..until we couldn’t see straight. We’ve worn out one saw blade and started on another. We had a dinner of spaghetti and chili and a bottle of bubbly, and did it again today. Tomorrow should be the finish at least of my room. Then we fix the hall.
Spent New Year’s Eve installing flooring…
by CJ | Jan 1, 2016 | Journal | 21 comments
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Happy New Year to you all! Selves and cats and fish – and fix the halls with boughs of flooring, tra-la-la-la-la… sincere happy wishes for 2016 and beyond.
And a happy new year to us all—may 2016 treat us all well!
Happy 2016 – and your DIY efforts in 2016 so far beat all of mine in 2015….
Hoping for an upswing on the curve this year, despite really rough sailing for awhile. Working on improving things. I’ve reached another milestone in font production, and that’s very satisfying, but dang, still a lot of work to do until I can get my first few submissions in for review, and then until any income, after editing and acceptance, if that happens from it.
Hah, now y’all can say you’re reallly floored and mean it!
Smokey, my younger cat, has now passed his 5th arrival anniversary. He’s officially over 5 years old and as adventurous and fun-loving as ever…and gets in just as much trouble, hahah. But so worth it. Goober had his 9th arrival anniversary on Oct. 31st, and remains ever the gentleman cat, a bit klutzy and well-loved, with a hidden sense of humor (thus, Goober). He’s a lover, not a fighter.
Yesterday’s lunch was very tradtionally Southern: Black eyed peas for luck, turnip greens, a very slight amount of bacon for flavoring in both, and leftover chicken breast. Very fine meal and much enjoyed. Oh, and there is New York Style Chocolate Cheesecake, courtesy of Sara Lee, because, you know, it called out to me in the store and said, “Buy Me! Eat Me!” Heheh.
So although I’m anticipating a very rough January and 2016 in general…well, for now, it’s OK.
Here’s hoping you both get plenty of rest once the flooring’s don, and you can enjoy it immensely.
I’m sure Sei and Shu are amazed and bemused, but that’ll be good for them.
Oh — I finally got sour cream and broccoli, so I’ll get to try that chicken (or pork) curry recipe soon. After a break from chicken. 😉
Psst. I bought local beef tamales and chili and queso. I know what the break will be. Mmm!
Yup, here too. Black-eyed peas for luck, rice for wealth, ham for joy, and greens for health!
Here too … black-eyed peas, corn bread and salad.
Happy New Year from me and the fat (cat) boy. 2015 was a rough year. Started the year with three cats, ended it with only one. Some hard goodbyes.
Hope you’ve left some time to rest up prior to your surgery and hope everything goes just perfectly and you get the best possible outcome.
It’s been colder than a wedge here in the flatlands, a lot of snow still left, and supposed to snow more Tues. At least it’s not so bitterly cold. We’re back up into the 20’s for overnight lows instead of in the low teens. and we’re back up into the 40’s for daytime highs instead of just peeking over 30F. High predicted for Monday of 43F, Tuesday of 39F with snow, then 53F on Wednesday.
The forced air heat in my digs dries out the air terribly and the fat boy has had a time with static cling when he does his washing up. It’s fun to pet him in the dark, though.
In view of the snow, and the fact that the walkways at our apartment complex were neither shoveled nor sanded, and that my mom is 91 (although quite spry for her age), both of us stayed in our respective homes and spend a safe and sane New Years. She watched bowl games and I snuggled up for a read in my nice warm bed with a fat cat trying to hide in my armpit — we got a brief firecracker fusillade and some bottle rockets. Thankfully, it was too durn cold for anybody to want to stay out very long to shoot off fireworks.
WOL, Fighting static is almost year-long here in Arizona. Of the five seasons we have here, only the wet summer does not naturally produce static. If you use dryer sheets such as bounce for your laundry. Try taking a lightly used one and using that as a mitten around your hand while you stroke your precious boy. It does cut the static considerably and if you get the unscented kind he shouldn’t be too offended by any odors. I wouldn’t use a sheet that hadn’t previously been used on my clothes but after they’ve gone through one cycle in the dryer they are generally soft enough but still retain the anti-static properties.
In high static electricity weather, I pet cats with one hand gently holding an ear flap between two fingers. This grounds you to the cat. Nose or paw would work–anywhere bare skin is available–but most cats are okay with holding (or rubbing) their ears; paws or nose, not so much. Grounded, you can pet their fur all you (they) want without generating static.
