Tag: Dogs

Spring Planting, Front Porch Decor, and a Steak Dinner

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day out there! What a fun weekend always. Yesterday we went to Needham’s Nursery to get plants for the porch and mail box planter. Also George got a pepper plant and a couple of other herbs.

I love the old dogs that laze around the place. Last year we didn’t visit Needham’s and I think it was the first year in many that we hadn’t. You can thank this past year’s situation for that one.

Such a friendly but sleepy little fella! His tail wagged just a little when I petted him.

We also went to Lowe’s to get some picture hanger hooks for a brick wall and a couple of planters for the front porch. While there we got to meet this cutie pie below, Sadie I think was her name. Anyway she is a “party yorkie” because of all her colors. Sweet doggie! Love, love, love the furry face!

We also went to a yard sale and I got some good cookbooks.

And we went to three grocery stores: Kroger, Aldi, and then Houston’s our butcher shop.

Once home, we were a little hungry and had a snack of smoked salmon on cream cheese with horseradish on toasted rye. George added capers to his.

That was a slice of heaven on toast!

We then set about to plant. George was so helpful. He drilled drainage holes in the planters I bought. I didn’t buy expensive ones. I bought plastic that look like terra cotta ones. He also put the dirt in there for me with a shovel so I didn’t have to haul the big bag up there. That was sweet of him to do for me.

So I could see Little Bit, the cat, eyeing this and thinking to himself, “hmmmm Momma’s making me a new bed”. So I put skewers in there to keep the cat out. I think once they get full I can pull them out. lol. I just wanted Mom to have some nice little hearty zincas to look at while on the porch.

George also used the brick holder and hung the “welcome to our HOME” sign. However, this morning it was banging in the wind against the brick so I had to bring it in so it wouldn’t blow down the street in today’s storms. LOL. So he is going to have to screw it into the brick the hard way. Oh well. It looks really good, but the third time is a charm I hope. The first time I leaned it against the wall and it doesn’t look good that way. Go figure. Everyone else bought the more expensive one and that is why theirs works. I bought the cheap one and we have to go to the worlds end to get it to work. I should have paid $25 dollars more and just bought the heavy one that leans against the wall and was easy. But in the end, honestly, I like the looks of this much better than the ones that lean! Once it’s hung permanently.

I also added the stool there for Mom to put her drink. Or me my wine! lol. George said he reserved the right to come borrow that stool as he uses it a lot. I was just trying to keep from buying a little table.

George also cut some rosemary for drying. There is so much of it.

The rhododendrons are blooming and so pretty. I rested for a few minutes after we got back and put groceries up and after planting the zinca. It was nice to sit there for a few minutes and rest and enjoy their beauty.

Somehow I managed a couple of loads of laundry. But the neighbor that just moved in next to us let us know he was finished with the boxes and was letting us have them to move Mom. He had bought some of them so we asked if we could pay him for it but he would not allow it. That was really kind. He also let us borrow two big tubs that he said they used to move cookware as it was sturdy. And we will give those back to them when we are finished.

Then Katy faced timed us and we got to talk to Little Roo. They were smoking some chicken wings outside and hanging out and had Little Roo at the edge of the garage to avoid the heat and wind. He’s a cutie pie.

George fixed us a great dinner last night. Steak, salad, and rice, and mushrooms. I don’t like mushrooms but I like the juice he cooks it in and I ate one!

And that’s A1 on the side. I either like A1 or Heinz 57.

And that’s it for yesterday’s activities. I’ve managed to get some laundry done but I still need to do some ironing. I have some more things to order on Amazon for some upcoming things but I did get my Vit B ordered and a swim suit. Life is just a little crazy right now. Just trying to keep my head above the water.

We have some Mother’s Day activities today. My gift from Katy arrives on Tuesday she said. So we’ll call it Mother’s Day week. 😉 The week ahead will be busy for sure: Mom’s offer deadline and decisions, a hair cut, my 2nd Covid shot, George visits with his friends Jack and Ron, and then probably a big weekend of packing/moving as long as there is a contract on the house because at that point we can start packing the things that are visible as the house will no longer be showing.

