You Know It’s going To Be ONe of thoSE Days

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

When you wake up int he morning and the eye of sauron isn’t moving.

Wait, I’m not telling it right. This is the eye of sauron:

Okay, Dan calls them death stars, but since there are two and in this house they reside in a bathroom closet, a friend nicknamed them the eyes of Sauron.

Anyway, the left one wasn’t moving. which meant I’d forgotten to empty the poop drawer, which must be done once a week. (I think it had been almost two.)

The problem of getting the cats used to a self-cleaning box (I had to, because I tend to forget things when writing) is that you can’t let it get dirty or they get bad.

So I emptied the drawer — they have two, but they use the left one almost exclusively — then the other drawer, then stumbled downstairs to put the bag in the trash…. which was not in the garage.

Which is when I remembered that today is trash day and that since it was full, Dan had put it on the curb last night.

Picture me in my pink fuzzy bunny slippers, and the nightgown (I could have come back for the robe, but didn’t feel like it at that point) which is perfectly modest, but IS a nightgown, stumbling around the curving driveway to the trash, grumbling and cussing in seven languages. To make things worse it was Quite brisk this morning.

I knew right then and there how the day was going to be. and I was craving doughnuts and feeling a wee-bit insane.

BUT–

Yeah, that’s exactly the way the day has been. This is the first time I’ve been near the keyboard all day.

It’s mostly good things, in terms of getting the final things done in this house so we can unpack. (The other one is still in limbo, as we’ll HAVE to have things done, but how and when we don’t know.) but I’ve been been running ahead of the crisis all day.

I didn’t forget you, though. And now I got to sit down, this is your update.

Real post tomorrow.

81 thoughts on “You Know It’s going To Be ONe of thoSE Days”

  1. Parallel universe. Not the eye of sauron. The coffee maker, in which I somehow put a stack of filters instead of one… Well, the counter needed cleaning anyway. And that section of floor. I got the trash to the (knocked-over) bin before I went to work.

    Good luck to you!

  2. Well, it could be worse.

    One of my cousins (female) saw some of the plants on her balcony about to be hit by a bad storm.

    She rushed onto the balcony to get the plants inside.

    Only she realized, after getting the plants in, that she wasn’t wearing anything.

    Oh, she laughed about it later which is how I know of the incident. 😉

    Take Care. 😀

    2. An old cartoon by Arno, Booth, or one of that sort. A very dignified business tycoon type of person sitting in a train seat, wearing the top half of a very nice suit and striped boxer shorts. The caption was “Damn!”

    3. Er…. So, two houses ago, the trashmen bypassed our house two weeks (It had been empty a while.) Third week, I see them driving down the street while I was at the window making breakfast for the boys.
      I throw open the back door, run after the truck, give them what for. Come back in, realize I ran after them in my pajamas and top came undone while I was running, so I was fairly spilling out.
      we had the BEST service there until we moved. 😀

      1. We’ve never had the garbage not empty the trash, recyclables, or yard debris, cans. But we have had them 1/2 empty them. Then to call and mention it, get told, “we can see the can was shaken”. Liar. Except for the yard debris, no excuse. Not that compact, ever. Yard debris, well that they blamed on prior week rains then freezing temps. Maybe. Problem is, our yard debris can sits in a covered area, rain can’t get to it. OTOH the material itself isn’t exactly dry either. But OTOH it was mostly rose canes with leaves and grass. Rose canes can get tangled. But when they came back, it emptied 100% easily … I was polite. I was! 🙂

        1. Here in Plano, the garbage truck basically has a camera mounted so tat it watches the can get picked up, shaken out, and the inside shown to be empty. If you complain they didn’t pick up, they send a supervisor by with a laptop. “See!”

          1. Supposedly same here, with the cameras. But, I can open can and show supervisor “Look NOT empty! See!”

            1. The one time I tried that the response was “It was empty when this footage was taken; see ya.” Admittedly, when the footage showed it wasn’t even by his estimation, they did send the truck by again.

        2. Five or six years ago, when I dumped the used cat litter into bags and put it into the can, I got a note from the garbagemen “too heavy didn’t empty, please see the rules”. So after grumbling “are you burly garbagemen or weedy file clerks”, I started double-bagging it and leaving it out next to the can. A few years later I got a note saying basically “put it in the can, we use a machine lol”. And I’m like, make up your damn minds already.

  3. At least its Friday?

    Here, I just empty the thing as part of the weekly trash day cycle. On the other hand, with our cat (productive little/big fellow) we have to empty it weekly anyways so it all works out.

