I Want To Cat

Being a cat comes with great perks like sleeping all day, effortless grooming, having humans do everything for you, and no need to work or exercise.  
Daily Life and Comfort = Free food and housing: A human servant brings meals and cleans your litter box.
Lots of sleep: Cats sleep for about 15 hours a day.
Easy cleaning: They clean their own fur all the time.
No work: You do not have to pay bills or go to a job.
Super Powers = Great balance: Cats always land on their feet; along with Super senses: Sharp night vision and great hearing.

Saturday 7/25 - Today was a very lazy day, much like being a cat.  By day's end, I realized that I'd been a bum most of the day and have been lazing around a lot lately.  I was feeling guilty, especially after seeing how hot and tired Joe and Patty were from mowing/working out at the ranch.
I did get to the gym for a leg workout, including 45 minutes on the elliptical.  But it wasn't that intense, it was in the air-conditioning, and I didn't even bother to stretch when finished.  


It really wasn’t that hot out, and I had the time, but chose not to ride, which is my usual #1 priority.  I had ridden three of the last four days, much more than the four times total in the first three weeks of July, so I wasn't feeling the need.  It has just been such a hot, humid, rainy month.



Look how bow-legged Cookie is.  In this photo it looks really bad because she has her right foot turned inward.  But she stands and sits this way quite often.

I was engrossed in the James Patterson book, Fear No Evil, and read for several hours total today.  I actually finished the book because it was a real page-turner.  I had checked it out less than two weeks ago and didn’t even have to renew it.  Usually I renew at least once, sometimes twice, before finishing a book.

I did shuck corn and boiled it, while Joe grilled a packaged stir-fry meal.  Then after dinner we watched the movie 'Lost On A Mountain In Maine,' a true story.

Sunday 7/26 - I could not be able to 'cat' today because I had church and then was working a big party (Christmas in July) at the pool.  I found it interesting that at church (seen on the big screen) they were also announcing their 'Christmas in July' fund raiser that was occurring this week.

Sundays are also the day for my weekly household chores; collect and take out the trash and water all my house plants.  With corn husks and cantaloupe seeds and rind in our compost tub, I dumped it down in the woods.


While down back with the tub, I collected three loads of the dead leaves and smaller sticks I had raked out of the drainage ditch, and also dumped them.  

There is a huge 'crater' from an up-rooted tree I have been dumping this kind of debris into.  The deer who had finished the corn, then came to see what I was up to.  

  
I left for the pool at 1:00 and the party was going strong when I got there.  
Jackie, who I relieved, can be seen far left in this photo of Berry, Malissa, Steve, and Barb.  


Marie with Berry and Malissa. 



Ellie, who has been helping me with training tips for Cookie.  
Now if I just had or took more time to work with this puppy.  

We had our largest turn-out yet, for this summer.

A fun time was had by all, especially those who par-took of the 'Jingle Juice.'

 

I had given some meat scraps to the feral cat who has been coming around, much more regularly.  
When I say I want to cat, I mean a domesticated house cat.  The feral cats have a rather tough life.  

Anyway, this girl (assumed female because its calico) has gotten much braver and came into the office.  

I didn't get home until just before 7pm, and still had cats to feed and litter boxes to clean.  I am their servant. 

Monday 7/27 - It was a foggy morning to start the day.  Vicki needed me to cover her pool shift Wednesday, so she covered for me today.  









I worked out at a very busy gym from 9-11.  I also saved us a spot at Mirror Lake for the night's concert.

Joanne took this photo last evening after feeding the Pasos.  From the looks of it, you wouldn't know that Rico has been mean to Amiga the past several days.  I saw him trap her in her stall last Thursday, and kick her several times.  So I did some research. 
Common Causes of Sudden Gelding Aggression:
Pain or Discomfort can trigger sudden defensive or aggressive behavior, causing a horse to be cranky.
Resource Guarding: Changes in feeding routines, weather, or competition for space, water, or hay can cause a gelding to become reactive & guard resources.
Herd Hierarchy: There can be a change in dynamics, figuring out pecking order or shifting social bonds.
 

Joe and I were at the ranch waiting for Volunteer Tree service when they arrived at 1:30.










In no time, they set up the remote-controlled crane for tree removal, and started taking down a widow-maker by the chicken coop (video).  




This machine is much lighter weight so could be right over our septic tank without causing damage.  

Once the dead limb was down, they also trimmed off a big branch that was hanging low over the back wall and shading the three pine trees I had planted along it.

 

Joanne arrived to do ground work with Rico and helped Joe and I with picking up branches from the yard.  She snapped this silly photo. 

Once the trailer was full, we quit and went down to the barn yard.  



The leaf dump was closed today, so Joe would have to wait to unload the trailer tomorrow.
 