And now for rant time:

I have some pain aching above my right breast, almost to the side near my underarm- but I think it’s more like muscle pain, likely from all the lifting yesterday of the groceries. When I flex my arm as if I’m lifting it hurts, like a muscle does. So I don’t think it is heart issue. But I couldn’t find my acetaminophen. I keep buying it and it keeps disappearing! I know I have some at work but I’m at home. I thought we had two bottles of it and now neither are here. Things like this drive me bananas! Nothing stays put ever except what you want something to be moved – then there it sits for a lifetime decaying. :-O I took aspirin, it was the only thing I could find. I put Acetaminophen on the list for the 3rd time in about as many months. I rarely take it so I don’t know where it goes. I have one bottle at work. I thought I had one in my work bag – not there. For someone that is so organized when things go missing it drives me bananas. Also this morning we had to find a cook book I wanted and neither of us could find it. Finally George checked a shelf for the 5th time between us and there it was.

Anyway, off to get going with today and our plans. It’s supposed to storm today – yeee ha. I’m so blue in the face tired of the storms this season. We have had so many. I think we have paid our dues for all the good weather we have had already. I’ve asked God to please weaken them. Let us please enjoy Mother’s Day without being tossed about by the wind and rain! And Lord please help the pain go away! I don’t need this right now. Ok Rant over.

Dog Trims, A Day Off, and Slow Snow Thaws

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized2 Comments

As I was cleaning up the house yesterday, I kept noticing the sun and the snow and how pretty it is. But oh what problems it can cause. Temps got up close to 40 – it may have even reached it – and there was some melting. A salt truck came by mid day. But I cannot see any result from it. Our roads are horrible. I hear the main roads are fine so it’s just doing navigation on pure ice where it’s melted some and frozen back.

I took this pic because the ice on the road behind us, kept shimmering in my eyes. The sun was hitting the ice and it reflected up. You can see how icy the roads are by the center of this photo below.

You can see my foot prints from a couple of days ago where I went out to take some photos. And George called my attention to some icicles at his bathroom window.

I can’t tell you how wonderful yesterday was, being off, and knowing you were on your own time. I had much to do and to catch up on. I always do laundry and cleaned the kitchen deeply. While we were home I noticed in the foyer that I still had the manger scene in there! I laughed! We’ve been so busy doing xy and z and the manger is scene is natural colors and so is the foyer, that I totally missed it as a Christmas decoration. I was thinking in my heart we should leave the scene around all year as it was a precious scene and one in which our Lord was on his way to saving our souls and giving us hope for eternity. Something we absolutely should consider every hour. But I know it in my heart, so I wrapped all the breakable pieces, found a storage bag and put the hay in it, and a copier box was found and it all fit in it and I labeled it. I need to go through my Christmas boxes this next year and get rid of things not used but each year it seems we end up buying another storage box. lol.

So I tidied up things and packed up my work office and watched a YouTube about trimming dogs. George bought a trimmer to trim Roger with. I’ve been afraid to do it, but had considered it before and decided against it. But he needs it sooooo bad. And it takes a month usually to get an appointment as not enough groomers work the weekends and demand is high for those that work during the week. So he came home with this and I thought he said he bought it for me to do. I must have grimaced because I’m so afraid I’ll hurt him. Anyway, much to my surprise, as we sat down to do it, George grabbed the trimmer and began shearing! I used the scissors to do his ears and some of his paws. We are not finished yet. I want to work on his feet with the scissors. And we need to get his little toenails trimmed but we are afraid to do that.

So, you are supposed to do this on a table, but, we decided a different technique for this old dog and for his comfort. We allowed him to lay there and would trim what we could and turned him over and such. He looks so much better. He’s only a little “choppy” looking, lol. But at this point it’s about keeping him clean and having a functional cut, not so much for impressing others, ha! The part we needed to do, we didn’t get to do so much so there will be a “round three”. Yes we did this in two rounds yesterday. But I think he can only tolerate so much at a time. I do realize we have to “show him who is in control” but he’s just old so we gave him a break!

Looking at this, I’d say we’d found some success at it!

