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2025 ARCHIVE
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Way Back Machine
1999 Ramblings

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2005 Ramblings
January 1, 2025 - I will begin my new year complaining about commercials on TV. I hope you all investigate anything you may see on TV in a commercial that interests you. Example - HomeAglow. No one in any world in this universe or any parallel universe would do that without a catch, and HomeAglow has many 'catches' - it sounds too good to be true and it is. I will beg all humans to research ANYTHING they plan on doing - or to investigate any human you may hire or service you may employee. Big Mom sigh. That goes for the Rocket Money app. Are the younger people in America so stupid that they don't keep track of their money? If I had a ton of subscriptions open that took tons of money out of my bank account every month, I WOULD KNOW. Don't you humans check your bank accounts? Do you know there is a fee to use Rocket Money? Sigh. Ok, I'm done now...

January 4, 2025 - Geez, I started my New Year by complaining about commercials? What is next - shaking my fist at squirrels that come in to my yard? Maybe I will start to write letters full of complaints to the government. Who knows. Get off my lawn...

My boys will be over tomorrow to have Spaghetti pie and hot fudge cake for my youngest son's 32 Birthday. That is always his meal of choice. Oh, and garlic cheese biscuits too. I forgot to pick up the hamburger for the pie, so I will have to make a run in to town today. Duh on my part. We've had some snow and it is nice and cold here. When I woke up and checked the weather, it said it "felt like 0 degrees" with the wind chill. Now it is up to 6 degrees! Already a heat wave.

My BFF called last night and it was a hoot. We started talking about life, the universe, and everything in a serious manner then meandered over to the concept of the Universe and how big it is and how small we are, then it got to the point where we were laughing hysterically (which we always end up doing) and I peed myself a little (ok, a lot). When we get to laughing like hyenas it doesn't matter what she says or I say, it just makes it all funnier. She and I could NEVER work together EVER as we'd be thrown out of the building by noon. There is a lot of history with us two, and we've both evolved as humans over the decades - sometimes for the good - sometimes for the bad. Nonetheless, we've kept open minds the last decade or so and have learned more things than ever before. It was a successfully fun Friday night.

My grandson - oh my! My daughter sent me a video of him eating spaghetti with some cheese, and she got him to say CHEESE and he said it so proudly and with gusto. His face was covered with sauce and cheese but you could tell he liked what he was eating. I have watched that video a mere 50 times, I swear. He recovered from his illness finally and is back to being a very curious 1 year old. She sent another pic last week of him barricaded in his play area so she could work and another pic of him with a bowl of Cheerios and you could see the trail of Cheerios behind him. It is such fun watching him grow. I have said it 600 times, but geez - I wish they lived closer. I do so enjoy the times she calls and I have "Dinner with Grandson" via video. I told her he eats like a starving Viking warrior.

Knock on Wood, my heat pump/split units are still working. I didn't want to say it, because of all the trouble I've had with them since they installed them...I have perhaps jinxed myself but the gentle heat in waves is nice.

Norman is still sleeping - once I got up he took my warm bed. He is not a fan of this cold weather, so his urge to go out and have zoomies and play ball and be all stupid are not as high as in the spring and summer. Oh, he still has them, mind you. He zooms around the yard when I take out the Herby Curby and when I bring it back up. I keep the garbage can in a position to protect me in the event he judges the drive by gallops incorrectly. This morning when I sat down at my desk, I found a hardened string of Norman slobber hanging from my desk shelf. It was rather fascinating to me. Hahahahaha. Then it dawned on me - where is there NOT a hardened blob of his goo in my house? They are everywhere.

Off I go I suppose to do something productive. Back to full time work next week. Ugh. That is always hard after having two weeks with time off in the middle of the week. We kick in doing deep dives in the new software too. Another UGH. Que Sera, Sera I suppose...

January 8, 2025 - Soooooooo, funny story. Besides just baking a spinach mushroom pizza ON the cardboard just now and wondering why it was so hard to cut (until I figured out the cardboard and was thankful I did not attempt to eat said cardboard) I had said last time I posted that my heat pump was still working. Well, I did indeed jinks myself! Ugh.

Last night, all night,  and all day today it was 55 degrees in the house. The thing stopped working. Again. There have been many "Agains"... When I first noticed it was getting chilly in the house last night, I reset the breaker to see if that would help, but it did not. I sent a service message on the website of the people that installed it for me expressing my feeling up being irate and frustrated. It was pointless to call the emergency line since they couldn't have seen at night to fix anything. The owner saw that email and emailed me back. He stated he could not express how sorry he was for all these issues. He was going to send someone out as soon it was daylight. I emailed him back to state it was 55 in the house and I was cold, so I appreciate him sending someone out.

I was still cold. Norman was confused and cold. He woke me up at four a.m. whining. Dogs don't understand technical issues. I got out my huge 'bear' housecoat and put it on. I covered him up with blankets on the couch. He went back to sleep. I just started work since I was up anyway.

So, if you want to say something that you think may jinx yourself, don't say it. Trust me on this one. "And Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart..."  I will do that next time for sure.

January 12, 2025 - Last night I fell asleep on the toilet AGAIN. That does just one thing - causes your legs to go to sleep - cuts off circulation from your butt to your feet. At one point I felt myself tipping forward and abruptly woke up and attempted to stand up. That wasn't working because I couldn't feel my legs, so I sort of fell towards the sink. I caught myself, swearing at myself the whole time, and pushed myself back. I fell back on the toilet. I grabbed the bars we put up for my husband when he was so bad off and slowly stood up. I moved my legs until I could feel them again. I have to find a way NOT to fall asleep on that damned toilet. Maybe I need to turn on the light when I do night pee runs, huh? That would keep me awake I think. Duh. Living alone is going to kill me, I am pretty sure.

I had made beef and noodles earlier this week and have had that every night for supper since, even with giving a bunch away to my neighbor. It was good, mind you, but after four days - THAT IS ENOUGH. Tonight I fixed myself some shrimp with Linguine noodles and garlic and broccoli.That was a nice change of pace.

This afternoon I was feeling lonely and worthless, so I decided to take out the recycling and the garbage. Then I decided to sweep the floor. I used my old vacuum. (I got myself a newer one because the one I had just wasn't sucking well.) The old one has a longer hose to reach under things, so I did my sweeping while Norm attacked it constantly. I decided I would clean out the bagless tank. It was dirty! I cleaned that out and on top of the tank was a switch I had never noticed before, so I flipped it. FILTERS!? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THING HAD FILTERS!! I washed/cleaned those out too. They were beyond dirty. Must have been a half a pound of dirt in the one! Cripes. Maybe I didn't need a new vacuum after all. I will see how the old one works once everything is all dried out. What ever you do, Sandy - don't read the manual....duh.

Next week we go full tilt into 'Phase Two' of the implementation. If you don't hear from me in weeks, I'm either drowning in work (or I am dead on the bathroom floor. Half a dozen of one...) I have stopped working ungodly hours because I was burning out. Now I will work my 9 hours or so and stop. I can only do so much. Our whole team can only do so much. We're doing our normal jobs on top of learning a whole new system. It's been frustrating and draining. I know a year from now we will look back on this and laugh, but right now no one feels much like laughing.

