its the little things in life, you know? like, coming home and finding there are no flies covering the windows. or that there wont be any more little birds getting caught in the chimney and suffocating in the heat.

im still working on getting some weather stripping that fits the gap at the top of the back door, where the room has settled and the door doesnt fit as perfectly as it should. the stuff the beau purchased at the hardware store last week was both too thick, and not sticky enough to hold. most annoying. but since that wasnt where the flies had come through anyway, its not such an urgent thing. and then, the few that are attracted to the garbage can in the garage get sprayed, and the trash gets taken out every two days. they arent becoming a problem.

we have a no fly zone here now.

we had our own horror mystery this week. and i learned another home owner lesson.

not long ago we heard sounds in our chimney, the sounds of rustling creatures. we have been going out around 9pm now and then to watch as the fireflies and bats emerge from their hidden resting, the fireflies to court and the bats to feed. we both, then, assumed we had a bat or two in the chimney.

sadly, this was not the case.

we had been having a few problems with the common house fly. they would congregate in the garage, and come into the den as we came and went through the door. they seemed to like the garage, and hung out by the fluorescent light. but they liked our interior better. much to our dogs dismay. she hates them, because they bite her. we had gotten as many as six in the evening, buzzing around the lamp. bleh!

monday when we came home, we found quite a different scene. at least two dozen bottle flies were covering the windows in the den. aaggghhh!

we grabbed newspaper and began swatting them. the cats must have enjoyed watching this. then we took weather stripping and stopped up the gap in the back doorway, where the seal wasnt quite straight.

there! that should do the trick!

ha. little did we know that wasnt where they were coming in from. when we got home tuesday we had even more flies. the beau saw one emerge from a small opening in the fireplace, where there is a key thing in the brick. when he investigated, carefully opening the flue, he found seven dead sparrows.

this, then, was the source of the bottle flies.

he removed the birds, and lit the fire for about twenty minutes. then, he put some screen around the top of the chimney, replacing what squirrels evidently had chewed through at some point.

note to self: always maintain screen covering top of chimney.

poor little birds  ;(

thx to puzzle who tagged me, a fun little eighter

  here are the rules:

- each person posts the rules before their list,

- then lists 8 things about themselves,

- at the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people,

- then visits those peoples' spaces and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come and read the post, so they know what they have to do.

1. i find it very satisfying to work in my yard. i love getting a flower bed ready, buying plants, and putting them in. the work is hard and hot, but after a shower i feel so good.
2. i dont like most modern comedy movies. i think theyre dumb, and they dont appeal to me at all. i also find most musicals boring.
3. ive always been intrigued with the nazis, especially the waffen SS and himmler. its kind of a morbid fascination.
4. i border on the synesthesic in the arena of color and sound, and personification.
5. i found out in december that i have german ancestors. george heinrich crist is one of them. his wife was elizabeth nowlin.
6. most of my dreams are in night/dark settings, or indoors.
7. i hate being late.
8. i have always been a morning person. my favorite time of day is around 5am. usually crash by 10pm. i also love to drive at night in the rain.

tagged are the following -

carolina chickadee, jan, morbid angel, chris, the vermilion border, nanaluvscows, donna and chris, NancE

since im not one to celebrate days in traditional ways, and neither is the beau, its no surprise we didnt go to the lake, grill anything, or go watch fireworks. we didnt decorate in patriotic colors or flags. i didnt even put up the old wrinkly window stickers at work. there is a duel purpose for window stickers at work. it keeps people from trying to put their heads through the glass around my desk, and it offers a little cheer to an office that often sees serious conditions. but i have flowers and little bugs on my windows, so i didnt feel the need to add to it, and those flag stickers are so old and un sticky ...

anyway.

i celebrate just the same. the day doesnt mean that much to me. its a nice reason to be off from work. but the independence that we have, not being dominated by another country, not even being dependant on another country for support or protection, is something i appreciate deeply. being of an independent nature myself, this means much to me. i am thankful to live in a country where i am free to speak my mind, and worship God openly. i am free to be myself, without fear of imprisonment. that is something that i do not take lightly.

maybe it seems ironic that i dont care for politics, or that i have little regard for the contestants running for office. i do, however, respect the office being run for. nevertheless, i have no interest in the campaigns, the platforms, or the promises of those who would be king. this lot isnt any different than the last lot, or the lot before them.  they all have their own personal agenda in their hearts. few and far between have been the leaders who were worth anything.

