December miscellaneous

B. and I have been getting a lot of walking in as we are dog-sitting Max this week. (at left) He has been the perfect gentleman - except for jumping on our bed whenever we are not looking - but his presence has been driving the cats crazy. Today, the third day of his stay, Zoe & Devin seem more calm about it all. They still stay up on counters and bookshelves and out of reach for the most part but Devin has taken to walking right up to Max. They are not pals yet but we have hopes that Devin will tolerate him; Zoe just avoids him.

With the writers' strike, we have taken to watching less current tv and more old movies. We watched "The Apartment" which I had never seen before and I really liked it. It was still very enjoyable. Last night we saw "Portrait of Jennie" and that I can't recommend. Maybe it wasn't good in its day either but it sure wasn't very good now. And that was a shame because the star, Joseph Cotton is one of my favorite actors.

We've also been watching some old Perry Mason shows. Have seen all of season one and we are now watching season two (thanks to NetFlix). I especially like seeing the old cars & buildings and the scenery from those days. And, of course, I always like Perry, Della & Paul.

The one current show that we have been enjoying is "Life on Mars", second season. It's a British show but it only goes as far as season two as they've decided to Americanize it. Wish they'd just continue the British version.

I've been busy knitting and crocheting baby blankets lately - one for a friend, one for a nephew and his wife. Both couples' babies are expected this spring and I should easily have the blankets done by then. One blanket will be knitted and that one is a pale pink; the other is crocheted and is being done in a cream color. Watch for their pictures on my blog in the coming months.

Books, books, books

Last week I reserved a bunch of books at the library, making sure that they'd be spaced out. On some of the books, I was the only one reserving it; on others, I was 80th of 80 people waiting. So - how did so many of my reserved books arrive at once?? B. & I stopped at the library today and there were eight books waiting for me - so many that they had set them aside in a separate section!! I'd better get busy reading!

Winter weather

Rain. Sunshine & blue sky. Rain. More sunshine. Rain. Rain. Wind and rain. All in one day.

Shelter Stories

Last week I had to kick a guy out of the computer room because he came in to play games on the computer (Freecell - one of my favorites). The pcs are reserved for job & house hunting, emails, stuff like that. He wasn't happy about that at all but yesterday he again appeared. His first comment was "So, I can't play games?" I assured him that was the case but that I'd be happy to help him with his resume or email. He decided he'd check his email. But first, he had to find his email address. His jacket had lots of pockets and he emptied all of them trying to find it but had no luck. So, we set up a new email address for him and I wrote it down for him on a piece of paper. As he left, he said "I'll put this in my wallet in my locker so I'll have it for next time. Oh - that's probably where my other email address is!"

He was a bit unusual but as we worked on the computer, I learned much of his story and found that he had a brain tumor (untreatable at this stage) - and had been kicked out of his house by the woman he lived with.

I have run into quite a number of folks who are in the shelter because they had health issues and no way to handle the financial aspect. So even if they have gotten through the health problem and are now working or looking for work, they are homeless.

Some of the guys are so overwhelmed with life and their problems that they show no appreciation for the shelter or anyone who tries to help them. But there are others, who are quite appreciative and will say to me "Thanks for coming in today!" - sometimes even if they won't be using the computers that day.

Being the controlling fixer that I am, I wish I could fix their lives. But at least they got some time on the computers and some homemade Christmas cookies...that won't change their lives but maybe it'll help a little.

Cookie Day

Sunday afternoon was dedicated to cookie decorating. There were plenty of cookies to decorate, both sugar cookies & gingerbread men. As always when rolling dough and cutting cookies, by the 3rd time rolling there is generally a good bit of flour worked into the dough. Rather than keep on cutting/rolling the dough and taking a chance on it getting tough, the third or fourth roll is just cut into shapes with a knife - squares, rectangles, whatever. Those cookies usually just get frosted and some sprinkles thrown on top. However, this time, someone got quite creative as you can see on the left - C's postcard cookie.

We all got plenty of cookies and are looking forward to next years "Cookie Day" but for now, I'm pretty much cookied out.

