It's a month in transition

 

I love the time of year when we start seeing the sunrise through the silhouettes of trees that have now lost their leaves, and before the snow starts flying.  It's cool and I'm not a fan of cold weather, but it's a while before the worst of it arrives.

Ember has been taking me on slightly shorter walks, and we've been taking them later in the day when it is warmer.

I'd been commenting for some time that the calendar and the weather don't seem to be lining up, and once again, the calendar seems to be about a month ahead.  I would expect temperatures like this in October, but the calendar says November!

I have appointments of various types on both Tuesdays and Thursdays the next two weeks.  I have the financial guy, when we make tax plans on Tuesday.  We normally meet in October, but I had to put it off because of Ember's side-lining from daycare during the week it was originally scheduled.

This put a burr under my saddle, so to speak, to replace the printer and get my budgeting work done.  

Thursday it will be the annual heating check, and getting the dryer vent cleaned out.  In short, preparing for the Winter to come.

Ember will get her next "spa day" on Thursday, as well.  None too soon.  She actually rolled in a puddle of leaves on Sunday's walk, and a bath is definitely in order.

Next week I have the eye doctor on Tuesday, and the electrical checkup on Thursday.  

The week after that is the US version of Thanksgiving.  Canadians, quite appropriately, celebrate it earlier, since they live further North.  Changes when harvest season is!

Monday we had the nicest outdoor walk.  Weather was great.  Ember was well-behaved.

All right, confession time, I fell for one of those ads for a tank with built in bra.  Not once, but TWICE.  I ordered from Grace & Ease the first time.  I ordered XL, after debating with myself whether to order L or XL.  They sent me a XXXXL.  Forget that noise.  I complained.  They claim they are sending me a replacement in L, as I requested.  So far, nothing.

Meantime I saw another ad, claiming to be the "REAL" thing, with sewn in cups.  Lunara.  Ordered it.  It looks better, seems to fit, but has ZERO support.  I mean it felt like wearing PJ's.  This bore out as I actually tried to wear it on the dog walk on Monday, and when I got to the library, I could tell my boobs had sunk out of the cups and were somewhere around my belly button.  I ducked into the restroom and boosted them back, but by after supper, there they were, escaped again.

That was a waste of money!  Both times.  Too flimsy to provide the support they advertise!  That's $95 between the two of them, that I will never get back.

Tuesday Ember had day care.  I saw the financial guys and took my homework with me.  They did their analysis magic and provided things keep going the way they have been, i.e. I keep spending less than my retirement income, I should be OK to keep on living for years to come.  Of course there are always things that can change this analysis, things over which none of us have control.  But for now, keep calm and carry on.

Wednesday was breezy, but temperatures were not too bad, and Ember was good on our walk.  Of course there were the pauses.  One to eat something she found on the ground, but at least this time it wasn't poo.

Thursday morning I had the heating check scheduled, and the dryer vent cleaning.  We'll call that mixed results.  The furnace is 16 years old, after all.  There was a leak, that appeared to be on the piping around the furnace, and it was dripping onto the control panel and frying it.  

Faced with the decision to repair or replace, I decided to get the new furnace.  

When I picked up Ember at daycare, she was soft and warm, and smelled good.  Yay for Lynda teaching me through her blogs about big dogs needing grooming, too!

The HVAC folks promised delivery and installation of the new furnace on Friday morning. They left the furnace turned off overnight.  Overnight was also the first hard freeze of the season.  Outside it got down to 24℉.  Inside, with a boost from the oven and the dishwasher and the sun on the west side of the house as it set... it got down to 64℉.  I was able to sleep in my own bed, and Ember stayed in her crate overnight.  I got up at 3:15 a.m. to turn on the oven again.  Went back upstairs and took a nice warm shower.  Pretended I was camping in Colorado or some such.  But blessings that the oven, the dishwasher, the microwave, the coffee maker and the hot water heater were all still powered, it was JUST the furnace that was powered down.

Both Ember and the Prisoner were confused by the schedule difference on Friday morning.  I kept things as normal as possible, but I did eat a baked potato for breakfast!  Ember and I just got back from the coffee drive-thru run when the workmen arrived with the new equipment.  Ember greeted them pretty politely while I held her leash, then obediently let herself be crated.  It was time for puppy nap #1 anyway.  Such a good girl!

