Pets and other mixed blessings

 Here's the current reading 

He also wonders to what extent pets really are good for our health, an interesting and provocative question.

My own experience of fifty years of sharing my home with multiple animals, all rescues one way or another, is that I loved them a great deal. I wondered how I'd manage after Duncan, my last cat, died in old age. 

Then I found that I experienced great relief from the incessant worry about aging and frail pets. The financial burden was very real. 

Most of all, I found my own company was enough, surprisingly. When single people with pets say they live alone, they don't. You're alone when you have no animals nor people. 

I'm surprised to realize that worry, as the only human in the house, without a partner to share the responsibility and cost, had overtaken pleasure in the company of my aging frail pets. Live and learn.  

So that's where I am.  We do have a confused and confusing relationship with animals, and I don't claim all the wisdom, just observation of my own experience.  

The age of the human is a factor. After eighty, things are different, at least for me. Back in my seventies, no problem, but later, not so much.  Right now I'm happy to have a puppy next door, kitties across the street. 

The owners of same were over yesterday to admire my flower garden and I'm going to be given another clump of daisies from a prolific bed of them across the street. 

More like these, which I have out front. I'll put them outside the back fence to proliferate at will.

So that's me. Still cool enough to walk today. My hip appreciates that, much less owie when I get out walking.

On the home front, more demands, sigh. I still have to replace the water heater at the condo to satisfy HOA needs. And now I'm getting reminders that I have to get the chimney and dryer vents inspected and cleaned at the townhouse I live in.  Also proof of insurance, which I did right away, that was easy.

These are all safety issues, but arghgh, another expensive summer, what with hearing aids. Good thing my idea of vacation is sitting reading on the deck.  I haven't used the fireplace in years, but getting it sealed is more expensive than getting it inspected when they notice it's due.

Last summer it was fridges, two, one for each property, oh well.  Summertime, and the livin's expensive, tra-la.

Update on the ficus: she's been repotted in a much bigger, terracotta, pot, pruned a bit and is in excellent hands. I don't have the strength to do what her new custodians have done for her, so it's all good. And she's now in a place with soaring ceilings and overhead light, so she'll probably get taller. I feel rewarded. 

Next time I'm there I'll get a picture if they'll let me. Photos have been banned thanks to the antics of right wing book banners trying to doxx library staff. But they might let me do a sneaky snap. 

Happy day, everyone, life's a banquet. Off to walk now and stitch while listening to Herzog, later.

And a request: bloggers who routinely get my comments. In the last few days almost all are vanishing, probably into spam. I often ask about this, and some people are very obliging in checking their spam and rescuing comments. Please check! Otherwise it's not a functioning dialog. Anyway, just sayin'.

Art leaving home, other friends, too.

After what was starting to look like a penpal correspondence with one freecycler, who asked many questions but didn't commit, another one came in, selected four artworks, count them, and wants to pick up Thursday morning. That's better.

So once I had disentangled his choices, selected from two different posts, I set them aside for him, and we'll see. He definitely picked well, if I understood his choices correctly.

This morning I set up the official hearing-aid fitting ready to get the aids built for me. Mid July. Good thing I'm not in a mad rush. After the fitting and order, another month to get them.  So by fall I hope to hear leaves falling!

This afternoon the ficus leaves for her new home, speaking of leaves.

Library crew in action 

Off to her new home. I told her to be a good tree, and make me proud. Gary has been loudly campaigning against this move for months, but he was out when the Big Lift happened. Came home about five minutes later! Phew.

It's all go, this simplifying life. I'm tired out making things easier. I did get a sort of picture of a pleated pocket, hard to see with a printed fabric. But for people wondering, this is more or less the idea.

Once it's in action, I may add another pleat. If it flops with stuff in the pocket. As you see, just a simple unpressed mini pleat. It hangs pretty well now, in a nice shape. Easy, really.

Happy day, everyone, keep cool if you're in the heat dome. Currently my screen reads "feels like 99°f". Probably better if I don't know that.

Ready with my suntea

 

Friday knitting group

Today's group includes a new member, making this exquisite piece for her daughter, size zero needles, sock yarn.

And here's a crocheted turtle in progress 

The group now wants pinlooms, after I casually mentioned mine! Great excitement and plans to get one. So I have to bring mine in next week,  since they are definitely going to try it.

The new member had only heard of floor looms, so this little loom idea was a whole new thing. 

Other than pinlooms, talk ranged over fossils, Mary Anning, Sutton Hoo, James (the book), rocks, bonsai, dogs, K9s, hearing aids, ficus trees, death planning, cremation, green funerals, water lilies, language disappearance, dialects, hapless men and other vital subjects.

Separately, we arranged for ficus pickup Tuesday afternoon, yay. Ready to send her off to the library, to be enjoyed by a lot more people.

I heard yesterday about a challenge to incorporate many different plants into our diets. Not just the same old fruit and veg, but a wide range, because that's how early people did it.  You could say that it mightn't have got them far, considering their life expectancy, but it's an interesting idea to pursue anyway. It's like eating all the colors taken further.

Happy day, everyone, try everything! I'm having WiFi issues so I'm posting while the posting's good.

