Spring at Casa de Jammies

Lovely, lovely, slightly damp and gloomy spring!

Lots of pics after the jump. :-)

My groundhog's back!

And she is driving Little Miss Piggie Pie crazy. :D

Checking to see if the coast is clear!

Ignoring the stupid dog...

still ignoring...

heading out after a hour or so of noshing.

Whatever it was, it happened fast...

Yesterday morning, I was on the breezeway enjoying a cigarette and a book.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very fast shadow pass over the birdfeeder and Little Miss Piggie Pie went bonkers.  Assuming it was a squirrel, I set down the book and looked just in time to see a black cat drag itself out of the boxwoods and run off.  As near as I can tell, the cat made a jump for a bird, missed and landed in the bushes, then LMPP started vocalizing and the cat ran off.

That has been the most excitement my life has had in a month and I'm fine with that.

Too much "sub" and not enough "urb"

While I love my house and land, right now I'm wishing I lived in a sterile apartment or condo or bubble.

I have mice in the garage who are occasionally invading the breezeway, so after talking to a pro, I have poison set outside and kill traps set on the breezeway. :(

Last night, I let Little Miss out for her last bathroom break of the night, and was surprised when instead of running to the end of the chain and squatting, she stopped at the end of the house and barked, with all of her back fur up. I do mean ALL, every hair from the top of her head to the base of her tail was standing straight up. I called her and she came in, and I thought it was a skunk or possum or raccoon, and that it would move on and we could try again.

Half an hour later, I put her out again and stayed on the breezeway. I had no more than sat down when Little Miss body slammed the door, barking frantically. I jumped up and opened the door and let her in. She was still barking hysterically and I noticed she'd urinated all over the top step, and just then a deer came charging around the corner. It stopped when it saw or smelled me, and I yelled at it (as if a deer speaks English). It stood there for about thirty seconds, made that angry huffing noise at me and turned and left. Little Miss was absolutely barking her head off the whole time, and I think she was both scared and angry. Every other dog on the street was barking too. I put her Gentle Leader on to get her to be quiet, fed her a couple of treats and petted her until her fur was smooth again, and then I took off the Gentle Leader and we went to bed.

This morning when I let her out around 7, the damn deer was still there, and again Little Miss came running for the door, barking like a crazy thing. At ten I went out with her and saw the deer again. It ran off when it saw me, but not far, and didn't actually leave the property until I stamped my foot and started to walk towards it. My friend clowder thinks it has a baby in the bushes somewhere, eek. So after I have a cool bath and a nap, I'll be heading over to the discount store for a SuperSoaker or similar water gun, and I'll be guarding the dog on her potty trips.

Yeah, a condo sounds good right now...

Observing cats

Everyone with MS needs to spend some time watching cats. Not only do you learn about the importance of personal grooming and frequent napping, you can also learn the nonchalant walking-away stalk which clearly conveys "I meant to do that" even when "that" is something incredibly stupid.

One of my fun MS symptoms is occasional spasming of my right hand and arm. Of course I am right-handed, so if I happen to be holding something in my right hand, it goes flying. Usually it's a pen, but it has on occasion been a knitting needle, a cracker, a cigarette...

Today I essentially threw a stapler halfway across my mom's desk, and then had to explain about the spasms and my "I meant to do that" theory. Twenty minutes later, it happened again, this time while I was holding the lid to the large glass jar she keeps her paper clips and binder clips in. I just said "I meant to do that" and we went on getting subpoenas ready, so I must be getting better at the nonchalance.

Letter #2

(Letter #1, if you missed it)

June 7, 2010


Mr. Russell Pry
Summit County Executive
175 S. Main St.
Akron, OH 44308-1314

Dear Mr. Pry:

Enclosed is a copy of a letter I sent to the Summit County Animal Control facility director over six weeks ago. Even though the former Executive Director of Heaven Can Wait ‘shelter’ has been convicted of cruelty to animals and the current Executive Director was also charged, the Summit County Animal Control facility still allows this organization to ‘adopt’ animals from them. I have received no reply to my letter, and as this concerns potential animal neglect and abuse, I am now looking to you for answers.

Since the taxpayers of Summit County are supporting the Animal Control facility, I believe we have the right to ask for accountability on the part of its staff, especially where the welfare of individual animals is concerned.

Ideally, the County would stop allowing Heaven Can Wait to remove animals from its facility owing to the owner’s conviction and jail term for animal cruelty. A much less satisfactory alternative would be the monitoring of any animals so removed on a weekly basis until such time as they are adopted.

