Whiskers On Wednesday

 There I was at work, just a working away, when suddenly it occurred to me, I have a cat now.  I remembered this blog thing I used to do called Whiskers On Wednesday.  And do you know what?  My cat has whiskers.  And today is Wednesday.  At that point, I knew, there was only one thing to do, and yes, I have done it!

Behold!  The newly revived Whiskers On Wednesday!

Yes, somewhere on that piano bench is a cat.

Either that, or the bench has grown ears and a tail.  Which would not surprise me at all.   At this point, nothing would surprise me. 

Well, it is once again the last day of June.   Before I remembered about WOW, I'd been thinking about a post I'd written way back in 2008.  I've gotten some new readers since then, so I felt it was time for a rerun.  

BTW, I don't know why it formatted like that, but I'm too tired to try to fix it, so you'll just have to live with it.  You want to know how tired I am?  This morning, I put my socks on, then put my shoes on...and that's when I realized, I didn't have pants on.  Good thing I caught that before I left for work, huh?  

Anyway, here's the post I'd wanted to share.  I hope you enjoy it. 

The Backside Of The Year

Today is the last day of June. The year is half over. Solstice is past and the days begin to grow shorter. Imperceptibly at first. Then one day you look out the window and realize that it is dark at a time when a month ago, the sun would still be shining.


Though there are still two long, miserably hot months to endure, the backside of the year brings with it a hope. Hope that is the promise of Autumn.

It is the hope of cooler weather. Crisp, clear days and chilly nights. The first frost.


It is over the river and through the woods. A cheery fire crackling upon the hearth. It's hot chocolate with marshmallows. It's that smell in the air that only Autumn can bring.

My birthday. Celebrating the joy of being alive in this magical world. Thankful for the gift of another year.

Football. Harvest. Thanksgiving.


Autumn.

The trees exult in one final dance before the evening shadows fade into the night that is winter.


The leaves, one by one, let go and swirl in eddies of wind before settling to the earth, where they crunch and crackle underfoot. And nature drifts off to sleep.

It's a wondrous and wonderful time, this backside of the year.

Mail!

 I got mail!  In my new mailbox!  I got mail!

And what was the mail I got?  I'll show you...

First up, a letter in what is quite possible the fanciest envelope I've ever seen.  

I almost didn't even want to open it.  It's like cutting one of those high dollar cakes.   But open it I did, and found a real, honest to goodness letter inside!  It made me so happy!  Not only was there a letter in there, but the sender included some different types of paper made just for fountain pens!  I can't wait to try it out!

Do you know what else was in my mailbox?  A package!!  

My friend Kristine is back to making candles and pottery for her Etsy shop, Stormy Blue after a brief hiatus.  She's slowly building her inventory back up, but she recently announced a few new candles -- one of which I just had to have.  This one:

If you can't read it, the label says, "100% Guaranteed to repel nine out of ten Jim Cantores*  *Not guaranteed." It smells like petrichor, which is one of my favorite scents.  It's arrival is timely, as we've already had four named storms, and this is what the tropics look like today:

As soon as a storm forms in the Gulf, I'll be lighting that sucker up!  Oh, if you want one, she's still got a couple left, and says it's going to be a regular in her shop, but she might change the name.  She's thinking of "Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season" Catchy, huh?

The second candle I bought is one I'd been looking at for a while, and finally ordered it.

I would tell you it smells so good, but that pretty much goes without saying.  Kristine has never made a bad smelling candle.  If you've ever watched Call The Midwife, you know that Nonnatus House is where all the nuns and nurses live while they're ministering to the poor, and this candle smells exactly what I would imagine that kitchen would smell like...good things baking, and good friends gathered round the table.  

Lastly, Kristine included a secret surprise, not yet released to the public candle:  

Edgar Allan Poe, which smells of tobacco and absinth.  I had to google absinth, by the way.  I'd  heard of it, and knew it was a type of alcoholic beverage, but never really knew exactly what it was.  Let me just say, stalk her shop until she gets this one up, then buy it.  Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.  Just buy it.  Trust me on this one. 

I'm going to try to blog more often, but that may mean my posts will be shorter, at least until busy season at work is over.  So, regular readers...both of you...would you prefer short but frequent posts, or longer posts less often?  Let me know in the comments.

OK, now I must go practice my piano.  Laters.  

