First World Problem

 I have a husband who can't miss a meal. In fact, if a meal is late, it might be the end of him.

The most frustrating thing about him is that he can eat pure crap and it does not affect his A1C, his cholesterol or his weight.

There is no justice in this.

So today, we had to go into town. We got another load of stuff from the old house, to include the mirror to the marble topped dresser. 

It was about to rain, so we needed to get that load home, but it was a few minutes past noon, and Tim was on his death bed, so we went to McDonald's so that he could get a meal to go. 

I got my standard order which is one large unsweetened iced tea, extra ice, double lemon.

While I was not staring death in the eye, I was thirsty, and so when my drink came. I took a big swig and it was sweet tea. 

So I got out of the truck and went in and explained the situation. She apologized and I gave her the order again: large unsweetened tea with extra ice and double lemon. She repeated after me: one unsweetened iced tea with extra ice and lemonade. 

'No,' I said. 'No lemonade at all. Just one large unsweetened tea, lots of ice. Two slices of lemon.'

'No lemonade? Just lemon?'

'Yes,' I said. 

She was gone an awful long time for just getting a drink, but I waited. I mean, unlike Tim, I was not having a near death experience.

But eventually, she came out with a big smile...and handed me a 'large unsweetened iced tea, extra ice, lemonade.'

I said. 'I didn't want lemonade...' and she went wide eyed. 'Oh my gosh. I did it again.'

I waited once again. She returned with my cup. It had my lemons, but she forgot the ice of all things.

I wasn't dying, but I was thirsty, so I took it and left. By the time I got back to the truck, Tim was nearly finished with his meal.

Motorhead

 Tim got his 'new' old truck a few weeks back. My suggestion was to get a newer truck without mechanical problems but he really wanted this truck. He wanted it so badly that he did not bother to discuss it. He just hopped in his car and drove an hour and a half. 

He came back a few hours later and told me he bought the truck. He raved about how great of shape the body was in. The truck was from California. The underneath was solid. The fellow had put new fenders on it. The guy knew how to do bodywork the right way.

I was not fooled. I said, 'How does it run, though?' 

He gave the not too reassuring response: 'No way to know that until I drive it a while.'

The thoughts I thought are best left unshared.

And sure enough, driving the truck home he discovered 'a bug'. It gave a little jerk from time to time. He was pretty sure it was no big deal. the truck did not stall out or anything. He dragged his little code reader out of its little suitcase and got a read out that indicated oxygen sensors. 

So he sent off to Rock Auto and got all new oxygen sensors. While he was at it, he got a fuel pump for the 'last' old truck. 

When everything arrived, he replaced the oxygen sensors. 

The truck still jerked from time to time. So he got the idea to replace the fuel filter. Still there was that jerk. Not bad. It always started. In never stalled out. He decided to put the fuel pump that he'd gotten for the 'last' old truck on the new old truck (they are the same year.) 

After several hours of work, he started it up and honest to Pete, it sounded worse than ever. When he came into the house, I said, 'I am sorry...' but ever the optimist, he said, 'it is a lot easier to diagnose a problem if the vehicle does it all the time,' and back he went to the internet to study the situation some more.

So far he has replaced the cam sensor, the crankshaft sensor, the rotor something or another and the spark plugs. Probably not in that order. If I got something messed up, it is because I do a lot of 'nod and smile' when he explains. In 27 years of marriage, he has not noticed that I could not care less.

If Glen Moon was here, I am certain that the two of them would happily spend hours down in the garage. Bless their hearts. So Mary, if your husband has any ideas, pass them along. 

The good news is that he bought another fuel pump for the last old truck and got it installed while he was waiting for another shipment from Rock Auto. That truck runs perfectly at least. 

I will give the man credit: he has an awful lot of patience with his tinkering. I would have run the thing off a cliff by now.

Actually, that is not true. I would have spent the money to get a newer truck. Even though "it is all computerized and has to be taken in to be repaired because it is all a plot to move vehicle repairs from a home garage to dealerships."

Anyways. Steve Reed showed a picture of his flowering cactus. 

This is my great grandmother's cactus. Then my grandma got it. Then my mother got it. Then I got it. After 10 years in my care, it inexplicably began to die. I felt terrible about it. After reading and trying everything, I gave up. I just set the dead plant out in the unheated mudroom for the winter meaning to dump the dirt in the garden in the spring and save the pot for something that was willing to put more effort into living.

And in the spring, when I was pulling out all the dead growth, square in the middle of the pot was the tiniest bit of green. It was brought back inside and despite my tender care, it lived.

I finally moved it from the old house, where it has been sitting alone and neglected since July. Proving once again it doesn't need any help from me, thank you very much, it was covered in blossoms.