Candy Cane Cookies

Today's baking challenge was candy cane cookies. The recipe makes about twice the amount shown on the pan to the left. It's one of my favorites because it adds a cute touch to cookie gift packages. I also like it because it is almond flavored though you could use peppermint flavoring instead.

It rained all day today. Neither Zoe nor Devin wanted to go out. They just sat at the door looking out pitifully at the rain. Usually they have some time during the day when the rain stops and they can run around outside - but not today. It is forecast that we'll get more rain tomorrow.

Decorations

B. and I put up our little tree today. It's on top of the fireplace, a nice out-of-the-way place that Devin won't be able to reach. He's tempted but he just can't jump that high

Now to move on to the Christmas cards and letters and Christmas baking...

Today's find

As is usual on Tuesday, I stopped at the 2nd hand store on my way home, after helping the guys on the computers. At left is my latest find, a pig salt shaker. You don't see a fine one like this every day - and only 39 cents! :)

Not all is lost

This morning I sat down at the piano with some Christmas song books. And, amazingly enough, I was still able to play them!! Guess I ought to get busy practicing and maybe I'll be able to play them smoothly by Christmas.

B. and I stopped at the women's shelter today (the central donation point) and dropped off some coats, blankets and a bag of hats I knitted & crocheted over this past year. There was a whole line of folks around the block, waiting for their lunch. Hopefully the stuff we dropped off will keep some of them warm this winter.

A Morning at the Shelter

Baked some cookies to take down to the homeless shelter when I went down there yesterday morning. I made chocolate chip - with nuts and without, pumpkin pecan cookies, pumpkin bread, and some diabetic chocolate chip bars. That should have been enough variety so everyone could have something they might like.

It was a quiet day at the shelter, everyone in the computer room was hard at work looking for jobs, housing or just checking their email.

As usual, on my way home I stopped at my favorite 2nd hand store. I found a nice warm winter vest to wear under my coat - perfect for what I wanted and at a great price, $4.99. I wore it last night when B. and I went for a walk to the library and to the store to buy Thanksgiving wine.

We've had a bit of sunshine lately which is much appreciated. Looks like today will be sunny too.

Mosaics, Cooking Tempeh & Driving Discount

Here is the latest mosaic created by B., a flowered mirror. We'll probably hang it in our entrance hallway. It looks even better when you see it in person!

Saturday I went to the "Cooking with Tempeh" class I had signed up for. I was leary of it, expecting to hate the taste of tempeh. Instead, I found I rather liked it and it seems like it will be easy to cook with. The instructor made tempeh chili which we ate with quinoa - very tasty and probably the first tempeh recipe I will attempt. He also made tempeh patties which were rather bland by themselves but would be good on a bun with pickles, mustard, ketchup and other condiments. The recipe for patties could also be used to make tempeh "meatballs". The other two recipes were for "croutons" and stroganoff. I liked the croutons okay and could see adding them to salads but I wasn't too crazy about the stroganoff. Overall, it was definitely a worthwhile class as I now have some new high-protein vegetarian recipes to try.

We met with our insurance agent earlier this week and he said that our AARP driving class should give us a $60 discount per year. Since our certificates are good for three years, that's a pretty good deal. We paid out $20 and took the class but we should save $180.

All quiet on the cat-front. Both Zoe & Devin have been behaving themselves.

Driving class & pumpkin bread

On Monday & Tuesday this week, B. and I went to the AARP driving class It ran from 9:30 to 1:30 each day, with a couple of breaks. The class reviewed the usual driving rules but concentrated on explaining physical changes to our bodies as we age and how that affects our driving. For example, most people's night vision is affected by the time they are 40 years old. As time goes on, some people avoid night driving altogether. B. and I still both drive at night when necessary but use extra caution. http://www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/driver_ed/a2004-06-21-whatisds.html.

A lot of the course material was familiar to us but we each learned a few things. And there were a few items that we knew were unrealistic in some cities. Don't exceed the speed limit makes sense in most places but I know from experience that if you try to do that on the Atlanta freeways, you are in danger. You may need to drive at 70 or 80 mph just to avoid being hit by the other drivers!!! Also, stopping when the light turns red seems reasonable but in Atlanta it is generally expected that two or three cars will go through the red light and you just wait for them to do so. Maybe it's that way in all big cities. Life - and driving - proceeds at a far more frantic pace in major cities.

