Such a Friday it's been...

  Beautiful full moon tonight, in a crystal clear sky full of stars.  Bodes another stark cold night, temps in the low teens. This isn't my moon, but it's a great picture, so I'm using it.


  Little Miss Caylee had to be at the vet at 9:30 this morning to have the dewclaws removed from both her back legs.  We've had them clipped a couple of times and they seem to be growing back faster and faster every time. Then they get hung up and tear and bleed and then she's limping and the last time the vet said-- lets just remove those damn things, this is ridiculous.  I hadn't asked, because I knew that normally those are removed from young puppies.  We've never had a dog with this problem before. So anyway, that was the deal, and today they removed them and I picked her up tonight at 5. It was horrible leaving her there...she gets so scared and she's the one dog who does not EVER want to ride in the car or leave Honeysuckle Hill. She was  so scared she was shaking.  And I had to leave her and when I got back out to the car I cried. Not because of the surgery, but because I think I know how she feels. Lordy...  And the back room with all the little kennels in it was full of big barking dogs and that made it even worse.

  Anyway, she's home now. And sleeping at my feet.  The bandages are a little soggy, but doc said leave them on until tomorrow and then bring her back in 2 weeks to get the stitches out. It went very well. When I went in the back to get her, she was so excited to see me she peed all over herself.  And then hung her head in shame.  I just pulled her out and hugged her and loved her up.  We toweled her off and I said--I'll clean her up at home- and then we went on our merry way. She jumped into the back seat straightaway and settled on her blankie and looked at me like--LET'S GO!  lol


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  In the middle of all this, the furnace decided to start making weird noises.  I was sitting in here on the computer (this room is directly across the hall from where the furnace is), and heard a funny squeal. Thought-huh, what was that?  Then the fan changed pitch. Then it sounded like it was slowing down and I walked over there and it sped up again. Then it shut off. For about a minute I thought, oh, I guess it's fine, let's wait until it kicks on again and see what happens.  My next thought was --why does this always have to happen on a Friday? On a 3 day weekend?  So I called my furnace guy (who happens to live up the road from me) and he said he was heading home and he would stop by on his way.  In a matter of minutes he was here and checked it out and confirmed my fear--the blower is going out.  He had to order one and said it would be here on Monday and he would come and put it in.  In the meantime, we're hoping it will limp through the weekend. If not, we have the kerosene heater all ready to go. So far, it's still heating the house and keeping us toasty warm.



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 When I came home this morning without Caylee, the other 2 dogs were terribly upset.  We are such a pack here. lol They just moped around all day until I brought her back. It was adorable.


  I finished the caramelized onions finally. And I froze them instead of canning them.  The next batch I will can. I just  couldn't do it with everything else. This batch was only a third of the onions I bought. Oy vey.



  I am planning a trip this fall to Gulf Shores Alabama with a girlfriend of mine,. We are renting a condo for a week (and it's only 650 dollars!!) .  No One in this house is nearly as excited about it as I am.  I need a vacation and this gives me plenty of time to save my pennies for the trip and have things all lined up.  I'm just praying that my gardening/canning schedule cooperates. It's at the end of September, so I think it will be okay. I usually have a little hiatus right about then, I think.  She used to go fairly often and thinks this may the last time she gets to make the trip.  I'm  really looking forward to it. I am also attending and participating in a women's retreat in April.  I am doing some things I want to do for a change.  Being responsible for my own happiness....



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   Well, no such luck with the furnace limping thru the weekend.  Right about midnight it made a noise like the Titanic hitting an iceberg and stopped dead .  Got the Irishman up and we pulled out the kerosene heater and got it lit and finally back to bed around 12:45.  Sigh...when we got up this morning the house was a toasty 72 degrees (warmer than we usually keep it) and the bird was still alive.  So, all was good. We turned it off today during the day and put out some electric heaters and they have worked adequately.  He's filling the heater now and we'll get it going again for the evening.

Making some fish tacos and guacamole and chips for supper.  Maybe some beans, maybe not. I have a bunch of avocados that need using, so--voila ! Guess I need to get in there and get chopping.  I'm hearing some swearing from the vicinity of the heater...maybe I'll wait a minute before going out there. lol


 We had some pretty heavy snow flurries again this afternoon, but it didn't stick.  It did however get cold enough to make a skating rink out of any flat surface out there.  Am feeling more and more ready for spring by the minute.  Had a nice morning - breakfast with a friend, a meeting and then home.  My sister-in-law is coming up tomorrow for lunch, just me and her. Thinking maybe I'll make a chicken pot pie.  Some good old comfort food.  She said my brother is going to be sitting around watching ball games all day, and she is not doing that, so she'll come see me and then go see her son and his family on the way home. I told her I might have the house straightened up, but to wear old clothes, just in case.  She laughed.


 Ok--I'm off to the kitchen.  Happy Saturday, y'all.



Namaste.




Namaste.