Hola, Amigos!

Mexican theme to this post?  Nope.  Just couldn't think of a title.  ;)

So, the biggest, happiest news is the Dosie (the dead cat) is HOME!  She'd been missing for about a week it seemed (probably closer to 5 days), and I'd pretty much given up on her return.  But, with both Bonzi and Jinx sleeping in bed with me this morning at 5 AM, I heard a cat calling to be let in!  We all scrambled downstairs, and there was Dosie, clinging to the window panes of the front door in her normal, everyday manner.  Yayyyy!

The weather has been hot (well, "warm" by any but our standards) and wet.  If we don't get rain, the dew is so thick and heavy that it makes everything wet . . . as it is this morning.  A storm rolled through yesterday afternoon, and - though I'd been watching it on the radar and *thought* it would pass us - I hadn't covered up the chicken pen before I went to work.  As a result, they're in disgusting, fly-ridden slop today . . . so that's a project on the schedule. 

Tuesday was our hottest day so far this summer, and the ladies who live "up over the hill" from work reported that it was already 85 degrees when they left home that morning.  Home on my lunch break, Tucker agreed that he doesn't like the heat:

Hot dog.  And sticking close to his dish, just in case HE gets lunch, too!

I nannied on my last day off, so I'm EXCITED to get to have a day here to Get Things Done.  And, as a result, I'm gonna divide my day into The Hours (which any of you long-time readers already know is a favorite way to tackle my To Do list).  I'm gonna limit myself to 8 hours worth of tasks, 'cause I can take a few of those inside in the evening.  So, in no particular order:

1. Deck & Outside Clean-Up
2. Chicken Chores w/ Extra 
3. Bill Paying/Budgeting (30 Minutes)
4. Client Work / Websites (30 Minutes)
5. Refrigerator
6. New Chicken Yard
7. Woods Clearing/Clean-Up
8. Dishes (Heating water on a day this warm?  Yuck!)
9. (Inside) Cabin Clean-Up

And, DANG!, those hourly tasks get filled up quickly!  What about sorting & hauling the recycling?  The garbage?  Working in the storage units?  The, the . . . ?!  Oooh, wait:  the refrigerator - I *have* to get that in!  (Okay, have just amended the above list to combine two of the tasks into one hour.)  

A blurry pic of Baby Girl last Sunday, but she was chasing bubbles courtesy of Bopee.

At 4 1/2 years old, she wanted to take Tucker's leash when we went on our walk.  And, he has always been SO good with my little ones!  Maybe because he's their size?  Or because he was introduced to the little ones as a puppy?  (Maisy was already full-size but very much a crazy puppy by the time I started nannying.)

We saw lots on our walk, including the new header photo (which is WHAT?  Wild salvia?).  And:

Tiger Swallowtails "puddling".

 

A solitary forest tent caterpillar.  "Solitary"?  We can only hope.  Still, we'd already know if this was the outbreak year we'd been warned might occur.

(A poor picture of) Northern Bluebells.

I *think* this is the flower of Prairie Blue-Eyed Grass, but I'm not sure.  Anyone?

Wild Columbine.

A week or so ago, Papa Pea helped me haul my full-size refrigerator up here to the cabin (no small feat, but it went really well).  I'd prepped a spot for it to sit against the north wall between two windows.  In the haste of the move, it hadn't gotten completely cleaned out, and then it was stored outside, facing the sun, at my folks'.  Closed up.  And that equals a really disgusting mess inside.  Since the warm weather came, I haven't had any cold storage here.  So, meal prep has been limited to no dairy, etc.  Nothing requiring a refrig.  I've stored milk (or beer!) at my folks' on occasion, but, as you can imagine, that's not terribly convenient.  Therefore, one of the big goals today is to get the refrig cleaned out and PLUGGED IN!  Can you just imagine . . . ice cold beer?  Ice cubes!!!  Cheese!  Cream for my coffee!  Hey - SALADS!

My computer connection is slow as molasses this morning, but I'll try (again) to upload some pictures now.

Okay, some images are loaded, but I hear thunder-boomers again . . . AND my good mood has been QUITE ruined by communication from the credit union saying that I owe them $22,000 for some property I removed from Swamp River Ridge?!!!  That was mine/ours BEFORE we ever bought the property!  Thank gawd my lawyer is still at the other end of an e-mail.

Now, trying, trying to recapture my good mood of the morning.  Is it too early to start drinking?  Anyone have a Valium?

ChxMama

P.S.  It's dark out now (from another storm).  Maybe ALL my projects will be inside ones today?  Bah!