Norman had every toy he owns out in the middle of the floor today. I was not paying him enough attention apparently. He doesn't much like the snow, so him playing outside will have to wait. He wants to chase his ball so badly, but it gets packed with snow and he won't pick it up. Poor Norman. I did throw all those toys for him this afternoon and he would fetch on one for a while, then switch out. He is like having a toddler, I swear. He turned 5 this month! Can you believe that! It's been five years. Time is zipping by so fast!! The snow plow man came today and did my driveway, and Norman didn't stop barking the whole time he was here. Defending Mom from the snow plow, he was. I texted the gentleman before he left and told him THANK YOU and he wrote back that "he was late, but he would never forget me..." and "I have two Great Danes of my own. Love those guys..." so it was obvious he saw Norman slobbering up the front window while he plowed. Hahaha.

I ordered myself two space heaters in case (the thing that shall not be named) stops working again. It is supposed to get quite cold this week then start warming up for the weekend. I don't want to get as cold as I did the other day. Neither does Norman! I also ordered myself a new floor lamp for next to my desk and my reading chair. That will be nice to have better lighting.

Have a marvelous week!

January 17, 2025 - A hawk just swooped in to a very busy bird feeder area of mine, and everyone flew off in a panic. One sparrow hit my kitchen window and went down. The hawk was very interested of course, and everyone has to eat, but I went out to check on the wee one and the hawk flew off. I petted the sparrows head for a bit. It got up, hopped around, looking up at me like, "What the hell just happened?" Poor little dude. I stood out with the wee until it was able to fly away on its own. He won't be dinner tonight. My apologies to Mr. Hawk. Speaking of my birdies - I had my neighbor scavenge me a piece of plywood (4 x 5) for the end of the dog pen. In the winter I put the bird feeders in the dog pen else the deer eat all the seed up... This way now they have a wind break from westerly winds. (Thank you, Justin!) Norman barked at it for 10 minutes when he saw it and he wouldn't go near it. It is comforting to know that I am protected from random pieces of plywood that might show up to attack me. I ended up having to bungie cord it to the fence since the wind kept knocking it over.

What a FRICKEN WEEK!! My brain is all used up. I am grateful for a weekend re-charge. I should work tonight and this weekend but I doubt I will bring myself to...I need time away from it. We'll see how I feel after a night's sleep. Maybe I will work a little, maybe I won't. I'm at the point where I have so much to do that I don't know where to start. Sigh. Spinning in circles - PFFFTT.

Twice this week someone ran a stop sign when I was attempting to turn left (and they had a stop sign too...) ARGH. I am grateful my breaks work so well, but mad that people are in a mental coma when driving that they don't realize what they are doing. My cousin had the same thing happen to him. Going out is getting more dangerous.

I have Ford coming to get my car (a 2023 Escape) and fix it. The thing keeps going into battery saver mode so you can't use the remote start. (What is the point of remote start in the winter if you can't start the car remotely!?!?) Plus my front passenger side tire has had a slow leak for two or three months and I'm getting sick of putting air in to it. I believe all that is still under some form of warranty. This battery thing happened in November of 2023 right after I got it, too. I googled the issue and it seems many cars have this issue. Faulty workmanship? Anyway - someone is going to fix it or give me a bigger damned battery. This is dumb.

After work last night I fell asleep in my lazy boy and slept hard until my daughter called me. Thank goodness she did! I did NOT want to fall asleep so early and not do my night chores. After I had 'dinner with Grandson' via the video call, I got up and did my dishes and folded laundry and picked things up. (Then I couldn't get back to sleep until 10 p.m.) Having dinner with my grandson is always a treat. He still eats like a starving Viking but interacts with me on the video. He attempts to give me food he doesn't want which is adorable, and when I don't take it, he throws it on the floor. Kinda darned cute. He sees Norman in the call, and will say "DOAWWWWG' which cracks me up. He is saying more and more words, too. (At least trying to!)

I am off to do my night chores and go back to reading the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (stuff he had written and his son put it together after he passed away). I am at the part of the book where he is explaining how all the rivers flow and it's killing me, since it way too much info on rivers as far as I'm concerned, but I will continue forth.

January 22, 2025 - Ah, it's almost bed time and I am glad. It's been a longgggg day.

My bathroom light fixture isn't working. I thought I blew a bulb - but it's the whole fixture. Sigh. I hauled an old lamp in there because I am not good at pooping in the dark.

I got up at two a.m. to pee and it was freezing in here. (Or seemed to be...) My first thought was - NOT AGAIN! NOOOOOOOOOOO!! The kitchen was at 50, the living room at 55, and it was 53 in the bedroom. The units in the house were still trying. I used the hand held controller to test for errors. There were no errors. It was obvious the unit I bought just can't keep up with the -25 temp last night. I covered Norm up with a blanket and then covered myself up with a blanket and attempted to sleep for a few more hours.

I didn't even really get upset, to be honest. It was like, "Oh, NO!" and I just tried to sleep. I must say, I did feel 'sick' though. I couldn't tell if I felt sick because of stress or really sick sick. I turned on a space heater in the bathroom so those pipes didn't freeze and had one in the living room going. When it was time to wake up, I woke up. I emailed the furnace company to explain my theories. The owner wrote back and agreed it was just a too big load for the size of heat pump we got. (And after researching - heat pumps do have issues with extreme cold. Hindsight is 20/20.) He said he underestimated how cold it may get (because, really - the winters here the last few years have been very mild per say...) I hope his underestimating means I'll get a discount if/when we upgrade the thing? Cross yer fingers. Anyway - I turned off the bedroom unit and just let the living room unit run to try to catch up. When it actually got up to a proper temperature, I turned the bedroom one back on. The whole downstairs is back to 69, even in the kitchen. Phew. Still - I no doubt looking at another adventure of an upgrade so I need to start extra money saving now. I should have kept my shitty old furnace. At least that worked (even if I was sure it was going to kill me with carbon monoxide fumes...)

After all that fun, work was very stressful. Not enough hours in the day to do everything. Nope. But I didn't stress too much about that either. It's more like I'm in a coma and just slogging forward in life.

After work, I went to get in my car and go to the chiropractor because boy howdy did I need it for all the stress in my neck. The car didn't start. Errors were popping up all over. Failure in my emergency brake...other bells and whistles were going off. I wasn't going anywhere. I have an appointment for next Tuesday for my tire and my stupid battery anyway - but now I'll have to pay for a tow truck to haul it in. I am stranded. I don't like that feeling. My boys are doing a grocery run tomorrow for me, though - that will help. I came in and called my local Ford dealership to see if they had a tow truck, but they do not. I will find a number for my local tow truck person tomorrow. It's a relatively new car - hopefully most of the crap is still under warranty.

I can't do laundry because the lines to the washer are either frozen or blocked with rust from being frozen. I will have to have help diagnosing that - as someone would have to be upstairs and the like. I have a space heater out in the laundry room attempting to thaw out anything that needs to be thawed out. Wish me luck there. Trouble shooting any thing in this old house is like playing twister whilst drunk. Nothing is standard nor right nor flush nor NORMAL. Sigh. The kids told me tonight they think that my husband kept everything working in this house by sheer will power. They suggested we summon him in a seance to fix everything. Smile. I doubt he'd come back around for THAT! He did his time in the mines - now it's my turn.

So, there you have it. Stuff going wrong. Stuff DOES go wrong. I remind myself I am not homeless, even if my house is acting up. I am not starving, that's for sure, as you can tell by my girlish figure. I can work from home as long as we keep power. So not all is lost. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow? One must have hope, I must remember that. I posted this quote as my background picture on my PC, "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 25, 2025 - I have a pot of chicken veggie soup simmering on the stove. I will be eating it for a week, even after bumming some off on my neighbor, but it just sounded good to me. It sounded good to me when yesterday but I was too lazy to make it.

