In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 180 of 1154
I think they forage at night and sleep during the day, I've seen them mostly at night (except the one that I think was rabid) so if you want to cause maximum annoyance, I presume you're supposed to play your boom box during the day, when she's (they're) home?
I really like the idea of driving him/her/them out with annoyance. Getting them to leave voluntarily is a lot less messy than killing or trapping them.
*****
It sounds like you're making fantastic progress on the cleanup! I'm so jealous! This week I managed to have a doctor's appointment for either me or dear daughter every day of the week except today, which is the day that we're going out to lunch with her auntie. That really kills the schedule! Now that I'm on the mend (with antibiotics) I hope to finish up painting that room FINALLY and then we can start moving our stuff in. I must have been running a mild infection for a long time, I can't believe how much better I feel overall, let's hope it lasts! Also, I got the radiology and bloodwork results from the Rheumatologist. Osteoarthritis here and there, plus some tendonosis, rotator cuff, and plantar fasciitis. Nothing terrible. Bloodwork shows mild rheumatoid factor plus mild non-specific inflammation (sed rate, CRP) which Dr suggested treating me for if I wanted (not). I figured out that that horrible crisis of "pain everywhere all the time" really was probably from levaquin bc the Dr knew how to make the osteo hurt by pressing on various joints - but that's not where I was hurting. Since it's not the osteo and the rheumatoid isn't showing up on xray, by process of elimination it must have been the levaquin. It's nice to know that it's something that will eventually go away on its own without treatment. I have to say that horrible reaction to levaquin was about on-par with my reaction to statins, which was equally horrible. I can chalk up two meds to avoid!
*****
But how's the job situation? On leave? Still working? Quit? Getting unemployment? Fingers crossed that it all works out for you!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
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BRENDA, it sounds like you're able to ge out and about much more easily that before! I'm STILL so happy for you! I can imagine you in your new, heated apartment with sunshine and view, and space for your things so you can get organized. Just OOC, what are the things you appreciate most in your new place? Indoor laundry? No hill to confront? Enough hot water and electrical outlets? Actual kitchen area?
I read that you too are unboxing and unloading. Isn't it great to be able to strip down and organize your things, putting them where you need/want them??
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think they forage at night and sleep during the day, I've seen them mostly at night (except the one that I think was rabid) so if you want to cause maximum annoyance, I presume you're supposed to play your boom box during the day, when she's (they're) home?
I really like the idea of driving him/her/them out with annoyance. Getting them to leave voluntarily is a lot less messy than killing or trapping them.
*****
It sounds like you're making fantastic progress on the cleanup! I'm so jealous! This week I managed to have a doctor's appointment for either me or dear daughter every day of the week except today, which is the day that we're going out to lunch with her auntie. That really kills the schedule! Now that I'm on the mend (with antibiotics) I hope to finish up painting that room FINALLY and then we can start moving our stuff in. I must have been running a mild infection for a long time, I can't believe how much better I feel overall, let's hope it lasts! Also, I got the radiology and bloodwork results from the Rheumatologist. Osteoarthritis here and there, plus some tendonosis, rotator cuff, and plantar fasciitis. Nothing terrible. Bloodwork shows mild rheumatoid factor plus mild non-specific inflammation (sed rate, CRP) which Dr suggested treating me for if I wanted (not). I figured out that that horrible crisis of "pain everywhere all the time" really was probably from levaquin bc the Dr knew how to make the osteo hurt by pressing on various joints - but that's not where I was hurting. Since it's not the osteo and the rheumatoid isn't showing up on xray, by process of elimination it must have been the levaquin. It's nice to know that it's something that will eventually go away on its own without treatment. I have to say that horrible reaction to levaquin was about on-par with my reaction to statins, which was equally horrible. I can chalk up two meds to avoid!
*****
But how's the job situation? On leave? Still working? Quit? Getting unemployment? Fingers crossed that it all works out for you!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
Glad to hear there's probable good news for your health issues. Hope your doctor is right and it clears up on its own now. :)
Job situation is kind of in limbo while I'm on the unpaid vacation that I had scheduled a few months back when I was going to have my step-dad's help with the porch. I haven't actually been able to address that situation at all so far though, and i'm going on two weeks into it. At least I'm getting a lot of other stuff done that has been neglected for years. I'm hoping to have gotten rid of everything except for just enough stuff to rent a small 12 foot truck for moving. That may be a bit too ambitious, given how much tools I have, but getting all of this furniture I don't need and never use has been liberating. At least it's keeping me in good spirits while everything else in my life is up in the air.
