After a relatively quiet weekend at the Pet Hostel, it has not taken too much to “dig out” and start my week. By that I mean … picking up and washing bedding, cleaning kennels and that kind of thing, in addition to the usual feeding and watering, walking (at times) and loving.
We still have a few very welcome guests: Jack, Shadow K., Princess, Squeak & Kelef, Teeka, Blitzen and Sunny. You have met most of these good souls … sorry I don’t have time to update their photos at the moment. Quite a bunch went home last night. Next weekend is going to be very busy again.
Oh yes … we have Max the parrot boarding.
Yesterday after breakfast, our friend came over to use our printer, as the power was out at nearby Dunster where she lives. Sharon brought me three healthy basil plants, ready for harvesting, and considering that I had killed my one basil plant before even one batch of pesto was made, this was a fine, fine gift indeed. I have now picked a big bowl of leaves, peeled some garlic too, and will make a batch of pesto yet today.
I was very happy to sell a freezer today; it’s a mid-sized one that I felt I just HAD to have a couple of years ago. It was amazing how it fit so neatly into the space available on our porch. I remember feeling just a bit miffed when Gary came home (and I was feeling so virtuous that I had unloaded and placed the appliance all by myself) and said, “Oh, there’s another flat surface for you to park stuff on.”, or words to that effect.
If the shoe fits, wear it. The chest freezer on the porch caught everything from tools to produce, lamp parts, canning paraphernalia, seasonal clothes and much more. Every time we wanted something from the deep freeze, we had to either clear off the stuff, or try to lift the lid with stuff still on! This was all my fault, my neat and tidy gentleman partner never once put anything there that was in the way. You’d think I’d know myself by now.
I have ordered an upright freezer, and then I will have to set up some kind of flat service or chest of drawers or other storage to compensate. Don’t laugh.
The little house is looking good to me. Every time I visit there, there is a change. The electricity is not hooked up yet (I saw Sparky Dave this morning, and he says it’s ENTIRELY his fault!), so if there is a light, it is plugged in across the alley where a kind neighbour shares an outlet (I have compensated them). Therefore, the light is not very good at certain times of day: the main bedroom is sporting a paint colour that is difficult to describe … a sort of greenish taupe, perhaps. I don’t even know know if this photograph is accurate … the colour seems to change with the light on each wall and during the day. I love it.
Friend Tony saw me at the hardware store today and said, “You getting ready to move it?”. I laughed (as Tony knows there is no plan to move in anytime soon) and said, “NOOOO, but I can feel the house getting its hooks into me!”. Tony, who has built many houses in his life, and renovated plenty, said, “Oh, good, now it will start nickle-and-diming you to death!”. He speaks from experience. I believe that the greatest part of the money “hemorrhage” is over, but I am appreciating how much the finishing work will cost … is costing. No one contractor or retailer will be due a cheque for TENS of thousands of dollars now, but it amazes me how many days are worth, say, a thousand. I’m entrenched in the project, no stopping now!
So, I’ve just had a lunch with you darling people. I need to phone someone to give them a recipe for pickled beets, then off to make pesto and then who knows.
Love, Ann
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