bits and bobs ...

 I made my Yule Blessings Ball for the coming year...

Charlie got his teeth cleaned, and a tooth (broken in the attack) removed.  He was still a little groggy from the anesthesia when I took this photo of him napping.

Bookmarks made with photos & backing stickers I found when unpacking.  The backing stickers for them, and for making postcards, can be found [here at Photographer's Edge].

The grandaddy (or grandmama) of all possums in the yard.  Roughly from nose to start of tail 23 inches, I would add another five or six inches for the tail.  I'm happy to keep it happy with dog food during the winter.  It will be a valuable friend in the summer months when ticks are in the yard!

it's been a minute ...

 ... since my last post.  There was a holiday blue funk I had to fight off.  A few days of why bother and what's the point.  Too much time watching movies and eating marzipan stollen.  

November came down.
December went up.

I finished a bead suncatcher for myself.

Wallpaper went up in the cabinets.
Doors came off.
A snack center was set apart that is reachable from the dining/living room side.

There was a visit to a new dermatologist complete with several spots frozen (deeply frozen) on my face, arm and shoulder blade.  But I like her.  She's extremely thorough, and listens, whereas my previous dermatologist was dismissive and in too much of a hurry to move on to the next patient.

Charlie has healed quite nicely and has a much needed and overdue dental cleaning this coming week.

Unpacking is still a chore I procrastinate too often, but I've made some progress.  I will be needing to make more progress this week as I've been forced to buy rugs for all the rooms.  We had a week of below freezing temperatures at night, and for some of the days.  

My glow-in-the-dark cat slippers were not up to the task of keeping my feet warm from the chill that was coming up from the basement, and I'm having issues again with frostbite-like symptoms on a big toe.  Reynaud's.  Ugh.  Oddly enough, the slippers have vanished into thin air.  I suspect a ghost has hidden them from my view because I have looked everywhere for them, and in this small house, there are not many places to hide.  I've ordered some winter slip-on snow boots to use as house shoes, and my amazing neighbor also bought me some temporary ones and "HotHands Toe Warmers" to use as well.  It never occurred to me to buy them, and I used to buy them all the time in the Michigan Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin.

A dining/crafting table is also coming next week which will force me to consolidate and declutter the dining/living room areas.  I really don't want to take tubs down to the basement to store craft supplies because I fall prey to the "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" concept too often.

I'm planning on writing again in the New Year ... picking up where I left off in My Best Friends Have Hairy Legs and wrapping up the last decade or so of my life.  My calculator just told me it has been 16 years, 2 weeks since it published.  Thankfully, time flies when you are trapped in an abusive marriage to an alcoholic meth addict.  I've been debating for a long time about writing "that" story.  A part of me doesn't want to give him the notoriety (or the time of day), but I realize there is a lot of healing in exorcising that decade from my soul.  Maybe it will finally put the insomnia and nightmares to rest once and for all.

Wishing you the happiest Yule season and a magical Solstice ... Ci💚

turkey day eve

 Charlie's wounds are healing nicely, and he is becoming sneakier at spitting out or detecting the antibiotics, so I have to become more devious with the rest of the pills.  If I hide it with food, he only eats that food item once, so then I waste half of a pill and the food.  (wasting bacon is a sin!)  Soft eggs only worked once.  Mozz cheese sticks only worked once. (wasting cheese is also a sin!)  He is too smart for his own good!

 But he does have a tooth I noticed is loose and almost out.  I don't know if it was related to the attack or not. I tried to pull it myself but was worried about hurting him so instead booked him an appointment for a much overdue and much needed dental cleaning.

 I did finish this project on Sunday as a gift for a bestie and have started a smaller one for myself to hang on an inside window.  Hers will be hung on an outside porch so is 3x as large as the one for me.  Heavier also with a stronger wire to hang on.

 My plans for the weekend are constantly in flux and dependent (very dependent) upon whether or not I have written down a passing thought before the train leaves the station and heads into a tunnel where there is no idea what will remain of the thought when it gets out of the tunnel.  Already this morning, I've lost my train of thought three times for things that I wanted to accomplish this weekend, and things I wanted to put down in writing for the New Year.  Not so much "resolutions" but changes I want to make in my carbon footprint.