So, all worked out after the Wednesday that defeated me (but I had not really given up. "Never lose infinite hope!" but I had kind of given up...) Thursday I was able to do laundry again because it heated up just enough to thaw those lines out in the laundry room plus having the space heater out there woke up some stink bugs that proceeded to bombard me. The heat was working and the house was at a decent temperature. When I took Norm out I tried my car and it started. And the bathroom light issue - well...

My youngest son came over after work to check it. He tested the bathroom light fixture and said it was getting power just fine. "Did you put in a new bulb?" he asked. "Well, duh, of course I did!" Then he said in the kindest, most loving voice I've ever heard emanate from a man, "Did you try a third bulb?" That statement hit me like a truck. Why, I don't know - maybe it was just the way he asked, I guess. I had NOT tried a third bulb. I had just assumed it was broken and bad and I'd have to have it replaced. I didn't even ponder using a third bulb and I had given up too soon. I scampered to the bulb area and grabbed another bulb. Well, what do you know? I WORKED. That was a valuable lesson - always try a third bulb! Bulbs in a cupboard forever will go bad. I wish I had recorded how he said it - it was almost like a verbal hug.

Norman has been happier that his paws are not falling off from the severe cold. He played with his 'brothers' this morning when they came back with me after breakfast. He loves my boys. I think his favorite is my youngest son who would stay at the house with all the trips we had to make to University of Michigan for the surgeries and the like when my husband was so sick. He has 'respect' for my youngest one. He loves my oldest son, too, but too much because he will sit on him and Norm tries to crawl inside his skin and personal space means nothing to Norman when it comes to my oldest son.

I am off to tend to my soup. Have a good Saturday!

January 26, 2025 - Happy Sunday. That soup turned out really good! I am glad I made it. Maybe I WON'T share it! Hahahaha

When I took Norman out to poop, the wind was blowing (wind chill is only 15 degrees, so it's like a heat wave) and I noticed my Herby Curby was making a whistling sound, singing to me the song of it's people. I am glad I can't hear that in the house, I believe that would drive me nuts!

My BFF texted me yesterday about her day being like my 'defeated day' - the water wouldn't work and her car wouldn't start and she was going to hook up a battery charger to it, but she can't figure out how to get to the battery as it has some weird cover on it and she couldn't charge it. I felt bad for her and I felt her pain. They survived the hurricane, and all this terrible cold is just insult to injury for them. I wish I could fix all our issues. I wish I could 'blink' like Jeannie on 'I Dream of Jeannie' and just fix all things broken and wrong. However, I do not posses that ability. I told her to try a third bulb... I am sure that was no comfort to her at all.

I am off to work for a while, then maybe take a nap. Next week is packed with meetings all day. It's going to be a hard week, work wise. Learning this software will be a challenge and by Friday of last week, we were all used up, mentally. I know I've been overloaded when I can't form complete sentences. On Thursday my dear friend and coworker got me out of an infinite verbal loop by saying, "Sandy, use your words..." hahaha

February 8, 2025 - Ah, bless-ed Saturday. A down day. Good.

Yesterday when I got home from work, Norman met me at the door practically jumping into my arms (which doesn't work when you are a 140 Great Dane, really). I wasn't sure what the problem was until I heard water spraying. The water heater is in my little bathroom, and one of the connections had a severe leak. There was now "Lake Kitchen" and "Bathroom Lake" and the carpet in the living room was soaked. I went in to turn off the valves on the water heater and I got soaked. (That did not work, so I had to go upstairs to turn off the main water valve.) My water is rusty, so there was a lovely orange coating on the bathroom walls. It soaked the toiled paper and everything in said bathroom. Sigh. If you need to inspired to do a thorough cleaning in a room, I suggest just having a massive leak as an inspiration. My youngest was supposed to fix the vent pipe that goes up through the roof (that kept falling off) but he got sick. I think yesterday when that vent pipe fell out again, it hit the one fixture and cracked the pvc pipe which caused the bathroomgeddon. 

I called my poor neighbor who does construction work and asked him if he had a recommendation for a plumber that does emergency visits. He pondered and said, "I'll just come over" and he did. He assessed the situation and said that he could fix it. He brought over his big shop vac, too, to suck up the water on the floors and such. Mine is a little shop vac and could only hold a gallon at a time... So, he ran to the hardware and got what he needed. He fixed the pipes involved and then he put in a new vent pipe and used screws to secure them so that doesn't fall again. I am blessed, really, to have him as a friend and neighbor. It's like God said, "Man, your house is a piece of crap, best we have a talented construction worker move in next door..." I used to feel bad when I would ask him for help and he would swoop it to fix my problems, but now I just appreciate the hell out of him. He is truly a godsend. We all need help sometimes. I will be cooking food for the boy this week. He deserves it. I slipped a little money in his pocket, too. I mean, an emergency plumping call would have been that much at least.

I missed the afternoon of work because of this - only doing things here and there when I could. I didn't feel bad about that, either, really. I've been putting in so many hours I am allowed to have emergency time out. I can make up stuff this weekend, but really, I don't feel like making up for anything.

With the creation of the new lakes, there were many rugs to wash. In one batch, the washer ate one of the rugs. It just shredded it. That was fun cleaning up, boy howdy. Sigh. I have finally caught up with all the laundry generated from yesterday, though. So I have that going for me. That washer is still on warranty so I'm calling them on Monday. Some of the settings are not working anymore an no doubt the brains of the thing are taking a crap. I miss the appliance that were built to last, ya know?

My youngest son just sent a picture of his hose busting. He has a small glacier out on the side of his house. I texted back, "Geez, you gotta put hoses away for the winter..." I am such a supportive Mom. Duh. I am sure he is aware of that fact now without my rubbing it in. I hate when I state the obvious to a person in a position that really doesn't need to hear it. I texted him again to say "We both have had our share of water-geddons" but it auto corrected to 'watermelons' so we both had a good laugh about that.

Yesterday in the afternoon the furnace company I used to put in my split unit called. (The owner/boss). He said that he was researching what he sold me, and that unit is only good to 5 degrees, then they tend to shut down. He offered to replace it with the next size up that will work with my indoor units and hoses and such for just the difference of the price between what I bought vs the newer one that is good to -18. I told him I would take him up on that offer. I assume he is not going to charge me for labor since due to the installation errors (that we both mentioned during the call) there was already so many issues. So in spring, I will get a bigger main unit. He apologized. I told him that at least he's trying to make it right. It also made me feel better about humans.

I guess that is all I need to update you all about. I will tell you how I felt when I was getting soaked yesterday - I had a good half hour of self pity - and all I could think was, "Geez, I barely recovered from my cancer when my husband got cancer and went through so much and I had to do everything - lawn work and hauling him back and forth to surgeries and UofM and all, and work full time during all that stuff and..." Wahhhhhhh. Poor Sandy. Would I like cheese with that whine? I got over my pity party quickly. Life is what it is and you just have to carry on. You keep putting your left foot in front of your right foot, repeat. (On occasion falling down.)

Oh, and yesterday afternoon I took a whole Klonopin (.5mg) to calm me down. My doctor had prescribed a few pills when I was going through bad anxiety last year. I have not taken them (except for two times I took half a pill)  but felt like I deserved it yesterday. HOLY CRAP has my ability to handle that stuff fallen as I get older. It did relax me. I did feel better, but last night I slept so hard I didn't get up for my normal two trips to the bathroom. There was clean up issues this morning for me. Hahahahaha. I used to be able to drink every night, now I can barley stomach a Miller Lite. Getting older takes away some superpowers. Smile.

February 18, 2025 - Ahhh, let's see. What can I complain about today? Seems that is all I post about lately is my complaints.

