Marilee J. Layman

06:16 pm: Fledglings!
I was worried because I've only seen two fledglings this year, but today there's half-a-dozen house finch fledglings and two cardinal fledglings!

I spent a few hours in the recliner with the heat and vibration last night and I feel fine today. I have to be more careful about standing/walking too long.

Lucila is here cleaning and Spirit has been brave and watching.

I had two bids on my livelongnmarry custom beadwoven necklace, and the first one was from someone who didn't have an LJ and couldn't know the second bid was made, so I offered to make her one, too, for her donated bid, and she's been giving me color and style elements. I'll have to spend some time in the workroom tonight.

Tags: birds, cats, health, jewelry

06:52 pm: Cooking!
Sorta. The Zojirushi Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker is cooking pearl barley in fat-free chicken broth. In a bit, I'll put oil and a dab of butter in a small pyrex casserole and add onions, zap, add mushrooms, zap, and then keep warm in the toaster oven. To be mixed when the barley is done.

The rheumatologist released the labs she ordered and they're all normal except for increased leukocytes and increased C-Reactive Protein. The first is because of the autoimmune diseases and the second means I have inflammation somewhere. I've had that for about six months and we haven't figured it out yet.

The birdfeeder went through the dishwasher last night and was dry by 2am, but I didn't feel like taking it out then, so I took it out this morning. The birds are happy. No squirrels yet.

Shiva scared Spirit so much last night with grabbing her, that she stood on the printer and yelled. I carried her down to the bed, where she stayed with me. Shiva came in and yelled because she was on the bed and left. When I woke up later, Spirit was gone and Shiva was sleeping with me. Then when I woke up for good, nobody was there. I think Shiva is jealous that Spirit is spending time with me in the bed. Back when Giorgio was alive, he and Spirit would come say goodnight and then sleep in the recliner. Shiva would come and sit with me while I read and then either cuddle up or sleep at the bottom of the bed when I slept. Most mornings, all three of them were cuddled up at the bottom.

Well, Giorgio isn't here anymore and Spirit is spending my reading time with me and I think Shiva is jealous. Spirit has just very gingerly climbed onto the couch to sit next to Shiva. He isn't paying attention to her, but he hasn't grabbed her, either.

Tags: birds, cats, food, health

07:48 pm: Shiva Is Getting Better
Last night he sat with us in the recliner for a while (drooled like crazy, I'm changing the towel in his safe haven twice a day) and then went down to sleep on the cat blankie on the bed. After a while I went down and petted him and he purred. He came back out and tried a piece of dry food and spit it out, then ran down the hall again. After I turned out the light, he came and snuggled like he usually does, but wetly.

When I got up today, he was back in the safe haven and I had to pull the towel out to get him out and give him his pain meds. He came out here and hid under an end table. I gave him some very watery AD slurry and he ate all of that. Then I headed off to get more bird seed. It takes about five days to deliver the seed I ordered online and I need more before that. When I got home and put the new seed in the metal trash-can-looking container, I saw bright scratches on the edges where the squirrel had tried to open it.

While I was out there, a woman came across the street and I recognized her -- she used to serve at Pizza Hut before I stopped going because of the rude manager. She had her baby and when she wanted to go back, he wouldn't take her. So now she's working at Mamma Mia's (and she thinks I should come have pizza there) and living diagonally from me. Her family (husband, two kids) are renting from the Hispanic family who used to live there (the ones who started out with eight people and ended up with three) and are already having problems. She had recognized my van and when I was out on the porch with the seed, came over to say Hi. From where I was sitting, I could see a small fan in the master bedroom window, which is not allowed. I asked her about it and she said they found out after they moved in that the heating and air-conditioning doesn't work and the owners said they'd fix it and brought the fan. That's not enough here, and isn't acceptable to our bylaws, either. I told her there'd be a problem and she said she'd talk to them again. The baby has dark curly hair and pretty dark eyes.

Shiva just came out to sit on the heating pad and smell the outdoors and Spirit came to sit with him.

Tags: birds, cats

06:01 pm: Self-Caging Shiva
I got up, put on my bathrobe, prepared his meds, and got him with the towel. After he was done and I let him go, he jumped off the recliner headfirst into the wire mesh trash can by the recliner. While I was putting the foot down, I was trying not to laugh. He went around in circles a few times and then figured out his head should be up and jumped out just as I was reaching for the trash can. How embarrassing! He's still only eating the AD in a slurry and in the past, he's been on dry food by now. I'm glad we have the dental vet appointment.