The class also went over determining when to give up your keys & stop driving and how to plan ahead for that day. We even were given free all-day bus tickets so we could check out the local bus system.

We both got our certificates for taking the class and we'll be giving them to our insurance agent so that we can get a discount on our insurance. It cost $10 each to take the class but the certificate is good for three years so we should get our investment back.

The first day of class found all of us hungry by break time. There was a snack machine down the hall with some feeble snacks and we all pounced on it to help us through the morning. That night, I went home and baked some pumpkin bread to bring to class. I took the lazy way, just throwing some eggs and water into a mix and popping it in the oven. No big deal. However, all the students & the teacher were quite appreciative: "This is the best pumpkin bread ever!" or "I couldn't have baked anything this good." I didn't have the heart to tell them it was just a mix. Guess no one bakes anymore...

Halloween and a not-too-bright kitten

After a week of wearing a collar (which kept him from licking his tail wound), and being grounded, Devin finally got to go outside again. He was crazy frisky as you might imagine - scampering across the yard. One wonders though, if he has learned his lesson. His tail still shows signs of serious cat bite wounds where the fur has not yet grown. However, yesterday, I looked out the window and saw him stalking one of the big orange neighborhood feral cats. He was just a few feet away before I grabbed him and put him in the house again. The feral cat was nonchalant about it all and just sat licking himself but I hate to think what would have happened to Devin had he attempted to pounce on that huge orange cat. Maybe Devin had forgotten his week indoors but I sure hadn't and I wasn't eager for any vet visits either.

*

Our neighborhood has quite a few feral cats. Though they are hardy cats, they are not the vicious beasts you might think of when you read "feral cats". One of the women in the neighborhood has captured all of them and taken them to be spayed or neutered and has even set up a small, protected cat shelter for them to hide in when bad weather hits. And a number of neighbors put out food for them each night. So even though the cats don't have owners, they are not wild - though not really tame either. They walk through our yard and stay their distance and Zoe tolerates them as long as they don't get too close. I'm hoping Devin will learn from Zoe and avoid any other close encounters.

*

I went down to the homeless shelter yesterday as I do each Tuesday. I helped one of the guys look up a bus schedule and then sign up for an email address. The other guys were all pretty computer-experienced and got right to work checking their email or searching housing & job sites. One of the guys was in a mean mood and expounded his views (all bad it seemed!) on government workers, immigrants, even the shelter itself. He then proceed to talk to me about arson and about how he burned down his house. No wonder this guy is having trouble finding housing! I was glad it was only my task to help with computer problems, not all his personal problems.

*

Last night B. and I walked to the neighborhood theater to see the movie "Once". We had been wanting to see it after reading numerous reviews about how great it was. Though both of us thought it a nice little movie, we didn't understand why everyone has been raving about it. Maybe just because it was an enjoyable film without sex, violence, car crashes, etc. - just a story. That was okay with me. After the show, we walked over to the pub for supper and had our favorite burgers with hot sauce - meat for B. and a garden burger for me - and then walked home.

Spiderwebs for autumn

Our yard is filled with spiderwebs - the porch, the deck, the trees, the cars - spiders everywhere. At least they are staying outside for the most part and I appreciate that. We had a light rain this afternoon and the webs were all much more noticeable than usual with their dainty droplets clinging to them. Here's one from our backyard.

I finished the flamingo puzzle today. It was one that I had gotten at the 2nd hand store and sadly, there were four pieces missing. Still, it was fun to do and it looks pretty good.

The verdict: cat bite

Took Devin to the vet to have his tail examined. The vet said she saw teeth marks on the wound, that he must have been bitten by another cat. Since he'd been licking the wound a lot, she gave him a collar to prevent this in the future and give the wound a chance to heal.

He has medicine, needs hot compresses three times a day and has to wear his collar for the next week or so. And while he wears the collar, he has to stay indoors. What a fun week this will be!!

