I'm so past due to post something on this blog. It's September 1st! The whole month of August just seemed to disappear without me being able to make it last longer.
Actually almost the whole month of August I took vacation. Three weeks worth. It was so nice! I went back to Utah and hiked my favorite hikes. Landscape Arch in the first picture is from Arches National Park. I first stayed in and hiked four National Parks in Utah in 1994, so this was my 20 year anniversary trip. I intended to stay in the four parks again and hike the same hikes, but it didn't work out that way. Partly because two of the hikes I wanted to do were closed for repairs. And partly because the weather wouldn't cooperate.
I had LOTS of rain and cool weather. In fact I hiked one hike in the rain! I was determined to do the Navajo Knobs hike in Capitol Reef National Park, because Capitol Reef was the first place I ever camped in Utah and Navajo Knobs was the first Utah hike I ever did. Only I had 24 hours of continuous rain while I was there. So I hiked it anyway. 9.4 strenuous miles in the rain. Nope. I'm not goal-oriented. Nor stubborn. Why would you ask?
The picture above is the view looking down on the road while sitting up on the Navajo Knobs. The view isn't clear because it's raining all out across that land (and where I was). Then this picture is looking up at the Navajo Knobs from the road later on that same day. As you can see, the Knobs are now above some of the clouds. The clouds weren't that low when I was up there.
Other than uncooperative weather I had a good time on the trip. I started in Zion National Park as usual, hiking Angel's Landing, but left a day early because the other hike I wanted to do was closed. Then I ended up skipping Bryce because it was 57 degrees and pouring when I got there and they were forecasting that same weather for the next two days. So I went on to Capitol Reef and ended up with rain there too. Then I went to Moab and Arches National Park, where the weather actually cooperated. After that I went down to Durango and spent some time in Mesa Verde National Park since I was three days ahead of my planned trip. And ended the trip up spending a couple days in Buena Vista visiting my sister and her husband. It was overall a really nice trip. And if I didn't get to do all the hikes I wanted, I did my three favorite ones, Angel's Landing, Navajo Knobs and Dark Angel.
The cats survived my absence just fine. They've finally warmed up to my pet sitter and accepted her attention. It's been awhile since I've been away from them for this long, so I'm sure they got lonely. This last week I've been home and doing all the house-related things I never get around to when I'm working. And of course getting ready to go back to work after being off for three weeks. The second week I was gone, I accessed my work email and cleared 700 emails. This week I did the same and cleared almost 400 more. "Cleared" being a euphemism for: tagged those that I need to deal with and deleted the rest. At least tomorrow shouldn't be too overwhelming, email-wise.
The one thing I'm a little worried about as far as work tomorrow is shoes. I pretty much destroyed both my big toe nails, I guess hiking in boots that didn't fit well. Although my toes did NOT hurt while I was hiking. They were new boots and hiking in them was really comfortable. I don't know whether they shrunk just a little getting so wet in that long second hike, but when I took my boots off after the third hike, both nails were pushed up and shifted over from all the blood under the nails. The right big toe nail I'm definitely going to lose. It's creating a new nail bed because of the damage to the original one. The left toe nail I may keep. It's slowly turning from solid purple-black to yellow-red. Anyway, I've only worn sandals since that last hike, so we'll see how closed shoes do tomorrow.
It looks like the little pine tree will survive after all! It's put on new growth all around and through the dead areas, and is growing taller as well. That little tree just amazes me. It reminds me of that line from the original Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way." It just keeps striving to live.
I also decided that I'm going to try planting some flowering things next Spring. Around the Buena Vista area there is a lot of a shrub called Russian Sage that is a gorgeous purple and beloved by honeybees. And I saw some beautiful hollyhocks too. So next Spring I'm going to try those two and see if I can increase the bees and hummingbirds around here. I really like growing things and especially things that bloom.
That's the short version of my August. I guess that's about it for now.
How's this for a study in contrasts? This picture is the same little tree from the last post, or anyway, what's left of it. *sobbing quietly* Reckon I'll EVER learn to leave nature alone and let things grow on their own?
