Moo. Who knew?

This week, was [the story] of two young daredevil "influencers" who climbed to the tippy top of the Empire State building, unfurled a banner, got engaged, etc. They were arrested afterwards.

I found their instagram profiles. Apparently, this is just what they do. In this case, it brought felony charges. An engagement to remember. 

Now, had they been cows...

These 50 acres we recently purchased? It's in some foothills above town, surrounded by other similar parcels. Some neighbors live up there year 'round. Our spot has a decent shed, but really, no other structures. Purely recreational. 

On our initial visits, we had a curious discovery: cow pies. Not lots of them, but a few such adornments that left us scratching our heads. 

This week, the online chat helped clear up that little mystery.

So, we learned that livestock owners can just let their cattle roam and graze wherever they please except for state land. Private land is open for all-you-can-eat buffet. It's up to the property owners to keep them out. This herd comes up from the valley below. The discussion thread included different fencing strategies, where to get materials, etc.

We have no fences, and I like it that way. It's not like we have a garden or anything I'm worried about being eaten - now that I know we don't have a marijuana stash as far as I've discovered. Go for it, cows. Still, that's quite a lot of cows.

In similar boonie news, there are many reports of this ursine family, romping and playing. We have yet to see them. So far, we've just seen deer.

We did mount a trail cam, so we'll see if anything fun/cute/ scary/ paranormal... shows up on video.

Mom and two cubs. I wonder what they think of the cows.




Today begins a long weekend for the 4th of July, which always feels to me like the "start of the end" of summer. 

The summer session at the college is past its halfway point already. So much material crammed into 10 weeks. 

Three of my current tutees are enrolled in the course which has the esteemed rank of "Most Failed And Retaken" among all courses in the catalog. At this point, I'm thinking two of the tutees are going to help the course retain its title, but the third one might actually pull through. 

But speaking of sightings, one of the potential fail-and-retakers does have an observant eye and appreciation for aesthetics. As we were packing up yesterday, he told me he liked my chrome calculator keys. This was after I had already stashed my calculator away. 

I never really noticed, so afterward, I took out said calculator - just a handy go-to that fits easily in my backpack. They cost ~$25

No doubt, some industrial designer said those right side keys should be shiny. Difficult to see in this photo, but they are in fact, chrome plated plastic - a finishing touch that adds nothing to functionality. 

It was my first ever calculator key compliment. I'll take what I can get.

make room

There is currently much grinding, sawing, interspersed with jack-hammering going on as I sit here in my comfy home cave. We've got a bit of renovation going. We have a back patio slab of cement that sits fully exposed in the southwest corner of our east-facing house. 

I've never attempted it, but I bet I could throw some pork loin out there mid-morning and have sliders by dinnertime. The place is a slab of hotness in summertime - unfit for human habitation. We've made do by putting out a couple of small tables outfitted with big umbrellas. And that's just to create some shade. The "patio" is still uninhabitable. And the umbrella cloth has become as fragile as the Shroud of Turin after all that sun exposure.

Napolion and one of his underlings

So our reno project is to extend our roof over the space and enclose it - a screen room, as they say. 

If all goes according to plan, the cat will, no doubt, believe it's for him. A proper "catio". There will be no sense in arguing.

Napolion, our cat. We didn't name him, but it suits him.

happy about sad

We've made it to March, congratulations, everyone.

Re-org things have become more prevalent at work - naming of new VPs and Deans. I'm too far removed from that level to pay much attention. 

The managers in my organization, which is disbanding and morphing into something else, had their last staff meeting this past week. Assistant Boss said they closed the meeting with going around the room and asking everyone to share something they're sad about the re-org and something they're excited about. 

Assistant Boss's contribution: "I'm sad that Boss is leaving. I'm excited... that boss is leaving!"

Yup, we all agreed with that sentiment! As I've said, Boss is a good person to work FOR, but annoying to work WITH. He's been told that he will move to his new digs on April 1st. Woe to the fools at his new location.

Speaking of reorganizing, I caught a bit of a tidy bug this week. Actually, I think I have a somewhat chronic condition, but I had a little tidying flare up and did some rearranging and purging of kitchen items. 

