Back At The Farm Again

Well, here I am, back at Jackie's house. This are peonies that she got at Trader Joe's. The light is bad, so they look washed out and yellow, while in actuality, they are bright pink.

So, another week of getting up at five. Bech. And Christine is on vacation at the shop, so I will be working with the owner all this week. This means NO COFFEE RUNS. However will I stay awake?

The only bright side to this, is that the shop is closed from the 1st to the 4Th. So, I will be able to recoup my sleep.

Incidentally, the borax is working wonderfully! There is no urine smell AT all!

Litter Boxes

Today I went to Wallyworld (super walmart) and bought my supplies for the next week and hopefully some of next week as well. Every week I buy a very large box of arm and hammer kitty litter. I also buy a large box of baking soda, no, not the expensive cat litter version, the $2.50 for like half a pound kind. I don't care about the scent, I care about the SMELL While there, I noticed an array of new products on the shelf. . . odor related products. What's this, I thought as I looked at a small bottle of powder. Put half a cup of this in with the litter and stir it in? Hmmm. . . I look at the ingredients. BORAX!!! Admittedly with citrus perfume, and some vegetable deodorizer. The price: $2.69. I go to the laundry section. Borax, five time as much. . . same price. Guess which one I got. We will see how it works.



Okay I lied. I also buy some baby powder scented cat litter for my bedroom. At first, yes, IT WAS for me, but then I tried switching to a cheaper litter. The Goosie not like. The Goosie jumps from litter box to bed. . .thump. The Goosie leaps from window sill to bed. . .thump. Repeatedly, while I try to sleep. The Goosie PEES on the carpet in FRONT of me. I get the message. It's baby powder scented kitty litter from now on. The Goosie must be appeased.

Mr. Traffic

I haven't written about this, but I am still seeing him. It's not a romantic relationship, although he would like it to be. But, unfortunately, between his age and the meds that he's on, that's not a possibility. However I enjoy his company very much. I go over to his house, (face it, he's never coming here, one of the first things he told me,was that he can't stand the smell of litter boxes. I have 5) and we watch one of his enormous collection of movies. Sometimes he makes dinner, sometime we go out to eat. He won't let me pay, damn it. But I'm not going to push it, he's 74 and that's how he feels about it.

He can't do much of any walking because of his heart, so the museums are out. So far we have only been to the theater once. I think it's a combination between me trying to pay and the walking into the theater, (yes, his heart failure is that bad). But I really enjoy his company and I really like the stories he tells me. And he's so active in so many other ways. He produces two or three illustrations a week, he's making a guitar from a kit, for his son, and he writes. He's written three books! He does a lot more then I do in one week, and I'm 50!

PEOPLE ARE IN THE BACKYARD AGAIN!

Crunch, crunch, crunch I heard as I woke up around 12:30a.m. I knew there was someone in the backyard and I knew there wasn't really any practical thing I could do about it. If I used my cell phone to call the police, the trespasser would hear me and leave before they got there. I could have gone out there with a KNIFE. What would have happen then, hmmm?
So I lay awake and thought about my options:
A; Dog
B; Different sorts of barriers.
C; Lights.
I really don't want to borrow a dog. It's not really safe back there for a dog OR a person. The backyard is still lined with trench's that Daddy and Big Brother were digging to replace the sprinkle system after it broke. Daddy abandon the project after Big Brother moved out to live with his eventual wife. I had no idea that the sprinkler system was broken as I never went out there again after Big Brother removed all my mother's garden and replace the flower beds with redwood chips. My brother believes that if it doesn't produce fruit or vegetables, it's a weed. . .

Barriers; now they have real potential. I can line the side wall (where the trespasser is either entering or exiting) with dirt filled pots, so he has nowhere to step. Of course he could remove them, but he would know that I know and that I don't want him in there. I could try attaching the pots to the wall with museum wax (I have a pot somewhere). Then the trespasser wouldn't be able to knock the pots off.
I can string nylon fishing line across areas in the backyard, so in the dark the trespasser will run into them. This would make him very uncomfortable. I would not try to trip him, that is too dangerous and probably qualify as a man trap.
Best Friend suggested raising the heights of the wall by putting lattice work fencing on the top of the walls. I don't like this because, it would take a lot of money and time to buy and attach.

