Musings on a Small Life

From Monday after work, so hot the boys didn't want to stay out in the garden.       Peace . [Comments are off, as "wordless" means "comment-less" here!)

Friends Robin and Chuck came up this weekend, he to work on my baseboard trim. (I know I've said it many times already, but I'm so lucky and so thankful to have met them, and I'd feel that way even without all their help.) What a delight to have baseboards, and not just any slapped on, poorly done baseboards, but nice trim! It was worth all the mess and cleaning.  :-)     All that's left is the kitchen (which means two or three small pieces) and the basement landing (two small pieces). But I do need to pick up a few more lengths of trim to finish. I thought what I got with Dad would be more than enough, but not quite. Anyway, we took an early Sunday morning walk, when all was quiet, and made some new four-legged friends. This is George, whom I'd met within the past few weeks while on the way home from work. Quite elderly, a bit senile, very friendly. He didn't hesitate to run to Robin for attention. He also still had enough energy to run to ...

A very happy 9th birthday to my smoochy bear, who is 9 today. Well, his real birth date isn't known, obviously, but June 24 is the date the shelter put on his papers and is close enough.  :-) I hope the Fates are kind and grant us many more healthy, happy years together.  ❤ Hugs and kisses to my little bear from me and head butts from Nicki.

Aside from Leon's, let me fill everyone in on what's been going on. Pull up a chair! So I've already posted about the downed hydro poles, which still is under investigation. In spite of the numerous rumours, our utilities company has no idea how it happened and has had to hire an external firm to look into the cause. Also already noted in a previous post: My power was off for only a short time last Friday, though the townhouse complex below us lost power for about 12 hours. Not so lucky with my cable/phone/internet, all bundled via my cable company. I was out of commission on all three fronts for about 24 hours. Then, when we came back online, I couldn't get my old wireless router to operate, the upshot being that when Dad and my uncle were here, I got a new router, the last sale one on the shelf at Best Buy. I had further problems with my phone being offline (more cable company problems), and once that was fixed, I had no internet again (a syncing problem, ...

Not really wordless -- just to finally show what a (mostly) good boy Nicki is.  :-) The first from my uncle's cell phone (highly cropped) and the second from Dad (also cropped).   Peace .

Well, this saga never ends. Apparently the wrong order was placed, so the delivery guys showed up yesterday morning with a sofa bed and I just flipped out. I was SO p*ssed off after already waiting 10+ weeks. The salesperson was to have called me and explained the situation and offered use of the sofa bed until the real couch came in. He hadn't, so I didn't know this at the time, of course. The delivery guys called Leon's, the store manager (?) called me and explained, but I still refused the sofa bed, said I had to hang up and think about what I wanted to do (refund, wait for the proper one to come in). Anyway, the upshot is that after we ran an errand, we went up to Leon's, I spoke with the (presume) manager, settled on borrowing the loveseat till the couch comes in, and had them write that if it's not here by July 11 I'll get a full refund. The plus out of this, I suppose, is that they never would have gotten a full size sofa (bed or not) into this house...

I was without phone, cable or internet for about 24 hours. We lost power for a while yesterday around noon, but it was up and running when I got home at 1PM yesterday (vacation day). http://www.thewhig.com/2016/06/17/officials-cannot-pinpoint-cause-of-downed-hydro-poles The other complex down the street was without power till midnight, though! (Talked with someone who lives there, while on the bus this AM.) I'm up and running now, but my old wireless router is toast. Long story. As for Derry...His FIV and FeLV tests came back negative yesterday -- I called the vet office via my cell phone late in the day. I'll see what I can do about a urine sample in a week or two, but given that his creatinine is spot on in the middle of the range, his kidneys likely are fine at this time, as the vet suspects.  Oh, my couch...It's in, too bad they couldn't deliver this weekend. I called from my cell when I got home this morning. Delivery will be sometime on Monday...

Poor little bear, off he went to the vet yesterday afternoon, for a check of his new (fatty) lump and to have a senior panel (including thyroid) run (that was me being proactive, not the vet's suggestion). It felt like forever for the taxi to arrive at the house, and the driver whistled tunelessly most of the way to the clinic, while slapping his right arm with his left hand. O-kay...! The vet (whom I do like) kept us waiting, even though I don't think he was in any other appointment. Granted, he could have been trying to scarf down a late lunch or something. Then it took forever to get a blood sample and do the needle aspirate. Eventually the vet stuck his head out and asked if it was okay to shave Derry's neck, because they couldn't get his vein. I said fine, of course, and then could hear the buzzing of the clippers. Ten minutes later (it felt like that, maybe it was less...maybe it was more) I heard the buzzing again as they were shaving the other side...

I remember I used to do this on the boys' blog, post Tuesday tussles. In this case, the pics were snapped last Friday afternoon, after work. It started like this...and might have involved some leftover nip on the mat.  Nicki came up and then it was game on.                           It was a draw, probably because I stepped in and spoiled their fun at this point. Usually one of them cries "uncle", but neither was calling it quits this time and sometimes Nicki gets a bit too serious about it. I don't get many tussle pics anymore, so it was fun to catch them outdoors for a change. Peace .