Playing possum

Playing dominoes
Li’l r and I enjoyed a pleasant Sunday afternoon. (click to enlarge)

So the other evening here in Frostbite Falls Joyce was stressing over the porch kitties, Cotton in particular.  She was afraid they wouldn’t stay warm enough as the temperature dipped into the single digits.  A little background:  Joyce had fixed up one of the doghouses in the back with a heating pad specially made for cats.  It warms up when there is weight on it, a cat for instance, and doesn’t heat up when there isn’t.  Cotton had been using it regularly but then one evening Joyce noticed Cotton was just wandering around and not using the doghouse.  When she investigated she found a puddle of urine in the middle of the pad.  However, when she got that cleaned up Elmo took over the doghouse.  Elmo seems to do what he wants and Cotton settles for whatever is left.  That may be because Cotton doesn’t have any front claws and Elmo does. Continue reading “Playing possum”

Extra nine

basketball game
Abigail covers her girl (click to expand)

Joyce and I were glad to get out Saturday morning to watch the Abster play basketball.  The wretched cold had kept us inside and thankful to be there since Wednesday.  Crockett and the other middle schools were playing a sort of mini tournament they called a shoot out.  They played two games facing a different team for each game.  Crockett drew Travis in the first game and Fannin in the second.  Wednesday we went to their regular game against Bonham, I think.  Prior to Saturday we’d watched two games and the opponents weren’t competitive.  Wednesday’s final score was 30-something to 4.  I asked Abigail why that was and she said it was because “they stink”, though I don’t think that’s really an explanation.  Travis made Abigail’s team work a little harder but they still beat them pretty good.  Before the Fannin game Kari and I speculated on whether the Crockett coach would substitute if necessary to win.  So far she’d played half the girls for two quarters and half for the other, alternating quarters, and that works out well because there are 10 girls.  Since the games have been blow outs we didn’t know what the coach would do if it got tight.  Crockett had Fannin pretty well in hand through three quarters but early in the fourth Fannin tightened it up.  They were out rebounding Crockett so the coach subbed three girls that quickly corrected the situation and Crockett won going away.  The Abster got some rebounds, put up a bucket, had a couple of steals and a very nice assist.  If memory serves she’d stolen the ball on the opponent’s end of the court but was tripped up on the transition.  Before she hit the floor she dished off to a teammate down the court who took it in for an easy layup.  Good stuff.  Fun to watch.  It seemed the last couple of years of Kids, Inc. basketball some of the girls were so much bigger and more aggressive than Abigail that I had mixed emotions about here continuing to play.  Now there are few girls that are significantly taller, although there are some that are definitely stouter, but the Abster holds here own so I’ve quit worrying. Continue reading “Extra nine”

Coldness

snow on mailbox
Five inches of snow (click to enlarge)

When li’l r came in out of the blowing cold Friday evening, she allowed how she was “covered in coldness all over.”  The fire and some hot soup soon set her right.  The forecast Thursday morning indicated the weather might be unsuitable for outside work after lunch so I was scurrying around trying to get the rakings I’d accumulated during the week loaded in the pickup and hauled off to the chipper site.  It was a very nice temperature and the air was calm early so I made good progress.   I wanted to rake up twigs underneath the junipers in the southwest corner of the 2005 immediate yard and was in the process of doing that when the cold front hit.  First there were a few puffs of much cooler air, then a cloud bank loomed and then wham, the front barreled its way through blotting out the sun.  It got cold quickly and by the time I got the load to the chipper site it was definitely unpleasant.  Fortunately it didn’t take long for me to drop my load and that was the last of the outdoor activity until maybe sometime this coming week. Continue reading “Coldness”

Hillbilly dental plan

toothless li'l r
Li’l r is on the hillbilly dental plan

Our neighbors had a weenie roast Friday evening.  It had been breezy during the day but fairly warm.  Still, the fire felt good as the sun went down and the moon rose.  Barbara and the Lopez gang joined us but not Janice, who was busy trying to get her house ready to sell, or Joyce, who had a cold.  Them chillun seemed to have a lively time whoopin’ and hollerin’ and the evening turned out to be just about right for a weenie roast.  Saturday it blew all to be damned and would not have been suitable for a weenie roast.  I was pooped anyway Saturday evening after spending all day chasing water.   My life consists of 30 minute intervals as I run from one end of the place to the other to move sprinklers.  This week I concentrated on the south end and watered the line of junipers on the east.  That was the first time they’ve ever been watered since maybe Dad irrigated last, which could easily have been 30 years ago.  I should have started watering all of the junipers on the perimeter much sooner than I did during this drought.  They’ve gotten in pretty bad shape but in my defense it is very time consuming to do that and I couldn’t do it and work at the same time.  Hopefully I can keep up the watering over the winter and maybe we’ll even get some moisture and will see the benefit next spring.  Winter moisture is much more effective since it doesn’t get blasted away by heat and wind. Continue reading “Hillbilly dental plan”