What was Beneath the Cat

Happy New Year??

EEEK...How can it be almost 3 weeks since my last post?

Once again, I have so little to show for those 3 weeks.

No projects have been finished, none of the things that should have been done have been done, and Christmas is still up. 😬

(And, no, I'm NOT off having fun.)

In my defense, there have been several drains on my time.  

I've been switched from the injections (which I was giving to myself) to infusions, (which have to be done by IV). The hospital clinic where I have them done is 45 minutes from me and the actual process ends up taking 4+ hours.

Eventually, they will be less frequent but, for now, the loading doses are a big commitment.

There are also the oral surgeon appointments, and they are almost an hour away and seem never-ending.  Another (painful) one is coming up on Monday.

And something is always requiring repair.  The latest is my furnace...AGAIN!

Despite the annual routine maintenance/inspection I have done, and despite whatever part was replaced last year at the coldest part of the winter, it stopped working a week ago Friday.

I had to have an emergency technician come out and he replaced the part with a temporary one, but it does not work like it is supposed to.

Like many of you, I turn my heat down at night...It was never a problem getting it to warm back up in the morning and it was, in fact, on an automatic schedule.

Now I have to remember to manually turn it up and down and it can take an entire day and not reach the temperature to which it is set. First world problem I know and I am, truly, grateful that I have heat at all.

They are coming back with the new part on Tuesday, and I am just hoping that it actually fixes the problem.

Of course, it always happens when it's the coldest. This is today's advisory:

Anyway.

Back to the purpose of this post:

I promised that the next time I posted I would post the Stag Rug I completed but couldn't show before because Liza decided it was her new digs.

It is not bound (ha! silly you for even thinking it might be) but the hooking is as done as I'm getting it. 

I think.

I had envisioned a warmer background and a less "busy" deer but neither of those things happened.

It was difficult to photograph, but you get the gist. 

It measures approximately 33" x 24" and was hooked in a 9.0 cut.

The design is by Lori Rippey ("Homespun Prims by Lori").

I'm undecided as to what's next. I started a little cross stitch piece until I decide - but it's not holding my attention. 

I think what I need to do is commit to binding at least one of my rugs before starting a new, larger, project.

Baking/cooking is also at a lull.

I played with tweaking my recipe for "Tuscan coffee cake."

The original recipe, though called a "coffee cake," is actually more bread-like than cake-like. (And I'm not talking bread-like as in banana bread, etc. I'm talking a full-blown yeasted bread.)

I really did like it (how can you go wrong with dates, cranberries and toasted walnuts??) but decided to change it up and make a more truly cake-like version.

I can't decide.  I like them both.

And since this post is a bit on the dour side, I'll leave you with these photos of my grandkitty, Emmy. (Yes, she looks a lot like my Liza Bean - they are half sisters.)

For some reason, this just cracked me up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Stay safe and warm.

The Way Things Go in Nod

*Note: My original post has been edited to correct a grammatical error brought to my attention by "Annonymous":   I was not attempting to "UNthaw" my pipes, but THAW them.  Yes, I do know the difference, but it is an unfortunate colloquialism here which I used inadvertently.  I also did not take much time, under the circumstances, to review my post before publishing, so from one grammar Nazi to another, I do hope I can be forgiven.  I do not know what I would have done without you Annonymous....but somehow know why you choose to be "annonymous."  (And, did you miss the mis-spelling of "satellite"? Or were just taking pity on me? LOL)

Yes, it's going to be one of those "it started with" posts.

 It started with the cold....bitter, bone-chilling cold.

The cold led to frozen water lines, as it does every year.  Despite my efforts and several Mr. Heaters, I was unable to unthaw* thaw them.

Soooo, my husband engaged his "buddy" to come over to see what he could do because my husband was ice fishing and could not be bothered.

