The Outdoors Doesn't Like Me

We've been in this house almost...fifteen years. I think?  Yeah, I'm not good at this stuff.  But my office is being moved from the town we live in to a town about twenty miles away.  The main highway is under construction and the drive would go from about ten minutes to about forty.  That's depressing but the job is a good one and a lot less stressful than my previous job.  I've already told my boss she's stuck with me.

However, my husbands job is already about twenty minutes from the house on the south side of town, mine is halfway to his, about ten minutes.  We're hoping in the next couple years we can move to a house closer to his work and ultimately a bit closer to mine. 

To that end, there are some improvements that need to be made in order to give the house more long term curb appeal.  The front yard is... bleh.

So!  This weekend I decided the yard needed to be improved. The lot is sort of a pie wedge shape with a small backyard.  My front yard is fairly large and screwed up.  Flowerbeds either mud or overgrown with grass.  I wish this was a mini yard.  It might take me longer but it would be easier on my back.

Let's get one thing straight.  I don't like annuals.  I don't like to pay a bunch of money for something that'll just die in one season.  So I go for perennials every time.

Just one problem, and this is an irony considering I live in Texas, I've got a yard full of oak trees and it's full of shade.  There are not a lot of shade loving perennials.

So I went to a very nice place called Calloways and bought perennials during my lunch on Friday.  We had a lot of rain Friday night so I didn't feel bad about letting them sit on my porch until this morning.

By the way, I've mentioned that North Texas hates me?  There's nothing quite like being exhausted, aching because digging and raking are not my thing, and having your eyes foggy and watering.  Not to mention an alternately stuffy and drippy nose.  How does that even happen? Aren't those two things contradictory?

But I did get all four flowerbeds finished. At least as much as I could.  I'd like to add a few more plants but that can wait for a while. 

I've also mentioned to screw up my back, but I don't have to do anything in the yard for a while.  And as I'm writing this being inside seems to help my eyes and nose to normalize.  So I'm at my regular level of North Texas hating me.  I'll take it.  It felt like my yard was declaring war.

 The grass on the edge of this bed is actually a decorative grass that gets little purple flowers when it blooms.  It tends to take over and I'm not thrilled with it but I didn't have the energy to get ride of all of it.

This spot got hastas, foxglove and yarrow, with some space for the day lilies to grow in.

The area below is below one of the front windows and was basically a mud pit.  The big bag of dirt built up the bed some and hopefully it'll drain better. 

The stones don't look gorgeous but I'm told ajunca takes over so hopefully the stone will be hidden.  And the stupid weed tree cut down and killed.  And I added some impatiens since they were cheap.

 

A hasta, some hydrangeas and some petunias.

 I broke my rule about annuals because Home Depot had a sale, four medium pots for ten dollars. So I got eight pots for twenty bucks and each pot had about three plants in it.  So they filled in a few places nicely and added some contrast.

This is near the corner of the driveway and is one of the only spots in the yard that gets full sun, so Shasta Daisies, lavender and...

 Yeah I just blanked out on what the flowers in the middle with the purple stalks are called. 

This was about four and a half hours worth of work, not including hauling and shopping.  I've got some sort of grass that puts down roots and sends out shooters that also take root.  I think its Bermuda grass but I can't be sure.

All I know is that its irritating and clearing that tiny space seemed to take forever.  I really need to get some more soil and add it to the flowerbeds before I bring in any more plants.

That will be far in the future.  The only saving grace of today was that it was only in the mid sixties today and I didn't get heatstroke.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have the energy to get back to minis.

Dirty Water

So this isn't a dollhouse post. Fair warning those of you who think of this as a fun blog. 

And the reason for the post title is about to become apparent. Mahatma Gandhi said:

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

He was right.  Absolutely.  And remembering that from day to day is one of the hardest things I've ever done.  I try not to listen to the news, and I avoid talk radio except for a few shows.  Everything is overwhelmingly negative.

And I feel like I'm surrounded by dirty water.  I know that I'm not but what I know and how I feel are two entirely different things.

It's a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold and I'm furious with the world.  For many unreasonable reasons like forgetting my wedding rings because I didn't want to snag my tights, to the Bill Cosby rape scandals, to the events in Ferguson last night.

And then I read this blog post by the incomparable Bloggess.  http://thebloggess.com/2014/11/compassion-is-painful-thats-how-you-know-its-working/ Go ahead and read it now. I'll wait. Because she's a lot classier than I am.  And she's also completely right.

I seem to have lost most of my own words today.  And maybe that's a good thing because Mom always said if you can't say something nice don't say anything.  I tend to forget that when I get on a roll of sarcastic complaints and jibes at the various things that annoy me.

And then someone like Jenny blogs and I remember that there are people in the world who have much tougher life than me and while I might complain, good humoredly but still complaining, there are folks who have a lot more to complain about and they're going about their business.  So let's all take a deep breath and remember what we're thankful for.

I've got a great husband who loves me in spite of my miniature/writing/reading/shopping addictions, or maybe because of them (who knows why but he does and that's the point).  I've got five cats now and they're all getting along reasonably well even if the kitten is a needy little attention sponge. (I think that's a default setting for kittens so yeah that one's my own fault for rescuing him.) I've got a job that shows no signs of firing me even when I zone out becasue I'm ill and want to do nothing but sleep.  And it pays me very decently so I can afford the aforementioned addictions.