  4. We’re about to embark on a journey, and have someone to watch the cats. They are not *required* to clean the litterboxes (we have extras just for this occasion), but they have been deeply warned that the place will stink if they do not.

  7. Well, I was going to say first thing I get ahead of the bills I’m going to get one of those, but no, first on the list is a suppressor for the rifle. Second thing is the Cat-Box-To-Rule-Them-All!!!

      1. They are very nice. I finally got one because I’m terrible at emptying litter boxes so it was “scenting” the back of the house.

        This solved that.

      2. I splurged on one that you filter by rolling the thing over, and then back again. (Second daughter is on cats now.)

        Learning curve was a bit, but it did work!

        1. Had one of those. The biggest problem was if the cat peed on the grill it would get gunked up and stop filtering properly.

          Love my litter robot, and the kittens have been using it since before they were big enogh to trigger the sensor. At least they’ve stopped trying to take rides in it when it spins…

    2. I clean out top entry boxes, 4 of them, every day. It would be better with Robo Boxes but ouch on the pocket book. Might breakdown and train the 4 cats to them before our next trip to make it easier on the kid. Still have to be emptied every day, but a lot easier.

      They don’t clog? Regular litter work?

      Other news. Pup is not happy. She is not happy with the cone of shame. Really not happy with the cleanup and clean out process on her glands and around her vulva. Visit triggered by vulva swelling and irritation (I thought it was worse that it was). Whether her glands “scratching” caused the vulva irritation, or yes, and now the glands are affected? Is a Chicken and Egg question.

      1. Clumping litter. They don’t clog. You can get them cheaper (?) on ebay.
        We threw two away when we moved, because we tried to give them away and no one wanted them. Completely sanitized, etc. (They were small. We can’t have small ones with Havey. He poos over the step.)

      2. When we had dog, local vet asked people not to call it, “the cone of shame.” As if the dog cared.
        But it’s a perfect term.

      3. Might want to give dog some food with grease in it. Eggs, meat, butter, whatever –just a little treat amount. Very soothing to dog skin, helps when the heat is turned on and the humidity of the air goes down.

        Might also want to give the dog some yogurt to discourage yeast infections. Like a spoonful or less, unless you are doing the full yogurt and rice, bland diet thing.

        Obviously all this is conditional on your dog’s digestion.

      4. I have two old fashioned litter boxes. One upstairs and one in a non-functioning bathroom downstairs. (The old toilet stool started leaking at the base of the tank and since there are two more bathrooms in this house, we haven’t gotten around to replacing it.) The current pair of cats don’t use the upstairs one very often, but I check it a couple times a week, just in case. I have one of the sifting style boxes downstairs, and since the two cats use it almost exclusively, I empty it every morning as part of my “take care of the cats” routine. The trash can next to the litter box gets emptied into the large trash bag when it goes out every week.

        1. The trash can next to the litter box gets emptied into the large trash bag when it goes out every week.

          –
          I wish. Couple of the cats you can tell, when we are home, when they go *poo. As in I will immediately clean all the boxes, or if already clean will grab one of the doggy bags. Or when I clean boxes the sifted litter goes into small garbage bags, tied, and immediately out to the garbage in the garage.

          Also realized the lack of electrical outlets where the cat boxes reside. Sigh. Have looked at the “roll” sifting version. Not sure I can keep the dog out of those (why we have the top entry boxes now).

          * One of the cats has to be on a gastronomical prescription diet, or he throws up. His poo isn’t as bad as it was, before he went on this food. But the “kitten”, it is a gas attack! I swear. Hopefully she’ll grow out of it too. The cats have 24/7 access to kibble. Difficult to feed different food. OTOH the cat cookie tossing has been historically low with these 4 cats on this food. Not even hair balls!

          1. Our beloved Squeaky (the calico in my profile pic) had very bad, odoriferous gas when we first got her. After about a month on our food, that issue went away. I hope your kitten gets better on that issue as well.

  9. I sympathize, we’re looking at painting the bedroom tomorrow. To get prepared we had to drain the waterbed, meaning we’ve been sleeping in the guest bedroom while our clothes are in the other one. *Sigh.*

  11. (Fecal matter) happens, especially when it comes to cats so I understand completely there! I, er, got a bit neglectful with my old fashioned ones myself this week and I consider myself very lucky that H didn’t show her displeasure by peeing in the computer room again, especially since she mainly uses the one she’s too fat to fit into! Anyway, take all the time you need to rest today!

