“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
Already the day has been a long one for me. First I had blood drawn for which I had to fast. Having no morning coffee meant I was caught in Dante’s circles of hell. I’m think it was the fifth. Next stop was the library and returning books, but that was pleasant and I got four more books. After that was an hour of PT, and I’m tired. My knee hurts which is weird as I go to PT for my back. My last stop was to prove I am alive. I had to have a form notarized to send to the retirement board. That was my favorite stop. It was my bank where I got the form notarized, and I had a cup of coffee and a donut before I left. My mood changed after the coffee and I am almost pleasant.
The sun is shining. The sky has patches of blue. It feels warm even though it is just 16˚. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s heat wave. It should reach 31˚. I’m thinking my Hawaiian shirt and my clam diggers, which to Mary Tyler Moore were Capri pants, but that sounds far too fancy for my wardrobe. Too bad the deck is still filled with snow. I could lounge.
This winter has given me several days of indolence. I don’t really need an excuse to be lazy, but I’ve use this winter anyway. Most people nod their heads in agreement when I say things like I’m stuck inside as the roads aren’t plowed or there’s no reason to get dressed as I can’t go anywhere anyway. Last week I think I drove 28 miles. A tank of gas lasts seemingly forever.
My animals are older now. The cats are 16 and the dog turned 9 last November which is older than any of my other boxers were. Gracie’s muzzle and the fur around her eyes are totally grey as is some of the fur on her back. She is, however, really active and still feisty and loves to play fetch. The cats nap their lives away, but that’s what cats do. Every now and then they show a spark of kitten and attack string or ribbon. There hasn’t been a dead mouse in a while, but I’m hoping it is because there are no mice except in the cellar where there are always mice but the cats don’t go there.
I had a busy morning. I’m thinking it is almost nap time. You know how it is in winter!
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
February 24, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Warm again today but a nasty wind destroys the feeling óf spring today. Still long to spring though but I like the feeling 🙂
The day passed so quickly! I was working in the neighbor factory today and had to go back to my ordinary work place long before I had painted everything, they had messed things up so I couldn’t paint all I really should. I’ll go there on Thursday again and I don’t mind. The job itself is boring as h… but it is something else to do and I get to go outside to enjoy what ever kind of weather we’re having 🙂
So Your cats are that old! The worlds oldest cat is actually Swedish and became 30 last week and still going strong 🙂 Hector and Orvar is on their eleventh year, Nova on her sixth and Sune on his third. I think my cats are five by now, can’t remember when they moved here 🙂
Have a great day and enjoy that nap!
Christer.
February 24, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Christer,
The wind is worst than the cold. It is usually biting in every season except summer.
It is great when the day goes by so quickly you’re surprised when it’s over. Working somewhere else helps as well.
Boxers have a lifespan of only 8-10 years. As my other boxers died when they were 8, I watched Gracie so much I think I made her paranoid. She seems really healthy except for that irregular heart beat.
My last two cats were 15 and 17 when they died. I got both of them from the animal rescue league when they were five.
It was a great nap!!
Have a wonderful evening.
February 24, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Glad to read that you are proven alive and not a zombie 🙂
Enjoy your well-deserved nap!
Soccer radio evening here with appropriate dinner, pizza for Turin/Italy and beer for the local team.
February 24, 2015 at 4:26 pm
Birgit,
It was quite a relief I can tell you!
The nap was perfect. I read a bit of one of the books I just got and then Gracie and I slept for a couple of hours.
I don’t know enough about soccer to listen to it on the radio. I have enough trouble when I watch it.
February 25, 2015 at 9:44 am
Birgit, Try to catch the League Cup Final on Sunday between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. I will be at Wembley cheering them on. Match is at 4.00 pm GST
Got to go to Heathrow, Got to go to Heathrow – Yea.
February 25, 2015 at 10:34 am
Hedley, I’ll try and hope to hear joyful Tottenham cheers. Come on You Spurs! Have a good trip and fun!
February 24, 2015 at 4:34 pm
Hi Kat,
Capris are definitely for people with comparatively long legs and weight in proportion to height. I am not in that category. Mine would be clam diggers or even pedal pushers. Actually, because I am short legged, mine look like normal pants. 🙂
This winter is tiring. That’s the only word for it. Maybe tiresome would be a better word but something with tired in it because that’s what I am.
The fake flower that I stuck in the snow bank is solar powered. It glowed purple all night. I smiled.
Enjoy the nap and the rest of the day.
February 24, 2015 at 4:49 pm
Hi Caryn,
The nap was quite refreshing. Both Gracie and I enjoyed our naps.
I always keep trying to pull the legs down, same with 3/4 sleeves. I don’t do well with either.
I too am tired. Now a few more inches of snow are coming. I am beyond reacting.
I like that flower. I have the lights on the deck and my lit palm tree and have the same reaction as you do.
I’m awake and have been for a while. Gracie is back to napping.
Enjoy the evening.
February 25, 2015 at 12:33 pm
I was looking at the fake flower this morning and discovered that it is in fact a fake butterfly. Made me smile even more. 🙂
February 25, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Caryn,
I used to have a few of those in my yard. I always looked out the door at them when it got dark. They made me smile too.