I've also got people around me.  And they're pretty damn cool.  So yeah, I think I'll count my blessings and put a check in the win column for today.  Because I made it out of bed this morning after a lousy night and nothing bad happened on the way to work.  I've got half an hour to trowel on my make up so I don't scare my coworkers and I'm awake enough to write when I haven't had caffiene yet.  (Okay, true miracle folks!)

We've all got problems.  But a lot of times we're our own problem. Bright side is we're usually our own solution.  And if we look hard enough there are people out there who are happy to offer a hand, a smile or even a story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.  No man is an island after all, even if it feels like it. 

Because Gandhi said this too:

"Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts.... The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." 

So maybe the trick is to deal with my own problems and trust that somehow other people will deal with theirs.  And forgive myself when I get so wound up that I end up writing posts like these. 

And because they always cheer me up, here's a cat picture. Okay a few...including the new kitten who is...totes adorable!  BTW he's been christened Cap'n Jack Sparrow because he walks just like the character.  You know...like he knows why the rum is gone.

Watcha doin'?

There's a joke here about letting the cat out of the bag, but Tali's too young to understand.  And Helo just likes the camera.

Yeah we're on your bed, taking over your blankets.  What are you gonna do about it?  We're adorable and we won't be moved.

Hi! We were sleeping when Mommy took this picture... Can we go back to sleep?

I love my sissies.  They're the awesomest!

 On that cheerful note, I'm going to put on my face, for the sake of my poor coworkers who deserve a lot better than my bitch face this morning. 

And one last quote for the road.  Same guy.

"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart."

Dogs, Cats, & Children...

In case you didn't know, I live in Texas.  I grew up outside of Chicago in Illinois.  I think most of the people who read this blog are my friends or family so I might be stating this unnecessarily but...just in case someone has wandered over who doesn't know me personally... There you are. Informed.

I read something today that reminded me of how lucky I was growing up, surrounded my mostly responsible adults in a nice neighborhood.  If you'd like to read it as well, here's the link:  http://www.doranna.net/wordplay/index.php/2012/07/30/the-beagle-the-border-collie-and-the-idiot/

Moving to the South was culture shock in a lot of ways.  We have 'country' areas in Illinois but I only knew one family (My cousins via my mom's brother) who lived outside of a town.  Animals were not encouraged to run around loose where I grew up.  I never heard of people being attacked by a dog when I was a kid, at least not that I can recall.  But then if a dog was loose, it had usually escaped its backyard.  There was a Great Dane named (I think) Eeyore (?) from three blocks away who used to escape regularly, jump our four foot chain link fence and visit with our collie.  Luckily he had kids in his own family and we knew them, we'd call, the family would come get him and it was good bye until he came visiting again.

Eeyore was a great dog, friendly and good with kids who happened to be an escape artist.  He was well behaved with that one exception and we were perfectly safe.  We were really lucky.  Our dog Liz, was a large collie and very well trained thanks to my mother.  Mom has had dogs all her life and is excellent at making them obey.  She has a newer dog now, a cute little thing named Ginny, who she is constantly correcting because Ginny needs it.

Having a dog is a lot like having a small child. You have to watch it a lot, give it attention, make it behave itself. Instill in it the proper manners that will make it a productive member of its society.  This is the responsibility of its owners, just as a child's manners are the responsibility of its parents.  This is true for every pet that is capable of understanding commands, including cats. (Yes, mine understand no, and stop and their names.) And just like kids, dogs need rules.  Just like kids, dogs need to be taught.

I have three cats now. Spike lost his battle with cancer a week before I posted pictures of the dollhouse out of its box.  All of my cats started out as outdoor cats because we adopted them either off the street or from someone who let them be outdoors.  My cats are all indoor cats now and will stay that way for some very good reasons.  The first place I lived in TX was Orange which is way south and features things like alligators and cottonmouths.  My husband lost a cat to snakebite when he was down there.  Since then he won't have outdoor cats.  Our neighborhood now features many neighbors with dogs.  We love having the neighborhood cats visit our backyard because we don't have a dog, and its a safe place for them to hang out.  But we don't let our cats outside.  There's a good reason for that.

My husband knows a woman from work who had a cat and a dog. The cat was older and set in its ways and enjoyed time outside.  The dog was a Cardigan Corgi (I think, I know it was a type of Corgi) also older, and typically stayed in his fenced in yard.  When I say fenced I mean a wooden privacy fence, not something of chain link that allows for eye contact and perceived aggression to spiral out of control.  Though in retrospect chain link might have been better.

You see, the neighbors of this woman also have a dog. A large, untrained, unsocialized animal whose breed I have deliberately not asked.  This dog is aggressive.  This dog is not friendly.  And a few months after this nice woman's cat disappeared after it went for its outdoor time, the neighbor's dog, pushed and gnawed it's way through the wooden fence, got into her yard, and attacked her small dog.  The damage done was, the only word I can come up with is horrific.  Ultimately her dog died of its injuries at the vet's office.

