What's Happenin' (Part 2)

[jingle]

"I so miss everyone. I am grateful to see that there are a few who have stuck around. I wish you all well."
Isn't it nice to come in here and see people talking?

We're had big, booming. crashing thunder storms and my poor cats were terrified. hey usually look at me during a storm and if I tell them all is OK, they just relax and aren't afraid. Last night they hid.
More storms are supposed to be in this afternoon and I needed a few things so I went to the grocery store early. I was pushing my cart down an aisle as usual and, of all things, the manager of the store came to me, hugged me and wished me Happy Easter. I smiled, thanked him and kept shopping. When I got in my car I started bawling. Gee whiz - it's been a long time since I was hugged and wished happy anything.

[houghchrst]

- it's been a long time since I was hugged and wished happy anything.

Oh Jingle honey if I was there I would give you a big fat squishy hug with a have a wonderful day everyday.

[houghchrst]

NOt much new to report here. Brandon is still here. I still have the three ferals. I wish they would hurry up and find a barn. I have the ready to adopt Raven. Little Odin is coming along fabulously, is keeping the eye and with some minor surgery is seeing out of it a bit again. He is not feral just scared.

Got fencing delivered yesterday. It is huge and I have no idea how we are going to get it into the back yard lol. I just found out that I have to file a permit in order to put it up. Fifty dollars, highway robbery. I am still trying to figure out the configuration. There are some obstacle that cannot be moved and I have to make it accessible to the riding mower and everything around it open to mowing and trimming. They want measurements and drawings at the township office. I planned to do that today but it is supposed to be another rainy day. Maybe in between me and Brandon can go and work something out.

My hyacinths are beautiful and plentiful this year. I am learning that if I leave some of my flower beds alone they do better and some of my grandma's things are growing back. The woods are covered in what looks like pink forget me nots and the yard has bunches of violets here and there. Soon my Allium will be coming up and then my day lilies and my cauldron is full of lilies.

The lawn needs to be mown already and of course just like every spring my mower is broke down. Ordering the new starter today. Also needs two new tires, have one but the other had to be ordered. Don't know when that is coming.

don't know if I mentioned but I lost a third of my income. Back to hitting food banks and struggling to pay bills but it is getting done. Doing the rob peter to pay paul but peter always gets paid back.

Going to have to quit fostering for two of my rescues. These two in particular don't supply food and right now I am feeding seven cats and two dogs. If it weren't for them having to have soft food it wouldn't be so bad but Skyler is missing 17 teeth so he gets soft food so everybody else in the house thinks they need soft food too. And Los Gatos wants me to feed their cats soft food also. So Dachshund Haus Rescue and Los Gatos are losing a foster. There are so many animals that need fosters it is sad. All it takes is an unused room, warm basement or garage to make room for an animal in need and all rescues provide vetting but not all provide food. It is kitten season and there are pregnant cats all over needing a place.

[jingle]

There is nothing to report here ... it just kept raining until today. This morning we slowly got some sun!! Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny -- then more rain moves in :(

You lost a third of your income? How? That;s just awful. How did that happen? None of my business -- I'm just worried about you.

[joy]

Great to be here. Sorry that it issoseldom.
I have had it rough since November y & only got out Togo to doctors neurologist pain doctor& dentist. Whew that’s enough ills to
Pay for hubby & me. My menieres equals dizziness so I amnoon computer at all but do try to use phone some. Have tousewheelchair now & was told by
Nehru not to
Identify cane becU of my severe neurpThy. I am thankful that at leStblood flows to
My dead feet legs arms & hands. I use to have a saying that things can always get worse. Hope all is holding
Up ok. ✖️
Is so true. things

[houghchrst]

Joy lovely to see you here. How has the weather been where you are at? We had sun in the 60s yesterday. I got to work outside a little until I hurt myself to tears lol. The usual. Today it is supposed to be beautiful. More of whatever I can stand outside. You be careful and come when you can. Lots of love and hugs coming your way.