My left eye was stuck together today and it was itchy again, so I flushed and I think it worked. I have a lot of goop in that eye, though, so I'm not putting the fountain together today. Too cool and dank outside, too.

The tornado hit the county to our southeast -- no dead, two hurt, about a hundred houses damaged, most because their roofs were lifted off. There's tested and tried bolting that will keep a roof on in a tornado/hurricane and adds less than $100 to a house. I can't believe people don't automatically build houses with that. The flooding is worse north of here, but is expected to spread as more of the water comes down the geography. There are lots of trees down all over the area.

I ordered Chinese food -- not only do I not feel like zapping something, my glands are swollen and my throat is sore. When I post this, I'm going to go put out more birdseed. I found a place online that sells hulled sunflower seeds 50 pounds for $84.93 with free shipping while the increase locally gave me 40 pounds for $73.59 (including tax) and that will save me five cents a pound. I'm going through two pounds a day right now, so that will be a big help.

Tags: birds, cats, health, weather

08:12 pm: New Holes In My Arm
Shiva didn't hurt me while I gave him his meds (although I had to explain the yelling to Luke), but I didn't direct his escape after very well and his hind claws dug in my right arm for a good takeoff. I'll have to be more careful. We're seeing the dental vet on Tuesday at noon and Shiva has to stop the antibiotics Sunday night and food Monday night (he hasn't started eating solid food yet, still the AD slurry).

I took recycling out and then had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's with chocolate cake and ice cream to remember Henry. Where I was sitting, there was a deep bass rumble, felt and heard, and I asked the waitress about it and she said she hadn't heard it until she listened on my side of the restaurant. The manager came and I told him it was probably an air handler and he pointed to a vent on the line of hearing. I told him vibrating like that was not good for a building, plus it was a low D# which tends to scare people, and he went and turned it down a bit so it stopped. The rain poured just as I left and then stopped. As I got home, a fill-in mailguy was at the clusterboxes before ours, so I kept my shoes on and when he went past, gathered Luke's keys and went to get our mail. The mailguy told me that we may not have a permanent mailperson for about six months and he wished us luck. My last two BFAC wins came -- the "Last Trail" horn & necklace and the Saragaro-style netted necklace. They're really great!

You'd think courting mourning doves -- the male chases the female, trying to peck the back of her neck, and we have four pairs now -- would be enough excitement, but a while ago, one of the four crows wanted badly to eat at the feeder, even though I'd put some seed on the porch. There was a squirrel sitting on one side eating and a mourning dove sitting on the other, also eating, and he started dive-bombing them and they both ignored him and his CAWs. Then he carefully stepped down onto the other end of the side the mourning dove was on, and she flapped her wings at him and made him go. So while the crows and mourning doves usually co-exist, clearly the doves are higher in rank.

I've been planning to set up the porch fountain for a couple of weeks and had to keep moving it down the list, but it looks clear for tomorrow. We're past frost so it's safe, and it's nice to have the sound and look of the fountain, and of course, the birds like it.

Tags: beads, birds, cats, fountain

04:30 pm: Amazing What the Sun Can Do
It's 68F today, which should be warm, but it's overcast and it's cold. I had to turn the heat on.

Our last BFAC auctions are today and we have some really wonderful pieces up. There's a real horn beaded over with a "Last Trail" picture plus a necklace, a fringy necklace and earrings, a beaded tapestry, a butterfly-beaded purse, an asymmetrically-strung onyx and bead necklace with added focal, a hip chain and beaded bead necklace, and a Saraguro-style netted necklace. Go see if you want any of them!

I fed the cats first today, but Shiva wouldn't come to eat and I still had to catch him for his meds. He's eating now, I can hear him eating the dry food, but it would be nice if he had the wet stuff, too, since he's the reason we started having it.

The dark-eyed junco does seem to have left, but I have four blackbirds who are using the feeder, too. I'll have to get more seed this week, and the price increased $2 for five pounds less, so it will be expensive.

