Update coming soon

Thanks to everyone following this blog.  There’s so much going on in my life right now that it’s been hard to write a post.  I promise I’ll post a longer “what’s going on in the desert” story soon.

In a nutshell, I’ve been neck-deep in boxes in my garage still preparing to move at some point.  This is a long story.  There’s a lot to go through and dispose of – some things I’m not ready to do that with yet, posing another problem.

The house being built two lots down is really progressing at a fast rate now.  I suspect the owners want to move in before school starts in the fall.  The beautiful front door arrived the last time we did a walk through one evening.  We’re going back there again tomorrow, after the workers leave, to take another look before they start locking up the house.

Koki’s favorite lizard was breakfast the other day for a passing roadrunner.  She’s rather down over that.  I’ll write more about this later and post pictures.  This is a story by itself.  We get such a first hand look at nature here and some of it’s brutal.

Tootie’e eye is starting to look normal again, although not quite as bright, but we’re still doctoring it once a day – more on that later.

Raven’s growing fast and is almost eight months old now.  He started choking tonight and my husband calls me to say the cat has asthma.  What?  I would hope not.  That’s all I need to deal with right now.  I administered petromalt and we’ll see if that does the trick.

There are issues to deal with every time you turn around that I have to add to the list of things to do before we can sell this house.  Most things are minor, but it’s still another task and annoyance.

The heat is getting to both of us, although we have had bit of a break the last three days with it being only in the upper 90’s.  By next week, we’ll be around 108.  Running a fan in the garage does help with all that work, but you still sweat like a pig out there all day and come in exhausted and still having to get dinner together and then clean the kitchen up.  I think I could sleep a week.

I’ll post in a couple of days as soon as I can download some pictures.

Traditions

Every year my sister and I call each other at midnight on our birthdays.  We’ve lived in different time zones since we’ve become adults and because or birthdays are a day apart it can be both our birthdays at the same time in two different places.  We also talk to wish each other well.  This is something we’ll probably continue to do because we have an unusual birthday situation most families don’t have.

My sister Scherri and I - Sept 2013

I think one year that I irritated her husband waking him from his sleep when I called at midnight her time.  This year (and probably every year) he say’s, “it’s your birthday” when she wonders who’s calling at such an hour, sometimes falling asleep herself.

Another tradition for this time of year is the gathering at Stonehenge for the summer solstice.  If you’d like to read a brief story about that, please click here.

Newagers, neo-pagans join the curious to greet summer solstice at Stonehenge | FoxNews

 Happy Summer Solstice everyone.  I hope you can make the most of the longest day of the year.

When I’m sixty-four

This is going to date me I know.  I’ve had this song running through my head for about a week now because my birthday’s almost here.  It sure seems that not so very long ago, this song came out and I thought, “Wow, it’ll be a long time until that’s me.”  The Beatles recorded this song in 1966.  I never thought I’d ever write a blog post about it.  There were no computers back then.

So what can I say when I think of this song?  Yes, being out until quarter of four (in the morning) is quite like me.  I’m a night owl and don’t expect that to change much.  Yes, I’ve been locked out of the house as well when it wasn’t nearly this late, and I was only across the street visiting the neighbor.

I don’t know about mending a fuse, but I would try knowing how I push myself to conquer things I don’t know.  I’m not the type to knit a sweater or anything else.  I have no grand children to bounce on my knee either and I feel I’m getting too old to pull weeds, although I do it occasionally.  I’m more likely to be down on my knees cleaning house.  That’s a weekly occurrence around here.  My knees always say ouch, but I don’t listen.

There are no Valentines or bottles of wine for me unless I buy them myself.  Needing me and feeding me is debatable sometimes.  I do usually get a birthday card though.  That’s enough I guess.

What can I say?  The years are flying by.  I’m glad I stay in reasonably good shape.  Most of the time, it’s only the calendar that tells the true story.  Let’s hope it stays that way.  I have a lot more to do before I kick the bucket, I hope.

If you’d like to relive this song for a few minutes, click on the link below.

When I'm sixty four lyrics

Catching up with friends

My projects around the house keep me busy most of the time so I have very little time to get out and chat with friends with no added pressure to be home by a certain time.  I’m trying to use a few hours to catch up with everyone.

Schedules were changed and juggled, as always is the case.

 My friend Carolyn

My Greek Salad

On Wednesday, I had lunch with my friend, Carolyn, at the Mad Pita.  We’re both crazy for Mediterranean food.  We both had big salads and a three-hour chat about our lives.  I don’t see her near as much as I used to since she moved twenty minutes north.  Almost every female I know has her share of man problems.  I guess this is just how things are today.  I hope that we solved some issues, or at least left with some useful things to think about.

 My friend Sherry

Two of my close friends had birthdays on Thursday – both turning the big 60.  I can’t see the one since he’s in Florida, but I did get together with Sherry on Saturday for veggies and wine.

 My friend Tom on the mend after major surgery

Friday I drove over to see my Aussie friends and had a nice visit.  He’s recovering from a quadruple bypass performed on May 21.

Late Sunday my husband comes back already.  Those ten days flew by.  We’ll see how good I am at posting here since I’ll have my nose back to the grindstone.  I got a lot accomplished, but there’s still much more to do if we want out of here anytime soon.  Moving is a bitch!