This was brought on by this week's mousecapades. We became aware of a mouse raiding a part of the pantry where we keep a few snacks. We'd occasionally hear it scratching around, plus the animals were all honed in on the location.

Magnum set a trap, but the silly mouse didn't get the memo on how to use it. Instead of snapping its neck in the thing and dying instantly, it somehow managed to catch its tail while remaining very much alive and anguished.

We opened the cabinet door while the great hunter Napolion, the cat, was nearby and highly interested. He seemed to take one look at this mouse/ trap hybrid, and say "Whoa, that's just creepy! NO thanks!"  I've since rearranged things to make the snacks, hopefully, less accessible to local rodentia.

Magnum trapped the unhappy combo in a plastic container and put it out back in the brick pile while we contemplated how to end the torture. In the end, our visitor froze to death. I've heard that hypothermia is quite peaceful toward the "end". After the awfulness that comes prior, I suppose. *SIGH*

This morning, I ran this month's Tortoise & Hare race with the running club, a 10k (6.2 miles). 

It was a nice sunny morning for it, temps in the 30s, no icy patches on the course. My NASA shirt didn't give me the rocket boost I'd hoped for as my pace is still notably slower since my bout of dang covid last summer.

I'm not sure if it's my heart rate or my lung capacity that's the issue, or something else entirely. I've never really paid attention to these things in the past, just running for fun. But I stayed alive until the end, strangely smiling in race photos. 

Note: there's a fine line between a smile and a grimace.

day one, digout, and dishes

 

Looks like we've made it to the first of January. Congratulations, everyone.

The revelry at our house was pretty non-existent. We were up at midnight, having watched a weird movie. So I was up and not awakened by fireworks, brushing my teeth at the magic hour.

The movie we were watching was Sorry to Bother You, and it was strange. Had its moments, but then went totally off the rails for about the last third. Can't recommend it. Seems to me it was someone's drug trip/ dream turned into a movie.

We took Chaco back to his house on Friday, our dogs moping around because they miss him and Ella. He lives at what is typically a little over an hour's drive away in Westminster. Dang, they got about a foot of snow there last week from the storm that dropped around 4 inches here. 

Chaco's still in the sling and doing very light PT for another couple of weeks before the bigger PT kicks in. This to say that Magnum and I had some snow shoveling to do at Chaco's.

Otherwise, it's been a nice week of being off of work. I readied some items for donation and scheduled a pickup. Good to start off the new year with a little purge of the old.

We're scheduled to receive our 2nd new dishwasher this week. The first crapped out after a couple of weeks - got stuck in an error mode and couldn't be brought back to life, even after all the troubleshooting. We've been washing dishes by hand for a while now, and it's not all bad.

But in honor of Josephine Cochran, I will accept the new dishwasher - different brand than the first dud - with fingers crossed.

You go, Jo!

who moved my cheese?

We've made it to April.  As such, I got into some spring cleaning this week.  Well, really, it's not because of April, it's just that it was so needed, and I couldn't come up with anything better.

I found some cheese.  I was spring cleaning away and decided to include a good scrub down of our fridge that came with the house when we bought it two years ago.  Prior to us buying it, the house had been a rental for several years.

There I was, removing shelves and drawers of the fridge and soaping everything down when I found a couple sticks of string cheese behind a drawer.  

I couldn't recall having bought string cheese in recent years, so I determined that this was not, in fact, our cheese.  I was able to make out the expiration date of May 2013.  

Anyone want antique string cheese?  Egads, it's 10 years and probably several renters old.

Speaking of cheese, I'm trying to cut down on my dairy intake.  It's pretty mean to the cows, y'know?  I gave up eating beef several years ago, and that was fairly easy.  But it turns out that, gawd, I love cheese and have yet to find a decent substitute.  Advice?

Meanwhile, maybe I can use the reminder of this rental fridge discovery to help curb the cravings.

And speaking of chucking things out, this week, I got around to getting a much needed haircut.  Honestly, it's been a bit of a crapshoot finding a good stylist since moving here, plus a global pandemic, blah blah.  I had one I liked in the last town, but I've bounced around here with mediocre results.  