You know what doesn't thrive on neglect? Trucks. Just a thing I noticed.

Invisible People

 It was a windy day today, a cool and cloudy day, getting only to the mid fifties. Autumn. I had plenty to do inside, and so I spent the day doing it. 

We had company yesterday. Remember those scalloped potatoes? I was so sure they were not going to be any good, so, last minute, I threw together some instant mashed potatoes. But lo, they were good and the mashed potatoes were not touched. 

I was pondering supper, and decided on a cottage pie to use up that bowl of mashed potatoes. I  grabbed a package of chopped venison out of the freezer. I used my dehydrated vegetables again, and also chopped up some other vegetables that just needed to be gone. 

I invited my brother in law and sister over for supper even though it was late notice. It was such an awfully big casserole, the one I bake lasagna in. There was plenty. 

Luckily.

An old friend stopped in. I haven't seen him in a couple years and was shocked at his appearance. He is so gaunt and frail that it really pained me to see him. 

An extra plate was quickly set at the table. He ate very slowly but listened to the conversation around him with interest. He had a wheat roll with a helping of pumpkin butter. I was secretly happy to see him take a second. 

I was not the only one surprised at our friend's appearance. In private, my brother-in-law said he would have never known him. My sister said she didn't know who he was until he spoke. His voice is unchanged.

Afterwards, when it was just him and us, I asked him flat out what was going on,  that his gaunt  appearance was a bit of a shock.

He denied that he was sick, but did admit to just being tired. Everything takes him longer. He sometimes forgets to eat. Other times he is just too tired to figure out what to have for supper. Tim said "Give him the leftovers from supper." 

It was not a whole lot, but he could get a couple meals out of it. I went to the freezer and got a small loaf of whole grain bread. I took a container of apple sauce too. I brought it upstairs and cut a quarter of an apple pie.

I showed him how to make refrigerator oats. He actually pulled out a pen, and wrote the directions down. I told him that he could make up a weeks worth, and just add milk to one of them each evening, let it sit overnight in the fridge, nuke it for 30 seconds and then add milk and honey to taste, and there was breakfast. 

We both lectured him the kindest way we knew how, and sent him out the door with a standing invitation for supper. We did get a for-sure-and- certain promise that he would come next Wednesday. 

Tim and I are pretty rattled by this. He is an old friend. He used to come eat with us a couple times a week, but he got quite offended that we were not MAGA. He had tried his best to convert us. We finally had to tell him we did not want to discuss politics. He was angry, left the house and never came back.

He was always a talker. A hard worker, a machinist like Tim. A hunter. Cuts and hauls his own firewood to store for winter. A lifelong batchelor. he was all of those things, but now he is an invisible person, an elderly man alone, becoming increasingly unable to manage. I imagine there are many people like him. 

I am not sure why he decided to drop in tonight, but we are both sure glad he did.

Paychecks

 Steve Reed commented yesterday that the No King participants are supposedly paid by George Soros, according  to the GOP and MAGA.

Now this is the same spiel provided by the acquaintance who flatly stated that no Christian should participate in No King rallies because the were nothing but a device to divide Americans. (Um...hello? This is pot calling kettle...) Anyways, when I pointed out that many religious leaders felt it was their faith that called them to be there, her response was about the undercurrents of evil behind these sort of things and spoke at great length about George Soros.

I felt sad about it but i blocked her. Once someone falls down that conspiracy rabbit hole, there is no reasoning with them. 

Anyways, so I put it out to you all:  who got paid yesterday? Anybody? 

Nothing much to report, but I did want to say that I did try my scalloped potatoes today, my dehydrated potato slices and my 'instant' sauce mix. Interesting enough, the recipe for the sauce was good. However the amount of liquid that she added to the dehydrated potato slices was just not enough. The thing is, I knew it. I questioned it, but made the decision to go with the instructions as provided. I shouldn't have. I did go back and actually doubled the amount of liquid, added more sauce mix. The potatoes did soften up. The verdict was the flavor is perfect, and probably if they had baked an extra 20 minutes, it would have been perfect. 

So...I guess that product is fine. I just need to do some math, figure out the proper liquid to potato ratio.

It started raining this afternoon and hasn't stopped yet, which is okay, because the rain is sorely needed. As a matter of fact, we have rain in the forecast every day this week. It is supposed to be much colder too. 

No Kings

There were between 300-400 people today at the rally. For our little town, it was a pretty big deal. What amazed me the most was the cheering and honking from the cars. For the first time, I saw business semi trucks tooting their horns in solidarity. A lot of public support.

Local news picked it up. 

Erie News Now coverage of 10.18.25 NO KINGS RALLY in Warren!