The furnace guy emailed this morning to tell me to heat the house up as much as I could stand today since it was supposed to get so cold tonight that he was sure the split unit would shut down. He offered to run me out some space heaters. I emailed back and told him I already had purchased three after the last disaster, but thanked him nonetheless. I wanted to say - "Can you pay for all the extra dollars my electric bill will show I used?" but I did not. I did mention how I can't wait for the bigger/better unit. (Catch 22 - they will wait until it is warmer before they install that...) Kind of ironic.

I went to start my car tonight to run it like I've been doing - but the emergency brake is frozen so it won't let me start the car. UGH. Come on, Ford. It's practically NEW - and I NEVER use the emergency brake - why is that hosing up? I searched the internet and  the helpful AI said, 'If the emergency brake (also called the parking brake) in your 2023 Ford Escape is freezing, the most likely culprit is ice buildup on the brake components due to cold weather." DO YOU THINK!?!? I either need a garage or a different model of car that isn't a wimp. I have a chiro appointment I really really want to go to tomorrow at 4:20 - I will try to start it through out the day. Wish me luck. My first thought was to put a heat lamp under there - but NO - I see no other newer car owner heating their parking brakes with a lamp. Needless to say, I am sick of this cold weather. I am ready for something resembling spring. My BFF had issues with her battery when I had my first bout of bad car luck and she had to hire a tech to come out and change it - because you couldn't get to her damned battery like a normal human. She has an Escape, too, and it was practically installed under the front of the hood area where she couldn't get to it. We're cursed, I tells ya!

Work has been interesting. My poor coworker and dear friend had such a bad infection in her face the last two weeks. She got a wisdom tooth extracted and that thing got infected. Her face swelled up so badly! I felt so bad for her. She went back to the oral surgeon and he drained it for her and put her on strong antibiotics and pain meds and disinfecting rinse. She has to go through a draining session at least once a day to keep it drained. She goes back on Thursday for another check up. Her brakes are not frozen, but her poor poor face!! She lost 7 pounds in two weeks because she couldn't eat solid food. I told her that is no way to go on a diet...

None of us have had it easy lately. I am frustrated at our current republican administration, even though most of my friends think it is the best thing to happen EVER. Clean up is always good, but you can do it in a humane manner and not act like you're on acid and too much sugar and meth and it helps if you speak in complete sentences that make sense. I am still convinced that all the fired government workers will be able to work in the fields once they send all the migrants back home or to a detention center where no doubt they are being treated like crap. I feel scared for us all. Who knew so many humans in this country had so much hate for so many people. This makes me utterly sad. I have led such a sheltered life. My love for everyone and everything has been beaten out of me.

Norman is attacking the treats I just gave him. He has to bark at them for 20 minutes before he eats them. Makes complete sense. Duh. I caught up on laundry after work in case the pipes freeze, so I have that going for me. Maybe I should shower, too (although I don't think I will be going anywhere until spring...) It should take no time at all for my hair to dry with the heat up like it is. I will turn it back down to my normal 69 degrees in the living room and 65 in the bedroom before I go to sleep. If I'm lucky, I'll wake up to 55 degrees. That's pleasant enough, right? I put blankets in front of the bottom of the doors to help with any drafts. I miss sleeping with Norman now since I got the smaller bed. That dude was a built in heating machine...

I am off. Remember to hug someone you love and reach out to friends you miss.

February 28, 2025 -  I'll start this by typing the word ELDERLY.

I read a new article about a person flipping their car and passing away. The article kept point out the person was 'elderly' and the person was 64 years old. When did 64 become ELDERLY? I looked it up and it says anyone 60 or older is ELDERLY. I asked the same aged friends at work and they said, "Yes, we're considered elderly..." I was so upset by this. I don't feel ELDERLY. Sigh. This was an eye opening moment for me. If I'm ELDERLY, then why don't they lower the retirement age to the 60 year old cut off? Why do elderly people have to work until they are 67 - 70?? I mean, come on...

This ELDERLY person had a hankerin' for bologna on the way home from work. "If I'm elderly, I can eat what I damned want!" I said out loud. I got bologna. To me, bologna is a mystery meat possibly made of chicken lips and Lord knows what else...It did not taste like I remember back when I was a kid and that was a daily lunch staple. Sigh. I ate it none the less. Elderly people get cocky like that...There, I'm done ranting. I am not mad about being ELDERLY, I just don't feel like anyone I know that is 60 - 77 is elderly. Elderly people can believe what they want! Get off my lawn!

I got to see my grand baby last weekend. He sure is one to explore. He quickly demonstrated why Grandma needs to get cabinet locks. He opened every cabinet in the house. We let him play in the pots and pan cupboard, and he hauled out all the pots to the living room and 'cooked' his stackable donuts. He even tried to haul out the big soup pot but couldn't quite pick it up. He was out there straining and making grunting noises and finally called HEP HEP for help. Hahahahaha.

Norman hates the grand baby. He is SO JEALOUS of that kid. He walks by him and makes 'Humph' noises. Sigh. Norm was so happy when I put the toys away last Sunday. Then he knew the baby wouldn't be back. Norman thinks he's an only child and I shouldn't show that kind of love to anyone else. I've raised a spoiled brat. I blame Covid.

I have been on a salsa frenzy all month. I have made four batches of it and I've eaten it every day for breakfast and supper. I think, however, that I am about salsa'd out. I won't make any more for a while. I like fresh salsa (technically it is Pico de Gallo). It is good for you with all those peppers and hot peppers and garlic and tomatoes and spices. I actually feel 'better' physically after a month of it...I am going to have to figure out how to incorporate all those ingredients into other things.

I guess I'll go load the dryer and then start the dishwasher then relax. Happy Almost March. It just dawned on me that it would have been my husband and my 45th anniversary tomorrow. Sigh. The 20th of this month it will be three years since he passed away. The time has flown by. I can't even 'comprehend' the passage of that time - it feels unreal.

March 14, 2025 - One of my friends noticed I had not updated this things for a long long time. Jane, thank you!

It is 75 degrees out currently. I have my windows open and the heater(s) off. Norm is upset by this because he wants out but once he's out he wants in because he gets hot in the sun. I have the most fancy-boy, delicate flower of a Great Dane EVER. Sigh. We're supposed to get a thunder storm tonight, so Norman will NOT be happy and he'll be trying to crawl into bed with me. He can't fit. Good Luck there, Norman!

Let's see, what can I catch you up on in Sandy's Life??  Work Wise, they've pushed the go live date for our project to August 1st. Seriously. I am heartbroken. I want this to be done, I really do. Sigh. I have 160 hours of unused vacation to use by May 11th, but that won't happen now, will it. Even if they are nice and roll it over for me, that would make my vacation time at 360 hours. I can 'sell' them one week, so that is 320 hours. Technically I could take 40 days off in a row!! I wonder if they would keep rolling it so I can get paid to NOT work for a year or so - lol. I started there the summer of 1979. I think I'm going to buy myself a TShirt that says, "I've worked for this place for 46 years and all I got was this TShirt and and a drawn out implementation..."

A couple of weeks ago I washed a Poise pad in the laundry. Those things EXPLODE and produce so much debris. (If you are bored, this may be something fun for you to try.) I loaded everything in to the dryer and would clean out the filter every 10 minutes until it was relatively clear which took forever and it made these huge filter sized quilt blocks that rolled right out of the filter. I chalked that act of OOPS up to old age and/or being over worked, but this week I DID IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! What the?!?! Kids, it's time to put me in a home!! Really, I should have saved all those 'quilt blocks' from before and I could have had a lovely fluffy white blankie that would have been the envy of all my friends.