February 24, 2015 at 6:49 pm
Once again I left home early this morning before the traffic got bad. I got home in record time so many people stayed home. Fortunately the freeways and main roads were very clear except for a few patches of ice on the side streets. Tomorrow there is a possibility of having to put up with three to four inches of snow. That doesn’t sound bad after the past few weeks in the North East. However, the city of Dallas only bought a couple of snow plows after the 2010 Super Bowl disaster. 🙂
I hate having blood drawn especially after fasting because I have terrible veins and needles I hate needles.
February 24, 2015 at 7:16 pm
Bob,
We here do get a chuckle out of how a tiny bit of snow shuts down the entire south. I know you have too little equipment, but we laugh mostly at the drivers because they have no idea how to drive on snow.
I take a blood thinner so I have blood drawn around once a month but for that I don’t have to fast. Today was for testing before I see my cardiologist. I have never been bothered by needles. The only shot which brought me to my knees was the rabies shot we hot when we first got to Ghana. Everyone’s knees buckled from that one.
February 24, 2015 at 8:53 pm
Wow a rabies shot? I thought that the rabies vaccine is only administered after an animal bite. Did you knees buckle from the needle or from the vaccine?
When it only snows once every couple of years what can you expect in the South? I was in Toronto in November when they got an inch or so of snow and wrecks were everywhere. When I asked my coworkers why so many accidents, they responded that people can’t remember how to drive in snow from one year to the next. 🙂
February 24, 2015 at 9:02 pm
Bob,
It was a day of shots and vaccines. I think we had five or six shots plus oral polio vaccine. We walked in a line beside a table where shot givers sat. The guy in front of me barely flinched when he got the shots, but his knees buckled from the rabies shot. I said nope when it was my turn. I had no choice. The vaccine in the shot hurt so much it was like the strongest man in the world had hit my arm with a sledge hammer. I hadn’t flinched much at the other shots, but when my knees buckled, the guy behind me said nope.
I know about drivers unused to snow. It just makes me laugh watching them slip and slide. I don’t hope for accidents or injuries, but the rest of it is funny.
February 25, 2015 at 12:03 am
Shared this on your Facebook page, but thought some of the KTCC gang might enjoying reading about these treats from Ghana.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/24/388462941/house-of-carbs-a-big-ball-o-carbohydrates-is-good-eating-in-ghana
February 25, 2015 at 12:58 am
im6,
I ate many a bowl of fufu and soup. Fingers often got broken because as one person, usually a woman, pounded the food with a pestle another woman sitting on a small stool turned the food in the mortar. There had to be a rhythm between them or fingers could get broken. In the mornings, you could hear the pounding all over the villages.
Where I lived in the far north, the main food was t-zed (short for tuwon zafi) It was also gelatinous and eaten with soup but it differed from fufu. It was usually made from millet and dropped in hot water where it formed into more of a circle than a ball.
This is a great article about eating fufu. It was always something that just slid down your throat.
February 25, 2015 at 9:58 am
No Hula Hoops ?
February 25, 2015 at 11:02 am
MDH,
I am lost with this one.
February 26, 2015 at 4:57 am
Love your blog. I never miss it, though I seldom reply.
Winter is mild in Holland, but most of the time it is dull and gray. You’d probably love it under the circumstances. I don’t think we ever had a winter after 1638 (it’s in the books) that prevented us from going out at all. Still, when boredom strikes me once again, your blog is a light.
This month we already see the snowdrops blossoming to herald that spring is just around the corner. The shrubs already threaten to burst out of their winters cover.
Wishing you a quick thaw,
Bert
February 26, 2015 at 10:31 am
Hello Bert,
When I was young, I read Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. That gave me the impression that the dikes and rivers freeze and you have a cold, cold winter. I am glad you don’t but does Hans do?
I have been there but only in the spring when your country was filled with color and flowers were everywhere. It was a delight.
My snowdrops are also among the first to appear and bloom, but right now they are under 3 or more feet of snow. It has been so cold the snow just doesn’t melt but rather seems to harden.
I wish hold on to your wish we have a quick thaw!!
Thanks for your visits and thanks for your comment!
February 27, 2015 at 4:35 am
Dear Kathy,
I’m sorry to have to inform you that Hans Brinker is a total figment of imagination.Still, someone scored well with that story. It helped painting a picture of Holland as a country of cheese, tulips and an idiot with his finger in a dike.
As a child I lived in the centre of Amsterdam and I remember one winter when the canals were frosen. One could even skate under the bridges, a notoriously dangerous spot usually. Nowadays it never happens. For really strong winters you can google Avercamp, a 17th century painter, famous for his icescapes. These are still very popular.
When it starts freezing a fever breaks out in Holland, because everyone speculates about the chances that we get the 11-cities tour, a skating match in Friesland of 200 km’s. Last time it took place is already 25 years ago. Probably global warming.
Today is sunny, 45 degrees and making me happy. I’ll be going to Leiden today to buy a Japanese vase. I love all art from Japan. They must have very small hands to make such intricate objects.
Have a good day.
February 27, 2015 at 10:57 am
Bert,
I knew Hans was fiction, but I did think the ice was real and it happened every winter. The tulips I did see when I was in Holland during the springtime.
I was young when I read that book, but it made me want to go see Holland with the rivers and the bridges and the towns along the waterways. IT also made me want to avoid winter there.
I have read about the skating match in Friesland. It’s too bad that the event doesn’t happen often enough.
45˚ is a perfect winter temperature. Good hunting for the perfect case!