I haven't slept a full night since Thursday!
To say it has been the week from hell, may be just a tad of an understatement.....
It started Thursday, when the neighborlady came by for coffee, and she looked all frazzled and upset. Before we were even settled with a cup of tea, the story came out that she had a vets appointment with her cockerspaniel that afternoon, and she may not bring him home. He is 13, and there are all kinds of things going wrong, on very short notice, and the vet basically told her not to count on leaving with the dog unless.... but it was not set in stone, so the neighbor was preparing for the worst, with in the back of her head that it all may turn out ok..... That is a very hard way to go! I offered to go with her to the vet, but she declined. When she came home at 7 that night, she was carrying the leash, so we knew what had happened, just nog why it had taken from 2 to 7....... I sat up part of that night, and didn't sleep much after..... Friday she came by again and we talked. Turned out that after the dog was put to sleep she drove it up to the crematorium, about an hour away. I had never heard of that. With Boo, the vet took care of that part, and we got a call to come pick him up. Her experience at the crematorium was a good one though, and it helped her cope, so it's ok.
Sunday, we heard this heart wrenching wailing coming from the downstairs yard but when I looked out, I didn't see anything, so I put my butt back at the breakfast table. After a while, I saw our neighbor looking under cars, and peeking into gardens, so we figured Angel had gotten away from her. After putting her dog to sleep just 3 days earlier, we could only imagine the pain she must have been going thru, so we put on shoes, and jackets (the wind was going at a good clip, coming off the North Sea so it was a LOT colder than the 55 Degrees it said it was) and went downstairs to help her catch up with her little furry roommate..... We spent 5 hours out there, and another 2 later that night, hoping she would come out at dusk, but we never did find her. Until she showed up Tuesday afternoon, in the same yard she literally had fallen into when she fell off the balcony on Sunday. She's ok, although she has something in her eye. The Neighbor said her eye looked like a cracked marble, so we're just hoping for the best right now...... BUT wait..... there's more!
We have a firebug in the neighborhood, and it is scaring the daylights out of me. About 1 am Monday morning, Perky was a particular pest. He just would not take no for an answer, and about 3 minutes later, we found out why, when the fire department stopped right in front of our building with their sirens blasting. Turned out the neighbor across the way that has about 30 feet tall bushes, shielding him from the watching eyes of the old fogies on the second floor, and they were ablaze! I hadn't seen flames that bright, and high since we left brushfire country. It surprised the heck out of us because it has been raining like a banshee for 10 days, so nothing can be dry enough to burn that fast, that hot! As "luck" would have it, we were also right dab smack in the middle of the worst fall storm in a decade, with windgusts up to 35 miles an hour. Doesn't seem much, but if it's flames and cinders going at that rate...... It took them about an hour or so to get it out, and while they were re-rolling their hoses and what have you's we heard..... SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE!!! So it started all over. Peace returned about 4.30, so we didn't bother going back to bed.
We had a doctors appointment at 8.30 to see if Mike could do without some of the meds, since we weren't sure why he's taking meds for things that do not get checked, and we told the doctor this. He looked at us dumbfounded, and asked whether we had been doing the follow ups with the cardiologist..... we had, and he looked even more puzzled. He actually checked his blood pressure, and went thru the blood test information in the file and such, and proceeded to explain WHY he would rather Mike didn't stop any of the meds. That helped a lot. You see, we are the troublesome ones that want to know the why, when we're told to do, or do not, do things LOL. He did say, that the pain in his legs could be from one of the "lesser" impact meds, and that Mike could stop it for 10 days, and if the pain was less, or gone, to give the doc a call, and he would see if there was a good alternative that would not interfere with his diabetic meds.
The rest of Monday, we spent some quality time at the carwash trying (and not succeeding) to get the ash and crud off the paint, we ran our errands for the week, and stayed in after 3 for a leisurely afternoon, dinner, and in light of the half night sleep, turned in earlier than we normally would, only to be woke up by Perky at 3.30 with a chaser of fire truck sirens. The hedge was on fire..... again! Mike had to go to work, so we stayed up and had breakfast. Around mid day, I got a visit from some of the other neighbors, and they had decided (as we had) that the fires had been set and in preparation, nobody was going to park near the hedge that night, so the firetrucks could get to them, if need be. Also, some of them were going to stay up and keep watch. I had already planned on that, so I just figured, the more people were up, the better chance we got on getting a glimpse of who ever was setting the fires. So....... Mike went to bed early, because of the lost sleep the nights before, and I nestled on the couch with coffee, the I-Pad on very low, and a bowl of snacks to stand watch. Not being able to be on the computer (light, and too far off the window) or watch TV (diverted attention) the night was loooooooooooooong and draaaaaaaaaaging. Did I mention boooooooring? BUT, nothing happened, so I guess we're in the clear. I actually slept last night (5 hours) but Perky kept waking us up around 1 and 3. I think he caught on to the extra attention we gave him while we were up and now he tries to wake us up again. He was down to once, anywhere between 4 and 6, for breakfast. :-)
Mike came home last night, and told me he had to be at work by 6 to go to Spang Dalheim base for a run, so the alarm got set for 4AM..... Im trying to get the house "company ready" before Sunday, a shoppinglist made for both base and the economy, as well as get the laundry done, and a place found for them after its dried and folded. If I was a car, I'd say I was running on Fumes. LOL The silver lining is that my sister let me know this afternoon, that they won't be here before 2 on Sunday, leaving us a little extra time to hide the clutter, and I can sleep without worrying I won't get the chores done before company comes.
The firetrucks still run a couple of times a night, but not closeby, so we rest a little easier. Although, I have to say, I never used to hear them go by, until now.
Did get some scrapping done over the last week or so. Even with 10 minutes at a time, you can get pages done :-)
I found the text for this online somewhere, or maybe I got it in an email.... I forget. I really like it, and it is so "CAT" I couldn't help but wanting to put it in both Perky's and Boo's album. Putting it in both albums just gives me a second time to play with it!
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Made with a kit that Boo took out of the Vault:
Vintage Berries
The cat silhouettes are from aj-cat-font. |
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Boo's Out Of The Vault kit
GRACE |
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Both of these pages are made with
Brief Encounters by Boo |
For the scrappers..... Don't forget that it is International Scrapbooking Day this Saturday. Lots of sales, specials and freebies, so sleep ahead tomorrow night, stock up on sugar and coffee, and lock the family outside so you don't get distracted :-)
Also, The Hawkeyes are playing the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend. I'm so sorry we can only get the scores after it's all over and we can't watch the games. Not even on the computer. There used to be a way, but I cannot find the TV station that would show them livestreaming. And it's not available on Apple TV, so If anybody out there has an idea, I would sure appreciate the chance to watch them again. It would even be worth being up for at Midnight LOL. (If you can't sleep more than a couple of hours a night, what better way to spend the time than watching football?)
Meanwhile, dinner is ready, I'm tired enough that I may actually get some sleep tonight, so I'll sign off for now.
Don't forget to hug that loved one? Good wishes, and good night :-)
Pauli
