The opossum left sometime around noon yesterday I think. Charlie drove me crazy all day wanting to go out there, where, I suppose, he could still pick up the scent.
Charlie would never be a match for a opossum, so I hope they don’t meet up. I’m sure the opossum has teeth. And poor Charlie, nary a one.
Sirens sounded again last night. Everything was fine here. Rained for a short time. I didn’t see anything online about bad weather.
This morning as I sat here drinking my cup of coffee, I looked about me and thought: things are simplified in here. And I like it this way.
In other words, I don’t have so much stuff on tables to move and dust under. I don’t have as much furniture period. I’ve got what I need and a few decorative elements that Ivy doesn’t mess with.
Simple is good.
I guess I didn’t realize how tiresome having all that stuff was. Everything is winnowed down now.
My whole apartment and my closets are easier to deal with. I’ve taken a good bit of clothes and stuff to the Goodwill around the corner.
Not always completely entirely clean, but it’s tidy. Manageable. Maybe it’s getting older, but I’m more appreciative of easy and simple these days.
Nathan was the recipient of my furniture giveaways. One end table I gave him became the base for his snake aquarium. I shudder to think of living with a huge snake.
But he likes it. He says he only has to feed it about every six months. That seems strange.
So he has a dog and a cat and a snake. I’m fine with a dog and a cat myself.
Yesterday after PT I went by the store and picked up some groceries to see me through until next week. I picked up a rotisserie chicken, and the makings of a casserole that I’ve been making for many years.
Now Nathan makes it and he brings me half. You have to boil egg noodles, and I can’t do that here without a stove top. So that’s one of his new dishes.
I made him up a plate of chicken, baked beans, scalloped potatoes and a salad last night and he took it home after having to work overtime. Today he should be bringing me food and if I’m lucky it might last two days.
While I was out yesterday I went by Petsmart to get Ivy another scratching post. I’m lucky she does not scratch my furniture. I saw a furry gray mouse I thought she’d like that was cheap, so I bought it for her.
She’s been dragging that thing around ever since. She goes into the bathtub with it, drags it around from room to room. I’ve never seen a cat that entertains and occupies herself as completely as Ivy does.
She still carries around those red and white checked curtain ties. Remember she found those the first days she was here and she’s had them ever since.
It’s so funny to watch her paw at the curtain tie. And then, inexplicably, she will jump up into the air and shimmy around like a man on a rodeo horse. I still can’t figure out how cats can jump so high in place. A human would have to run to jump like that.
Speaking of Ivy, that reminded me that I haven’t seen her for awhile. Got up and looked for her. She was in between the bedroom blinds and curtains looking outside.
Somehow she delicately gets around those two barriers so she can look outside.
The window film I had Nathan put on the living room window curled so badly that I never even open the blinds or curtains there anymore. He even tried adhesive to save it, to no avail.
I don’t get it. Something about those darned windows.
I think trying to take it off would leave such a mess it’s better to just leave it be.
That’s okay, I can open the front door because I have a storm door and there’s nothing to see out front anyway but the back of the outlet mall and the maintenance shed.
I’d much rather look at my patio. It sure does make up for the front window and then some.
Aren’t those round feathery things on the clematis the clematis seed? If so, do you just clip one off and plant it?
Here Charlie is yesterday begging to go outside to try and find that opossum, poor thing.
Here is one more photo of that cute critter…
Here’s Ivy Lou helping me dry a freshly washed blanket. At least I’m letting her think she is. What she’s really doing is getting cat hair all over it. Oh well.
I’m thinking about taking my camera and going out and about to take photos today. Maybe I’ll head over to Woodward Park and the Rose Garden.
I grew up moving every year. you soon learn to own very little. it’ simply too hard to pack it all up every year. and it’s the memories in our minds and the love for past experiences and people that we value… not the stuff! I have a very cozy but uncluttered apartment. I can’t breathe properly when the top of everything is covered! I’m so happy about your friendship with Nathan too! it’s seems helpful to you both! hug those furries for me. they’re just so irresistible!