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/c8/08/3613D6CD-CBC5-4857-8CBE-A6B5223DAEF6/IMG_7253.MOV

So did the newspapers.

Nationwide, they are saying seven million people mobilized so far, making it the largest protest in the nation's history.

We are pleased to have been a part of it.

Can you pick Tim and I out?

Guilt

After months of eating the expensive catfood we got for a dollar a box at Happ's, the stuff is now gone. It is not something we would ever dream of buying at regular prices. The stuff runs between $14-18 for a box of 12 pouches, and those ferals were eating more than a box per day. We would be spending more to feed cats than we spend on food for ourselves!

We feed them a good dry catfood, but finding a replacement wet food has been difficult. I am sure finding out what they won't eat. 

They began coming to the door to mew pitifully.

I bought two more 12 packs of cat food last weekend, different brands, and hallelujah! One of them was something that they all ate. 

So, yesterday, while I was out, I bought a 40 can case of it.

You guessed it. Today they were not so fond of it. 

Tim says, 'They'll eat when they get hungry enough."

I feel so guilty.

Tomorrow is No King Day. Tim and I will be there.  I feel no guilt about that. 

A friend posted that no Christian should be at one of these protests. Surprised me that she was one of those. Not everyone agreed with her. I pointed out, choosing my words very carefully, that many religious leaders of a wide variety of faiths felt it was putting their faith into action. Talking the talk is fine but sometimes it is required to walk the walk. 

She responded that behind these protests there were corrupt and evil forces at work, citing her experience at the Standing Rock protests where she was arrested.

I wonder where that idealistic woman went? She had such a passion about social justice. She firmly believed in roght and wrong. I didn't bother to say anything more, but it seems kind of sad to me. 

These protests are on track to be the biggest protest in our nation's history. Chicago and Portland are doing a fine job of nonviolent resistance to ICE. We will certainly support them.

I made wheat bread today. It has been a while but it turned out very nicely. First yeast bread of the season. I always wonder if I lost my knack. Nope. I still got it.

This has nothing to do with anything but it made me laugh: 

The Experiment

 My new stove has a multipurpose oven, and one of the things it does is dehydrate. Now, I have never tried dehydration before but decided to give it a go. The one thing that I decided is that when I run the dehydrator, the oven will be full. So I use both racks and even put a smaller baking sheet on the bottom of the oven, and then I run the dehydrator over night. The oven keeps at a steady 150 degrees.

When I wake up, everything is done. The house is also warmed on these chilly mornings. Double duty, there!

This is my first experiment. 

This jar is about 1.5 quarts. Unbelievably, this jar contains 3 lbs of carrots, 3 lbs of celery, six large Vidalia onions, at least 4 trays of dehydrated tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, corn, green beans. I just dehydrated whatever I found on sale, produce wise or whatever came from the garden. If I had part of a onion left over from whatever I was cooking, I just diced it up and put it on a parchment covered baking sheet. It was a great way to use up the last of the garden, when things were winding down, not enough to make a meal, but too much to waste.

It is my soup jar. I have tried this. I had made a little venison roast. I saved the broth from it. I chopped up the meat and dropped it back into the crock pot of broth. I added a half cup of dehydrated vegetables and enough water to cover it. I let the crock sit over night in the fridge and then popped it back into the crock pot on low the next morning. I added a handful of barley and let it go.

That evening, we had our bowl of venison-vegetable-barley soup. Tim said, 'This is good.' I said that I had used the dehydrated vegetables. He said, 'Really??? They don't taste any different from regular vegetables!'

He is a convert. He tells everyone.

I have been dehydrating potatoes too. We bought a 50 lb bag. 

This is a two quart container. You can see that it is about 2/3 full. This is 10 lbs of potatoes. I will do another 5 lbs tonight. My thoughts were to use them for scalloped potatoes. If they pass Betty Crocker's scrutiny, there is no reason it shouldn't work for me. 

I hunted online and discovered that there are quite a few people who swear by dehydrating.

I found an 'instant sauce mix' to use in making the scalloped potatoes. Dried milk, flour, cornstarch. Dried minced onion. Garlic powder, parsley, salt, pepper and ground mustard. 'Better than Betty's' they proclaim. 'No additives!' 

I wanted to also explain something else. You really can fall down quite a rabbit hole with this dehydrating stuff. Gz mentioned that she just braids her garlic and hangs it. We go through a lot of garlic in this house, either sautéed in olive oil and stored in the fridge or minced fresh.

