Herding Cats

                                                                Selling a house and moving to a
new house can be a little bit like herding cats.  This saying implies a task that is extremely difficult or impossible to do, primarily due to chaotic factors.  It refers to an attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are uncontrollable.
We still wait for our house buyers to sell their house, and have extended 
                                                           the contract till February.
     After a weekend of no internet,
I booted up my computer Sunday evening once home from TN, and finally got plugged into the life of others.  Abbey has started treating the dinner table like my desk... I keep removing her from lounging here but, she's a cat.




     I took Amiga to the vet at 8am Monday morning so she could get her health papers, allowing me to transport her across state lines November 16th.  We kept her on the trailer during the exam, but she nearly came out the side escape door when I opened it so the vet could check her nose and lymph nodes on the right side of her neck.  My hand got smashed in the process of containing Amiga.  Herding horses is much easier than cats, but they can still be difficult to work with at times.  Mums above and fall colors below add to the beauty around here.

     I stopped to buy kale at the IGA in LeRoy on the way home... while Amiga waited out in the trailer.  At home, she was fast and crazy coming back off the trailer.  It takes two people to keep her under control. 

     When getting ready to start the lamb stew, I realized I was out of garlic.  So I combined another trip back to the IGA with going to the Replex to try out a different water exercise class.  After chopping veggies and browning meat and onions and getting the stew cooking, I worked on my Tennessee blog.  Late in the afternoon, I hit a wrong key and it wipped out all my work.  I could tell it was still in my computer archives, but I couldn't get to it.  A call to Courtney and I arranged to drop by her house after Growth Group Potluck.

     A pastor from Africa who is in the US seeking asylum, spoke about the infiltration of Muslims (and anti-Christianity) here in the US.  To make a long story short, I basically learned that I need to have my eyes open, to be aware of what is really going on around me.  We complacent Christians need to step up our walk, read the bible more, pray more and spread the gospel.

     Courtney rescued my lost data, for which I was so thankful.  She did it quicker than it took Joe to fill all our water jugs while there.  Here is a cute photo from Facebook, of Courtney trying to get Squeaky down while a very concerned Wash anxiously waits below.  Herding two cats can even be tricky.

     I picked a bushel of pears and went to Water Lilies on Tuesday, since I had missed the day before.  It turned into a gloomy, rainy day that I pretty much wasted.  I did show a random house shopper around who had wandered up the drive way.




     I believe this is a coopers hawk, preying upon the little ground squirrels that have been eating the pears.  When I picked pears off the ground, I noticed some had little nibbles out of them, but were too hard for the critter's liking and they moved on until they found a nice sweet, juicy, ripe one, and would eat much of it.




     I really didn't amount to much all day.  I think I need a few days to unwind after working so hard all weekend.  I did organize all our keys.  I found four pair of matching keys that go to four different doors to the house, and got them labeled.  Most of the rest had no apparent use and were thrown away to avoid future confusion.

     I managed to stay busy most of the day Wednesday, but not so much with house work.  After Water Lilies I met Marj at Jack's for a late breakfast.  It was a great opportunity to get caught up with each other's life.  Once home, I did sort clean and pack extra tack and all of my horse paraphernalia I won't need right away in Tennessee.

      Mid-afternoon I went to town for a therapy session for my wrist.  First a set of strength tests were done.  My large muscles are strong, but most of the little muscles (used for endurance) are weak.  This is why I can lift something, but after a few seconds "lose my grip" and drop it or have to set it down.  So, I was given several exercises and sent home with instructions and therapy putty.  I made a quick trip to Wal-mart, but had forgotten my shopping list, so got home without everything I needed. 

     It was early to bed (right after Survivor) and early to rise Thursday.  I was so glad the wind had died, rain had stopped, and the sun had partly come out.  I enjoyed listening to my down loaded music while messing here at my computer. 



     There was nowhere I needed to go Thursday, so I was determined to get down to business working in and around the house.  There were plenty more things (in kitchen and china hutch) that needed boxing up. 


     With a little help from my little friend, I got to work on wrapping and boxing up many breakables.







     Kaysha played "Find Kitty" while I worked and Abbey hopped in and out of boxes and ran around.






















     Below was the view from my "desk."  I decided to take advantage of the partial sunshine and relatively warm day and worked out in the yard for awhile.  It was a lot windier than expected so I didn't even try to rake leaves. That would have been like herding cats.

     Since the riding mower had a buyer and might be gone by afternoon, I decided to mow down the peonies and rake up the foliage.  Brother helped me with that task. 






  



     The wind picked up and it got more cloudy, so it wasn't long before I was cold.  I let Brother in, fixed and ate lunch, and joined him for a nap.  I did a little more packing of glassware but ran out of steam at sun down.

     I woke up at 2am Friday and flopped around in bed for an hour, trying to will myself back to sleep.
     I finally got out of bed at 3am.
Abbey thinks it's great that I am up in the middle of the night, and she got all revved up, running around and hiding in boxes.  She seems to have an invisible friend who chases her.


     Eventually Abbey settled in for some more sleep.  I knew I would be doing the same thing later in the morning, but for the time being, I down loaded photos, like the one below from Facebook, posted last week. 

Tarzan and Jane

     Britney and Keysuar Hernandez enjoying the falls at Kéköldi, the Indigenous reserve, on the Caribbean coast.




     Amiga and Kabob, grazing together.  He is directly behind her.
They have become good pasture buddies.

     After Water Lilies Friday, I kept so busy during the day I never felt the need for a nap.  I cleaned drawers and cupboards as I sorted and divided things to go and to stay.  I left Joe the bare bones basics, putting kitchen  stuff back in cleaned spots, and packing the rest to go to Tennessee.

     Kaysha has started correlating my stacking boxes by the back door with going on a trip to TN. 







     Missy and Brother were enjoying the sunshine.  Brother followed me to the house and got to come inside to continue basking in the sun.




     At 4:00 I finally made myself go read in bed and eventually fell asleep for an hour.  I hoped that would get me through the evening out.  





     The six of us (Mike, Courtney, Dan, Valencia, Joe and I) went to the movie "Runner Runner" at the theater in LeRoy.  It was an enjoyable thriller. 
                                                                                               Managing
education, correlates to herding cats, and is just one of many government organizations that is running amok.  And now, with Obama care, the government is going to try to manage health insurance.  I see disaster coming.