And a sunny day

Today was such a beautiful sunny day, it begged me to go for a walk. I wandered about taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine. B. was off on a two-hour group walk but I preferred ambling about on my own. Though many leaves had fallen, there were still some gorgeous trees. And there were many houses decorated for Halloween.

While I was gone, Zoe & Devin worked on their mosaic skills. Since we had thrown a towel over B.'s work desk, they had a hard time of it and were left to contemplate the work that B. had already done.

Devin is itching to go outside but he injured his tail and it's not healing as quickly as I'd hoped. I'm keeping him in for now and he has a vet appointment for this afternoon.

A gray day

The day was overcast and it looked like a storm was imminent. So we headed off to the movies. Went downtown and saw "Michael Clayton" which both B. and I liked a lot. It was well-acted and kept our interest.

After the movie we stopped at a deli down the street and had some soup. They gave samples so I tried the butternut squash and pear soup which was good but not something you'd want an entire bowl of. So I got the tomato orange soup and B. had some chicken soup. We shared some chocolate mousse for dessert.

Then it was on to the library. I usually just request books and have them delivered to the branch library so it was fun to be at the big downtown library and look at all the books. I decided on 5 of them and I'm hoping at least one or two will be good ones - the last couple books I got weren't even worth finishing!

And we still got home before the storm...maybe it'll hit tonight.

Tuesday, October 16th

I drove down to the homeless shelter to provide computer assistance as I generally do on Tuesday morning. It was a quiet morning though busy. The guys knew what they were doing and the only question I was asked (other than general chatting) was how to spell 'failure'. One of the guys was filling out a form and needed that word. Whether he was identifying himself as a failure, the system, the government, a product - I don't know and I didn't pursue it. He seemed pretty positive about himself so I'm guessing he didn't feel like a failure, just went on to finish his form. Though he needed a bit of help on how to sign off, he was soon done with the computer for the day and off to the rest of his activities, whatever they may have been.

As often happens when I go down to volunteer, I learned something myself. This time it was a website, http://www.refdesk.com/. I think I've seen it before but never really explored it. However, it has a lot of amazing stuff. One of the best things right off is that there are very few ads, no dancing monkeys, just a few little cars at the top. And - it has all the info in one place! What do you want to know? Time zones? Newspapers across the country and around the world? Encyclopedias? Statistics? Airport wait times? etc. etc. etc. If you are not familiar with this site, check it out!

Parking near the shelter is difficult to find. Sometimes, it would take me longer to find parking than it would to drive down to the shelter itself. So I gave up looking and now I just park at a nearby city parking lot. It's 85 cents per hour so every week costs me $2.85 but it is worth it, saving me the time and effort of a parking search. The parking lot attendant is the same person each week but since the lot holds many cars, I didn't know if she knew me or not. Apparently, she does. Today as I was leaving she said "The best customer I have is you - always perfect!" Always nice to get a compliment, even though I think she just meant that I give her the exact change.

This afternoon B. and I decided to walk to the library. We had a couple of books to return and I have one waiting for me. Looking out the front door, the day appeared sunny but there were some dark clouds behind us. We'd only gone a couple of blocks when it began to rain. Another couple of blocks and the hail came pelting down. Our jackets kept us warm and dry but our jeans began to get wet, then - somehow - water got into our shoes and worked its way down our socks. As it continued to pour, we decided to head for home rather than the library. We didn't want to revive our now dormant colds. The rain slowed as we approached our house and we were tempted to head back towards the library but we were so sopping wet that we didn't follow up on that. Inside the house again, we found the rain had practically stopped. And shortly thereafter, the sun was out again. Crazy weather!

Saturday, October 13th

This morning was a bit misty, but not raining - just made everything look a bit hazy. By ten o'clock or so, the mist had been driven off by some bright sunshine. This photo on the left was taken around 8:00 AM when I went for an early morning walk.