I went to a new-to-me salon this week and came away happy.  I brought a reference photo, and the stylist nailed it without charging an exorbitant amount or trying to upsell me on everything.  

The anxiety around finding a decent stylist along with whole slap down at last weekend's Oscars reminds me to put less importance on hair in light of other things going on.  I confess to getting nervous whenever I plop into the stylist's chair, having had a handful of bad haircuts.  But it's just hair.

For those who've watched the Fleabag series on Prime Video, you probably remember the iconic "Hair. Is. Everything!" scene.  I found it hilarious, and, sadly, a bit true.

Yeah, it's not gonna happen in here.

Sorry, see ya next week.

going for cozy

This past Wednesday night was the coldest of the season so far.  It was -4F when I checked early Thursday morning.  What makes this noteworthy (maybe) is that our furnace decided to crap out Wednesday evening.  

It was about 8:30pm when Magnum noticed the furnace wasn't kicking on when he adjusted the thermostat.  

After fiddling around like the non-HVAC technicians we are while the inside temperature continued to drop, we decided to call someone who might actually know what they're doing.

Long story short, our furnace was back, hobbled but on the job, by around 10:30 for a "small fee".  While it sucks to lose your heat source on the coldest night of the year, I'm quite happy with how things went down because

• we  noticed it before going to bed.  Had we not, we and the pets would surely have died in the night... Okay, maybe nothing that dramatic.  BUT the house would've probably dropped into the 30s or 40s, pipes would probably have frozen, etc.
• the technician was able to find and band-aid the problem - dirty/corroded contacts on the gas valve.  Initially, he thought we might need a part that is no longer stocked because we have a geriatric furnace.
• it wasn't a total shock as we've been chipping away at projects/upgrades to our previously neglected house since we bought it a couple years ago.  Might as well do the heating system next.
  
  

So we bought a new furnace this morning - well, half of one anyways.  We'll buy the other half when it's installed next week.  In the meantime, old Bessie (current furnace) is earning her keep without complaint, and I'm hoping she can hold on for another cold week.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Write about your most recent purchase.

can I run the trace of your mind

Christmas is a wrap.

We had a nice one here with the brood.  The kids are all currently single, so it was a low-key fivesome plus three dogs and a disgruntled cat.  We opened some cards and gifts, ate, walked the pooches, played some boardgames... a good day was had.

Magnum and I don't gift each other. If we want something, we buy it, no matter the date.  I'm too much of a noncomformist to make a list or such *shivers*.  But we do get SOMEthing for each of the kids to open on Christmas day.  It gets harder every year.

In my recent tidyings, I did come across someone's gift from years ago:  a GoProⓇ camera.  I dusted it off, woke it up, and bought a bicycle mount for it to use as a sort of "dashcam".  I found a handful of skateboarding videos on it and determined it was Wolfgang's.  Don't tell him I've made it mine 🙊

I took it for a test drive on Christmas Eve.  Once I put it on, I noticed that the brake cables on Violet sit right in front of the best placement for the camera, but didn't obscure much in the end result.

Don't worry, I don't plan on turning this blog into a record of boring bicycle commuting videos.  

Other commuters I know use cameras to catalog abuse from motorists, but I manage to avoid those scenarios *knock on wood*.  Respect goes both ways.

Here's a test run snippet.  I found a generic app on my computer for editing and set it to Mozart for hopeful increase in entertainment value.

We're scheduled tomorrow to begin our new window install - replacing every window in the house.  Ooh, a makeover!  It will probably the coldest day of the year, our luck.

The impending window install did spur me to take down the paltry Christmas decorations I'd put up.  So there's that.

Onward to 2022!

we could spend some conversations

I've been in a tidying mood for some reason. Finally started dealing with a bit of clutter in a clutter magnet corner.   When we moved into this house, it was to be only a temporary stay, but we ended up buying the place.

We were looking for a house, the landlord wanted to sell, the stars aligned.  The place needed and still needs some TLC after having been a rental for several years.  We've made baby steps - literally starting with new interior stairs, and then adding a new exterior paint job. Windows are half paid for and supposedly going to happen in January.