Tags: auctions, birds, cats, weather

07:21 pm: Clean Birdfeeder
I hadn't filled it yesterday when it was almost empty because I knew it would be growing stuff from all the rain -- 3.5" over two days -- so I went out this morning and it was empty and the metal screen was green. I put it into the dishwasher. Lucila seemed surprised the dishwasher was going when she got here, and thought the feeder was new when I put it out during the end of her cleaning. We've had many guests since. There were four crows on the building across the street for a while which led me to see that gutter needs fixing. We also have a new birdsong (I haven't seen the bird) that I don't know. It goes wreeeEEEEETTTT wreeeEEEEETTTT (a seventh) chchchchchchchcchch. The chch is different lengths, but it always starts with the two wreeEEEETTTTs.

I didn't sleep right when she came so slept another couple hours after she left.

Shiva wouldn't even come into the kitchen this morning, so I just fed Spirit. I put what she didn't eat into the fridge and warmed it up after Lucila left, but only Spirit would eat it. I opened another pouch for Shiva, which he really wanted, but he wouldn't jump on the counter. Spirit, however, did. Food is a big prize for her. If he comes into the kitchen tomorrow morning, I'll try two dishes.

I mentioned that Lucila's husband was here looking at the laminate a week or so ago. Lucila told me that he'd had hardwood glued to the concrete slab. No moisture barrier. She didn't know enough to know that's a bad thing, but they'll regret that.

Tags: birds, cats, floors

06:27 pm: A New Bird!
I've had a new bird the last week and finally took the time to run one of the bird ID website and identify it -- it's a dark-eyed junco. It's 83F today and I have the windows open (not too hot when I had the AC on overnight until noon) and we have lots of birds and squirrels today. Shiva has been very happy about it. Spirit has been cuddling up to him.

I swapped the two serial splitters for the four-way and put the two two-way and the extra cable in my AV drawer. I took my friend AJ's descriptions for the boy scout auction items and printed them out on postcard paper and packed each item in something nice. I put them all in a box to give to the mother of the boy scout of whom I'm fond tomorrow at bookgroup. My bookgroup load is growing: the DVD player (if nobody wants it, I'll take it to the charity thrift shop), a totebag, the boy scout stuff, presents for our librarian/fan leader on our 6th anniversary (a hardcover copy of All Seated on the Ground and a copy of Jason Shiga's Bookhunter -- which I carefully read before wrapping it), my totebag, and the bookgroup book. Tomorrow I'll add a beadwork box and my non-BPA water bottle with the rehydration fluid in it. Good thing I have that collapsible rolling crate!

I feel pretty good today, I may try some form of cooking later. My labs were normal-for-me for the rheumatologist, but worse for the nephrologist -- my BUN is up again and my GFR down (means kidney disease is a little worse than it's been for a while), the ferritin and iron are both better than last time, but not normal, and my CO2 has dropped again, a lot. The blood sugar is down to 90, though, which is good.

Tags: birds, bookgroup, cats, health

07:23 pm: Mating Season
When I put the living room honeycomb shades up today, I thought I had four pairs of courting mourning doves (the males chasing the females and trying to get close enough to peck the top of their heads), but one pair of them turned out to be robins!

The last two evenings, Shiva has been making room for Spirit to tuck up with him when he sleeps in the recliner or the couch, which is good. Shiva slept under the covers with me twice last night and was still at the bottom of the bed when I got up. When I started getting their food, though, he headed for the bedroom. I made two plates, both with chicken and wet food, and gave Spirit one on the kitchen floor and took the other toward the bedroom. Shiva ended up under an end table in the living room and I left the plate with him, but he wouldn't eat any until Spirit had some from that plate, and then he just ate a bit.

This is reminding me of the emergency foster teen who ended up living with me for three years -- her folks abused her in many ways, but one of the most unexpected was that they made her eat truly inedible things. They thought it was funny to watch her try to swallow non-food or even somewhat toxic items. So I always had to bring the serving dish to the table and eat some myself before she would. I also had to name what I was making and since I rarely used recipes, I became quite inventive.

Shiva was fine here until Giorgio died, so I don't think that's it. But today, he seemed afraid of what I was serving him. I went to get groceries and also bought a small bag of Meow Mix. Not the best dry food for cats, but it would show if the not-eating dry food was flavor, and when I got home, they both dashed over when I opened the bag. They ate two handfuls dropped on the laminate with Shiva eating most of it. I put some on top of the regular food in their dry food dish that's in the dining room/computer room/office. Tomorrow, I'm going to try one plate in the kitchen for the chicken/wet food and see what happens.

