, were my contributions. I had vegetarian bacon with mine, the guys added their own proteins like frozen chicken breast or tuna. In the old days, potatoes and beans and rice were only for the end of month eats. And though it is exactly that, by now, the potatoes would be sprouted. But since the shopping was done a couple days ago, these babies were gorgeous! I love using my pressure cooker as everything is done so fast and tasty. But I don’t feel like sharing my pressure cooker or special pans with just anyone. Wait. I need to restate this: I don’t want anyone to cook in it, or my special non-stick ‘tofu’ pan. I have shared things like that and ended up not having them after one use by someone in the house beside me. So call me selfish. At least I share the food I make in these special pans. But that means at this time I become a chef. Since standing in one spot is the hardest of exercises for me I made a bargain that the guys do clean up if I cook. That worked out just fine. Tomorrow spaghetti. No need for the pressure cooker. But the people here don’t seem to understand how to cook pasta. Being married to an Italian the first twenty years of adulthood, I have an advantage. Darn! Did I mention I hate cooking? I do like to eat, though so this is in self-defense.

~~~

After I had my food ready I was able to get on Zoom with my friends. I love our Friday ritual. The three of us chat like there’s no tomorrow. Oh, wait, say that isn’t so. But at our ages, and health restrictions, we need to embrace love fully!

~~~

Due to this:

My handwritten journal with day to day entries about the pandemic and how it applies to us, some of my knitting didn’t get done. But it is fun to write and kind of keep track and reflect the lows and lowers of something scary but bringing out the best in most people. Yes, I include those, too. But no projects got finished this week.

Embarrassingly, here are a few more reasons things didn’t get done:

Onnect

For some reason, that game can suck me in and hours later when I look up from my phone, nearly blind with daylight changed almost magically to night. Thoughts to self, Stop playing this game when there are so many things you need to do. I have this game on my tablet, too. The phone, though smaller, has better graphics. Still, addictive and dangerous to your eyes. Play at your own risk!

 

While I’m at it. Here are a few of my favorite games to play while listening to audible books (Outlander 5 is the longest book ever!) In general, these games are fun. But I hate how you need to be socially connected or have money to keep playing. At 2 or 3 AM I am trying to quiet my mind, not find friends! And I certainly can’t afford to pay for cartoon games!

Toon Blast

Toon Blast is probably my favorite of these in that I love the graphics, the cute cartoons, there is a little bit of a challenge and strategy to use, without making me nervous. When any of these games tell me I’m out of lives I just move on to another. I don’t care that lives will be restored in 20 minutes. I usually go away frustrated that I couldn’t keep working at it until I complete a level. In fact, sometimes I enjoy a level so much that I’d like to keep on long after I complete the goal. I just like watching the blocks fall away.

 

Toy Blast

Though a lot like Toon Blast, there are fewer chances to earn lives or coins within the game. I quit discouraged. I don’t play for the challenge or social status. I play to relax and have something to do with my hands while listening. I can’t knit that time of night as that is too much light for my hubby.

Merge Dragon

I just got this and have played only a couple nights. There is far too much to read, in tiny print past the time of glasses to make me happy about it. It’s interesting, though.

Fishdom

This one was over-advertised so I refused to get it for the longest time, even though watching fish swimming through tubes and not get eaten by the shark or burned by lava. Finally, I gave in. It isn’t the tubed fishy thingie. Instead, it is a connect three or more, like the blast games above. The part I like is the opening scene is an aquarium of fish that swim around and sometimes they actually chat with you. Since the goal for me is to help me get sleepy the aquarium is the best part.

There are other games, card games or Sudoku. I find the card games a bit boring after playing them most of my life in one form or another (like with real paper cards!) Sudoku can distract me from the story as I try to figure each puzzle out. During the day I will play different word games. I love them but I don’t get addicted. I can’t play them while listening to stories as the words distract from the words being spoken.

What helps me sleep the most?