 On Friday, we got a new garage door opener as the other decrepit one finally gave up the ghost.  Such joy from a new garage door opener.  Now, about these appliances...

All that tidying and home improvement aside, I am looking forward to the upcoming winter break.  This is the last week at work, and we are closing early on Thursday.  Last Friday, my four coworkers and I managed a quick white elephant gift swap during a short lull in business.  I ended up with a dartboard?  I'm tempted to leave it at work so we can use it there to vent our frustrations.

So I'll have a little over a week off.  Last year, when I was working at the nursing home, there's  no break in the action.  Many residents didn't know one year from the next, let alone holidays.  I miss some of them and some of my coworkers there, but I don't miss the 24/7/365 of the place.

No major plans for the time off other than  to get together with our grown kids on Christmas day.  

I'm sure we'll think of something, but I'm looking forward to some lazy days and days lost to the sketchbook.

Did this sketch yesterday thinking about the upcoming downtime.  It's generally agreed that, when drawing people, the most difficult parts are feet, face, and hands.

See what I did there?  Strategic avoidance.

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Linking up (late) with Mama Kat for the prompt:

1. Tell us about something you are looking forward to.

in search of a crack ho(e)

We're slowly getting our house up to our liking.  Of course, as most homeowners know, this is a never ending saga.  The house was a rental for years before we bought it in March, so it's been a little neglected.  We have a list of improvements to be made and have checked a few off.

Note:  my office ceiling still has a cat portal.

There are some big jobs that are best left to the professionals, and other little things we can tackle.  One thing I don't like is little weeds growing up through the cracks in the driveway.  How is it I get those, but can't keep a houseplant alive??

I wanted to find a tool to remove the weeds from the driveway cracks.  What term to search on?  The first thing that came to mind is "crack hoe", but then I figured that's probably not what they're called.  Yup, "crack weeder" or "concrete weeder" or the combo "concrete crack weeder" work.  

I would love to just get all the improvements done in one big swoop of activity.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  

Ever watch HGTV?  We don't have cable or dish or anything more than network TV, but it seems like whenever I've been in a waiting area with a TV, HGTV was on.  Good thing Meego had braces or I would never have learned the many home improvement methods from the orthodontist office.  But who are these people with unlimited budgets?  I saw this meme and had to nod in recognition

Yesterday, I worked my last shift at the hospital before my voluntary 2-week furlough kicks in.  I hope to get a few projects completed during the downtime, but also have some adventure time planned, so projects will have to wait.

The driveway will be a quick task.  I just need that crack ho.

uncultivated

Dear Abby,

Someone I thought was a "nice guy" stood me up, then was dishonest about it.  I arranged for another meetup, thinking I would stand him up so as to get my revenge.  But in the end, I was nice.  We didn't speak of the previous engagement, and now I think I want him for an LTR.  Am I being stupid?

Abby with the bush

-------------------------------------------------------

Okay, so remember my tale of woe last week when I'd set up a consultation from a bush guy about our junipers?  He didn't show but tried to say that he did?  I was upset enough to schedule another consultation, thinking I'd be a no-show or I'd cancel at the last minute or I'd lead them on only to say, "NO WAY!".  Show them!

Well, none of those scenarios seemed very me-like once I'd cooled the engines.  He showed up a little while ago for our re-schedule.  I didn't say anything about the first appointment, neither did he.  He looked at my bush and seemed to like it enough to want to come back.  I'm seriously thinking of entering this relationship.  Yup, probably gonna do it. *SIGH*

We did get other quotes, but I think I've found my bush guy.  Red Flags and all. 

Speaking of bushy, Meego turned 20 last week.  Twenty?!  Not that twenty is necessarily bushy, but we had a birthday get together with the whole brood.  Stay-at-home restrictions have lifted somewhat and the state parks have opened.

With that in mind, we hit Lory State Park on Saturday for a lovely bit of nature, fresh air, and sunshine.  The guys actually allowed us to get a few pics - rare as a Bigfoot sighting, but not that different in appearance.  It was like a "Who's Got the Biggest Hair" contest

Tough to call, really.  My hair is relatively short in the back these days, but top and front are rather "Cousin It", but can be tucked into a cap.  The guys have harder times controlling their lockdown hair.