Eating isn’t all I do

I thought I’d post pics of some other meals.  I like to treat myself after working hard all day, so I usually make a nice meal for dinner.  The rest of the time, I snack mostly if I eat anything during the day.  Food taste so good when you’re starving!

Ham and cheese omelet with tomatoes, spinach and onions - and a side of potatoes

Enchiladas, Rice and Black Beans

   

I’ve had several salads and a ham and cheese omelet.  I did break down one night and had Mexican food.  My whole family seems to like it.  None of us go long without having some.

Besides all this, construction is continuing on the house two doors down the road.  It’s actually taking shape nicely now.  I walked through and took several pictures, but I won’t post all of those.  They had the plumbers in there today.  The house is 2710 square feet.

Sad but true

Everyone is a lot more relaxed around the house right now.  It’s quiet here without the constant TV and computer video noise, among other things.  I think the cats also notice this peace as they can stand to be in the same room with each other and not fight over something.

I know I’m ecstatic there are no politics I have to listen to all day long.  I can actually hear myself think around here and enjoy my meals a lot more without having to eat on a TV tray in front of the TV.  I wish I could bottle these quiet times.

Raven

 Raven has started coming to bed with me.  I love this except he’s cutting his teeth using my arm.  In that respect, he’s like a dog with a bone.  I wish he’d stop chewing on me.  The vet says that kittens get a new set of teeth at four months old and they are teething like a child.  This should last two-three months or so.  He should be over it soon.  Right now, he chews on everything.

My arm - a bone substitute

 I’ve had cats all my life and I never knew this.  It’s nice to be able to learn new things as you go through life.

Tootie - Can I take this off now?

 Raven and Tootie are even getting along.  I think he must torment Tootie just for my husband’s benefit.  He always is squirted with a water bottle when he’s in attack mode.  I think this is his way of getting more attention.  He’s been a perfect angel except for using my arm as a teething ring.  Even Koki is tolerating him this week.

 Koki

And Tootie’s eye is almost back to normal finally.  Poor dear, it’s been a long time for her.

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

One thing about my husband going out of state for a while is that I always do this.  I love keeping my own schedule, eating and sleeping when I WANT TO – not when I HAVE TO.  What a difference that makes.  Unbelievably, I usually get a lot accomplished too although many times I wish I had more time.  I don’t think I’ve crawled in bed before 3 AM the whole time he’s been gone.  If there’s one thing I hate, it’s almost finishing something and having to stop to go to bed.  That drives me crazy, so I’ll stay up the extra hour or half hour to get finished and then go to bed when it’s up to me.

Rotisserie chicken on a bed of spinach with tomatoes, green onions, carrots, celery, cranberries and toasted almonds - Yum!

I’ve been craving salads since I’m only making dinner for myself.  The salad I had the other night was so yummy and fit for a king.  I had to take a picture of it.  Usually on an ordinary day I find myself fixing two different meals (or I should say side dishes) because my husband isn’t as fond of veggies as I am.  In fact, he downright hates veggies and accuses me of making his salads too big.  In my book – he needs something green and nutritious.  How can people survive without that?

In addition, I can eat this salad at 9 PM, 10, or 11.  There’s no one here to tell me not to and to keep me on track of a “normal” person’s schedule.  And a salad, or any other meal, wouldn’t be as nice without my glass of chardonnay to top off the day after the blasted heat and slaving away on my projects.

 Chardonnay

I’m trying to make headway of organizing for the move and also taking advantage of the schedule I set out for myself daily.  Wouldn’t you do the same thing?  I really wish this situation would last ten weeks instead of ten days.  But I guess I’ll need to be saved from myself after ten days.  After all, how long can you survive on three hours of sleep a night?

Batching it and Loving it!

Time is flying fast and before I know it this solitude will end.  I’m halfway through my ten days of peace and quiet.  Sometimes I wish it were ten weeks instead of ten days.  You all who’ve been living with someone for many years and seeing each other 24/7 will get what I’m talking about.

It’s getting late and I’m burning the candle at both ends, which is usually the case when I’m left to my own devices.  It’s sad I feel I have to make every minute count because it will be gone all too quickly and we’ll be back to the same old routine around here.  There will be more to come tomorrow with pictures.

The work continues on the lot two doors down

Part of the foundation is poured

We’ve been taking pics as the days go by.  It won’t be long and they will start putting studs up.  They prepared the lot, put in the footings, then the plumbing and the rebar and then poured the concrete.

 This man is spraying the ground with a pesticide before they pour the concrete.  

I never knew they did that.

 This is a piece of equipment sitting on the lot.

The crazy thing about this is that people driving down the street (not the workers) are always stopping to use the outhouse.  I think this is bizarre and wonder if it’s not that unusual for construction area port-o-potties.

Sorry, had to share more cute wildlife babies

Baby quail are so cute.  They mimic their parents and are very obedient.

These critters are just so cute this time of year.  This mother has fourteen little ones to look after and keep out of harms way.  And you thought twins was hard.

And here’s a video.  The kitten reminds me of Raven.  He even looks like him.  Raven pesters my girls a lot.