Watching paint dry...

Who said it was boring? I can't imagine a better way to spend a beautiful May afternoon.



It seems like a number of the most unpleasant tasks I've been putting off were sitting on my front porch. The bird poop on the cushions of my porch chairs. The unpainted stand I picked up alongside the road for free. The pile of kitten-pooped towels that need to be shaken out and washed. The porch table that needs to be moved out of Molly's reach so she doesn't climb up it, launch herself off over the rail, and hang herself (which she nearly did the other day. Dogs! Stupid humans--me!)

I've been ignoring them all for awhile.

I took a great course in college with Richard Creel. It was on B.F. Skinner and how all we were (as selves) a product of our environment, period. When we discussed whether or not free will could exist in such a state, Dr. Creel pointed out that you could choose to change your environment, and therefore change yourself.

;)

So if I am not completing Task A, B, and C, the thing to do is undertake Task D, which will force me to complete the first three.

So today I picked up a gallon of green semi-gloss porch paint and...painted the porch.

Which meant the poopie towels had to be picked up, the table moved, the cushions may as well get scrubbed off, etc.

So here I sit an hour later, watching paint dry.

And yes, that is my glass of wine on the railing that I have painted out of my reach. And no, I did not wade through the garden to fetch it from the other side. I did indeed pour myself another little glass of wine.

Because I am, at heart, a lazy girl. And I really want to enjoy watching my paint dry.

Open Gardens this summer

I marked these on my calendar so I'd have one less postcard floating around my kitchen, and thought I'd share it here as well. There will be Open Garden days in Tompkins County on June 13th and July 11th. You can learn more here.

I'll probably go to the Michigan Hollow garden. I've been meaning to for years. And hey, they have a more extensive site here, with more description of the gardens.

Spring is finally here

The garden is cranking out rhubarb, so I've put some out at the farm stand for sale. If it doesn't sell--it's not like we get a lot of traffic here--I'll cut it up and freeze it. I made a rhubarb strawberry crisp at Mother's Day. Mmmmmm...there really is nothing better than rhubarb.



Bear has come to terms with the dog outdoors. He has learned to avoid getting decapitated by the cable Molly is clipped out on, and he has learned that the best way to avoid getting "puppied" is to just walk head-on toward her without pausing. That puts her on her guard. Shy nervous cats are more fun to chase! So while life is still "interesting" inside the house, at least outside all is calm.

Spring also means dining outside. I have a shaker basket that works great for veggies, so tonight I looked in the fridge and freezer, dumped in some leftover chicken, frozen shrimp, and frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and broccoli, tossed it with some dressing and a little coriander pesto, and threw it on the grill.



It was more than I needed, so Bear got some pieces of grilled chicken, and Molly cleaned up the plate. Well, except for the green beans. It was clear green beans were not a hit. But broccoli and cauliflower? Cool!

After seven days of treating Molly's eye with a mild ointment, I think it's time for a trip to the vet. I'm concerned there may be an eyelash irritation issue going on there. We'll let the vet decide.



Bear was rather appalled at the unfair distribution and stared intently as Molly cleaned the plate.



Fall used to be my favorite time of year, but I think spring has overtaken it. Perhaps the proximity of winter to fall has something to do with it. Both, however, are so fleeting. But this is the perfect place to enjoy every season.

Right now my side yard sums up my life. Cat under the picnic table, dog by the porch, lawn mower ever-present, house that needs constant tending, but all in a setting that makes it totally worth it.

Sundays.

Well, I was about to post one of those posts I probably would have deleted the next day. I'll save some time and delete it now. In fact, I didn't even finish it. Such an improvement from a year ago!

I painted three more sections of fence, cleaned some more junk out of the barn and the upstairs, ran into town to buy a bag of food for the Fast Food Ferals and refilled their secure food can, came home, mowed some more lawn and put away the tarps that were over the woodpiles for the winter, burned the yard sticks in the firepit, and sat with a glass of wine and contemplated the flames for awhile.

I'm looking forward to Memorial Day 2010. I figure if I feel this much better after a year, I'll feel positively giddy after two.

I think it may be time for cake. I need some cheering up.

I finally made that chocolate cake...

Well, cupcakes, that is. I love unfrosted chocolate cake in the morning, but if I make a cake, half of it goes uneaten. I can haul some cupcakes off to the neighbors or a friend and not waste them. Although I'm sure other people would prefer theirs frosted.

