A lot of not much

This week really was a lot of not much around here.  There was a lot of focus on pets and still more cleaning and a little yard work.  And, while I'm thankful it's cooling down for fall, 95* is still hot.   

Bella has been "off her feed" for a few days.  As she's gotten older, her food needs have changed a couple times.  I keep an eye on her and it didn't take long to realize she was having trouble getting wet food out of the bowl...it kept packing into the corners and the dry food we were feeding was too big to swallow whole, and she doesn't have many teeth left.  Saturday, we found the perfect size nuggets, designed for the little toy breed dogs and she's been scarfing it down and still getting to enjoy a little wet food on top of it.  It's still just a reprieve tho.  So, we focus on making sure every day has a little bit of good stuff in it.  And, hope that when I'm 85, someone does the same for me.

I didn't take many photos last week.  I meant to get a pic of the plumbago, which has gone nuts now that it's not being hidden under an umbrella (it was for the best).  But, I didn't get to that.  I did get a picture of these.  I don't understand them.  A couple times a year, the leap from the ground and bloom a proliferation of red flowers and then they recede again.  They're not the rain lilies that are common here.  Anyway, I was rinsing dishes (yes, I still do that before putting them in the dishwasher) and noticed this burst of red flowers, and it was these.  Out of the blue, they popped up and bloomed.  Our neighbor dug these up from around a tree and didn't want them anymore.  I took them all.  They're no trouble and don't take up any space and things can grow in and around them, and then suddenly they're there.  They'll last about a week and then they're gone again.  

I've been on the hunt for a new office chair.  When you move and your chair squeaks and someone asks what that sound was, it's probably time.  I'm cheap, so it takes a while to find the right chair.  I sat in one a couple weeks ago that almost came home with us, but it just wasn't quite right.  Then, I sat in this one on Saturday and for $9, it came home from Goodwill with us.  

I even gave it a test drive over the weekend and finished a small work/high impact project I walked away from Friday evening.  Having a new hire mentee is opening up some avenues for me to get attention.  I'm designing a file that she can use to share important info with her boss.  Getting that file built and in front of him quickly will get me some of the attention I'm trying to build back up.  When I announced I was retiring, I started shining spotlights on other people.  It didn't take long before they were the ones being talked about.  Now that I'm not retiring as quickly as I'd hoped, and I need to bring some of that spotlight back on me.  

I watched A Star Is Born with Gaga and Bradley Cooper last week so, of course, now I'm trying to learn to play Always Remember Us This Way on the ukulele.  I still practice every day.  My uke playing skills certainly outshine my ability to sing (damnit!)

I've been having trouble with my aquarium for a while.  I should have taken care of it before I started restocking it with fish, but I didn't really realize how big an issue it was going to turn into and it didn't seem to be hurting the fish, so I monitored the nitrate level, but didn't do much about it.  Plants flourished, but recently, algae eaters started to die.  It takes a lot to kill an algae eater.  Something really bad.  I decided I needed to do something about it this weekend, so I took all the plants and hard scape out of it and vacuumed out 40% of the water, thoroughly cleaned the gravel and then put it all back again, but in better places.  It took all afternoon, but the nitrate level is back where it needs to be.  It was still cloudy last night, so I didn't take a pic.  I tried to take one this morning, but the fish wouldn't come out.  I even fed and they wouldn't come out.  But, at least you can see the nice clean environment they live in.  

Before I can quilt the double wedding ring quilt, I need to clear up space in the studio.  I'm going to have to take apart a sewing station and I needed to put away the ironing board that was just gathering clutter.  Before I took down the ironing station, I did all that ironing that had built up on the end of it and before I took down the sewing station, I did that mending I needed to do and made some cloth bags.  I think I was really postponing taking it all apart, but whatever.  Now it's done and I can get started.  

I hate that we are falling into political violence.  I heard the things that were said right after Charlie Kirk was killed and I observed how all that talk about violence against republicans stopped when it turned out the shooter was from a religious republican family.  But, they're just waiting for a reason to declare war.  And, even if it had been a leftist lunatic, surely they understand that if they keep punching us, we're all eventually going to fight back in whatever way we feel like we can.  And, maybe that's the point.  Keep punching us until we fight back and then scream about what victims they are.  

I mean, nobody would enjoy watching n. mace get punched in the face with a big old sledgehammer fist more than me.  And, nobody would deserve it more than her.  But, I'm just not there yet.  Yet.  

Everybody have a good week.  Find something good in your life to hold onto.  Let that be the focus for a while.  

Lane