Please, Mama…may I have some water and some bubbles in the sink?
So good!!!
Srsly ???… puddle water is far better than sink water.
Here we go!
This morning, Friday.
Visits are heavily supervised but I try to stay out of it and have something else I’m at least pretending to do.
Shortly after I took this photo, Auggie launched at Bear. Bear did quite well in response. I think he is trying to figure out exactly what to make of Auggie. When it looked like Bear was getting a bit too excited and Auggie changed from “boxing” to a hiss, I stepped in. After a little separation I let them have a bit more time, quietly – to end on a peaceful note. That’s the current plan with continued time together and hopefully less and less interference from me. I’ve put away the gates – they just frustrated us all. So, it will either be together or sunroom separation, as well as Bear has the outdoors to himself when he wants.
I’m guessing that Bear did not have any critter playmates or else it has just never been something he was interested in. Bob was a good start for him being older, quieter and having his own established routines. Auggie is a whole different thing – he wants to play and I’m thinking he might like to snuggle up to a warm, furry beardog.
Fun, fun, fun!
I bought Auggie a bright green slip harness and let him play with it for several days. Yesterday, I put it on him and also attached a leash. He fussed at the harness for a bit, then got distracted by the leash and when I took the leash off acted like he’d forgotten about the collar and went about his business. I’ve been taking Auggie outside in my arms – we walk around, visit Bear, I let Auggie look and sniff and start figuring out the yard. We’ll move on to some leash following, i.e. I’ll follow him … I have no illusions that he’ll walk with me :) !!
I fool myself into thinking I can train a cat. We’ll see who wins that game!
Oven bacon and sausage
I can’t believe it is Thursday already.
It is Thursday, isn’t it?
My week fell apart a bit on Monday afternoon when I suddenly felt bad, slight fever which led to not much sleep. A dental appointment on Tuesday morning and then I tried to work but finally gave up and went to bed. Wednesday was better and today I feel 100%, but now it is Thursday!
Anyway.
So, oven bacon.
I read about making bacon in the oven earlier this year. I LOVE this – was I the last to know of this? You put the bacon on a foil lined cookie sheet, put it in a cold oven, turn the oven on to 375 and 15-20 minutes later…BACON !!
AND, there is still some nice bacon grease to save for tortillas, frying onions, etc.
This worked in the motorhome gas oven as well. There is no splattering, no fry pan to clean and the bacon can be “baked” crisp or tender – whatever your preference.
This morning I was frying some of the sausage my folks sent me – my birthday and Christmas present. This is a wonderful spicy sausage that they hunted high and low for in Louisiana. I don’t know what’s in it and maybe I don’t want to know. I do know that I like it – a LOT. It is fully cooked and good cold, but I also like to fry it up a bit crispy for adding to soups, salads and pasta dishes.
This morning as I was standing there with fat flying, turning little circles of sausage… I got to thinking about the oven bacon and decided to try the next batch of sausage by that method.
Success!
The 2 batches mixed together – no difference except the oven batch method is hands off and cleanup is throwing away the foil.
Hoo – rah!
Auggie kept me company as I was experimenting.
This is the least blurry photo I’ve been able to take of him on this chair. He has been using it as a kind of “jungle gym”. I have to try to get a video. He goes to the top, hangs over, leaps down or weaves through the ladder back. And again and again and again.
I hope he, Bear and I survive his kittenhood…
Thinking things through
This weekend has evaporated in pre-Winter chores, stomach rubs, cooking, walks and just sitting – outside with Bear or inside with Auggie. Although, inside with Auggie, is not so much sitting as it is playing/running/throwing crinkled paper…
I’d love to have another weekend day.
I’d always love to have another weekend day!
But, as I sat and thought (generally outside with Bear) – not only did I love every single minute of this weekend, but I loved that I am able to work on my “to do” list as well as enjoy Bear and Auggie and cooking and everything else I chose to spend my time on.
When I was on my way to get Bear, after putting a deposit on a puppy, withdrawing, etc….someone wrote me something to the effect that “of course, I had thought things through.” This caused me to laugh because except for the mundane stuff of life, I don’t really think things through so much as go with my intuition or heart or just where the Universe seems to lead me.
Bear was not easy but DEAR LORD, he is perfect for me. There were moments when I felt like I had done Bob ill – and I thought of trying to find Bob a home where he didn’t have to worry about a dog that didn’t know about cats. And there were moments when I felt it was too hard and then…the enlightening moment was a moment of “Maybe it will be like this until one of them passes”…and suddenly, I knew I could do that. I could love them both and live with the gates and the vigilance. From that point on, it was easy. And it got easier as ultimately we all came together.
And Karl. If you’ve read this blog for long and/or are friend or family that knows me, you know that Karl was so very dear to me. But Karl and I had some rough moments at the beginning of our time. Karl was mouthy – on me – on my arms. I looked like I had a young kitten!! Karl was not Zack, the dog I lost to lymphoma before getting Karl. It took some time and an enlightening moment that Karl was Karl, not Zack – to turn MY thinking around. And ultimately, we came together and had an extraordinary time together.
One of my favorite of all time tv shows is a BBC series: “As Time Goes By”. I have 9 series on DVD and have watched them a LOT of times. One of my favorite lines is about thinking things through. The character Lionel, asks his Father and step-Mother if they’ve thought through something. Lionel’s father replies: “Oh, we can’t be thinking things through. That takes too much time!” I agree!!
And more importantly, it is impossible to know what might happen or how we might feel. There is so little we really have control over.
Water getting into Wild Thing via a crack in the windshield – that I have some control over and I spent some time thinking about making things better over this winter…blocking the leak while also situating the tarp so that I can release it from the ground should we need to go quickly.
Done.
The herbs.
Keeping them going as long as possible – especially the cilantro as I would love one last crop!
An herb cave next to the house with the grow lights to keep the temperature above freezing.
Chores, my work, the logistics of supplying my home. I can think those things through.
A new family member.
No thinking through.
Well, in a “pie in the sky” kind of way, long ago, before the worst became real – I thought that if/when Bear or Bob passed, I would not get another cat or dog until the remaining dog or cat passed…because of Bob’s age and Bear’s age + aversion to other 4 leggeds.
And then when Bob passed and I thought about another cat, I thought I should probably get an older cat. A cat with dog experience. A quiet cat.
But I didn’t do any of those things.
We are living with gates and vigilance and time-splitting and training.
For as long as it takes.
I didn’t think much through.
I am so glad I am not in the habit of thinking things through.
Scenery from a trip to town