This sauce recipe (and many other  dehydrating recipes) called for minced dried onion and garlic powder. I had a lot of fresh garlic and that bag of Vidalia onions. I wondered why you would buy that. If you were dehydrating, why couldn't you dehydrate those like everything else? So off I went to discover that for myself. I would call the experiment a success, but I will warn you that 3 trays of onions and one of garlic will bring you to tears! Luckily, we sleep with our bedroom door shut and windows open for the cool. By the time we got up the next morning, the tear makers were neutralized!

We will be putting these potatoes to the test on Sunday. We have company coming for barbecue. I will let you know.

This jar contains 40 ounces of fresh mushrooms. They were on sale at the grocery store, so I picked them up for dehydrating. They turned out great. I have used these already. I tossed a scoop of them into the tomato sauce I was making from the last of the tomatoes. Again,  they were (to us, anyway) indistinguishable from cooking with fresh mushrooms.

So...that is my experiment so far. I am pleased with the results. It is awfully nice to have the time to try my hand at new things.

Get 'r Done

 We have been getting things done here, and for whatever reason, it seems to be moving along without 'hiccups'.

Today, I walked out of the house with my to-do list. Tim had a list of his own. He dropped me off at the bank. Despite multiple assurances that the bank's hands were tied, two teller trips to the manager's office to discuss the situation (I was pretty sure the teller did not understand what I was explaining), I finally was allowed to speak directly to the manager. I explained the situation, she immediately understood what I needed and she did it. She also took the extra step of calling the main office to double make sure the issue was resolved. I appreciated that. I was in and out of her office in ten minutes flat.

From there, I walked to the post office with some letters. We had our mail forwarded to the new address. It took two tries to get that accomplished, but it got done. Except that we began getting mail addressed to other people at the old house!

I was directed to the postmaster. After a brief conversation with him, that problem was resolved.

Then it was out the door and over to the library. For our wedding gift to our daughter and almost son-in-law, we got them tickets to a theater event they wanted to see. Since we still do not have our computer set up, I needed to print them off there.

One interesting thing happened there. Someone had left their cellphone beside the computer, so I took it up to the desk and turned it in. Immediately, this caused great agitation. One of the librarians made a big deal about 'what are we going to do with it' and 'I am not touching it!' (Repeated multiple times). I am not sure why she was so upset by the phone. Surely it was simple enough to put the phone behind the counter for safekeeping until someone realized they'd misplaced it and began retracing their steps. The issue was debated for far longer than I thought it needed to be.

But in any case, the tickets were printed out. At about the same time, my phone rang. Tim was finished with his list. Perfect timing.

We got a few groceries and headed home. Yesterday, we had gotten our freezer loaded onto the truck and down to the new house. I got it defrosted overnight and wiped it down. We got it unloaded and into the basement with minimal difficulty. 

Has anyone heard of this cheese? I had never tried it before, but we both think it is the best cheddar we have ever had.

So anyways, I was happy with the day's work and I felt quite accomplished. I reminded myself that:

Relief

I had a doctor's appointment today, and I was sincerely dreading it. I hate arguing with the doctor. She is actually a Physician's Assistant, but, you know what I mean. She had been trying to convince me to do metformin for my 'diabetes', even though I clearly fell into the pre-diabetes range. I was pushing back. 

I cited NIH guidelines. I discussed the fact that I was hampered by a very bad knee which made exercise difficult. I was also struggling with a bit of depression. I was just not in a good place last winter.

Personally, I was seeing this as a wake up call. I got serious about my diet. My knee replacement allowed me to begin exercising in earnest.

But despite all of those changes, I was dreading that doctor visit like crazy. I was sure that the issue would be pushed again. 

Except it wasn't. 

I am no longer pre-diabetic. I have lost just over 28 pounds this year. They are pleased with the changes. Told me to keep on keeping on.

I can't tell you how relieved I am.

Pete Hegseth put out a demand that all news agencies at the Pentagon had to sign a pledge not to cover any stories not approved by the Pentagon. The deadline was 5 pm today. As far as I can see only one far right news group has signaled a willingness to do so, something called OANN, which stands for One America News Network. 

I can't tell you how relieved I am about that too. 

Let's end it on a humorous note, shall we?

Happy

 

Today, I had to go into town early to have blood work done. We had company coming for supper, so I wanted to pick up makings for a tossed salad, but I had some time to kill before the grocery store opened, so I went to the Tractor Supply to see what they had left in their garden shop. Everything was 75% and I was not going to buy anything. Just look. 

As you do. 

Except there was this bumble bee clinging to this plant in the morning chill.

Isn't that just so cute?

I bought the plant for purely humanitarian reasons, and the little bee was quite happy to travel home in a warm car with me. 

I know it is ridiculous, but that tiny good deed made me very happy and that happy lasted all day.

For Blondi

Blondi Blathers tickled me yesterday with her comment, so here you are: My refrigerator. I have a lot of magnets. Some artwork. 

