The Attack!

During my recent cleaning-out of things, I brought out a brand new kitty tent that has been kept in the closet since our last visit to IKEA several years ago.  I remember we bought two at the time.  The kitties pretty much wore out the first one.  So I decided to set this one up in our library.  I was quietly reading yesterday afternoon and this is what happened.

Angus is happily playing while I read.

Finnigan discovered Angus happily playing.

This was when the excitement started with much pouncing, jumping , rolling, and extreme fun.

I just finished putting the tent back together and vacuuming in there.  Have a great day and stay safe!

I'm waiting for round #2!

Dark and Rainy

We are in the  midst of a "system" here.  Heavy rain, wind, and tidal and coastal flooding.  Southside is getting more of it right now than we are.  We've had some wind and some rain, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The golf tournament scheduled for today has been postponed for a few weeks.  Golfer is watching a movie.  I've been doing my morning stuff.

I have continued with my cleaning out project.  DAV came and did a pick-up on Thursday.  We'll have more for another pick-up soon.  And more for the dumpster!

In my latest work I found some Bush/Cheney '04 bumper stickers and some Desert Storm bumper stickers.  Also found was a stack of papers from many years ago when I was getting unemployment for a while.  So that made a space in the desk!  Funny what we think we need to hang on to, isn't it?

If you need an extra smile today, here's a picture of Cutie Girl as she is getting to know Ralph.

Stay safe!

For Our Furry Kids

Whew! and Ick!

Has anyone else saved their dolls from childhood and then discovered that the "rubber", or whatever they were made of, got really greasy and sticky??  Hence the "ICK!

Ever since we cleaned out the attic last Summer, I have thought I  needed to really clean out the closets in our library and office.  They had things stored there that couldn't go into the attic because of the heat up there.  I have been able to put that job off for a year.  Somehow, I decided today was the day.

I started with the library closet.  The truth is, that most of that closet is Christmas decorations and I have been cleaning those out over the last few years.  But I did clean out some other things that were in there.  And then it was on to the office library.

This was more challenging and exhausting.  This is where we store our out-of-season coats.  Also things like USAF uniforms that Golfer has kept.  There are only two of those and they are nicely covered in garment bags.  My wedding dress is in there.  And I also have my Mom's mother-of-the-bride dress that she wore.  She made both those dresses, so they are safely kept also.  I dusted all the clothes and bags.  Then hauled out the boxes.  These were boxes of my old stuffed animals and dolls, baby clothes from the girls, baby clothes our mothers gave us that we had worn, and other assorted things.

Looking at all this and making decisions is time consuming, but it is all done.  I checked with Bikini and Nurse J and neither of them were too interested in anything but they are both getting a bag of "stuff" anyway.  :)   I will be calling DAV tomorrow to schedule a pick-up.  Everything is boxed and bagged and out in the garage for now.   Also, the dumpster is full.  The closets were vacuumed and the "keeper" things were moved back in place.  I am glad to have that job done.

Although I did have to throw out a couple dolls, my original Tiny Tears doll and my Shirley Temple doll have survived the years.  They are now safely wrapped up and stored away.

Golfer and I do have to look at a couple things that are up on the shelf in the office closet.  But I ran out of energy and oomph and didn't feel like climbing up on the step stool to get the things down.  We'll take care of that some time this week.

Other than this, things have just been normal around here.  Getting back into the "Y" routine after the Summer and taking care of things around the house.  I have to go for a bone density tomorrow.  Golfer has a dental appointment later in the week.  I went and had my hair cut on Friday.

There is just starting to be a faint hint of color on the trees around here.  A lot of leaves have just given up and turned brown and dry and fallen down.  We have already cleaned up several bags of them.

I hope all is well with everyone.  Stay safe!

Where Does the Time Go???

I just noticed that it has been over a week since I last posted.  I have thought about it lots of times.  It just didn't happen.  However, I did keep up with just about everything else!

So, here's what's been happening.  We had to take Kirk in for some maintenance.  There was a tech update that needed to be done and a recall notice for another issue that needed to be fixed.  So we dropped him off and went to breakfast and picked him up later that day.

We have also had a meeting with our State Farm insurance agent.  The previous one retired.  The new one wanted to meet us and talk.  A couple adjustments have been made to our policies for the house and cars.

We got increasingly dissatisfied with our previous lawn care company.  Golfer decided to cancel our contract and ask for a refund.  He contacted two other companies and they came to look at the yard and give estimates.  We signed one of them up and the first visit was today.  I will keep you posted.

We're getting back into our regular "Y" routines.  Feels good.

I finished a round of antibiotics for a UTI.  So far, so good.

I got a few things done out in the yard.  I like to keep up with the weeds.  I put out a Fall flag and did some repair work on a Fall owl decoration I like to put in the back mulched area.  Local stores are starting to put out pumpkins, but I'm holding off on that.  We have some major yard work scheduled and they would just be something else that would have to be moved around.  One of our newest Encore azaleas is just starting to bloom!

Today I tackled cleaning windows and window treatments.  Feels good to have that done.  While I was doing that, I also wiped down the ceiling fan blades and cleaned the lampshades.  And did a load of laundry.

Our niece, Pat, made  a surprise ball for our furry kids.  We gave it to them last evening.  Here is a very rare photo of all four of them playing together.  They wore themselves out!  Thanks, Pat!