This is what happened: I was looking at the pine one afternoon and it looked like something bug-wise was maybe munching on it. So I sprayed it all over with a bio-pesticide called neem oil. I think what happened is that it needed watering and with the excessive heat on the patio, it essentially baked in the oil. When I got home the next day it was wilting badly and all oily. So I transplanted it and watered it like crazy and washed it down as much as I could with lots of water in a watering sprinkling can. Over the last week or so, a lot of the needles and limbs have turned brown and are pretty obviously not going to survive.
The only good news is that the areas that are still green now are putting on new growth. So I have some hope that enough of the tree is going to survive for it to come back . . . again! This poor little tree has survived an unbelievable amount of abuse from me. I really hope it makes it.
In other news, the house has done it again. Tuesday I replaced the entire AC/heat system in the house. Last weekend I was sitting here working on this computer and the outside compressor part of the AC began making a horrific noise. The system kept the house cool over the weekend, but I called and had the AC guys come out first thing Monday. They told me what I essentially already knew - the AC system in the house was original to the house, roughly 18 years old. It may keep limping along, or it may quit tomorrow. All I could think of was going out to Utah on vacation next month and the system quitting while I was gone. So I had them replace it.
The new system runs so quietly I can't tell when it's running. I hadn't realized how loud the old system was. Plus I had them redo the duct work while they were up there, so the three front rooms now get adequate AC and heat and are the same temperature as the rest of the house. Plus the system is on wifi, so I can log in from anywhere and change the temp in the house or switch from AC to heat or whatever. Nice! It's actually a relief to not have to worry about an old system any more, especially when I'm out of town.
This morning the cat-girls went to the vet for their annual physicals and vaccinations, so they're currently pretty unhappy with me. Especially poor Addy. The vet knows she's had reactions to her vaccinations before, so she gave her a shot of benedryl first while Addy was having her blood work drawn. Then later when the vet and I were discussing whether to give Addy any vaccinations, due to her age and being an indoor cat and her reaction to them, Addy started throwing up everywhere. It looks like Addy is now allergic to benedryl also. So she didn't get any vaccinations, although they had to finally give her another shot to stop her vomiting. The vet is going to put "no vaccinations" in her chart. She's also going to email me a letter that says that Addy doesn't need her rabies vaccination under the circumstances. So it was an eventful day at the vet.
The good news though is that both cats are in good shape for their ages. Addy actually gained a little weight. The last couple of years she's weighed less every time I've taken her to the vet, so I was happy that she put on a little. Zoe's still 16 pounds. The vet will call me next week with the results of the cat's blood work. I have it done because I'm keeping track of their kidney function.
Zoe has a little patch of dry brittle, fur on her back and the vet and I were talking about her diet and trying some vitamin supplements when Addy began vomiting. We got side-tracked and never got back to Zoe's dry patch, but since the vet was talking about diet supplements, I'm figuring it's not something serious that needs to be treated.
That was my eventful day, and last week or so. I don't know that I'll post again until I get back from vacation, but I may get one in.
Man, this year has been flying past. I guess I say that every year, but they seem to go by faster and faster. We're half way through 2014! Amazing.
For me, 2014 has been a good year so far. I almost hate to say that so I won't jinx myself. But I've been healthy. My folks have been relatively healthy, for their ages. My family keeps growing, with a new set of grand-twins. My house hasn't needed any more repairs since they finished in January. My cat-kids are holding their own at 16 and 18 years old. My job is going well and keeping me busy. I guess I have a lot to be grateful for.
I'm pretty much over the jet lag from Istanbul. I'm finally waking up to the alarm rather than between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. And the airline found my luggage and delivered it to me three days after I got back, so not too bad. I had taken most of the clothes that fit me now, so I was really happy to get those back.
Friday was Fourth of July holiday so I went to east Texas and visited with my folks and my sisters and their husbands. It was really nice to see them all. So often lately I've felt like I just need to stay completely away from my sisters, who always seem to be mad at me about something. Being around them I feel like I'm walking on eggshells, afraid to say the wrong thing, or say something they'll take wrong. It's sometimes really tempting to just keep a distance. Still. I love all my family. I'm happier when things are going well between us, and things felt better last Friday. Better than they've been anyway. Maybe I've learned just to keep my mouth shut. It really doesn't pay to say what you think.
