Friday, March 17th, 2023
Friday Five
TGIF!! I honestly can’t believe it’s Friday, but here we are! It’s time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:
- I was on a wicked losing streak with audiobooks, and then I saw “Outlander” by Diane Gabaldon was on my free list (meaning books that are included in my monthly fee, so not really free). I read that book decades ago and never watched the series, so I figured I’d listen to it. I have to say, that book holds up for me. I’m enjoying it! In physical books, this week I read a nonfiction “The Microbiome Connection” by two gastroenterologist. It’s not exciting reading, but I found it helpful. Then I started listening to podcasts along the same line, and YouTube determined that I must be on a weight loss journey, and began suggesting podcasts like “How to melt the fat off” Or other quick fix quackery nonsense that I’m way too old and jaded to believe or care about. <<Insert Eye Roll Here>> One a more serious note, I’m concentrating on getting more comprehensive information on the things my doctors have told me. While they are good and dedicated, they don’t have the time to explain the in depth research behind the concepts.
- Yesterday once the rain tapered off to a mist, I took Maggie for a walk along the stream behind our house. The stream has completely washed out a road to get up to the ranches in the hills which must suck for them. Maggie and I enjoyed the walk until the end. But before I get to that, here’s a pic
- So we were very careful and I know this area well. However I failed to think about one critical detail — by the street, either the housing track of the city are planting trees and shrub. Looking at the picture, the road is on the right, up a small incline. Maggie and I walked on a flat area where I wouldn’t slip. That went great. But at the end, I needed to step up a slight rise to get to the street. I’ve done this so many times! But this time, once I stepped, I sank. Like quicksand! It happened so fast, the mud got up to my knee before I could get enough leverage to pull my leg out. I was fine–just soaked in mud. Maggie had, of course, stepped up there too, and her paws sank a few inches too. My best guess is maybe there was a whole for a plant there, and all the rain pushed the soft dirt back in, and when I stepped in the perfect spot — I sank! Once Maggie and I were free, I started to walk home, but I was soooo covered in mud, I gave in and called Wizard. If you listen carefully, you can still hear him laughing! It took a long time to get all that cleaned up! My jeans were so mud caked, I had to squirt them off with the hose before I dared put them in the washer. I dumped Maggie in the bathtub, and had to hand wash her collar and leash. It was quite an adventure! But it wasn’t until later than it dawned on me I could have been hurt, especially if I’d fallen with the bottom half of my leg stuck in that mud. But I wasn’t hurt so it’s all good
- We have another storm moving in early next week, but so far, that looks like less rain which is very good. Flood and rockslides are a big worry. The good news for us is our backyard is draining really well. We are very happy about that.
- Today is Turbo’s birthday! He’s five years old and growing into such a big boy. He’s having a party tomorrow and that will be fun. So far, that’s about all we have planned.
So that’s my five and now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!
March 17th, 2023 at 6:46 am · Link
Yay for finding a book you enjoyed. LOL about the bots throwing what they think you might like at you and missing horribly. Gah about the rain cutting through the road and yikes for sinking into the mire. I’m glad you weren’t injured. Boo for more rain, but yay for good drainage work in the yard. Happy Birthday, Turbo!! I can’t believe he’s five already. Have fun at his party!
1) Yesterday I took a long lunch so I could run into town to the drug store, which meant I opened and closed the office yesterday. Long day, but it worked for me. And now I have fewer errands to run tomorrow. Yay.
2) The older I get the less likely I am to want to go anywhere.
3) We have robins! They’re only passing though, but they make me happy every Spring and Fall.
4) My lilac bush is getting loads of little leaves and now I can see tiny clusters of what will become big bunches of flowers. I love Spring.
5) I actually used the exercise bike this week. Hubs is using it almost daily now. I need to get into the swing, too. And I need to walk more. Finding the gumption, though, is the tough part.
March 17th, 2023 at 8:37 am · Link
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TURBO!!!! 🥳 You’re growing into such a wonderful young man! Never read Gabaldon but I enjoyed the first several seasons of the HBO series. I bet the ranchers have 4W drive and can ford the stream in an emergency. Gah on the mud. Bad Wiz for laughing. Maggie is a true and trustworthy companion to stick with you.
Boo on storms, yay for drainage. My five:
1. Monday was Wallyworld day. As Jake and I loaded up in the garage, Pete darted under the car. I opened the garage door and waited a moment before starting the Highlander (speaking of Gabaldon–
) Pete is very traffic savvy so I slowly pulled out. Got to WW, parked, and got out. I heard a cat meowing. Totally freaked–because Jake heard it too–we searched my car, including the engine compartment. No Pete. Whew, but… One of the cart guys came over to check on me (nice to be a regular) and he heard it too. We found no cat. When I came out, the lady in the car next to me was loading litter, cat food, bed, etc. into her backseat and the meowing was very load and plaintive. She’d just adopted a cat, who was very unhappy in the carrier in the front seat of her car. The window tint was so dark, we couldn’t see inside. Pete finally appeared a few hours later. He’d gone off to visit the neighborhood.
2. Tuesday, I “resurrected” the first series of books I sold to a publisher for my Tuesday Treats and Titles blog, this being Paddy’s Day week and those books are set in Ireland and/or have Irish characters. It was fun to revist them.