Daffodils, potholder and broken bits

 The squirrels evidently like the daffodils, too, and broke a couple playing with them. So they're now indoors, scenting the room powerfully, the white one fruity, the yellow ones peppery 

Here you see through to the patio, chairs summerized,  just organized for sitting in, not washed yet. Rushing the season.

And here's one of my favorite paintings, which I've shown you before but it's worth seeing again. And when I remember the painter's name I'll credit her. Ed note: Brynhild Parker, thanks to Yamini.

And Atomic Shrimp went mud larking on the fossil coast of the UK, where a Victorian landfill slumped onto the beach, full of bits of crockery. His YouTube channel is full of excursions like this.

Gary is back from a trip and came dashing over last evening to get his photo taken to prove to his daughter he does still get dressed up in a suit sometimes. He'd been in the city today. To people here that means Manhattan. 

He also arranged to fix my leaking downstairs toilet today or tomorrow, and renewed his pleas on me not to send the eight- foot ficus to the library, he'll miss it!  So will I, but better to do it now than leave it for Handsome Son later. 

I won't miss hauling it out in summer and back in fall, and my friend at the library is all set to do all that, even has the indoor and outdoor spots picked out. 

Their indoor light is so much better than here, plenty of overhead light, just what a ficus likes. I just get to admire it when I visit. I've taken care of it for fifty plus years, time to hand over.

And meanwhile I'm nearly done with the Quilted Potholder.

I learned quite a bit in the course of making it, one thing being that my running-stitch skills are rusty, after only a few weeks of not stitching. 

Another was that toweling shifts and creases with handling the way batting doesn't, and needs more securing pins at the outset.  And that I need more pins, having used all my meager supply and it wasn't quite enough. 

A bit more overcasting round the edges and it's ready to use. There are no leftover scraps, the hanger having used up the one extra bit. My Mermaid Potholder is almost there, though I'm not sure mermaids use them much.

Newish Haggard Hawks puzzle

Funny clues only, and bear with me if your clue is too subtle for me and I solemnly answer it!

Happy day everyone, don't worry if you miss the point, there'll be another one along in no time.

Banana suits, puzzles and Eine Saite

 Today I finished the current jigsaw puzzle, surprisingly tricky, because of the repetition of colors and shapes, but fun to do.

And this morning I completed the second panel of the skirt

It's much better work than the first one.

And I'm currently reading lighter material in the interludes  of reading Caste, which is very important, but harrowing

Here's a lighter touch, a fictionalized story of Clementine Churchill, political wife of Winston Churchill

and there's something I've been planning on bringing you for a while but didn't want squash in with other reports.

So here's Eine Saite, meaning a thread, a lovely blog, worth going to and enjoying and savoring

Cut and paste if the link's dodgy, blogger not always coming through.

Happy day everyone. Next I have to rescue the ficus which has been blown over five times now. The butterfly bush which was such a protection last year has been dramatically pruned, and the new fence can't be used to hitch the ficus as I used to with the old wood fence. And this spring has been very windy.

So I have to try yet another approach, involving cinderblocks to keep it not only upright, but straight, and in contact with the earth, so as to put down roots.

Enjoy your day, enjoy Eine Saite, keep your ficus going!

And here's a puzzle

And about the banana suit: it's worn to designate the pace runner for a race. Granddaughter was pacing for the 5K after her own marathon run, hence the suit. Now you know!

Shot, weeded, relocated, mourned, chutney

Yesterday I went along and got yet another Covid booster

Waited here on a tiny metal chair, one of two, very small corner of the pharmacy. In came a really ancient Asian lady and her daughter, saw the one available chair and a three sided wheely stool thing, and clung to her daughter, very worried. 

She was clearly unable to manage alone, so I suggested they take my chair and the other, and I'd have the wheely backless stool. They were profoundly grateful, clearly the mom needed to be physically supported by her daughter at her side.  

Meanwhile I in turn was profoundly grateful I didn't have long to wait, balanced uncertainly on this stool, the kind medics use to scoot about. 

Once home I did my arm weights, because I'd been told by a nurse that arm movements avoid a lot of the local pain from the shot. 

Then, since the dove nest is no more, I cleared the general area where it had been, ready for planting something once I decide what 

And on a roll, before I plant, now's the time to move out the ficus for its summer at camp.

Now between the Japanese maple and the butterfly bush next door. This worked out well last year.  

It's strenuous, hauling an eight foot tree in a big pot across the room 

then over the step and across the patio, getting tangled in the maple on the way. It also involves hauling cinder blocks and wedging them to lodge it evenly in the ground so it won't fall over.

Then the living room needs to be swept, quite a bit of debris left.  And it's now summerized 

The ficus will put down roots through the pot into the earth and get a whole new lease of life before it comes in again in October.

Later Gary came over to confer about some vegetables he's planting, and was very upset to learn about the dove. 

I showed him the remaining egg, which had evidence someone had just started to peep

We had a little wake. Meanwhile rambunctious Billy the Pup distracted us, and the chat ranged all over. 