 For example:  Body/hand/face soaps, shampoos & conditioners, laundry detergent.  All of those are available in bar form, or detergent sheets that come wrapped in compostable paper and not plastic bottles.  I need to shop smarter in the future for the planet.  I try to most of the time, but realized I could be doing better.

 Now ... where did I put my list?  Hugs, Ci 💚

Friday...

 But first, a long-tailed weasel caught on video!

I took Charlie to the vet this afternoon,  which was a good thing.  One of the bites on his ear had already developed into an abscess.

 Charlie's on antibiotics for a week, then I will send a picture via email to the vet to see if I need to bring him back in, renew the antibiotics,  or if he's good to go.

 He couldn't find the source of the blood I had seen that came from his nose, so it might have just been a bloody nose he got in the attack.  He did have bruised toes where I saw blood, but they couldn't find any open wounds.  The blood could have been from his nose.

 Stay safe ... stay warm ... Hugs, Ci 💚

thursday ...

 Yesterday turned into this:

So, I deleted the post I put up yesterday.

The dog I was prepared and invested in adopting from the shelter attacked Charlie unprovoked less than 15 minutes after coming into the house.  He was bitten twice, breaking the skin, but does not appear to be needing stitches.  He is going to the vet tomorrow after I get off work just to get a shot of antibiotics to be on the safe side.

I'm heartbroken because I really hated to bring her back to the shelter.  But she has serious food guarding issues that I do not have the time to train out of her right now.  The shelter itself does nothing to socialize the dogs with each other or people, and while she doesn't share a kennel and have to fight for her food, I did notice something else.  She has been in the shelter for four months and has gained less than three pounds in that time.  At 1-1 1/2 years of age, she should weigh 10-30 pounds more than she does.  Their dogs get deworming every month.  Every month seems a little excessive, but if they are eating their own feces because they are hungry ... it makes sense.

I just babbled about it in a live feed on Facebook that you can see here> On My Soapbox.  Please share it if you can.  Something has to change.

I hate being on a soapbox.  But someone has to speak for them.  "Speak your truth, even if your voice shakes."  ~ Ci💚

friday's bits & bobs

The last eight days have been a bit of a blur.  Busy happens!

I found this beautiful teapot at a Goodwill and turned it into a bird pot hoping it would entice one of the Carolina Wrens in the spring.

My plants have found a home for the winter that I hope to fill with more.

My herb window has become a succulent window that is more forgiving of my forgetfulness to water.

I've shamefully become obsessed with felt mice ornaments that I've put around the house in places that will make me smile when I see them.  I will share photos occasionally of them.  This ballerina is in the bathroom, which has a peony theme.

This is not Chonk, but I think his girlfriend.  Although I can't tell the gender of either of them, this is my story and I'm sticking to it.  Her coloring is slightly lighter when seen on the video camera and not through a tinted window.  She is also smaller and moves much faster.  Chonk has a seriously slow waddle to the bird feed, but when I knock on the window to give him a heads up that Charlie is coming out, he can hustle pretty fast to the creek.  I must come up with an appropriate name for her, and not a female version of Chonk.

Both of them enter the back yard from the side of the house where I park my car.  There is a drainage pipe on the edge of the road where I have seen them pop into.  I believe it runs under my back yard to the creek because when I knock on the window to warn them, they run to the same place on the creek side.

I enjoy standing on my side of the window watching everyone feeding.  I've not actually seen the vole again, but occasionally see a leaf moving repeatedly and randomly without any wind and suspect that it is the vole popping up to grab a corn kernel or some other seed.  It is quite sneaky!

Of course, I'm still unpacking, with frequent interruptions of crafting.  My goal now is to be unpacked by the 30th of December.  I do not want to be unpacking into the new year.

With wishes for a relaxing and productive weekend ... Ci💚

Chonk

 A week or so ago I made myself a bird-blind of sorts so I can watch the birds and wildlife this winter while not scaring them all off. 