OH, one last thing!  I cooked some chicken thighs in my new air fryer, and they turned out so very moist and delicious!  It was the first time I'd cooked anything other than frozen foods, but I can assure you it won't be the last.  

Now, I really must go...

Operation Red Wings

The blog will be observing a day of silence for those brave men who lost their lives June 28, 2005 during Operation Red Wings.

Never forget them.

LT Michael P. Murphy

ST2 Matthew Axelson

GM2 Danny Dietz

FTC Jacques J. Fontan

RMCS Daniel R. Healy

LCDR Erik S. Kristensen

ET1 Jeffery A. Lucas

LT Michael M. McGreevy, Jr.

QM2 James E. Suh

HM1 Jeffrey S. Taylor

MM2 Shane E. Patton

SSG Shamus O. Goare

CWO3 Corey J. Goodnature

SGT Kip A. Jacoby

SFC Marcus V. Muralles

MSG James W. Ponder III

MAJ Stephen C. Reich

SFC Michael L. Russell

CWO4 Chris J. Scherkenbach

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to the next generation, and their children to the next generation.  --Joel 1 : 3

So that we may never forget. 

Blast From The Past

Shortly after I got home from work yesterday, I got a message from one of my cousins.   She'd been cleaning out some stuff, and found this blast from the past:  

Yep, it's a letter from me, written when I was 9 years old.  This cousin was my first pen-pal, so see, I've been at it for quite some time, now.  The problem these days is everyone is so busy that nobody wants to write handwritten letters any more.  A quick text and you're done.  I've got a couple of pen pals in Australia who still write pretty regularly, and a couple of American pen pals, but I could always use more...hint, hint...

By the way, I think it's hilarious that I apparently thought she'd forgotten where I live.  Oh, and I see I was a grammar nazi back then, too!  

Well, I decided to be a rebel this week and not mow.  I've got a long weekend coming up, thanks to judicious scheduling of my vacation days, so I'll get it then.  I may even go up to Lowe's and see what they have up there.  For my flower beds, I mean.  Not for mowing.  Though I really do need a new lawnmower.  I guess I didn't realize when I got mine how fast and thick my grass would grow.  The mower I got just isn't powerful enough, so I want to get a bigger one.  I wish I could afford a riding mower, but my yard is in such bad shape between the voles and the dogs and the chipmunks and all.  

I sure wish I knew how to get rid of them.  The voles and the chipmunks, I mean.  Not the dog.  

Alrighty, then...

Moving right along, my zinnias are starting to bloom. 

And it looks like I might get some blooms in my wildflower bed after all. 

I've got some really tall things that are starting to bud, but I'm not sure what they are.  Some sort of Cosmos, I think.  Once they've bloomed, I'll be better able to identify them. 

My moss rose are really looking well, 

as are the marigolds I transplanted.  There are actually four, but the others look just like these.

That white stuff is crushed egg shell, said to repel snails and slugs.  It must be working, because they're growing like gangbusters.  And here is one of my lantanas, just so they don't feel left out. 

Except I did leave out my petunia and my calibrachoa.  I'll get them next time. 

Abrupt change of subject...I'd recently noticed that my washcloths are starting to get a little bit ragged around the edges, so I got some cotton yarn out and whipped out a new one.  

There will be more to follow, I'm sure.  That's about all the knitting I've done lately.  You know I'm slap worn out when I don't even feel like knitting. 

And lastly, I'm still doing those piano videos on YouTube, and have begun referring to the man making them as "my piano teacher."  The really creepy part is, he'll say something, and I'll reply.  I play the videos on my TV, so he is almost life sized on them, which makes it almost like he's in the room.  Not that that makes it less creepy, but there it is. 

As I predicted, the early pages went rather quickly, but now we're getting into more complex stuff.  I've already learned all these songs -- this is my third time through the book, after all -- but I'm finding it hard to play along with him.   I can play them fine by myself, but when we play together, I mess up more.  I'll play with the video, then go back and practice some on my own, then try to play with the video again.  

It works...sort of.  

Who knows, I might end up being a pianist yet.  

Not Crying Any More

 Last night, before getting into the shower, I went outside to water my flower beds, and I saw....

they had replaced my mailbox!  Yay!

Apparently, it was the county who had knocked mine over while they were working on the road, so they brought me a new one.  It's one of those heavy plastic Rubbermaid type of mailboxes, so it ought to last a while.  Not only that, you can open it from the back to get the mail out.  Now I don't have to dodge traffic to get my mail...if ever I have a day off on a day the mail is running, that is.  Normally, I get it from the window of my car on the way home from work. 