Jingle I hope you get your sun today. The weather has been so depressing. I am happy for our sunshine here today. Yes I am supposedly paid off from my ex husband's child support. He still owes the state of Michigan over $32,000 but his obligation to me is paid off after 27 yrs of on and off child support. Now I get SSI $771 a month and $295 in child support for my youngest which will end in January of 2020. I have no clue what I will do then. I have been kind of looking for a job or trying to find a way to make some money. Too bad fostering doesn't bring in any money lol. I have thought of driving but I don't know how long my body could stand it. If I could work from home I would. I have thought of something like maybe some at home editing for papers or articles. I see so many with misspellings and worded wrong and it really bugs my OCD. Now when I write I mostly write the way I would talk. In college you don't get away with it lol. Unless I was writing a fiction story then they would let me get away with a little in the dialogue but that was it. I was 4.0 in college and had a lot of classes with writing. As a reader of fiction I know they get away with a lot. Especially the more popular authors.

Finally got my patio screens kitty proof now they aren't that interested in getting out lol. Going to reconfigure my fence plans, I still have some pieces that I need to buy but I need to make sure before I start buying the last parts. I have considered just putting up the fence and then dealing with the township if they come out. I am making sure the fence is small, unobtrusive and impermanent. I am chomping at the bit to get started. I am going to put a doggy door out on the patio so I don't have to either prop the door open or climb down the steps to let the dogs out.

Looks like little Odin is staying with us. Jared is in love and I don't know how adoptable he is with his eye the way it is. He had surgery and the eye was not only salvageable but he has some vision in it. He still has some healing to do but he got a clean bill of health from the vet and has been released. He has a white spot, almost like a cataract right in the center, she said he might not be able to see well out of it but as for the rest he is good. He is still skittish and always runs when you first come in a room but then comes out once he realizes you aren't coming after him lol. He is only about 5 months old. A real little cutie. I will post a before and after though you can't see how well his eye is doing in the second one.

Two of my ferals are going to barns. Los Gatos has asked me to work with Louise to see if we can give her a chance to become adoptable. She is aggressively friendly lol. All I can do to get their cage cleaned each morning and fed again in the evening with her loving on me and demanding to be rubbed. Raven is in the adoption room for a month. She won't be there long I am sure. Torti's get adopted quickly. So I am almost down to my own. I think I will take a break and concentrate on my yard for a bit.

My yard has been ignored for the last two years thanks to my pain levels but I have some stuff out there that has to be taken care of. CJ's shed blew apart during all these windy days we have had so Brandon went and finished tearing it down yesterday. Lots more to go also and the garage won't take much to clean out. I already have someone who is interested in coming and getting the scrap and I have quite a bit to go.

Well that is the most that is happening. Things are going. Always slow but still forward.

[houghchrst]

Wow I am bored out of my mind, my kitchen is clean and so is my living room. Bathroom needs cleaning. I am itching to get outside but it is cold out today. Even been considering crafting or something. I am tired of sitting on this computer all day. Will have to go out and fix the screen door again because Bella has once again popped the screen and spline out of the wood screen door on the patio. Menard's door and the original spline fit in the groove exactly which is ridiculous because it is supposed to be a tad bigger. I bought bigger but it is hollow so it squishes down to the same size as the old. Very disappointing.

My lawn has reached beyond needing to be mowed lol, when the dogs go out there are some areas where all you can see is tip of tails lol. Don't know when I will have the money to order a starter for the mower. It is not much but I just don't have the money. I think I am going to have to throw myself on the neighbor man's mercy and beg for help. I hate that but I know he will do it for free. I am going to ask him to help with the fence also, I know he has the know how and he has the equipment.

Louise my last feral foster has graduated to having the run of the foster room. I have her a little open crate setup with her box and her bed. She loves that dang box and all I did was cut a hole in the side of a box that had a bag of litter in it and she has been sleeping in there. She is a little disconcerted by the wide open space in there now but I can see she is getting use to it because she comes out when I go in. Not right up to me yet but she will again. She doesn't seem to be afraid of my kitties. Won't know about dogs for a little while.

Well it is early and I have to take my morning meds, feed the herd and find something to do. I hope you all had a great mother's day and hope to see yous soon.

[tic chick]

hey all !

it has been a terrible month for gardening! the friday before mother's day, my daughter and i went to these greenhouses that are down by where she lives. she bought me 5 tomato plants, 4 kale plants an echinacea (coneflower) plant and a phlox plant. she bought herself a hanging fuchsia basket. she spent $44! so, this weather. it rains every couple days. the clay ground doesn't dry enough so i can kneel on it and plant (soil is too wet). then we have a couple days of sun and just when i think i can do something, it freaking rains again! it's been very frustrating. so finally, yesterday i tilled my garden with almost 2 huge cubes of peat moss and 4 bags of composted manure. i put new fencing around the garden. i used a board and leveled the soil. i worked about 5 hours because it was a nice day and who knows.... i also noticed that something ate one of my little kale plants. i was looking out the window yesterday evening and saw a pretty dark grey cat roaming around. that explains the dead bird i found the other day and maybe the kale. love the cats and know they are predators, but leave my kale alone!