The police were called.  And this nice woman who in less than six months had lost both of her pets, had to deal with the legalities of pressing charges along with her grief.  I won't go into the details of what happened legal-wise.  But the results were disappointing.

You see, the neighbor still has his dog.  It has not been put down for the safety of the neighborhood.  The aggressive unfriendly dog, who attacked and killed another dog after breaking through a fence to do it, still lives next door to this nice woman where she has to hear it barking and see it.  But that's not the most disturbing thing.

You see dogs are aggressive for reasons, sometimes its in their breeding and when they're properly trained by responsible owners they can be curbed and controlled. Big dogs and little dogs all have issues.  Socializing and training them is key to making sure they aren't a danger to anyone.  Aggressive dogs often see prey behavior in smaller creatures.  The happy prancing little dog with his tail wagging, the child in a stroller clapping its hands and staring, the person taking a walk who looks too long in an aggressive dog's direction, they're all demonstrating behavior that tells the aggressive dog that they are prey.  Dogs that become aggressive or attack need training to correct their behavior.

Now we come to the most disturbing aspect of this whole situation.  The neighbor with the aggressive dog, the neighbor who gets to keep his dog, has a small child.  A small child who isn't much bigger than a Corgi.  A small child who won't even know if she's behaving in a manner that makes her prey.

Chilling thought isn't it?

A Lot of Stuff...

So a lot of stuff has been going on here.  The breakdown of the waterheater was followed less than two weeks later by a backup of the sewer line.  Apparently when we get dry summers in TX the tree roots just gravitate towards the sewer line.  And that does not equal a good thing.

So that had to be fixed.  Oh yeah, more money down the drain.  It's almost literal in this case.

Then we have a cat that's very old.  Well, old for a cat.  Spike was born (as near as we can figure) in 1998.  That makes him about fourteen years old.  Considering he probably spent the first year of his life outdoors he wasn't doing too badly.  He's had a couple of surgeries, one to remove a lump that was probably cancer, and other to remove bladder stones, and he's been on special food ever since. 

But he's a sweetheart and loves everybody including the new sissy who isn't thrilled by anyone who isn't her mommy or daddy.  And he's happy as long as his people are willing to pet him and give him some attention, even if it just means hanging out on the couch or by our feet when we're watching TV.  He's also a fairly hefty cat, and enjoys his food.  If I'm cooking he's in the kitchen hoping I'll drop something.

So when he started sleeping under the bed and not coming out unless I went and talked to him we knew something was wrong.  This is not typical Spike behavior.

After an overnight stay with the vet, an x-ray, iv's and a few other things to figure out what was wrong and get him feeling a little better we were able to take him home.  But we've been warned, our time with him is limited.  We've got medicine to address the problem he's having and he seems to have perked up a bit, but he's still got issues and its obvious.

But he's also still Spike, proven by his interestin a soup can and licking the broth out of it, to the point of sticking his head all the way in and sitting back so he was practically wearing the can.  As long as he's doing things like that, i.e. interested in food, we're doing okay.

Thankfully I got a promotion at work that was reflected in my paycheck this Friday.  That helps financially.  Emotionally and mentally we're all exhausted.  The promotion is great and the work is interesting, but I'm still working my old job during the bulk of my time because we haven't hired anyone for the position yet.

So we've all had our ups and downs this week.  But things are almost normal again.  Here's hoping this weekend is better than the last one!

Advice Is Always Free

So we're now officially having Summer in Texas.  And for all of you who are not in Texas I'll let you know a few things about my adopted state.

There are a lot of white cars here.  At first I thought it was because white makes everything look bigger.  It only took one Texas summer before I remembered that white doesn't absorb the heat the way other colors do.  White and silver are two of the most popular car colors down here.

If you must have a car in the color other than silver or white, don't buy a black car.  Trust me on this.  You can blast the A/C, park in the shade, put sunscreens in the windshield and you will still end up driving in a pool of perspiration if you have a black car.

Ask me how I know this.  Go on, ask.  I dare you.

You guessed it.  I drive a black car.  The husband always wanted one and when we had to buy a new car that's what we got.  So I get to drive the newer car because I drive farther to work.  As I sit in this black car, with black upholstery and a black dashboard I really start thinking I did not get the better part of this deal.

My brother covered up lousy upholstery in one of his first cars with teeshirts.  I'm thinking I might adopt something like that, just to see if it helps.  It certainly couldn't hurt.

In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to make a case for this dollhouse.  I'm wondering if putting all four sides on hinges so I can get at the house will work?  I've established that I need a wooden frame anyway.  Why not have hinges so I can open each side?  I'm hoping that will work instead of putting the house on a lazy susan.  If I did that the case would have to be something like four and a half feet square so the house could rotate fully.  That would mean when I build it, I'd be leaning into the case two feet on each side.

My back dislikes the idea of leaning.  My neck too.  Actually all of me dislikes it. 

So that's the latest.  And if anyone has suggestions about reducing heat in the car or making a case for this dollhouse I'd be more than happy to hear them.  I'd like to get started on this project before I turn another year older.