“Stuff”

This is one of those “catch up” posts covering a variety of topics.

We received our driveway permit. It contains some terms we don’t understand, but we hope the contractor we called will be able to decipher them. We would like to get started on the drive, but for the rest of this year the construction may consist of just leveling out a path we can drive on. We have a year to get the driveway completed.

I had my follow-up visit with the dermatologist. The nose is healing OK, but there are a couple of rough spots. I go back again to have the nose numbed and have the edges of the rough spots “sanded” and “blended”  so my nose looks better. Is the cure worse than the disease?

Pam hurt her foot while helping me move the trailer. Three toes on the right foot now have some pretty colorful bruises as a result of the back edge of the trailer hitting her foot. No broken bones or toe nails, as far as Pam can tell. The swelling is going down (Pam put on a regular shoe this morning) but the foot still aches and has some healing to do.

Toby made it to South Bend, Indiana, on the 4th. He met his landlord and received his keys. Toby was unpacking when Pam called to see how he was doing. The reply is he is OK but very tired. After unpacking it was going to be nap time then get some groceries. We hope Toby does OK in his new location/job search/life.

I received a few tractor parts and will try to get the brakes on the right side of the tractor fixed this weekend. If I have time I will pull the left side and see how bad the brakes are on that side.  I expected to have to buy some parts in addition to the new brake shoes and seals, but a few items have surprised me. For example, Ford used special bolts to hold the brakes and axle onto the tractor. Six per side, $10.50 per bolt. The right side had 2 of these bolts broken, and at some point someone had substituted a couple standard bolts for a few of the special ones. I want to fix it correctly so I’ve obtained a few of the Ford bolts. I hope I don’t need many more!

Fall chores have begun. I drained and covered the swamp cooler and started checking out my snowplow rig, which is a garden tractor with a blade mounted up front. Forecast calls for a low of 29 and a slight chance of snow this weekend. Guess I better pull out the snowmobile and see if it will start. 🙂

I have added counters to our home page and this blog page. The home page counter is at the bottom of the screen, and the blog page counters are on the right side of this page. I was just curious as to how many times people look at either page, and Pam thought counters might be a Good Idea, so I added them in.

For all you pet lovers out there who have ever had to take your animal(s) to the vet, here is a cartoon you might enjoy. Click on it to bring it up full-size.

Carpool Syndrome

Days are getting shorter, leaves beginning to fall on our lawn, and Christmas(!) decorations are already on the shelves. September went by quickly, it seems. (Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Quickly go the days…) As usual we are busy with work, chores around the house, animal care, and projects that keep us active. I guess we would not have it any other way.

And, for Elli, who is always looking for “pet” photos, a few recent shots of some of our menagerie:

Velvet (“Vel”) plays cute on the sideboard

London on his favorite kitchen table chair.

Blondie doing her “circus dog” sit.

Bru and Jo sharing the couch.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!