I’m so happy for you that Nathan lives there and you have each other for support. I’m sure he appreciated that dinner. Love the picture of the quilt on the wall. I’m so struggling with getting rid of things. I’m trying to empty out but it’s just not working. Maybe you could post on why we keep things and how hard it is to let go for some of us. Enjoy your weekend.
I’ll think along those lines about why we keep things. I have never had a problem with doing away with things for some reason. I’ve had those quilts on the wall almost since I moved in here.
After helping my friend’s daughter clean her house out when they had to put her in a Memory Care Home, I came home and slowly began to clean out things here in my home. My daughter in law is appreciating it too! lol I have entirely too many things but not nearly as much as my friend had. She had something on every inch of her walls and I took off several bags of magazines. I just don’t want my sons and dil’s to have to do it.
I’m so glad you and Nathan are able to share meals, he sounds like a such a nice young man. I’m with you on simplifying everything; I’m trying to get rid of things and bringing in nothing new; it is an eye opener to see just how little we need in this world. I hope you have a lovely Memorial weekend. It is to be in the mid to high 90s in Atlanta, so me and Molly plan to stay inside to keep cool. Tell Charlie that possum would kick his you know what! Ivy Lou is just a whirlwind of busy, but so entertaining and such a pretty cat.
Carol and Molly
xoxoxo
So nice to have a great neighbor, and yall can help each other..wonderful… Love your quilt display..so colorful and pretty..guess you possibly made the quilts or some…lovely…..Thanks for sharing and glad you stocked up on food for the upcoming holiday which usually brings out the crazies…on the roads and shopping…I try to avoid crowds, too. Have a nice weekend..
Always a bunch of car wrecks around Memorial Day and Labor Day. I stay in. I think I made all those quilts you speak of but one.
Hi. Cosmos gets very tall and kind of bushy, so are you able to keep it in that pot or move it to a pot by itself? Just wondering. I never saw it in a pot before!
It does feel good to have less things on the surfaces, doesn’t it? Over the past few months I’ve hauled a half dozen bags or so of stuff to a charity store. What I do is, I put the bag in my car and then wait a week or two before dropping it off, to see if I really miss anything in the bag. So far, there have been only a couple of things I’ve brought back in the house. I used to have more things on display, but as I’ve painted rooms, I haven’t put all of the shelves back up for displaying things. I keep thinking of all of the stuff we had to haul out of my late mother-in-law’s house when she moved into assisted living — and then all of the stuff she accumulated in assisted living that we had to haul out when she went to a nursing home. I don’t want to have that much stuff that someone has to get rid of someday!
Me either, with someone having to haul off stuff. As for the cosmos, I’ve never grown it before. I just put it in that pot to see if it would come up, as I don’t have a lot of luck with seeds. I will be moving it.
I love reading your daily thought. You and Nathan are like a Mom and son working in tandem. I love how you help him and how he helps you as well. I love possum and am so glaf when one dawdles through my yard eating ticks etc. They usually play “ possum” as in play dead if a dog bothers them. They can hiss and show their teeth but they are timid creatures at best. Your patio is looking amazing. Wish I could garden but back is so bad I’m not even trying this year. Stay safe in this erratic weather.
I couldn’t be bending over plants all the time. That’s why I have my over 20 year old plastic garden cart from Walmart that I roll around on. Another idea is to have raised gardens built to about waist height.
Wondering what the bright green plant in front of the clematis is. Miss you and enjoy keeping up with you and your shenanagens. The neighborhood is not the same without you.?
Not quite sure. It’s wild and just came up. I think it may be wild ginger.
Opossums do have teeth that would be very bad for Charlie to encounter! Ivy is a hoot. She is a lot of entertainment also to us who read your blog.
MISS IVY IS A VERY SMART CAT I BELIEVE !