The other morning when I let Norman out for potty duties, across the road in the field there were deer, and a herd of turkeys, and a bunch of geese. For the rest of the day I would sing, 'TURKEYS, DEER AND GEESE..." to the tune of Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher. This is how my brain works...Everything is a song to me. I can't carry a tune, but I often bust out in song - I just can't help it and it is usually accompanied by interpretive dance. (I gave this talent to my daughter, too - and we'll often sing/talk and it tickles me to no end.) I tend to break out in song in the implementation meetings as well, so people are used to it - but once when I did it, someone said, "Wow, Sandy - that was actually pretty good!" hahahaha. Once in a while - I hit a good note.

I had overflow pizza cheese on the bottom of my stove. When it cooled off, I got my little super duty scraper and was cleaning it off when I ended up shoving said scraper into a hole/vent. Down it went. Until I got it out (as it was now down where the burner was) I wouldn't be able to use my stove. There was a weird screw in the bottom panel. I took a picture of it and sent it to my boys. I asked them if they had that type of drill bit. (Hint Hint - come save your Mom...) My youngest replied "I'm sure Dad had one of those somewhere and if you can't find it, ask Justin." I am not running to my next door neighbor about a damned screw! I was selfish, thinking that I do so much for that boy that he would swoop in and fix it for me. Sigh. I slept on it and got over being mad. I went out to the shed and found that type of drill bit, and I got the screw out. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get the plate out, however. It was latched in there good. I found my scraper, and then it took me 10 more minutes to finagle the plate back in. When I went to screw in the screw - It went flying and I'm sure it is down where the scraper was, but I said, "Screw it!" The plate is in there good and I wasn't taking out again! At least I didn't bake plastic and the screw found its freedom.

So, that is my excitement over the last few weeks. Not much to report, huh? I'm not dead yet, though - so I have that going for me. Norman has his vaccination updates this month. The furnace company is coming on Monday to upgrade me to the next sized outdoor unit that can handle temps up to -18 degrees. I am very glad they offered to do that after all the issues I've had with it since it went in.

Now, if a beer and doughnut truck would just careen out of control into my front yard tonight, that would be great.

March 18, 2025 - The further adventures in Sandy Land...

Today the furnace company came out to swap out the outdoor unit (that couldn't handle cold weather) with a bigger one (which is good up to -18). They uninstalled the first one. Then they realized they needed a bigger bracket to hold the new one. They went back to the ship to get that. They came back, started to install the new unit, and one of the brass fittings broke. The one guy came in to tell me. "We ordered a new one, but it won't be here until tomorrow or Wednesday. So, you can either use space heaters tonight or we can reinstall the original one." I told them to reinstall the original one. I didn't want to use space heaters all night. I don't trust them, to begin with - for short periods of time, sure, but NOT all night., Sigh. They did - they reinstalled the first one and I have heat. I can't believe my luck on this whole thing. I would not recommend this company nor the Daikin products to anyone. Maybe they have install 100s as they've said. Maybe my situation is the odd man out. I am just not happy, however. I don't feel defeated, at least. Carry on is all we can do, right? But DAMN...

The 20th of this month is the 3rd anniversary of losing my husband. The time has literally flown by. Sometimes I feel sorry for myself because everything is 'up to me now' but those bursts of self pity don't last long, since I was taking care of everything four years before he died, too. I miss having him to talk to, though, but I am pretty sure he is out in the universe enjoying the quiet. We are all energy and energy has to go somewhere when our body poops out, so may he be happy in this beautiful universe. I did kind of hope he would haunt me a bit - because he could fart and it sounded like someone was stepping on a duck and it would make me laugh hysterically. I can't tell you how many times he would do that in bed over the years and having me in hysterics to the point I couldn't breath. Our first date he belched the alphabet to me - and he had me at Aburpppppppppppp. (I lived a very sheltered life, apparently. I laughed so hard back then I ended up throwing up!)  Since 1980, expulsion of gas has always been a huge entertainment factor in my family's life.I still keep an ear open for the duck fart though in case he does a drive by... (My youngest tries his hardest to fill the void...)

The work project has had some huge bumps as of late. I won't discuss it. I don't want to. I just pray and am accepting all donations of prayers that we live through this whole thing...

I'm on my last jar of salsa. I wonder if I'll stop now - and the whole salsa phase will be over. Fresh veggies would taste so much better, after all. We'll see. I made if four times in February and one so far this month. (Proper term for what I make is my version of Pico de gallo, but I call it salsa and like that one commercial, "I eat that s@#t on everything...

March 23, 2025 - There is a huge peregrine falcon living in the woods to the east. IT IS HUGE. I've seen eagles the last two years around these parts (which we never saw before) but now we have a gigantic falcon. They used to be on the endangered list but now they've come back in numbers. Good for them, but DAMN they are huge. (I am stressing and overusing the word HUGE, I know, but he's HUGE...) I saw one on the tree at the fence line out back and couldn't believe it. I didn't even need binoculars to know what it was. I know they like to eat other birds like pigeons and mourning doves, but I fear for my neighbor's cats if they get too hungry. That goober could take off with a small dog! They are, as stated, HUGE. I am pretty sure they are moving to areas like this because around here there are lots of woods still, but housing developments have taken so much of their places in the greater tri-state area. They have to live too. My daughter sent us a picture of a coyote in the parking lot at a store she was at the other day. They have to eat too, even in Chicago. Normally they only come out at night, but it was daylight and the coyote was eating something in the parking lot someone had thrown out. Humans squeeze the wildlife to extremes, I fear.

Tomorrow is my breast cancer check up at the cancer center downtown. I have been going every six months since my surgery. I hope they tell me now I can go once a year. The cancer I had wasn't able to be detected by the touchy feely method, after all. Seems like since my mammograms are down to one a year now that they could go to once a year for the in house breast exam. I am happy, however, that I have insurance that helps me pay for these things.

I had xrays at the chiropractor on Friday. I've been going to him since 1984, and that was the last time he took xrays. He showed me the pictures. My hips are cockeyed and I have the top vertebrae swinging around a bit. He was thrilled. "I should have done this a long time ago! I can fix those things!" He was like a little kid at Christmas. Good, put me back in line, my dear!

Norman has his yearly vet visit and shots tomorrow night. One less thing to worry about after it is done, but getting him in and out of the place is always a challenge. He loves a car ride, but he hates the vet. Catch 22 for Norm, but he gets those cool freeze dried liver treats so he can buck up and be a man.

My BFF bought me and sent me light up tennis shoes!!!!!! They are quite cool. You can even recharge them with a USB cord! I tend to run after little kids in the stores and such who are wearing the light up shoes (have all my life since kids started having such things) and now adults can be all cool like that. I keep thinking that when I wear them I should have a theme song playing....I think we should all go out and get light up tennis shoes. We all need something to brighten our days lately.
 
May 13, 2025 - Well, I'm back. It is so lonely in this house now, and talking to myself wasn't gettin' it, so I will type instead.