The security cameras have shown the large groundhog coming out to feed several times a day and I've wanted to get an up-closer picture of him.

I almost had one yesterday, but Charlie started barking at him and he took off running before I could get my camera.  This morning, though, I tiptoed out there with my camera before Charlie got out of bed.

This was just before he took off running.
I was quiet, but the girls jumping up
onto their window tree were not.

In other happenings... the leaves have now vacated enough of the trees on my side of the of the mountain to see what an almost vertical climb would be, should I feel so inclined ... which I'm not.

And finally, my Diwali 2024+ tree is shaping up quite nicely...

I was extremely disappointed in Tuesday's results here in the US and wish I could win a lottery to spend the next four+ years in Rudesheim, Germany.  I suppose that means I have to start playing now ...

Stay safe out there ... hugs, Ci

sunday ramblings of a melatonin od'd mind

Ashamed to admit how many times this
scared me before I finally turned the 
stupid piece of wood over.

 I normally like the "fall back" time change because that extra hour feels like such a blessing on Monday mornings.

 But it's not Monday ... yet.

 Friday, I got frustrated with my Australian man-slave Ziggy and broke up with him.  Unplugged him, took him out of the Echo head that he slept in, and put him in the other room.  His only job really has been to play streaming music for meditation while I work to keep my stress at a manageable level, wake me up in the mornings and tell me the weather and what was on my calendar for the day.  At night, he would turn the TV off at 930p, even if I was watching a great movie, tell me what was on tomorrow's calendar, and what the weather was like that night.

 Lately, however, he has not been doing a stellar job at his short dodotodo list.  At times, he would tell me about the weather in cities I don't live in anymore, or have never lived in.  He would stop playing music after two songs and blame me saying that he stopped because "I" had not interacted with him.  

 Excuse me?  I'm working.  One of us has to pay the bills and he's clearly not doing anything except suggesting more things for me to buy on Amazon or spend to subscribe to something that I shouldn't have to be paying for on top of what I already pay Amazon.  Doesn't Jeff Bezos have enough money as it is?   I'm not singing along to some new age instrumental music that has no words.  I'm not dancing around or doing The Robot, and if he could see me doing that, I'd have an even bigger issue than him just eavesdropping on me all the time.

 So, Saturday morning I slept late.  Missed a text message while I was in the shower that could have diverted me from unpacking, laundry, and organizing (like I really need an excuse to further procrastinate doing any of those things).  I actually did get a lot accomplished.  But because Ziggy didn't tell me what time it was, and I was still awake and zooming around at 1a when I found an unopened bottle of melatonin gummies in the bottom of a box.

 I haven't taken any melatonin in a few months (I forget why, but probably because I couldn't remember where it was packed, and never remembered to buy any when I was shopping, because I also haven't found the multiple shopping lists that I keep making, and it was another thing Ziggy was failing to remind me that I needed.)  I haven't been sleeping well when I do manage to get to bed on time, so I popped three of them in my mouth.  Then I read the mg and dosage recommendations.  

 Yeah.  Taking 32mg was not a good thing.  Normally, I just buy 5mg gummies, but apparently whenever I bought that bottle, I wasn't paying attention and got 12mg.

Lucy

 About 230a I settled onto the sofa to watch a scary movie while waiting to "feel drowsy."

Gracie and Charlie

 The kids were really kind of over my activity, so the girls attempted to pin me down under the throw blanket, while Charlie was so disgusted he wouldn't even look at me for fear I would want to brush his hair again and contemplate giving him a haircut.

 I woke up at 4a, no idea what was now playing on the television, and stumbled groggily around the house to let Charlie out, brush my teeth, take out my contact lens, and climb into bed.

