Well, it's not going to kill you

It's been a somewhat trying day

First I haven't been sleeping well for a couple of months now.  Yesterday Dr. Drug introduced me to sleep hygiene,  had no idea such a thing exists. 

One concept is that you start getting ready for bed around pm. Minor detail, we're usually eating dinner about then.  This concept is followed by getting up when you actually wake up, not the wake up in the early morning to shuffle to the bathroom but the when you really wake up, in this case this morning the obscene hour of 8:30.  Then you go out and sit looking at the
for 15 minutes.  That was kind of cool, Colin and I went to the downstairs deck and basked in the warmth of the sun.  That's when I discovered just how jealous Colin is of the cats.  Ted came meandering up the drive so I called him over to pet him.  Colin immediately stuck his muzzle under my other hand and threw one leg over mine.

Ok so now I'm up, finish loading the dishwasher, start a load of laundry, cruised through the news websites. Damn those stupid, ignorant, hypocritical Republicans for blocking the bill that would remove don't ask, don't tell.  And put John McCain right at the top of that list.

At 12:30 I crashed.  According to Dr. Drugs handout your not supposed to nap but if you do only for an hour.  Well forget that.  Also the bed is for sex and sleeping nothing else, another one of those forget that's. I love to read in bed and I'm going to do it.

2 hour nap later I decide I really need to practice in my heels so I don't disgrace myself on the stage at Cat Walk.  Now because I don't work anymore I rarely wear heels but I've been having real trouble with these shoes.  Ahem, I thought they were just 2" NO they're 3", no wonder.

More laundry, sheets and towels need to go in the linen closet no problem.  However I decided to pull the drawer out of the bottom of the closet because I couldn't remember what I stored in there.  Apparently a mouse is what I'd stored in there.  The drawer is now on the floor leaving access to it's storage space in the hope that at least 1 of the cats will deal with it.  I have to deal with the contents of the drawer - not today!

This is what comes of getting up at obscene hours.

Yes we are mere servants to our cats

Unbeknownst to me there is apparently a rule that the dry food dish must be filled to a certain level AT ALL TIMES.  Other wise lectures ensue.  You don't love us, you don't feed us, you don't, you don't ...

I cannot tell you how many trips I made to the pantry tonight at Emme's insistantance because some one had come and eaten the food so it was below the correct level.

Then there are the obligatory head pets, 3 exactly, before she can eat.  How she manages to survive when we're not around in beyond me.

Bullet points

It's been busy and a bit frustrating here lately, juggling tenants who don't pay their rent on time so we have to juggle who's getting paid what, when.

I unloaded Dr. Drug #1 and signed on with Dr. Drug #2 who happens to be a very peaceful and compassionate person unlike DD#1 who could be best described as a dictator.

Dr Drug #2 removed me from a drug that DD#1 had put me on and instead put me on Abilify instead.  I just started taking it Tuesday and the change is absolutely incredible.  No I am not bi-polar nor am I schizophrenic instead I'm one of these people.

Colin is still growing and has become friends with Ted the cat.  If Ted is sitting some place and Colin walks by they always exchange greetings.  Ted has made in quite clear that linking his entire face is not acceptable, ears are ok.  After Colin licks Ted's ears Ted will stand up and rub his head under Colin's chin.  Ted used to do this with Max, but Max was QUITE a bit shorter than Colin so Ted would just stand on his hind legs to reach Max's Chin.

If I hadn't broken my camera I could show you some adorable pictures.

We had a few brief days of summer, like 107 degrees, 100 degrees and 98 degrees.  I keep telling myself it's good for my tomatoes, they're 5 ft tall, loaded with blossoms bit only a very few tomatoes.  It's supposed to be in the 90's this weekend, God I hate hot weather, so that may help.

Grammar screed ( completely stolen from MFAMAMA) along with her comments I added a few of my own pet peeves, up given percentage and more.  Excuse me if it's up to a 34% it can't be more.  For free, no it's just free, as in we're giving this away free, not we're giving this away for free.  Spelling!!! Come on people we have spell check and we have dictionaries please use them.  Talking so you cannot be understood.  I hear some many mumbling athletes on ESPN I can't stand it.  For better or worse you are a role  model, behave like one.

I've read some great books but I can't remember what I listed and am too lazy to go find the link.  One of these days I'll find the list and update it.

Movies, much to my amazement the Blind Side was wonderful as was Walk the Line, The Stoning of Soyrara M., Up in the Air, Shut up and Sing and last but not least Best in Show.

Politics.  Apparently we're supposed to be THANKING Shrub for what he did for our country during his 8 years in office.  Um, let's see - lying, more lying and still more lying, 2 illegal wars, thousands of our troops killed and many more thousands injured which on occasion resulted in divorce because the defense department redeploying the same troops over and over again.  An energy policy drafted by big oil, Thank you very much Cheney.  I hold you personally responsible for the BP disaster in the Gulf.  Blowing a surplus to give his chums, you know those people in the top 1% who can barely hold on the their billions.  Fostered greed and corruption as a way of business.  Blew the wonderful outpouring from the world we garnered on 9/11 by being an asshole.  Driving us into a deficit with the aid of the Republican Congress who are now whining that we can't add anymore to the federal debt.  So it's ok that they did it but the Democrats can't.

Oh and how can I forget John of Orange Boehner?  He has apparently decided that the Rebups are going to reclaim the House and the Senate so he's prepping himself to be new Speaker of the House.  God help us all if some of the nutcases that have been nominated really win.  It will be a very sad day for people that can acutally use their brains for thinking rather than listening to the likes of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly.

