I've been running the mini splits for main floor heat when the outside temps are conducive (which can mean anything including how windy it is or how cold I "feel"). Friday was one of those days. The basement pellet stove must not have run for a while so Spot found a new warm place to hang out for a while.
Random pics of the critters I've taken over the last week
I scrubbed Birdie and Ziva's cages last weekend. Unfortunately I only remembered to take a picture of Birdie. They love to take a shower while I'm cleaning the wire part of the cages
Rainey checking out the garden gnome eating cat that I brought in from the garden this week. It was sitting on top of the cat pen drying out from the frost
Spot in the basement ceiling. She can get to the wood in the overhead bin by jumping on the clothes washer first. Sorry the pics are fuzzy, it is fairly dark and she kept moving.
Oh, and this egg was overly eager to become scrambled for my breakfast. The cats are not interested in eggs, so it was a total waste and pain to clean up.
I've complained about needing to replace at least one fence panel for years. It has been beset from several directions:
Each time it was taken down I straightened it the best I could. I started looking for fence panels from local stores last September (the first bear transgression). Single panels were not to be found and I was unwilling to buy an entire kennel plus delivery charges. I did find a company to build me a center support pipe - and that was j-u-s-t enough to keep it from collapsing over the winter (that and the dearth of snow storms so the roof didn't dump much). But with the last attack, there was no way that panel was going to stay up, and it would probably take down the gate with it.
So, now that I have a trailer, I have been looking hard to replace the fence panel. Of course I needed a 10' long x 6' tall panel to fit in the existing spot. Agway no longer even had kennels, nor could they get any. A guy in Concord wants $200/panel. Considering I could get a 10x10x6 kennel (4 panels) for $425 at the local Tractor Supply (they had two in stock), I declined. I wanted to get an extra panel for back up, but if I was going to spend that much, I might as well go for the whole enchilada.
I never realized how many different sizes of fencing there are until I searched CL and FBM - rarely were they the size I was looking for. I found several 8'x6' and 12'x6' panels along with a whole bunch that were shorter than 6' tall. Then there was a guy selling 2 panels of the right size at $123/each. I contacted him but he was unwilling to wait until the weekend for me to pick them up (I don't blame him, he had willing buyers. I was an hour away and unwilling to drive in the dark trying to find a place I've never been to, towing a trailer that I suck at backing up). I was seriously going to just get a kennel from TSC. Then on Wednesday, I saw an almost brand new 10x10x6 kennel on FBM for $300. I contacted the seller and said I could pick it up any time this weekend. And joy - the seller agreed to hold it!
After looking at the weather forecast, I arranged to pick it up today. The rain stopped just before I left this morning, the guy helped me load it up (thank goodness for the stake sides since the trailer is only 8' long). When I got home I unloaded the panels and used the 4-wheel wagon to haul the single panel to where it was needed. I asked the neighbor lady to help me by stabilizing the old panel while I removed the bolts/brackets. Then put the new panel up.
Here is the sad sack panel I replaced
And the new panel in its place
The reason I decided to pick up the fence today instead of yesterday.
And yay for having not only extra panels if needed, the gate panel next to the replaced panel has been tweaked/twisted each time the other panel was take out. Although it seems to be okay for now, you never know.
So having the trailer not only saved me $125 off the list price of the kennel, it saved whatever the delivery cost (which I'm not even sure that the local TSC delivers). And hey, now I can let Rita out if we have any nice days - poor kitty has been cooped in the house for over a year.
I jest, this is the sum total of peppers that my 3 plants produced. And even there I exaggerate, 2 of the pepper plants lived about 1/2 the season and just died for no apparent reason. That is 1/2 a sheet of paper, not a full sheet
These were picked after the first frost which was 10/24/21. Yes, that is a late frost, the 2nd latest ever that missed out at top spot by one day. My area will not have snow in October, which is hit or miss here. Some years we get 20"+, some years just a few flakes, and some years none at all.
The Nor'Easter was no problem in my neck of the woods. I had already recorded about 3/4" of rain from the periodic rain the two days before it hit. I saw light winds and another inch of precipitation dorm the Nor'Easter. It affected people mainly on the coast and south of NH from what I can tell.
And I will end this post with cute kitty pictures. Even following direction from Typepad for turning pictures, since apparently as a pay site it is too tough for them to figure out how to do it automatically, they still show up sideways :(. However, if you click on the sideways pics, the pop-up will show them correctly. Seriously, I expect better since they post just fine on a volunteer run, free, no-ad site.
Spot in the first two pics, Rainey in the next two, then Rita, and the two youngest in/near a rare sunbeam this past week.
