Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I am loving the rain even if I'm not getting the garden in

The theme this week seems to be rain...a real barrier to me getting my garden turned and tilled.  Or cultivated.  It's rained on and off for the past few days with very nice temps, though.  Still...I'm fretting at all the work I need to do yet.  And soon, before my tomatoes and tobacco rot in their tiny little seed beds.  Tomorrow Zach will go out and start the shovel work, in between raindrops if necessary.  I'll follow with the tiller when it dries a bit.  I'll be going with the smaller garden this year as I got too late a start in turning it. 

Zach had an interview with the employment agency today.  He was there two hours, taking tests and filling out paperwork.  His typing skills were tremendous, 95 wpm with only 5 mistakes.  He did well on data processing, well enough they've said he could take any office job they have to offer.  He was definitely the best dressed person there.  I saw kids coming in in shorts and ratty t-shirts.  He was in a polo shirt and khaki slacks.  These kids were 2010 high school grads; I could tell by the t-shirt that said as much.  Apparently they didn't teach them interviewing attire.

Zach signed on for both full time and temp work.  They said they would call him when something came up.  Not too reassuring, but not negative, at least.  I hope he hears from the other agencies, too.

I started yet another knitting project.  I was going to work on a shrug so I can hide my hefty left arm, swollen with lymphedema, but I loved the shell under it so I went ahead and started that pattern first.  I'm also working on this baby blanket.  It took me a bit to get used to the pattern, but I've almost got it memorized so the going is much faster.  Only I'm not using two different colors.  I got some variegated orange, yellow and white Bernat Baby Sport on the clearance rack so I'm using that.  It's turning out pretty well.  And of course the bathroom curtain and the pinwheel baby blanket, which is turning out larger than the pattern called for because I'd like it to fit a young boy's bed instead of a baby's crib.  Plus it's an easy knit, not one that needs more focus, like the baby blanket I just started.  I can't work on it and watch tv.  But I can work on it and listen to tv or a podcast as I did today while waiting in the car for Zach...for two hours.  I don't know why I don't listen to podcasts more often.  They are so enjoyable.

So I should start some laundry but I only got a few hours sleep again last night so I'm really dragging.  I found some small steaks in the freezer that I laid out before leaving for Zach's interview.  Not enough for just eating but I might be able to cut them into strips and fix some pasta and sauce of some kind to stretch them out a bit.  Too bad I'm nearly out of egg noodles and don't feel like making them from scratch tonight.  Maybe just steaks, baked potato and a salad.  I'm really tired.  I couldn't take a pain pill earlier because I was afraid I'd fall asleep at the wheel.  It might have been the last straw on that account.  Good thing I'm responsible and can tolerate the pain so well.  Groan.

Hannibal appears to like the lamb version of the food the vet prescribed.  It's Royal Canin.  I also have a recipe to make my own food for him which may come in very handy as each little 5.9 oz can of this is over $2 each.  I also have some de-worming medicine I'm supposed to put in his food but after I added it to the duck yesterday, he tried to bury it and he wouldn't touch the duck again, even after giving him a new dish and medicine free food.  Not sure how I'm supposed to get the medicine down him other than forcing it down his throat.  He just won't go near any food that has it.  I'm going to have to get another dose in a few weeks as that one was wasted.

I informed Tom that Hannibal can't go outside at all and can't be fed anything not on his diet.  Tom is the indulgent one, letting him outside in spite of Zach's' wishes on the matter and feeding him whatever he can so I sort of laid down the law telling him that if he doesn't comply with the doctor's orders we could be looking at expensive surgery.  And all it takes is one time to re-set the program, which is expensive what with this prescription food.  He looked bleak for a moment and then agreed.  He just can't stand Hannibal's whining and gives in to him to shut him up.

One of the reasons he can't go outside is because he eats mice out there and we have to control his food 100%.  Just the other day he tried to bring a baby rabbit into the house.  Fortunately he didn't kill it and didn't even seem to injure it.  He just played with it for a while and then lost interest.  He's not the mighty hunter Professor is.  Professor surprised me, though, as he treated the rabbit as if it were a pet and didn't attack it at all.  This is the dog who raided a rabbit nest and viciously killed all the babies in it just last summer.  Not to mention the various chipmunks he's dispatched.  I don't know if that's the Chihuahua or the Pomeranian in him.  Or a combination thereof.

At any rate, it's time to fix supper and clean up Hannibal's mess.  He just threw up in the hallway.  It will take a while for this diet to soothe his stomach and heal his inflammation.  In the meantime, I clean up.  If Zach tries it, I have two messes to clean up.  He has a very low threshold for gagging.

TTFN

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