November 8, 2008

9:52am

oom, zoom, zoom. I was up and running at 8:30am after I finally told myself I had to get out of bed. The guys were still sleeping, but I tried to do the dishes as best as I could without making too much of a racket, I did anyway and the guys got up. They were complaining I was moving too fast far too early and it is no wonder I do not require coffee. 

I got the dishes going, picked up the jade plant one of the cats knocked out of the windowsill early this morning and vacuumed up the soil, vacuumed the rest of the house, got some banana muffins ready and on the go. Turned on my computer and waited for the crew at the other office to get there for our work for the day.

The guys have been talking for weeks about tasks that they want to accomplish and they have not, so I set their tasks before them today, so they are heading to go buy 2 more tarps, some shavings, some potatoes for me as I want to make potato-onion bread later today. I picked up the livingroom as I am not sure what happened to it in the last two days and make it presentable so I can work in it. Bren is putting up a couple boards in the breezeway so I can have a 10x7 foot 'shelf' up there to get some of this stuff off the breezeway floor and out of the house.  I want to get things all in order before the snow is too deep. I also need to get all my lumber for the new house under cover. The weather station got broken in transit so Bren repaired that today so we can get that up again. It was only minor surgery on it. one of the 'cups' on the anemometer came off. A little 2 part epoxy, a staple and a little bit of a propane torch and I think it is repaired. The anemometer will be important to us as we are probably going solar/wind hybrid and will need to judge wind speeds and log them.

I also want to put up my solar panels for two reasons. So I can continue to use them and to keep them out of harms way.

I only like green bananas and not ripe ones and the three remaining organic bananas were ripe enough I could smell them across the room. Ugh! I keep tossing older bananas in the freezer and decided enough was enough so I really needed to start making something out of them here. So this morning was the time to do it while I was doing everything else and not trapped behind a computer. It was rather strange going to the bedroom for white sugar when I ran out in the kitchen, but you do what you have to do. And that is where I have to store the rest of the pantry for now.

12:00pm Update

I am on standby again. They are having problems at the other end of my work downloading some photos to send to me for the paper, so since I have a couple seconds...

My birthday present arrived today. It is a glass grinder for my stained glass projects this winter. All I have left to get is two kinds of solder, the pattern we decide on and whatever my glass choice is for my cupboards. Hopefully around January I can start my new hobby.

In the meanwhile, while I was working, the guys got back without tarps or potatoes, and Bren tore apart my bread maker. I do not cook in it, but do the mixing to save time and my wrists, but with the hospital and such in October, there was an issue of bread dough in it for too long (I kinda forgot it was in there with all the kafuffle, as they called me back to the hospital about 20 minutes after I got home and I had bread on the go for the dinner-that-wasn't), so he tore it all apart for me. After 10 years of having it, it probably needed a complete cleaning anyway. It looks brand new now.

The guys are also pulling apart the pellet stove. (I like woodstoves SOOOO much better). There seems to be a problem with the advancer. Shop vacs, paper clips, pellets, flashlights and such are all over the livingroom. I am staying hidden back in my 'office'!!

And although I have not had one yet, everyone says the muffins are really good.  Ok.. they are sending me the info I need.. gotta go!

2:32pm Update

Not that you really need a blow-by-blow history of my day, but I am on standby again and can't leave the computer yet as my job is not done, although I have sent the finished project off to the person who does the part after I do.

Brendan is still working on the pellet stove. The verdict is that the fan is gone on it. And something to do with the air-intake. A couple more instruments, such as a voltage tester and other scientific looking devices are laying about on the floor, along with miscellaneous stove parts. He is off to get a new motor or something which will work, so there is heat in the house again besides a portable oil heater.