I have a stone that my youngest granddaughter presented to me with great pride. She painted it herself.

The 'hagstone' (the rock with the hole in it) was found by my grandson.

They are kept in a crystal dish with my other interesting stones, arrowheads, a stone scraper/knife, fossils, pottery shards. 

I have an orange plastic spider on the bathroom window sill where my granddaughters left it.

That's enough real for the moment. 

Today I woke up at six am. I finally just got up. I peeled the rest of my apples from my niece's house and made apple sauce. Once that was on the stove, I chopped up 3 trays of onions and started dehydrating them. Once done, I whisked them through the food processor on pulse, just the tiniest bit to make dried minced onion. I am drying garlic to make garlic powder. This dehydrating thing has been such a very interesting thing to learn about. 

Taking a tip from Boud, I did a bit of creating. I made a little terrarium with mosses. That made me happy too. 

My sister and her husband came over. I finally won a game of scrabble. It's been a while. She brought beef tips and noodles for supper. I added a loaf of zucchini bread and apple sauce. Apple pie ala mode for dessert.

That is it really, unless you want to hear about the recycling taken in. Or scrubbing the bathroom. 

There you have it...another day in the life, but it was soul satisfying.

Dull Day

 Today was a hodge podge day. Errands to be run, a bit of groceries. Then back home and up to deliver some pepperoni to my niece. We picked apples. She has a glut of them and I am welcome to as many as I can use. 

We have had two hard frosts, and so I picked the last few of my tomatoes and figured to use them for spaghetti sauce. I added some of my dehydrated onions, mushrooms and garlic. I tossed in my seasonings and three cooked links of Italian sausage and let it all simmer together to rehydrate my vegetables. I peeled and cut up apples for an apple pie. 

Tim spent the afternoon tinkering with his 'new' old truck. So far he has changed the oxygen sensors, something about wiring harnesses and grounds. He cleaned the fuel filters today and he changed the ignition switch. He is patiently tracking down codes. He bought a fuel pump for his last old truck but thinks he will have to put it on the new old truck and just order another fuel pump for the last old truck.😵‍💫

I say, 'I don't understand why you had to buy a new old truck. Why didn't you just fix up the last old truck?' The answer is always 'The body on this one is perfect.'

Lucky he doesn't apply that thinking to wives. I will stick to apple pies and spaghetti sauce. 

But here's something curious. I didn't really have enough tomatoes to make enough sauce, so I added a jar of marinera to stretch the sauce. It was a brand I was not familiar with, but the label said 'Marinera' and underneath 'roasted red bell peppers'.  It was only after I added the sauce that I noticed in smaller writing above the word 'marinera'. It said 'with Hatch chiles'. 

Have you ever seen marinera with chiles?

Tim does not like spicy food but he liked this a lot. He also liked his slice of warm apple pie with ice cream on top. 

So that was today. Who is that snoring out there?

Unexpected

 The weather is getting cool and Tim worried about our newest tenant. Her apartment is heated with a vented gas heater. We shut it down in the summer when it is serviced. When it gets cool outside, it can be relit and it is ready to go. It is thermostatically controlled like any furnace. 

Tenants seem to be nervous about lighting it, which surprised us a little, but Tim would obligingly walk down and demonstrate it for them once sgain.. The last tenant nervously messaged me about when we were going to turn the heat on. We were horrified. She had been shown how to do it, and we never even considered that she wouldn't. We had turned on our own heat a couple weeks earlier.

Now we live 1/2 hour out of town and Tim wanted to make sure the new tenant had the heat turned on. It has been getting into the 30s at night, and the mornings are frosty.

I messaged J but received no reply. Still, we stopped by on our way through. I rang the buzzer, but she didn't come to the door. 

The downstairs tenant was hooking his truck up to his trailer of lawn equipment. I greeted him cheerfully. 'Is J out, do you know?' 

His answer was short and curt. "I wouldn't know." Just the was he said it, I kind of got the idea that he was upset.

Now, understand that we have had problems with tenants getting along before. We had a real slyboots once.  She had been with us for several years. No matter who was in the other apartment, there were problems. She like to stake claim on the shared washer in the basement. She would put clothes in it over the course of a few days, and run it when she got around to it. When the other tenant came to use the washer it was always full of her not yet washed clothes. We fixed that by assigning days. Odd days the washer was reserved for the bottom apartment. Even days belonged to the upper apartment. Clothes not removed from the washer or dryer were allowed to be removed. 

The next tenant she complained about non-stop. To be fair, that girl was a partier, when her lease was up, we did not renew it. 