This afternoon, I got out and put my house numbers on the sides, so it's all official like.  And I'm not crying any more!  Now I just need some people to send me mail...

 

I managed to catch a glimpse of the moon through the trees on the way to work this morning.  

It's the last Supermoon of this year, and the first full moon of Summer -- which has made me realize I've been remiss in acknowledging the start of summer, both astronomical and meteorological.  So, happy belated first day of summer!  Both of them!  

That's about all I have time for tonight, since today was shopping day, and I got home late and I still need to practice my piano, but I keep listening to these classical music mashups on YouTube....but I did fry a mini frozen pizza in my air fryer.  Next time, I need to leave it in a minute or two longer, but it turned out pretty good.  The crust was crispy, and not rock hard like it is when you cook them in the microwave.  

I also bought some chicken thighs.  I got the giant family pack, and I'm going to vacuum seal most of them to put them into the freezer for later.  But now, I really, really have to get off of here and practice my piano.

Laters. 

Prime Day!

 Before I begin today's post, let me just say...I could just cry.

Sigh...what else could go wrong.  My dad was right when he said home ownership is for the birds.  I'm seriously considering putting my house on the market and just finding a place to rent.  I guess once they've finished with the road, I'm going to have to find someone who can reset my mailbox.  It's just one more stress piled on to my life.  

So, let's talk about something more pleasant.  Prime Day!

Y'all score any big Prime Day deals?  

I was seriously considering getting myself a Soda Stream, but decided against it.  I'm not even sure why I really wanted one.  I hardly ever drink carbonated drinks any more.  Not even my Diet Dr Peppers.  I was thinking that if I got a Soda Stream, I could carbonate my fruit juice and make it more appealing.  I'm not sure why, since I mostly drink water these days.  

I'd asked about it on FB, and yesterday, one of my coworkers came over and told me, "You don't need a Soda Stream."  He'd gotten one for his kids, and said that once the gas ran out, they just started buying drinks from the store again.  They eventually gave the thing away.  I told him I'd hemmed and hawwed, and finally decided that if I didn't even know if I really wanted one, then I didn't really want one. 

What I did really want, though, was an air fryer!  (My coworker concurred.  "You need an air fryer!" he said.)  I love fried mushrooms, and mozzarella sticks, and things like that, but I hardly ever buy them, because cooking them is such a pain.  I have an old Fry Daddy, but I hardly ever use it.  You have to wait for the oil to heat up, then it splatters all over your kitchen, and then it takes forever to cool off so you can put it back up, and it's just a mess.  I've wanted an air fryer for a while now, because I think it would be a lot healthier, and a little less messy.  

Wonder of wonders, they had one in a Prime Day deal!  And that's what I bought, along with some accessories. The aforementioned air fryer arrived today.

The accessory pack included a little grill thing, with some skewers, 

a pizza pan, and a deep dish baking pan. 

Now, I'll have to look up all sorts of recipes to use, but for tonight, I made myself some Tater Tots. It only took 10 minutes, and clean up was a breeze!  

The only other thing I bought was some protein powder that was half price.  I usually drink Carnation Instant Breakfast, but I'm trying to find a lower sugar option.   This stuff I got is pretty high dollar, but I got a good deal on it. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to google air fryer recipes. 

Upset

 I'm a bit upset right now.  I'm not exactly sure who to be upset at, but I'm a bit upset.  

See, the cat door I'd ordered was supposed to be here today at the latest, and it hasn't arrived.  I went to Amazon and checked the status and it said it was being held for pickup.  What?  

They said UPS had attempted to deliver it on June 11, and was unable to do so, so they were holding it for me to come pick up.  I'm totally not buying that.  UPS delivers to my house all the time. I live in a small town.  When I see my UPS driver out and about, he greets me by my house number, so don't tell me they couldn't deliver it.  Not only that, they delivered another package just a few moments ago, and that with the road all torn up for construction. 

Maybe I'm just being stubborn about this, but I am not going to go pick that package up.  If I'd wanted to pick something up, I'd have just bought it at the store in the first place.  I've already contacted the seller, left them a bad review on Amazon, and they said when the package comes back, they'll issue a refund.  

But now, I'm left without a cat door.  At this point, I don't even know if I'm going to order one from somewhere else or just leave the cat on whatever side of the door she's on.  I'm going to see if I can find something to make her a shelter of sorts, in case she gets caught out in bad weather.  