Norman died suddenly on April 29th. My neighbor Sue and I were outside playing with the dogs. Sue would kick the ball to Norman then he'd bring it to me, and I'd throw it. This went on for quite a while until he saw me loving on Gertie (Sue's doggie) and he came running up and got slobber on her (which I tended to find humorous since Ron hated that...no offense, Ron!). After the slobbering, he turned around and saw a stick in Justin's yard he had yet to pee on (which was his goal in life, to urinate on every possible piece of tree debris in my yard). He went over and started chewing on it and Sue thought she should take it to Justin's burn pile, and I told her, "No, he's happy - let him chew on a stick!" and we continued to talk when we heard a god awful noise from Norman's way and turned and he was down flat. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled up to him. Just by the look on his face - his eyes - I knew he was leaving. Sue ran to get Ron and take Gertie home. I petted Normie, told him to find his Dad and slobber him for a change and I thanked him for the comfort he brought me. There were several tremors as I petted him, then he was gone. Ron came over and confirmed he felt no heart beat then the neighbors went in to over drive. Ron called my vet and asked when they closed so we could bring the body up, and then he called Justin and told him to come home because I needed him. Ron went to get a blanket and Sue stayed with me. (She had to help me up, though. I was down there and couldn't get up.) Justin got home and cleaned up Norman's back side for me, and they wrapped him in a blanket and loaded him in the back of Ron's truck. The boys were off to our veterinarian's office in the truck and Sue took me up in her car. The boys carried him in the back and placed him on the little room's floor. I had started to kind of go into shock on the way up with Sue. The vet on duty came in and had confirm he was gone. "No heartbeat" she muttered and she felt him all over and said, "I bet it was a massive heart attack..." That was my thought, too. He had previous spells where he 'fainted' and collapsed. I am sure he had a bad heart, now that I ponder it. The last time he did that my niece was here and he crapped himself too, but he came out of it. Sigh. They took Norm away on a gurney and the neighbors took me home.

I drank heavily that night. I cried my heart out. I had the music up loud. Norman had been with me for five years, through my husbands passing, through thick and thin these last five years. He was my "Covid Baby" as it were - spoiled beyond belief. He was MY BABY BOY and he let everyone know it, especially my grandson. Norman did not like him one bit! He got the attention that I am sure Norman though should be his.

The house has been too quiet. I have been getting full night's worth of sleep (I've not slept all night since I got the boy). There is no chaos as before... just silence. I gave all of his food and toys to my niece for her doggies. I moved the couch around and it opened up the living room quite nicely without his huge bed taking up half the floor. For two weeks I've been working through this all in my head. He was a good boy. I miss him terribly. I am just glad he passed FAST and he didn't suffer. We should all be that lucky when our time comes.

We are in "End to End" daily meetings all month for our up coming migration to the new software. Today was the first day I kind of got excited about the whole thing. Not sure why, really. So much to stuff into our little brains, but today I saw 'hope' in a remote, very far away way...

All my kids were here the weekend after Norm passed. That was great comfort. My grandson was so good all weekend. Normally I call him "Mr. Peepers" (a skit from an old Saturday Night Live show) because his attention span is normally .03 seconds...but that weekend he was just a doll. I blew up two balloons for him and you would have thought I had given him the world, he had so much fun with them. He also loves BUBBLES, so there were plenty of those flying around. I too, love bubbles. He's my kind of kid.

This Mother's Day weekend my sons took me to breakfast on Saturday and came back home so my wee one could mow my yard and my oldest helped me do a few things - mainly we gabbed - but still - it was nice. Sunday my niece came over and cleaned for me, and we had pizza and sat around talking which was also nice. I did not feel lonely on Mother's Day weekend. A blessing!

I suppose I will go do something constructive. There are hardly any dishes to do anymore...hardly any laundry. I did not realize the amount of effort I put in to keep Norm's bowls clean and the amount of slobber rags he produced - I had to do a load every day! I also figured out how much I spent on food for him a month, and if I told you, you'd most likely lose control of one of your orifices. Smile. Unreal.

May 25, 2025 - Ah, a nice quiet day. I ran up to get a few tomato plants to put in my boxes I had ready for them. I picked up some parsley plants, too. I go through a lot of parsley. Yesterday when the boys came for breakfast, we went to the nearby green house and picked out the rest of my flowers for my flower beds. Two wee beds i just put in wild flower seed. I love wild flowers growing all willynilly. I planted wild flower seeds in the old dead spiral willow in the yard, too. I loved it last year when they were blooming on top. I stopped and had lunch at my favorite diner. (SOS). Now I'm home, chillin'...

Mid June I am getting two sibling kittens - one male, one female. I am adopting them from a rescue place. I have started stocking up on things...kitty litter, a scratching post, I already had a kitty condo. I got kitty food and some toys. I am not really 'excited' but I am looking forward to introducing chaos back in to my life. I am looking forward to someone needing my attention again. (I believe I've always had to give my attention to someone. My youngest son said, "Mom, why don't you just worry about JUST YOU for a change." I told him, "Hey, I bought myself a new bra! I have been good to me!") I do miss the chaos part in the house a lot. I would like to name one of them Bonkers (if the name applies) and one Rishi.

Rishi is actually someone I work with in India on the implementation. When we started the whole process, we'd be on the teams meetings and their team would literally yell at poor Rishi, "RISHI, WRITE THIS DOWN!" "RISHI, ARE YOU NOTING THIS?" "Rishi (do this) and RISHI (do that)!" I felt bad for the guy. He wasn't stupid by any means, just obviously lower on the totem pole. I had had about enough of the Rishi abuse, so one time when he joined the meeting I screamed RISHI!!!!!!! Everyone kind of laughed and the head of the team in India said, 'Sandy, you are full of coffee this morning?" and I said, "This is a possibility, Nagesh, but I figured all you guys yell at poor Rishi all the time like I yell at Norman, so I thought I would at least try to make him feel a bit of happiness and appreciation before we start." Rishi thanked me and now it is tradition to holler at Rishi. They've even let him actually do presentation now, and I like his style and his understanding and his knowledge. Hence the reason I want to name one kitten RISHI because it is actually fun to scream out, to be honest...

I have the bedding in the washer. Like I said before, the need to wash anything has fallen dramatically since Norman's departure from this earth. Tonight, though, I thought I would have clean bedding and take a nice bath bom hot soak before bed. I would shave my legs but my legs don't grow hair anymore. They barely ever did. I got that from my Mom. She didn't have hairy legs, either. All of my hair is in my mustache and beard and I would gladly exchange that for excessively hairy legs any day. Oh well. It is what it is and who am I to complain? At least at this point I am still breathing!

I made chicken salad for sandwiches and brownies for my sister in law's visit - which I thought was today - but it is tomorrow, but that is OK - the chicken salad will have time to blend flavors well. So me, I'm going to go take a nap. I seem to excel at naps lately. (Until there are kittens running all over me...)

May 31, 2025 - We have a bad air alert due to the smoke from Canada. I don't see it like I did last year with the fires out west, though. My cousin in Wisconsin says it smells like 'butt' ...

I have been so enjoying the birds at the bird feeders in the dog pen. At night I get raccoons in there eating the fallen seed, which is OK. I've yelled at them and they fear nothing, those raccoons. During the day, I get so many types of woodpeckers, titmouses, nuthatches,  grackles, redwinged back birds, cowbirds, chickadees, finches, bluejays, orioles, mockingbirds, cardinals, juncos, sparrows, mourning doves, starlings, hummingbirds, and I've had one sighting of a catbird and a rose breasted grosbeak and an indigo bunting. You can imagine that I go through a LOT of bird food and you would not be wrong.(I didn't count robins as they don't come to the feeders).

June 1, 2025 - I have made myself ground chicken meatloaf, corn on the cob, and boiled taters for lunch. That most likely will tide me over for a supper, too. I felt like I had to eat 'real food' for a change. Cooking for one sucks, I must say. I ran to the store this morning to get a few more flowers to plant. Not many at all, just a few dahlias to put in the crotch of the willow tree that fell several years ago. What is left of the old willow tree is also a high rise chipmunk condo unit, so we'll see if the dahlias survive or if I end up blocking some of their entries and they take matters into their own hands.