B. and I went for our flu shots last Saturday. Ironically, the day after the flu shot, I woke up with the worst cold - and spent the next 3 days in bed! Today, I went out to get groceries and it was a treat, so nice to be outside again and feeling well. :)

B. has been taking some classes this fall - mosaics, fall walks, Spanish. The mosaic class is over and B. has a fine piece completed, a picture of our cat Zoe. The walks and the Spanish class continue. I signed up for very few classes this fall - the tofu one I wrote of in an earlier blog, and a tempeh cooking class sometime in November. I purposely didn't want to schedule much so that I could spend whatever extra time I have working on family history. My current project is about my family in the WWII years. I have letters from a couple of my uncles (both of whom were in the service in the 1940's) and also letters from one of my aunts. So I have views of what it was like in the army and also on the home front. It's been very interesting so far and I still have another 30 - 40 letters to type up. Then I'll have to go through the family photos and see what I can find that corresponds to the war years. This particular project was triggered by the tv show: Ken Burns' "The War" which I and a number of my siblings have been watching.

It's a lovely fall day and I'm cooking applesauce. Maybe next week it'll be time for some apple pies and Indian pudding.

October 1st

These pictures are from earlier today when Devin decided to work on his computing. He takes sort of a laid back approach to it all.

B. is at Spanish class tonight and I have been spending the evening typing up some family history - letters from the WWII era. My father saved his siblings' letters and some from his mother and they are interesting reading.

It's been rainy much of the day but it cleared up beautifully tonight so I could go for a long walk.

My Tofu Adventure

Today was the 3 hour tofu cooking class that I'd signed up for. I have limited experience with tofu, either eating it or cooking with it so I felt it might be time for me to become more comfortable with it. A few years back, I stopped eating meat and though I still do eat fish, the majority of my diet is vegetarian and it seems tofu might be a good addition.

Our instructor has been cooking with tofu for many years. He seemed a bit of a fanatic to me as he wouldn't use the microwave since it hasn't been proven over thousands of years (how can it be proven if not used??) and he wouldn't use honey because it was an 'animal food'. I can understand his concern about the microwave but what's the harm in eating honey? It doesn't hurt the bees as long as you leave them enough honey to get by over the winter. Personally, I'm not crazy about the taste of honey but I would certainly not avoid it as an 'animal food'. Well, these differences aside, he did a fine job of teaching - preparing the meals in front of us while he explained everything and then giving us samples of everything. Here's what we had:

• Tofu mayonnaise


• Tofu "egg salad"


• Tofu French Toast with a maple glaze


• Tofu cutlets


• Tofu 'Egg Fried' Rice

Of course there was no egg in any of the 'egg' dishes, just tofu. I found everything to be quite tasty. The mayonnaise did not taste like regular mayonnaise but it did taste good and it had the extra advantage of having about 1/10th the calories of regular mayonnaise. The 'egg salad' did not taste like regular egg salad either but on a piece of bread, it makes a fine sandwitch.

The French toast was really good, something to look forward to in the morning or as a light evening meal.

I liked both the cutlets and the fried rice and plan to test both of them for supper one of these nights. Overall, the tofu things I tried at this morning's class were much better than any previous tofu I've tried (except perhaps for Boca burgers which I like). So, for me, I think tofu requires further examination & testing and I'll probably start having some every week or so.

Another advantage of tofu, besides the low calories, is that it lowers cholesterol.

Last Thursday night, B. and I went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant. We have been picking one special, elegant restaurant to try each month. This month it was my turn to choose so I picked a steak/seafood place a few miles from here. Neither of us knew anything about the place except what we read on the Internet. The most amazing thing about the restaurant was its location as the elevation was high enough that it overlooked the entire city! A beautiful setting to look out and watch the city lights come alive, see the moon rise in the distance - and the food wasn't bad either. :) No, they didn't have any tofu. Actually, they didn't really have any vegetarian options unless you just had a salad and a baked potato. The salads were really good and so were our entrees (beef for B., halibut for me). And for dessert, a slice of cheesecake with caramel topping to share. Though we paid a good bit more for that meal than I did for today's class, I can't actually say that the food was tastier than today's tofu - just different.

Continuing miscellaneous

Look closely and you can see Devin to the right of the gate in the backyard. He's still living dangerously, even after probably using up one of his nine lives when he was AWOL.

I don't know how he got up but he was having some difficulty determining how to get down. Finally, I went out and got him and he ran off to explore other things.