Cheaper that getting a humidifier, just hang a wet towel near a heater outlet, or a hot place if you have a radiant system. The water will evaporate and raise the humidity.
May I suggest boiling some water for tea, letting it whistle its tune for a while? Even a sauce pan of water on the stove…
A side benefit is with a little extra humidity in the air, generally it will feel warmer at a lower temperature (less evaporation from the skin) saving fuel/electricity, and your skin won’t be so prone to cracking.
Good suggestion, though related to the earlier GD discussion, throw the dregs out (or save them for compost), don’t put them down the GD or drain. And the dregs of many teas smell pretty good, even if they’ll no longer make good tea, so just put them aside in the kitchen and let the water in them evaporate.
I’ve come to the opinion that a GD really isn’t that useful, but perhaps I just don’t have the proper garbage for one. And, to be sure, it depends on humidity and bug prevalence.
The cat for whom my father was Her Person once, in dry weather, walked up to him and reached out with her paw with claws extended, to discharge the static before getting closer.
(Why, yes, the cat was a South Plains cat.Loved heights, too. Cat on top of open door, cat in windbreak – ten feet up, scaring the birds, cat getting up on light reflectors just below ceiling level.)
Easy odorless alternative to antistatic dryer sheets: some water on your hands.
I’ve found that if my cat’s fur gets static, it helps a lot if I wet my hands and then just stroke her once all over the long and staticky fur on her back and sides: one two-handed stroke gets rid of all the static for a while, without any sparks or prickly feeling. My hands don’t have to be very wet, not dripping: one spritz with the plant spray in my palm, rubbed over both palms including fingers, is enough to get rid of the static and doesn’t leave her fur wet or scented.
New Year’s greetings from the DH, and Zorro, Junior, Little Brother, Froofy, and Spot! The Three Stooges are aggressively tackling the rodent issue; at least once a week I find a mouse or rat that ran into Los Gatos and came out on the short end of the encounter. Junior and Zorro still have spats, but are aware that DH is the largest cat in the house and will enforce the peace. Since our usual venue for New year’s Eve celebrations was off limits due to their relatives being in town, we stayed home and tried to keep the smoke out of the house and the cats calm (reaction: Huh?) It would have been peaceful, except for one of DH’s clients, who insisted she had to retrieve a flash drive from DH’s shop on New Year’s Eve, so we ran the fireworks gauntlet into town! Some people have little sense or couth.
This morning we dipped into the high 60s, which was chilly on the toes, but not a shake on some of our mainland friends. One of our online buds is in St. Louis, where flood waters have really screwed the pooch; he is only a few miles from I-44, which is currently under several feet of water. Others are shoveling several feet of snow instead. Stay warm and dry, all!
I wouldn’t mind it so much if the critters really did expire, but when they’re brought in and let loose in the house, that’s too much.
I can’t recall seeing a neighborhood cat hunting my backyard or hayfield all last year. Funny thing is, I haven’t heard the coyotes midnight songfest but very rarely for the past few years.
Oh, the Three Stooges leave the carcasses outside for me. Sometimes they deliver, to the back doormat! *eeww*
Dang! We’re supposed to get 1-3″ of snow tomorrow. I’ve got a burn pile I wanted to light, as we’ve had a week of clear and sunny, windy and cold weather.
Woke to snow, but it’s a puzzle most people don’t recognize until one points it out to them. Sitting here looking out on white snow on the grass, not quite covered, and gray skies. How can the clouds be darker than the snow if all the light on the snow is coming through the clouds?
That’s an interesting thought! Maybe it’s not the total amount of light from the clouds being less (as you point out, it can’t be), but the color of what is let through versus what’s reflected being different.
when you’re looking at the clouds, you’re seeing the underside….they’re in shadow, even though not much shadow, it’s still shadow. Your brain registers the light that reflects from the snow as white, since it’s still broad-spectrum and not filtered by the clouds to any appreciable degree.
when you look at fluffy cumulus clouds on a nice fair day, you see the same phenomenon, it just doesn’t necessarily register as such.
I’m not 100% sure of the physics, but I think also 1) the solid, flat, snow flakes are much more efficient reflectors than dispersed water droplets, and 2) we tend to look toward the horizon where we see only the dispersed sideways light, and much of that reabsorbed through intervening clouds. This latter effect is much the same as why dawn and dusk sunlight is redder than noon’s.
Still it is an interesting question to pose. “Watson, everybody sees, few observe.”