Teddy on special blanket is leaning on my left shin.

and

Kali sleeping while leaning on my right thigh.

Best stress relievers ever!

So that’s my March 27, 2020 edition of What Day Is It Anyway? It is Linda’s prompt to help us all through this tough time.

Per Linda:

…if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are going to be hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.

What Day is it Anyway? Thursday, March 26th, 2020 — This and That Thursday

On Linda’s Page (prompter of What Day Is It Anyway?) she talked about not getting to sleep until the third hour. In comments, I mentioned how it isn’t fair that the senior hour for shopping is early mornings. That isn’t really fair and is assumptive of the rule-makers. (I do understand that the cleaning and shelving of products happen at night. Thank you shop-owners for being so kind. This is a life-long issue for me! A night owl by nature.) Though there must be seniors that are early birds, I would guess a lot of us fall into the tossing and turning and seeing holes in the ceiling and stars above, or mountains or monsters that are just clothes or bedding tossed on the corner chair or table–and those are the creative moments. Most of the tossing and turning is pain enhanced by what-ifs, worst-case scenarios, or guilts of what didn’t get done the day before, or that never-ending list of things that must be done tomorrow–which never get done. And we of the senior variety or high-riskers have the most to worry about.

And that leads me to the wake-up with a back story. It is a non-COVID19 story. <shock-face> One night a month or so ago I was rolling over in my sleep. I grabbed the blanket to cozy in. My hand felt crusty-gooeyness. Yuck! I was so sleepy I wanted to ignore it. But YUCK! I’m sure it was upchuck! So I got up and removed said blanket, washed my hands and donned another blanket with a note to myself to keep the cats off my bed. Yeah. That’s gonna happen!

Solution: I found an old pink blanket to put on top of my regular covers. My day starts with me waking because two cats are lying on my up facing side (I sleep on my side) while Kali is curled up near my tummy. I wake because I know that this cozyish moment could turn into World War III including teeth and claws if I don’t get ahead of the situation.

I get up. I yell, “Everyone out of the pool, now!” I do the fastest bedmaking because Teddy is impatient to get the special blanket. Which comes next. It is an old pink blanket. Though thin, it should protect a little against possible crusties. Teddy seems to smile at me and steps right on it and curls up with a sigh that says, ‘Finally!’

As the morning moves on one becomes two as Rosey joins him. These two can be the worst of enemies but it is obvious they like to be together.

 

 

In other news:

I love it when my nails get this long.

There are things you can do with nails that you can’t without. Like a good back-scratching. And they make my fat fingers look nicer. But regardless of the science that says nails stay cleaner when they are short, I tend to disagree. See how clean these sweeties are? When I have short nails, the free-edge gets blackish with dirty, greasy, grimey, crud. I use the brush and have to scrub harder. Without nails, there are things I can’t do with nails, like rub my face. It’ll be nice not to scratch my eyeballs! Though we are advised to keep them short during the pandemic, this is the stage I have to cut anyway–rebel much?–because they break down below the quick. That hurts! So bye, bye nails!

Guess what. I know it is Thursday because last night was Chicago Med, Fire, PD or the Josh Gates shows which are on at the same time so we watch them on the weekends.  I love C. Med. I like C. Fire. I tolerate C. P. D. I love all the Josh Gates shows. I will share the trailers in a moment. I just wanted to finish my thought, it is Thursday and we already took out the trash for tomorrow! Now the trailers.

 

I think of Josh as another of my sons, in fact, he looks and has similar humor to my step-son, so I love him! And I think the shows are very exciting while being educational.

I know. I just noticed this is two trailers from the same show. He has other shows but I didn’t want to wear you out with YouTubes–no, more like, I didn’t want to wear me out looking them all up. Sorry. <–I wanted to say, ‘My bad’ but I hate that phrase!

And now, for no particular reason, a picture of Kali. I think she wanted equal time with the cats starring on this one. Sorry that you had to see the (cleanish except for the cats’ scratchpad cardboard flakes) piddle pad and her ‘hide the biscuits’ (really dog treats not the other) towel. But hey, there’s Pictionary!