Thank you for your anticipated attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Very truly yours,

Anyone who wants to copy and send this letter above his or her name and signature has my promise that I will reimburse you for the cost of postage. Please help.

Thanks,

Jammies

Letter #1

Animal Control
Attn: [Facily Manager's Name Redacted]
460 E. North St.
Akron, OH 44304

Dear Ms. Manager:

Enclosed is a copy of a flyer which was posted on my home mailbox earlier this week. Please note that the flyer specifies that all animals come from the Summit County Animal Control Facility and that the new Executive Director is XX. As I’m sure you remember, the only reason cruelty charges were dropped against XX was that her daughter agreed to plead guilty to the charges against her.

The day after I received the flyer, I called your office, but the young man with whom I spoke dismissed my concerns quite casually. I would very much appreciate some reassurance that Summit County will stop allowing Heaven Can Wait to take animals from your facility or that you are monitoring the health and safety of any animals so removed.

Thank you for your anticipated attention to this matter

Very truly yours,

MS Walk 2010, Columbus

Yesterday morning, I got up at O'Kogi Hundred (4:30 a.m., if you don't know what potters' schedules are like), had one cup of coffee, let the dogs out and in and fed them, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and was ready when Mom pulled in the driveway at 5:30. We stopped in Mansfield for coffee and then made it to my brother's house before 8.

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday, but as he told us, he was not officially ten until 4:50. He still got hugged and got a token present from Mom (since he'd already had his real present in the form of a five-day trip to NYC). I hung on to the card and cash I had for him until after the Walk.

The sun was shining, but it was extremely chilly, mostly because the wind was really strong. This was my first time doing the MS Walk in Columbus, and I don't know if it's always at the Zoo, but because of that, everyone needed to get a ticket and a wristband for admission, even those of us who had registered online ahead of time, like Mom and me. I have to say that I was extremely unimpressed with the lack of organization. At the Akron Walk, if you register ahead of time, you just need to drop any cash or check donations and start walking. There's also a marching band and balloons and t-shirts and beads at Akron. I saw people with beads and shirts, but I didn't get either. :( Columbus just had everyone standing in a giant mob in front of the registration table, out in the coooooold wind for thirty to forty-five minutes. Ugh.

The Zoo was very nice, and we took a lot of pictures with the boys and the metal sculptures of various animals. I also made my brother take one of me with a manatee sculpture, what for comparison. ;) We didn't walk the whole loop of the zoo, but we did stroll around for about an hour, and I got to look closely at sleeping flamingos, which was pretty cool.

When we all agreed that we were done with our walk, we went out for breakfast at a place called Marie's Scrambler (I think). I gave my nephew his card and $25 in cash. I had spent a bit of time looking for a good birthday card for him, but I had no idea that the hoops&yoyo card would be such a big hit. When I told him I was giving him cash because I couldn't find any Prince of Persia Lego stuff, he said, "Any Lego would do, Auntie Jammies." I thought that was pretty sweet of him, but now he can buy what makes him happiest. I also printed the Lego version of him with his black belt on heavy card stock so his mom can frame it and hang it in his room.

After breakfast, the Pickypants family headed in for a family nap before the big party. Mom and I headed home, with a stop at Michael's. I got some pretty cotton yarns that were on sale, and in the car, Mom helped me cast off the hot pink washcloth that I was planning to surprise her with on Mother's Day. Instead, I tucked it into her bag and told her I'd find something else for her. As usual, she told me to save my money, but we all know I'm not good at that. On the way home, she drove, I knitted, and when she dropped me off, I let the dogs out and in, and then collapsed into bed for a good long nap.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored Mom and me. And even though Mom thinks the Akron MS Walk is boring, I prefer an animal-less walk and fewer registration hassles, so next year, I'm going local again!

The tomato I can explain. The golf ball is a puzzler.

On Monday, I had a migraine, and spent the day trying not to barf up my codeine. Unsurprisingly, Monday night I had a very odd dream, and woke up at 2:30 Tuesday morning convinced I had missed the deadline for sending Transylvania Practice Series Volume 13 to the Indexing department. When I pulled my car out of the garage at 7:45, I noticed a half-eaten tomato on the garage floor not far from the drain. I parked the car long enough to get out, grab the tomato and chuck it onto the compost heap. I figured it was probably chipmunks trying to get it someplace safe.