Hmmmm. This post didn't start out introspective. Not sure where that came from.
Anyway, the pictures in this post are the cat-girls and also my little pine tree, which is still growing gang busters. I also stuck a picture in of where I jury-rigged a broken branch with a garbage bag twist tie. The branch was broken at that fork, almost all the way through, and I didn't think I could do anything that would help it. but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. And that branch seems to still be growing fine, so maybe the twist tie saved it.
That's all for today.
I'm home from Istanbul. The trip was good. Travel was mostly uneventful, meaning no flight delays or complications. The airline did lose my luggage on the way back. They're still trying to locate it. Still, if I had to lose it, I'd rather lose it on the way back than on the way over. I had everything I needed while I was there. I'm making a list of contents. In case they don't locate it, they can pay me for what I lost.
Anyway, the trip. Istanbul is a pretty amazing city, and I learned a lot about it's history and geography, as well as having a great couple of meetings over there. I didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, but I managed a 2-hour boat tour on the Bosphorus - the waterway strait that divides Istanbul (and Europe from Asia) and connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. I also managed time to run around and take pictures, although I didn't end up with time to actually go into the mosques, which is a shame. Maybe next time. It takes a considerable amount of time to get from point A to point B anywhere in Istanbul, so that eats up a bunch of time.
I did learn a really fascinating thing about the Bosphorus. The water on top is fresh water and runs swiftly from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea, since the Black Sea is at a slightly higher altitude. However the water at the bottom of the Bosphorus flows in the opposite direction! And it's salty, coming from the Marmara Sea, which comes from the Aegean Sea and ultimately from the Mediterranean Sea. The two waters in the Bosphorus don't really mix. The just flow past each other in different directions and with different salt concentrations.
The first picture in this post is the Blue Mosque and the next one is Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia as the Turkish call it. The other two pictures are taken in a courtyard of the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately, the afternoon I took the boat tour, I actually left my camera in the hotel room. I could have kicked myself.
My hotel was really nice and was situated at a great location. It was located about 3 blocks from the Istanbul Congress Center and maybe 5 blocks from Taksim Square. Taksim Square not only has the lightrail stations, it's also one end of the busiest shopping street in Istanbul. They say 3 million people a day shop there. I believe it. LOTS of people.
The two Congresses I attended were both good. The first one I helped organize, so it pretty much consumed my time the first three days I was there. I had much less responsibilities at the second Congress, which is why I could escape for some sight-seeing. I was also put in touch with young woman who did her training in the US, by a mutual colleague. She was kind enough to invite me out for dinner one evening with her Father and several people I know from the Association. It was a perfect evening - great food, great company, outstanding open-air restaurant on the Bosphorus with a wonderful view.
So overall I would have to say the trip was really good. I made some new colleagues/friends with international members of the profession, learned some new things and got a chance to visit one of the amazing places in the world that I may never have gone to without these two meetings.
Now if they could just find my luggage, it would be pretty close to a perfect trip.
I mentioned last time that I have a jay hanging around who goes to the feeder, gets one sunflower seed and carries it to the metal shelf where he opens it and eats it. He repeats this behavior over and over, occasionally stopping for a drink at the little bird bath. So the pictures in this post are of him doing this.
He clears the feeder whenever he lands on it - all the smaller birds making way for him. I've seen the smaller birds occasionally challenge the redwing blackbird for feeder rights, but never seen them challenge the jay.
I'm spending most of this weekend getting my act together for going to Istanbul on Wednesday. I've been planning my wardrobe and figuring out packing. I've already done everything as far as money, visa, notifying credit cards, upgrading phone service so it works over there, setting up the pet sitter, etc. Now I'm making myself lists of what to remember to take (camera, ipod, etc) and what to remember to do before leaving (water plants, leave note for sitter, etc). Nine days away takes more planning than 3 days, which is mostly what I've been doing lately.