The third tenant, our longterm tenant just did stupid stuff. If she saw the tenant on the back deck, she'd throw handfuls of bird seed from her balcony 'for the squirrels' as the seed rained down on the tenant trying to enjoy her view. The hall light had a shared switch. When the downstairs tenant came home with her groceries after working her second shift job, the upstairs neighbor would switch off the hall light on her. There were other things. Lots of things. We gave her a three month notice, and were glad to see the backside of her.

Things have been pretty quiet ever since. We thought, anyway.

I said, "is there a problem?"

He said, "I'm not saying anything. I need a place to live." He was mad though.

I was a bit dumbfounded by that. "We would never just get rid of a tenant for that. We've always try to mediate."

I couldn't imagine what it could be. J is a quiet person, with a shaky voice. She has had a rough go of things and was so emotional hearing that she had the apartment, that it made us sure she was right for the building.

I said, "I am sure that we can work it out with her..."

He said, "So he wasn't honest with you at all, I see. I grew up with him and his family and..."

The change in pronouns made it clear to me. I said, "We know she's transgendered."

He threw up his hands in disgust. "I know his family and they are good people."

I said, "Listen. It doesn't matter. We did not ask her to pull down her pants before renting to her. We didn't ask you to either."

He snorted. J. opened her door at that moment. He said, "We will talk later."

I could not even imagine what was left that needed said. He got in his truck and drove off with his trailer. 

I guess what made this exchange so unexpected is that we knew him before he ever moved in. We know his family. I attended church with his grandma. His brother and sister in law were coworkers, as well as church friends. We knew him. I ushered in his nephew's wedding to his same sex partner. I watched him dancing at that wedding with his girlfriend, a gorgeous black woman with long flowing hair. It would never have occurred to us that he was one of those. 

Tim and I agonized over how to best handle it. I actually lay awake last night. My biggest fear was that there had already been words exchanged that might have J feeling as if her living situation might be at risk. 

This morning, I just bit the bullet and called her. I explained it very briefly. I had barely begun to speak when she said, "I know he doesn't like me. He has never said anything, but I can feel that. He knows my family."

I said, "Good. I honestly don't think he is going to say anything. I was just blindsided by the conversation. I just want you to know where we stand on it. You are a good tenant, and you never have to worry that this will affect your relationship with us. This is his problem to sort through. Just know that if he ever begins to harass you, we expect to be notified immediately."

In other news, Hegseth has given the greenlight to Qatar opening a military base in Idaho. Gotta say I did not have that on my bingo card.

Trump did not win the Nobel Peace Prize today. 

We installed heat tape on a house as part of a birthday present. I baked 4 loaves of zucchini bread when we got home. Supper was just a simple tomato soup and grilled cheese. For the first time since we moved into this house, I managed to grill the sandwiches without setting off the darn smoke detector, something that I think is worthy of a prize.

Nature

 I have been meaning to comment on the whole 'cats are lactose intolerant'. I wonder about that. I have three younger kittens, six - eight months, I am guessing. I buy cans of evaporated milk from the discount grocery (30 cents a can) and heat up water in the kettle, dilute about 1/3 of a can until it looks like milk should look. Then I add a can of catfood in to make a sort of a gravy. They start the day with bellies of warm food.

 I figure that I will just stop when they stop eating it, but they still lap it up. The thing is, so do their mothers. They all crowd in and lap up that  ixture until it is gone. So I guess I have questions about that. I think animal instinct would kick in if the milk was making them sick. It is not as if they don't have other options. There is a large dish of kibble. They each get a packet of cat food. The moms get two. But they still do love their gravy. All of them.

I remember my friend's dairy barn. The cats always came in at milking time. When the udders were cleaned, prior to milking, the next step was to milk them by hand into a bucket to make sure that there was no dirt or bacteria to contaminate the milk once you put the milking machine on them. The milk from the 'stripping' was always given to the barn cats and they knew it. They followed us around mewing excitedly, and there was always a too excited cat getting milk poured on his head, so anxious was he to get the first taste.

So I do have questions about the whole lactose intolerant thing.

Anyways, I headed to the garage tonight with the pitcher of milk gravy, and a carton of cat food. It was getting dark, and Tim had closed up the garage doors already. 

Now the thing is, I wasn't being quiet. I was talking to cats like I always do. I did notice that zero cats came to meet me. I walked into the garage and noticed a black and white cat at the kibble dish, and groaned to myself. I am two cats away from having them all neutered and the last thing I need is more cats showing up. 

I stepped closer and realized what I was looking about the same time he looked up and realized what he was looking at. 

The skunk swiftly turned tail. I recoiled in horror. 

The answer is no. He swiftly waddled off through the hole he had dug out at the back of the garage. 

Tim thought this was a real knee slapper. He said I came close to sleeping in the camper for a few days, but did offer to turn on the heat and water so I would be comfortable.

