Wishing you a Happy New Year

 2022 has been a year with some hellos and many farewells.  We reconnected with friends and family and said farewell to others.  One aunt, a cousin, and stepfather died this year.  Mom is now a widow; although most days she doesn't remember.  For privacy, I won't include their photos.

Also gone are two family pets.  We lost both Tigger and Ember this year.  Tigger wasn't a big surprise because she was over 20 years old.  I looked back through the photos and did not find any recent ones.  Even the one from last year showed her primary pastime, sleeping.  The other four of eating, drinking, barfing up hairballs, and peeing were never photo worthy.  Near the end she was a very grouchy and probably deaf old thing.

Ember on the other hand was a sweetheart to the very end.  She developed a tumor in her abdomen that interfered with her liver function.  She had her final trip to the vet before the symptoms became really bad.  Mooching the chin an ear rubs to the very last.

Duke, the stray cat who wormed his way into our household on Labor Day weekend 2021 is now an only pet.  He keeps us on our toes and will get himself into lots of trouble and get stuck in inappropriate places if allowed to do so.  As below, "Get your furry behind out of the appliance parking cupboard please."

Wishing you a Very Happy New Year!

(And watch out for the pillows with claws lurking below.)

No Matter How Badly the Day is Going

 When the organ retrieval vehicle goes past on the way to the hospital, it serves as a reminder that someone else had a much worse day.

Drive safely out there on this Labor Day Weekend.

Happy Independence Day!

 Wishing everyone fortunate enough to live in the United States of America a Happy Independence Day!

To sister-in-law living in Britain, light some sparklers and remind them of their revolting colonies.

(That's all for now.  There are outside chores to do before the weather gets hot and the big rain cloud arrives.  At least the garden won't need watering today.  Hopefully the rain won't interfere with fireworks displays later.)

Apologies in Advance

 If it snows again in the next week or two, feel free to blame me.  I put away the snowblower and mowed the lawn.  Hope you're not superstitious.  If you are, you've been jinxed.

Strange Combinations

You may think it weird, but I find having cheerful background music and frivolous dialog playing in the background when wading through the tax forms for mom and stepfather tends to reduce the frustration level of completing said vogonish forms.  This year I have opted for musicals.  I have not been procrastinating; only last week mom & stepfather's assisted living's accounting department finally provided the  forms needed to complete the tedious task of their taxes.  After a run downtown, a nice stack of DVD's were checked out of the library.

 So far Singin in the Rain, Calamity Jane, and Cats have been played, and I'm not done with the federal form yet.  However, most of the supporting alphabet schedules have been completed.  What possessed the IRS to come up with the whole Schedule 1, 2, & 3 scheme on top of the alphabet soup of Schedule A, B, D, etc plus a multitude of numbered supporting forms and additional numbered publications to explain what items belong on which forms?  I have no idea.

If you are doing taxes, do what you must to maintain your sanity in the process.

Up next - On the Town (old VHS we own), An American in Paris, Tea for Two, Summer Stock, Chicago, White Nights, or Riverdance - Feet of Flames (old VHS-clearance bin purchase years ago)?

I may have to go back to the library for more DVD's, but I hope not.  Any other suggestions?

A Local Store

 was finally able to restock some Kerr canning jar lids.  Now that I have enough to possibly cover summer tomato production, it is time to dig the black raspberries out of the freezer, make jelly, and can it with the lids I was saving just in case none appeared in stores before summer arrived again.

We live in strange times, when summer chores get delayed to winter due to a lack of little pieces of metal and silicone.

Winter Tradeoff

 The skies are a beautiful blue and very, very clear.  Unfortunately the temperature is quite low.  Someone could probably work out a formula with the temperature being inversely proportional to the clarity of the sky, but seeing it in that form won't really help much.

Ember still insists on being walked; she will not poop unless it is walked out of her.  All the other dogs in the neighborhood rush outside, do their business and run back inside.  Ember proudly walks down the sidewalk, attempting to get as far from home as possible.  When we get past the halfway mark of the walk and are heading back home, she begrudgingly finds a spot to poo.  Tonight she will probably have to wear her boots.  That should be fun, and funny.  She does a silly walk until she get accustomed to them.

I hope you all are warm and well.

Happy New Year!

 A neighboring city is launching fireworks.  Ember is cowering; she probably won't go potty until sometime much later in the morning.  And all the geese that were peacefully sleeping for the night were rudely awakened.  They are flying west, honking all the way.  The translation is probably "We've been bombed, we've been bombed, evacuate, evacuate!"