He'd never heard of chutney, and I offered him a sample pot. He insisted on tasting before he accepted, then said, whoa, this is great! I'm putting it on ice cream. 

A good idea, which I hadn't had, thinking more about main courses. Anyway he took away his vegetable plants, Billy the Pup and his pot of chutney. 

In the later afternoon I felt very tired, fell asleep reading and thought, gosh, that shot knocked me out. Then I remembered the heavy lifting and thought ah, maybe not just the shot.

Handsome Son visiting this afternoon, but I'm not doing much physical work, arm a bit tender, poor me. I might make yogurt.

Happy day everyone, tend your garden, metaphorically if you don't have a physical garden plot. 

Yesterday I decided the time had come to heave the eight foot ficus tree to the patio for the summer..

So, I hauled her out, scattering leaves everywhere, and set her against the fence where the butterfly bush next door and my Japanese maple would act as windbreaks and, with luck, keep her upright till she puts down roots and manages for herself.

This is the secret of her longevity, or part of it. She's well over 50 now, has been rootpruned and repotted twice only. But every summer I set her out where her roots can go through the pot into the earth and she gets a new lease of life. New foliage, looks very happy. 

In the Fall, as late as possible before first frost, I bring her in after severing the roots. Then she manages over the winter, till she gets a bit tired looking in spring, and the cycle starts again. Ficus are long lived but this is a way to avoid an ever bigger and less manageable pot. 

There she is, with friends.

And I took a look at the seeds I'd planted with crates over them

Morning glory and sunflowers. Doing okay. The basil haven't shown yet, but the marigolds are starting up.

Then out walking and bee spotting, on the wild blackberry, I think.

I also made the filling for pasties and had one yesterday. Mushrooms, yellow potatoes, cauliflower/asiago mash from a fancy food taste gift. Added to the previous roast onions and cauliflower leaves.

Then flattened into a Ziploc bag and frozen. This way I can break off what I need.

Today was less auspicious. I woke up about 4, decided I may as well make a pot of tea, brought back a cup to bed, set up a radio play. 

Then completely forgot about the full hot cup balanced on the bed beside me,  and turned to switch off the light.

So the rest of the night was occupied in stripping the bed, sponging off the mattress, dunking then drying the part of the quilt that was flooded, doing a load of laundry and then grumpily going downstairs to try to sleep on the sofa, the bed being uninhabitable. I did get to the end of the radio play. And I did see a dawn. So there's that.

Hoping the rest of the day goes well. Mammogram this morning if they haven't fouled up the system again, then movie this afternoon. Gosford Park. 

About Howard's End, I did try to watch it but soon found that as well as great actors such as Thompson and Hopkins, it also featured two of my least favorite overactors. Vanessa Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter. I tried, I really did, but I ended up returning it to store. 

So that's us up to date. Now I have to empty the dryer before I go out, the last of the bedding.

Happy day everyone! Try not to spill the (literal) tea. The other meaning of spill the tea is fine. I love it.

Ficus pushed ahead of schedule, emergency gardening

I've been wondering when to get the ficus tree out to the patio for her annual season at camp.  She needs to be tethered to avoid being blown over, because top heavy, houseplant, not outdoor pruned, and the fence, the usual support, is to go away soon.

Then today while I was watering, I realized we had an emergency plant situation. The whole pot was infested with tiny insects, ready to move on to the other plants.

So Ficus was hauled outside hastily, and stood on the deck while I ran for twine. Before I'd got back less than a minute later, she'd blown over.  Here she is, upright again,  resting against the wall

Then I was wondering what to tether her to. I decided on the faucet, pretty sturdy. And there she is. 

Full sun was not my choice but no other way to secure her. We're getting cooler weather and  rain starting today, so I guess this timing was just as well. She's under the roof overhang so she won't get much rain. 

And she needs to be moved to stand on earth soon, so that her roots can sink in and get nutrition. Also she doesn't blow over so much when she's rooted.

The rest of the plants are quite happy to take up the space. You can just see her outside, at the right end of the window.

Blessed silence from the 17year cicadas, probably weather related. For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with this particular cicada, there are different kinds of cicadas, I checked decibel levels. 

The CDC warns that more than a few minutes exposure higher than 85 dbs is hazardous to hearing. 

Chain saw 110, lawn mower 85-100, 17 year cicadas 90.  And they hatch in millions.

Summer crickets make a comparable sound, but we don't get them in millions. And the sound is not incessant. A few friendly crickets around the house don't compare. I rest my case!

The 17 years are beautiful, not harmful usually, don't sting nor bite. But they are a hearing hazard.  And I changed my walk to avoid the trees where they're plentiful for a few days.

I wore my Mitered Squares jacket to the library today, chilly enough,  in the hope of seeing knitter librarian friends, but no luck. They may have taken the day to lengthen the holiday weekend. Memorial Day in the US. 

Also the start of summer, pools open, shore in season. For me, arranging the deck for reading outside. And changing the red felt winter door curtain for the stripey canvas one. Not a big commitment.

Next time Handsome Son is over, he'll help with that. Also finally deliver my mother's day card. We both forgot to observe the day, what with dryers and ultrasounds.  It lost its place on the list!