more kittens

These kittens came in to the humane society shelter I work with as orphans so I don't know their background but they are friendly! Someone spent some time with the little darlings. They love to be held and are little purrmeisters. They're healthy and ready for the adoption floor but I think I still need some kitten love so I'll keep them another week or so.



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The start of Fall

I'm canning tomatoes, waiting for that satisfying pop of the lids as the jars cool. So far, eight out of 15 pops.

When Alan's dad Ray was healthy, we would can tomatoes with him. He had an ambitious garden with from 10 to 15 tomato plants. The irony was that he never touched tomatoes, raw or cooked. I'm sure he accidentally ate cooked tomato from time to time but it would have been disguised somehow.

We would reap the bounty of Ray's garden and his generosity. For the past two years, no garden, no canning, no wonderful stash of jars of home canned tomatoes for using throughout the year. We had trouble finding acceptable store-bought tomatoes in cans. Sugar was added to some! Our marinara recipe turned sweet and kind of nasty tasting.

This year I bought a half peck of canning tomatoes at the Apple Valley Farmers' Market last Tuesday. The heavy paperbag sat on the kitchen floor, not inspiring me to start the process. I put it off until I noticed on Friday, the bottom of the bag was wet. Uh oh. Yes, some were 'overly ripe'. That afternoon I started with the water bath to loosen the skins and cooked them up. I lost probably a half dozen tomatoes to my procrastination.

Today I bought another half peck and went into a flurry of skinning, cooking, boiling jars and filling 12 and 1/2 quarts of tomatoes and one pint and a dab of wild plums from around the nearby pond. The plum jam is half plum, half sugar and still wonderfully tart--no fat!

I'm rewarding myself with a trip to a movie theater this afternoon and will stop to buy another box of canning lids so I can finish tomorrow--probably 8 more quarts.

Ten out of 15 pops.

Old age

For several months I've noticed our 80-year old neighbor showing signs of dementia, similar to what my father-in-law is going through. There were the stacks of papers everywhere. There was the confusion of what to do with the various papers, in V's case, her inability to handle her greeting card list like she usually does. Her habit was to purchase cards for her entire (large) list in January, sign, address, stamp them, then feed them out throughout the year. This year she couldn't get it done so many of the paper stacks were greeting cards in various stages.

Both Alan and I got two birthday cards this year from V, all four either before or after our birthdays. V started losing her house keys. She started accidentally locking herself out of her house. She continued to get lost driving to familiar places.

It all came to a head this week when she headed for a Hallmark card shop a mile or so down CR42. Six hours later, she asked for help in Waseca and happened to ask an off duty police officer. She had my name and address in her wallet. Neighbor B and I drove to Waseca and retrieved her and her car, then took away her keys and called her local brother. She had gone through two tanks of gas and was totally confused.

I'm sure she'll be moving soon to some place more appropriate for her. V has been a wonderful neighbor but I'll be happy to see her go. At this point she is a danger to herself. At least B and I got her off the road.

More construction notes

Kind of a disappointment. We love the newly formed room. BUT, and I've heard this from other folks who have knowledge of construction work, the handling of construction garbage is not even close to green. By construction garbage in a remodel, I mean the removed materials, 2"x4"s, light fixtures, flooring, etc. Also in our case, the old vanity, mirror, toilet. Since much of such stuff is still sitting beside our driveway almost a week later, I've had lots of time to look at it. I'd estimate 80% could be reused or recycled. I noticed there was no attempt to clean up and reuse paint brushes, rollers, pans, scrapers--just toss. Corrigated cardboard--filled with left over mud, paint, pieces of wire.

The contractor did say he would take the vanity, etc., to a recycler. The sink top and faucet went with the first load; the vanity itself is still here. Two trips to the recycler? Maybe everything goes to a sorting place? I did grab two almost full bags of the dry stuff that makes into wallboard mud which our painter friend said he would use.

During this project, our contractor received his green builder certification. I wonder if the construction leftovers are even part of the certification.

Construction

When one doesn't do home remodeling very often, like twice in 20+ years, one forgets. The first project was to add a four-season porch off the living room. This time, we're moving the door to the first floor powder room. Moving the door requires moving everything else in that bathroom.

One forgets the delays. The contractors have other projects to move along. I know, I know. But today we sit with no one working on the project until late this afternoon. During the porch addition, we would sit for a week with no one on the project.

One forgets the mess. Construction dust everywhere. Tools and parts and bits and pieces everywhere. A blue tarp over a heap of I don't know what in the front yard for a week.

I know this project will turn out well and I've thought about moving that door for over two decades--who wants a bathroom door opening to the living room? And I'm glad I'm not a contractor, especially a small independent one with a million details to coordinate who is also a construction worker.

Soon.

Ummm, pizza

We're meeting a friend Saturday night at the Red Savoy in St Paul. I can taste the Savoy Special--with sauerkraut--already. Best pizza ever and it was such an extra treat when this old-style windowless working class bar went smokeless.

Kitten Fix

We finally have kittens in our foster room again, after a long drought. The last two occupants of our foster room were chubby stray female cats with no spay scar. The humane society we foster for has to consider such an animal pregnant. In both these cases, they were not. So no kittens.

Of course it never rains but it pours. Someone brought in two pregnant cats and one with four 2-day old kittens. In the same week my shelter received two more pregnant cats and two pregnant dogs. We'll have a baby boom in no time!

The picture is one of the four, born March 18. The mom cat, I named her Bonnie Doone, is a little shy, loves to be combed, and an excellent mother. Three kittens look like this one, brown tabby, and I think longhairs. The only boy is a buff, probably shorthair.

Every day now they get cuter. Today at 2 weeks, eyes are open and vision is improving; ears are unfolding and hearing is improving; mobility is improving and they stagger around unsteadily. In about 2 weeks, they will be eating on their own and using the litter box.

I love being a foster mom cat.