  12. Since it wasn’t raining today, I put up Christmas lights on the house for the first time ever.*

    What I learned is that I am absolutely terrified of getting up on a peaked roof. Up high on a ladder doesn’t bother me, but just setting foot on that slope and my heart rate goes up.

    I noticed for the first time that the roofers nine years ago left safety anchors, but they’re in such a position that if I had the whole harness and stuff and rolled off the roof from the gable end I’d still hit the ground.

    *(It wasn’t a thing in my family so I’ve never done it, but the daughter loves Christmas and all the trappings, so I figured I’d start.)

    1. When I or my son occasionally have to go rooftop, my house or his house, to replace a chimney cap or whatever, from the ladder I toss a lead weighted light fishing line over the ridge and let it run to ground. Then tie a rope to the line, pull it over and tie it off, hence having a safety rope available when getting on the roof off the ladder.

      Even then we’ll usually safteyman one another one on the ground watching the one on the roof.

      A relative of mine died tumbling off a one story roof many years ago and maybe that’s made me extra cautious.

      1. When we were in Alaska our main job was replacing a roof on a one-story cabin. (With carpenter ants, can’t forget the carpenter ants). I was really glad for the scaffolding on the sides of the cabin. And still nervous.

      2. I’ve done either new roofs or redos on almost every building we have, but the barn was a firm nope at 25′ at the ridge. The original roof was done poorly (as were other parts of the construction), but we paid to have a good roof installed. (It was a side job for the contractor who did a neighbor’s house. I suspect the crew was paid in beer, or beer was breakfast lunch. Sigh.)

        The hardest roof to do was on the little 8′ x 12′ pumphouse. At 5 in 12 pitch, it was a bit tight in room to set up, and because of a trench, I couldn’t have a scaffold on one side. Had to work most of that side head downward.

        The house was the biggest redo, but the pitch is quite low, and only a single story. The fun part was dealing with the inevitable 95 degree heat wave and the following thunderstorms. I got good at tacking down irrigation tarp to protect sections.

        1. We worked on a flat roof at a church. Just finished pulling the old roof and laying the plastic banner they thought would work as a temporary cover when the line of storms moved in.
          We used all but three pans in the church kitchen to catch drips. We were NOT amused. Embarrassed, yes.

          1. Flat roofs take special materials. Mom and Dad have a flat roof. It’s roofing material is a 50 year roof (wasn’t built that way. It is 15 or 20 years old, house is 57 years old).

      3. An acquaintance was a slate roofer, and tried to be careful (he was a war nap of crisscrossing scars, mostly not his fault). On a two story peaked roof, he tied his safety line to the big truck, tossed it over the roof, climbed up, tied off, and went to work. It started misting, and he started down, slipped, and discovered that the new guy had taken the truck to get donuts.
        He fell 25+ feet into yew bushes, which probably saved his life, though a broken branch speared his thigh.
        I don’t know what kind of a settlement he got from that, but I imagine it was substantial.
        John in Indy

    3. I find laying a ladder flat on the roof makes it a lot safer. Especially when cleaning the chimney. You can use a rope over the top of the peak to pull it up. Or you can use the front end loader on the tractor (if you have one) to raise it and hold it in place. Either case you still need a second ladder to actually get on the roof.

    4. we don’t have lights or a tree. You can see people looking at us and younger son and going “Um!”
      Dan said “Oh, fine, put up the menorah” I said “A) that’s past. b) I couldn’t find it EITHER.”
      So.

      1. We don’t have lights up on the house or a tree either. Haven’t last few years. Trees are expensive anymore. Our primary source retired and that lot shutdown. The trees the scout troops get are not particularly fresh cut. Sorry very tree fire phobic. We used to get our fresh tree the weekend before Christmas, it stays up until Jan 2. Two weeks maximum.

          1. I understand. I can’t have Douglas Fir. But can handle Noble Fir, past the 2nd day or so. First 30 hours or so, though, yea. I am sure the kittens would LOVE us to get a tree, and add all those toys.

          2. I used to get U-cut trees in Cali, but the last place I used went under in the 2000-1 recession. Our last tree there was a random one from a Home Depot lot.

            Our first Christmas here, I cut a Ponderosa sapling for a tree. It created a mess from the sap, but on Boxing Day, Home Desperate had an artificial tree marked down something like 75%. The dogs have had varied reactions; our first border collie hated the tree when it went up (the first few years, then she just got nervous and hid when we were setting up), but she always cried when it went down, usually on Epiphany. Our Sara (the Lab-Aussie who passed in August) loved the tree. She also disliked it going down, but was resigned…

            Kat the dog was disappointed that it didn’t taste like pine needles, but it’s just another thing that Mom and Dad do. We haven’t let her run around in the house just yet, but we kept the ornaments sparse and up higher this year.

