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.
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!
