Thursday, December 16, 2010

Daily Trivia

The weather has not been pretty.
We have scurried out to feed Pebbles, barn kittens in attendance.
We bring in wood for the fireplace and furnace.
Yesterday morning there were errands in town.
While I tended to banking J. had the welcome idea of going into the adjacent cafe and ordering hot drinks--coffee with an exotic name for him and a green tea with honey for me.
I cradled the carry-out container in my hands--too hot to drink except for a cautious sip until we got home.
On Tuesday afternoon I [finally] painted the hallway in the pale cream-yellow that I chose for the adjacent kitchen and dining area.
J. fetched a step ladder for me and I clambered up and down in the narrow space, taping off four doorways, carefully cutting in paint along the ceiling.
From the basement came the sound of the air compressor and the power saw as J. continued work on the "family room" putting the last touches on a huge closet, doing the fiddly work of boxing in the exposed heating ducts.
 My satisfaction at the improvements didn't stave off yesterday's over-whelming sense of aches and chills [stamina has become an issue] and upon returning from town I felt justified in retreating for a while to the big chair by the fireplace, losing myself in a mystery.
This morning grey light crept through the bedroom shutters.
Icey rain pelted down and a dirty fog swirled up from the creek beyond the road.
All day the drizzle has continued with the light of noon scarcely different than that at breakfast time.
I put on my boots and squelched about, taking out vegetable peelings, visiting Pebbles.
I came in, aired out, to make a hearty beef-vegetable soup to serve with  a crisp coleslaw from one of the last of our garden-grown cabbages.
By 4 o'clock the wet grey dusk had settled like a damp blanket.


Sleet clings to the nandina.

The barn kittens are undaunted by the weather.  They trundle between the barn and the carport.
Willis, who knows how to charm.

Pawing through a dresser drawer on a quest for my winter hats I found the folk-art ornaments which were a gift from our daughter and her family many Christmases ago.
Along with a fat lemon-scented candle, a blooming ceramic feline and one carved in wood, they now decorate this shelf in the newly painted bathroom.
[But I haven't located my hats!]

Innocent felines.
J. has torn up the horrible carpet on the basement stairs today and replaced it with sleek pre-finished hardwood which matches that in the hallway.
The cats have viewed this process with various degrees of misgiving.
After J. put his tools down for the night we stood at the top of the staircase admiring the improvement and laughing at the cats who were wary of the new footing.
Teasel eventually led out, stepping gingerly on the very edge of each stair.

7 comments:

  1. Oh the innocent felines! What innocent faces they have to be sure. I have a another story from the cat shelter. I will try to post it this weekend. Your weather sounds miserable. They are forecasting rain for us for over a week and we just got used to the high 80's for three days. Tonight I am freezing!

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  2. Good morning ~ I enjoyed reading about your life these past few days. Love your folk art ornaments. I can just see the felines gingerly climbing or going down the newly covered stairs. I bet it looks lovely, and I know you and your DH are enjoying the rewards of your labors.

    Keep warm and have a lovely Christmas.

    FlowerLady

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  3. Your weather is bad but it looks so picturesque from the comfort of my room.lol We have had some cold nights here but no more snow yet in our area. Take care of yourself ...and J

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  4. It does sound as though you and J are making the house your own with the refurbishing and decorating.A good thing to do when the weather is so unpleasant outside.

    Your tabby barn cat looks like a relation of our new kitten. How quickly that kitten phase passes. Willis looks quite grown up now and a beautiful cat.

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  5. I hope you're not getting sick....that achiness and loss of stamina sounds like more than the effect of yucky weather. I love the warm colors you're painting your house. I have similar yucky carpeting on my basement steps...a sort of indeterminate bluish green that's gotten clawed by the cats and covered by their fur so not much improved on over 20 years of use...probably when i finally get around to replacing it i'll use something similar again since elderly cats find it easier to dig their claws into the carpeting as they're boosting themselves upstairs. Willis looks so endearing in that photo of him!

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  6. It's lovely reading your long blogs, just been catching up, as life is rather busy.
    What I like most about blogging is that glimpse you get into other people's lives, the visuality of the photos of your cats, the trees, and strange birds ;). I hope you both have a very good Christmas with all your animals, and that they don't produce any more kittens!
    Thelma X

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  7. Chris: I think winter in most of the northern hemisphere is "miserable"--rain or snow and long dark nights.

    Flower Lady: the renovation of the basement is the last really big project--we are more than ready to put our feet up for a a bit and enjoy it.

    Angie: Sometimes being an armchair observer of weather is the best!

    DW: The house is seeming more like our own. It is all due to J.'s skills.
    I wonder if the tabby pattern of cats isn't the most common in the world? The stripes are always intriguing.

    QC:The basement had been carpeted in that same ugly stuff. Fortunately the man from whom we bought had that part torn out as it had at one time been wet. Nasty!
    Not sick--I have fibromyalgia and the chronic aches and fatigue associated with that syndrome are easily aggravated. Could be I am "getting old" as well!

    Thelma: I agree that one of the pleasures of blogging is being invited into the life of a "kindred spirit."
    And yes, my blogs do get rather long--wordy!
    None of the cats we claim as ours will be producing offspring--I do worry that a stray will decide to have a litter in the cozy barn.

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