I am not sure what time it started to rain today, but I know it was early. I didn't get my walk in, due to it pouring rain at 6. I had a meeting at 9, and the girls all had dental cleaning appointments in Osage City at 8. I talked Quincy into driving them all down. As I was getting ready for my meeting, I get a text from Harper telling me that when they got to the dentist's office, this cat dropped down out of Quincy's engine, and started following them into the dentist. Now would be a time to say I messed up - thinking this was a wild cat. He is clearly not wild. He hung around the house all day yesterday, not caring at all that people were shooting off fireworks. Hung out on the pool deck while they were swimming, not caring that he might get wet. Hung around under all our feet, not caring that he could get tripped on. The calico is wildish. She doesn't let us catch her, and she hisses if you get too close. This one- total marshmallow head. Obviously lucky since he made a 30ish mile ride in an engine and didn't die, and not too bright. Anyway, the dentist was accommodating, letting the girls have a box, and understanding why they were taking turns sitting in the car. They are sure that an outdoor life is not the life for this particular cat (I agree). If you recall, I already took in one kitten this month - one that is also not suited to outdoor life. The girls talked Jim into letting him inside as well. I don't know that I need a 3rd indoor cat, particularly since I am having a rough time getting Norma potty trained, but it is my fault that he is here, so I guess I will suck it up and accept my punishment. He does seem to like Winnie, and Marge, so that is good....but I kind of think all 3 of them are just not smart enough to realize that he hasn't been here the whole time. Welcome to the inside little dumb cat. I guess the girls are calling him Tooth Fairy....seems perfect - a stupid name for a dim whit.
Where I work, life gets complicated by flooding. We had somewhere between 3-5 inches of rain depending on where you live or who was measuring. We had alerts on our dam watch program, which was officially reporting 5.5 inches on a couple of our dam sites. As I was getting the texts about the cat, and the rainfall/dam safety monitoring needs, I was also sitting in a meeting with FEMA for the township, where I also work. I might get in trouble for this, but I would rather have both my eyes gouged out, and stick a fork in my brain than to deal with FEMA. I have never in my life dealt with people who are more frustrating. This is not my first rodeo with them, and it is not the first time I have rolled my eyes so far back in my head I could see behind myself. Today's meeting was a zoom call that was supposed to tell them that we intend to file on the storm damages from January, and that we have cost estimates on what we spent. Which would be fine, except a couple of weeks ago, I submitted the reports, cost estimates, receipts, and a notice that we intend to file onto their web portal. What else do you need? oh nothing- just have to have a verbal confirmation of what you already submitted, and set up a meeting to meet in person. Deep breath - slow - cleansing breath. Count. Hold it. Let it gooo....try not to tell them thank you for wasting my time. This is what is wrong with the government...so many bureaucratic stupidities let's have a meeting to set up a meeting? This is what they do....it is so common they don't even see how dumb it is. I filed completion paperwork a while back, and was told well you filed the completion certificate but forgot the completion notification. WHY ARE THEY NOT ONE AND THE SAME DOCUMENT? Or at least interchangeable. This happens on both of these jobs so frequently I cannot even count the occurrences.
It just added frustration to my already frustrating day.
Almost as soon as I got out of the meeting, Mallory called. Her basement was flooding. The portable pump that we used last time somehow had gotten broken. Jim and I have had a string of broken cars lately, and my car was at the shop. His truck has a flat tire, but it was raining so hard this morning, we decided to deal with it later, which meant we had to borrow one of Quincy's 3 cars and shared a ride to town. When I called Jim to see if he had time to help Mallory, he was already out doing something, so he said he would swing by. He got the pump running, but he was thinking the water in the basement was also sewage, so he wanted to run home and take a shower before his re-check on his nasal surgery. Which meant that if I didn't leave with him, I was going to be stuck in town for the foreseeable future. OK transfer everything to working from home I guess. I think when you are coming off a really good weekend, any Monday will seem bad, but this one just seemed worse than normal. I am about done for the day.
Anyway, home is my happy place, so I am glad to be here. I am practicing my deep breathing exercises and focusing on positive things. The above photo of Preston and Evelyn melts my heart. That little girl loves her "uncle PP" she was so excited when he and Sunny drove in yesterday. She was absolutely giddy. I know she misses him. He spent the first 4 years of her life being her bestie. His absence is hard for her. I am pretty sure he misses her too.
I have a guy coming to trim the goat feet and give them their shots. That is positive, because it means I don't have to wrestle them. I discovered this guy a few months ago. He works fast and cheap. I am always glad to make life easier!
Norma is a good girl, but she is not an easy learning dog. We expected the chihuahua to be hardheaded and difficult to train. The border collies are smart and driven to please their humans. This little mutt puppy, not so much. She is stubborn, and doesn't care what I say. :) At least she is sweet!
For probably 25 years, I have tried to grow zucchini. I love them. I have never been able to get them to grow. It makes me laugh because literally everyone on the planet can grow them, and seems to have abundance to give away. My plants are always dead, if they even come up at all. This year, my plants are going crazy. I don't have any vegetables to show for it, but I am overly excited about the plants anyway! My whole raised bed experiment is going well. My strawberry patch is spreading, and the plants look beautiful. I am glad that Jim indulged my little gardening fantasies. I will repay him with zucchini bread I hope! And honesty, putting my hands in the dirt makes me happy. Am I a great gardener? Heck no! But am I happier with the sun shining on my face, and my hands in the dirt? Yep! And after the mess of this day - dirt for the win!
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