Magnum is the cleanest cut of us all since I'd given him a kitchen buzz a couple of weeks ago.















All in all, a beautiful day for a hike and some family time. 

Chaco's county has tougher restrictions than ours.  While masks are required inside public buildings, they are not required outside, and I rarely see them outdoors here.  Chaco's county also requires them in public places outside, including hiking trails and such, so this was like a new experience for him - seeing all the naked faces.

But actually, the trail was a lot less crowded than I thought it would be considering it was a beautiful day on a weekend, and the trails had just reopened.  Much social distance to be had.

Surprisingly, however, the ticket booth people were neither masked nor gloved.  They greeted vehicles, took in money, handed back change, and answered questions all willy nilly from the confines of their small booth. 

Hmmm, the things we find strange these days.

that Dolly Parton meme

That Dolly, who knew she'd still be such a trendsetter at 74 years old.  Oh well, look at Betty White?  Our prime years await!

I'm here waiting for my laundry to finish cycling and for the temperature to go up a few notches so as to venture outside into the arctic that is our current neighborhood.  I saw other bloggers playing with the Dolly Parton meme, so gave it a go.

Good thing I'm not looking to date anyone and in "need" of an actual Tinder profile.


And speaking of pets and primping, I'm looking for recommendations.  For those who have furry family members, what method do you use to remove fur from furniture and EVERYTHING in your home?

The struggle is indeed real

just bought two houses

Now that we've sold a house, the task of finding a new home remains.  Not gonna lie, I'm not thrilled at the thought of moving again.  Although we're not in a hurry, we did pop into an open house over the weekend.  A new listing popped up, and we had nothing better to do, so we went on in.

The house was okay, priced about right, I'd say, and in a favorable location.  Floor plan was a little too closed in and the yard was a little too big for my liking, but it was good to see a little of what's out there.

The thing that steered me away, though?  Neighbor's backyard.  There was a fire pit surrounded by a few chairs and some pilfered road signs.  It just looked like a party backyard to me, and having just moved from next door neighbors that had occassional 3am bonfires, I'm scrutinizing neighbor yards.

Thing is, I liked those previous neighbors.  They were friendly and hard-working and took good enough care of their property and such.  They weren't awful, but what's with the (illegal) bonfires and party tunes in the wee hours of the morning?  Oh well, not my problem anymore.

And I know that neighbors can change.  Our old neighborhood went through a few iterations while we lived there, so no guarantees.  At least we didn't have any crackhouses or meth labs... to my knowledge.

In the meantime, the dogs at least have some new digs.  We got this new kennel for them when we moved.  It's 6' x 16' , and I just got back from picking up matching dog houses.  Nothing fancy, just the lovely plastic shelters.  The dogs are pretty civilized, though.


The cat still pines away for the great outdoors even though I've explained to him that it's illegal in these parts.  He clearly has no respect for the law.



The lease for the house we're renting is up at the end of May, so we've got some time to shop.  We sort of have an agent here - someone we met at an open house last fall when we were REALLY just snooping.  But she seems nice and competent.  She knows we just closed the sale on our house and sent me a gift card for a local espresso and pastry.  Yes, I'll accept bribes favors.

Do you like/ dislike/ feel neutral about your neighbors?  Any horror stories?

a clean break

According to my stack of digital documents, we sold a house yesterday.

According to our realtor's facebook page, we sold a "Stunning Red Hot Home in Prestigious Briargate"

I suppose there were some grains of truth in that realtor-speak.  "Red Hot" as in more buyers than houses for sale currently, and "Prestigious" in that there are some fancy-pants houses in other parts of Briargate...

But hey, whatever works!

We never actually met the buyer since we moved in December and just communicated through our agents.  Make them earn that hefty commission.  From what I do know, it seems that he bought the house as an investment to either spruce up and flip in the Red Hot market or rent out.  Either way, it's no longer ours.