The ant bait thingies are not working, at least partly because the ants found a new way in, next to the refrigerator, so as long as the cats' plates were elsewhere and they were sleeping in the recliner, I sprayed. I don't like using spray, but I can't have the ants, either.

I've used three handkerchiefs while typing this -- I just changed the vacuum cleaner bag without putting a mask on. The vacuum gets used so rarely I'll probably forget next time, too.

I looked at VCRs again last night and the two new ones on Amazon are pictures of the boxes. I need to see the remote (the almost-dead VCR's remote is the only one small enough that I can use it with one hand) before I buy. So I'm thinking that when I run errands in that direction on Wednesday, I'll stop by Circuit City and look at VCR/DVD remotes.

Tags: birds, cats, errands

05:33 pm: The Birds and the Cats and the Auctions
I put up some great BFAC auctions today -- two great dolls, an unusual evening purse, a wooly worm bracelet, and three necklaces: one is Native-American inspired, one uses the African Helix stitch, and one has a realistic butterfly.

The house finches have had their first batch of fledglings so the porch seems constantly covered with birds and I keep refilling the birdfeeder.

I forgot to say about Shiva eating yesterday -- he was very interested in me, came and rubbed my legs while I took morning meds, and was eager to eat, but when I put down one plate (not thinking), he dashed away. He had a bit of snackies and the end of what was in the plate, but neither ever ate any dry food. Last night, he kept waking me up, rubbing my face and purring, and if I'd actually woken up, I'd've realized he was hungry. But this morning, he stayed in the castle until well after feeding time. I made two plates, both with chicken and wet food, and put one on the floor of the kitchen for Spirit and one on the entryway to the castle. Spirit finished hers, ate most of the snackies, and most of his plate. Shiva came out of the castle when I started up at the desk for the auctions, and I moved his plate to the floor and he then ate what was left on it and the rest of the snackies. I dumped the dry food, washed the plate, put more in, and moved it to the dining room because I wondered if the ant bait thing bothered him (it hasn't other years). He had two mouthfuls and then went to sit on the heating pad. I'll try two plates again tomorrow and see what happens. I'm going to Petsmart Wednesday and I think I'll get a small bag of a different flavor of Science Diet and see what happens.

Tags: auctions, birds, cats

07:58 pm: More Birdseed, Seedbead, and Catfeed
I had a painful night and didn't get up until late so it was well into the afternoon that I headed out to the other end of the county for birdseed. The company that makes it has changed the bag size from 25 pounds to 20 pounds without changing the price. I went ahead and got two bags since I was sure 40 pounds would fit in my metal container, but I may have to look for cheaper options. On the way back, I stopped at Roma restaurant and had souvlaki and onion rings -- wouldn't hurt me not to eat there again, either!

The beads I bought at Sandi's Saint Paul store on Monday arrived today and I spent some time logging them into my beadbase and then put them in the workroom to put away later. I also went out on the porch just before dusk and glued a blue & purple dichroic cabochon to a badge holder with E6000 and for the first time ever, didn't get any E6000 on me! I'm going to bead around it to give to auction for the Boy Scouts.

I know, me giving to the Boy Scouts? Well, one of the couples in my bookgroup has a son in Boy Scouts and I'm quite fond of him. His group's dinner and auction fundraiser is the same night as our bookgroup in May and we agreed to eat there after group. I asked his mom if they'd like jewelry to auction and she seemed quite happy about it. I already have something strung and I've started on a ponytail holder. It and the badge holder are minor things and then if I think I have time considering my BFAC project, I'll weave a necklace or bracelet, too.

Shiva was annoyed a lot last night, too, and I decided that I should try two plates again, since he's staying in the castle when I come out to feed them. I put Spirit's plate on the floor in the kitchen and she lit into it and I took Shiva's to the entry in front of the castle. As soon as she heard him eating, she dashed over to see what he had. I positioned myself and scolded her back into the kitchen. When they were both mostly done, I put out snackies which they both ate, and then they went and finished each other's plates. If this continues to work, I guess the dishwasher will run more often.