While one group from Volunteer Tree service had been trimming the tree in the yard, another group had cut down this mostly dead tree in the barn yard.  

Joe left with Cookie.  Joanne and I took Amiga and Rico down to the barn.  We noticed that Rico had a swollen eye lid, which may be why he has been refusing the fly mask.

Also, some of Rico's anxiety/naughty behavior might be because of the presence of the new goats, which had been loose in the neighbors yard yesterday.







Joanne had worked with Rico in the barn because it was just too hot (and humid) out in the round-pen.  I took Amiga on a slow, short, solo one mile ride (video).  

Once back at the barn, an anonymous person was having a tender, affectionate moment with my sweet Amiga.  

I scurried home with no time to shower and was back out the door to go to Mirror Lake Blast where I would get all hot and sweaty again.  Bonnie and Lynn joined Patty, Shirley, Joe, Micki, Linda and I.






Big Shoes was the band.  They were a great band, with lots of accolades and a history of playing with several famous musicians.  Quite a crowd had turned out to hear them, and this was the first night of The Blast this summer, with NO chance of rain.  However, the band only played their own music that they had written, plus a few songs from the Little Feat band, but I didn't know that band either.  So we didn't recognize any of the songs and couldn't sing along.  






Some fun songs were played and several were 'danceable,' but I just wasn't feeling it much of the time.  Jake and Micki (seen in this photo) were up dancing much more than most of us.  





The almost full moon was rising as the concert ended at 8:15.  It had been a beautiful night, aside from being quite humid.  A good time was had with a lot of fun people.

Tuesday 7/28 - I got to the ranch at 7am to start prepping the house for over-nighters.  Debra still wasn't completely moved out, with a few things left, and hadn't cleaned any of her two rooms (master & en-suite), but was coming after lunch.  Joanne and I had all three Pasos down at the barn by 8:10.
Did Amiga want to cat?  





No, she just got down to itch her scratches, the scabby spots on her lower back legs, called dew fever.  







Joanne and I had a nice little ride on Zorro and Rico.  It had started out fairly cool, but the humidity was high and as the temperature rose, it started feeling rather uncomfortably hot.  Once back, I took care of the scratches on Amiga's legs.  

Even though Wanda is strictly an outdoor cat, she does have some comforts of home, and is feed more than enough to keep her weight and remain healthy.  She gets her required inoculations and Patty does her monthly flea medicine so she is a well cared for barn cat.  And she is much loved.

I replaced the dead marigolds with these three flowers that have been in our garage window all summer.  I also put the potted geranium out at our front gate, since the potted azalea out there did not survive.  And then I came home for lunch and a nap.

About 3:00, Joe and I loaded our mattress into the trailer with the box springs he'd just bought, when he had taken the broken mower into town with the trailer.  We headed to the ranch to get the master bedroom set up.  Debra and her friend Angela were still there cleaning, but quickly finished up and left.   
Patty soon arrived, and after Joe and I got the box springs and mattress on the bed, he went out to work on tree branch removal.  



Debra's area had appeared clean, but when I looked closer, there was plenty of dog hair yet to get, around baseboards and under furniture.  Patty and I made the bed and did more cleaning.  














The before photo on the left shows the widow-maker hung up in the tree and the other low branch we had removed... compared to the after photo.

The over-nighters arrived at 5pm, two young ladies with six horses.  I had not been happy with Joe about changing our horse hotel add back to also being an air B&B before we were ready to take on customers.  But they were so nice and thankful, that it squelched my frustration with Joe.

Their four trail horses were put in the corral and the two that had been sold and were being delivered, went into the round pen. 

Joe and I both slept upstairs since we had no mattress on our bed.  I was so ready to finally hit the hay.
 

Wednesday 7/29 - I was up for over an hour in the middle of the night reading, which upon rising had not caused fatigue, but did later in the day.

I worked the morning shift at the pool.  Our feral cat, Splash (who has been named for her splash of color and she's a pool cat), has been coming around a few times each day, and becoming more and more friendly.  She came by and walked right into the office, remembering me from Sunday when I had fed her some leftover ham and turkey.  There was left-over chicken tenders in the fridge for her, so I gave her about 2/3 of one.  I fed her out in the shady side of the building.  



Well, once done, she came right back into the office begging for more food, and hopped up on the counter and was sniffing my crackers.  So I gave her a little kibble out of the zip-lock bag we have on the counter.  Well, a little later, she went back in the office while I was sitting out by the pool.  I hadn't thought anything of it, but when she sauntered off and I went back into the office, I noticed this.  She had chewed a hole in the bag of kibble and helped herself to what she wanted.
 

When I got home a little before 2:30 I walked the dogs and then went out on the screened porch where Babe was lounging as usual.  I decided to read and then nap.  I wanted to 'cat' rather than go to the gym.    

