Discombobulated

I just can't get it together.  "It" - being my house, my diet and exercise, my desired routine, and my peace.  I feel like I can't settle into a good, normal routine until all my ducks are in a row.  I haven't walked, ridden, or lifted weights regularly in fourteen weeks.  As I sit here trying to start another blog, I look at the disorder of my desk, my office sunroom, my house and my yard.

I also worry greatly about Courtney and have a preoccupation for Britney, Daniel and Joe.  And then there is concern for my pets.  

All of this extra stuff going on makes it hard to focus and I end up not achieving anything, which leaves me feeling discombobulated.  The word itself kind of sounds like I feel when I'm disoriented and bouncing around in several directions at once.



Sunday 7/22 - I missed Church again, having no one to go with.  I need to quit compromising on this and just go sit by myself.

Other than an hour long dog walk, most of my day was spent here at my computer.  I had seen these little caterpillars while on the Library Trail.

I was trying to make a big dent in last week's blog and also stay in touch with Courtney who had started feeling quite nauseous overnight and threw up twice in the morning.  I was really getting worried about her again.

The pets continued to enjoy the new sunroom and keep me company.

 

Britney had rescued this dog, whom she calls Chucho (Guatemalan for dog) and was keeping Courtney and I posted about him.

Joe left just after noon for his Sunday card game.  I read some of my new Janet Evanovich novel and took a nap.











I also sanded the corner shelf and calked the hole in the plywood you see here.  Now it needs a coat or two of paint before I permanently attach it.

Monday 7/23 - Britney's Birthday!  She has hit the big 3-0.  It was another day spent mostly on my computer.  I was messaging with both girls.  Britney took her foster dog (Chucho) to the vet to be neutered.  This photo was taken later when he had come home, with the cone on.  Courtney was maintaining... no better, no worse.  I was concerned that her condition needed medical attention and she was compromising her health, but completely understood why she did want to go to the ER as recommended.  The on-call Dr. Sunday felt she needed another NJ tube. (NO! Please not that!)  The nurse at her surgeon's office was concerned about her staying well hydrated and suggested ER for IV fluids.  Courtney had only thrown up once in the morning, but felt nauseous all day.  She was drinking water and able to eat some crackers though.

With the rug cleaners coming the following morning, I spent a great deal of time cleaning out my old desk to get it removed from the living room.  This included cleaning the little brown chest of drawers and going through everything, sorting and re-organizing it all.

From my sunroom, even though I don't yet have my corner desk in the corner, I have a better view of the salt block and rock I put corn on, so I see the deer better.  I also think they see me better.

Mirror Lake Blast happened, but the Little Russell Band played a lot of Blues and wasn't good to dance to.  Shirley and Patty did not come, but Joe did and Michelle showed up

during the second set.

The house continued to feel and get more discombobulated as we moved more things off the carpet and into the dining room, sunroom, and deck.

Tuesday 7/24 - I was up before sunlight at 4:30 and started right in at my computer.  Once Joe was up at 8:00 it was a busy morning moving the rest of the furniture in preparation for the carpet cleaner. 








The pets weren't quite sure what to make of the space.  

Joe also took his and Brian's scooters (neither which would start) into a fix-it shop.  So our two horse trailer was used to haul different kinds of horses.

While the carpet cleaner worked from 9:40 - 11:40, I sat 'locked in' the sunroom with the cats and dog.  Joe sat in the sun and then left to golf.

I got ready and left early for work, leaving both cats and the dog locked in the sunroom, to keep them off the very wet carpet.  I did provide water and a litter box.  The air conditioner was turned down to 72 to help with the drying process.

It was cloudy most of my shift and neither Mike nor I had many customers.  This made cleaning at the end of the day go quickly and I was home at 7:15.  

The house was freezing and the carpet still wet so everything remained in disarray.  Seen right, a photo of our dinning room.  More rain, rather hard at times, started at 8:00 and continued through much of the night.

Wednesday 7/25 - Ballroom was cancelled because one of the instructors was in the hospital, so I walked 20 minutes with Patty and then lifted weights. 

Then I ran to Karen's, with Patty, to see her new kitten, Bobby.  He is part Bengal, Maine Coon, and Pixie Bob.

He was so playful and cute, I couldn't decide which photos to include.

He is polydactyl and actually has seven toes on his front left foot.  

Also notice, he has a bob-tail.

After lunch I headed to St George to take part in their water day.  Patty met me there.  She tried kayaking and, after a long wait in line, I gave paddle boarding a go.  Patty got some photos and here is one (video) she took.