In case you are not familiar with a surprise ball, let me explain.  When I was a little girl, my Mom and Granma would make surprise balls for my nieces and me for birthdays or Christmas.  Back then, they would get a pack of crepe paper and cut strips.  Then start winding it around little toys and trinkets.    It could be made any size and hold anything.  Pat wanted to make one for her grand-cat and asked for  my suggestions. First off, I said don't use Crepe paper.  Kitties drool when they get excited and/or chew on things.  Crepe paper color bleeds and stains.  So she used white ribbon bought at a warehouse!  Worked great.  And was stiff enough that it made a noise that they liked, too.  She put some catnip in as she wound it up.  They played all evening.  Thanks again, Pat!

So that's how my time has been getting spent.  I've also cleaned out my dresser and closet. And had a grooming session with the furry kids.   Golfer and I have been enjoying the 2015 season of Longmire on Netflix.  We love that show.  I think we only have one more to watch and I am already anxious for the next season!

We are going to a favorite Italian restaurant this evening for dinner, The Vineyards.  I'd better get ready!

Stay safe!

Home Again!

We are now safely back home, as of yesterday afternoon.  The drive wasn't too bad.  The furry kids are all fine.  Lisa takes very good care of them whenever we are away.

All the "returning home cleaning" has been done.  The laundry is all done.  And I made a trip to the Commissary this morning to restock on just about everything.  Still to be done is a walk around the yard to tidy up and we need to get Kirk cleaned up.  But those are activities for another day.

I mentioned in a previous post that the week was not necessarily uneventful.  There was the lost and then found credit card.  Yay!  And one friend who developed shingles.  Boo!  Then the next day her husband had to go to the same Urgent Care for a severe nosebleed that wouldn't stop.  Another Boo!  Then the next day as we were getting ready to leave our suite to go to dinner a severe storm started.  There was a loud boom and the power went out.  The generator came on within seconds.  Good thing, too.  We were on the twelfth floor and there was no way I was walking down all those steps.  The lightening hit something nearby and a huge power cable came down in the parking lot.  It was still down when we left yesterday morning.  Our TV service came back the next morning.  Anyway, when the rain let up a little Golfer and I left for the restaurant.  A lot of intersections were flooded.  Some of the storm drains were actually spouting water back up instead of taking it away.  It was a heavy rain!

All in all, it was a nice week.  Golfer would have liked for the golf to have been better, but he had a good time.  I would have liked for things to have been better at the hotel.  I just sent the  manager an email.  And when I checked earlier, I had a survey about our visit in my inbox, so I filled that out, too.  They may be sorry they asked though.  :)  Their housekeeping staff is either untrained or extremely lazy.  I don't know when things went from someone just coming to your room and doing their work to someone knocking on the door and then asking in a whiny voice, "do you want anything?".  We had what I consider full service once the whole week and that was when I just happened to be in the room when they knocked.  Most of the week they just sort of tossed some clean towels in on the bed closest to the door.  When we left we were on the third day of the trash not being removed, and the dirty towels not being taken.  We never did get a wastebasket for the bathroom.  I asked a couple times.  So, I gave them an honest evaluation and in detail.  We really like the Ocean Dunes/Sand Dunes and have been staying there since 1997.  It is very sad and frustrating to see the service and the property decline so much.  Basically, our suite just needed to be stripped, cleaned, painted and refurnished.

But, now we are home.  All is well.  Stay safe and have a nice holiday!

Weather

The weather here at the beach has definitely improved.  Too much the other way now though!  It is HOT and HUMID!  And I've discovered that this brings out all the itty bitty biting bugs by the dune grass where I like to sit and look at the ocean.  But it's still beautiful!



This was taken from our balcony

Golfer took this picture at one of the golf courses.  In case you can't tell, that's a baby alligator!

Stay safe!

Wash Out!

Monday was pretty much a soaker.  Tournament round was cancelled for almost all the players.  Golfer came back and after the wet stuff was hung up to dry in our suite, we decided to go have lunch and go to a movie!

We saw the new Mission Impossible movie.  Excellent!  Probably one of the best ones in the series.  I still think Tom is often nuttier than a fruitcake, but I do like his movies. 

We went to the 19th Hole at the Convention Center last evening.  Had some food, looked at the vendors' displays.  Nice evening.

I hasn't been a totally uneventful week though.  One friend lost his credit card.  Fortunately, the nice folks at Outback kept it safe for him until he discovered the loss at dinner the next evening.  It was retrieved, account checked and all is well.

Then another friend spent yesterday at Urgent Care and the pharmacy.  She developed shingles.  I am sad about that.  I had them a few years ago.  Mine were on my head and face and felt like tiny spiders wearing spikes jumping on my head.  She is on the meds now and doing okay.  Feels better just knowing what it is.

Then I geared up and did "battle" with the management yesterday.  There have been some issues in our suite and I have been nicely talking with various people on duty over the last couple days.  Some things were taken care of quickly, others not.  We were supposed to be getting a new mattress for one of our beds yesterday by noon.  We got back to the suite after the movie and nothing had been done.  After two phone calls were made and I got no response I walked over to the lobby.

I spoke with Sandy, a very nice, small, blond, spitfire of a manager.  She was on the phone and yelling at people while we were talking and telling them get these things done!  By the time I got back to our suite a whole new  bed was already here.  And a brand new coffee maker!  And she gave us breakfast vouchers for the rest of the week.  Said to call her personal number if we had any other problems. 

Today the sun is out.  The guys are playing golf.  I am having lunch and a visit with "the ladies".  I think we're going to the favorite used book store here.  Life is good!

Stay safe!