Our new mattress had come in the mail but looked too small.  Once Joe was home from golf, he verified it was what he had ordered.  So we unpacked it and put it on the bed.  It had been folded in half and rolled up, vacuumed packed kind of.  It needed 48 to 72 hours to air out and completely fill out, so we slept upstairs again.

Thursday 7/30 - Shadow does not have the cushier life of an indoor cat.  He has sores on his legs that don't seem to heal and has to search for food and shelter.  But he does get fed twice a day by me and often looks quite content sleeping/resting where he chooses.  







This photo was taken later in the day, when Layla had just woken up from a nap after Joe and Patty had arrived at Dan's.  Actually, the rest of today's photos are from their visit.

Patty and I had met at the ranch to go for a ride.  We didn’t leave on our ride as early as we’d hoped because we were busy doing more cleaning in the ranch house after Debra had turned in her keys and was finally completely out.  We found more pee stains left by Pugsley.  We did finally get in a 2 1/2 mile ride on Zorro and Rico.

Joe was trying to get the tree debris cut up, but all three chainsaws ended up crapping out on him, so he went to town to get them fixed.  He ended up coming home with a new chainsaw.  Hum.



Layla playing with Ava after she had gotten home from preschool.

Joe and Patty sent lots of photos and videos of the girls during their 24 hour visit.


Once I was finished at the ranch, I went straight to town to shop for a mattress pad cover and other things needed for the ranch.  Joe and Patty had left for Nashville and I was back on my way to the ranch to do chores.  

By the time I was 'home for the day,' it was 6:30.  The pets and I all had a late dinner.  I slept upstairs a third night in a row.

Friday 7/31 - What a great way for Joe and Patty to start the day, with little Layla smiles.  I was wanting 'to cat' and stay in bed longer and do nothing, like this kitty (video).    
With Joe gone, I had to walk the dogs right before leaving for work and of course Cookie would not cooperate or just didn’t need to poop yet.  I ended up calling neighbor Susan when I got to work, and she gladly took Cookie out mid-morning and got the deed done.


Ava was dressed and ready to go to pre-school for the big graduation day. 


It hadn't been a relaxing shift at the pool.  We were very busy and I had to deal with a slip and fall.  Later, I had to reprimand a man for drinking beer out of a bottle and get him a plastic cup.  

Patty took this photo of Papaw walking Layla.  

 

While at work, I got up-dates from Murfreesboro.  

Vale, Dan, Layla, Patty and Joe got to Ava's graduation just before lunch time.  










Ava with her 'graduating class' of 20 other students.  

As always, by the time I got home from working at the pool, I was exhausted.  I went out and read another very fast moving John Grisham thriller and took a short nap.  But my nap was interrupted by pool business.  Mary, who had replaced me for the afternoon shift, needed the name of a man I had checked in, but because he entered with a receipt from the indoor pool, he wasn't in our computer.  I had warned her about him because some customers had reported that he had 'changed' out on the deck the day before, putting a towel around his waist and then slipping off his suit.  But then he accidentally dropped his towel.  Well, he did it again today!  I'd had a busy shift, but at least I didn’t have the hassle of dealing with this guy who exposed himself.  Never a dull moment at the adut pool.  



After the graduation ceremony, photos were taken and then our Villhauer clan went out for a late lunch.  


No surprise that Ava got this award.  She can appear shy at first, but once she has warmed up to you, she has lots to communicate.  
That's our girl!  



Joe and Patty got home at 4:30.  Joe left right away to go mow the pastures out at the ranch since rain was supposed to come overnight and was forecasted for all weekend.

After the dogs, cats and I ate, I took Maggie for a short walk and then Cookie for a long walk.  We headed up the Library Trail and saw these triplet fawns right away.  No sign of mama.

I walked with Cookie up to the Druid Club House to see how the golf parking area was coming along.  There was still a worked, at 7pm, taking sand out on the course where they had aerated the greens.  I guess he wanted to get finished before the rain also.


This panoramic view kind of shows you the vastness of the open, flat (mostly parking?) area.
 

I hope the plans for trees planted in little 'islands' in the parking lots will help improve this sight.

Cookie and I headed home going down the #18 fairway after I took this photo of her by the green.  Many cats have a good life, but being a dog (in a loving home) is not such a bad deal either.  





I think if I were truly retired (no pool or ranch responsibilities) I could nearly live the life of a pampered cat (video).






I am not complaining about my life and feel and realize how blessed I am.  But this summer I have just felt too busy, and it doesn't help that I have less energy.  I only made it to the gym once this week, but am thankful we now have full use of the ranch house and have it nearly cleaned up and ready for family, friends, and even customers.  We will not be doing any more long term leases, but just Air B&B and weekly rentals.