This is not Roger above, of course, but my Instagram pic with the graphic yesterday. Roger does not have enough teeth for this. But he snapped his gums at us a few times. He does not like his feet being done and of course he has concerns about his underbelly near his “parts”. That is where we need to get the most as he wears diapers. So that will be the 3rd attempt and we will have to do it without him laying in a pillow. I think one will have to hold him while the other trims.

Looking over at my guys last night, I felt a sense of contentment. We did it. Well George did it. Most of it. Even Roger felt better. He ran around the house like doggies do after a bath. I have to watch him though. He loses his balance and falls over and I’m afraid he’ll run into something and break it – a lamp, a guitar, or who knows what. He also has been known to get tangled up in cords – computer cords, vacuum cords, lol. He’s like a toddler for sure. Here he is worn out from the day. You can see how sleepy he is. He used up a lot of energy and it really probably wore him out to be messed with but he felt better I’m sure and looks better.

This Part Might Bore You….

The big news for me, is that it had been bothering me that I’ve not had time to set up my rugged Lacie files to move my iMovies and their working files over to it. But guess what? At around 4 ish, I grabbed a cup of coffee and watched videos. I somehow knew (since I have a Mac) that there was going to be “a catch”. So I have found that doing anything with a Mac it’s best to watch a YouTube video before you attack the project. And I’m so glad I did. The other Lacie drive I used as a back up drive and it backs up daily maybe several times a day, I cannot remember. But this one is just to be used as a storage drive. And so you set them up differently. The big thing was that the disc had to be formatted through disc utility and that made it Mac usable.

While I was YouTubing, some other videos caught my attention about how to set up your files on the Mac (or any computer). So I decided to title each one by year and then by month and date and the title of the video. So there is a file for each video. Something like this:

“2020.5.2 Headed to Texas“

This put all of my videos in chronological order. When I moved the files, It actually copied them, but that was pointless as the point was to get them off of my Mac. And also get any out of iCloud if they were still there. So I nervously sent them to trash after I had confirmed my videos were there on the new Lacie Drive! Yay! Both Lacies were called “Lacie” when they loaded so I had to rename one the Lacie Backup and the other Lacie1. As I hope there will be Lacie2 and Lacie3 as needed. If I ever get monetized on YouTube I’ll have to take additional steps. Because the external storage drive – if it ever dies – they are gone. I’m not too concerned though at this point, b/c all of that data is 1) already on YouTube so it’s not totally gone 2) Most of the photos are still in my photos which is on the back up drive. I’d say when I’m moving them over to the working file, it’s really only copying them over. So there is likely another copy in my photos on my hard drive. So far I’m not worried about that yet. I don’t keep many video footage and it’s mostly photos. I think the main thing is getting the big movie space suckers off the Mac.

I’m not through though. I have a lot of “working files” for each video. I will also be sending those files into each of the named video folders. That way I can go back and get “just a video clip” if I want to refer to something. It will all be organized and I’ll be able to find it. But I won’t be keeping many videos on my Mac itself from my “photo bank”.

So once I move ALL those working files over from each of those completed videos (I already have it pretty much organized and anything that is not organized already, I’m not spending a lot of time to go back and do. But will in the future make sure it IS!)

Then I’m still NOT through. I want to set up “working files” for all of the future videos. So I can break them up and organize it into folders. Now these I’ve decided will be OK to remain on the Mac until I finish it. That way they are being backed up until I get them into a movie. I’m so excited to have started the project. And working to set up the “future movie” files, I’ll be able to see all the photos and video clips that I have and can start to form ideas. This is going to help me so much! And once this is through I can focus on my new Intro and then I can get back into my routine.

I was really starting to get antsy b/c I miss doing the videos. I have continued videoing things we do, almost every weekend, I’m videoing something. So I have several to make! Now that some organization is coming together I can begin to get in a rhythm and can do more planning and creating for each thing in advance.