3. Wednesday was World Baseball Classic (actually every day has been that! LOL) and Cowgirl softball. My Cowgirls are ranked #2 behind OU. Yippee!! Anyway, their game Wednesday was televised and they came from behind to win. They play again today. I do love me some softball.
4. Thursday was cold and rainy. I could do without the cold but we needed the rain and got at least an inch. I did a little writing and listened to my current book–CAPTURE THE CROWN by Jennifer Estep. Doing a marathon of her Crown of Shards and The Gargoyle Queen fantasy series because new release and these are awesome books. My shoulder is bothering me so I’ll probably get off the computer shortly, listen to the book and then watch my Cowgirls.
5. Since I started the week with a Pete story, I’ll end with one. LG and I got involved in a show streaming on Discovery+ so my doing dishes was way later than normal and it was time for “bedtime treats” for the boys, except the bag was empty. I went to the garage to resupply and Pete came in. The next thing I knew, he was taking a tour of the entire house, Loki following–in stealth/stalk mode–about 5 feet behind him. At one point in the night, he got up on the futon with LG and Boone, and wanted pets from LG before finally coming to the bedroom to sleep on/around me. Good that he’s getting comfortable though I doubt he’ll ever truly be an indoor cat.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Sláinte! 🍀☘🍀
March 17th, 2023 at 3:20 pm · Link
1. Nice that you found a book that you enjoyed is still enjoyable. Love the eye roll on the video “help.” I rolled mine too.
2. Love the photo of the stream. Nice that you and Maggie had a good walk until –
3. OMG! You and Maggie both could have been hurt. I am so happy you both were able to get free an call Wizard for the ride.
4. It’s crazy how you guys keep getting wave after wave of storms. Happy to hear that your yard is draining properly.
5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TURBO! You have a wonderful time celebrating the BIG 5!
1a. We keep having crazy weather too. Today upper 50’s and rain in the morning, 30 by noon. The snow is supposed to arrive around 8.
2a. My mom is really close now. My middle and his wife are heading up to NY Sat. The youngest, his lady and I will be going out there tomorrow early morning. She doesn’t want us around too long. She has never met Courtney. I’m sad that this will be when they finally do meet.
3a. Youngest is loading the tractor that was my step-fathers into the bed of his truck and we will be taking it back here.
4a. I’m calling in favors of people to check on hubs while we are all in NY. It’s the only way I could feel okay about leaving, even if it is only 10/11 hours.
5a. My corned beef is just about ready. We decided to make sandwiches instead of the normal Irish boiled dinner.
I hope you have tons of fun with Turbo! Have a great weekend!
March 18th, 2023 at 12:54 pm · Link
B.E., I’m late answering, but I’m here! Well before I leave again in a few minutes
Thanks on Turbo’s birthday. I’m sure it will be fun.
1) That does sound like a long day, but at least you were able to get an errand done at lunch.
2) I think that might be true of most of us.
3) The robins are doing their job if they are bringing you joy! Birds singing in the morning always make me happy.
4) So Spring is really coming! Yay!
5) Yay for any exercise! But dang, you’re so right about the gumption. It’s so much harder than it sounds!
I hope you have a really nice weekend!
March 18th, 2023 at 1:04 pm · Link
Silver, I’m sure they all have four wheel drives, and I’ve seen on with a tracker cleaning roads after the rains, so they likely know what they’re doing.
1) Whoa I bet you had a few bad moments when you heard the cat crying. But Pete is pretty street-wise so it was a safe bet he’d clear the car when he heard the the car door. Yay for the lady adopting a cat. I assume the cat was safe in the car since it wasn’t hot and the cat was secured in a carrier.
2) Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have time to hop over and look! Today we’re off to Turbo’s party in a bit, and this is my only chance to even answer the blog (because I always overbook my time, LOL).
3) The Cowgirls are doing great so far!
4) I’m sure the rain and cold aren’t helping your shoulder.
5) I don’t know, Pete’s come a long ways since you coaxed him into the garage! Getting up on the futon with the two boys is a huge step and he’s becoming more affectionate. You might have yourself a mostly indoor cat by next winter. But either way, it sounds like he’s living the good life these days. Loki stalking him is a funny mental picture. Loki takes himself very seriously sometimes
Have a great weekend!
March 18th, 2023 at 1:12 pm · Link
Viki, it was really weird when my foot then leg sank. But I was fine, no ill effects, and Maggie was fine aside from suffering the indignity of a bath and her collar being off to dry. When I’d check it in the drier (in a drier bag) she’d stand up on her hind legs and try to get me to put it on her. I swear that collar represents something important to her. But it had to be cleaned and dried.
1) I’m wondering if our weather will ever calm! I hope you guys don’t get too much snow.
I did remember it was St. Paddy’s Day yesterday, but the day was busy as most days are lately. I’m not complaining though!
2) I’m sorry your mom is getting to this point. But your family is amazing to make the time to go see her. It’s important. It is regretful that your mom will only have this one chance to meet Courtney, but I think it’s lovely. I hope you and your brother are holding up okay through this.
3) I’m thinking youngest can use the tractor, right? Didn’t his house come with some land?
4) This situation with hubs must be so stressful. You’re amazing for juggling it all.
5) That sounds sooo good! I hope you enjoyed every bite! I’m jealous in a good way
I hope you have a good visit with your mom and a good weekend.