its the soldiers who put their lives on the line for me that i regard. those who orchestrate wars mean nothing to me. its those who fight them that have my respect, and my support. and my vote. most of the men and women who go off to battle believe in what they are risking their lives for, and for what they are making the other guys risk their lives for. in some ways, i respect the men fighting on the other side, because they risk all for their cause. but in spite of all the grand speeches made by all the leaders on every side, i see no real heart in any of their eyes. in ancient days a real king was at the forefront of his army, and fought along side his warriors. what if they had to lead their armies into battle like rulers of old? ha! thats never going to happen.

this is about as political as you will ever see me get. for though i highly esteem my freedom, its in gratitude to those who purchased it for me, and continue to guard it. that is what means something to me.

dont think i have forgotten those whose homes and lives were lost who lived here first.

its been a hellicious week at work. on the one hand the weather has been truly oppressive. there have been strange storms coming from odd directions, clashing like rams and charging the atmosphere with intense pressure. then the rains coming down in torrents. its been a bit much. there was one storm system that we noticed last sunday night, out to the east of us. usually when a storm is east of one, the temperature is cooler where one is. but this particular night the temperature was stifling, the humidity was high, and it was very still. the clouds of the storm were lit up with lightning that never stopped. rather, several places at a time were alit at once at all times. it was eerie. later on another storm came through, and collided with the one sitting to the east, and we had quite a noisy result.

the beau worked 10 hr days all week because one of the guys was on vacation, and it was also his turn to work saturday. i also worked with one gone on vacation. it was a busy week for both of us on top of that. i feel like a beaten slave dog. the beau was more tired than me. but he still mowed the back yard saturday after he came home.

today im going on a hunt for catnip plants, marigolds, and maybe some rosemary. i read they are good mosquito repellents. i would also like to get a bat house or two. there are a few bats in the area, and i would like them to live here. bats love mosquitos. and i like bats.

while we're out we'll pick up a few pepper plants for the beau. he likes hot peppers. he eats them like normal people eat celery or carrot sticks. the hotter the better. dont ever try to compete with him for eating the hottest pepper. you will lose. he has asbestos in his mouth.

i think im going to try and get some of our potted trees planted today as well. i have a place for the crape myrtle at last, and its big enough to plant now. the crab apple is still small, but its going in the back by the patio, and the dogwood maybe will too. the goldenrain tree is going in the front yard, far from any power lines. it grows pretty big, and whoever buys this house from me will not need to worry about trees and power lines. none of my trees will grow up where they can be a problem. the washington hawthorn will also go in the front yard for the same reason. that leaves the redbud, which i think will go in back too. there is a power line that runs diagonally across the back yard, that hinders me from planting a nice shady tree where i want one. i will just have to make do. im looking forward to being in the midst of tall fir trees, overlooking the ocean.

im not concerned with the date today. frankly, its rather a good day for me. my maternal grandmother was born on friday, april 13th. it was a good thing for me that she was born.

have i mentioned this before? well, you get to hear it again.

she grew up in quebec, somewhere near the lake where ogopogo is supposed to live. i have no idea when or how she met my grandfather. she came from the house of montagne, which means mountain. it was a very well to do family. my grandfather came from german, scottish, and irish stock. the scottish line was the gordan clan, keepers of the loch ness. he was born on april 1st.

lucky for me.

ah, the cool air was rolling over me this morning as i watched the storm clouds roll in. after writing this morning, the rain started, and some lightening. i took my shower, and the beau was still in bed listening to the developing storm. i looked at the radar, and it was a sizable system. hmm ...

flicker. flicker flicker. dark. dang it.

it was quite the storm that barged over the area like a childish teenager having a tantrum. throwing things, like tree limbs, into power lines and cars. and transformers. the wind shot gusts upwards of 70 mph straight across, and the rain was horizontal. i wondered, once again, why people have garages, and use them for stuff they dont need instead of for car storage. our car is kept in the garage. how novel.

natures tantrum raged on for a couple of hours, and then moved off in a huff. left behind were the damages done. the whole west side is still without power, and has much worse damage than we do. there are still areas in the dark, buy our neighborhood had only a line down, and we had power restored after 7½ hrs. i have reset all but one digital clock, which i will get to before i go to bed, as it is my alarm. the beau may have one more day of vacation since the power is out where he works. always is when there is a storm. we will see in the morning, i suppose.

its cool again in the house. i really am looking forward to moving back to the west coast.

ahh God is good! yesterday, as i sat writing about my plight, it was close to 80° in my house, at 8 am. it was 71° outside ...