Tags: beads, birds, cats

06:15 pm: Giorgio is Eating
I realized late last night that he'd had the bit he ate yesterday with only the left side of his mouth. So I put a packet of wet food into a tiny blender I kept (meant for nuts and herbs but I almost always used it for other things) and whirled it to a thick paste. I thinned it with oil to more of a thick liquid (oil has more calories than water) and he ate about a third of it, which is what he would normally eat in a sitting. The other two ate a third and I washed the rest away. So this morning I put on going-out-of-the-house clothes and when I finished the grocery list (which I usually make on Sundays), I went to the Giant (which I usually do on Mondays). I got ten little baby food jars (I think it was Jill who suggested this for Spirit's protein, and that made me think of it for this) as well as the regular food and as soon as I got home, opened one jar and put it under his nose. He sniffed a couple of times, put the very end of his tongue in and tasted, and then ate about a quarter of the jar. I shut the jar back up and put it in the fridge and a little while ago, I took another quarter out and put it on a plate and zapped it warm and a bit liquider and he ate most of that (Spirit finished the rest). So I think part of the problem may be something mechanical with eating.

I knew when I took him that he came from a line that had bad teeth, so he only has his canines left, but he's always been happy with even the hard snackies (today he took one into his mouth three times, finally crunched it a bit, swallowed, and didn't eat anymore). So I hope to give him little bits like this (I didn't even look to see if I gave him the beef or the chicken) and get him to lick them up. I feel much better now that he's eating. He's using the litterbox, too.

We had two inches of rain Friday and I knew there were probably sunflower seeds in the feeder that were molding and producing aflatoxin which kills birds, so when I went out to get more laundry detergent from the storeroom off the balcony/porch last night, I also dumped the dry seeds on the porch and brought the feeder in. I got all the wet seeds off in the sink, and then ran the feeder in the dishwasher -- the advantage of having one made of dead milk jugs. When it dried, I put it out of the way in the living room. I'll put it back out after the mound of seeds on the porch is gone.

Many people may be watching the Superbowl, but I'm watching musicals on TCM (currently An American in Paris) and taped the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl to watch the Kitten Half-Time later. There's a new House tonight, well after the football, so I may have to just record at the end of the game and find it on the tape later.

Tags: birds, cats, games

05:54 pm: Gonna Buy You A Mockingbird
Actually, the mockingbirds don't need any help. We have a pair back in a different tree now and from the tree -- across the street/parking lot -- they will swoop in and make any mourning doves go away. It's not that they want to eat at that moment, they just don't want anybody else to eat. I stand at the window and remind them that I'm the one who owns the seed.

Tags: birds

05:29 pm: Cardinal Snooper
It's rainy today and the birdfeeder was empty so I went to fill it. As soon as I was back inside, a batch of birds came, including a male cardinal who, instead of getting seed, stood by the sliding glass doors, looking at us out of his right eye. Then he walked up a bit and turned and looked at us out of his left eye. He stayed like that until Shiva rushed the door.

Mike Huckabee was on Meet the Press today, being a real goon. It's hard to believe people actually like him. You should watch the video.

Tags: birds, politics

03:35 pm: Penultimate Day
I packed the jewelry boxes last night, but will have to use my little cart thing to get it out to the storeroom. I'll get that when I bring the suitcases in. I've already taken the trash and recycling out and finished with washing clothes. I've started on cat blankies. I'm going to keep the little typing table that the cats' heating pad is on. I don't know if they'll feel comfortable enough to be there while the guys are here, but they do spend time there at night and it's kind of their home base. It'll be easy enough to move around for the laminate and the painting. So what's left today is washing kitchen & bathroom towels and bedding, and packing. Plus reading the paper and online. I keep telling the cats we're sleeping in the recliner for the next week and a half, but I don't think they believe me.

We have fledgling mourning doves at the feeder! Mom and Dad are showing them how to step from the rail onto the edge of the feeder to eat, but two have decided it's too much and are eating the dropped seed from the porch. Shiva is exceedingly excited.

Tags: birds, renovations

05:25 pm: BFAC and Birds
New auctions up for Beading For a Cure -- all winning bids will go to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association. We have six necklaces, all very different (I bid on one!) -- one with a pendant watch, one with a fiber base, and one that comes with runes. Have a look!

Today, the car in the parking lot directly outside my porch has a sunroof and an air deflector in front of it. The male mourning dove clutched the top of the deflector with the wind ruffling his feathers; a figurehead for the gray car.

Tags: bfac, birds