Tucking It All Away

My neighbor has switched out her "Happy Holidays" for these lucky paper cranes. (I am happy to see the "Happy Holidays" trinket go as it was always askew.  I constantly felt the need to put a sticker under a corner to keep it from sliding. Yes, I am one of them.)

Echinacea - Christmas Eve - thinks it is time to bloom

My sweetie has an endless loop of college bowl games on which give me enough noise in the background to do a bit of tidying up for the new year. Didn't I here some one say "what ever you do on New Year's Day you will do all year long"? Probably not a chance of that happening for me.

Anyways, the ornaments, tree, various holiday dust collectors are all dusted and put away for another year. I have rearranged a pantry/bookshelf with cookbooks and dishware and moved the groceries to a new shelving unit to keep the loft kitchen all organized this year. Fertilized the indoor plants I have managed to torture enough to call alive. Laundry is in the works. Probably have to wait until tomorrow after work to run the vacuum as that may be a bit too noisy for the sweetie's entertainment.

12/25 -  4 pm, we officially had a White Christmas. 

 Hamlet, the happy dog.

 Echinacea - not so happy

The weather has been more on the cool side these days. Seems to be running below average per the weather reports.  Our snow lasted for quite awhile as we stayed below freezing for a couple days.  No snow now, nothing in the forecast.

 Shadow enjoying the sun

The sun has arrived this afternoon but with it came a cold west wind. The temp is higher but it feels colder somehow.

No new resolutions as I have decided to stick with last year's. Filter through the thousands of photos I have taken and organize them into something usable. I made a start last year but instead of organizing myself I just took less photos. Seems like a step backwards? I may not make any advancements this year as my sweetie gave me PS Elements for Christmas. (Yes, I am the last one left on the planet to get photo editing software.) First things first, get the loft tidy and then I will have no reason not to play!

Now, tell me, what did you do on New Year's Day?

Hope you have a wonderful and productive 2013.

Shadow did not think this was funny

Does this happen at your house?


See more of Simon's Cat.

"What Happened to My Table?"

... says Shadow, amongst the new plant purchases.

Plant shopping on Saturday, Spring fever has hit. When we get it all home, my sweetie announces "I saw on Accuweather (his phone app) it is supposed to be 39 degrees tonight."

"What?!?! All this has to come inside!"

"This stuff will be o.k. outside," he says.

"Do you want to go through that again?" So we haul it all inside. I throw a light sheet over the little pots of annual posies I have planted and left outside to weather whatever. Only got to 45 (thank goodness) but better safe than sorry at this point.

Wait a minute

Walking through the living room, I look out into the back yard. Shadow?

Check out on the front porch... Shadow!

He is a cutie. I wonder if he knows big dogs live here?

The Dance

Shadow is making new "friends". She is fixed and I am hoping that "big boy" is just welcoming her to the neighborhood. Shadow has been known to be the queen of the block at the last neighborhood. Hope this turns out well.

Shadow on the Porch

Shadow the cat. With the move and the resetting of her internal gps to the new place she has been living in the spare bedroom, until yesterday. I booted her out to the main living area which was no easy feat as there are 2 huge dogs avoiding the heat outdoors.

She had made it to the front porch but darts back in to nap during the day.

$94 later....

Shadow, our battle cat. She must be 8 years old now. Pretty old for an outdoor girl. Has kept our yard as hers over all others in the neighborhood that have come calling. She rules the front yard and only gets to visit the backyard when the dogs are sleeping inside. The dogs do love her but do not understand in the heat of the chase that she is our kitty and not some interloper.

So in the last week she has developed a limp. Under inspection I found nothing broken (skin or bones). Then a bit of swelling and more limp. My Sweetie home this weekend was alarmed. She is good I said... and then last night she did not come running for dinner. Yikes! Am I in trouble? Did I misdiagnosis her resiliency this time?

This morning she arrived out of the back of the garage to my calls with the wound in plain sight. After her breakfast we whisked off to the vet. Walk-ins welcome and the vet greets me with a friendly hello. (We have a thick file in spite of my doctoring.) Inside, wound cleaned, antibiotics shot, paid the bill and home before 9.

"This thing is not so bad from the outside."

Walking with all our paws on the ground.

"What was that?"

She is back to her bad self. See, Sweetie, she will be fine.