They tell me this install will take about 5 hours, including a trip away to shape some sheet metal and the arrival of an electrician to make sure things are all OK.  Meantime, I came upstairs to type out the saga and post my weekly episode of the Emberville News.  We are survivors.  And I have to laugh because other than the big charge for a whole new furnace... at least I have it to spend (have known this day would come, just not when).  

And that's about that from here.  Life is good.  Spark on!

Happy November, all!

 

After pureeing that pumpkin on Halloween day, I have fresh pumpkin to put in my oatmeal, with spices that remind me of pumpkin pie.  This is the November 1st version.  You can almost see the little chunks of pumpkin that didn't quite process down.

It was a huge pumpkin.  I was spurred to do this because the foster grandson had a big basketball tournament that took up both Saturday and Sunday, so when they carved pumpkins over at their house, they didn't have the time to do the whole nine yards of harvesting the pulp.

Well, that's what Grandmas are for, right?

The process and the final products follow:

The final products.

The ear check

Tuesday was the day to go get my ears checked.  I had to keep it top of mind throughout all that I did that morning, so I wouldn't forget to go!  

Ember entertained me in the morning, chasing her longline around the indoor area, since it was raining.  She happily went off to daycare, and I came home to clean before heading to the appointment.

At the appointment I was afraid they'd forgot about me as it was 20 minutes past the appointment time by the time they called me in.  The results were not that much altered from the last time I was in, in 2020.  But since that time, I have been blessed with a foster grandchild.  Suddenly those higher frequency voices are more important to me.

The verdict?  Well, it's deteriorated some on that high range.  There was some wax they cleared out on the right-hand side.  They fixed that. Stop with the q-tips, Barb!  They are still telling me that hearing aids are my choice.  In January I will go in and find out what can be done with ear helper technology.  

Ember antics?

A long line to play with.  The first time I clipped it on her collar she play chase with its end around the kitchen, dining room, the x-pen and the hall (they form a loop in the house).  But she figured it out, and by the third morning of "long line play", she posed for this photo.

I fitted her Light Hound harness, and tried it on her on Thursday morning, before sunrise, and let her outside in it.  Now my black dog won't completely disappear in the darkness of the new moon.

The weather appears to be catching up to the calendar, and we've had cold rain, wind, and chillier temperatures.  So much that I didn't want to go out leash walking because of certain bad habits Ember had regarding stealing my gloves!  And Friday is to be the coldest of the week.  We shall see.

But entertaining a big dog inside during bad weather can be a challenge!

Still, Life is Good.  Spark on!

Shine your sink

 

Some of the old SparkPeople followed the FlyLady.  I seem to remember (vaguely, I wasn't a real follower) that one of the first steps was to "shine your sink".  I did that on Tuesday, when Ember went back to daycare.

She was so happy to be dropped off.  She had to wait in the car last Thursday while I got the sample tube, and again on Friday when I dropped off her sample to be tested.  THIS TIME she got to get out of the car and go in and play with the other puppies.

I decided to do a couple of "different" things with my cleaning/declutter time on Tuesday, and that was one of them.  

Another was to clean the lid of one of my trash bins.

Yet a third was to shift one of the dog-eared pieces of furniture out of the family room into the garage, on its way to being completely hauled off (once I get my act together).  

The "to-go" corner of the garage is growing.

I'm gaining x-pen sections in a collection in the garage closet!

The x-pen in the family room is shrinking a bit, as the living room one did earlier.  By reducing the amount of indoor fencing, I'm testing Ember's ability to avoid destroying things.  So far, she's barely passing.  

Ember destroyed a little electronic sonic bug deterrent the other day.  At least it's smaller than some of the things she has destroyed in the past.  Not this one, this one's higher up on the outlet wall.  She unplugged it, raced off to her xpen with it, and crunched it to death.  When she finally succumbed to Mom's cue of "thank you", it was kaput.

She also stole one of her grooming brushes and chewed it up.  Both of these misbehaviors were during that 10-day break from daycare.  Ember wasn't the only one happy she was back in daycare Tuesday morning!

What, you may ask, dear reader, is Barb trying to do with these huge gestures?  It should be obvious:  she's procrastinating.  And rather than dive into unhealthy eating, she's pouring it into housework!