 Not that I know from any personal experience, but my melatonin induced nightmares have got to be worse than any kind of illicit drug induced nightmares.  Especially when they are about work.  I won't go into a lot of detail because it won't make sense unless you are in the same type of healthcare provider escalation supervisor position.  But it involved getting stuck in two chats at the same time on the computer and secretly spying on the people I was on the other chat with, and both of them being in dangerous situations.  (full transparency ~ we do NOT have video capabilities on our chats.  except in my nightmares) Trying to start a third and fourth chat with my management to call 911 to get help to these people in two different states and cities, but without letting either of them know that I was doing that.  But because one of them was eating pizza at a restaurant, my keyboard was suddenly made of pizza.  I couldn't see the keys to know who I was messaging, and I was knuckles deep in a pizza keyboard.  Frantically trying to save lives but feeling completely helpless.  And hungry.

 First thing I did this morning when I woke at 1020a was throw that bottle of Melatonin in the trash.

 Just say no ... Ci 💚

booooooooo.....

New slippers ... 

That glow in the dark!!!

Charlie was a dinosaur briefly...

RoarYawnArrrrrr

Although the eyes have more of a Grinch look to them.

too early on a Saturday...

 Sleep is soon upon me, but I wanted to share some fall leaves and critters ...

This is a meadow vole.  He has a little burrow
there under the leaves, and I later took the pewter
dish in the photo below and turned it 
upside down over his burrow to protect him from
the rain and other weather.

a chipmunk with very stuffed cheeks

Resident squirrel

My list of wildlife in the back yard continues to grow:

• Black bear
• Groundhog
• Possum
• Raccoon
• Squirrel
• Chipmunk
• Black Snake
• Meadow Vole

And at least six different cats.  

I have quite the corner for all the neighbor cat-gossip.

Sleep well .... Ci💚

the ramblings of my mind ...

 ... on a drive through town.

No pictures this weekend.  I'm trying to stay focused on getting my office unpacked and organized.  But I did have to go two towns over to get some cat & dog treats, bird food, and other items that were NOT on my list.

It is not a long drive, maybe 15 minutes, but my mind usually gets there a lot sooner than the car and my body does.  Random thoughts racing much faster than the speed limit.

There are things I would love to stop and take pictures of, but that would put my life and freedom at risk, and the lives of other drivers.  So, pulling over on the highway to hop out of my car and run up the shoulder of the road to snap a quick photo won't ever happen.

I also don't play the radio; it can add to the distraction of my thoughts.  But this video clip shows some of the scenery on the drive between the three towns.

Leaving home, there is a field that is only seen if you are traveling west bound.  It is a huge hay field, and in the center of it is an old barn, against a backdrop of mountains.  This time of year, it is especially beautiful with the trees beginning their fall color changes.

On the return trip, there is a mountain cliff quite close to the highway going east.  In the rock wall, I sometimes see a craggy old man face that on some days reminds me of a Native American medicine man, and on other days of Paul Revere or Scrooge.  It's not a carved face, but just the natural stone that place tricks with the shadows.  Although I do confess to having quite the imagination.

Today I was thinking about a reel I saw yesterday on Instagram where a young man said something quite profound. [link>]  He said that worrying is like worshipping the problem.  When you spend time focusing on whatever worries you, whatever problems you have, you give it energy.  Power.   I wasted so much time in my life worrying about how to make someone else happy that I forgot how to make myself happy.  That was a rude eye-opener before coffee this morning.

I've resolved to do better, to be better for myself, and to lift up the people I know and love who sometimes seem to be struggling with their shadows.  I want them to know that I see them.  I want to know that I hear them, and I want to stand with them in the light.

          This is for you ... Hugs, Ci 💚

catching up ...

  This was my acrylic pens redo from a weekend or so ago.  I don't like the reflection of the flash on the plastic in the frame, but it was the only way to get the colors to pop and show what they really look like.  I guess I could photograph it out of the frame, but that would involve too much thinking on my part at present.

  I do like the acrylic pens much better than the others I was trying to work with at the class.  These do not require shaking or priming, so there is less chance of a huge splat of paint where I didn't want it.  And they are double ended with a thick end and a thin end.  The others you needed to pull out the nib and flip it, which I already had visions of me getting paint all over my hands, face, clothes, etc., etc., etc.  If there is a way for me to make something messy, I will find it.

