4-7-03: April Activities

Monday April 7, 2003

It’s been rainy last night & today which is a terrific way to convince us to do a whole lot of nothing. Yesterday was very cold (coat, hat, scarf temp) but I ended up doing some outside work. Just went outside at first to throw the ball for the dogs, then decided to put the marker flags from Tractor Supply by each tree we’ve planted (for future mowing safety). Then, ran Vince & Tessa around the west field—they’re being very good about minding the boundaries, even the spots that would be easy for them to get through. They’re both such good dogs, and Tessa continues to mature and show real intelligence.

Then, more ball throwing, then decided to drive the mower & dump cart into the barn and transfer the straw & manure from the middle stall to the corral. It took three full loads—I’m very excited to have the cart so I didn’t have to make 600 wheelbarrow trips… Most of that pile was from fall & winter when I just pitched it over the wall from Sam’s stall. Speaking of pitched, the *new tool we bought at Tractor Supply works great!

Tessa is laying beside the couch chewing the last bit of a rawhide bone, and I’m suddenly reminded of the time *Luc was doing the same and swallowed it, and started gagging. The slimy piece of rawhide was stuck to the roof of his mouth, down into his throat, and I had to stick my whole hand in his mouth and peel it out, which was difficult because it was so slippery. Luc was pretty happy I got it out.

David worked on the plumbing downstairs yesterday while I was outside, mostly correcting and updating existing pipes. He’s also done preparations for the bathroom to be be. And if that weren’t talented enough, today he helped me cut my hair—did a damn good job, too! I told him it’s a sign of our true love that I let him cut my hair. Leslie had very short hair when she visited last; I thought it looked terrific and will probably copy it this summer.

We bought postcards at Meijer the other day, and today I wrote out two to *Britta and Karin, and David wrote to 3 of his relatives. The general idea is to let them know we’ll be traveling around this summer and want to see them. It will be fun to hear back from any or all of them.

Today is Elsie’s birthday. They called us around 10a.m. to talk about having opened her present (the custom decorated apron) and Elsie sounded very happy. Started up at 7am with champagne and strawberries, and were looking forward to the cake she’d baked—strawberry & marzipan & misc other good stuff.

Tig has continued to have barf issues, and because of his diet changes to find a fix he has also become more & more vocal. So, a few days ago I decided to sequester him in his room. This keeps carpet cleanup more localized, and mutes his meowing. It’s turned out to be a good idea so far, since his barfing has almost ceased and he’s quiet & napping most of the time. I’ve even started trying dry food on him again (that’s what we thought was the original cause of sickness). At the moment it’s a good situation for all, and we don’t holler at him to ‘be quiet’ anymore.

The ribs are in the slow cooker, and are smelling terrific! Put them in @ 2:00 while I was watching my soaps, and now it’s almost 5:00.

The temporary garden area is completely cleared of sod, and now contains 20+ strawberry plants, and some temporary inhabitants—shrubs, trees, misc plants waiting for a new home. Since we’re traveling this summer, we’re not going to plant a real garden, just get the soil prepped with compost and tilling. Bought a tiller at Sears, and between that and a plow attachment for the tractor we’re major league ground breakers!