also, i broke up with my bf around the beginning of march. long story short, he'd been having these bursts of anger for a couple of weeks (he's had them before, but every 2-3 months) and he called me the "bitch" word. i hate that term so much! some people use it affectionately, but it just grates on my nerves...maybe cuz' of my age, i dunno. and then to top it off, he said, "you made me angry". WHOA!! it was like a freaking atom bomb went off in my brain and i thought, this is what abusers say. they blame the other person. and so i broke it off. he's called me and we have talked calmly, but i just don't feel the same. you know, i was abused by my dad when i was a child, verbal and physical abuse and i just didn't think that someone that says they love you would abuse you. so, i started seeing my therapist again cuz' i was kicking myself for not calling this was it was, thinking it was just anger. he had road rage and i laughed at this one thing he said and told him to say it instead of starting to swear and then having it affect his driving. it was "how big of a dic* can you be"? so, he started saying that and we would laugh and it diffused his road rage. but i am not his freaking therapist and i think he needs to see one and i suggested it, but i can't make him go. he has to do this himself, if he wants.

so, now my transportation, if i want to do something during the day, is my bike. i ride 8 miles round trip to my dentist and 4 miles round trip to my therapist. so i did that about once every week in may. one of my upper left leg muscles in front hurts like heck sometimes. i think i strained it, probably in zumba doing squats or lunges. it's feeling better lately since i've been taking ibuprofen 3 times a day. those gel caps work really good!

so, i've been lurking around here, reading up on what's happenin'!...lol i dunno if any of y'all watch jeopardy, but this champion has won over 2 million bucks in maybe the last month and a half. he's just so smart and he bets big. it's been fun watching him, maybe not so fun for the people playing against him, though.

i have also had a few home repairs done, new faucets in the bathtub, a quartz kitchen countertop (i have a small kitchen, so was not horribly expensive, but more a pain in the butt), and i had these 2 peaks on the front of my house by the roof covered with vinyl shingles that look like cedar shingles. i need my tile put up in the kitchen and i want a new fence and that will be it.

my dog, nora, is having a harder time walking as the months go by. she is on doggy ibuprofen and it helps her a lot, but whatever side she sleeps on that back leg is wobbly when she gets up. she is about 16-17 years old. she beat her lip cancer, but old age will get her. i don't know how much longer she'll be around. i pray she dies in her sleep instead of getting sick and then i have to make the decision to put her down. i hate that.

so. i see you joy! posting every so often. and jingle and chris, you both post a lot. thank you. dawn, it's nice to see you when you post and also you, clouds! i can't make any promises about posting in the spring or early summer because i am outside most of the day. maybe i'll post on rainy days...HA! it'll probably be hot as heck in june, just because.

thank you all for sharing and caring!
jeannie

[jingle]

Hey Jeannie -- it's very good to "see" you. I am amazed that you can ride a bicycle that much. Wow! I don't even walk downstairs unless I really HAVE to. When I have something that needs to go down, I just set it by the door. It can wait until there's a big pile that has to go down. The cats love to run up and down --- I wish they would carry something.

[houghchrst]

Hi Jeannie I am sorry about the bf break up. We gotta pay attention to those red flags, good thing before things got worse. Yes my lawn is a wet mess also, has been a very wet spring. I hope you will post pictures to go with your posts. That biking is excellent for your health.

Jingle I hope you are getting some sun where you are. It has been ridiculous here. Rain, clouds, wind, then wind and sun, then rain again.


Finally got somebody here to pick up a bunch of scrap I probably should have taken in myself but no way to get to the scrap yard. My back yard is a hot mess. A work in progress. I am getting rid of some things and fixing some things. Moving things, tore down a poor tore up metal shed. The wind was brutal on it this last winter. Today is cloudy but I can still work in short sleeves. Gloomy out. My back yard is looking a tad better. I need a few dry days because I have a ton of wood that needs to be burned.