Gotta love that face!

😍😘🥰🤗

How is your day going? I hope you are all staying safe and well! Enjoy the close you can get or the internal reflections that can bring you peace, hope, and love. Whatcha cooking? Today we are having Lana Burritos.  Leftover beans and rice with smashed (pressure cooker) potatoes.

 

What Day is it Anyway? Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

Today had less of what I wanted to get done. Less writing. Less walking. Less getting things read on the internet.

I did get out and walk around the yard. It was snowing big fat flakes. By the time I was getting tired the sun was warm on my face. It was not a long walk. That was the way of the weather today, it was switching from windy to cloudy then sleet, then snow, and back again within minutes. The walk was fun. But fibro flares were killing me. Kali was so excited in the snow and didn’t want to go into the house.

Even knitting was less. I think I got a row or two on the sock.

I made a group lunch, pressure cooker beans, and rice cooker brown rice. I made sure to put veggies in. It was good. It felt healthy.

Then a nap took over. Teddy and Kali decided to sleep really close to me. It was kind of cute until the jealousy took over and they tried to claim me.

So how did I get to this end of the day and have no idea what happened to the rest of the day that isn’t listed here? Has anyone else had that happen lately?

What Day Is It Anyway? And where did it go?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday — ect

Per Linda:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ect.” Find a word with the letters “ect” in it, and base your post on that word. (Not to be confused with “et cetera,” which is “etc.”) Enjoy!

Perfect! The object of this blog prompt is words that have ‘ect’ in them. And me with a bit of dyslexia have to sort the words that seem to imply “and so on”. Meanwhile the subject on my mind is how Chrome keeps slowing the whole job down. I might type one word but then it all hangs up with “Chrome is not responding.”

No sense in worrying about it. I pick up my knitting and wait. Then I get distracted by Doc Martin. Appendectory here, expectorant there. How about an injection? I’ll never get this blog done. But the affects of computer problems is my own irritation. The effectiveness of getting the writing done, null.

Well, then, if nothing is going to happen here, I guess I’ll go get my yarn connection. The affection I have for soft yarn is purrfect! Oh, that was Teddy putting in his interjection.

No W-A-L-K

Imagine this conversation.

Kali: Do we get to walk today?

Me: No, it’s too windy.

Kali: (insert cuss words here)

So I tried to show her how the shrubs were blown flat in places and stuff was flying and you couldn’t see but maybe ten miles for the dust.

Suddenly I hear ‘A wee mo whap, a wee mo whap, In the Jungle…’

In the sun but protected by the sagebrush, the owner of the property (here before we moved here). We think she is a female, just in case we ever get the chance to see for sure, she is either Jasmine or he is Jasper.

 

That’s the best picture of her so far. She looks like our indoor cat, Teddy.

Who has run away from home and found outside was a horrid place. Now he spends his days on my bed, purely serene in the warmth and comfort. He loves that I put on the old pink blanket to protect my bed as he thinks it is just his special place.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday — Animal Sounds

Pixabay.com

A beauty like this guy struts in my yard every day. He is not ours. Neither is his matching hen or a white hen. They wander our yard like they own the place. That’s okay with me as I think that cock-a-doodle-doo protects our three quieter hens.

Pixabay.com

Our three look like this one. We had four but a hawk got one of them. My brother had them all named. But I don’t know them that intimately. I do take care of one of their meals of the day. I have two peanut butter toasted sandwiches for breakfast. Kali gets one little corner and the chickens get the crusts. I am a vegetarian by nature. I am allergic to egg whites to the extent that I can’t get the flu shots or others that are based in albumin. But I love the sounds of the clucking and crowing all over my yard. They do their part to scratch out bugs and fertilize the soil. And my husband and brother enjoy the eggs. Me? I’m hoping for wee peep-peeps! But our girls attack the rooster if he comes near. Yay! Hens-lib! ??