Tonight, when I got home and put up the garage door, I thought that the tomato was back. Since Mom and I were water-walking tonight, I turned the car around and left it parked in the driveway, and went to pick up what I thought was a tomato on the garage floor. Oddly enough, it wasn't a tomato, but a green, filthy golf ball. I tossed it in the trash, but I'm still wondering how it got there.

My Halloween costume for work has been chosen and I just need to work out a few details. I will post at least one picture. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to carry out my incredibly cynical idea for a pumpkin, or just take the freebie, extract the pumpkin seeds and compost the rest of it. I still have a week to decide, and I'm sure I'll wait until the last minute.

I am steeling myself to not wait until the last minute to start job-hunting. Getting my resumé updated is on my to-do list for this weekend, and then next weekend I will start sending it out. *sigh*

At least I'm able to exercise again.

Et tu, Rooter?

*sigh* Today was going well--the guest bedroom and the living room are both clean, and I have time still to tackle the kitchen, bathroom and study. Unfortunately, I cracked the pretty glass pitcher I was saving for Jay's Riesling conconcoction, so it looks as if he'll be making that in my tacky plastic pitcher again. :(

When I sat down on the breezeway for a break, I happened to look out the windows to the front yard, and saw a sleek brown head. I stood up, and Rooter, my resident groundhog, gallumphed away and flowed down into the culvert.

I should mention I've been losing lavender plants, and now I know who the culprit is.

*double sigh*

Great big scary Littlefoot-eating monsters

apparently have taken up residence in my back yard. Littlefoot will not go outside after dark unless I am with him, and even then, he is more interested in going back inside than he is in emptying his bladder. He started this silly behavior over the holiday weekend, and I chalked it up to the fact that my neighbors were outside having a bonfire until quite late. It's been a week now and he's still timid, so I don't know what's up. It's possible that he's scared of the deer (assuming there are some in the back yard most nights, which wouldn't surprise me) or scared of the little grey catling or who knows. I really hope that what I saw briefly on my way home one night last week wasn't a coyote, although if there are some in the area, that would be a reasonable thing for JiffyPopButt to be afraid of.

Speaking of the little grey cat, all of the no-kill shelters are full, Animal Control offered to send someone out to catch and kill the cats, and the only animal friends-type group I could reach suggested that I either catch the cat and give it a "foster home." Erm, yeah. My former co-worker has "fostered" cats--that's why she has eight. So I've hardened my heart and am following the theory of "if I don't feed it, it will move on."

WTF is going on with my hydrangea bush?

There is another cat living under there. This one is a grey adolescent, in that lanky, leggy, adorably clumsy but not really cute stage.

*chants* I am not buying cat food, I am not buying cat food, I am not buying cat food!

Yaaaay! Spring!

Rooter is awake.

All but three of my lavender plants made it.

The lilac trees are just about to bloom, even the baby ones that are just two years old.

It's going to be sixty-five degrees tomorrow for the MS Walk.

My state tax refund arrived, so I can start paying medical bills and end all those annoying messages on my machine.

Oh, and Bigfoot got his spring allergy shot last night, and I've been rubbing aloe on his tummy. He is NOT going to be permitted to chew himself into surgery this year.

And I am too busy to go out and get my paws muddy until the weekend after next, but come May 3, I plan on being unreachable and filthy on the weekends. :D

Robin Redux

Last year, I had a robin bashing himself against my living room picture window.

This year, I have a robin bashing himself against my bedroom windows.

Some people wake to birdsong--I wake to frantic fluttering and thumping.

Ahhh, spring.

Wow

A bird post for Scott. ;)

When I went to let the dogs out late this afternoon, there was a hawk in the back yard. He took off almost immediately, but I had time to see that he was a pretty damn big bird, and that there was nothing in his talons and no yucky stuff on the grass. While I admire raptors and am appreciative of a chance to see them, I have to admit that I'm relieved that this one didn't get Rooter or what I have come to think of as Rob's bunny.

With a little research, I think it was either a red-tailed hawk or more likely a red-shouldered hawk. Either way, it was a beautiful bird, and makes me glad I live where some of the wild things are.

Of course, if it wanted to carry off a flower-eating deer, it would have my blessing. *grin*

Bird brain

Robins have nested in the weeping cherry tree at the front of my house. It's a perfect nesting spot, as I've not trimmed the tree and you can't see inside it at all.

However, the male keeps seeing his reflection in the living room picture window and throwing himself at the glass to attack "the other robin." I spend my mornings listening to bonking noises as he hits the glass, falls to the ground and launches himself up to do it again.

You can see why "bird brain" isn't a compliment.