Seasons change and so do I.

 We finally got a good soaking rain on Tuesday.  I honestly don't think there is a better sound to fall asleep to, the shussssshhh of heavy rain on the roof. 

I washed windows yesterday, inside and out. It is interesting. We picked up windows over the years as we found them on sale. The sizes match, and the colors too, but the mechanisms vary. What started out as a small job (only 11 windows to do) turned into an afternoon's work. I could not find the right nozzle for the vacuum, then I needed to rip it apart to clean the filters. Then I finangled with the different windows. Long story short: I have three more windows to clean. 

But yesterday, on my ladder it was cool and breezy and the tree leaves rattled behind me. The seasons are changing. 

This morning, when I got up, there was a light frost in the meadow in front of the house.

A funny thing? The deer come to the meadow in the evening. Last night, two curious cats came out to watch them feeding. A big doe was curious right back. She walked to each one of them in turn to investigate. One cat fled, but one cat stayed, and the deer ate, comfortable with the strange little creature laying just a few feet away.

I think Portland and Chicago are doing it right. Not backing down, either one of them. 

Portland police chief pushes back on White House 'war zone' narrative - ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/US/portland-police-chief-pushes-back-white-house-war/story?id=126274228

Ice teargassed the police in Chicago.

 ICE Feuds With Chicago Police As Tension Between Law Enforcement Grows - Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/ice-chicago-police-tension-10834038

Oregon National Guard General states that if the National Guard is deployed in Washington State, their orders will be to protect the public from ICE. 

Watching all this from the woods, one thing is clear. We owe it to the people on the frontlines to protest on October 18th. 

Tell me

 Anyone out there use Viasat for their internet?

We are living out in the country right now. Our computer is not yet set up, because we don't have a provider. My sister uses her StraightTalk phone as a hot spot. It meets their needs, so we figured that we'd probably just do the same.

Then this came in the mail: 

Tim suggested that we check into it. 

So, I called. 

A friendly woman asked for my address to make sure they provided service to our area.  I thought that was strange since the postcard was mailed to this address, but I gave it to her. She brightly said that they did service our area, and she offered to put me through to a sales representative. 

I thanked her and listened to another round of the same recording as I did waiting for the first representative.

Another woman came on the phone. This one asked for my name and then my address once again. I spelled my last name carefully using the military phonetic alphabet for my last name. 

She thanked me. I said that I just had questions about their service. My post card did not mention a hookup cost. What would that cost? 

She said that she would connect me to a specialist. (!!!!)

So I waited again.

A young man came on, and once again, I spelled out my name. Once again, I provided my address. He asked questions. One was 'who is your existing provider?' I said that we just moved here. 'Owning or renting'. 'Own.' Who provided service at your previous address?' 'Breezeline.' 'Why aren't you continuing with them?' 

Uh... that struck me as odd. I said because this is a rural area, they don't service this area, and frankly we are not impressed with their customer service.'

He said, 'Let's get you set up with a home visit shall we?' 

I said, 'We aren't there yet. I need to get some basic information. How much is the hookup fee?'

He began telling me that it all depended, without telling me what it depended on. 'The technician would explain this when he made his visit,' he said in a placating voice.

I said that I was not interested in a home visit if he couldn't even provide me with basic information.

He danced around a bit, but finally said it would be between 0 and $500 to hook up. Monthly fees would be between $69 and $200. Again he said that it was all depending while not telling me what it depended on. 

I mentioned the postcard offering service at $61.99 a month. He seemed very surprised at that price. "I am holding it in my hand right now," I said.

'Let me see when we can get a technician out...' he said.

"No," I said. "This feels very scammy."

He was surprised and sounded wounded. He asked me why I would even think such a thing. 

I said, 'Have a good day,' and hung up as he said, 'Wait, Ms -------'.

Is this the way business is done now? Craziest phone call ever.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I scare myself. Last week, I managed to lose my wallet twice. It gets set down and forgotten. The last time I had carelessly dropped it when I reached for my sweater. 

It scares me, these lapses.

I decided the sensible thing was to begin carrying a purse. One is far less likely to drop something or leave it behind if it is slung over a shoulder.

Friday, I drove my brother in law into town to pick up a rental car. The deer had sensibly run across the road and into the brush before suddenly changing his mind, turning back and flinging himself into my sister's car. 

"I don't know what is wrong with my car," I said. "It doesn't seem to want to shift." 

The thing is I had not driven my car much. We tend to stick to the Suburu because the gas mileage is better. That is the only explanation I have. My brother in law looked down, laughed and shifted the car from Low to Drive. I was mortified. 