My grandson will ask his parents for one of us (Me - who is NaNa) and the other grandparents (Oma and Opa for the the paternal grandparents) and TT (for my oldest son.) Once they do the video call, he is happy, but then soon says BYE BYE after he's pointed out various things such as his Mommy, his puppy, and his Daddy. My daughter said today he is moody because of teething and she just wanted him to get through til lunch then nap time. Smile. I sang him Wheels on the Bus. He likes that song. (Me, not so much, but hey - I try.)

Apparently there is a good chance for auroras tonight. During one of my pee trips, I shall check the sky for them (and no doubt break up a gang of raccoons out in the pen as well...) It would be nice to see them. Last time they were active, I could only see them via the camera. Tonight they stated they may be visible without the aid of a cell phone camera. Maybe it will even have an effect on radio signals on Earth. The weekend will go out with a bang. Or, with the majority of other cool celestial events, it will get cloudy here and I'll see nothing at all...

June 15, 2025 - There is a momma nuthatch bringing her two kids to the suet feeder. They won't get on the feeder, mind you, but she shoves their faces full of suet as they perch on the fence. Several momma birds have brought their offspring. The word is out - this old lady feeds birds so take advantage of it, while it lasts!

Nothing new to report. Besides feeding a plethora of wild life (from gigantic crows to the baby squirrels) not much is happening. I can't wait for my kittens. I want chaos in the house! Kittens are so darned silly I will thoroughly enjoy their antics to no end. I will contact the rescue place again tonight - just to check on ETA. Last time I picked out two kittens, she said that they were given away before I laid claim to them and now I worry the same thing will happen with my two tabby kittyies. NO worries. My youngest niece works as a vet tech and they have a batch of kittens. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER I'M GETTING KITTENS. I have kitten food, litter, litter box, scratching post, and toys....you name it.

Work is getting more and more intense. I could have worked all weekend on the project, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I did my 'normal' stuff, but I didn't attempt to work on the implementation stuff. I believe I'm broken? Sigh.

I had breakfast with the boys Saturday morning up by where they live at a new place they like. Today we had breakfast at my diner in honor of their Dad. I just got done having my leftovers from Saturday breakfast for my supper tonight. I will have the leftovers from this morning's breakfast for supper tomorrow. Woo Hoo - two days not trying to figure out what to make for supper. I made potato salad last week and had that for lunch and supper for several days, as well as forcing my neighbor to take a ton. It was pretty good, I must say. I do love a good batch of tater salad, precious.

I admired the turn out for No Kings Day yesterday. Impressive. Sometimes I wonder what we could do as a country if we band together like that - we could end hunger and housing issues.

I've been having such vivid dreams lately. One that is sort of a repeater takes place in a huge house I dreamed about a few weeks ago where my parents bought the house from Tom Hanks. It had room after room of stuff in it. There have been dreams lately in the same house, no parents or Tom Hanks, but room after room filled with things. I spend my night going through those rooms. Lovely sets of dishes. Awesome glassware....on and on it goes. I would LOVE to know what my brain is doing. Is it trying to tell me something or is it just showing me a weird movie to entertain me while it sorts stuff out and files things away? Maybe I secretly feel guilty for not doing the whole Swedish Death Cleaning thing (getting rid of stuff you will never use or sell at a garage sale so your kids don't have to deal with it after you pass...) I have no clue what those dreams are about.

Today when my boys were over, there was quite the raucous in the front maple tree and then suddenly a baby squirrel came flying out of the tree. The baby was fine, and scampered right back up, but I would love to have known what that was all about. Plop.

June 22, 2025 - Once again, I need to watch where I walk. I got my two kittens yesterday morning. Chaos once more ensues at my house.

I had brought my oldest son over to spend the night on Friday. His car is non functional, so I ran up to their place and brought him home. We stopped for dinner at Chinese buffet before heading home. The only people in there that early were people older than myself and it was like senior hour to the max. When I mentioned this to my son, he looked at me like, 'Well, are you not a senior yourself' sort of look. Smile. On the way home he also shared some of the music he had been enjoying, and one of the artist was Levi Schechtmann from Germany - a 25 year old pianist that mixes classical piano pieces with some hip hop beats. Oh, my, I fell in love. I was walking on cloud nine when we got back to the house. I love piano music and this was just fricken AWESOME.

When we got home, I finished prepping for the Saturday retrieval of the kittens. I assembled the scratching post. I got their litter box ready. I put out kitten food and filled the water dispenser. I brought down the cat tower I had for Rocko years ago and cleaned it up. I felt ready to welcome two new kittens. I was sweating to death when I was done doing all of that, so I hopped in the shower and then sat in my chair playing my word games until 11:30 because I was getting excited about the new 'kids'... I had tried up to this point to keep an even keel emotion about it in case it fell through again, but after the music high and the prep, I was READY.

Saturday we went to breakfast, then headed to the rescue place that is an hour away. It was a beautiful drive. SO MUCH FARMLAND. I am always PROUD of my state for the wide open fields and the beauty of said wide open fields. When we got to the rescue, she ran out with a carrier. The carrier had a larger orange kitten in it. I looked at her and said, "Weren't there supposed to be two?" She laughed, set the orange one down and ran back in. Seems there were two people picking up kittens at the same time that morning. The orange kitten adopters then pulled in behind us. She brought out my babies. INSTANT LOVE. I signed the paperwork and we put them in our carrier and I let my son drive home and I sat in the back talking to them or playing with them through the door part. They eventually just curled up together and fell asleep for the rest of the ride home. The male only meowed once.

We let them loose near the laundry room where their food and litter box is. They immediately ran the other way. They spent a good hour investigating their surroundings and avoiding myself and my son. I named the male Rishi and the female Bonkers. (So far, Bonkers is appropriate for her, as she is the tactical leader in kitten maneuvers. More aggressive than Rishi when in attack mode, and will come at you on two back legs with her front paws spread wide open in the air.) When they were playing, Rishi ran into the bedroom under the bed. Then that certain cry started - the cry anyone who's had kittens knows well - HE HAD TO POOP. I told my son, HE HAS TO POTTY! My son said, "How do you know what he wants!!" I mentioned the fact I've had MANY kittens through the years, plus I raised three humans and I know the I GOTTA POOP cry. I couldn't get him out from under the bed. We tried everything. He wouldn't come out. Soon, even I, the human who's sense of smell has mostly left me for another face, could tell pooping had occurred. My son confirmed it by dry heaving. I got on my hands and knees and found the location and had my son lift up the bed so I could clean it up. I decided to put another little litter box out in the living room. We also closed the bedroom door and the bathroom door so they were confined to just the laundry room, kitchen, and living room, then I ran my son home. (It was kind of him to accompany his old Mom on the cat outing, but for a 44 year old male, a living room full of kittens isn't necessarily something he wants to spend a day doing...)

When I got home the kittens were happy to see me. Bonkers even took a crap in the litter box to demonstrate her superior intelligence over Rishi. Hahahaha. They had played and played and played. They were getting to know the layout of the living room and could
parkour the heck off of every object. They also found every possible power cord to investigate. It was a laugh filled afternoon. Finally about six, it got quiet, and I think they found a place to sleep behind or under the couch. I went about my normal life routine then, doing dishes and laundry and such. I wanted them to hear the common noises that will happen in the house. By 8:30, I brought in the bird feeders and went to bed. I had looked it up - kittens can sleep 18-20 hours a day. I want to be a kitten more than ever now....

