Cozy Up

With temperatures dropping and the sunny days becoming more overcast, fall is very evident and the promise of winter coming soon is palpable.  I am kind of in the hibernating mode, or at least really trying to cozy up and stay warm.  I have turned on our furnace and am using the space heater in my office/cattery.  My loungers/PJs are now sweat pants and shirt.  And a jacket with hat and gloves is now necessary outside.  Yard and ranch work, and even riding are much less appealing.  I'd actually rather go to the gym, or better yet, stay home.

Disregard the Christmas tree in this photo, but instead imagine cute Halloween lights and decorations.  

The idea of snuggling in a blanket with a cat or two, while drinking hot tea and sitting here in front of the space heater is quite appealing.  'Camping out' in front of the fire watching TV or reading a book is also inviting.  Or even just being indoors working a puzzle. 

Saturday 10/14 - Susan took this beautiful photo a while back, on a foggy morning. 

After being up a few hours in the middle of the night, I woke at 7am, from the couch in my office/cattery, to the sound of water dripping in the down spout, and the sight of droplets on the sky light overhead.  Once again, rain was not in the forecast, but the weatherman can rarely get it right.  I wanted to pull the blanket over my head and stay put.  But my mind was already planning the day, with the hopes I could ride and paint later. 

After spending about 2½ hours at the gym, I had a big, hot lunch (frozen dinner) with a side salad, when I got home.  Then I went to the ranch, leaving Maggie home because it was so cold and damp.  This is Joe's new strawberry patch he planted this morning with 'starts' from a poker friend's patch that he had thinned out. 

When I brought Amiga in from the pasture, I was relieved to see that her eye was much better.  It had been practically swollen shut the day before. 





Tacking up did not take long because I skipped using a saddle again.  Amiga's sore, called a cinch gall, was now a small lump in the girth area.  It was mostly healed, but was still a firm lump without hair on it. 

Here are a couple of poor selfie attempts while out on the trail.  It just isn't easy.  And this (video) shows Amiga and I going down the trail.  It was a nice, relaxing ride, and I was not at all cold or damp because the sun had peeked out occasionally which had a nice warming effect.

I did horse care on Amiga and then fed her.  I also filled the food bin and her supplement tub.  The boys (Zorro and Cowboy) came right in without me calling, because it was already 5pm dinner time.  
 

I had finished spray painting the port-a-potty before my ride, and took off the painter's tape from the aluminum corners now that the paint was dry.


After I had completed all chores and the horses were all back in the paddock rotating between the hay piles, I watered the grass seed and sod.  I am happy with how this new placement worked out and it will look good once grass is growing.

You can see how dark, gloomy, and gray the sky was.  Why does a cloudy breezy day at 67° feel quite a bit colder than a sunny, calm day at 64°?

 








I had had a big, late lunch, so after household chores and a nice warm shower, I just had popcorn for my evening meal at 7pm while watching a silly movie (Just Getting Started) with Joe.  The cats and I enjoyed cozy-ing up by the fire.    

Sunday 10/15 - Having taken a sleep aid the night before, I slept from 9 to 7, getting ten hours of sleep.  I woke to a gloomy, drizzly, damp, cool, fall day.  The leaves have practically turned color overnight.  Before they all seem to just be turning brown and dying, but now I am seeing vivid yellows, oranges, and reds. 






In an effort to stay cozy here, in front of my computer (working puzzles, playing games, and sharing funnies, while sitting in front of the space heater with a blanket on my lap and cats coming and going to sit on my mouse hand, shoulders, or lap) I ended up being a complete and total deadbeat all morning.  I even indulge myself in a third cup of tea and more breakfast.

Above, Mama Styx was watching Rose hunting in the front yard.  Rose has been catching chipmunks on almost a daily basis recently.  She will sit and wait at a hole for a few hours, sometimes nearly falling asleep.  Today, after eating her kill, she took a nap on the front porch. 

 



It remained damp and drizzly all day.  I stayed inside most of the day.  I put up more Halloween decorations inside and out, deep cleaning in the process.  Some laundry got done and some dead-heading of plants.  I also brought the three plants in from the front porch. 



Rose was still napping out front when I backed out to go to the ranch to do chores.  It was still damp and drizzly out. 








I stuck to the normal chores, not doing any other work at the ranch, because of the weather.  Except, I did treat Amiga's eye even though it was looking pretty good. 

After my usual Sunday evening chores, including trash collection, I got cozy in my PJ's.  A bowl of soup for dinner helped warm me up.  And then I got this big plant from the porch (seen in the middle in this photo) set up in my office/cattery.  I also got the humidifier out and running. 

Monday 10/16 - Britney sent this photo of herself and Fran cozied up together, and she commented about needing to get moving to go to work.  Sometimes, you just don’t have the opportunity to cozy up when you want to.  The  morning's drizzle was heavier than it had been since this all started Friday afternoon, and could legitimately be called a light rain.  I had morning chores, so put on my wool socks, flannel shirt, and raincoat.  I'd gotten up too early in the night and had already had two cups of tea and taken a short nap, so I was nursing my third cup of tea with some chocolate, during the drive. 

I made quick time of the chores and didn't get too terribly wet.  I heated up the rest of my tea, removed my wet jacket and was driving to town by 8:15.  I hit three stores.  Seen here is the stuff I bought, mostly at Walmart.  Not seen are bags of horse feed, cracked corn, cat and dog food, and kitty litter.

After unloading, putting everything away, and eating lunch, I returned to my computer to do the games and puzzles I hadn't had time for earlier.  Mama Styx decided to cozy up with me.