In the Suburu, Drive is straight all the way back. To put it into Low, you move the gear shift from Drive to the left. In the Lincoln, it is a straight operation: park, reverse, neutral, Drive and low. I just pulled the shift all the way back like you would for the other car.

I forget things. 

There is part of me that just wants to blame it on my preoccupation with the chaos around me. There is another part of me that worries that it is not.

The find

 Yesterday, just before I pulled my prank at the yard sale, I was stopped dead at the sight of these. 8 of them. Tealight candle holders that look like ice, and immediately, I wanted them. 

Now, I did not need them, and I told myself that in a very firm, no nonsense way. 

I mean, I couldn't have made it any clearer to me. 

But it did not stop the wanting. 

I stood there thinking of Sue and her carboot sales, and her seasonal displays. 

In the end, I caved. I bought them. $8 for all of them, a dollar apiece. 

I came home and looked them up. Kosta Boda art glass designed by Ann Wolff.  That was pretty cool. They are leaded glass and very heavy. In the case of an actual emergency, i could use them to defend myself! 

Tonight I lit them and set them out on the coffee table. I am glad that I ignored myself.

I am reading a good book. The Guest Book by Sarah Blake. 

And last night. ICE raided an apartment building in Chicago, zip tying children and putting them into the back of U-hauls, separated from their parents. It sickens me, literally.

How can anyone justify this? 

But people are, and their excuses make me every bit as sick as the raids themselves.

Joker

 Tim stopped at a yard sale last week. They had old garden tools, so he returned to the sale with Levi, who bought a carload of stuff.

(Not kidding, btw. )

The ladder he bought was set aside. And picked up when Tim brought the truck into town. So Tim did that yesterday.

Tim knows the family hosting the sale. An elderly couple is selling their big house. Their kids were helping out. One of the daughters mentioned that they were bringing stuff to the sale through out the week.

Tim needed to run into town to meet the water company this morning. We were astonished to get our water bill for the old house. They claimed we had used 63 gallons of water a day last month. The house has been empty since the end of July! When they were called, they said it was an estimated bill and said that they are required to be notified when a house is empty for a final meter reading. Who knew? We sure did not.

So this morning, we went back to town for the dreaded 8-12 'window'. Luckily, the man was there not long after 9. 

Tim wanted to stop by his yard sale again to see what else they had. They were delighted to see him again. 

The elderly woman said, "I assume this is your wife..."

I made my face look perfectly astonished, as I looked over at him. "Wait...you're married????!!"

Something Promising.

 Yesterday was an early start. I had caged Possum and Tiger Kitty the previous night and they had meowed pitifully from the basement through the night. I am sure they were hungry and thirsty, but they were being neutered.

We were up at 6. On the road by 7. In line by 7:30, back in the car by 8.

We had a list of errands to do. Tim needed to get some tools to work on his 'new' truck when the parts arrive on Friday. I wanted him to get a truck that was sound. I mean he already has a truck that he doesn't want to drive because it is an antique. He has two more trucks that need some mechanical work. Now he has another. He looks at me and patiently explains that the new truck has not got a bit of rust on it. All it needs is some tinkering and a paint job. The other trucks require tinkering AND bodywork.

I don't get it either, but he has promised me that once he replaces the fuel pump on his previous 'new' truck, he will sell it. 

We'll see, but we are two people who do not need six vehicles. Seven if you count the Baja in the garage. 

I digress, but this really is a bone of contention between us. All I can say is that at least it is not another house. 

Anyways. We had an appointment at the bank (that we missed) but that she took us anyway. We had to pick up some stuff from Lowe's. We had to stop in at the insurance office to add the 'new' truck to our policy. (Grrrrrrr....) The last stop was at the library to print off our tickets for Kansas. 

We got headed for home. It was not yet noon and we thought we might be able to get a little nap before we got the call to go pick up the cats. Usually the call comes about 2ish. This time we had no sooner gotten home and the stuff out of the car than the call came. 

I drove back in to town and two cats were pitifully glad to see me. They sang a very sad song the half hour home. I tried to confine them in the basement to insure that they were over the effects of the surgery, but they were so frantic to get out that I gave up and let them out. They tore across the yard and back to the safety of their clowder and garage. 

(At suppertime, they were just as glad to see me as usual, and allowed much petting.)

The Fix'n Wag'n neutered over 80 cats yesterday. In the four month that this service has been provided, they have neutered over 380 cats in my town. I can't say enough good things about this program. Not all these animals have homes, but there are people who tend these animals. The 'tipped' ear allows you to tell at a glance which feral cats have been neutered and which have not. Last visit a woman brought in (and paid for) 11 feral cats. Neutering them in this numbers should have a noticeable impact on feral cat populations - a very good thing.