She also suggested buying those walkway lights, the stake kind that are solar powered. I don't like this either. I don't think they would discourage the trespasser, but actually help him maneuver around the yard. The sad thing is there IS flood lights in the back yard but the switch is in the old radio room and once again, the trespasser would hear me get out of bed, open my bedroom door and make my way down the hall, through the living room and open the siding glass door into the old radio room, and struggle across the items that are stored in there and flip the damn switch. He would be gone, by that time, now wouldn't he. This is the desired results you say. . . only if it doesn't lead to a cat and mouse game, where the trespasser plays with me and ruins my sleep. After all, how old is this person and what are his motive for being in my backyard? Is it just a short cut? Or is it, that he is storing his drugs somewhere in my back yard? Or, worse case scenario, he's a peeping tom. After all, all I'm hearing is his footsteps. I have no idea how long he's been there. It's entirely possible he's been there since before I went to bed, watching me undress and all that rot.
Some advice would be appreciated.

My Bedroom Carpet Is Out Of The House!

Doesn't look so big does it? However, that is 12 by 12 foot of carpet cut up into chunks so I could put it in the trash can, which is where it is now. Whoo Woo for Ikea steak knives!

Now all I have to do is put the bag of blue carpet squares in the trash can, along with the trash bag full of carpet square backing dust that I sooo laboriously scrapped off, and then try to fit the regular household trash on top of that.

I'm am so behind now. I'm suppose to be done with my bedroom by now and working on the living room. It took so much longer than I thought it would to scrape the carpet backing off the floor.

There was a red ant in the bathroom this morning. It better be a left over from the previous attack.

Doesn't Work

Well, so much for having my favorite blogs read out loud to me while I'm on the road. I can't get it to work. The machine keeps suggesting that I check the URL, but I swear, what I have put in, IS correct. The two blogs I selected, (besides my own), I know are syndicated. So, what gives?

This Is A Test

I am trying out jotts.com new feeder link. So far I have not been able to get it to work. I am speculating that it is because I have not posted today and it has nothing that it recognizes as new. Therefore I am providing it with something with today's date.

My Family Is Back In The States!

My sister has called me from the airport in Texas. She said that Margaret had been sick all the way back, and hopefully being on a different plane would help. She also said that she only partly enjoyed her vacation, and she would tell me why later. Oh joy, I can sleep in my own bed and suck up to Goosie. Ah, happiness.

farm sitting for my sister

I have to "farm" sit for my sister for ten days, while she and her family vacation in Costa Ricca. They bought a condo down there about two years ago. It appears to be a very beautiful place. The only thing(s) I worry about are, global warming, and that there is an active volcano there. I just wish they had done a bit more research on it, before they bought.

I call it a FARM because I have to feed 17 rabbits, one lamb (do you envision a cute two and a half tall creature trotting along Bo Peep when you read that? The truth is that sheep are called lambs until they are a year [two?] old. In other words, this "lamb" is almost as tall as me, and the sister has informed me that it is "psycho". Yaa!! I only have to bend down to get under the shade cover in the dog run where she keeps it. It stamps it"s large coven hoof at me when I go in, and the sister tells me this is a sign that it is planning to make a break for it. I hiss at it like a cat while waving my free hand at it and hurriedly grab the food container and rush back out. So far, so good. The lamb backs off and I emerge unscathed.) and a PIG. Actually the pig is quite nice, like a stout medium sized dog. He snuffles my legs when he goes out, just like a dog. I have to flip the wadding pool up and rinse it and refill (pig's drinking water) scoop up the pig dodo with a rake and then feed "Mister Piggy". He gambles outside the pen in the yard while I do this. He goes back inside when I fill his food bowl. My only grip with this is. . . Margaret's note said basically, "this is the pig food". Like, how much am I suppose feed Mister Piggy everyday? I left a note with the night girl and she said one can.

And then I have to feed the three dogs and three cats, bring in the mail, check out the level in the humming bird feeders and today water the potted plants on the patio. Fortunately I only have to feed the animals in the mornings. The second job prevents me from doing the evening feed. There are nights I get off at 11:30. That just wouldn't work. So my sister pays neighboring girls from the 4-H club to do the night feed. I'm always paranoid that they won't do it, flake out. This is because , when I was a child I noticed that the cat on the corner house, next street up was hungry. I did some investigating, and found out that the kid that the corner family had hired to feed their cat for the two weeks they were gone, had left on his own family vacation at the end of the first week. So I fed the cat for the second week. This has always amazed me. Why did his parents agree to let him do this when they knew they were leaving at the end of the first week? I have never been able to fathom that.

