The tree is done... for what it's worth... but it's beautiful to us!
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The outside cats have been around a lot lately, so I've been trying to get some good pics:
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| ferals looking in from back yard |
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| First pic is mama cat, others are her kittens |
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| ...and of course this is One Eye |
The pics are taken through the back French doors (which are always grubby due to little feral paws) so sorry the pics aren't terribly clear.
We've also got a family of raccoons coming by these days... but no pics. They usually come by after dark.
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Cardiologist report:
Results from heart monitor, Echocardiogram, and Nuclear stress test shows tachycardia, premature ventricular contractions, and some valve leakage. But none of this is too serious. He wants to do a CT of my heart to make sure he hasn't missed anything. But he thinks a Rx of Beta Blockers should help with the episodes I've been having. So that's pretty good news in my opinion.
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Just about finished all my Christmas baking and sending. Most have received their packages by now. FedEx is pretty good at getting things out in a day or so. USPS - not so much. I sent 2 packages of goodies to N.O. on the same day. The one by FedEx took 2 days. The one by USPS still hasn't arrived and it's been a week (?). And others sent all over by Fedex were delivered on time. Guess the Post Office is having a tough time...
It's also time to start doing some Christmas cleaning. We may not be getting together with family this Christmas, but there's still a lot to do. There's Christmas boxes, bags, wrap, ribbon, etc. all over the house. And there's Christmas dinner shopping to do (although we aren't doing a big Christmas dinner since there's only 3 of us). We will probably do a roast with gravy, potatoes, carrots, and onions... and maybe some bacon and green beans. Since we have turkey on Thanksgiving and a pork roast (with black eyed peas and cabbage) on New Years, Christmas is not always traditional - although we have had baked ham in the past.
Also today they are putting in our house generator (we are not waiting to see if the Texas grid will stand up to extreme winter weather). They have been digging trenches and using loud machines all around the outside of the house today... and will have to turn the electricity and gas off for a few hours. So we may be calling for pizza this evening. The outside feral cats are at a loss as to what all these workmen are doing. However, it hasn't deterred One Eye or Squeaky from coming to the back door... even though they have to jump over the dug trenches. But Olivia (the mama cat) has not brought her babies by... (she is a smart mama).
These were dug manually along backyard and side yard.... and I'm not sure what is going on everywhere else. But you can see how long and deep the trenches are from these pics. I will take more pics as the process continues.
On a 'not so great' note, they did turn the electricity and gas off for a while and when they turned it all back on... the Aga wouldn't come back on. Now we have to find an Aga repair person and that's not always easy as there aren't too many Agas around Texas. And I still have a few things to bake before Christmas (like rum cake for our neighbors) so hopefully we can get it repaired before too long.
That's enough ramblings for today. Hope you are all enjoying your week before Christmas.
Oh, I've been reading some rants on our neighborhood network (called Next Door) that includes several neighborhoods in the area. Someone started complaining about stray cats or ferals coming into their yard. I was surprised at the number of people that defended the ferals (although there were quite a few that want them gone). I don't get into those group neighborhood discussions. To me Next door should be used for safety and alerts, not petty annoyances. There are enough real problems in this world that need attention to worry about a few homeless animals that wonder into your yard.
Really going to close this now. Thanks for taking the time to visit. And I really appreciate your comments - if you wish to leave any. If not, that's OK too.
Hugs (virtual),
Rian