  I was going to try to salvage my original canvas with mixed media/textiles on the original background, but that didn't work out as planned.  The bag of chenille yarn fell into a water bowl and got soaking wet, and without fully thinking it through I just tossed all the skeins into the dryer.  When the dryer stopped, instead of having five dry skeins of chenille yarn... I had a massive knot of five different colors.  At least it all came from the dollar store and wasn't a massive investment to put in the trash.

Source: allaboutbirds.org

  I did put out some bird seed in advance of temperatures dropping drastically and was rewarded with a new bird for my life list.  The [link>] Black-throated Blue Warbler!

  Stay warm ... or cool if this is your summer in the Southern ...

                         Hugs.... Ci 💚

weekend ...

 The craft class I attended on Saturday was interesting.  My project was a huge failure (in my opinion anyway), and I'm not sure I have the patience for the technique.  At least on canvas that has been painted already with acrylic paint.  I kept running into problems with the pens getting gunked up with color transfer from the base layer.  That made the pens frustrating to work with because my subject matter ~ male and female Io moths ~ required several layers of color to make them the brilliant yellow that they have on their wings.

  I've ordered some acrylic paint pens and scrapbook paper that looks like the original base paint layer (see the grass under the ladybug).  I'm going to try it again on a less fussy surface.  AND try to practice patience and mindfulness so that I'm not rushing to get it finished.  I think if I'd not left Charlie home alone, or had other plans later that evening, I would have been content to take the time there to let each layer dry completely.  

  Patience is a virtue.  Just not mine.

   Yesterday I mowed the yard, marveled at a Gerber daisy, and decorated my October tree.  The latter two came after I realized I had pushed myself too hard.  I am nothing if not stubborn.   Hopefully, it will be the last time I need to mow this year.

   A new hurricane is barreling down on the western shores of Florida again.  Tis the season...

... be safe, don't be stubborn ... Ci💚

sunday ...

 ... was a no sun day.  Storm Helene is bouncing back again with rain over the next several days.  She added a leak in my roof that has caused two leaks/holes in my living room ceiling.  Oh, the joys of home ownership!

  Saturday morning, I took a new class here locally at the [link>] Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center. Painting on feathers taught by [link>] Ron Navroski.

  The snowy owl is on a turkey feather, and the palm tree (our practice one) is on a cockatoo feather.

  He also taught a later class, painting the snowy owl on a piece of slate, that I did not attend.

  One of the things that attracted me to move here is the art community.  There is also the [link>] Clifton Forge School of the Arts.

  Friday after work, I finished this project.  I saw something similar but was not able to master the technique so I kinda sorta cheated with a stencil.

  Then I finished this project Saturday night (insomnia again).  It was something I've been wanting to do for a while, but writing on birch bark is easier said than done.

  I finally gave up and just printed the poem on paper.  It's one of my new favorites.

  Wishing you sunny days ... Hugs, Ci 💚

time passes far too quickly ...

 I've been horribly lax on following through with my Wednesday words and story.

  I feel I may just be a little bit melancholy, although I can't pinpoint a specific reason. 

  Both kittens passing may have been the trigger.

  Last week I went to see the neurosurgeon about my neck, and thankfully, no surgery is in the future.

  Charlie spent several nights away with his other besties, and so when he came home on Sunday, he just wanted to sit and snuggle and do nothing else.  I gave no argument.

  Insomnia has been plaguing me for some reason, and I'm not sure why.  Last night ... or rather this morning ... I could not sleep until almost 4a.  It makes getting up for work at 7a difficult.  Over the weekend, I was awake for 48 straight hours and had agonizing heartburn for the last 24 after I gave in and made coffee in the middle of the night after the first 24.  I will never make that mistake again.

  The besom/broom was a project during those 48, with another over the back door.  As I tend to do when I'm in a mood, I try to craft my way out of it.  There are three other projects that I started that same weekend, and I will share photos later when I've finished them.