I am suffering a slight bout of "finish line syndrome," you see.  I finished the "Master Bedroom Sanctuary" goal I had set for myself on Spark 2.0 on Thursday last week.

The next "goal" I have set is the Guest Room.  It is a mess, and I hereby present the before photos.

Any bets on a finish date?  

I set the goal for Thanksgiving (US).  Mainly because "the kids" are migrating down to KC for the holiday, taking DIL's parents, the foster kiddo, and the pets, Carl (dog) and Kiwi (Cockatiel).  

With them gone, and I anticipate my older sis driving to Salina to be with her own younger generation, it may be just me, Ember, and The Prisoner!

I bought a turkey breast so I can make the house smell like Thanksgiving, anyway.

Wednesday October 28th

A topsy turvy day, as far as schedule is concerned.  Ember's normal morning walk at 9 or 10 lately, due to when the temperatures were "just right" got shifted to 1 p.m., when it was, believe it or not, a bit on the warm side for a dark dog.  

Why the schedule shift?  Two appointments for house things:  softener salt delivery was supposed to happen between 8 and 12, with only warning the call from 5 minutes out, and the bug prevention/elimination service was between 10:30 and 12:30, turns out.  Except I wrote the bug guy down wrong and thought he'd be here in the afternoon.  I wanted to be home for his visit as once a year I have them treat inside as well as outside.  Autumn is the perfect time for this extra pass.

Thursday, October 29th

I started in on the guest room.  Actually, I got a head start on it Monday, when I donated all the board games, dominoes, and backgammon games!  I don't host parties anymore, and the people I would invite don't do those particular games... and if I keep them around, they are just fodder for Ember to find and destroy (there is some truth in that "the dog ate my homework" excuse).

Anyway the top of the desk and one drawer are now cleared.  The longest bit was finding papers that had to be sorted through to determine if they needed to be kept, and now I have to go email my son, and his ex-wife (as opposed to my daughter in law) to see if they need any of these other things I found.  I shredded quite a bit!

I rescued a couple of knick-knacks that I didn't have room for in the master bedroom before I did that project.  Now they have a home here.  

The Southern Belle had been one of my maternal grandmother's collection of porcelain ladies.  As a kid, I thought she was carrying a furled up parasol, but later learned it was a shawl.  I love the colors.

The little two-handled cup features Peter Rabbit and his family.  It was a baby gift for my son from one of the church ladies.  That generation is gone, now, but the memories they gifted are still here.

Friday October 30th

Let's start in the 4 a.m. hour, when I heard thunder overhead and glanced at the forecast on the phone which said it was going to keep raining for several hours.  Yikes!  Friday is one of the automated sprinkler "on" days and it runs at 4 a.m.  I don't have one of those fancy "rain sensors" on my system.  If I want to turn it off, it means a trip down the stairs into the garage to do so by hand.  I did this.

That stirred the puppy in her crate and while I came upstairs to finish getting ready for the day, she was restless and let out a few "urf" noises.  But I did not succumb, and she settled down while I planned my day.

I went downstairs to feed and groom The Prisoner (cat), and to clean out his littler boxes.  He came upstairs and jumped onto the counter to be brushed, while Ember's bright eyes observed from her crate.  Then kitty went out the front door while Ember got let out to "check the perimeter" of the house.

She was full of herself.  As I was fixing her breakfast, Ember wriggled into the pantry/bath and swiped the toilet brush, racing off with it to her x-pen for some playtime.

Only when the peanut butter (to wrap her allergy pill) came out of the 'fridge did I get her full attention.  Then it was into our normal routine, and I was able to "rescue" the toilet brush.  Sigh.

If that is how our Friday is going to go, that is how it's going to go.

We managed "poo patrol" in between showers of rain.  We managed a small grocery run, and the coffee drive thru.  When the showers came back, and Ember was napping on the couch, we successfully got The Prisoner escorted back inside and down to his safe zone in the laundry room.

Life in Emberville, as you can see, goes on.  And it's good!  I resisted the temptation to purchase Halloween candy yet again, saving that chore for Saturday morning.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Halloween season mini golf

 

It's getting to be that season of the year.

When the sun sets earlier and rises later.

When the spooks and goblins come begging for candy.

Friday evening, a fun round of miniature golf, with course attendants handing out candy for the kiddos.  Skeletor brought his crew.