In a bit better news, I have all the Billy and Blaze books, but most of them are in paperback.  I'm slowly going to replace them with hardback copies.  Last week, I ordered one, only they sent a paperback instead-- which I already have.  I hit the "Return" button, and gave the reason why I wanted to send the book back.  The seller promptly issued a refund, but said I didn't have to return the book!  Now I have two copies.  

I also have two copies of Blaze And Thunderbolt, but that was my own fault.  I forgot I already had one, and bought another.  Eh...it happens sometimes. 

In knitting news, I finally finished that hat I'd been working on.  It was supposed to look like this:'

but really, I like it better inside out.

Alls it is is alternating sections of stockinette and seed stitch, but I like the way the decreases turned out, having done them in purl stitch all the way around.  No matter, I carefully hid the ends, so that it can be reversed, if that's the way the recipient wants to wear it.  

I'm going to have to find a charity to donate them to pretty soon, as my gift drawer is getting pretty full again. 

I'm open to suggestions. 

I Guess I'm Done

I guess I'm done with my garden for this year.  I might get another couple of Lantanas.  I might not.  I don't know.  I got these two on Friday, 

and that makes six in my little front bed. 

There is room to put one more in either end, but I don't know if I'm going to or not.  I might, if I can find a variety I don't already have.  I've just about cleaned out Walmart's selection, so I'd have to go up to Lowe's to find something different. Or I might find something different to bookend the Lantanas.  We'll just have to see.

Since I replanted my marigolds -- which are doing much better by the way-- I needed something to put into that big, empty spot in my front bed.  While browsing the garden center, I found these two large yellow zinnias.

I looked all over the tag and couldn't find anywhere that said which variety they are, so that's anybody's guess.  They might be Magellan, but I think those have a double blooms.  These don't, so I don't really know what they are.    

I probably should have taken a photo of the whole garden, so you could get a better perspective on how big they are, but you're going to have to wait a bit on that.  Oh, and by the way, next year, I must remember to plant the red and the yellow moss rose separately. 

If I'd paid better attention, I might have noticed they were different species, and put the larger ones in the back.  Oh, well.  It's too late to move them now.  OK, it's really not, but I don't want to put more stress on them than necessary.  I'll just leave them where they are. 

In Piano Talk, when we went to Texas for my mother's memorial, the boys borrowed my cousin Judy's keyboard so they could practice their song for the service.  She had a really nice sustain pedal with hers.  Much better than the crappy plastic one which came with my keyboard. 

She has the same keyboard I do, so when I saw it, I said, "I gotta get me one of these!"  It took me nearly a month, but I finally got one.  It arrived Friday.  

I plugged it in and tried it out, and it is so much nicer than what I had before.  It feels more like a real piano pedal, and doesn't slide all over the floor like the plastic one did.  It'll make piano playing so much better!  And yeah, I'm still trying to pry myself out of my comfort zone and live stream a practice session.  But, as Sheldon Cooper said, "Why would we do that?  It's called a comfort zone for a reason."

Now for a bit of good news.  I've been taking something called Digestive Advantage Lactose Defense for years now.  It's an enzyme supplement for those of us with lactose intolerance, but unlike others, you take one of these every morning, and it builds up the enzymes in your gut.  It's wonderful.  As long as I take it regularly, I can forget I'm even lactose intolerant.  About a month ago, Amazon notified me that my subscription couldn't be filled, because the product was no longer available.  I was seriously bummed. 

This afternoon, I did a bit of research and found out they are still making it, only under a different name.  I immediately added it to my subscriptions, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  

Now, I just need to research what's wrong with my washing machine and see if it's something I can fix.  I hate to have to get a repairman out, because after a long, stressful day at work, I don't want to have to deal with people in my house.  

That's why my bathroom sink still hasn't been fixed after what should be an embarrassingly long time.  But, the one in my half bath works, so it's not like it's a really big hardship.  Maybe if my son came to visit more often, I'd feel the need to get it fixed soon, but eh, it isn't a big deal with me by myself.  

And lastly, the county came along and completely tore up my road.  As in, ripped up all the asphalt and left it a gravel/dirt road.  I was out mowing yesterday, and a neighbor who lives further down stopped and asked if they were going to leave it like this.  I said, "I hope not!"  

When I want to live down a gravel/dirt road, I want it to head off way out into the woods somewhere...