Might Be Enough

Saturday was errand day. Just when I tell myself, "I am done" with this holiday, things rare up and I'm not done, not close to done, not even. In my travels, I saw this item.

That is a one pound Snickers bar. It was on sale for $10. I could make that last a long time.

Slice? Sure. Share? I think not.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

Watching

One thing I noticed on Saturday as I sat on the deck. The birds were not out singing in the yard until around 10. I thought this unusual but perhaps I've not paid as much attention to the sounds in the yard as I should. There used to be a robin, perhaps I've talked about him before, who would sing at the crack of dawn outside my bedroom window. Robins are loud, particularly at 5:15 a.m. when you're trying to sleep. I have not heard that robin this year but then, the windows have been closed to keep the air conditioned air inside. He might still be singing but I'll not hear him.

I like to just listen to the outdoors which is why I noticed the absence of bird calls. The cicadas are out in full force and I think, like a lot of things, that's early this year. That was the predominant noise from 8:30 to 11, when I went inside. The birds didn't make an appearance until around 10. It started with a couple of cardinals calling across the yard. I'm not sure where the other male was but I could hear him. I like hearing the call of the one in my trees and then the response of the other one trying to make inroads into territory by calling. I'm not sure how they decide which one of them has won a "sing off". This went on for an hour. Then the chickadees showed up.

There were 3 of them. At first, I thought they were "yelling" at one of the cats. It was how I knew where my other cats who were allowed to go outside at will, were within the yard. You just had to listen for the chickadees. I realized, however, there was not a cat outside. So what were they "chick-a-dee-dee-deeing" at. Looking up at the birds hopping around in the tree off the deck, I realized one of them was female. AHA! It was comical to watch the males hopping around, trying to impress her with song and agility. Eventually, they spotted me watching them and they all took off for the trees at the back of the yard.

I've noticed a distinct lack of grackles this year. I'm not complaining. They are very messy birds and intimidating to smaller ones. The lack of them means the chickadees and finches and sparrows have a more pleasant environment. In spite of the messy robins, the bird bath is cleaner because there are no grackles. There are a couple of cardinals and several chickadees who use the bath. They are too fast for me to photograph, however.

Perhaps the absence of song is a relation to the heat. It must be hard to forage for food and sing when it's hot and humid. I hope my keeping the bird bath clean keeps native birds in the yard.

And about the photo at the top. There's a cardinal in the bushes. A spot of red in a sea of green.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

I Might Have to Buy Another Chair

Yesterday was the perfect morning to have breakfast on the deck.

I'm not sure what it was about the morning, but, when I got up, it just felt like I should be outside. I opened the back door and stepped out. It was in the upper 70's. I dressed, made myself a bowl of cereal and sat on my deck enjoying the morning. This is the first day since power washing, planting, staining, planting, scrubbing, and painting that I have been able to just sit on the deck. When my cereal was finished, I brought out the scissors and deadheaded the flowers. I probably should prune the geraniums back a bit, particularly the pink one, but I think I'll wait until August. 

There was a lot that went into the compost bin, but the flowers look fresh and nice and they have a lot of buds on them so there will be more flowers this coming week.

I decided the morning deserved cross-stitch. I brought my project to the deck, made myself some tea and commenced stitching. Eventually, the girls decided to come outside, too. The first forays onto the deck included going down the stairs to the yard which is a no-no. All I had to do was say the name and "no" and the offender dashed up the stairs and back into the house. They know. They just want to see if I'm paying attention.

Pilchard came out first, after being shoed inside once for attempting to go down the stairs. It took a bit of persuasion but she hopped up into the other chair.

The whole chair was given a thorough sniffing and then, viola, she settled down.

I love the position of the ears. It's the familiar, "Must you take a photo of EVERYTHING I do" look. She stayed with me for about 20 minutes and then the novelty wore off and she went back inside. That was Mija's cue to come out and take a look around.

Sometimes I wonder what they smell. Their highly developed olfactory sense means almost everything has a scent. They just tune out what isn't important. I'm not sure a raccoon, for instance, hasn't been on the chair. It's entirely possible that it came up on the deck and climbed up into the chair looking for food. Perhaps it's another cat, although I would have seen that face they make when they've smelled another cat. They both gave the chair a thorough sniffing, legs, arms, seat and back.

Mija didn't lie down. She sat there for about 10 minutes watching for birds and bugs and swatting at the flies that would land on the chair next to her. She actually wanted my lap a couple of times in the 2 1/2 hours we were outside.

So this pleasant interlude causes me to wonder. If I bought another chair, would they each claim one and then settle down for a time? I think being outside in the fresh air is good for them and, as long as they stay on the deck, we can do this. Perhaps another Saturday morning experiment is in order. These chairs will be dirt cheap after Labor Day. Storage might be a problem, getting them in the storage container.

We went inside when the sunshine had covered half of the deck. The day was heating up as well. It was delightful and a purr-fect way to start.

Beverage:  African Rooibos tea

Deb

And there was a knock on the door at 9 a.m.

I'm still in bed, mind you. I've been needing sleep all week for obvious reasons. I'm not sleeping well at night and it's been terribly hard to get up in the morning because, honestly, there's no reason to hop out of bed. No one is demanding my presence. No one has attempted to take a bite out of my chin. No one has drooled on my face or meowed in my ear. I'm sleeping in today.

So who is knocking on my door at 9?

I was worried. What if it was Zeke coming over to say he would be mowing my lawn? I would be horribly embarrassed to get out of bed right now. I heard a vehicle drive away. That was double suspicious. I pulled the covers up around my chin and lay there as quietly as I dared.

After about 15 minutes with no more discernable noises from the front steps, I got up and cautiously opened the front door. FedEx left a sticky. There was a package on the front steps.

Now, I ordered more tea and I ordered TechTools for Mac. My Mac has been running slow lately and Perry suggested I get TechTools and defragment the hard drive. That's probably a very good idea. MacMall had it for $20 less than buying through the Apple Store. (I know that's a duh, but I did check. Comparison shopping is something I just do instinctively.) I did not remember paying for next day shipping, but I might have.

I opened the front door, mindful that I'm in my pajamas. There are some things the neighbors just don't need to see. Oh look what's on the front step.

TEA! It's my tea order. I don't remember paying for FedEx delivery for that, either, but hey, this is very important, particularly if it's going to continue to feel like early October instead of August.

So I brought the box inside.

Yesterday, I ordered pizza for supper. Yes, dear readers, Pam's taking me for dinner made me actually get something other than peanut butter M&M's for supper. I also got garlic breadsticks and a 2 liter of Coke with the pizza. There was plenty left for today's lunch AND supper. I also took the Italian sausage links out of the freezer. I think I have pasta that if I crumble these and cook them, I can have a sausage and pasta supper. I could, in fact, cook again. I know you're sitting down so I can say that without you fainting dead away.

I opened the box and there was my order. No, I have no idea how the Scottish Blend tastes. I ordered it because it was on sale. I'm generally not fond of green tea but "Gunpowder Green" has a bite to it that I like. It, too, was on sale. And, at the far right is the Huckleberry tea I've grown rather fond of. This might be enough, with all the flavors you can just see behind these three, to last through Christmas when I might get more, not that I'm hinting or anything.

This was worth getting out of bed for. I expect the software Monday or Tuesday. I know defragmenting the hard drive is a major event so I may be out of pocket for a day, at least. But if it removes the lag, I certainly have the tea to drink while I go do something else.

Beverage: Assam

Deb