For Feline Friday, all you have to do is post a picture,
drawing, cartoon, or video of a cat.
There’s a chair in our living room that the cats have
mostly claimed as their own. It’s comfortable,
and it’s right in front of a window, so it makes sense that they like it.
Mortimer
Since the cats spend so much time in that chair, we decided
to put a window bird feeder in that window.
It definitely keeps them entertained!
Theodore and Mortimer
As is the case with most of our bird feeders, the squirrels
visit at least as often as the birds do.
I think the cats are more interested in the squirrels than the birds.
Since we’ve had so much snow, and I’ve been staying inside
so much (because I HATE snow), I don’t have much for a Thursday 13 this week.
So, it seems like a good time to share a very random
assortment of pictures that I’m fairly sure I haven’t posted here before.
1.Of
course, I’m going to start off with a cat picture. I think Mortimer looks adorable here.
2. This
was at a vacation rental that we stayed at in 2023. I think these hand mirrors are antique (or at
least vintage). They were displayed on a
wall in the bathroom, and I thought it was a great idea. It seemed like a fun way to display a collection
without really taking up space.
3.I
enjoy taking pictures of the sky, and I thought it was beautiful this
particular evening.
4.I’m
not sure what these little white flowers are called, but I think they’re pretty.
5. This
hibiscus was at a vacation rental we stayed at in 2022.
6. This
was on vacation in 2021. It was insanely
humid that day, and the camera lens fogged, but I liked how it made the picture
look kind of mysterious and moody.
7. Theodore
loves it when we get a suitcase out of the closet.
8.So
does Mortimer.
9.This
was sunrise on Kiawah Island on our 2024 vacation.
10.This
was the first time I successfully built a cooking fire entirely on my own after
Hurricane Helene. I’m not the outdoorsy
type, so it felt like a major accomplishment.
11. This was when a possum stopped by the critter corner.
12. This was one of the few beach pictures I took on vacation last year before we got sick.
13. Finally, here's a flower picture that, according to the date stamp, I took on February 29, 2024. I'm trying to remind myself that the snow will melt and spring will eventually arrive!
Today’s Thursday 13 is going to be all over the place.
1.Mortimer
had an emergency visit (fortunately to our regular vet’s office) on Friday due
to eating plastic. Fortunately, after
x-rays to confirm there wasn’t an obstruction, fluids and an anti-nausea shot
did the trick.
2.Unfortunately,
I doubt this did anything to curb his obsession with eating plastic.
4.We had
severe storms and a moderate risk of tornadoes late Saturday night into the
early hours of Sunday morning. Pre-Helene,
we wouldn’t have been very concerned, but almost everyone here gets nervous
about storms now.
5.Because
our house doesn’t have any rooms without exterior walls, we deemed our bedroom
closet the best place to shelter in case of a tornado. We didn’t want to have to round up five cats in the middle
of the night with a tornado imminent, so we opted to lock all five cats in the
bedroom with us.
6.Catching
and containing five cats is a big job!
7.Fortunately,
there were no tornados, and we didn’t have to shelter in the closet. We had a lot of rain, but no flooding or damage. Unfortunately, we didn’t sleep well at
all. Caroline’s facial expression sums
up the night well.
8.Other than
that storm, we’ve still been enjoying mostly sunny weather.
9.The
daffodils along the back fence have bloomed.
10.The
daffodils next to the carport are at their peak.
11.The
forsythia is just starting to get a few blooms.
12.There
are a lot more flowers on the bush in the front yard.
Today’s Thursday 13 is going to be all over the place.
1.Let’s
start with a cat picture. Mortimer is
warming up to Theodore, and I was able to get some pictures of them hanging out
together.
2.I had
to go to the DMV to renew my driver’s license this week. It took about five and a half hours. A little over five hours of that was waiting. The good news is that I should be able to
renew online the next time, so it should be around 15 years before I have to go
in person again.
3.The
DMV line and waiting room definitely seem to bring out people’s true
natures. Most people were very pleasant
and kind of made friends with their waiting companions. A few people, though, were just awful. They complained about everything, berated the
employees (who were really nice and doing their best), and complained about
people taking lunch breaks. Complaining
that something takes a long time is never going to speed it up!
4.We had
more nice weather this week, so the flowers are still blooming. The hyacinth still looks great.
12.I
realize that some bloggers view Blogger as a politics-free zone, and I like
that idea. However, I think there comes
a time when not choosing (and declaring) a side makes you complicit. I’m not going to turn into a political
blogger, but I do want to be clear that I am not okay with what is happening in
our country right now. I don’t expect to
change anyone’s mind, and I know I’m not powerful or important enough to make
any real difference, but I can’t just be quiet, either. Liz wrote a great post about feeling this way.