Once lunch was fairly well digested, I headed to the gym.  A lady friend of mine I admire, who used to be a bodybuilder, and still stays very fit; complimented me today.  She remarked about how dedicated I was to my work out.  Coming from her, that just got me all the more pumped up.  I put in a little over two hours of hard work.  I took a nice long hot shower there and left exhausted but relaxed.  It is a good feeling, not like being cozy, but a pleasant sense of well-being. 
 

Tuesday 10/17 - It was another cold, damp, dreary morning.  I was tempted to let the gloom pull me into an attitude of laziness, and wanted to curl up in a blanket, and start the new book I'd gotten from the library.  But after the comment my friend gave me at the gym the day before, I felt I needed to live up to her view of me, as being dedicated.  So I drug myself to the gym.  I had another great work out, pushing myself, and accomplishing more than expected. 

My afternoon was spent doing numerous little tasks and crossing them off my to do list.  I had painted this board white and needed to add the address.  In the first photo you can see where I had penciled in the arrow, free hand.  I used stencils to do the numbers.  The letters were just stick-ons. 

Other little jobs included but were not limited to: trim cat nails and my nails, put flea medicine on all four cats, change out the sheets on our bed for heavier flannel and add a heavy bedspread, do laundry, complete some computer stuff and make phone calls, etc, etc, etc.

After dinner and all my evening chores were done, Joe and I started the series ‘Suits’ watching the first episode of season one.  I was hooked almost immediately.

Seen in the photo, Stevie decided to cozy up on my lap while Monita lounged on the floor in front of the fire.  Not seen, Joe was trying to find a free version of the TV show. 
  

Wednesday 10/18 - The sight of radiant sunshine was a glorious spectacle this morning. The sun's rays had not been seen since Friday, mid-afternoon. 










The fog was thick in the valleys, especially over the water, as I was headed to the ranch at 8:30.  But look how blue the sky was. 

I'd had kind of a rough start to my morning, sitting in cat throw up (had to change pants and undies) and then the garage door wouldn't shut.  But the rest of my day went very well.

After the farrier trimmed Amiga and Zorro, Joe and I got my new sign hung up.






I was home in time for an early lunch, and then spent the rest of the day working in the yard.  I needed to get the rest of the wood chips off the driveway so we would have room for guest parking. 

I spread mulch here on this little path. 

Then I spent a lot of time transplanting the Japanese Spurge ground cover that was growing across this area, which used to be a walking path.  I moved it to the other side of the path. 

A lot of the old mulch had decomposed to dirt which the plants were growing in, so I moved them kind of like how I dig up sod. 

Wood chips were then spread in the path area and some around the new transplants. 



Here is a view of the same path from down at the bottom of the hill, looking up.

The Japanese Spurge had also spread into another path, so I moved it across to the other side.  It was not as extensive. 





And then wood chips were spread on the path and around these transplants.  I still had three more wheelbarrow loads of wood chips on the drive so spread them down the path from the corn rock/salt block to the bench. 

The black oak leaves in the wood chips had stained the drive, so after sweeping up, I also hosed off the drive and the tarp.  I finished up outside as dark was descending about 6:15. 

Thursday 10/19 - I was at the gym by eight for a two hour workout.  After a quick shower, I went right next-door to the doctors office where I had a wellness exam.  I am well, yippee.  Actually, I do not say this lightly.  It is a blessing to be healthy at my age... at any age really.

I came home, had lunch and then knocked off my to-do list (five things outside) in a little over an hour. 








Even with Maggie and Rose distracting me I accomplished everything I had planned.  It was overcast, a little windy, but dry and not too cold. 

Then I went to the ranch because I had evening chores for Patty.  I got there plenty early to have time to ride Amiga.  We headed down Marmaduke (video) and rode the Kirkstone loop. 


Amiga felt great, no lameness or tender feet issues at all.  She does get a little wound up when I canter her, but otherwise was very amenable.  Here we are taking a look at the lake before heading back to the ranch. 

I rode in from Eli Ford, taking the drive in through the front gate.  As I was riding Amiga down the drive to the barn, Zorro saw us and came running. 

He is so cute, and silly, but can be annoying at times when he gets fidgety.

Susan showed up while I was mucking and ended up helping me with some of the evening feeding chores. 
 

Mary and Jack also came down to ride, so it was busy in the barn area. 

Zorro saying hello to Amiga when I was riding her down the drive.  These two are so sweet together. 

I did not get home until 6:30 and hustled through my pet chores.  I had popcorn and beer for dinner and watched Survivor with Joe.  The fire was going and the cats and dog cozied up with us in various spots.

Friday 10/20 - When I woke at 2am, my brain would not let me get back to sleep.  I was mentally busy planning my day of preparation for guests, including cleaning to do, meal menus and grocery list.  I was also trying to figure out how I could fit in a trip to the gym. 

I finally got out of bed at 2:40 and got to work here on my blog.  A one hour nap occurred on the coach.  After a second cup of tea I hit the ground running; fed Patty's cats, went to Food City, sorted through and stashed groceries, and then started house cleaning.  It needed a good deep down cleaning.
 

I worked non-stop all afternoon, except for a couple of breaks to snack on some of the good stuff I had bought for the weekend.  By 4:00 I got dinner started (baked potatoes and chilli) and continued checking things off my cleaning list.  I didn't get it all done though.  By the time Cathy and Ralph rolled in at 5:45, I was ready to sit down and start happy hour.  

Carol had picked up a puppy from a breeder near Nashville and arrived just before 8pm.  And the only photos I took all day were of this cute little rascal (Carol has named Finn).  She got Rick and Finn set up (as cozy as possible) in the garage before joining the 'party.'  Being short on sleep, I only lasted until 10:00 and then hit the hay.  I couldn't fall asleep though, because of the lively chatter in the living room.