Kitters and the Sheriff

 Good morning from lovely warm California.  It was a nice 77 degrees yesterday, probably why they call it sunny California when it's November 2.  

I missed this picture on Halloween.  This is how they trick or treat around here now.  Sadly, they have taken the fun out of Halloween for most people by having trunk or treat events in parking lots.  Luckily we get one or two trucks pulling big trailers full of bright lights and kids.  The adults walk along the road just in case cars come by.

What was that about the Sheriff you ask?  Well once the kiddies were gone about 7:30, the music began from the new house behind me.  You would think they got the message the FIRST TWO TIMES they did that.  

It wasn't Halloween music, which I might have been able to accommodate until at least 9:30, but NO ... it was the head banging loud mariachi music with a bass that literally shakes my windows.  My neighbor sent me a text message .... is that your new neighbor?  Why yes it is.  She had just called the Sheriff.  I did the same since I now have their address. 

It took twenty minutes this time for them to arrive.  The music stopped.  Ten minutes after the Sheriff left, they started it up again even louder.  I called a SECOND time and thanks to the nice dispatcher, the same Deputy came back.  That finally put a stop to the music.  You would think they learned their lesson.  Just turn the music DOWN!  

But NO .... last night they started up again at around 7:00.  The loudest yet.  Not because they were having a party, but just to see if anyone would call the Sheriff again.  We fooled them however .. we waited this time, and the music stopped within the hour.  I've no doubt they did it on purpose.  Seriously, if they just unplugged that BASS, the music might be tolerable.  

And so with Halloween over, I took down all the decorations and stored them in the garage.  Thanksgiving has returned.

Except .... uh oh .... I forgot the EYES.  I knew this was going to be a problem because this side of the house gets lots of sun.  It took two sharp knives to dig under far enough to get a hand hold and peel them off in three pieces.  This is what I'm left with.  A sticky substance that I'm sure wouldn't even melt with boiling water.  I have some Goo Be Gone ... I'll try that first.

On to Kitters.  I found her sleeping in the cat carrier with the heating pad mat she previously would not step foot on.  When she got down, she was limping quite a bit on her back leg, but made a beeline for the door.  Okay Kitters, you can come in.  She ate a tiny bit and drank some water ... a good sign ... and promptly took up her spot on the chair where she stayed all day long.

In the meantime, I picked up around the house, putting things away that have been hanging out for a month or more.  Lunch was the very last tomato I found while hacking up the plants.  A BLT taco as it were because I couldn't find the bread.

With Kitters still sleeping, and Cooper too, I pulled this panel from the pile and stitched up a quick Veterans quilt.  This will begin next years pile of 15.  I would have quilted it except I put my Halloween quilt on the longarm.  That's when I discovered I had no matching THREAD.  It's on order now.  It's too much work to take that quilt off and put this one on, and so I wait!!

Dinner was another one of my flat iron steaks.  It takes about ten minutes to cook these to perfection.  

The best part ... they are big enough to make up TWO meals.  Throw in some air fried sweet potato fries and dinner is served.  

Hopefully today will be a little more entertaining.  I wanted to hit the road on my bike again, but alas, my hip flexors are NOT happy campers.  I remember them from my early running days.  I just have to take it easy and not try to pedal to Arizona.  

Yes I did watch the last game of the World Series, and I don't even want to mention the winner.  I'm bummed, but I guess that's what you get every time when you have the highest expenditures of any team ... over $300 million a year ... to BUY the best players. 

Kitters spent all night sleeping on the patio and ran in the door the second I opened it this morning.  Apparently she is feeling much better, and NOT limping.  We are back to kitty purrs and rubs.  I'm not kidding myself however ... she is still an outside cat!!

POOF - HALLOWEEN IS GONE!

 And JUST LIKE THAT!!!!  Halloween is gone.  Time to take down the ghosts and witches so I can put up Christmas decorations.  Yup ... I just jump right on over to Christmas with no hesitation.

First things first.  A walk with Mr. Cooper.  Having discovered that I was late to the party when it came to monitoring his food, we are now BOTH on a diet.  Unlike me, he's still in the OH NO stage, and not up to Rolly Polly.  Of course he's not the least bit happy his food has been cut in half.  Not all at once mind you, I'm not THAT terrible.

After a couple of morning chores, I took off for MY session of exercise.  It's always a hassle getting out the door, but I love it when I'm on the road.  There are a couple of hazards trying to get it out of the spare bathroom where it lives.  It's a 90 degree turn right out the door.  No worries, those black marks on the wall will come off, right?

On my return, I got to work cleaning up the rest of the tomato vines.  YES!!!  They are finally GONE!  And yes, probably 20 small tomatoes were hurt in this endeavor.  Into the bin they went.  I'm going to think twice about doing this next year.

About halfway through the afternoon, I decided to try on the witches costumes and see which one was the most comfortable.  Hanging out in one of these for three hours would turn out NOT to be the experience I was hoping for.  This is actually a vampire costume, but no one will know.

Here's the second one ... similar to what I wore to one of the last Halloween days at the County where I worked.  It was an easy choice.  Even with the extra high RUBY RED SLIPPERS I was wearing, the top one was a no-go.  Apparently vampires are 7 feet tall because I tripped over the dress four times just getting to the mirror.  

Let the door bell ringing begin.  Actually, I decided to sit outside in my rocking chair, not moving, then scare the kids when they came up.  That lasted all of 30 seconds when I got bitten by at last a dozen mosquitos.  

Instead, I sat inside watching what I hoped would be the final World Series game.  Sadly, Toronto lost, so now it's 3 to 3.  One more game today.

Alas, there was only ONE door bell ring.  Even my usual neighborhood kids didn't show up.  We got one trailer full of the cutest kids ever, one who was fascinated (and possibly very scared) by the ghosts flying on the house.  Mom tried to explain, but it was a no-go.  He headed straight back to the trailer.  

In all I had only NINE trick or treaters.  TEN if you count the one snickers bar I ate to sooth the mosquito bites.  Oh yes ... it works.  Okay, no it doesn't.  The worst part is I now have 38 large snickers bars to eat.  I think I'll take them to Bingo and give them out to jackpot winners.  Cooper slept through the entire thing.

So here's where I'm at with Kitters.  She came back in the afternoon, apparently feeling much better.  She rubbed a little and purred almost like normal.  I offered food, but she didn't eat it, nor was I able to catch her.  

Surprisingly, she was in her sleeping box this morning, almost back to her old self.  She was rubbing up against my legs, purring like normal and even wanted inside.  Okay, we're making progress here.  The bad news is now she's limping.  Good grief ... this kitty is going through it.  I've no idea what happened, but she's limping on one hind leg.  Not terrible, but limping nonetheless.

I'll leave her inside as long as she wants.  Hopefully she stays for the day so her leg will get a little better.  She's an outside wild kitty and I'm not going to be able to change that.  Best I can do is keep her quiet as long as I can.  I will tell you one thing though ... no more shots for this one.  I can't take the stress!!

Lastly, I had a horrible night and it involved the Sheriff.  I'll relate that story tomorrow.

So who's up for taking down Halloween decorations?????