Summer

 

My cat loves to turn summersaults. He also loves to break into defrosting meat packages and gobble up half a raw pork sausage brat; eat his way through Saran wrap to half wrapped avocado where he dives in, and he chews his way through new cat dry food packages to eat his fill when we’re not looking or paying attention. He cruises countertops at will; despite how many times we put him down or tell him “No”. It’s where the good stuff lives. One very early morning I walked into the kitchen to find the new package of catnip and its contents like this: Yes, he was dancing very merrily I might add!

He is however, a real comedian, bringing us laughs daily with his silly antics and behavior and he’s also very loving. If we could just stop him from attacking the girls (our other cats) he’d be the perfect little guy. You just learn to accept all the bad to be able to soak in all the wonderment and joy that this little life brings to our days.

I wish I could say the same about our political mess. I hate that it has become so all-encompassing that it’s hard to get through even one day without its strident ramifications. Regardless of what side of the fence you may sit on, you can’t deny that American life suddenly seems different somehow; not as friendly, not as accommodating, not as inclusive; much more insecure and uncertain. And way costlier!! As we edge ever closer to a police state, it creates utter and complete dismay for a huge swath of us who want life back before Trump. The anger and childishness that our politicians display towards each other and the public astounds many of us who wonder “Just where did civility and respect for one another go?” Without trying to be overly political I can only say from a feeling developing deep down in my bones: THIS IS NOT GOING TO END WELL.

Summer warmed up so our garden finally took off but has been hit or miss. The spinach bolted rather quickly so I really only got about two good pickings off it. Chard is doing well and the tomato plants are getting huge. Something is eating the small summer squash plants so they are still in the “iffy” category. The peas have been a virtual flop; I may get a handful off them is all. Radishes got planted late and seem to be taking their time. 

(Munchkin amongst the peonies)

Another Humane Society rummage sale has come and gone and I ended up working a lot more hours than initially intended as the gal that heads it up was out sick much of the time. Consequently, it was a little chaotic, and very crowded with donations! The first day of drop-off we were slammed and at the end of the third day we couldn’t find any more room to display items so just had to leave them wrapped in their boxes and bring them out as other things sold. Every year, with increasing age of all of us gals who participate, it gets just a little harder to pull off. Thankfully, Marc stepped in and helped us set up the heavy tables and came again for cleanup and pack up of the leftovers. One of the main draws to working the rummage is that we volunteers then get first dibs on items that come in and Marc & I made quite a haul this year. Of course, we give a generous donation to the shelter for the items but they all prove very useful to us. Marc's particularly pleased with a chain saw case, binoculars, and a nearly new air fryer which he has been using almost daily, along with his outside grill.  I picked up about seven puzzles, pieces of fabric, some darling ceramic coffee mugs, books, a bird bath, and a silk felted scarf I am cutting up for use in art projects. 

In other news, serendipity came calling about a month ago and a neighbor put up for sale a 2012 VW Passat with 120,000 miles on it. The car is in clean, beautiful shape, one owner, used for long distance commuting (he was a commercial airline pilot out of Chicago), and he had it priced for quick sale $3-4000 under book value. He was asking for cash and after watching several younger parties very interested but not able to come up with the funds, even though we weren’t really looking for a car I told Marc we should jump on it. We took it for a test drive and found it to be a huge step up from our 22-year-old Saturn, so we bought it. It can now become the “winter car” so it takes the roads salt abuse instead of our new Subaru. We put the old gal up for sale out front and she finally sold to a young driver this past weekend. It was a little nostalgic seeing her go; after all, she’s been a member of the family and such dependable transportation for 21 years at very little cost—hard to beat that! Long time readers will remember how long I’ve been driving that thing, ha!

We still seem to have myriad projects awaiting us around the house outside so the jury is out on whether we will be making it up to spend any time at our lake place. I would like to get at least a few weeks there in late summer/early fall if possible. Marc did manage to get up North for a couple days to help his buddy in his job of remodeling a lake cabin his wife inherited recently. What a darling place and such outstanding views! I could sit there for hours, that’s for sure! Northern Wisconsin is filled with thousands of such gems; the amount of water frontage in this state is amazing but what do you expect with over 10,000 lakes and hundreds of rivers? I’ve missed being on ours….

