another month of this weather, please

It’s been three weeks since I posted—good grief. It’s not like I didn’t have anything to say. I always have something to say. Just busy. On the cusp of launching two more websites and another ecommerce site. Plus doing some other stuff wearing my analyst hat. Hasn’t been dull, that’s for sure.

The weather has been gorgeous. Awfully dry—we’re officially in a drought and are supposed to conserve water. It’s supposed to get into “normal” temperatures later this week (60s—my favorite temperature decade), but not much rain in the forecast. I ordered some perennials to put in my badly neglected garden, cone flowers, black-eyed susans because Stanley really likes them (so do I), another batch of bleeding hearts to try, other things and of course tulip bulbs. I have a rose coming that’s this odd red cocoa color—I hope it takes because it will be really pretty if the photos do it any justice at all.

Stanley brought in what is probably the last rose of the season, I think it’s an Emerald Isle that I got from QVC. The problem with having fresh flowers in the house, though, is the damned cat Slink takes them out of the vase and eats, shreds, or tosses them around. This is what it looked like when Stanley gave it to me (click image to enlarge):

Last rose of 2007, Lee Fleming Thompson

Now it’s got shredded leaves and it’s kind of bedraggled, but it’s still pretty. In a sad kind of way. I picked it up twice so far. The red box is by Barbara Schaefer, and I just love it. (We are going to be redoing her website soon—I’m looking forward to it.) We’ve needed a new boiler for oh, at least six years. Probably more like ten, but I haven’t been living here that long. It’s the last “big ticket” item we need for a while (knock on wood) as we’ve gotten a new roof and new appliances. We have steam heat, with the old-fashioned cast iron radiators, and we just love it. Our existing boiler just sucks down the biodiesel—we were spending more than $400 a month last winter, going through something like 150-170 gallons a month. The filter kept getting clogged and we never know if it’s going to just die for good (Stanley resuscitates it usually, but it’s really far gone). So we called our oil company, Santa Energy, and got an estimate from them. Ouch—about $7300. But we really need it, so we’re sucking it up and going ahead. I figure it will pay for itself in about 15 years. Maybe less—I’ll have to compare how much fuel we used last winter with this winter (assuming we can get it installed before we need to use it). I’ve been meeting to put up two pictures of my mother’s cat, Einstein. They’re from last month; Stanley took them. I mentioned that when Einstein is distressed, she puts his ears down in an odd way that makes her look like Yoda (click image to enlarge):

Einstein scowling, September 4, 2007, by Stanley H. Thompson

Now what makes her look like this? Ginger, or course. (click image to enlarge)

Einstein scowling at Ginger, September 4, 2007, by Stanley H. Thompson

Ginger, of course, just wants to play with her. Ginger is still chasing Slink, but is playing with him a little bit now. She goes crazy when she sees Slink eating what she considers HER food, whether it’s some leftover salmon or one of her doggie treats, which Slink loves. Slink steals Ginger’s treats, grabs one and runs away with it. Slink steals a lot of stuff—weirdest thing I’ve ever seen a cat do. He steals the sink stopper, the caps for the toilet bolts, shiny stuff—more like a ferret than a cat. We find his treasures in the strangest places. Tonight, as we were sitting down to eat dinner, Slink showed up to get his share. I almost fainted though, as I was sure he dropped a mouse into the couch cushions. So Stanley looked—sure enough, a small mouse, dead or nearly so. It looked like Slink had been beating the hell out of it and dragging it all over. So, of course, Slink immediately helped himself to Stanley’s milk—so gross. Stanley didn’t drink any milk with his dinner—almost an entire glass wasted, yuck. I’m glad Monday is a holiday. It will give me a chance to catch up with a bunch of the odds and ends I’ve been putting off, like small updates to a couple of sites. Or maybe I’ll plant the new perennials and bulbs. Or both even. I’m still looking for a cabin on the ocean that we can escape to for a long weekend next month. One of those cabin-type “resorts”—nothing fancy, just a place right on the ocean, with heat. Not in Connecticut—I want the Atlantic and not Long Island Sound. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire—far enough but not a really long drive. Dogs allowed. Most of the places that would work want you to rent for a week or a month minimum, and I just want to rent for three or four nights. Or a hotel on the beach with a kitchenette ... something like that, Or on a cliff overlooking the ocean—the idea is I want to see and hear the ocean from the room or cabin. I’ll keep looking.

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