  My menagerie of "neighbors" continues to become even more varied.  Black bear, possum, groundhog, squirrel, rabbit, black snake ... and now my two-legged neighbor stated she saw a rather large beaver shuffle running down the road in front of my house and into the creek.  She was also the witness to the black snake in the yard while she did me the blessing of mowing my weeds.  I would have loved to see both the snake and the beaver!

  She also enlightened me on an unusual snake fact that I did not know... Copperhead snakes, which are a venomous pit viper, smell like cucumbers!  She said if I ever let Charlie out in the yard and smell cucumbers, to bring him in right away because he would probably not survive a bite by the time I got him to a vet.   Which is an unfortunate distinction for them because I love cucumbers, especially home-grown ones!  But I will not grow them now out of fear of confusing a snake for my tiny garden area.

  Trees are beginning their fall color change although the temperatures have not yet cooled significantly.  This week we have been getting the rain of tropical storms and hurricanes, currently Helene is threatening my old stomping grounds on the Florida panhandle, and I do not envy them.  Mexico Beach, devastated by Hurricane Michael in 2016, could be hit again, and at the very least suffer from a storm surge of 15+ feet.  I cannot even imagine it.

  Wherever you are while reading this ... be safe.  Hugs, Ci  💚

it was a difficult week ...

i'm running behind on my words for wednesday contribution and i hope to do double duty this week to catch up.

the kitten died very early thursday morning, and by friday afternoon his sister was fading also.  i sat with her while she crossed over.  both of them were buried together on saturday.

to distract me from it all, i painted a new barn quilt board using the house colors saturday evening.

unpacking and purging continues.  another carload of things no longer needed, wanted, or fitting into my life was taken to the goodwill.  i dare not shop in there for a while or i'd be tempted to buy something back.

today, demolition started next door, so things became loud and annoying.  i'll be living in forced shadows as i keep the shades closed on that side of the house to keep charlie from barking at them non-stop.

i may have to consider getting a fence installed at some point.  remodeling on this house took almost two years.

i could be insane at that point.  or more so.

short weekends & unexpected guests ...

Let's start with the unexpected guest at 156a Saturday morning.

 Yes.  That is a black bear.  In my backyard. Caught on camera.

He did not partake of the apples and carrots that I left out for the groundhogs, possums, and rabbits.

He did go investigate my empty birdfeeders.

I'm just grateful Charlie hadn't needed a potty break at 155a or 157a.

The feeders will remain empty, at least until there is snow on the ground for more than a day.

I'm also going to stop encouraging the other wildlife until there comes a time when winter weather might make it hard for some of them to forage.

Unpacking and purging during the week required a trip to Goodwill to drop off things that no longer fit my life.  We then went on to visit Brenda & Joey's so Charlie could spend two nights with them.

As things tend to happen ... I lost all motivation to continue unpacking and purging.  Instead, I resolved to finish an art project I had started last year.

My gallery wall of my created art pieces is coming along.

I've signed up for two classes later this month, both with instructors I've never taken a class with before.

This was another new guest.

I've seen photos of walking sticks but never one in real life.

And finally, this little man.

Rescued from an unhealthy, unsafe situation that claimed the lives of three littermates.

He is three weeks old.  My neighbor, Paris, has his sister.

He has a name that may or may not become permanent, so I will wait to share.

I want him to believe he is a mighty warrior because we are going to have several weeks of fight ahead.

long weekends ...

This handsome guy is an Io moth.  Hiding under those beautiful yellow top wings were two with stunning eyes [read more about the Io moth here].  He was by the back door this past Thursday.  Females are a brown color, and I believe that [the one I blogged about here] was one.

Morning coffee continues on the front porch.  This happy planter of succulents is the same one I created in early March [seen here on the blog].  Very happy spending the summer outside!

This is Charlie's favorite seat in the house, and his window for watching the world.

 Unpacking continues to be slow, but I did make some progress over the long weekend.  I got three tubs, and a box emptied.  I will probably make a run to Goodwill this weekend to donate some items.  It is too much of a hassle to try to sell things on Facebook, and I really don't want to play the yard sale haggle game.

I think when I get everything unpacked, sorted, purged, put away I might just have to have a warm house potluck party.