I was sitting here planning my day tomorrow, and it occurred to me that the Sunday paper, coffee, and chocolate cake would start things out perfectly.

Waaaay too many things to get done tomorrow!

Last night I watched a movie at midnight. Tonight I made cake!

Is midnight fun time?

Well, after work I finished up the photo albums (except for printing off my Key West photos to add) and scraped and painted two sections of fence. Ten more to go! I took a half hour to sit on the porch with Molly and a glass of wine. Once the sun inched toward the horizen, Molly and I drove into Ithaca to Petsmart to get KMR for the kittens. I was entirely out, so there was no waiting until Saturday.

Molly loves Petsmart. She snarls and barks at the big dogs and doesn't seen to understand why they are then reluctant to make friends. She LOVES the kids. Loves, loves, loves the kids. And the parents love her...this cute soft little wiggly dog. I need to make sure I keep her nails clipped. Molly made up to a toddler that looked to be about three, and a young man who may have been learning disabled. Dad told the young man to get right down on the floor with her, and indeed he did, cuddling with Molly the entire time I was checking out.

I made her a tag with their annoying engraving machine. Now she jingles very loudly with both a tag and her license. Ugh. Hate that.

I've discovered that having a dog is a bit of a guy magnet! I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm actually interested, LOL!

When I got home it was:

Walk Molly
Put away the bird feeders
Take care of the cat facility, including dumping cat boxes as tomorrow is trash day
Dump cat boxes in the house
Vacuum
Feed the kittens
Feed the cats
Feed Molly
Clean the kitchen.
Ignore the pile of trash by the door as I'm too tired to haul it all down to the trash cans by the barn, and raccoons will rip it open if I put it on the porch.

I was looking forward to watching a Netflix movie tonight, as I need something to make me laugh. But now it's midnight!

Do I watch it, or go to bed?

(Post-note: I watched it!)

The sun is back

After a one-day hiatus, the sun is back. Which means the lawn, happily watered by yesterday's rain, will leap up another few inches under today's rays.

The wonders of wireless means I can use the laptop on the porch. It's OK for blogging, but the glare on the screen makes it too difficult to work, so I'll be headed back inside. Molly doesn't understand why Bear won't play.





After a few attempts, and a good swat from Bear, she gives up to go dig holes under the pine tree at the foot of the steps, leaving the porch to Bear and myself.

We are clearly too boring for a puppy whose morning walk is never long enough!

I'm almost done with photos. I have two large piles left to go, so I went to pick up another album. When I got there, the type of album I am using was almost all gone, so I purchased two. That should take care of the next few years of new photos.

It's awfully nice to just be able to put new photos right into an album rather than have them kick around loose for...decades. Yet another time-and-clutter saver.



So that's the schedule for the weekend: Finish photos, mow the lawn (as always), scrape and paint the front fence, take trash to the transfer station, catch some kitties at the track, clean the house, feed kittens...

Another task off the list

When work ended today I grabbed Molly and her tie-out and headed over to the barn with a paint brush and a can of red stain to finish the bottom third of the barn.

Done.

Molly, however, unwilling to just lay down, got herself liberally covered with stain. Thank goodness it was latex. She has received her first bath and is a blonde dog once again. She doesn't like it much, but she was pretty good, with no tendency to nip. I'm sure that will make Nancy happy, as I plan on getting her baths at The Grooming Room now and then.

However she became absolutely psycho with happiness once it was over. I finally took her out to the tall grass where she had to make huge leaps to make progress, in order to wear her out. I'm not sure I succeeded, but her brain seems to have engaged again, at least.

So "paint barn" is off the list. "Scrape and paint fence" is next!

What would I do without Craigslist?

I'm still cleaning out the lower barn. A lot of bulk has been trash, metal, or tires, all of which I could take care of at the Solid Waste Transfer station. Some is wood, which can be stacked elsewhere.

But what to do with six buckets of coal?

Craiglist. And who knew someone would drive all this way for six buckets of coal? I was swamped with responses within just a few hours.

The barn is full of nooks and crannies like this one below. A recycling mug that's been out there for years. Wash or toss? A duck candle holder. Huh. Wedges, which I'm sure Mark will want when he comes to claim the last of his stuff. Rubber gloves that will likely disintegrate when I touch them. It's all quite depressing, going through stuff another human squirreled away.



But then something makes you smile. I was grabbing a wedge (to use to pry open a five-gallon bucket to see if it was yet another bucket full of coal. It was), and a little wren burst out of this nest over my hand. I hadn't even seen it there.