Oh, that grass seen in the above pictures? That is truly greener on the other side of the fence. Our neighbor has managed to make and keep a beautiful lawn. We barely manage to keep the sagebrush away from our house.

Other animal sounds we hear around here lately are coyotes and their pups.  One poor girl here was followed to the bus stop by a coyote. She was smart and stood tall and yelled and it ran away. But they can be quite dangerous for people and pets. We have to keep our gate closed and watch carefully for those who might jump over into our yard. Kali and the chickens are in danger. As are the two stray cats that have been here even before we moved here. Rosey and Teddy are indoor felines. Meow!

Our other neighbor has turkeys. When we gave ours away he got some of his own so the gobbles are still a welcome sound.

What doesn’t make sound, that we can hear here are the alpacas that are across the way. They are cute. I wish I had one. Can you imagine the yarn I could get if I got good at alpaca husbandry?

We have seen bear droppings at the campground twelve miles away. That is a sound I don’t want to hear! GRRRowl!

Oh, I just thought of the deer and antelope that play around this here range. Kind of like the baaing of lambs or goats that some neighbors have. There are a few horses. Neigh, not a lot. Ducks and geese quack their honks and especially at sunset as they settle down.

The most annoying, yet cute sound? Oh, my goodness. This mildish winter has brought in the mice. We have cute mice with shiny coats. The other day I was reaching in a cabinet for a can of beans and I heard a high pitch bunch of squeaks. It is no fun to live in the country when you find things like that.  My brother found them and the chickens ate them up. Yes, I have tears in my eyes as I think of it. Soon after he caught a few bigger mice in traps.

I thought you might enjoy what our outdoor friends do that I have seen happen.

I just remembered the wonderful sound of last summer. We had some frogs somewhere between our yard and the nearest neighbor. The co-roaking was so cool! I hope we get it again this year, By the way, the weather is getting warmer and my son and I have made plans to start walking a bit. We spell out the word W-A-L-K so Kali doesn’t get too crazy. Her whining can quickly turn into barking lectures of great magnitude!

Per Linda:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “animal sounds.” Write about the sounds animals make and how you experience them. Have fun!

 

The Trap

So, this happened this morning. Let me explain. Chris gets the cats. Kali sleeps with me. When he gets up early they congregate with the swing-shift sleeper. But how to get up? Kali’s dilemma is worse. Here’s the pictorial version. The first has a circle around our sleeping Rosey. Arrow points to Kali, who didn’t fit in the frame. Oh, and the blue plaid are my PJ pants and I’m right up against the wall.I figure out how to ease off the end of the bed.Kali’s face tells the story. And finally she has figured it out.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

I saw the above on FaceBook today and giggled.

Now at 10:52PM, I have three furry people sleeping.

Like this one:

Teddy meditates after licking the gravy from his wet food. We feed these monsters so late so that they will let us sleep all night.

It just happened. That nightly ritual. “Dad” gets the cats off his lap and I start giving the cheer to Kali about what is happening in the kitchen. Some would say these guys are spoiled. I don’t know. Yes, there is half a minute that each dish is warmed in the microwave. Then “Dad” brings the dishes in our room and puts down Rosey’s first. Kali waits patiently as hers is second, Then Prince Teddy must be found and picked up and placed in front of his food.

Then the chewing and chomping and slurping begins. To the observer, everyone is in their places. Until they aren’t. Teddy finished with gravy jumps up on my bed and takes a quick bath and stares off into space. Rosey and Kali exchange bowls. Then Rosey finishes Teddy’s and Kali makes sure they are all empty. Sometimes I find the bowls in the bathroom or under the bed, they are so thorough in their nightly gnashings.

Kali then settles near me and Rosey gets back to “Dad’s” lap. The rest of the night they are quiet.

If you didn’t know, Chew/choo was the prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Thank you Linda G. Hill for this fun challenge.