Me?  I'm the grandma that doesn't even attempt to costume any more.  Too old to do something you don't actually enjoy!  So I dress in high-vis color and go out anyway, to enjoy others getting their enjoyment!

Would you believe it was 70*F at 8 p.m.?  Crazy warm for October!  And what a contrast to last year when we did this and nearly froze in the strong wind.

The other grandma at least made an incredible "Fistor" fist (apparently this is a character that goes with the whole Masters of the Universe theme).  If I didn't have a grandkid in the mix, I would never learn these things!

Meantime, in my own backyard, Ember played with her second pumpkin purchased with destruction in mind.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

A hiccup in the schedule

 

From our walk on October 11th.  There were children and adults loading into a car of the right-hand side of the street, which had Ember's attention.

October 12th was Canadian Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping my neighbEsors to the North had a wonderful holiday.  I gave it my nod of acknowledgement, and I'm finally letting go of my traditional Thanksgiving (Canada) to Thanksgiving (US) Facebook gratitude posts.

Why?  Probably mostly because SparkPeople is back, and I have a daily gratitude practice going on over there, and don't feel the need for the six and a half week long exercise.

We lived through the week, collecting a fecal sample that's required by Ember's daycare on Thursday morning.  I wasn't worried about it, just grateful she produced in the rain on Thursday morning so I could drop it off.

Normally it takes them a couple of days before we have results.  The daycare requires a clean fecal test once a year.  And that year rolls around in October.

I had Ember booked for an extra day in daycare, Friday, for the family trip up to Omaha for a visit to the Kiewit Luminarium.  We managed to fit five of us into DIL's car.  It was an amazing day, if an exhausting one.  The big feature was my phone running out of power!  I kept turning it off to try to preserve power.

When we got back to town, and I plugged my phone into my car's charger, I discovered that the vet's office had been trying to call me, and left voice mail (that I didn't have enough power to call and collect), so I just drove straight there.

Turns out her sample was not clean, it was positive for coccidia!  She's banned from daycare while we medicate her and re-test!  I looked it up online today (I was too exhausted Friday night) and it lines right up with her having eaten crap on her walks in the past couple of weeks!

Saturday and Sunday both were too chilly for our usual schedule of walking, and the walk had to be delayed until about 10 a.m.  This resulted in Ember not taking her morning nap... actually in not taking crate time until after dinner before last call!  Which messed up MY schedule for the day, too, as my usual "do human stuff" time is while she's napping in her crate, after the walk.

Yeah, I know, wah-wah-wah!

Saturday morning, Ember decided she wanted the pumpkin she just sniffed at a week ago, and she picked it up, destroyed the stem, carried it across the street and proceeded to carve it with her teeth and eat the pumpkin!  Just like a squirrel would have done!

Anyway, mortified, once I got her home, I went over, rang the doorbell of the house with the pumpkin, apologized for Ember's behavior and offered to pay for the pumpkin.  The lady was very kind and had a sense of humor about the whole thing.  She would not take my money for the pumpkin, just matter of factly placed it back where it had been, and sent us on our way, thanking me for coming forward with the story.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 3 and couldn't get back to sleep.  On that 10 a.m. walk, I took a fall, crossing a residential street.  Ember behaved very well, when I fell, it jerked her leash, she barked once, then noticed I was down and came over to check on me.  I told her "Oops, Mommy fell.  Help Mommy get back up."  And she stood guard while I did.  After checking to make sure all my parts were still functional, I said, "We'd better take Mommy straight home."  And we did.  I was more mentally shook up.  I do have a couple of skin scrapes, but we walked home just fine, ending with a shorter time and distance than "normal".

We went out again to drop donations off, and to go to the doggy-treat store (she earned it, but we were running low anyway), and a stop at the grocery store for a couple of items.  I bought her a pumpkin of her own, and put it in the back yard.  Later in the day, she discovered it and wasn't sure it was allowed to be played with.  But I assured her this one was hers, and she went to town on it.  If I have a pumpkin patch in my backyard next year, we'll know where it came from.

The Ember's exclusive all-you-can-eat pumpkin buffet.

Monday morning, thankfully, I'm awake and with few "aftereffects" of the fall on Sunday.  The plan is to treat myself gently, and encourage Ember to treat me gently, too!

Life is still good.  Spark on!