i looked up local air conditioning places on the internet, and picked one that had a nice web site. their answering message said they checked their answering service messages, and would return calls quickly. they did. i got a return call within five minutes. i was told a diagnostic would be $91, over the weekday price of $71. if i wanted them to fix it after they found the problem, it would be about 20% more than week day prices, and the diagnostic fee would be waived. i said ok, send someone, and they said it would be early afternoon.

i took my shower, and sat in front of the fan, and had the windows open because it was growing cloudy and dark. there were tornado warnings in the counties just north of us.

about 9:30 my phone rang. it was the service man, calling to tell me he would be here in fifteen minutes, they had gotten swamped with calls, and called out more guys to work. the beau was taking his shower, but was happy to hear it was going to be so soon.

he arrived in about ten minutes, and i took him around back. he did his diagnostic and told me it was the compressors (i think), they had locked up. a common problem this time of year apparently, and he had replacements in his truck. he gave me a estimate price of $214, and i said do it. i remember the days when i would have thought that was out of my reach to afford.

it had become quite dark after he arrived, and while he was working it began to rain. hard. he had an umbrella, and said he would continue to work, and had it fixed in about twenty minutes. afterward, when i handed him the check, i gave him the twenty dollar bill the beau said was for his lunch, and no was not an option.

of course it had stopped raining by then.

then i could feel the cool air streaming in. what a wonderful feeling! i so dont take the heat well. i can work in it if i have to. i have walked in it many times. but to sit in my house and be hot just makes me miserable. cold one can escape with more clothes, activity, and even a hot shower or hot drink. hot is impossible to escape.

later we took thor to the vets to see if his stitches could be removed. while we were waiting in an exam room, we heard a woman sobbing and telling the doc how her cat or dog - not sure which - had come around the corner with two holes in his neck. ew! i felt so bad for her. we had to wait a little bit while they addressed the emergency, but that was quite alright. then the doc came in and looked at thors tail. no, still a few more days, so i will bring him in wednesday and drop him off. they will have to sedate him anyway to do anything to him. he is a sweet little boy, but hates to have anything done to him, and fights it every step. and he is twelve pounds of muscle.

its looking dark out the window again this morning. it has been a most turbulent spring this year. i will let you know if anything happens. meantime, its nice to hear the air coming on and maintaining the set temperature.

its only may, and already the heat is on. its been in the 90s for a couple of weeks now. and for reasons beyond my comprehension my coworkers mostly like to have the temperature in the office around 75°. so, its with great anticipation that i get in my car and crank up the air conditioning. then off to a cool house.

last night was no exception. the beau picked me up from work, his last work day of vacation, and we went home. the ADT man came out as scheduled, and we set up home security. then i worked in the yard finally after many hot or rainy days of not getting to. when i came in it was quite cool. later, as we watched some TV, the lights seemed to be dimming a tiny bit, like mini power fluctuations. we went to bed, and gradually the house began to get warmer. the air conditioner was on, but the air coming from the vents was not cold. uh oh. we discovered it around 2am.

i sat up in front of a box fan and immediately gave this over to God. i cannot take much heat, and here it is the weekend. the beau goes back to work monday. this looks like a job for the Holy Spirit! im not sure quite how this will work out, but im sure it will work out. as i sit here right now there are clouds in the sky. i will be calling air conditioning services to see what might be available, and how much extra it will cost for weekend or after hours - if i can find a place thats open. something good will happen. like i said, i gave it to God first thing. and He is God, He is my Father, and He is my covenant Partner.

the rest of my holiday weekend was much nicer. i wanted to work in the yard, but it was too hot and sticky, i just couldnt bare it. so sunday we went out and bought some clothes. we almost never buy clothes. i almost never find clothes i like. and a nice little pair of white slip on sandals that are not flip flops. i hate flip flops.

monday i got it in my head the beau needed a new grill. the one we had is all rusty, and truly gross. after looking at the sears web site, i found one i liked, and off we went. they actually had one left, in spite of the sale. we grabbed it, and went home to put it together. it was 8pm by the time we finished, so we had a really light supper, and decided to do our grilling on tuesday. we will be doing a lot of grilling from now on.

it rained really hard monday night. gizmo doesnt like rain, even though he isnt out in it. the sound on the roof unnerves him, and he slinks around like liquid tar, with eyeballs. he was in bed before we were, and hid under the covers while it rained.

the rain made the air cooler, but more humid. since we dont yet have a french drain, the yard was too swampy to work in. sigh. i suppose if im going to get anything done in the yard i will just have to spray myself with repellant, set myself to bare the sticky climate, and get after it. bleh.