I do have to stop and take care of important things though, like trying to find a place for Mom, doing some mending, and a few household projects. When spring gets here I’ll be making some appointments and we’ll be doing our research and getting the flooring. Oh that will be a good video! lol

Photo by Louis on Pexels.com

Anyway, I keep typing as I’m waiting for things to thaw. I was wanting to leave at 7-ish for work, but decided 8ish, and now I may need to wait til 9. The sun is up but it’s 25. The temps are coming up pretty quick I guess as the sun shines bright. I’m trying to wait til it is above freezing, so perhaps I can find some traction and melting on these side roads. They are as slick as glass, I’m sure.

Wish me luck and say prayers. George has to get me out of the driveway, and then I have to navigate to the main roads. I’m scared to death as I thought it would be thawed by now. But we are going up to 50’s so if I have to wait til lunch time I can I guess. That would help. But I want to get as many hours in as I can today as there is a lot to do. I never thought I’d be so happy to go into work! ha. I just don’t like having important things pending and I don’t like being behind. But I’m not willing to risk my life though. I guess the good news is that we usually don’t have 18 wheelers driving in our neighborhood, so the worst that could happen is I’d slide off into a mail box or ditch. But, I don’t want to damage my car either. This is the most stubborn snow I think I’ve ever seen!

Are you thawing out where you are? Are you ready for Spring?

Another Busy, Sleepy, Whiney Pre-Christmas Bah Humbug Post

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized2 Comments

My GrandDog Findlay! Love her. Is this not pitiful, having to wait til Santa comes?

George fixed a good dish this week. Forgive if I have already posted it. I think I only posted it in Facebook though. It’s a KY HOT BROWN.

Why? Because we need gravy and bacon and bread. What else can keep you moving when your dog doesn’t let you sleep at night and you try to pretend you are a human being the next day?

Busy Week with Not Proper Sleep

This week has been so busy – working all day, running errands after work, and then wrapping or getting things addressed and off into the mail. Extended family gift cards have gone out now – well one will go out today, and Secret Santa took two stores last night but got that wrapped and put together last night for work today – not much notice given on that one but I wanted to participate as we need the cheer. We had another Christmas mission we accomplished last night as well but I have to put that together this weekend.

Drove to Columbia yesterday and got Mom to the eye doc. We had a good visit. You never know with traffic – especially Christmas traffic and sometimes construction- how much time it takes to get there. Yesterday it took barely over an hour. After work it usually takes upwards to two as there is usually a wreck somewhere or construction. But I got there with just enough time for us to go through a drive thru and get a burger on the way to the appointment. That was nice as I’d forgotten to bring anything to eat for lunch. So when appointment was over I took her home and headed back to Mount Juliet.

Got home around 4 ish and came home to Roger and his messes. He can no longer hold it – not that he was ever perfect. Cleaned carpet in living room with the carpet machine and took him out. He was so happy to see me. I mean OVER THE MOON happy. He was howling something awful when I got home. He is so lonely when we are away. And at night even when we are with him but trying to sleep. He was so happy to go outside. And he ran around like a little puppy and we walked around the house and as we were walking to the front again he stopped. He just couldn’t go anymore as his legs were giving out. So I had to carry him. But he had a brief happy playful moment. When George came home he was excited to see him too. George picked him up to love on him and put him in my face and he gave me the biggest kiss on the nose. Rogers kisses are sparse. He must have thought in his doggie dementia that we were gone forever, and he was alone now that Maisy is gone. His howls are so desperate and pitiful.

The nights are not going well. In a way it is worse than a newborn. We are not getting but an hour or two of sleep at any time. George has been the one to get up with him as when I start to get up he says “I’ll get him”. However, I had to get up once last night. But just b/c I don’t get up does not mean I’m sleeping. Matter of fact, I’m probably sleeping less than George b/c he goes back to sleep and snores while I lie there trying to go back to sleep blocking the snores. So it’s a double trouble night for me. It’s getting so bad I am starting to dream of getting a hotel room for a night just to have solid sleep. Not to mention the thought of buying my own house! ha. Can we have separate houses? Then I can have what I want in the kitchen, can have my color flooring, and a clean horizontal spaces and maybe an RV too? Just kidding – not really. Some things you just have to get used to – to stay married. But I don’t think I can get used to no sleep at night. Something needs to change and change fast. Having Maisy’s blanket in bed with us did not work.