Big family news. My nephew and niece-in-law had their twins yesterday morning around 2:30 am. The twins are 34 weeks, so they're early and in the NICU, but they're doing well. The little girl is breathing room air on her own pretty much. The little boy is requiring some ventilation and surfactant therapy to get his lungs to finish maturing and work well, but both are beautiful. I know, I know. Of course I would say that, but really, they are beautiful babies, which isn't surprising, given their parents. I wish I had taken some pictures of them when I visited yesterday, but I'm still so old school I never consider using my phone to take pictures. Thus this post has all blue jay pictures.
The little boy, Aiden, is just over 4 pounds, 17.5 inches long. The little girl, Addison, is 4 pounds 10 ounces, 17 inches long. How Kellie managed to have both those kids inside her is a mystery. Apparently the twins will stay in the NICU for 2-3 weeks, until they're sure they are growing and putting on weight and everything (lungs mostly) is developed enough.
Kellie and Jason are doing well. It was a c-section birth so Kellie will be moving slowly for a few days, and both were understandably sleep-deprived when I saw them yesterday. I think it's still sinking in for them. I also think it will be hard for them to have to wait the 2-3 weeks to take their babies home. They are definitely excited and proud parents though. And actually, they get to semi-rest for 2+ weeks before becoming totally sleep-deprived while caring for twins. I'm very happy for them.
Also I'm glad if they were going to have them early, they had them before I left for Istanbul, so Lynne didn't have to try to get hold of me there. Although my phone should work just fine. Still I wouldn't have gotten to see them as newborns.
Damn! I just saw a cat catch one of the sparrows. He grabbed it on the ground, took it under the shrub and immediately started eating it. I have such mixed feelings about this. My own cats are too old to catch birds, and of course I don't want my bird feeders to be a place that is a bird delicatessen for cats in the neighborhood. But quite obviously the cat is hungry - a stray neighborhood cat I haven't seen around. He immediately started eating that bird, and he's thin. Still, I know it's happened at least once before because I found a part of a wing when I was cleaning up one day a week or so ago.
I may have to move that feeder. I enjoy watching the birds up close and personal, this close to the house, but there is too much shrubbery close to it for cats to hide and pounce from. That being said, the birds are already back, but none on the ground - all jockeying for position on the feeder itself. And there are a LOT of sparrows here. Decisions, decisions. Well, the feeders will be empty while I'm gone, so maybe both the birds and cats will have moved on by the time I get back from Istanbul. The hummingbird feeder will have enough to last while I'm gone.
Anyway, that's all for today. My next post should have pictures form Istanbul.
A friend of mine called me a bird lady the other day - because I fill the feeders essentially every day and support a horde of small sparrows and finches. I suppose I should be glad she didn't call me a crazy bird lady.
Although I generally do see mostly sparrows, finches and doves, I do sometimes get some of the slightly larger birds. This redwing blackbird in the first picture comes by randomly, and I managed to get a couple shots of him. I also have a couple of bluejays that hang around and are really vocal about it when I'm out there. Jays of course, so that's to be expected. The jay in the picture in this blog has a behavior that seems to be specific to him. He flies to the feeder, takes a single sunflower seed, flies to the metal shelf I have out there, holds the seed in his claw and cracks it with his beak and eats it. I've watched him repeat this over and over and over, but haven't seen any of the other jays doing it. I also have a few brown-headed cowbirds that come by randomly.
The sun is peaking out intermittently today. There was only about a 20% chance of rain today according to the forecast, so imagine my surprise to find it actually raining this morning. It only rained about 20 minutes and I don't know that we even got a measurable amount of rain, but the lawn liked it. I'll take anything I can get, considering how dry it's been here. I'm hoping we get more tomorrow, when I think they're actually forecasting 50% chance. If you look closely at the second picture of the redwing, you can sort of see that he's wet from the rain this morning, since it was raining when I took that picture.
I refilled the hummingbird feeder this morning too. It wasn't empty. It's a big feeder and with only two little hummingbirds, it doesn't deplete very fast, but I refill it whenever I notice gunk growing in it. So they should be happy humming campers.
*laughing* Okay, maybe I am a bird lady. Going through two bird feeders full of seed every day though . . . the little guys are going to be hungry the 9 days I'm gone this month. I'm not going to ask my pet sitter to fill them. I'd prefer she stay focused on the cat-kids.