And all politics is local.  We finally got rid of Paul Kelly who will be leaving the Board of Supervisors in January.  His replacement is a man who lives in the 21st century Mike McQuire.  Mike was on the Healdsburg City Council so he resigned.  Now we're having or I should say the people who live in the City of Healdsburg are voting on a new council.  My friend Susan Jones, formerly Chief of Police for the City of Healdsburg, is running.  As I told her I can't vote for you but I can campaign for you.

Then we have are Neighborhood Watch group which is coming together nicely.  Word had spread about the first meeing and a number of other people along the road showed up to become part of the group.  We had Community Services officers from the Sonoma Co. Sheriffs office at our last meeting.  I'm in charge of contacting CDF, California Department of Forestry, to come to our next meeting.  We all live in heavy forest on a dead end road.  We need to develop a plan of evacuation in case of fire.

My adorable niece is back at Chico State as a Sophmore, her cousin Eric is back at UNR as a junior and Christopher, well I'm not exactly sure where Christopher is.  Well I know where he is physically but not school wise.  For some reason he has developed a devotion to accounting.  This is a kid that HATES math, has been using a computer since he was 2 and at 8 was getting paid to repair other people's computers.

As for me I've decided to take the big leap and be a survivor model at Catwalk this year.

I think that's enough for now.  I got a bit long winded there : )

Notes to the fur children

Dear Colin, yes I am putting on my going to the dog park shoes.  I know this makes you very,very, VERY happy.  However I have been tying my own shoes for well over 50 years now.  I think I've got it down.  I do not need you flinging your giant paws around to help me.  Thank you very much.  

Dear Sophie, sleeping next to the computer is all well and good but when you walk on the keyboard or sit on my lap so I cannot see said keyboard drives me nuts,it is sometimes very tempting to toss you across the room.  Also I am not overly fond of you drinking out of my water glass.  And please stop sitting on the printer and printing blank paper, the same goes for sitting on my bi-pap machine and turning it on.  

Dear Ted, please stop walking on the fricking kitchen counter.  I understand that you do it because sometimes you don't want to walk near Colin and have him sniff your butt, but you KNOW the kitchen counter is off limits.  And by the way we know it is you that is scratching the furniture which you also know is not allowed.  That's why we have scratching pads and all the great outdoor full of trees for you to scratch.  

Dear Emme, puffing yourself out and humming really does not impress Colin.  He's not going to eat you, he just wants to play.  Yes I understand that his head is bigger than your entire being but he still doesn't want to eat you.  And spitting, stalking and trying to hit him with your tiny little paws in not allowed.  He's not allowed to do it to you, you are not allowed to do it to him.   Also turning into the Tasmanian Devil when you are picked up is very unbecoming in an adorable cuddly looking little cat.    

note this picture does not do her justice.  It was taken right after we adopted her.  Her coat is now sleek and beautiful, her eyes much more Siamese looking and she's just adorable.  She always wants a few pets before she eats, she'll stand in front of the bowl if one of us is in the pantry when she's ready to eat. 

To all the cats, how many times do we have to have this discussion, mice, lizards and birds are not indoor toys - yes Ted I know it's you that catches the birds and brings them in, it NEVER happened until you arrived on our doorstep.

Fun, fun, fun 'til Mom put the leash back on.

Colin and I had our first foray to the dog park today.  Fortunately I had been informed of Healdsburg dog park etiquette.  We have 2 dog parks in town.  One that the little dogs have taken over, the other the big dogs own.  I was further informed today that the little dog people get VERY UPSET if a big dog shows up at "their" park.

Colin is huge so we're not even remotely considering visiting the little dog park.  I can imagine people having heart attacks right and left.

I was reluctant to take him because I wasn't sure how he would behave so I went in the middle of the day.  At one point there were 10 dogs there.  Colin had an absolute blast.  Virtual non stop running for 1 1/2 hours.  He showed no aggression toward any of the dogs, displayed no interest in catching balls but running after the dog with the ball was an entirely different thing.  I told him "leave it" a couple of times and he promptly left it.  He is now lying in a heap on his bed too tired to wag his tail.

Of course I got the usual "what is he?" question.  I replied he's reported to be Brindled Mastiff and German Shepard.  To get a factual answer to the question we're getting him DNAed.  Yes it's expensive but I sold a number of books on Amazon so I decided to spring for it.  I'm curious myself.  I also got quite a number of "he's beautiful", yes he is and when I told people it was his first trip to the dog park they were amazed because he behaved so well.  I was flat out flabbergasted.

The dog park will be on our schedule at least twice a week.  To watch him run is a thing of beauty.  We can't let him off leash here yet because we need to get the gates fixed.

And I got some benefit as well, social interaction with people who have no idea who I am or what I'm going through.  No expectations other than chatting about our dogs.  A very nice relief.

Now if we could only get him to walk on a leash...

At long last ...

Colin!  Yes I finally figured out how to download the pictures from my camera.  Apparently using a usb hub it not good enough for it, but plugging directly in the computer USB port makes it happy.

With that said, here he is 
Look at that face, that's what got me.

And although I've yet to take a picture of him standing here's a couple that display just how big he is  
Lounging  on the couch with Dad and

 
Kind of blurry, but using Dad's wheel chair as a pillow.

Just hanging out.  Yes we still have him leashed to furniture.  Although Larry is walking independitly Colin is so big and boisterous that I'm reluctant to let him have run of the house just yet.

And so you get to see the rest of the gang 
Our little rectangle Emme sleeping in the first bed we got Colin that was WAY to small.

 
Ted trying to look cute and innocent after he was caught scratching the chair - who ME scratching the chair oh no I know I'm got allowed to do that!

Sophie aka Her imperial highness.

And finally one last loving tribute to Max.  We miss him everyday.  Thankfully his personality is nothing like Colin's so it makes it easier to let him go.