Musings on a Small Life

1. Woken up through the night by Derry, who repeatedly wanted his cuddles. I love you too, Derry. 2. Up at 4AM to feed the cats, let them out in the back space, MAKE COFFEE. 3. Laundry 4. Clean windows in back two rooms...which haven't been cleaned since they were installed oh, 1.5 years ago. And only done now because I might have an overnight wedding guest (the wedding I'm attending tomorrow) stay after the reception/party (which I have no intention of staying for, myself). I hope that won't be the case, because it's a lot of bother for one night (and a lot of clean up and laundry after), but I'll just have to roll with it, whatever happens. 5. Out the door at 8AM to walk the half hour to my bank (payday). No walking, no eating!  :-) 6. Bus out to the west end, a stop at McDonald's for coffee and a hash brown (I admit I love all the fat...160 calories in one of those). 7. On foot to PetSmart for kibble and some canned on sale. Hurrah for the sale! ...

Yesterday our humidex made it feel like it was 98.6 F out there. Today, at lunch time, it feels like 96.8 F. It will be hotter by the time I leave at the end of the day. Need I say that my townhouse is an oven? I really dislike these extremes, from extreme cold for so many months to extreme heat. Or what I consider extreme heat. We might live in a pretty good country, all in all, but gees, we got the short end of the stick when it comes to climate.  *** Mom and Harry's house will go on the market tomorrow. She sent me a preliminary link with all the pictures the realtor's photographer had taken. The house is stuck between the 1960s and 1980s and needs a lot of cosmetic work, but the bones are good, it's been well cared for, the yard is nice, there's lots of space to work with...so I hope, for Mom's sake, it not only sells relatively quickly but that she gets what she needs for the price too.  Harry remains in hospital, as he can't retu...

I went for a lunch time walk today, mostly because I need to burn enough calories to eat supper.  :-p It's heat-stroke hot out there and of course my hat is at home. I admit to feeling woozy now, with a slight headache, even though I was gone for only 40 minutes. However, I got some snapshots, so that made up for it. Heading across campus to the waterfront.   The perfect day to be out on the water, if sailing is your thing.     There were two more on the water doing this...a version of punting?   Ms. Duck was keeping cool.   This goose was busy grooming and ignored me as I crouched down and took several pics.   This dog did not want to get out of the water! Smart!   Love the colour of the lilies. These are all growing in front of a classroom building and I couldn't resist a few snapshots.     On a sad note, Ivy from Cats of Wildcat Woods , has crossed to the "Rainbow Bridge." Image...

Snapped yesterday morning on the way to work. Another few days on myfitnesspal.com and I might fight him or her for the next piece. (Kidding! Well....) It's Friday, I'm "sneaking" out of the office in a few minutes, and will wish everyone a good weekend. Snapped this morning.   Peace .

Let's see... The vet called last night; Derry's needle aspirate came back all clear, just fatty tissue as expected. Still, it was a relief. Mom is putting the house up for sale, it will be listed as soon as all the "clutter" is cleared off surfaces, so hopefully by the end of the week. Harry's daughter and son-in-law are off this week helping her with this. Harry is/was a pack rat -- for example, Mom told me yesterday that they got rid of 90 (!) picture frames that were all over the house (with family photos in them). And another 18 more still to go. Can you imagine? I'm always so keenly aware that when I die someone has to clear out my stuff, hence the reason I like to pare it down. It also brings home to me that the "things" we place so much value on mean nothing to anyone else (unless it's a family heirloom, something to be passed on to generations). Yet we seem to attach ourselves to "things" all the time, don't we? ...

If only I weren't so squeamish, or far too soft-hearted and thin-skinned for the business, I could have been a vet. Click to enlarge I took today as a vacation day so I could take Derry in to have his lump checked. Poor "little" bear. (Not so little, he's gained 0.6 pounds since the end of March.) Anyway, the vet really thinks it's just (another) fatty lump, but of course I had the needle aspirate done. I couldn't not do it. $40 for a "brief" exam, then $45 for the needle aspirate itself, never mind the $126 charge for the testing. For $258.32, taxes included, that sample had better come back as benign. Derry earlier this morning, before the trip to the dreaded vet.     As for his weight -- oy. He's like me, he just looks at food and gains. I'd recently (a few weeks ago) cut back his favourite junky canned food by half and am noticing he's eating less, because he's not as fond of anything else. If that doesn...

Even if it's just a very small painting project! Since I never was able to get the counter top replaced (because 1. he never did get back in touch after he and his wife went on vacation and 2. the funds all went for Derry's dental on March 31), I took it into my head to prime the "island" today, to at least cover the ugly green and in prep for (maybe) putting a coat or two of suitable paint on it. That was coat #3 of 6. It took only a few minutes to paint it, of course, but an hour to dry between each coat. I had a fan blowing on the area to help things along, but it's seriously hot today and the house is an oven. It probably would have dried super-fast without any help. Beats me what colour to paint it now. Maybe just white. I don't care anymore. This was enough to make me realize that I do NOT want to put the time and effort into repainting the rest of the counter or heaven forbid the old doorless cupboards. Anyway, the boys have bee...

Because someone who likes to get up there and who shall remain nameless (Nicki) dislodged this little tube. Took the repairman, what, two seconds (if that) to "fix." I saw the tube hanging down this morning and thought that wasn't right (lol), but I couldn't see where the end went and the schematics in the manual were not helpful to me. At least I know how to "repair" it if the same thing happens again! Crazy cat.  

Good thing I shower at night and that I do my hair only every other day! No hot water this AM, which I quickly discovered when I filled up the sink to do (cat) dishes early this morning. I knew right away that it was the hot water tank, this is the third or fourth problem I've had with it since its installation in March 2010. Today's issue is "error code 4." Something about the wiring or a disconnected tube. Never had any problem with the old one until it up and died. They don't make anything like they used to! I called the utilities company, of course, at 5AM, but the answering service said a tech wouldn't be in until 7AM (office doesn't open till 8AM). So I hung around till 8AM and said I had to get to work -- we compromised on a service call anytime after 4PM. So I'll leave early today (yay!) and go home to twiddle my thumbs and wait some more. As long as someone shows up by this evening to fix it, I'll be a happy camper. Meanwhile, it'...

Today is sweater weather, a welcome relief from the humidity. I had left my patio door open a crack last night (locked the screen, of course) and the temp on the main level had fallen 10 degrees overnight. Whew! It was still stuffy upstairs, but today's open windows should take care of that. Two days of blessed relief, then the forecast is for typical hot and sticky weather again. Derry was so happy with the cool wind this morning that he zoomed around like mad. He was far more sedate yesterday after work, below.  Derry also caught a giant moth, I think, around 4:30AM. There was one flying around the back space, so neither boy wanted to come in for breakfast, then a short time later I saw Derry crunching something. I didn't look too closely. Oh, the coyotes across the street, in the acres of abandoned commercial space (now slated for development) were yipping like mad this morning too, just around 4:15AM (before the moth). They must have caught something. They...