"Buddy" came over and concluded the issue was (as I already knew) the fact that the water pipe was on an exterior block wall of our basement...hence why this happens each and every year and I just happen to have a small arsenal of Mr. Heaters.

But, Buddy decides he can not only unthaw* thaw the water pipes, but he can FIX the problem once and for all.  (I cringed as I had already consulted with several other contractors in previous years and they said there really wasn't much that could be done.)

Despite my protests, Buddy began all sorts of machinations and noise-making, and trips down the stairs (salty, snowy, boots and all) and back up the stairs, to the store, and back from the store, down the stairs and back up.

Buddy is going to divert some of the heat from the furnace in the adjoining room to the ceiling area in the basement in the vicinity of the pipes.   This involves no less than 3 trips to the store (in so many days), a perpetual mess in my basement, and every light switch in the vicinity left on for me to go down and shut off.  Oh, and did I mention it also involves me crawling up on a ladder, removing (sharp) tin ceiling tiles and turning a switch on and off???? 

Three days, a pound of wood shavings, a virtual path of salty, dirty footprints, two burnt out light bulbs, and several unidentified metal pieces (left for me to step on in the darkness occasioned by the burnt-out light bulbs) later, Buddy concludes this plan is not going to work.

Not easily deterred, Buddy moves on to Plan B....which also involves numerous trips up and down the stairs (salty, snowy, boots and all) and to town over a course of another 3 days.

Then the drilling began.

And then the television satellite* signal started to falter....

I yell to Buddy to stop, which he does only long enough to inform me that nothing he is doing could possibly have anything to do with the television.

And then the television went out...completely.

After arguing with Buddy that SOMETHING he did affected the wires that run through the ceiling area in which he was drilling, Buddy leaves and goes to the store...again.  When he returns, he spends several hours trying to figure out what might have gone wrong and trying to convince me it was not his fault by showing me the size of drill bit he was using. How this is relevant, I have no clue.  Unsuccessful in restoring our television signal, Buddy leaves to consult with his ex-brother-in-law....and go to the store...again.

For the sake of expediency, I will condense this by simply saying that Buddy eventually did get our television signal restored....

And then my internet went out.

I am completely accustomed to this happening from time to time, and can almost do hard reboots of my pc, modem and router in the dark (but not quite which I found out when I tried because my husband decided to go to bed at 6:30 after (another) hard day of ice fishing and sleeps in the adjoining room.)

I waited until the following morning and re-did the hard reboots....several times (but not as many times as Buddy went to the store).  Nothing worked.  I eventually gave up and called our internet provider only to be told that there is nothing wrong on their end...it has to be something wrong with.....the cable....which cable so happens to run along with the television satellite cable that Buddy did NOT do anything to.

At the risk of invoking my full and complete wrath, Buddy returned...spent several hours in  the ceiling...left to once again consult with his ex-brother-in-law...returned...and then left while I was at an appointment, not to return...at all.

I finally called someone who came out today and took at things. He crawled up into the area in which Buddy was working and saw what Buddy did up there....  Diagnosis:  He suspects that Buddy nicked or tagged the RG6 cable that runs from the dish outdoor to my modem.

Bad news (you weren't really expecting good news at this point, were you?):  We will have to take down the wood ceiling in the downstairs bath to access the cable that will have to be replaced.

So....I have no internet.  I have extremely spotty cellular signal here (when Mars is aligned with Pluto, the moon is full, and the cock crows before daylight) and, therefore, can only access the internet for brief fleeting moments a few times during a day.  I wrote this post in bits and fits while sitting waiting for a prescription to be filled and during those brief otherwise moments.

That is how things go in Nod.  That is one more reason this crow is cranky.

Oh...and that first photo??? No, that's NOT Snowdog.... It's a wolf....on the road....in front of our house. 

That's the way things go in Nod.

(My apologies for the length of this rant. This post was intended to be about some stitching updates...but I got sidetracked....and I guess my "window" of time for being able to download/upload photos from my phone was up.)