Sunday, May 25, 2003 Wow! What a lot I can get done when I’m not sitting in front of the computer, surfing the internet.
I got most of the grass pulled at the side of the pool, for one thing. A week ago Saturday, Brian went down to the shop to change the oil in a couple of the trucks and while he was gone, I pulled weeds. When he got home, we went shopping. I’d gotten dahlias and snapdragons and another couple of plants that grow well in the sun (I know their name, I just can’t remember it right now) the previous week and we decided that I needed to plant more than the ones I already had. Off to Home Depot and Wal-Mart in Santee. I didn’t see any plants I liked at either place, so off we went to the Wal-Mart in El Cajon, off of highway 8. They have a much bigger selection of garden stuff there. We got six more fair sized plants.
Then Sunday, he went to Ranchita and I went back to work in the yard pulling that infernal grass. The day was warm and I had on a tank top and I got majorly sunburned. Even the part in my hair got too much sun. But I made a lot of headway on the grass. Finally, by Monday evening, I’d gotten most of the grass pulled and the plants put down. But I still had quite a bit of empty space left. I needed more plants.
Tuesday, I had an appointment for one of my bi-yearly teeth cleanings. I figured after I left the dentist’s office, I’d go down to Rite-Aid and check out the Whiskas food they had (we got a flyer in the mail, 4 cans for .88). At the dentist’s I had a great checkup. Nothing new, my gums are even getting better. Since there’s no sign of worsening gum disease (when I was single, I didn’t go to doctors very often and when I finally went after we got married, it had been 23 years since my last dentist visit and I had a few cavities, but some pretty scary gum disease; all four quadrants were planed which wasn’t pleasant, but my gums have only gotten better with proper care and checkups) and the x-rays didn’t show any problems (these were the first full mouth x-rays taken since 1994) I was free to go. And off to Rite-Aid I went.
Well, the cat food wasn’t anything to write home about, pretty disappointing to be honest. I figured I’d walk down to Albertson’s and see what they had available. But in front of Rite-Aid, they had flowers. Flats and flats of small flowers. All sorts of flowers. And they were four for five dollars. Not a bad price at all. I got twenty of them. My plan was to put them down around the larger plants and hope that they would all spread so there would be a lot of color along the fence. A lot of color. Reds and blues and purples and pinks and fuschias and yellows and oranges and whites. And green. Of course, green. When I was inside the store, I saw that they also had garden statuary on sale. Yeah, I know, how hokey, but come on. It’s fun! I got a toad on a piece of wood, a bunny and a squirrel holding a nut. I also picked up two little Dutch windmill pinwheels. I packed the back of the Bronco and went down to Albertson’s where I found the Whiskas (you can’t believe the amount of different foods I’ve gotten with the hope that Lucky would eat a little more) three cans for a buck. I got eightteen of them.
Then I came home and unloaded the Bronco. Little Ciara has gotten wise to the side gate and she almost slipped out while I was carrying the flats of flowers in. Grrr…...
before
I talked to my mom Wednesday morning and told her about the flowers I’d gotten. She said “you know, there are six plants in each of those packages. You’ve got a hundred and twenty plants to put down; that’s a lot.” No, I didn’t realize that. Whoa! Anyway, by Wednesday night, I had all the flowers down.
after
In the second photograph, you can see the drain that Brian put in when he did the pool so many years ago. I have to say that getting it cleaned out was one of the more frustrating things I did. I tried hosing it out, but the concrete had cracks in it where the ground had settled and water kept pooling up in front of the fantail palm. This was nasty dirty water and the cats kept drinking it. For the most part, I don’t think that would have been much of a problem, but Sammy and DeeJay have very sensitive digestive systems and it didn’t set well with either of them. It took some doing and I was finally able to get it cleaned out and the water runs fairly smoothly under the fence into the yard behind us. (That’s the only water their yard will see this summer, you can count on that. Such a nice property, too. It’s really a shame they don’t keep up with it better. For a while, there was a running joke here in the house that you can tell when they’re getting ready to have a party; they water the lawn the week before. Yeah, that should green it right up. Not.)
Like I said, by Wednesday night, I had all 130 plants in the ground (one of the six packs of alyssum only had five plants). I had to move three that I’d gotten from Wal-Mart. They said that they were for full sun, but the full sun just beat them down. I moved them to the corner by the fantail palm, where they’d get more shade than sun. I’m hoping I don’t lose them. Brian and I were out looking at them Thursday night and I mentioned that I hoped the plants would all make it. He said that he figured I’d be lucky if twenty-five percent didn’t die. Twenty-five percent! I responded that I hoped none would die. He said that if none died, that wouldn’t be luck, that would be work. Well, no duh. I still have to water them this morning. What’s kind of nice is since I got them all planted, the weather has cooled off considerably. Last weekend we were in the high eighties, this weekend it hasn’t been much over seventy and the marine layer isn’t burning off until mid afternoon.
So, without further ado, here are some photos of my hard work.
Sammy checks out one of the flowers
The cats also like the new look
Of course, the snails and slugs have joined us. I ordered some “Sluggo” slug and snail killer yesterday. It’s biodegradable and even more important, pet friendly. I can also use it on the catnip garden and vegetable plants.
I thought it would be very nice to have the weekend off, no planting, no cleaning, no laundry.