I am switching up my projects for the upcoming online auction in late August for the shelter. Jewelry has been tempting me so I’ve ordered some new stuff to produce more earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I even got a hankering to make paper beads and incorporate them; they are great fun to make using my hand painted papers and some fantastic scrapbook papers I found at Hobby Lobby. Maybe I’ll have some more pictures by the time the next blog rolls around! 

Till next time, be cool like our King of Chaos here: 

Surprise, Surprise!

 

Saturday before Easter, Marc had driven to Appleton to do some shopping and attend a couple hour wood workshop. Around 2 p.m. I heard the back door open and got up to see if I could help, asking “Can I bring some groceries in?” to which he replied “No, I’ve got it.” By this time I was across the room, rounding the corner into the laundry room where the back door enters when out pops my son, Neil! Talk about the surprise of a lifetime; I was dumbfounded I was so shocked as I kept hugging him tightly. It had been since mom’s death in September ’21 since I had seen him and his wife—way too long. 

Neil was due to leave early on Tuesday so we didn’t have a lot of time to do much beyond a tour of the local area; a visit with some of our best friends and meeting our favorite neighbor; a good luncheon out at an old restaurant on one of the chain of lakes; and a special homemade enchilada dinner for Easter—his favorite. 

Marc took advantage of his help to make further progress on the kitchen island by lifting the long, heavy butcher block pieces onto the top for measuring and cutting. It’s still coming along; he’s waiting for weather to warm up so he can spray additional pieces rather than brushing them. It’s functional as is but no where near being finished.

Our weather finally shows some signs Spring won’t be far off and we managed to get the lawn fertilized for the first time in years. Due to off and on rain, we’re still dealing with trying to get the garden soil in shape for planting but our last frost day is May 13^th so I’ve not yet bothered about putting out flowers. I’d say the next week we should be making huge strides on that if our backs can take it.

I’ve been producing quite a few art pieces to hang in the shelter surgery center. 

My new tangent is working with a gelli plate to do pulls of acrylic paint on paper which I then use as backgrounds. It’s great fun but often hit or miss. Looking at a background often gives me ideas of what I want for the art pieces, as in this first one of the bird. The marks lent themselves to suggesting simple flowers. 

I’ve also been coloring my own pieces of fabric to use in more abstract pieces.

 

Am I Losing Interest?

 

(Moon set early a.m.)

In what, you ask? Maybe general life, daily things, this blog. I don’t like the way life has become so much smaller in older age and retirement income. On one hand, my body tells me it’s good to slow down and take it easier but my younger-brain self says there’s still things left undone and I should be more energetic about doing them. The daily barrage of political angst doesn’t do anyone any good either and I’m extremely resentful that what may be some of my best final years have to be constantly colored for the worse by an absolute maniac and his endless-baby daddy-sidekick. 

I give the excuse that Wisconsin winters are hard for trying to accomplish much outside of the confines of four walls and my cabin fever this year was a real thing. I have managed to churn out quite a bit of sewing art though. We’re finally getting a few days where, like turtles, we can stick our heads and necks out and do something under the glorious sun for a few hours of the day but I’m so out of shape my body screams with the effort.

We’re trying to knock the garden back into shape since we plan on spending the entire year here instead of up North. We’ve kept it covered with lumber tarps held down with small pieces of leftover Trex decking material in a futile effort to mitigate the quack grass from totally taking over. A losing battle if there ever was one! We gathered all that up, with the plastic shredding in our hands, for Marc to haul to the dump the other day (800 pounds worth). He bought a burner torch so we can eradicate the dead weeds when they dry out and he has started rototilling. We want to build some beds up high somehow, to prevent having to work at ground level. That’s still in the planning stages of what will be best to use on a limited budget.

The humane society’s latest online auction has come and gone and I contributed 32 items and all but about three sold. The shelter made around $7300, a real shot in the arm for them, out of items folks had donated. Speaking of the shelter, they’ve been very successful at running their low cost spay and neuter clinic from the new building Marc was overseeing last year. They also offer very reasonably priced vaccinations, charging a mere fraction of what a normal vet clinic charges. This has actually now become their prime money-making endeavor so we have to hold less small dollar events in an attempt to raise money. Keep in mind folks, that most Humane Societies are not supported by anything other than a few small grants and loads of donations from people in the communities they serve. If you’re an animal lover they deserve your support once in awhile! 

