Bogieblog

Kitty Cuteness

Just a few pics I've taken over the last couple of weeks

This blanket strip was placed on the floor while the folks were here. I spent days trying to pick it up, but every time I thought of it, one or the other cat was on it. This time they doubled down :) I did eventually get to pick it up a couple of days after the pics were taken (taken 9/6)

On 9/17 I picked up a couple of catnip mice for the kitties.

On 9/18, Rita ventured outside for the first time. Pics are a bit grainy because it was dusk. Rita loves to chase bugs that are on the other side of the glass in the storm door - and she managed to hone in on a bug out on the grass.

Today, I let Rita outside for a few minutes, but I didn't think to get pictures. Later, after she was back inside, she was trying to get me to let her outside to go after the dove. Not that she would have known what to do with it (and the dove probably would win a cage match), but that didn't stop her from really wanting to go after it.

And that concludes today's cuteness quotient.

 

Yearly Fall Ritual

It has been a cool week with highs in the 60's and 70's and lows in the 40's. Tuesday I removed the window fans and closed the windows. By Thursday the house temp was running at 65-66 degrees and I had taken to wearing a sweatshirt in the morning before getting ready for work.

Friday, when I got home from work, I decided to get the main floor stove (P43) ready for firing. I removed the plastic bag from the end of the exhaust (kept moisture and bugs out) and then removed the newspaper that I had stuffed inside the pipe which ensured that even if the bag came off, no critters would enter. Then I vacuumed the entire main floor including behind the pellet stove and getting in the motor and fan openings to remove cat hair and dust bunnies.

Then, still feeling like I should still do something, I mopped the floors and conditioned the hard wood with a mixture of grape seed oil, orange oil and rosemary oil. The rosemary oil was an accident (I was looking at the bottle of orange oil and grabbed the rosemary), but that was okay as it helps take care of any stray fleas that might have made their way inside. Not that I've seen any fleas, and I have kept up with flea treatments for Fuzzy, but it never hurts to be proactive!

The floors are all soft looking and shiny, they are protected from the drying air of the pellet stove, and any roughness my bare feet felt is gone. A good thing as I woke up this morning to hear Birdie shivering. Yes, I actually heard him shivering - he gets the whole cage to vibrating and the bottom grate rattles against the plastic base. So, being the caring pet owner that I am (and being cold myself once I got out from under the blanket), I started the P43 up.

Once it got to to 68 degrees, the stove shut down. It was in the mid 70's so I opened all the windows and let Mother Nature heat the house. Currently 71 and the low is supposed to be in the 60's, so the stove will be off for a while. But it is good that it is ready for the next cold snap.

Biker Chick and her Parents

While Cop Car and her HH were here, they actually got to see one of my motorcycles - they never saw, in person, my previous bikes. Since that Sunday was the monthly HOG meeting, and their hotel was just a couple miles down the same road, I rode over when the meeting was over. After performing some errands, using HH's car, and just prior to heading towards my place, CC told Dad she wanted a pic of him on the bike. And here he is.

 

Of course, they had never seen me ride before, so CC went a little crazy with the pics as they followed me home. She literally took more pictures of me than had previously been taken in total. These are just a sampling of the pics; The first is as I was getting prepared to leave the hotel parking lot, then various places thru the ride home, and finally as I am backing into the driveway.

 

 

 Once home, I had Mom get on the bike for a pic together.

I appreciate that CC shared the pics with me as I have a hard time rotating my FB profile pic since I have so few photos of myself (which I only do a couple times a year) - usually I resort to just pics of my bike. 

Lipizzaner Stallions In Goffstown, NH

While the folks were in town, the Lipizzaner Stallions were performing locally, so we went to see the show. It was at a small arena at a therapeutic riding facility, so we were fairly close to the action. Since I didn't take my camera that has better zoom abilities than my camera, most of my pictures were limited to shots of the horses in their stalls. But that just means I was able to focus on the performance rather than focusing on trying to take pictures - so all was good.

 

Aragorn was the Big Boy of the group. Not only was he taller and more solid, but he held his head very high and proudly throughout the performance.

Apparently one of the horses was in time out - LOL

 

And, the one action shot I got; it was toward the beginning of the show as they were showing a horse being "cart driving" from another horse. Apparently, although appearing to be a simple type maneuver, is challenging to train especially when using all stallions. It was probably even more difficult as they were using a young stallion as the "cart" horse. And this particular horse (Achilles),we were to learn later from the announcer, is full of himself and vying to become the alpha stallion as they had recently retired their alpha and the horses are in the process of sorting out their hierarchy. Additionally, post tropical storm Hermine was off the coast and the pressure change was affecting the horses' attitudes and sensitivities.

Had a great time and I hope the folks enjoyed it too!

90% Done

Mom and Dad came to visit and I put them to work. They moved the vanity base and sink/counter from the basement to the main floor. They wouln't even let me help but to tell them when they needed to watch their footing in the yard. I did bring up the 12" drawer bank up myself, as well as the wall cabinet up, but I felt bad that they did all the heavy work. They just told me that they were used to working together, so I just needed to stay out of the way.

After installing the vanity, we put up the medicine cabinet and wall cabinet (over the commode - for towel storage). I installed the towel bar and towel ring as well as placed the hutch on the counter, and voila - it looks like a new bathroom!

 

 

I still need to put down flooring and replace the commode, but that won't be done for a while. Mom also helped me narrow the flooring choices down to two different patterns/colors/designs (out of about 10 that I had samples of). One is a linoleum, and one is a laminate and either will do a nice job of protecting, beautifying and and adding a textural visual interest.

The sink is still dry and I will probably bring in a plumber to do the hookup to the drain. I also have to install the toe kicks at the bottom of the base cabinets, and reinstall the trim around the doorway (taken off for painting) but those are not something that I need heavy-lifting help for, so I' extremely pleased with the progress made this weekend!