Thursday afternoon, I vacuumed and washed some of the walls in the family room, and used the Floormate in the bedroom, family room, my bathroom and the hallways. I had washed the runners for the bedroom previously and I put those down. The bedding was fresh, the bedroom was dusted and it was a nice room. We still had been having the problem with one of the cats peeing on the pillows. I still wasn’t sure which cat was doing it. I liberally sprayed the No-Pee stuff and I thought I’d be safe. Not so. After nine Thursday night, I saw that some cat had peed on Brian’s pillow. I was so frustrated at this point that I started yelling and I ripped all of the clean bedding from the bed. There was a serious spot of urine on the mattress pad. I went into the garage and got the Little Green Clean machine, heated water and filled the reservoir. I washed the mattress and put down the clean mattress pad (I’m really glad we’ve got two and I’m really glad that was one of the first things I washed Thursday morning; I’d had to change it Wednesday, due to cat urine on the pillows). I was so angry. For some reason, DeeJay kept jumping up on the bed and I kept putting him back on the floor. His timing was incredibly bad. Brian helped me make the bed, but I was irritated and he couldn’t move fast enough for me. I was in a mood and it wasn’t a good time to be in the same room with me, believe it or not. I was so frustrated that I actually declared the bedroom a cat free zone when we weren’t in there. That lasted until the morning.
Ah, the morning. One thing I made sure I’d washed were all of the covers on the sofas in the family room. And what did I see, so early Friday morning? Well, I found cat puke. That completely went from the middle of the sofa, onto the arm and all over the pillow. At 5:45, Friday morning, I started my first load of laundry. I did laundry all day long. The only time the washer wasn’t running was when I was either loading or unloading and the twenty minutes I spent in the shower. Nine or ten loads. That’s quite a bit for a house with no children. I have a habit of filling the laundry basket and just putting it in the exercise room if I’m not in the mood to fold laundry. I had three loads there to fold, along with all of the stuff I was in the process of laundering. Brian had mentioned getting a big piece of plastic and just covering the bed with it. I found an old vinyl tablecloth and used that over the pillows on the bed. So far, so good. No cat has peed on them since Thursday night. And I think I figured out who the culprit is. Through the process of elimination, I came up with Mickey. I had thought maybe it was Oliver, but he was outside on the most recent assault. Then I thought maybe it was George, but it wasn’t. He sprays to mark, he doesn’t flat out urinate on stuff. I started Mickey on amoxicillan Friday, in case he’s got a bladder infection. He’s definitely not having a problem going, though.
We’ve not seen Angus in weeks now. Sometimes the food is eaten way down, but more often, there’s leftovers in the morning. I know this has happened before, but I still worry. I hope he’s still alive and well. Little Bit and KittyMeeze are still spending a lot of time here during the day. And I think Little Bit is starting to think “safe place” about our property when she’s frightened. I saw her in Old Yeller’s yard this morning and something scared her, she ran up their driveway to the street, up the curb and into our yard, under one of the vehicles. I don’t know where they are right now, though. I saw the Little Man out washing one of the boats yesterday. I think the cats at one point were living in one of the boats so I’m sure it wasn’t a fun job. I surely wish they’d just live here, ya know?
Yesterday, we went out to an early breakfast. When we got home, I got some more stuff in the washer (I can’t even believe that I can’t catch up on it), sheets this time. After they were done, I got one of the slip covers in the living room in the machine and used my Little Green Clean machine to wash some of the bad spots on the loveseat. I also cleaned the side and back of Brian’s recliner in the family room. Places that the cats like to mark. Then I finished a book I’d started earlier in the week. I didn’t do much else the rest of the day. I’d kind of wanted to lay by the pool, but as I mentioned, it was a little on the cool side. So, I stayed inside and read. I started and finished Stephen King’s “From a Buick 8” that I got last year. I read three books last week, even after all of that housework and yardwork I did. Amazing how much I can do if I get off of the internet, isn’t it?
I lost another two pounds, too! That’s a total of eighteen now. I’ve really had the munchies bad, though and that’s not good. We did go out to dinner Friday night, to Boll Weevil. I had fish and chips. I gave Brian probably a quarter of my “chips”. And we went to breakfast yesterday morning, where I’ve gotten really good at eating only half of my food. I was hoping that two ‘good’ meals would help alleviate this wanting to continuously eat, but it hasn’t. It’s a good thing we don’t have a bunch of crap in the house to eat, otherwise I’d be eating it.
I guess that’s about it for now. The cats are all doing well, for the most part. Sammy had the runs, but I think that’s from the water in the little drain. There have been a few spats, nothing major that I can think of right now. DeeJay is a little puny, but I think that also has to do with the dirt water. He’s got a pretty good appetite, fought me last night getting fluids, the bum. Kirby has been a little feisty, I don’t know what that’s about, I hope it passes soon. Mickey has been a little more vocal than usual, but maybe that has something to do with the urinary thing. Ciara has been more affectionate than usual, rubbing against my hands and demanding to be held and loved. Lonee is spending lots more time in the living room now. Angel is venturing out more often. Jackson has pulled off most of his mats (I fleetingly thought of putting them up for auction as “kitty toupees” but threw them out instead) and he’s looking odd. I made an appointment for Benny for this coming Tuesday to get his summer lion cut. Richie, Opie, and Daniece are spending lots of time down by the pool now. Rolling in the dirt, coming into the house and sleeping on the clean sofa covers. Pete is letting me pick him up more often. He doesn’t mind being in my arms and having his back and head stroked. Of course, he’s always able to jump down at any point, which I think makes him more comfortable. Autumn has gone into a hide mode. I have to actively look for her at least twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. Sometimes I’m lucky and she’ll peer down from the rafters when she hears her name being called or she’ll be doing her meatloaf imitation on one of the runners next to the bed. (I’ve noticed she likes to look at herself in the wardrobe mirror door.) Katie still looks scared when I put my hand out to pet her (she’s really strange sometimes) but is amenable at times to being held. She’ll purr and do the biscuit thing on my arm.
Well, off to water the flowers. Have a great weekend!
