Another Random Catch Up Post

I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be meeting my blogging goal for this quarter.  Maybe next quarter.  Anyway, nothing terribly exciting has been going on since my last post, but here are the highlights. 

It has been HOT.  I like the warmer weather, but it has been hotter than I like it.  We’ve broken a few heat records this month.  I don’t want it to be cold, but I wouldn’t mind slightly cooler temperatures.

We had to replace our lawn mower and weed eater.  We went with battery operated ones, and have been very happy with them.  I absolutely hated our last lawn mower.  It weighed about a million pounds, and was extremely hard to start.  The battery one is so light weight, and you just push a button to start it.  It’s better for the environment, my back, and definitely better for my attitude.  The weed eater is the same way.  We actually bought two since we have a lot of weed eating to do in our yard, and each battery only lasts for an hour.  One is incredibly light weight, but not quite as tough.  It’s great for edging.  The other one is a little heavier and does a better job cutting thicker vines, but still a lot lighter than the gas powered weed eater. 

My only complaint is that the batteries all take a while longer to charge than it said they would.  We’ve mostly figured out a system to make sure we’re not waiting around for a battery to charge, and any inconvenience with charging a battery is still much better than dealing with the gas mower and weed eater. 

Our yard is on the smaller side, about a quarter of an acre, so we don’t need that much mowing time.  It might be a different story if you had a huge yard, but if you have a smaller yard, I highly recommend going the battery route for your lawn mower and weed eater. 

I swam a mile last weekend.  I’ve been working on increasing my number of laps.  Last Sunday we had plenty of time, and I decided to go for it.  35.2 laps in the pool at our gym is a mile.  I swam 36.  My time was embarrassingly bad, but I did it.  My arms were pretty sore the next day, so I was glad it was a rest day.  I haven’t done it since then.  We don’t have quite as much time during the week, so my lap count is always lower during the week.  We had a lot going on this past week, so we took yesterday off.  I’m hoping to do it again this Sunday, and hopefully improve my time a little.

Howard has been diagnosed with asthma.  It isn’t severe, and we’re hoping to get it under control so it doesn’t become severe.  He sounded wheezy, and when we took him to the vet she confirmed that he has asthma.  We started Howard off on an inhaler, but he didn’t tolerate it well at all.  Getting stressed out over the inhaler can trigger an asthma attack, so we stopped using it. 

Our vet put him on a bronchodilator medication and steroids.  The steroids are temporary, just to help get it under control.  Steroids can cause weight gain (among other issues) and since Howard is a rotund fellow our vet doesn’t want him on steroids long term.  The bronchodilator will be the long term treatment.  It’s only a quarter of a pill, so Howard doesn’t even seem to notice it in his pill pockets.  He loves the tuna and cheese flavored pill pockets, so doesn’t seem to be bothered by taking his medication.  It’s still early to tell, but his breathing sounds a little better. 

It has been a little over a year since we brought Charlie and Mortimer home as our Hurricane Florence fosters.  I think we all knew how that was going to end.  And I’m so glad they’re ours.  They
were both super cuddly yesterday, and we all enjoyed a lazy Sunday at home. 

So how have things been for you?  Has it cooled off, or is it still really hot?