I don’t know what the answer is. But when Roger is gone-I think I’ve about decided I don’t want another one for a long time. Between Maisy and Roger we’ve not sleep good for a long while. Add snoring on top of that.

I feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with me today. It’s probably just best I put music in my ear and don’t talk to anyone today. I’m a bear when I don’t get sleep and we are several nights in on this one. I woke up angry this morning. Just mad. Stinking mad. And it’s not fun to start your day that way. I had to clean the carpets again this morning from the overnight where we just exhaustingly put him back in the kitchen/living area with doors closed off as he would not stay in the bed, and he howled until I finally just got up and made coffee, and he had gone on the rugs again. We are trying to limit the carpet area that he is ruining. I can’t live like this. Folks, when I don’t get sleep and have to clean carpets before the sun comes up and before I’ve had coffee – just know I’m probably not going to be the best of humor. And THAT is putting it mildly.

I’m just so over this already. I’m tired. I want to escape! I have a lot to do. But first I have to go to work and like I said – pretend I’m a human. I don’t want to work today. I just want to sleep. And I’m running late. I guess it was cleaning carpets and taking a longer shower because it felt so good to have steaming hot water over my shoulders and back. I’m now I’ve spent probably way too much time venting. But it is what it is. I’ve catered to the world and sometimes the world just has to be patient. I’m not requiring it cater to me. I’m just asking for patience. Being catered to would be nice though, lol.

How can one fend off a virus with little sleep, forgetting vitamins, and thus a reduced immune system? I also think I forgot to take my blood pressure meds yesterday and I don’t think I’ve remembered to take my vitamins in several days. Just off the routine, no time to prep or remember anything, just trying to meet demands of the season, work, deal with no sleep, and prep for company and get work done and and and and and and.

TGIF. Thank goodness it’s Friday. I’m going to do what I can to make it better.

Making Today Better

  1. Drinking my coffee x 3 cups.
  2. Listen to Max Lucado on the way to work.
  3. Pray
  4. Yes probably in that order. I should pray first but I’m too mad right now! NEED COFFEE.
  5. Listen to good music in my ear.
  6. Avoid people wherever possible, lol.
  7. Put on a fake smile.
  8. Go out and get lunch today. (I’ve made up yesterday’s hours in pockets all week so why not). Not to mention all the other times I worked extra, came in early, stayed late, skipped lunch, worked a weekend to get payroll done – plus the extra hours in a holiday week and before and after vacation that you try to get all your work done). I shall deserve to have a proper lunch today if it will make me less of a bear.
  9. I will drink my greens today and have oatmeal for breakfast. Take my vitamins my blood pressure meds.
  10. I will look forward to leaving today at a proper time having considered #8, the fact that it’s a holiday and I’m in dire straits.

The Weekend and Next Week

We have company coming tomorrow. I’m glad we decided to go out to eat. We are opening presents at our house first. Then going out for Thai. Their presents are wrapped and we’ll have time to pull the house together. And then Sunday I’ll have time to pull the rest of Christmas together – test George’s stocking, wrap the extra gifts bought this week, and do some special things I’m doing for our guests. We’ll go to the store (may just send George as I have to do our laundry too). So I think I have just about enough time to pull it all together. We have to work very long days next week. After long days of work trying to cram 5 days of work in 3, we’ll be grocery shopping for the fresh ingredients, I’ll be making sausage balls, getting the house clean as there are no off days before guests arrive. But we can do this right? We can if we can get some sleep. I’m hoping that more people in the house makes Roger less lonely and that he won’t keep everyone awake on Christmas Eve.

I’m trying to be excited about Christmas. I promise I will be. I just need to drink another cup of coffee and to plan to see that there is time to accomplish it all. And hope no one gets COVID before Christmas can get here. Right now I just need some sleep! But it is not to be. Duty calls. Got to go. But I’m not rushing today. Nope. Not gonna do it. The world is gonna have to wait til I get another cup of coffee. My Blog’s Name? There is a reason for it.