thor managed to pull out two or three stitches when we werent watching. we have been keeping him in one of the cages, with the collar on, so he cant mess with his tail. he isnt very happy about it. we let him out when we are around and can keep an eye on him, but its hard to watch him every minute. i will be as glad to get the stitches out as he will.

ladies and gentlemen, this concludes todays tour through this memorial weekend. thank you for joining me. i hope you enjoyed your visit. join me again next time for another rousing journey through my life.

its been an eventful weekend already. this will be a lengthy post ... so be ready.

it started thursday morning. i had maggie and thor in the cat room, where they go on their own now when i nudge them a bit, and usually wait patiently. as i was bringing nozi in thor did the unexpected and broke his pattern. he dashed out of the room. when he did, my reaction was to try to shut the door before he reached it. he got mostly clear of the door ... all but his tail. ouch! well of course he cried out, but ran again when i reopened the door. he didnt act any differently than he ever does when trying to escape the inevitable, and ran back into his room after a lap around the house. that evening when we got home, we saw he was acting like he had a problem. his poor tail had a gash in it, and was obviously paining him. so next morning, since the beau was on the first day of his first week vacation, after dropping me off at work, dropped thor off at the vets. he had a dental on his plan, so the doc put him under, cleaned his teeth, and stitched up his tail while he was out. that little ten pounds of cat is all muscle, and like a small tiger when he doesnt want to cooperate. we had to give him a rinse off when we got him home, as he had pissed in his carrier. that was more difficult than i thought with him still loopy from the anesthesia. maybe worse as he was all freaked out from being dizzy. we got through it mostly unscathed, except for the scratches on the beaus hand. then off to the cage to recoup.

this is the second tail we have had to have repaired this year. gizmo had his tail bitten by nozi in a scuffle not long ago. it gave him quite the abscess, which he licked enough to drain it, and then the vet cleaned it and bandaged it. his was bandaged for over a week, and had to have wet and then dry compresses, along with antibiotics. but he left his tail alone, and didnt need to wear the collar which he wouldnt stand for any way. thors tail, on the other hand, is in open air, and he wont leave the stitches alone, so we have to put the collar on him, and keep the little tiger caged because he runs all over the house banging into everything with the collar on.

sigh.

friday wasnt over yet. we had purchased a storm door from lowes, and scheduled the installation for friday, when the beau would be home. apparently, for a 36" door they will send the contractor out to pre measure the door jam to make sure there will be a good fit before you ever buy the door. but for a 32" such as ours, they do not consider it necessary. i dont know why. the contractor took one look at our doorway and knew it was not going to fit. the door wouldnt fit into the recess properly. this caused us no little trouble. it was my early friday, so i was off work by then, and at my hair appointment when the contractor arrived on schedule at home. so he and the beau, most displeased by now, went to lowes to see what alternatives were possible. none of the doors were suitable, mostly because they either wouldnt fit as well, or were not what we wanted. the beau was really pissed off when he found out about the pre measure policy for larger installs, because he wasnt even told he could choose that as an option. it is standard on the larger doors, but available on the smaller ones for a mere $35. available, that is, if youre told about it. which we were not. so the clerk that sold us the door made the decision to save us $35 without even asking us. this resulted in the beau, and me too really, being really irate, demanding a refund, and getting $100 cash from the store manager for all the trouble it caused us, the time it used up unprofitably, and the personal aggravation. so we did not get the door installed, we did not have time to work on getting stuff ready for the neighborhood garage sale happening the next day, and we still had to bring thor home from the vet.

geez!

saturday went better than i thought it would. the beau took some boxes to the post office, and by the time he got back there were hundreds of people going from house to house that had sales going on. we werent ready at all, but started putting stuff out anyway. people started coming up and buying stuff before we even got things organized. it was crazy, but in a good way. we made over $200 in the first couple of hours, and got rid of a lot of stuff, and all with a later start than every one else.

so now its sunday morning, and we have no plans except going out to the bass pro shop later today. i still have today, monday, and tuesday off, and the beau is off till next monday. a well deserved vacation too. we both have had really busy days at work.

ahhh ... long weekends.

its all about time. i want to get the most from the time i have when i come here. when i open the home page, im looking to see who has written new posts. the last thing i want to see is who has added who to their list of friends. but it seems the way the home page is designed, new posts take a back seat to friends lists. i miss a lot because of that. so ... i put the ministry blogs that were among my friends into their own list on th