Today is Tuesday so I spent the morning down at the homeless center where I do volunteer work - assisting the guys on the computers. The center I work at is for male-only clients and they must be drug-free and alcohol-free. In one section of the shelter, there is a small computer room where a few pcs are set up. When a volunteer is available to staff the room, the guys can come in and read their email, search for housing and jobs, practice typing, etc. Sometimes all I have to do is be there to unlock the room and start up the pcs and the men have no questions, need no instruction. Other times, I need to give basic instructions, show them how to use a computer, how to create an email account, how to create a resume or perform a search. Today was mixed - some of the men knew what they were doing and got right to work, others needed to know how to navigate, how to use the back arrow, etc. Even some of the men who knew what they were doing still needed attention. They wanted to show me the site they were working on, tell me of a housing opportunity they'd found. For some of the guys, it seems that what they most appreciate is someone to listen.

After my shift was over, I stopped at my favorite 2nd hand store to see what "must buy" items they had. Last week when I was there, I ended up walking out without ANYTHING - not a book, a puzzle, nothing whatsoever. That is quite unusual as I almost always find something that will be useful. Today I found four dessert plates, and 5 puzzles. I also found some books on WWII which B. and I will find interesting as we are currently watching Ken Burn's show on WWII, "The War". One of the books I got is all WWII photos from Life magazine, the other is a collection of war memories that Studs Terkel put together. Both should prove interesting and then when we are done with them, we'll donate them back.

Five puzzles is a lot to find in one week. Of course you are taking a chance with used puzzles as sometimes pieces might be missing. I've had good luck so far though and have had few puzzles that weren't complete. When there are pieces missing, I document that, pack up the puzzle again and recycle - maybe someone won't mind a missing piece or two. The complete puzzles are also packed up after I finish them and they are passed on to one of my aunts or one of my sisters - and they pass them on, too. We can get a lot of use from a 99 cent puzzle! Today's assortment of puzzles included Bryce Canyon National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Madame Alexander Dolls, At the Wee Folks' Fair (a gathering of dwaves and fairies - very lighthearted), and Autumn at Stony Creek by Charles Wysocki. I plan to start the Autumn one as soon as I finish my current puzzle. The Wysocki one has jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, apple butter, autumn leaves - a nice fall scene that will be fun to do as our days turn to fall.

With the cooler weather, I've pulled out my crock pot and have been using that more frequently. Tonight we'll have Moussaka with Tofu Topping. Once you have the chopping all done and everything put into the crock pot, then you can forget it for the rest of the day while you get on with your life. If you happen to be home, fantastic scents throughout the day will entice you with the evening's meal. I haven't cooked with tofu before so this is a first for me. I have made a number of other recipes from this cookbook, some of them really great, so I expect this will be good, too. If you are looking for any good crockpot recipes, give this book a try: 125 best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson. Some of the soups are amazing!

An unusual meeting

After I had B. safely settled in front of the tv with some supper, I decided to go for a walk. I went to the mailbox about 5 blocks away and then decided to go to the grocery store for some ice cream so we could have some dessert later of fresh peaches and ice cream. On my return from the store, I was coming down our street about 4 blocks from our house when I saw a young man fly fishing - in the street. I'd guess his age to be about 12 but he could have been slightly older. He kept casting and casting. As he was right on my way, I decided to continue walking but I hadn't even made it across the street before he started talking to me. He told me all about fly fishing, casting, types of flies, where he would go fishing, what he would catch - all the while he was still practicing his cast. He told me how to reel the bass in after catching it and then, not satisfied with just telling me about it - and showing me how to do it - he made me take the reel in my hands and let out the line, pretending that I had a fish on the line!

Luckily the weather was not hot or our vanilla bean ice cream would have melted before I made it home.

And some excitement - not that I needed any

B. got up with Devin this morning so I was able to sleep late, almost 8:30. B. went off to the hardware store while I had breakfast, did laundry, worked on my jigsaw puzzle. Nothing exciting there.

After B. returned from the hardware store, we decided to clean out the shed which had become a catch-all. It's really not that big of a shed so it didn't take more than an hour or so. However, somehow while exiting the shed, B. slipped, turning an ankle. We finished up and headed indoors. And then we took a look at that ankle! Quite swollen - as if a small lemon were attached to it. We read our health care books and they all told us to follow the RICE method - rest, ice, compression, elevation - and that B. should stay off the ankle for at least two days.