Kinda bittersweet actually.  It's a relief to have the house off our books, but we'd lived there for almost 16 years, so our kids really grew up there and we made a lot of memories.  It's the longest I've lived anywhere other than the family home where I lived and grew up for 18 years.

But rather than dwell on what I miss about the place, I'll count off a few things I won't miss:

• the partying millenials next door
• the old crappy fences, subjected to high winds
• all that space to maintain for just, now, two people
• the sprawl and traffic of Colorado Springs

In the meantime, Magnum's fighting off some crud virus.  Had to drag his sorry butt to the notary public to sign the closing papers.  She was probably thinking, "look at this Mr. Excitement over here".  We didn't mention the crud virus to her, and in hindsight, maybe she thought we were doing a divorce sale - Ha!

I get the pencil sharpener.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
1. Write a blog post inspired by the word: break.

15 minutes, mostly flat

No, that title is not a description of my sex life... or at least it's not intended to be *ahem*

As mentioned, we've moved.  We're in a smaller house in a smaller town and liking it.  Everything seems so much closer and easier to get to - shopping, dining, entertainment, recreation, etc.  Also, as I'd noted during our previous visits, Fort Collins is super duper bicycle commuter friendly with miles and miles of designated trails, buffered bike paths, and the like. 

Looking on google maps for bike routes to various places yields the same result nearly every time:  "15 minutes, mostly flat". 

That big snow from Thanksgiving week, however, has thrown a bit of a wrench in the bike commuting.  There are still lots of snow drifts and icy patches about, and my bike hasn't budged since it was unloaded from the moving truck.  I've seen a few die-hards out and about, though.

Most of our stuff is unpacked and arranged, and we feel like mostly civilized people again.  So what's in all the other boxes??

I guess I could open them and find out?  Give me strength, Marie Kondo.

augers at dawn

The good news is, our fence is in the process of being fixed / replaced.  The bad news is that it came down in the first place.

In our housing development, we all have these crappy wooden fences, as seen in the background of this recent pic from Thanksgiving day:

The fences or portions of them need replacing quite regularly.  We had a big old wind storm on Friday night. Max gusts of about 80 mph.  The entire north length of our fence - the one in the pic - didn't survive.

We share that side of fence with the neighbors to our north.  I went out Saturday morning to assess the carnage and found the neighbor and one of his adolescent kids out there taking down measurements and looking very industrious.

By the end of the day on Saturday, neighbor man and two boys had popped in 4 new posts, and by Sunday, they had a couple more posts and several slats replaced.   It seems they saw the downed fence as a wonderful bonding opportunity.  Well, I'm certainly not one to interfere with a bonding opportunity!  We did provide some cement for the posts, but other than that, they've literally done all the heavy lifting and provided all materials.  We'll cover a good portion of the moolah.

In the meantime, I've been putting up a few fresh coats of paint inside our house, and today, some guys came and installed new carpeting in three bedrooms. 

Paint fumes + new carpet fumes = I'm probably high right now.

what's cookin'?

We've got snow, yes we do!  We've got snow, how 'bout you?  *points*

Okay, it's Colorado. It snowed.  Not really news, but sheesh, there's so much of it.  I think we got about 10 inches at our house.  It felt like more when I shoveled it, but I did have "help" from these two.

Poor Penny, she's so short, when she first went out to the ladies room, all I could see was her head and shoulders.  Didn't seem to phase her, though.

Chaco, who lives a little north and west of Denver, sent this pic from his place, saying, "and it's still snowing!"

Then I got this pic from Meego in Fort Collins:

It's actually rather pretty for those who don't need to go anywhere.  And... I might be a little annoyed that these college boys have better patio furniture than we do.

In a way, it's good to be shut in because it's been good help in getting our house ready to vacate.  Magnum's sis is hosting Thanksgiving again this year, and I'm thankful that I don't have to cook anything.  We're responsible for booze.

With that in mind, my task for today is to clean the oven.  It's a self-cleaning oven, but to be honest, I plan to just scrub it with some Dawn dish soap.  Self-cleaning ovens freak me out a bit.  Ours is the type that uses high heat - like 1000 degrees F - to burn everything up.