Update

Well the co-worker called the pound and yes, the pound made no report. There is no proof. But she filed a report anyway. The monster was arrested to be sent to a Arizona prison. I'm pretty sure nothing will be done. All I can do is ask the pound why no report was made, since the co-worker made it pretty clear she wasn't making a request to have a dead or injured animal picked up, she was trying to have the cat RESCUED.

This post is about cat torture

The best Friend told me about her co-worker's night. In the middle of the night she was woken up by a cat screaming. At first she thought it was outside, but realize that it was upstairs in her apartment complex. She went up there and pounded on their door. They didn't ansew but she could heard the guy laughing in them as he harmed the cat. For over an hour. She called the police (I'm assuming 911) and they wouldn't come out as it wasn't a violent crime. She called animal control. At some point the pound people did come, but apparently after the monster had placed the still living cat in the dumpster with it's intestine coming out of it's rectum, plus other injuries. The co-worker says she thought the pound people took the cat away, the manager says no. Either way, it was trash day today, and the cat's body is no longer there. Later the police came and arrested the monster on a outstanding domestic violence charge. But not about the cat. The co-worker asked the police officer about arresting the monster aver the cat. He said there was no proof, no report from the animal control people and "they work pretty close with them" and that he knew how to do his job. There was three other people in that apartment with the monster while he did that. One of them was his pregnant girlfriend, whom he was getting rid of the cat for. She didn't want it any more.

I intend to do something about this. I will talk to the pound, the police and I will write letters to the city, county and state. But unless the animal control people made a report, there is no physical proof. At the very least I would like both of them to be striped of their parental rights.

I have started cleaning.

In my ADD way, I have started on my bedroom, which doesn't help me with any of the rest of the house. HA! So what I am doing is starting from the bottom up. . . Have to clean off floor, which immediately segue into taking the carpet out in chunks, taking the 1970's blue carpet squares (underneath the green rug) out and scraping the adhesive and backing as much as possible off, and then pouring rubbing alcohol on the adhesive and scraping that off. I have done about 1/3 of the room. Rubbing alcohol smells so much better then cat pee. . .

Things That Are Holding Me Back

1st. off, Best Friend has informed me that she might be moving back in at the end of August. It seems the way she is affording her apartment was deferring a college loan. But the deferment is up in August and the $300 is her food money. So, she needs to find a second job, or a roommate, but nothing seems to be happening in that directions. The jobs she applies for, don't call her back and while she has placed an ad with roommate.coms, she doesn't want to with the local paper, saying it's too much money. She's had one response, from a married couple, but she never said what became of that. I'm going to ask at the florist if she can work on Saturdays.

Since part of my cleaning and de-cluttering process was going to be getting her stuff out of my house, [and boy howdy, does she have a lot of stuff for someone, who's only lived in a dorm room or one bedroom. Two closets, stacks of boxes in the dining room, AND living room!] This has made me slow down and rethink my plans. How to rearrange? BF says that most of her stuff is disposable. But I can't throw HER stuff away, she has to. So I have to get together with her and make her throw her stuff out. The rest? Well I guess I can reroute and clean the living room first, so I can put her stuff in the old radio room (enclosed patio). Which is where the kitty litter boxes are going. I'm also going to throw away the futon and chair mattresses, because a certain cat keeps peeing on them. I will replace them with dog pillows that I will scotch guard. The reason I wanted to do the living room last was, that I am afraid that if I do it, I will stop there. Now that the kitchen is clean I spend a lot of my time in there. While enorging the pantry. The filthy cluttered pantry, filled with non food items, things that are too old, or belongs to others, useless STUFF. I can see me doing this. I will need encouragement from my friends and family.

2nd hold back is simply. . . money. I don't have money for the dog pillows, I don't have money for a dumpster, I don't have money for a haul away service. I just have time and the willingness to do it, on my vacation. I will cope,. . . somehow.