The rest and ice part was easy enough for me to prepare but I had to run to the drug store to get a bandage for compression. While I was there, I bought some crutches, too - in case B. needs to hobble about in the next two days. Looks like we'll be skipping the bike ride we'd planned for tomorrow - and possibly B's kayaking class on Saturday, too.

That's enough excitement for a while!

A Perfectly Ordinary Day

5:00 AM Devin is awake. He starts to wake me gently, crawling over me, purring in my face. When I don't leap up to feed him, he becomes more agressive and starts to play with my feet and to leap about on the bed. I get up, grab my blanket and leave the bedroom - followed by Devin - and close the door so B. can continue to sleep.

5:20 AM Devin is fed. He was pretty hungry, ate almost an entire can of kitten food. Zoe considered getting up but just readjusted herself on her sleeping area on the couch. She's not ready for the day to begin. Neither am I. Rather than curl up on the couch like I usually do, I decide to go into the guest room and pull down the wall bed unit. This is something new to Devin so he eagerly follows me in there and leaps on the bed. I leave the hall light on in case he wants to run around out there and play. Then I turn off guest room light and curl up to sleep. Devin makes a great effort to get me up and playing with him but to no avail. Soon I am again sound asleep.

8:30 AM B. gets up, shuts off the hall light. It is now daylight and it looks like a sunny day. B. walks towards the guest room and finds me sleeping there with Zoe sleeping next to me and Devin sleeping at my feet. Devin did NOT go rattle the bedroom door as he sometimes does after his breakfast, but just settled down in the guest room.

9:00 AM Breakfast. Have a bath. Get dressed. Check my email and the latest news online. Check the blogs. Wrap a few packages for the post office (jigsaw puzzles for my aunt, a book for a niece, some toy snakes - one crocheted, one knitted- for a nephew).

11:30 AM It has turned into a beautiful day so B. and I head off to the library to return some books and to the post office to mail packages. We haven't gone far before we encounter our next door neighbors - and their next door neighboors. There is some discussion on what to do with our gravel road. Do we agree to have the city pave it? If so, we all will have to pay many, many thousands of dollars. Do we hire someone to come and just put gravel down? We review all the options. It is agreed that more information is needed and one of the neighbors agrees to make some further calls. B. and I head off to the library and drop off our books, to the post office to mail the packages, back to the library to pick up a couple of books, and then to the grocery store to get some milk.

2:00 PM Have lunch on the deck and read the day's paper. It's windy so I have to hold the paper down by putting my plate and glass on top of it. Both cats are out, frolicking in the sunshine. We linger for a while, enjoying the beautiful day. The yard men arrive and mow the lawn and do some trimming & edging. The yard looks great!! The new-mown grass smell is intoxicating. Time to head inside to read a little and then to have a nap.

5:30 PM B. and I head out for another walk. A couple of months ago, I purchased a stepmeter (similar to a pedometer but it counts steps rather than mileage). Though we've been working towards 10,000 steps per day, we usually are closer to 5,000 or 6,000 by day's end. Today, because of our walk to the post office, we find we are already around 8,400 steps so we decide to finish off the remaining 1600. We walk a little over 800 steps and then turn around and head back. Have made our 10,000! Time for supper. Today I haven't prepared anything but we have some leftover two-bean chili from the night before so we have that.

8:00 PM Settle down to watch a little tv - a travel show about walking in Ireland, Psych and then a mystery, Cold Case. Zoe climbs up on my lap, the favored position because I have a blanket over my lap and it makes for a comfortable snuggling place. Devin tries to climb up there too but Zoe gives him a slap and he decides B's lap is a better spot for him.

10:30 PM Time to head for bed, read a little, but first, I have a blog to write.

Sounds like a boring day, eh? Maybe so, but boring can be very comfortable. You can have a very nice day, even if not exciting, and that's fine with me!

