From earlier posts you probably recall that I don’t let pups out of kennels in the morning until the alarm sounds. This puts me at the mercy of the alarm too. So Rob had the BEST idea which is that we recorded the alarm sound that the dogs are accustomed to onto my phone which I always have in my bedroom. So now, when I happen to be ready in the morning, I just play the sound first and then enter the room and let the dogs out! It’s the best thing ever— I may want to get up at 6:15 or 6:45, and now I can choose whatever time I want! Eventually, we’ll drop the alarm sound but probably keep it up another month or two.
In fact, this morning I woke up at 6:15 and was watching the frequent lightning out the window. Then after a minute, I realized that this meant a whole lotta rain and that the dogs won’t want to go out in that but they need to pee first thing…..so I ran to let them out (sounding the alarm at same time) but unfortunately it was already pouring out! So I went outside in in my pajamas and was like, “Look, see? It’s OK just go!” but it was no use. Ugh. So the next 45 minutes or so we kept trying to get the dogs out to pee. Eventually they did but it was kind of a rough start to the day. On the other hand, while they are frightened of thunder and lightning, they are not like hiding in the closet and shaking or anything. So it could be worse.
The other day, which was 100% sunny and burning hot (over 100) which has been most days this month, I noticed one of the hash browns singing what seemed like an “egg song” on the deck. She had been in the overgrown flowerbed beforehand. That got me thinking, hmmmm, maybe she’s laying eggs outside the coop? I know this is a thing as I see from Broody Bunch posts and stuff that sometimes hens lay in surprising places and also we’ve seen random eggs in the yard before. So anyway I carefully crept into the middle of the flowerbed using an oversized-grilling spatula to knock away any snakes, and lo and behold, the SECRET STASH of EGGS! Another 4 eggs for us (5th was broken). That was quite a find as these days it’s so hot I usually find either 0 eggs or no eggs in the coop. I suppose the flowerbed is cooler than the coop in the middle of the afternoon.
Sneaky Hash Brown!
Oh and also one day there were 1.25 eggs in the coop. That’s how I counted them, as one of the eggs was literally like 1/4 as big as most eggs. Later when I “cracked” it I found that the shell was more like soft and it kind of grossed me out. The inside was all yolk colored. Someone in Broody Bunch said she calls these mini-eggs a “misfire”.
I also stopped logging the number of eggs laid per day in my spreadsheet. Reason is that I realized that they could be laying other eggs on the sly and those aren’t getting counted. Also how to count those weird 1/4 size eggs? It is clear that in the heat of the summer, egg production drops way down. I think they are just trying to survive. Each day I have put out ice water in the flowerbed where they hang out as well as a big container full of ice (hoping they will recline on it). And Rob has set up misters although they don’t stand in it while they are on, they do seem to hang out in the damp grass afterwards.
So you know the pirate ship that I found inspiring as something to build by the pool? Other things that spawned ideas are: a t-shirt I own which has an upside-down pirate ship. And also I saw a video about a guy who built a small house based on the lunar lander design. So there’s the idea of a spaceship. I don’t think either of these concepts are what we want to do, they’re more like inspiration.
So the pups’ silly long names are Sir Driftwood the First and Baron Von Tombstone. Also sometimes I call Woody Little Miss Driftwood.
There are two baby peach trees in our backyard that were ID’d by the landscape guy. They appear dead except for some branches growing from the side. Very sad looking but the landscape guy was very impressed they still had life in them considering we aren’t even watering them. So Rob did the pruning that was recommended and started to water them. Literally the next day, one of the two trees was missing…the dogs had chewed it all away :( We blame Woody.
Because jogging is making my back sore, I started to swim regularly in our pool. It is kinda small for this, but I do some laps using just legs or just arms and it ends up OK. So I had just started doing this regularly, when one night, after one of these “workouts”, I couldn’t sleep after 1:00 AM due to a very uncomfortable/painful urinary tract infection (UTI)!!! I’ve had them before, and I realize they can be from other reasons, but this time it seemed like a strong correlation with being in the pool.
The prior homeowners did not use chlorine to keep pool clean, they used Baquacil. I guess some people prefer this as it’s less harsh and stuff. So we learned how to do the regimen the best we could (guy at pool place was confusing) and we were testing with strips here at home and had sometimes taken samples in. Nothing ever seemed too out of whack.
So since my UTI event we’re like hmmm and we so we tested it at a different pool place and did add some more junk to it this weekend per store printout. Well, Rob did all that, not me.
It’s all a little weird. Perhaps I’m just real prone to these UTI’s and so just a wee bit of something and BAM, I’m infected. In fact, the doctor just prescribed a different antibiotic which they warned me could happen if the lab result came back and indicated the first antibiotic wouldn’t be powerful enough. Took them like 5 days! Probably they are backed up due to COVID.
One reason I wanted to tell you all that was that the day I came down with it I ended up having to go in to the clinic. I was upset as I didn’t want to go ANYWHERE in that condition and can’t they prescribe over the phone? But anyway, I went to the walk-in clinic located in Montopolis which is pretty much like COVID Central here in Austin. Great! So when I got there, they took my temp and asked me questions about COVID symptoms before I could enter the building.
Then through some glass I basically checked in, told a guy my problem through glass and he hands me a urine sample cup. I go to bathroom, bring the cup back to this guy, and he tells me to wait in waiting room. So in the waiting room I get a couple of phone calls from the clinic (the clinic I was currently standing in) to complete my appointment. I never saw any other medical personnel! It was all done on the phone while I was standing in the waiting room! Haha so funny. Good for COVID safety. Makes sense- all they needed was my sample. Plus, turns out it was good I provided it as I clearly needed a mega-antibiotic.
Anyway, the nice part is that the first antibiotic starting helping the very first day, thank goodness, so even though it’s taken them all week to get me this second prescription, fortunately I have been doing much much better. It was a really bad bout I tell you!
Rob’s been getting a lot of reading done during his “fleading” sessions. I have read a couple of the books he finished and one recent excellent book was “Luster”. I highly recommend.
When they play, it’s serious business!
Some pics below.