At 1:03 a.m. I was jolted awake up by a kitten chewing my nose and kneading my face. I petted said kitten for a while. The kitten ran all over me, attacking my feet and back to my nose and then crawling under the cover. I wasn't sure who this kitten was, but I was guessing it was Rishi. He seems to be the lover out of the two. He was purring up a storm when he wasn't trying to nurse from my nose. I got up and sat in my chair for an hour. Rishi played. I fell asleep in my chair. Suddenly the TV was on. (He had knocked off the controller by then and had chosen a show on the History channel...) I decided that hey are going to have to get used to me sleeping in my bed, so I went back to bed. Rishi followed me to bed. He played a little, but eventually I felt him snuggle in on my left side. I don't remember anything after that until I had to pee at 6:49 a.m.

So far it has been the Nascat 500 around here this morning. Bonkers ate some dry food. I think I am going to get some wet food this morning to give them. I am not sure what they were eating at the rescue, but heck, life is short. I can give them a little wet food once a day or so. Rishi has knocked over my coffee twice this morning by flying from my chair onto the desk. He has helped me type. He has crawled up on to my shoulder purring loudly and chewed my hair. (Yes, I will start using the cover for my cups...The kids got me cups with covers since I too, have an issue with knocking my cups over. Now I have someone to blame it on at least...)

Let the chaos ensue! Viva wee little kittens who have to get into every possible nook and cranny and jump out at you when you walk by...I have to start getting some pictures to share, but they've been so active, all I get are blurry shots. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet, but I think they like it here. Smile.

Wish me luck!

June 23, 20025 - I am sad, Mickie Ralphs died. He was 81. He was a founding member of the group Bad Company. Why to people have to get old and die!?  Damnit. I mean - I say that about myself, too. It sucks. It just sucks. Husband's die, friends die, family dies, pets die...it is just never ending and it's pissing me off.

The kittens must have slept through the night or they just didn't bother me - besides emergency pee wake ups, I slept all night. They are always happy to see me, though. They already know the sound of a can of food. Hahahaha. I keep dry food out all the time and feed them wet two times a day. This is their big growing stage, so I want to be sure they eat plenty. I see my vet with them on Wednesday after work. Rishi's poor little 'sac' area looks swollen, but I guess mine would too if they clipped my baby making parts. This does NOT slow him down one bit, though. He is more skittish than his sister over noises and such so far...

I went through an issue with him. He was pooping under my desk...so I texted the rescue lady and asked if Rishi was always a free range pooper. She said that the foster Mom kept them in a set area - not that big - so now that he has a whole living room and kitchen and laundry room to run around, he's just not sure where to poop. So I put litter pan #3 under my desk. So far he's used it twice. Victory is mine. He's a private pooper apparently. I would like to state for the record that I should have name him Sir Poops Alot.....

Bonkers is ever the lady, although when it's play time, she can kick Rishi's butt. More dominant in personality, but not all lovey dovey like Rishi is...Rishi climbs right up on my chest and licks my chin with both paws on either side of my face and purrs SO LOUD. He helps me work by walking across the keyboard at random times. I was typing a message to my friend Kathy and he got up there and typed a bunch of letters and such, then walked on the ENTER button and sent it! This made me laugh hard. I made sure to explain to Kathy that I wasn't having a stroke, just having a kitten. Bonkers lets me pick her up and cuddle her and she will purr, but she doesn't seek it out yet. They've taken to sleeping on top of the cat tower I have for them, huddled up together. So adorable.

I wanted to keep notes on when their 'spaz' time is - and so far I've not done it and forgotten, as work has been so busy. I am pretty sure after their nap now, there will be one more burst of NASCAT 500 and then they'll have their last meal of the day and back to sleep. Did I mention that they were abandoned kittens and had to be bottle fed? They were. Maybe that is why they are so good with humans so far. My neighbor Sue came over and they loved her. My mail lady came in and the loved her. They don't seem scared of new people, but like I said - it's only day 2...I can assume a lot of things, can't I?

June 28, 2025 - This morning I woke up with Rishi chewing on my nose. Apparently it was time to wake up and feed the kittens. When I got out of bed, there were six cat toys in bed with me. (If they were up there playing last night, I didn't notice! I had damned awful dreams last night about my husband and my friend Steve. Weird. At least I can say "I see dead people" now...)

The kittens have fully claimed the house as their own. Their NASCAT 500 race path includes all rooms. They make me laugh, that's for sure. They also produce a lot of poop. (But then again, I produce a lot of poop, so I shouldn't criticize!) My friend Grace brought  over her grand kids to meet the kitties and the kittens went right to everyone and played with the kids. The two year old grand son was the most interested in playing with the kitties. It was a riot. Many laughs were had that night. Grace is a very smart woman, so she raised her kids to be smart kids and now the grand kids are super smart for their ages, so when things happened the four year old would ask why, and I had to explain WHY those things happened. She would go quiet and process the info. If she found it funny, she would end up laughing. I had a hoot that night. I swear Grace's grand kids are already smarter than me...Next weekend my grandson will be here (insert happy squeal here) and we will see how he does with kitties. He, too, is smart for his age. The other night when we were on a video call, my daughter gave him something and he said loudly, 'THANK YOU MOMMY!" and hugged her. My heart just melted.

When I mowed the front acre on the 20th, I stopped to check out my morning glories. Usually by now they are going nut up the fence in the dog pen, but there was a lot of green growth but no flowers. I stopped the mower and took a good look. Those were NOT morning glories, they were bindweeds! I got off the mower and pulled them all out. The root system was unreal. Since I did that, the morning glories have taken off big time. We've had torrential rains lately and ungodly heat - the morning glories took this opportunity to go to town as it were. They even have started blooming on the ground for the ones that haven't take hold of the fence yet.

My neighbors Sue and Ron brought me a coconut cream pie from the Amish store and kitty toys for Rishi and Bonkers. One of the toys looks like a long feathered tail on a bird and it make chirping sounds. This is Rishi's favorite toy now. I don't know how many times I have heard a weird noise and wonder what the hell it is and it turns out to be that toy. (I have poor hearing in general - I can't 'locate' a sound like I used to...)  Rishi wraps himself around it and kicks it with his back paws. Pretty cute.

Speaking of noises...when I took out the bird food to hang back up the other morning, I heard this god awful sound and I thought it sounded like someone messing with the siding. It ended up being baby mice who were coming down under the corner piece of the siding there and then they flew out the front of the dog pen. Either Mom kicked 'em out or this is their normal routine to go look for food - and WHERE EXACTLY ARE THEY LIVING IN MY SIDING??  I said to them as they ran, "You just wait - I am raising warriors - your time will come..."

Work is intensifying and if I go quiet for a while - don't panic. Either I'm dead or I am mired with work. They've pushed the 'live' date to OCTOBER. Ugh. So much is happening at once. To think we've been at this for over a year! UGH AGAIN. I get asked on a regular  basis "when are you going to retire" and I can't retire ever, really - at least until this is all over, and really, do I want to retire? Not really. All I've ever done is work. I don't know much else. I do believe I have to call and find out about this whole Medicare thing - I think you are supposed to sign up before you 65th Birthday which is this year for me. I've had not time to investigate this stuff. If any of you have done this and know the routine - please let me know. I want to keep my work insurance while I am working as it is very very good insurance and I checked with HR and they said as long as I'm working I can keep it - or use Medicare as primary and our work insurance as secondary. Why does getting old have to be so complicated, I ask you!

Let's see, house mice, spastic kittens, weeds, and Amazon Rain forest weather ... I think I've covered most things. I am off - breakfast with the boys this a.m. The wee one was supposed to mow all week long - but couldn't due to the rains, and he said he would do it after breakfast this morning, but the yard is so wet - maybe he wont...Current humidity level is 88%. Almost able to do air swimming!