I am enjoying hearing that you and Nathan have such a good friendship .He needed you and you needed him !
Things work out like that sometimes !
About cats and colors ,I recently colored my hair a medium brown before it was gray and blond frosted .When I finished it last week Kramer cat looked at me like who is this person I would definitely love to know what color he was seeing
Love the photos Brenda! A simple life is much, much better than a complicated stressful one. The “less is more” mentality is definitely a great place to be. I’m ready to start culling out some more things around here and becoming more and more organized. It helps my brain function much better! Love and hugs!
I’ve read something like that too. I do know that a bull does not see the color red, just the waving of the matadors cape. Anyway, what .that Ivy likes her toys. My 15 year old, does not play with anything any more, except for a green olive now and then. She likes the salty taste. never eats it, just licks it to death… The meal of chicken, with the side dishes you made for Nathan, sounds lovely. So does the chicken casserole, he makes. How very nice to have a good friend living close by, for you both…
It’s nice to divide the tasks like cooking. He’s thinking of making some cooking videos.
Oh he should make the cooking videos! Like Hoyt of Hoyt’s Kitchen. That man is funny if you’ve never seen him. Some of his recipes I’m going to try.
Ivy and Charlie are a world of entertainment just by themselves! You and Nathan have such a wonderful relationship. He’s appreciative of the things you do for him, and you are appreciative of the extras that he does for you. There’s nothing like a friendship between equals, where each is contributing for the benefit of the other as well as themselves. The possum is gone for now, but he/she may be back in the future if it was born nearby. The tree that overhangs your yard is a natural highway for possums to travel and also to seek out for safety if they perceive a threat on the ground. I don’t know if you are interested, but here is a link to information about different kinds of opossum (and other animals as listed) repellents, one of which is natural. You may be able to find a recipe for the natural repellent made up of various herbs and oils online. https://www.peststrategies.com/reviews/opossum-products/best-opossum-repellents/ Normally opossums are nocturnal and scurry home as the sun begins to rise, so I wouldn’t worry too much about letting Charlie out during the day once you do a quick eye-over inspection. But, a repellent wouldn’t hurt. It could be applied around the border of your patio and along the top of your fence and as high as you can reach on the tree branches. You’d probably have to re-apply after it rains. By the way, it seems we are getting all the weather fronts here in SE Wisconsin that came through your area; last evening surprise thunderstorms that were not in the original forecast; the last one blew through early this morning, before 2 a.m. Lots of lightning and some thunder, then about 30 to 45 seconds at a time of torrential pounding downpours with strong winds. Today it’s absolutely beautiful outside but the winds are even stronger; they are supposed to die down later this afternoon. Our season here seems to be about 3 weeks or so behind “normal” this year in terms of rainfall and temperature. Today I’m being showered with petals from my next store neighbor’s flowering crab apple blown toward me on the strong swirling SW winds as I sweep up nut shells from my tribe of squirrels.
Yes, those of new clematis seed heads, but not for planting yet. They will go brown an fluffy in the fall, and that is the time to pot them.
I don’t know. Will have to check that out.
Here’s what I found: Humans have about 10 times the amount of cone cells than cats do, which allows us to see all the colors of the rainbow. Because they have fewer cones, cats can only see shades of blue and green. Reds and pinks can be confusing to them and appear greener. Purple looks like another shade of blue to cats.
Can cats see colors? If so, maybe Ivy likes the RED COLOR of the kitchen ties?
Brenda,
You can cook pasta in your microwave. Just Google the method.
Will check. Thanks!
So many wonderful blooms, and I see your Cosmos are up strong already – that’s super exciting!! The critters ate two of mine after I nurtured them downstairs and then hardened them off in stages and planted them out….grrrrrr, so much for planning!! I’m going to try sticking in a few seeds here and there and see what will happen. Not sure if it will work with our shorter growing season, but we’ll see!
I put that photo of the cosmos up so you could see it.