I had a self-cleaning oven in one of my college apartments.  I recall coming home one night from my retail job to find firetrucks leaving the parking lot and our oven sitting outside on the grass.  What the...? 

My roommate had tried the self-cleaning mode. 

As I recall, I don't think there was any actual fire.  Just lots and lots of smoke and fumes.  The firefighters were nice enough to loan us a fan. 

As I was pondering a good cleaning for our oven, I paused at the various precautionary notes in the owner's manual and my online research - research that didn't make me want to use self-cleaning mode.  One note stated that the fumes can be specifically harmful to birds, so remove pet birds before cleaning.  I don't have any pet birds but, yeah,  no.

Anyone reading ever used the oven self-cleaning feature?  Any stories to tell?

eight things

I cleaned
and piled stuff for the junk haul I mentioned.  I'd hired these people once before and was very happy.  Same this time around.  I easily booked an appointment online, two nice guys showed up right on time, quoted me a fair price, then proceeded to load our discards and haul it away.  👍
Included in the pile of stuff was our old queen mattress, box spring, and frame.  I do NOT miss that bed at all because...

I slept
like a rock on our new futon.  Really, I know it's not for everyone, but I love the thing.  I'm waking up well rested and feeling good.  Plus, I used to often wake up with stiff upper back and shoulders or with a crick in my neck.  No more.  It's still very much cat approved too, which is good because...

I cleaned some more
when the mighty hunter cat plopped his first gopher trophy of spring on the backdoor mat.  Thank me for not taking and posting a pic because it was disgusting as always.  I think the cat was a little miffed that the junk haulers took his favorite old beat up table from our deck from where he used to sit to bask in the morning sunshine.  So he killed a rodent.  It's therapy for him, somewhat similar to how...

I healed
and went to the endodontist for my follow-up after dental surgery.  So far so good, and he removed all of my stitches.  He said they were supposed to dissolve and seemed perplexed that none of them did.  He asked me if they'd at least softened over time, and I honestly replied that, "no, it felt like a row of fishing line in my mouth the whole time".  He concluded that the wrong type of sutures were in his kit and he'd go investigate.  In the meantime, I'm so happy to have that fishing line out my mouth!  And speaking of pain...

I acquiesced
and met with that strange tutor student - the one who books appointments but then has nothing to work on when I show up.  She wanted to meet yesterday, so I reluctantly agreed.  I did ask what concepts we would work on, and she had a legitimate reply.  Lo and behold, she actually had questions and we had a near normal session, interspersed with her chattering about irrelevant things that I have since learned to ignore and redirect to more purposeful things like how...

I exercised
at the gym.  Another thing that we sent off with the haulers was our treadmill.  We used the thing quite a bit over the years, but it's sat collecting dust like many a treadmill for the past few months.  It was a great thing to have around when the kids were little, but they are now grown, and we belong to a gym.  If I'm banished to running on a treadmill instead of in the great outdoors, I'd rather do it in a big energetic gym than in our little room in the basement, which we have been clearing out in this big de-cluttering phase, which I actually enjoy doing along with...

I socialized
with Magnum's family a bit last weekend.  His brother was in town, and we don't see him much because he lives in another country.  As such, various gatherings happened around his visit.  Magnum enjoyed some family time with brother, Mom, and sister, and  a larger group of us got together for a brunch at the MIL's on Saturday.  Chaco, Wolfgang, and Meego also traveled to join us after we mentioned there would be food...

I cooked
very little, but Mama Kat says 8 things, not 7.

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:

4. List 8 things you accomplished this week!

almost empty

I vaguely recall that, several years ago, I posted about our prepper efforts.  "Preppers", those strange people that are at the ready for an apocalypse? 

Well, okay, we've not been quite that extreme, but we did live in Utah for about 4 years, and while I can't buy into the religion (after death, I become Mrs. God??), there are some appealing aspects to the Mormon Ways...

One of which is being prepared for emergencies, natural disasters and the like.  Where would you rather be?  Home with the family, comfortably living off your provisions or standing in a long FEMA line, hoping for a bottle of water?

Especially with three little kids, this was something into which we put some thought and effort.  For that particular blog post, I snapped a pic of our food storage.

