October 24, 2016 Miss Kitty Is Back Home!

The drainage ditch I dug at
the hair-pin on Friday.

Sunrise on the mountains as
I left for my Saturday morning hike.

Friday 10/21. After dishes and laundry, I decided not to wait til after lunch to dig out the drainage ditch in the hair-pin turn.  So I grabbed the Macintosh and shovel, and the dogs and I hiked down the drive.  There are two main ruts that act as drainage canals.  I cleaned out all the little dams in them from all the pine needles as we went.  I was able to divert one "canal" off the road about half-way down as it had meandered close to the side.  At the hair-pin, which is about 100 yards from the end of our driveway, I dug out the ditch which was completely filled with silt.  Definitely got my cardio for the day!  And as soon as we got back to the house, I took a shower.

The weather forecast was for sun today, but as soon as the sun tried to break through the cloud cover, all it succeeded in doing was creating fog.  Lots of fog.  So we really never had sun at all.  Our high for the day was 48.

Saturday 10/22. It was 37 and clear when I got up at 6:15 this morning, which was actually the third time I was up.  Buster came up to visit at 4:00 am!  I just yelled at him to go home and didn't let our dogs out until 5:00.  Didn't get a lot of time to rest up for my four-mile hike today.

I left as planned at 7:30 am.  This clear, crisp morning was perfect for such a hike and the Fall colors were brilliant, but the aspen have lost most of their leaves now.  

I arrived at Gridders right at 9:00 am and he was just warming up his truck.  So it was off to finally pick up Miss Kitty.  I haven't written out a check that large in a long time. . .

When we returned, I had a nice visit with Mrs. Gridder and their boys, then drove Miss Kitty home.  Was so good to have her back!  And the dogs checked her out all over when they saw her.

But no time to rest.  I had to fix a big pot of chili and bake an apple pie coffee cake to take down to my brother's cabin to celebrate his birthday.  I was down there a little after 3:00 pm and stayed for a couple hours.  I took the short-cut down, but drove the long way back.

Needless to say, I was pretty much exhausted by then and was in bed by 8:30 pm, having taken some ibuprofen.  But it was a very good day.

Sunday 10/23.  It was 39 and mostly cloudy this morning.  Another early rising as Jesse wanted out at 3:30 and didn't come back until 4:30.  It was dry outside when he came back, but it had rained when I got up at 7:45.

I had a nice, slow day doing dishes, laundry, reading a book and playing computer games.  Also read the mail, which included our ballot.  Will be so very glad when this election is over.  I already hate our next president.

This is the perfect time of year for JB to be in Seattle as he gets to watch hockey and the Chicago Cubs as they make it to the World Series for the first time since about 1920!  I find it quite interesting that when my Mother was in hospice 21 years ago this month (yes, Medicare actually paid for her to be there back then), she was watching the Seattle Mariners go to the World Series as she was waiting to leave this earthly plain.  And now JB's Mother is watching the Cubs do the same thing, under the same circumstances, and she is thrilled.  Universal timing or synchronicity, whatever you want to call it.

JB's sister-in-law put the Farmer's Insurance ad from TV on Facebook for me, as it is JB's favorite.  The "mer-dogs"!  So very cute!

It was a dreary, cloudy Seattle day with a high of 47.  They really need to keep their weather on their side of the mountains.

Monday 10/24. It is 42 and partly cloudy this morning with more rain in the forecast.  JB starts training his brother today to care for their Mother.

Thought for the day: Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw