Thursday's Putterings
Weather / Phenology:
We had an exciting visitor on Christmas day. Ch-, R- and I were puttering about in the dining room when a loud, whirring sound broke the quiet. Then there was a crash. “That was huge!!” Ch- cried. He’d seen a blur of feathers and feet strike the window before veering off. We all jumped up and ran to the window. After a moment of peering intently into nearby branches, we saw an unfamiliar bird sitting rather demurely in one of the lower branches of the big pine at the corner of our house. It seemed fine if a tad disoriented. I grabbed our well-thumbed bird book and checked the brown section. (In this wonderfully user-friendly guide the birds of MN are arranged from smallest to largest in color groups.) As I crossed the dining room I asked R- if it might be a female pheasant.
“Do the females have that crest thing on their heads?”
I didn’t know. I scanned the text under the photograph of a pheasant and came to the words compare to the ruffed grouse, page 144. By the time I made it back to the window, I was looking at a photograph that might well have been taken through my dining room window. As the bird gathered its wits, we had long minutes to compare details of plumage. According to the book, the species does not migrate and its range is just north of our county.
I must admit I’m pretty pleased to have attracted a wild, woodland bird.
In other news, our chickens laid at least 16 eggs in the last two days. We collected, washed and refrigerated 13 today. (Our old Pepper’s eggs are still too thin to make it all the way into the kitchen and one of the bantam eggs was so fragile that it broke when I washed it. It was probably Dusty’s - she is as old as Pepper.) [bantams = 4, untouchables = 2, big-chicken coop = 7]
Mood Summary:
Much better now that I’ve given in to my desire to curl up and play with my computer rather than stress about our house. Ch- was driving me crazy. I was being waspish. I tried to get stuff done and I succeeded with some of it. I think I lost it when Gmom’s other PCA called me nearly in tears. Apparently my mother has fired her. (That doesn’t really mean anything. She “fires” all of her caretakers on a pretty regular basis. I suppose the correct term would be “disowns” but you know what I mean.) All told, I spent 45 minutes calming the poor woman down. I gave her the option of quitting with no hard feelings now that she’s finally gotten a taste of Gmom’s wrath. Bravely or foolishly, she intends to soldier on. I also spoke to Sister D- again. She’s falling apart too. Another tooth has given up the ghost and she’s on her second course of antibiotics in the month of December. As for me, I have a pimple the size of a dime, a yeast infection from my own antibiotics and a brand-spankin-new cold sore.
My mother sucks the joy from the universe and the youth from her daughters. God save us all.
Accomplishments:
Speaking of Gmom, she is beautifully ensconced in her new apartment. We did the big moving day thing on Monday. R- brought Ch- into town at around 9:30 pm so he could stay over on her first night at the new place. I spent another 4-5 hours there on Tuesday when I took M- in for her PCA shift. Yesterday I did a little more when I fetched M-. Today was supposed to be about getting things orderly in my own house but that didn’t pan out so well. I finished disinfecting the laundry room and did a few loads of laundry. (YEAH! No more laundromat.) I cooked the ham that M- has been lusting after but didn’t get around to making all the sides.
Gratitudes:
Thank the gods for the ability to do laundry at home. My husband has been particularly attentive with shoulder rubs AND he’s been doing the dishes. Interestingly enough, he’s taken an interest in this grifting concept that I’ve been examining. By entertaining a counter girl with a yarn about moving to Ireland, he reduced our contractual obligation to his health club by a month. My personal confidence in the skill, shaken badly by the plumbing issues of late, was restored on Tuesday night when Mz K- and I realized we’d need to cadge drinks if we intended to go out together. (We’re both broke.) Sure enough, for better or worse, folks insisted on paying our way. We did not pretend to be single or available or interested … as far as I can tell it was about stating our intentions clearly before leaving her house. A new flist member sent me a fantastic link to small markets for writing.
Step Count:
Next Tasks
(tasks = 6 per day / themes = 4 per week)
1) clean Gmom’s old apartment before January 1st
2) make 4 pumpkin pies on Friday
3) attend a Christmas gathering with R-‘s family on Saturday
4) get me to a feed store and Target for chicken feed & straw and cat food & calendars
5) order M-‘s personal gift from me
6) Buy my gift for R- and enable the kids to do same
Th: $
Th: M-‘s move
Th: writing
Th: health routines & schedules
Goal Level Behaviors
Next Little Bit List
Routines
The Fat Man Walking
Netflix 100
Tonight’s Sky
low functioning
Accomplishments: 90 , Sphere Comparison: (Health & Body = 3 ) ( Hearth & Home = 10 ) (Mind & Soul = 5 )
Link: The Author's Keeping Score Tally Test written by moderatelymad on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test