It was a bit overcast, but still plenty warm at the beach.

Joe was at a poker game so I walked the dog when I got home.  After a quick shower, I ran to Food City and Dollar General. 

Returning home with a big toss salad, I enjoyed an early dinner and then went on a much longer walk.

I worked at blogging, and as usual, got frustrated with the placement of text and photos.  They always end up discombobulated, no matter how hard I try.  The darn blogger app. seems to have a mind of its own.

Thursday 7/26 - I took this photo in the morning, having noticed the construction crew had been back and started on demolition of our rotten siding the day before.










I worked 8:45 - 12:45.  Mike relieved me early so I could go to Jan's son's baby shower.  Lots of saddle sisters were there as well as many other of Jan's friends.

It was middle of the afternoon when I got home.  More ripping out and repairing of the siding had occurred.

All un-painted boards are new.

This is the front of the house above the office windows.

Joe and I moved all the big furniture back into the living room and office.  Then I headed to the barn to ride with Jan and Karen.  Karen rode Levi.

It was a pretty evening, cool, and the flies weren't bad.  Amiga did great on the trail, but when we came back and rode in the yard, she got all wound up.  Polly joined us out front.  

She and Jan showed me this trick they did, getting their horses to stand with front feet up on the stump.  Jan also put Cash through his paces on this riding pattern (video).

Amiga had gotten all hot and sweaty from her crazy girl behavior.  At the cross ties while she was cooling off, I brought Zorro back in.  He had looked very sad or something, standing out by the gate.  I wondered what was bothering him, but did not see anything obvious.  I did fly sprayed him.  Once he was back out, I gave him some hay and then Rocky came over to join Zorro and all seemed well with him.

All is still not well with Courtney and I went to sleep praying about my concerns for her.

Friday 7/27 - I had Patty to her Colonoscopy appointment just before 6am.  I did my shopping at Wal-Mart and picked her back up before 8:30.  Then we hit Hardies for breakfast on the way home.  

When Larry and Tony came to start back in on the house, we first had Larry help us move the couch down from the balcony.  It wasn't that difficult as it turns out.

My new sheet of glass had come, but in the process of installing it, it had come loose from two of the glued on brackets that hold it in place.  So it wobbled on top of the metal cross bars, ever so slightly.  We tried Gorilla Glue to reattach it and then had to put weights on top.

Tony and Larry continued ripping rotten boards off the house and adding new ones back on.  Before long, the new storage bench arrived and Joe started putting it together.

I worked at cleaning the old brown couch really well, or as best I could.  I also helped Joe by putting the storage baskets together, but we were missing four screws, so I had to leave two baskets short two screws.



I love the name for this area (in photo) after going through a security body and belonging's search.

Finally I finished moving small furnishings back into the living room before getting ready for a night out.  Just when I thought we were re-combobulated, I talked with Larry about our fix-it job.  They were planning to start inside on the ceiling patch work and crown molding trim on Tuesday. 

So, all the furnishings needed to come back out of the living room and our bedroom, and all the wall hangings and nick knacks needed to come down.  Seems we should have coordinated jobs better so that the timing would have worked out in our favor.

This is a look at the rotten wood (all the dark brown) that was revealed when the workers removed all of the siding.  It was worse at the corner because that is where all of the water runs down from the second story roof.







We went to dinner at Legends.  It was Christmas in July and we had a big ham and turkey dinner with all the fixin's you would have at Thanksgiving.  Lots of great food.


On our way to the Cumberland County Play House we stopped at Lowe's and then Tractor Supply.  Then we watched a great production of Hunchback of Notre dame.

It was closing in on 11:00 by the time we got home and settled in for the night.

Saturday 7/28 - I dedicated the morning to getting this blog finished.  I nearly did it.  Seen left, I had taken the weights off the glass.  One glue job stuck but the other didn't.  And a third bracket had come un-glued.  Time to give up.

I kept in touch with Courtney and Britney.
Courtney was still feeling and getting sick.
Seen right, Chucho with his toy Britney bought him for her Birthday.  Britney had put out this ad to try to find Chucho a home.  She had contacted and finalized an adoption to an interested lady.  But then Britney was feeling sad about missing Chucho.

I work from 1:45 to 7:00 and once home Joe and I moved some more stuff.  This time the TV was moved because it would be in the line of fire.  It was stuck to the glass top of the TV stand so we moved both TV and glass together and set them on the brown couch.  The sunroom office was taking on more stuff.

I felt like we were making no progress on the home front, like I imagined Courtney felt about her health.  I am sure neither of us is happy about being discombobulated.