Fast forward to today - the nest is pretty empty, Magnum and I are looking to downsize, it's no news that I've been tidying, discarding, organizing, and generally removing our lives from the lower level of our house.  I'm not going to search through the archives for that food storage pic, but I can show what the former stash room looks like today.  Voila'

Yeah, a whole lotta  not much.  Note that there were two more of the large utility shelves - one is sitting empty in the hallway, and the other, I disassembled and Chaco took it for his use last weekend.  

And really, the main reason that one on the end still has stuff in it is because the cat likes to go up there to hang out near the heater vent sometimes, and I was afraid that, if the shelves were empty, the whole cat 'n' caboodle would come crashing down when the cat did his graceful climb and totally threw off the center of gravity.  

It's  nice having the room so open and airy.  This was also the room where I'd strung my clothesline and dried the laundry - because we're frugal that way and live in a dry climate.  Now, I'm doing laundry for two and don't need that whole clothesline network.  I've got a nice dryer rack that Wolfgang left laying around gifted me when he moved last spring.  

This isn't to say we have no provisions, I've just made room for that stuff on the main level and transferred while the cat gave me dirty looks.   Thought I'd mention that in case some zombie apocalypse was out there waiting for me to jinx ourselves.

Anyone  need some utility shelves?  

popping down

Many years ago, when I was a working girl with no kids, some co-workers and I would go for lunchbreak walks near our office park.  One walking buddy was just emptying his nest as his youngest kid was off to college.  He explained to us how he and his wife bought their little single-story house and then added the top level when their three kids started arriving.  Now it would just be him and the wife living there, with no need for the top story.

Another walking buddy was about my age, no kids.

"There should be pop-up houses", he mused, along the lines of pop-up campers.  "One level for couples that pop-up a second story for kid additions.  Then pop back down when the kids grow up!"

Yeah, so we all chuckled, but I'm starting to see the practicality of it.  For a while, after our kids reached their teens, our house often seemed too small.  Now?  I could do with half a house.

I've begun Operation Consolidation.

Our house is a raised ranch with finished basement.  Magnum and I are wanting to downsize to about half the size of our house now.  So, in preparation, I thought I'd consolidate all our stuff to the main floor.  Can  I do it?  Yes!  I think

Well... the laundry's gonna stay downstairs because... that's where it is.  And I'll keep my office downstairs because that's where the internet cable (better than wifi for online tuting) taps in, and I don't feel like drilling and rerouting.

BUT, everything* else is going up!

Which means, I need to de-clutter the main level to make room for necessities from the lower.  I'd been thinking that I've done a good job of it, but then I got this consolidation idea and am looking around...

This should be fun?  Okay, I'm starting today.

Step 1.  Motivation

It's a start.  And I'm actually still in touch with both of those walking buddies.  Empty nester is now a grandpa several times over, and Pop-up guy now has two sons similar in age to our kids.  I wonder if he has a pop-up?

fifty shades of beige more like wheat

Remember several weeks ago I reported that we got some new windows?  And we found them so pretty that we couldn't bring ourselves to rehang our ugly blinds?  So we didn't?

So yeah, we've been pretty much living in a fishbowl ever since.

But, fishbowl no more!  Our new blinds arrived on Friday.  How do they look?

Well, okay, we did have to eventually take them out of the boxes...  But this was my contribution - bringing the boxes into the house.

I went tuting yesterday morning, and when I got back, Magnum had 'em hanging.  So I guess we're more civilized now and no longer oversharing with the neighbors.  

For my next little project, I want to get another aquarium up and running.  When our last evil fish died over the summer, I cleaned that dystopian aquarium out and rid the house of the evil presence.  For those who don't know the saga, here's the Cliff Notes version:

• I had a thriving freshwater community aquarium with lovely plants and happy fish
• I brought home three friendly-looking Buenos Aires Tetras
• Everything died except for those BATs , they lived almost forever

Darn toxic fish:  can't live with them, can't flush them down the toilet with a clear conscience.

Today is a cold snowy day.  Good day to stay in and play aquarist.  Except I have to trudge to and from the store for the aquarium stuff, uphill both ways.