I am not alone in my 'office' (which currently is on and all over the bed). Although the rest of the humans are in the livingroom or at the pellet stove store, I am literally surrounded by cats. I have my two cats. Bren has his cat and then we have 3 strays. The SPCA is overloaded with 70 cats in a facility meant for 34 of them, so there is no room at the inn, so to speak. In the  meantime, we love them, feed them and are looking for good homes for them. It is funny to see how the society of six cats is working out. They have their own social friendships. "Watson" has nothing to do with "Tuxedo" and "Joey" mothers and plays with "Ben", most of the time. "Tuxedo" and "Simon" play, but no one else seems to want to play with "Tuxedo". "Bird" stays outside most of the time and is the only cat allowed out. At the moment "Joey" has a head lock on "Ben's" head and cleaning his ear so ferociously it may detach from "Ben's" head. "Simon" is snuggled up next to me and "Watson" has figured out how to get on top shelf of the closet and has been hanging out up there most of the day. For the most part, they are well behaved cats. The only bad incident has been the jade plant this morning.

An introduction to the menagerie of cats:

	This is 'Ben'. He is one of the kittens which were handraised by us, and does not yet have a home. He tends to be really quiet, but he can play up a storm. His best friend is 'Joey' and they hang out together most of the time. He is about 4 month old. Ben' needs a new home, so if you think he is the one for you, please contact us! He really is a sweetie! ADOPT HIM! UPDATE: Ben has a new home!!
	"Bird' is the one who started it all around this household. She was a stray who was so grateful for Brendan's attention, she deposited five newborn kittens under his front porch and then injured herself a week later so we had to handraise all the kittens on goat milk and Mammalac. 'Bird' also needs a new home. She is very affectionate and SMALL! She is only about 4 pounds and her kittens are not overly large either. She has turned into a $800 stray with the vet bills and getting her spayed. She is not black. Neither the vet or I have ever seen a colour like her before. The best way to describe her colour is smoke with a bit of black overlay. ADOPT HER! UPDATE: Bird has a new home with a nice man and another cat named "Puddy"!!
	'Joey' is one of my two cats. He is a little over 2 years old now and technically he is my other cat's cat, not mine. Being half Siamese, he can protest verbally quite a lot, but all-in-all he is a very good snuggler. He has slimmed down playing with the other cats, but he is really food obsessed.
	The sweetest and the biggest little imp we have is 'Simon'. He is Brendan's kitten. 'Simon' has been to medieval events with us, been on vacation with us and had to have a little more special attention when he was younger. We almost lost him due to him not eating very well and then it was very difficult to wean him off the bottle. 'Simon' has a motor and a half and is usually going full tilt through the house hurdling over everything like a steeplechaser. When he is still however, he comes to curl up between your shoulder and your neck.
	The little girl is 'Tuxedo' . 'Tux' is the same unusual colour as her mother. She is shier than the rest of the group, but she still is rather outgoing. It is just the boys are more outgoing in comparison. She doesn't ask for much, but gives alot in return. She is also camera shy and it took about 12 times to get a somewhat good picture of her, even though I couldn't get her to look at the camera. When she and 'Simon' play, they look like two of the character off the "Matrix" movie as they seem to fly in slow motion through the air in the kitchen. ADOPT HER! UPDATE: Tux has a new home with a nice lady.
	My darling and the first Canadian animal I ever owned is 'Watson'. He came into the vet clinic where I was working 6 years ago, a small broken and bleeding furball about the size of my fist. His head was so swollen you could not see his eyes or ears and he was bleeding out his ears, nose and mouth profusely for days. Being that he was a stray a man found alongside the road, I took him home to care for him, thinking that he would be dead by morning. We both persevered and he has been my constant companion ever since, through good and bad. His left tearduct was damaged from whatever injured him when he was little and I have to clean it three times a day.  But it is a routine we are used to. As a dog trainer who did not care for cats at the time, I told him we had to compromise and he did. He rolls over, plays fetch, rides in cars and takes showers. He often helps himself into the photo when I am taking it for the magazine, so you tend to see him often.

Ok.. back to work again..