We took advantage of their services for our feral kitty yesterday and found out it was a female and we got her spayed just in the nick of time. We’ve set up a small shed as her abode, where we provided a heated water bowl and food all winter and a box specially fabricated with a heating pad so she could survive all the minus temps we endured. We’ve now got her locked in the shed for a few days while she heals. We first noticed her hunting her little heart out as a young kitten, trying to stay alive, so we worked to get her to stay on our property. We’ve got plenty of rodents and now that our primary hunter Jerry has passed on, no way to control them, so we hope she sticks around as our “barn kitty”, which is what everyone calls them here. 

Marc continues to slowly work on our kitchen island, the longest woodworking project ever, LOL. We continue to have lots of fun with Buster but have been unable to get him and one of our girls, Spirit, to get along. It presents a lot of stress and aggravation into our daily lives but it should ease a little this summer as we are able to let Spirit outside more. Buster will remain an indoor cat.

(isn't he just the picture of trouble?)

(thankfully Munchkin & Buster get along)

On a final note, as we watch the economy and housing market absolutely turning to shit under Trump, we became delayed with getting our lot on the market. The Realtor we want to use, a very nice and professional man, recently lost his 22-year-old son in a horrific car wreck, so we told him to just take the time he needs to deal with everything and let us know when he’s ready to work again. Although Wisconsin still deals with a lack of inventory, the buyer statistics are sure in meltdown elsewhere in the nation, so we’ve no idea how it will all play out. It will sell at our price or it won’t, and if not, we’ll just continue to own it. 

 

 

Getting It Off My Chest

 

This has been a very trying winter for me; feeling sad. Heavy…rudderless…not knowing what comes next. Of course, I think since the election, many of us are feeling that way. 

I abhor our modern-day politics and won’t make this blog about any of it; people get enough of that bombarded constantly on every source of media they invite into their homes. In fact, that is one of the things I most despise; it’s like there is no where to turn to get away from it all or shut if off. When did this happen that it became like this? Suffice it to say that some of us can see the upcoming implosion and some of us can’t. 

We’re on a mission to simplify our life and essentially just hunker down because we feel the fabric and economy of our society is on the verge. We made the determination to try selling our Northwoods property this year and hope to get it on the market by early spring. Marc still needs to complete the handrails on the new stairway and do some log and tree burning. We’ve not decided as yet whether to set up the RV for occupancy or not. It’s not the easiest thing for him to do as it requires quite a bit of blocking and leveling and him crawling around underneath it. In addition, with our new little kitty as part of the mix, I’m not sure having the three cats in the RV is wise as Spirit does not get along with the new boy Buster whatsoever. It seems easier for me just to remain at home. If I’m honest with myself, it could also be much easier on me because in my heart of hearts, I’m going to miss that place so much it pains me to even think of getting rid of it.  The way the air is always so fresh and pine scented; the call of the loons; the peaceful wonder of gazing at the lake and hearing just the wind in the trees. It’s been beyond belief to own such a slice of magnificence.

From all indications, the market is changing in many parts of the country, but in Wisconsin there is still a shortage of inventory and the Northwoods is unique for the fact that in many cases it’s a second home environment and those buyers usually have money regardless of the economy. It would be wonderful to obtain a quick sale at a price that rewards us for all the hard work we put into it for four years. 

Here on the home front, Marc continues to work slowly on the kitchen island. I’ve slowed down on making my art work as the shelter has enough for two auctions; one of which will occur in late February. I’m looking forward to spring to be able to get outdoors and do some much-needed yardwork catchup and cleanup. This winter has been empty of snow but has been very cold for the most part (minus temps) so it’s become day after day of indoor activities. 

Buster is proving to be a delightful cat and is highly intelligent but is into everything. He’s a counter-surfer extraordinaire so we often have to sequester him in the bedroom while we’re cooking. He’s always up for play and his leg has healed nicely and he’s growing like a weed. Despite how fun he is, I still struggle and grieve over the loss of Jerry. I’ve never felt this depth of loss before with a pet, and it has led to a fairly depressing winter as the other cats fail to make up for missing my boy so deeply.