            We haven’t bothered to do outside lights in several years. There’s only a couple of neighbors who’d see them, and we don’t consider it to be a good idea to wander around after dark–not without Coyote-B-Gone, in .45 ACP.

      2. I bought a pack of colour changing bulbs for my bedroom and bathroom so I can tune the spectrum red before going to bed, but still be able to see when I clean. I had two extra, so put them up to either side of the garage. For the next week they’re red and green, come Valentines Day they’re pink, Saint Patrick’s they’re both green, High Holy Day they’re red and blue (the porch light stays white)

  13. Reminder to self; put morning meds in mouth and then take a sip of coffee.

    Don’t drop them in the cup so you havet’a drink the whole cup of coffee right now.

    I know, I know, I could have tossed it and started with a fresh pill pile but…

    1. Reminder to hubby. Make sure you take your pills over the sink, so when you drop one, it doesn’t bounce on the floor. You are NOT faster than the (then) puppy; now dog. Puppy fine. Hubby all but had a heart attack in terror. Luckily one of his diuretics, but still he’s 6’2″ and > 200#s. She was not (4#s). $65 call to Pet Poison + forced purge + saline treatment, I forget how much the not inexpensive lesson total was.

      1. Kat likes to be in her crate (we trained her with a Marro-bone treat, and it’s a good incentive), so morning and nighttime meds don’t have doggie concerns. (We do let her run to the crate at night, and she’ll do a little dance until the door is open. She *loves* that treat.)

        The night time med includes the Warfarin, and I really don’t want her to get one.

        1. We were using an soft xpen kennel. I’d take her outside, then bring her in and feed her. Yes, he should have put her in her kennel, JIC. He didn’t. Lesson learned. She’s 5 now and knows “leave it”. Nothing we take is particularly dangerous for her or the cats, even with the size discrepancy. Pepper is 22#s. When it does become critical, I will lay down the law rules a lot more strict. Which will be having her on down/stay away from where pills are being consumed. If I have too, we will use one of the kennels.

          Pepper is kenneled trained too. Just that at age 4 she doesn’t use one, at least at home. We have 5 kennels, but no xpen anymore. Four of which she can use. The cats use all 5 for their caves. One is the one we take when we might need it.

  18. Today I would take the worst cats over my demented (yes officially) MIL’s behavior. I am exhausted and so is the wife but the MIL keeps mid-behaving even though it’s my oldest son’s B-Day…. sigh

    2. Yeah, one of our worst days was when we realized we couldn’t keep the kids safe from grandma’s dangerous behavior and had to start looking for a full time nursing home for her.

  20. I think the Imperial Thrones would also be a fitting name for the self-cleaning boxes. They do serve royalty after all 🙂

    1. Princess L agrees, or she would if she wasn’t so skittish that one of those boxes would scare her across the country!

  22. No cat boxes, but Maximum Maxwell barfed up his breakfast yesterday immediately after eating it. Then pouted all day. Also fuses blew in the barn, cutters were set wrong and things were cut -exactly- 3/64ths too small, and so forth. End of the day, nothing accomplished. Snarl. 😡

    Today, going to buy fuses after sufficient caffeination, hoping for some better performance from the Phantom cranium. By now I should really expect these things, but it always comes as a surprise.

    1. Maybe, give some thought to replacing that old fuse box? Modern electrical panels and breakers are not that expensive.

      1. I’m a bit concerned by that issue, as it happens. It is a pony box with a switch to provide 30amp 240v to my air compressor, which is a decent sized 3hp unit. Two 30A fuses, one for each side of the circuit. I plug my shaper into that socket because it trips the breaker on the 20amp circuits. New box, installed by me, no problems for 10 years with the compressor.

        Yesterday, the shaper blew the fuses when I put it on the highest speed to run a router bit. That’s the lightest load a shaper is ever going to have. No heavy spindle, no big cutter to spin up. It blows on start-up. Can’t draw enough current to get the thing moving. Upon inspection, no weird friction in the works or other obvious sources of drag. Last week I was using a 3 1/2″ panel raising cutter, ran fine on the lowest speed.

        Aside from blowing my last two fuses being fantastically annoying, I really don’t think the thing should draw that much power. The air compressor doesn’t blow the fuses, right? So I’m a bit concerned the motor on the shaper is wired wrong from the factory. Some research would seem to be in order. [insert grumpy face here 😡 ]

Comments are closed.