The cats spend most of their day out on the patio. My swing is back out there. It brings me great joy to once again sit out there and listen to the birds or my music. I have to fight for a spot because the animals love it too. I am slowly getting all the places for them to climb and perch on up. I will have to see if I can put up a video of the finished product. I have a video of the hot mess it was. 'Course it is every spring. It sort of becomes a storage spot for box recycling and all things that need to go out. I have finally straightened up out there but I have two unfinished projects, one is kind of big but hopefully the cats will use it and the other I have not decided how to finish.

I did get the neighbor man to mow the main parts of the yard and had him leave the back yard. so I have been randomly week whacking out there to keep the grass down. I cannot get my mower fixed for another week at least. I can order the part this Friday but I have no idea how long it will take to get here. Part for my car also because at the moment I have no transportation and a lot of places I need to go. It will be at least two weeks before my car is fixed.

This is all I can do because the longer I sit here the more I think and the more I think the more depressed I get so I am done for now.

[jingle]

Wow - I wish we lived a bit closer so I could help at least a little bit.

Today our weather is horrible, just horrible. Well, right now it;s a nice day but by 5 - 6 PM a BIG storm will be moving in. Wednesday is Bible study at church and, oh, I hate to miss that. Giant hail and bad wind are moving in. That scares the cats,

[houghchrst]

Jingle I wish you lived closer too but more for the company than anything. Don't get much socializing. I am not a social butterfly. I am the wall flower and I prefer it that way. Making friends is hard because with friendship comes an emotional investment and I have so much emotional baggage that quite frankly I don't have the room for anyone else's. Don't get me wrong, I have friends and with a couple they are more pseudo family from my last relationship and with a couple I am comfortable enough for an I love you too but only one friend am I close with and we have drifted because she just got out of a divorce but her ex is still leading her on and she goes for it so she is a hot mess. I haven't been to my social club in three months nor church. some of my extended family has started a cousins club and they are having their first get together in August. Unfortunately I don't have a car that will make it there so I don't think I will get to go to that either. It's been five, six years since I have seen anyone.

Today it looks to be sunny but we have been getting that lately. Sunshine in the early morning then clouds until about 8 at night when the sun comes out again lol. Oh wait, yes I see sunny this morning, thunderstorms coming as of now, then the possibility of sun this early evening. Yay! Note the sarcasm. I can hardly get anything done.....well outside anyway.....I have lots that needs doing inside. In fact I just had to pee, lots of coffee, and suddenly I cleaned the shower and tub. Sooo so far this morning.....herd fed and pottied, shower and tub clean, I will have to see which way the wind blows me for the next thing. I so want to be outside.

[houghchrst]

Well today deserves a party. Went to Jared's graduation last night. It was kind of all of a sudden. He didn't even tell me what was going on until the weekend that he was graduating on time and it was last night. I am so deeply relieved. after 14 years with him no more school battles. I was thinking the other day that not only did it take a monumentous effort to get two troubled boys through school but I battled with my own schooling. That's 40 yrs at least of battling school, mine, Brandon's, Jared's and I am finally done.

[dawnmn]

Wow it's so hard to believe that Jared has graduated. Seems like yesterday he was shortcake, What a nice picture of all of you.

Jeannie, I'm sorry that it didn't work out with you and the ex boyfriend.

I'm still here. Having the dog has really changed my life. I have something to keep me company until hubby gets home. It sure was lonely here without Casey. At least I have someone who listens when I talk instead of the walls.

I have another grandchild coming in July. It's a girl so I'll have three granddaughters. Which I don't mind since I don't know how to take care of a boy lol.
I'll be taking care of the other two when mom goes into the hospital. That will be such a special time. I just have to worry about my oldest grandbaby who has diabetes. I've been slowly learning how the administration of the meds and take blood. She was diagnosed when she was just 3 years and now she is 4 and pretty smart about the whole thing. She had gone into a coma because no one knew that she had it. That was one of the worst feelings that I had. I was at the hospital when they brought her in. My poor daughter and son in law had to witness me crying.

Jingles thanks for keeping the message forum going.

[jingle]

Thank you, Dawn, but I think it's houghchrst/Christine who watches this forum and keeps it going. We all owe her lots.

In my little condo I'm being over run by PECANS. How's that for a strange problem? My back is acting so painfully I just can't spend the time I usually do standing in the kitchen baking cookies and making candy. But I am incapable, absolutely incapable, of just sitting looking at the TV or something. I read a lot but can't all the time ... so I decided I would save money for my baking if I shelled my own pecans instead of buying them in bags. When my back is better I won't have to buy nuts.

So here I sit cracking and shelling nuts. What an exciting life I live.