13.I’ll
end on a more positive note with this picture of Theodore in a basket.
This week’s Thursday 13 is another one without a theme.
1.Mortimer
and Theodore don’t typically cuddle together, but Nick got this cute picture of
them hanging out together.
2.Theodore
is at that very active kitten stage where most of the pictures we get of him
are blurry or when he’s sleepy. Here’s one
of him napping.
3.We finally
got some good FEMA news!
4.As I
said last week, we were notified that we needed to submit paperwork from a company
detailing the damages and the cost of repairs.
Even though we had already submitted all of that before, we submitted it
again. We heard back fairly quickly that
we were approved for aid. Finally!
5.The
total amount ended up being just under half of what all of the repairs
have/will cost. After pretty much giving
up on getting any FEMA aid, we were thrilled.
It makes sense that they can’t fully pay for everything for everyone,
but getting significant aid is a huge help.
6.Ironically,
about half of the aid we received was for “immediate” needs, such as temporary
housing. I wouldn’t call February immediate for
something that happened in September, but we’re still very grateful to have
gotten aid.
7.This
is what the backyard looks like right now.
8.Remember,
once upon a time, it was kind of pretty?
9.We’re
still working on fixing the drainage problems.
Funding and weather have been the holdups. We’ve mapped out the plan for catch basins,
pipes, and dry wells. The red yarn represents
pipes and the orange plates represent catch basins/dry wells. I know it’s kind of weird, but we don’t
always picture things the same way, so something like this works to make sure
we’re actually talking about the same thing.
10.We’re
still waiting for a decent stretch of time when it’s not raining/snowing and the
ground isn’t frozen to be able to start on the drainage work, so we don’t have
a firm plan yet. We’re tossing around
the idea of hiring someone with equipment to do the digging, and then doing the
pipes, gravel, and catch basin/dry well installation ourselves. We’re hoping to find a good middle ground
between saving money and being realistic about how much digging by hand we can
handle.
11.Even
though I love to cook, we like leftovers a lot, and it’s nice to have a break from
cooking (especially during the week) without going out or getting takeout. Monday was a perfect leftovers night. I made tacos over the weekend, and we had leftover
taco meat. So, when I got home from work
Monday afternoon, I turned the leftover taco meat into crock pot chili. I added beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning. Like this.
12.A few
hours later, it turned into this, which was a delicious, almost zero-effort
dinner. I can’t really explain it, but it
absolutely delights me when leftovers work out that well.
13.Another
cat picture seems like the perfect way to end this Thursday 13, so here’s one
more of Theodore.
This week’s Thursday 13 definitely doesn’t have a
theme!
1.Theodore
is growing like crazy; he has been neutered, microchipped, and has gotten all
of his kitten shots. I think he looks
more like a big cat than a kitten in this picture.
3.A FEMA
inspector came to the house last week to look at the damage, which we thought
might mean progress.
4.It did
not. This week, we received a letter
that the FEMA inspector wasn’t able to fully assess the damage (which isn’t
really surprising since FEMA inspectors apparently do not go into crawl spaces or onto
roofs). They said we’d need to have it
inspected by an HVAC company and send that information for FEMA to review.
5.We
sent that information to FEMA in November!
It was a write-up from the HVAC company about the damage, how high the
water was in the ductwork, and what was needed to repair it. We’ll be resubmitting that and hoping that
someone actually reads it this time.
6.I
truly think they make the process as annoying and difficult as possible in
hopes that a lot of people will decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth and
give up.
7.There
are still near-constant reminders that, even with the damage we had, we were
still some of the lucky ones. A couple
of weeks ago, we helped some friends whose house was destroyed during Helene
move from their short-term rental into their long-term rental. They’ve been told it will be a year and a
half to two years before their house is rebuilt.
8.I’ve
been trying to crochet a little more, and I finished an ear warmer.
9.Here’s
the link to the tutorial if you’re interested.
(And here’s the right-handed version.)
It was very simple to make. I
used a thinner yarn than the pattern called for, so I had to do more rows, but
it was still easy to follow along with the video.
10.Being
cold is a powerful motivator to crochet an ear warmer! The heat was out at work during one of the
cold snaps. Everyone worked from home as
much as possible, but some of us had to go in on one of the days when we had
temperatures in the teens. I made the
ear warmer the night before that and wore more layers than I ever had
before.
11.Fortunately,
the heat at work is fixed now!
12.I
think cat pictures are a great way to end this Thursday 13, so enjoy this one
of Mortimer in the living room chair he has staked out as his very own.