The neighbor's cats hang out in my yard all the time (pictures taken 8/31/21). These cats live across the street behind my house.
On 9/3/21, I saw this
Although the cats "can" get into the fenced area, I've made it so they have to work at it and they haven't been inside this summer (that I am aware of). Actually, this is the only cat that has done so - its buddy hasn't and the other neighborhood cats have not either. IDK, maybe it was looking for Rita, which I have not let out this year. Spot was intrigued and the "not my cat" stayed there until Rainey showed up a minute later. Rainey's face always shows such an attitude, that I don't blame the "not my cat" for skedaddling.
Yesterday after doing some laundry, I draped a towel over the cats pen to dry. This towel is normally folded up and set up on one side of the pen for the Rainey to lay on while the stove is running. Later, I noticed Rainey had pulled the towel for better padding made herself comfortable. You can tell in the pictures that I disturbed her sleep :)
Looking at the last picture, you can see a bit of drywall work that I have finally started to cover the full length hole between the living room and the stairway. I had a partial piece of sheet rock leaned up against the lower portion to keep the cats from using it as well as to keep the cold air from the A/C going to the lower portion of the house. That piece of sheet rock was not used as it was a different thickness from the rest of the wall. A couple of months ago I tore out the arch in the doorway.Then someone came in to add the outlet you can see as well as to upgrade the outlet in the stairs (from 2 wire to 3 wire). The green piece is leftover from another project. I still have one piece of sheet rock to go in the stairs - the very top piece that I can't reach to screw in. Plus, cover up the studs that can still be seen, but I'm leaving those openings. Wish I could have kept the opening on the left to make it more balanced, but an electrical wire goes from the basement to the attic thru that section at a diagonal, so that was not to be.
Goodness knows how long it will take me to finish this up as it only took 6-7 years just to get this far :)
Last Sunday I was moving pellets from the garage into the basement. In order to be able to keep the door open, I put the youngsters in "jail". Spot had actually just gone in the pen to take a nap and when I closed the door, Rainey came to investigate. I opened the door back up and encouraged her to go in, and she obliged.
Rita of course, could be contained by closing the baby gate (if the guy ever decides to come by and install the new electrical outlets with new wiring, I could think about getting sheet rock to install on that wall :)
Yesterday the youngsters were intent on something outside, most likely birds. Spot is on top. I have never seen Rainey get up on the stove but she likes to stand on the register cover to look out when she isn't in one of the bay windows. She has to take a break every so often, take a walk around the room, then get back in position.
This picture was taken last Saturday, but it could have been taken a couple of weeks ago, or even yesterday. We haven't had a lot of snow; mostly just a 2-3 inches every 4-6 days. But, this shrub has not been able to shed what was dropped at the beginning of the month because it has never gotten warm enough to melt any of the white stuff.
Even on the few sunny days, the only meltage has been on the driveway closest to the street. Although not a snowy winter, I'm almost out of areas to put the snow, I'll have to get a picture of the piles in front of the house.
The dealership picked me up Thursday afternoon so I could grab my truck.
Nice new windshield, can't tell the roof ever had any damage, and they did an excellent job of cleaning up all the glass inside. I'm sure glass slivers will be working its way loose for a while, but that is just the nature of the beast. I could tell they checked the moon roof for damage/gasket leakage because the slide cover inside was open. I weirded out while I was driving home when I realized light was coming thru the roof (it was a heavily overcast day, so I didn't realize it right away). Took me a minute to remember how to close the slide since I never use it.
That picture makes it look like I already got the tent garage replaced (I only realized that because of a comment on the FWC forum). I assure you that is not the case. Picture I took yesterday.
The only reason that back side isn't all the way down is because it is resting on a ton of pellets.
How the front is staying up
Wednesday there was a traffic jam on my way to work - I was almost late :D
Yesterday morning it was raining again, but there is still snow to be had
Looking toward the shrub garden about 3:40 am while it was raining
The swamp side of the yard after the rain stopped, at about 8:30 am. I couldn't get a pic at the same time as the previous picture because that side was too dark.
Pictures taken on 12/27/2020. Spot relaxing in the warm area I left on the couch
Rainey watching Spot relaxing on the couch. Not sure why she was glaring unless she had just finished kicking her toy's azz (that pink thing is the tag to a SmartyKat Chitter Critter toy). Although in actuality, that is pretty much her Diva "resting face". As an aside - most pet toys seem to be made in China - their dog and cat toys are made in USA from recycled materials.
Hope the New Year brings nothing but good things to everyone!
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