I likely will be filing for unemployment at the end of next month. I do have a possible lead on another overnight job close to home though. I'm hoping I can work out something with them that would allow me plenty of time on the side to work on the house too. This would only be about 2 miles round trip to work too, instead of nearly 40. I'm not jumping on it just yet because it's actually not really even fair to a potential future employer to apply when I don't even know if I'm just going to try dumping the house ultimately or not. But I was told that they're "always hiring, especially overnights" and that
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
BRENDA, it sounds like you're able to ge out and about much more easily that before! I'm STILL so happy for you! I can imagine you in your new, heated apartment with sunshine and view, and space for your things so you can get organized. Just OOC, what are the things you appreciate most in your new place? Indoor laundry? No hill to confront? Enough hot water and electrical outlets? Actual kitchen area?
I read that you too are unboxing and unloading. Isn't it great to be able to strip down and organize your things, putting them where you need/want them??
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
Hi SIG. Yes, I can.
I appreciate the indoor laundry and no hills to confront. Also the manager is really good. So that is another bonus someone who knows what they are doing. I do appreciate enough outlets and kitchen area with storage space and more than enough hot water.
Also nice to be able to watch tv if I want to or not. Depending what is on and how I feel.
It is fantastic to be able to unbox and see what is what after everything being in boxes for so many years. Like I said upthread, I've found stuff I was worried that I had lost. Thank goodness I didn't.
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Laundry then going to work in the rain.
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Slowly making progress. I managed to wrap up and box about 90% of the electronics that I don't use everyday that are going to come with me when I leave. Up in the attic now, which seems counter-intuitive, but by this time tomorrow I should have the living room floors completely polished and everything I don't use every day out of there, and all of the furniture except for essentials out of there.
Then I have to work on the "overflow" that's littering my kitchen and making it hard to do anything in there. Most of what's in there is going to goodwill.
Can't get rid of my books until my brother comes on Monday. Have a few I'm keeping as well as a collection of American history I'm keeping, but other than that I'm giving away about 150 books and the bookshelf. When my brother comes I'm going to be getting the king sized bed staged in the garage as well as a dumpy old dresser that doesn't belong to either of the good sets. Going to have to really figure out what I want to do with the two good sets after that.
Tentatively, my friend is coming over on Tuesday to check out the porch situation. Hopefully I have more of an idea what I'm going to do at that point because that's the nucleus of all of my problems right now and I can't really make a plan about anything until I figure out what I'm doing with it.
Damned racoon is still up there. I'm not sure what to do about that at this point. I really don't want to have to poison them out.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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If you don't mind trapping her, you can get Have a Heart live traps, they're really easy to set up. We used to have a feral cat problem and I managed to trap four of the six cats including the queen (damn she was a productive mom!) and spay/neuter them for release. Also managed to catch a few possums unintentionally. They're about $40, o wish I could lend you mine! Your biggest problem will be releasing the critter because it will be PISSED. Also you don't want a return so maybe not bother until you've figured out your porch and at least sealed up wherever she came in from?
They sell coyote urine online too, that might scare it away.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
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Good thing I didn't a bus today to do my laundry. I forgot about a parade that was going through my city. Which means that bus that I took a couple of months ago was detoured because of it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
If you don't mind trapping her, you can get Have a Heart live traps, they're really easy to set up. We used to have a feral cat problem and I managed to trap four of the six cats including the queen (damn she was a productive mom!) and spay/neuter them for release. Also managed to catch a few possums unintentionally. They're about $40, o wish I could lend you mine! Your biggest problem will be releasing the critter because it will be PISSED. Also you don't want a return so maybe not bother until you've figured out your porch and at least sealed up wherever she came in from?
Yeah... I'm not really going to poison her. I was just a bit agitated yesterday. Like you said, trapping it might not even be a great idea because if I relocated them she might just go back and until I button up the porch here's really nothing at this point to stop another one from coming in between now and September (the months where they do this sort of thing).
Kind of bummed that my harassment isn't making them go. That's not to say that having the radio blaring wouldn't deter new ones from coming in once she's gone (it might), but if it's not enough to force her to leave after the fact I can't count on it.
If the racoon was the only real issue I had in life right now, I wouldn't have times where I was being so negative about it. It's kind of the shit flavored icing on my shit cake that I'm eating at the moment. I usually expect the worst to happen so I'm not let down when it does or I'm wonderfully surprised when it doesn't. I just can't seem to remember a time where so many things just went wrong all at once.
