Yardwork Is For The Birds

It was only about 80 degrees today so we worked outside. It's time to get the yard in shape for Winter.  We haven't touched the work all Spring and Summer so now we play catch up.  I started trimming the Rhoddies and Wisteria on the North side of the house.  There are five Rhoddies on that side, so I only got to two of them today.  Tomorrow I hope to get two more done. 

I have started beading another bracelet.  It's in my favorite pattern (The wave)  I'm making it as a surprise for a very brave person who just found out she was Cancer free.  She's a sweet Christian woman who works her rear off to support her family.  Her husband can no longer work and she must take up the slack.  She has quickly become a hero to me.

My computer is on it's way out.  It's filled to the brim with all my pictures, crafts, books and general trivia saved in all kinds of files. It has learned to freeze whenever I get engrossed in something important to me.  I'm having to dump the history and temp files as I get off the internet each night.  It looks like I'll have to take over my husbands computer since he never uses it for anything other than e-mail and that's only about once a year. I'm hoping I can keep mine going until the end of the year.

The cats are doing fairly well right now.  Homer is still not spraying and Tanner is becoming desensitized to our being so close to him.  He isn't peeing when I reach out and touch him when feeding him.  NOW THAT'S PROGRESS!!!
Paddy is getting bored with his only two buddies in the main part of the house I think.  He only has Fina and Homer now to pal around with.  He spends most of his time on the top of the kitchen cabinets. (Picture to follow soon)  Since Tanner came to the backroom all the cats in there eat all their food.  I was throwing away almost a full can of Friskies everyday but now they eat like pigs just to keep Tanner from getting the wet food.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

I Should Have Stayed In Bed

Today was like no other day I have ever had. Today was a real bummer for me.  I got about four hours sleep last night because the bubba's across the street were in and out until about 4:00 AM.  I cleaned the house and then made a tuna sandwich for Ed and I.  I always put sweet relish in the tuna so I reached into the fridge and grabbed the relish and before I could get it to the counter it slipped out of my hand and smashed on the floor.  It was a new jar too.  I cleaned that up and went to take a bath.  I got out of the bath, got dressed and had to walk Cherry before we left for Fred Meyer.  After we got back from the walk my eye caught something white on my shoulder. Thinking it was cat hair or lint, I asked Ed to please remove whatever it was.  Guess what it was?  Yep....bird poop!  I changed my top and we left for the store.  We got out of the car at Fred Meyer and walked over to  where they keep the carts in the parking lot.  Ed beat me there, stopped suddenly and for some unknown reason...backed up.  One crushed foot!  He started swearing (he said...the cart's wheels were locked) but he was looking at me as the crap flew out of his mouth.  He seriously needs anger management!  So to recap...I was sleepless, still smelled remotely like relish, had been pooped on, stepped on and sworn at.  It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Good Night  A Better Night From Muttzncatz's Place




    

Corpse Plant

This is why it's called a Corpse Plant.  Yuck!



Well, there's the final picture of the mystery plant under the deck steps.  It's unbelievable that it starts out looking almost transparent and ends up coal black, isn't it?

I can't remember if I mentioned that Tanner is now in the back room with Amos, Hunter, Victor and Lamont.  I needed him to be more confined so I could start treating his eye infection again.  The infection has gotten worse and needs some attention. I have the meds but didn't have an easy way to catch him.  I realize he will probably still pee on whatever he is sitting on but at least I won't have to chase him.  Since putting him in the back, Homer has almost completely stopped spraying.  It's been wonderful!

I do miss having all the cats sitting in front of the sliding glass door watching the birds and squirrels though.  Paddy and Fina don't really care so only Homer watches them.  He runs between the slider and the back in the laundry room.  We are going to have a new slider installed hopefully before the end of August.  Ours has lost it's gas and it is now hard to see out of.  I saved enough out of our tax return this year to get it replaced.  We have five windows that have also lost their gas.  I'm going to call a glass place and see if they can just replace the double paned glass instead of replacing the whole window.

We're getting ready for a heatwave again this week.  It was 93 degrees today and we are heading for triple digits by Wednesday and beyond.  I'll have to water my potted plants twice a day and everything else at least once a day.  I hate watering more than ironing.( Not that I iron much anymore)

Better go make my husbands breakfast and lunch....

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Quick Update Without Indian Pipe Pictures

When I wrote last I forgot to mention that the car was repaired.  We had to take it to a Chevy dealer to have the computer updated.  What a racket, right?  Well I'm back on the road again, more in debt than ever.  My poor Discover card is really taking a hit lately.  I understand that some of those people who beg beside the on ramps to the freeways make a lot of money.......hmmmmmm

Tomorrow is get supplies at the vet day.  We are out of Cherry's special diet food and we need flea treatments for all the cats.  It's supposed to be around  88 degrees tomorrow with no air conditioner in the car.  At least our air works at the house.

The cats are doing fairly well for a change.  Victor and Amos are eating well which means they are a bit healthier than they were before.  I don't know if any of you have heard about Quantum Touch but I have started to use it on the cats and they are responding to it well.  It's a long story but I have evidence that it works.  My goal is to keep them out of the vet's office as long as I can other than for a yearly checkup.

I will soon be listing our gemstones on Ebay for sale. It's time to get rid of some of them.  I thought we would sell them fairly cheap and make it up in quantity.  I will also be listing a variety of other stuff I want to get rid of.  I have so many things that I no longer need.  Start looking for "Muttzncatz" on Ebay in about a month.

I thought this was right on.  Sometimes I feel like that with my Fibro.  I wish they would find a cure for this horrid disease.  There are so many facets of Fibro.  Every time I get a new symptom I go to one of the Fibro sites and start looking for that symptom.  Usually I find it there and then I don't feel like I'm suffering alone.  Enough whining.


I will try to get another picture of the Indian Pipe before I post next time.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Like A Thief In The Light

Here's an update about the flower under the deck stairs.  It's called Indian Pipe, corpse plant, ghost flower, fairy smoke, or ice plant.  Two weeks after I posted the picture it looked like this:

Now the whole plant is starting to turn black.  One of the chutes is completely black, stem and all.  It's an ugly nasty looking plant.  I'm still wondering how it got there.  Here's the article I found on it:

Right in front of this plant and to the right I had a religious statue of Mary.  It was given to me by a dear friend before she moved away from this neighborhood.  Yesterday morning I got up at 10:30 AM and went through my day as usual.  At 5:30 PM I was hand watering that area with a hose and I noticed the statue had disappeared.  The ground was still wet where the stand for Mary had been.  Sometime between the time I got the paper and the time I watered the plants it was stolen.  That's in broad daylight!  Why would someone want a statue that had no color and was starting to turn a lovely color of green from mold?
I filed an online Police report because our foot patrol told me to.  The statue wasn't very valuable.... it was just the sentiment. I'm guessing this thief had no taste.

We have cooled off for a couple of days. It was 100 degrees F the other day.  That's too hot for me.  I'm looking forward to getting back to the Fall and Winter weather soon.  I understand we are going to be in the nineties again next week.  I'm sooo looking forward to it that I have started knitting a pair of socks.  Before the good weather goes away I want to get outside and do some watercolors.

Better go... but I'll try to get a picture of the blackened corpse plant before it dies off completely.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place