We have a new behavior in Emberville

I am not sure I like it, but in some ways it is useful.  Remember last blog, when Ember got me up early?  It messed with my morning routine.  She destroyed a pair of socks in the bargain?  And became a "free elf"?  Ah, yes!

Well, I think I have sussed out the real reason she barked and got me up.  She did not urgently need to go out (witness the distraction of the socks).  I had forgotten the cat was out for the night.  Cat must have asked to come in by pawing/scratching the door.

I think this now because it happened again.  A single bark at about 12:30 a.m.  I turned over and went back to sleep.  Then in the 2 a.m. hour, another bark or two.  This time I pulled on socks and a sweatshirt and padded down the stairs.  

This time I remembered that the cat was outside.  Sure enough, when I slid open the deck door, in trots The Prisoner!  I escorted him down to his luxury suite in the laundry room and came back upstairs.  Ember went back to sleep.  I did not.  I dressed, and here I am at 3:17 a.m. typing away.

Meanwhile, in the news, some of you may remember my traumatic day on November 5, 2009.  Mine, my son's, and his whole unit's traumatic day and all time since then.  17 years later, they are proposing to put the shooter to death via firing squad, and to live stream it.  But before that scheduled date, it is filling the news cycles with the image of the "bad guy" and completely ignoring the people who lost their lives, were wounded, or lost a family member.

Way to reopen wounds, people.  I have no desire to watch any execution, mind you.  Not even one where my son was present in the day.  I still have Facebook friends among the two units and the families. Their reactions are on all extremes of the spectrum.  

I am having to just look away from all that to preserve sanity.

On the good news front, a step forward.  The appellate court upheld the termination of parental rights of my foster grandson's birth parents.  The appealing parent has 30 days to file one last appeal to the state's supreme court.  That deadline lands on November 5th.  Yes, the anniversary of the Fort Hood incident!  If he does not file, the kids will be free to file for adoption of this young boy.  In the meantime, we wait and pray.  If he does file for that last appeal, we're in waiting mode for longer still.

Good Ember news:  on our walk on Saturday the 10th, she sniffed at a pumpkin someone had out for decor... and did NOT steal it!  Considering last November she stole two from yards on successive days, her mommy was very proud of her restraint this year.  The passage of time does help!

Other than that, life is moving on.  A family outing is planned for Friday the 16th, to the Luminarium in Omaha, with foster grand kiddo, his parents and the two grandmas.  Ember will get an extra day of day care to accommodate me being gone all day.

Guess I'd best post this or it will stretch to two weeks between blogs!

Recovery weekend and beyond!

I did not sleep well last Saturday night.  I am not sure why.  But I got up in the 3:00 a.m. hour, then took a nice long nap between 11:00 and 1:30.  We did get through Ember's morning routine, including about a 2-mile walk. 

Since then, I have started experimenting with using music CD's to fall asleep rather than YouTube "Boring X for sleep" videos.  I roll over and close my eyes to those, don't watch them!  Sometimes one works, sometimes the other.  Sometimes neither.  But... working on finding what works!

Our city / county recorded a record high amount of rainfall Wednesday overnight into Thursday.  This photo is from the runoff ditch at the park entrance about a block and a half from my house.

Thankfully, the inside of the house, basement level included, stayed dry.  Some parts of the city were cut off or underwater.  Low-lying areas, of course.  My daughter in law messaged the family group that two of her coworkers had water get into their automobiles where they lived.  Yikes!

The good news is that we are up for several dryer days now.  Friday morning dawned colder than it has been in a while:  47℉ when I got up.  That getting up was early and rushed, because Ember was whining in her crate and escalated to a bark before I even got dressed.

I hurried a bit and went downstairs in bare feet, carrying my socks and shoes, and let her out, thinking she'd head straight for the outside door.  Nope!  She focused on that rolled up pair of socks in my hand and swiped them from me!

Thankfully, this was a pair that was several years old, wearing thin, and I had already been debating with myself whether to pitch them or not.  "Decluttering by dog" quipped my sister in our early morning text exchange (you know the one, the "are we both still breathing" check-in).

In any case, this started off my day differently from what I envisioned, and now I have some catching up to do!  I'm off to feed the cat (belated), take a shower, etc.

Hope you all have a good weekend and week ahead!

Life's good, even when unexpected things happen!  Spark on!