I'm not whining though. And I know full well that most of this is my fault. I drank for years and did nothing to improve my life while letting everything slip away. Sure, it was great getting sober, and I have made quite a few improvements in the last few years, but when it came to my house I didn't change my behavior at all. At least not in any meaningful way. On top of that, I've watched my neighbor behind me let his garage rot to the point where I'd be surprised if the plywood is the only thing keeping it up at this point. I've really felt bad for him since his breadwinning wife split town and left him with the kid. His grass is currently over 2 feet tall again. I'm sure he's done nothing about the ant problem he's had for years that made their way up to my property to become my problem as well. Once I figure out how to fix my own pest problems here, I have to come to terms with the fact that if I sell before he gets forced out and somebody razes the structures and rebuilds that it's going to severely impact whatever I could expect to get when I sell the house.
However bad I have let my own situation become, in the last 4-5 years he's let it get 10 times as bad. I did him no favors by not calling code enforcement on him. And now, at least until I figure out the next steps with the porch, I really can't.
Oh well.... Enough venting.
Living room is looking great now. :)
I just have one last fancy end table type thing to clean up and around and the living room will be finally clean and polished. I'm going to keep that unit since it's small and lightweight, and currently it is home to my network gear, phone, copier/fax machine and paper. The mice shit on that thing too. At least I kept the drawer closed.
Still not a single mouse caught in any of the various traps, and more importantly, no new crap where I've already cleaned over the last 10 or so days. I actually wonder if the racoon is keeping any new ones from getting in? No matter though. Once all of the big furniture is gone and I keep any of the smaller existing furniture a good length from the walls, and I don't pile any new crap up and around any of it, I shouldn't get any more that the traps won't quickly take car
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Good luck SIX!
I know that finding the porch situation was definitely an unexpected knock, but look at it this way: You still have your job (even if you don't like the situation) and you still have your house, and better yet, you have your health.
You also have the prospect of another job closer to home, which ... btw ... I would make a strict dollars-and-cents decision on: Are you likely to earn more money at this new job than you would at your current employer (with daytime hours) or that you might get with unemployment? I would not think about whether or not it would be "fair" to them to take a job if you're going to move because they aren't "fair" in return; THEY would make a strict dollar-and-cents decision on you too. Generally speaking, employers aren't "loyal" to their employees so they don't deserve any loyalty in return. And if you decide you want the closer job and they hire you, with your work ethic and your previous experience you will be helping them make money from day 1, which is more than most employers can hope for!
I hate to keep harping on the job situation but it's only as bad as you make it. You can be jobless and income-less if you make a stupid decision, and your situation - which seems bad now- can become a whole lot worse all of a sudden and you will look back on today with fond regret. So make you decisions cautiously; don't jump off the metaphorical cliff.
That was your Depression-era granny talking to you! 
*****
I wish I was able to make progress too! Last week I was sick all week, and running back and forth to various doctors and the pharmacy for dear daughter or for myself. But even when I'm NOT sick it seems I can barely scrape an hour together here or there for the "big" projects. Between walking the dog (up to an hour) and kitchen cleanup (up to an hour) and cooking for the family with all of our food intolerances and allergies (a couple of hours) ... well, there goes at least three hours a day! Pfffft!!!
And then dear daughter and I have a lunch date every Friday (to get her out of the house and used to talking with wait staff, at least) and the yard needs hours of maintenance every week (which it's not getting... and it shows!) and every couple of weeks I have to tackle the mail and bills and take dear daughter out to drop off our recycling ... plus we spend at least three hours and day watching television with her, talking about plot lines and characters and who's doing what and why and how it could have been written differently and when it stops making sense/being realistic (To this day she still can't make a sharp division between TV and reality) ... MORE hours per day! Pffft!!!
And then there is the time I spend here which ... to be honest, I really can't afford, so I'm going to go "cold turkey" on Firefly for a while, some time in the near future.
All that means that progress on the "big" projects is incremental at best. Since I was sick or at the doctor's or pharmacy all last week, it seems, I plan on FINALLY finishing the room painting in the next few days, and then we can start moving things back into our bedroom, parsing as we go. Altho we've already given away boxes and boxes of books (to our local library) and clothes and household items (to St Vincent de Paul) we still have computer parts and furniture and I too, have a 12-piece set of very nice china that I inherited from my MIL, in addition to my daily tableware, that I'd like to sell, along with the china cabinet that's holding it.
And dear daughter has hoarding tendencies so going thru HER stash ... it's going to be a struggle over every item, I'm sure.
At least dear daughter can be tasked with laundry and floor cleaning, and she does help me paint and pull weeds, provided I set her up with a task that doesn't need too much decision making!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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