So this particular nook of clutter will remain unmolested for awhile longer until the little ones feather out and fly away.

Out of sadness, the sweetest things emerge.

By the time I finished this, the buckets of coal were gone. Adios, coal. Thank-you, Craigslist.

Morning walk

Whereupon Susan adds a canine to the mix

I was returning a crate to a Waverly resident when she pointed out a little dog tied up in an adjacent back yard. The family, she told me, was expecting another child and wished to find another home for the pup. The dog was digging under the fence and would come over for attention. Therefore they'd resorted to tying her when she was outside to keep her from wandering.

I've been thinking about getting a dog at some point, but I had in mind an older shelter dog. I'm not opposed to getting a dog via re-homing...after all, that's what we tell "responsible" people to do--to rehome a dog they don't wish to keep, rather than dumping it on a shelter. I made this mistake of mentioning that I was thinking of getting a small dog that could travel with me.

Later last week I got an email from the Waverly resident. Apparently the dog owners had seen us looking and had come over to talk to her. She told them of my interest in the dog, and they said they'd be around this weekend. So after I hauled trash to the Barton transfer station Saturday a.m., I went over to visit.

It was sort of a done deal. We took Molly over to Dian's apartment to check her out. She's higher energy than I was looking for, but she had no problem having her ears and feet handled. She's totally untrained as as commands go, but it was clear she was intelligent. She was a bit mouthy. I took her for a drive around the block in my truck, and although it seemed she was not used to vehicles, she was fine with it. So I went over to tell the owners I would take her. It was just a matter of them handing me her records and swapping email addresses. That was so odd to me, given that I'm so paranoid about to whom my kittens go to, but Dian said she had told them I would give a good home.

The records indicated they'd taken the pup to the vet a couple of times, as a good owner ought, and the owner related how they'd adopted their other dog from the local shelter and then nursed her through parvo (!!!!! - not so many new puppy owners succeed at that), complete with a $700 vet bill, so I was reassured.

As soon as I got home with Molly I noticed the phone message telling me there was a nest of kittens at the stables, so she was thrown right back into the passenger seat for her first field trip.

Given that the little dog has been pulled from her home, and stuffed in a household full of cats with a woman who quietly insists on her sitting before getting a treat or going out the door, won't let her jump on the bed, crates her at night (she's pretty good!), and doesn't let her leap up and lick her face, she's doing fairly well. My dog experience is pretty limited. I didn't want to overwhelm her with rules before she was bonded to me, but on the other hand, I don't want her to think it's OK to do certain things and then try to tell her later that it's not.

The cats are NOT happy. Thank goodness for great big Bear, who does not run away, and gave the pup a good smack when she got too enthusiastic. Bear also runs after Molly when Molly runs after the other cats, and indeed gave her another trouncing when she made Owlie squawl in distress after being cornered. The cat chasing is a bit of a concern. You can hardly blame the pup for chasing a creature that insists on running away. Owlie may have to go out to the cat facility, as the other cats stand their ground and I don't want Molly thinking it's fun to chase cats. Owlie on the other hand insists on coming downstairs, staring at Molly with great big eyes and an arched back, and then running like the wind when Molly steps toward her. Not good! I'd chase him too!

Luckily Molly also doesn't mind being clipped out on the porch. I'm introducing crating and clipping slowly. I don't want her to see these as punishment, but I also don't want the cats feeling they are prisoners in their own house. I'm sure they'll be very happy when Molly and I leave on errands today. The weather is cool, so I can leave her in the truck when I go in stores.

I introduced her to the neighbor's big lab, and she was a bit stupid. The lab was pushy, and Molly started being pushy back---not so smart when you only weigh 10 pounds! But they shortly became used to one another.

I picked up an extend-a-leash, and discovered that her energy means a longer and faster walk for me in the morning. Sadly, I'm certain I'll never be able to let her off-leash. I'm sure once she saw a rabbit break, she'd be in the next county. I'll work a lot on "come" with treats on the extend-a-leash and in the fenced garden. Maybe once she slows down with age I may be able to let her off up on the hill. We'll see.

I think she and I will be the perfect match...in about two years!

I guess I'd better sit down and read my Adopted Dog Bible.

PostNote: I've read her vet records and her name was actually "Mallie." Well, she's Molly now. I've got enough of a central NY accent that Mallie sounds quite hick coming out of my mouth!