Devin is back...after 32.5 hours AWOL

At 4:30 AM, I was awaked to Zoe rattling our screen in the bedroom and B's happy cry of "He's back!". There was Devin! Where he had been, we'll probably never know. I had put food and water and a blanket out for him on the deck but he didn't settle there, just came round to the bedroom door where he knew he'd find us. He seems none the worse for wear but he sure was hungry, devouring almost an entire can of cat food. Devin just kept purring and purring - and that's how I felt, too. Such a relief to have him home again!

Now today I have the happy task of retracing yesterday's route and taking down posters and telling folks that Devin is no longer missing.

Last night I was working on the latest jigsaw puzzle when I saw a big raccoon come to eat some of the food I'd set out for Devin. I moved that away, putting it under the glider where the raccoons might not fit but I did set out another bowl of food for the raccoons - some kitten crunchies that neither Devin nor Zoe were fond of. At this same time, Zoe went out on the deck and sat on one of the chairs. The raccoon food was down at the end of the deck. A little while later, I looked up and there were 3 raccoons after that food - a mama and two young ones (pretty hefty young ones!). They didn't bother Zoe nor she them though she did hiss and snarl some. Those raccoons are so big - compared to cats - but looked so pretty that I wished I could go out and hug them. I think I'll continue to put out food for them, at least until they finish off the cat-ignored crunchies.

Devin is missing

Last night I let Devin out around 8:00 PM, figuring he could run around a little while and tire himself out before bedtime. He's usually back in 10 - 20 minutes. But he never came back! I was up all night waiting for him, with Zoe by my side. I kept hearing his little motor noise, rrrrrr, that he does to let you know he's around - but he was never there. I just kept wishing he was.

I can only imagine that he slid into someone's shed or something and got closed in. I've walked the yard and tracks 3 or 4 times, seen two other gray kitties but no Devin. I've been to the neighbors, left cards for those who aren't home. Next I'll contact the vet in case anyone finds him and brings him there. And I'll leave some posters throughout the neighborhood. But first I have to get a little sleep...I'm a wreck.

Meeting the trash man

Sunday night we put out the trash and recycling as usual - trash can, tub for papers & cardboard, tub for cans & plastic, and separate tub for bottles and glass. I was busy working on my latest jigsaw puzzle, B. watching tv, when I heard a knock at the door. We don't get a lot of unknown visitors so I was surprised to see a stranger, a man who was neat & clean - yet sort of scruffy looking. He reminded me of the homeless guys I work with on Tuesdays when I provide computer assistance, helping them search for jobs and housing. Our most frequent unknown visitors are folks wanting us to sign petitions or someone wanting us to join some environmental organization - and they generally have clipboards with them. This guy had no clipboard, only a question: could he please have a bag? Apparently, the bag he had brought was not big enough to hold this week's empty bottles and cans which he'll take in for refunds. The empties included those from our Labor Day gathering so there were a lot of them.

We gave him a bag and he went back to sorting through the bottles and cans. B. said he had talked with the fellow last Sunday night so it looks like this is our regular recycling guy (as opposed to the trucks that come and collect everything on Monday morning).

So, now I've gotten to meet the trashman. But I have some questions for him: his name, are there regular routes that each person handles, how did he get this area, where does he live, does every area in the city have someone who goes around and works through the discarded trash, etc., etc. Maybe I'll learn some of the answers in upcoming weeks.

Devin and Zoe

Devin is now about six months old, very much the kitten yet. He's taking to sleeping for longer periods of time but he sure is rambunctious! He likes to start his day early, usually 4 or 5 AM, and he wants us to start it with him! One of his favorite play items is the little toy mice that T gave him. They are a good size for him - easy to throw about and chase after wildly, small enough for him to pick up in his mouth. His latest trick is to drop them in the cat's water bowl. The first mouse I saw there was a mistake, I thought, one that fell in there as he was batting them about. A while later, I saw him go over to the water dish with a mouse in his mouth and just drop it in! He gave it a few swats, scattering water about, and then bobbed for it - proudly capturing the mouse and then running off with it, dripping wet.

Zoe is a mature 10 year old. She quickly tires of Devin's antics but sometimes she'll put up with him and even play with him a little. Sleeping is her favorite pastime and she especially enjoys resting on the latest puzzle.