There are only two things that I haven't done now to get ready for my trip to Istanbul. One is call my credit card companies and let them know not to block my charges over there. Or to try to convince them not to block charges anyway. I did this when I went to Austria, and one of the credit card companies still blocked my charges. Frustrating.
The other thing is to plan my wardrobe, so I can begin planning my packing - what suitcases to take, how much room I'll need, etc. Everything else is done. Tickets, passport & visa, hotel confirmation, some money exchanged, international service on my phone, meeting registration confirmation. I'll probably find something else I need to do, but it's coming together nicely.
Anyway, I guess that's about all today. There's a little bird out there with a dark smudge on his breast. I wonder what he is . . .
Have I mentioned that I'm just not that fond of getting older? I have? Let me just mention it again then. Just as my knee is finally healing up, I pulled my lower back out somehow when exercising on Thursday. Yesterday when I got up it was sore and I had trouble bending, but I didn't let that stop me from my planned shopping. I still went even though driving was painful and I had to move the seat way forward so I didn't have to reach for either the wheel or pedals. I slept badly last night and this morning when I got up, there was no position that I could get into that didn't hurt. Lying down, standing, sitting, walking - nothing gave me any relief. And going between those positions - doesn't bear talking about. I nearly couldn't feed the cats.
So I took a painkiller on an empty stomach. Not my smartest move ever. At that point I was in pain, nauseated, light-headed and sweaty. I didn't think that painkiller would be that strong since it was an old one prescribed in 2003. I expected it to just have enough strength to take the edge off the pain, not to make me sick and dizzy. Maybe taking it with the INH was what caused that reaction because I usually don't have trouble with those things. Although granted I usually don't take them on an empty stomach.
Anyway, I got into my recliner with a heating pad behind my back and waited. After about an hour I felt human again. The rest of the day hasn't been too bad. I'm fairly mobile when I need to be, although I need to sit in my softest recliner when I'm sitting. No hard chairs. Plus I slept about 3 hours this afternoon, to make up for the lack of sleep last night. I'm hoping my back will let me get some mostly uninterrupted sleep tonight.
Okay, enough health complaints. As you can see from the picture, the squirrel randomly decides that the red bird feeder is his exclusive property. Little devil. He was out there a couple times today, displacing the birds. He's acquired a serious taste for sunflower seeds.
I thought I'd also post a picture of the two hanging baskets out there. The spider plant isn't thriving as well as the wandering jew, but it's slowly gaining ground and looking healthy rather than looking like a brown-tipped plant refugee from a war. The wandering jew is VERY happy out there as you can see.
The shopping I took a day off work to do yesterday was to find a cocktail dress that fits me for my up-coming trips. Plus I stopped at a bank where I can order foreign currency and ordered some Turkish Lira. I'll need it upon arrival for taxi fare and I try only to exchange money at an airport as a last resort. They usually have seriously bad exchange rates. Then I went grocery shopping. So I got all my shopping in, but did aggravate my back doing it. I was going to run some errands this morning, but that didn't happen. Oh well, they'll keep.
The cat-kids like it when I lay around the house doing not much. They tend to get more attention, more treats and get to go outside more. So they're not unhappy that I'm not very mobile today. The trick is to get them to let me read or use my computer while they're taking up my lap. I'm typing this post using one of my small travel laptops in my lap sitting in my recliner currently.
I got a free lawn fertilizing yesterday morning. While I was drinking coffee waiting for the stores to open, I let Zoe out into the back yard. Suddenly she came flying back in. I looked out there and there was a guy fertilizing my lawn. I thought - that's weird - because usually my lawn service comes on Thursday and it was Friday. So I went and looked out the front and the service truck was not from my lawn service. I opened the front door and pulled the service invoice that he had left on the door and it was for my neighbor's address! So I stopped him as he was starting a weed treatment and told him he had the wrong house. You can imagine his comments. I felt sorry for him, but he was really not paying attention. The house numbers in this neighborhood are very clearly marked.
I guess that's about all for today.
