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Thrive Without Janelle: The Accountability Group


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Gram, while catching up on a couple of weeks of your posts I can't help but think that you are location challenged in dealing with all of your issues.  Around me all you would have to do is let the local TV station know about your plight with the cats and there would be TV promotions and adoption drives to find all those cats homes and social services would be doing more to help you out, especially knowing you are a senior with physical issues.  And no way, no how would there not be a pump guy that would make emergency house calls on any day or hour.  My kitchen faucet just broke this week and Mr. Yeah No couldn't fix it and we got a guy here so fast I had to drive to the Home Depot in icy conditions to get a quick faucet.  We also had a water pump break on us a few years ago and our other plumber got here so fast it would make your head spin.  I'm sorry you keep getting put off by these contractors.  

When the tree hit my house last month I had 8 people in my house inside of 10 minutes.  All I did was call 911 and my neighbors (one a lawyer who was once a landscaper and the other the retired fire chief of my town) came by to assist me as well as the police, EMTs, town inspectors, insurance adjusters, tree removal people, you name it.  Both our neighbors call us regularly now to make sure we're OK and offer their help.  I can't imagine how we'd have dealt with this if we lived in a more rural area.

It just hurts to see you sacrificing yourself in brutal weather for those cats.  I have a very BIG soft spot for animals in general so I get how you don't want to let them down,  but if I were you, especially in the Winter, I would be pushing for more help from someone, anyone.  Our Winter here has been more brutal than the last few (today temps are in the teens and we have had more snow) and I forgot how hard it is to cope with that especially as we get older.  My heart goes out to you and hope you can find a way to take it easier  soon.  I know the weather has warmed up a bit near you and supposedly it will here too next week, so at least that helps!  Many hugs!!!  🤗🤗🤗

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Yes, @Yeah No, location challenged for sure!  The total population of the state is a bit over 1.1 million people which works out to 7.64 people per sq mile. We rank 48th in the most densely populated list. 

That being said it is not that easy always to get service people at the drop of a hat especially given the recent extreme cold snap. My pump guy has been working with me for 15 years and I know when he says it has been crazy lately he speaks the truth. I trust him and he knows my system inside out so I'm not ready to risk having someone new come in and muck around things, even if someone was available.  I've managed so far, not comfortably, but managed. A day or two more, at this point, I can deal. Remember this is an extraordinary occurrence.

As far as the cats go, I do have something in the works for Spring. The TNR people often place feral cats with people needing/wanting barn cats. My connection there said they would try to find placement for as many of mine as they can. Just not right now.

This has been the hardest Winter here for me yet, but it is an extreme one, they aren't all this bad.  Hopefully things with the water are fixed this weekend Sat or Sun. 

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

 

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12 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

The snow is really powdery so not much water from it. I had a small trickle of water Wed night for 2 hours before it refroze so I was able to flush all 3 toilets. Having that many helps keep the yuk factor down some

Pump guy says will be here either early Sat. or Sunday afternoon. His weekend with his kids....

Can't wait until it is flowing from the faucets again!!!

I grew up in the deep country and losing electricity was a common occurrence. We always kept several buckets in the basement shower stall as a just in case. Before any predicted storm one of my chores as a very young child was running up and down the stairs with the buckets and filling them in the bathtub to use to flush the toilet if we lost electricity. Water can be manually poured into the back cistern, but lifting the porcelain top can be cumbersome. Having a smaller 2 gallon bucket is handy, just scoop water from the bigger bucket into the 2 gallon bucket and pour that straight into the bowl to flush it, using the old "brown flush down and let the yellow mellow" saying. A quick spray of Lysol to the surface of any standing "yellow" takes care of any odor as it mellows.

I am still in the country and my skills still come in handy. Christmas 2022 was so much fun when a sub zero cold snap hit and our well pump died on Dec 23. It was too cold to safely pull the pump out, but my husband rushed to buy the last one in stock at Lowes on the 24th and we kicked into gear using carried spring water to run the household. While I rarely fill buckets of water with predicted storms these days (because of the spring by my driveway) I did that time. I had 5 buckets in the bathtub filled and just didn't get around to dumping them when we realized the next day that the pump died. Old habits die hard I guess. It saved carrying 25 gallons into the house for toilet flushing!! It didn't warm up enough to fix it for 6 days. Fun times.

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I don't keep tubs or buckets of water around but I do keep quite a few gallon jugs of purified water around just in case.  Even though I supposedly live in a populated area I have well water and we see a few power outages a year thanks to storms and tress falling.   The crappy thing about having well water is that without electricity you don't have water either.  We have a generator but we don't have one of those whole house hook-ups.  I would like one but it's one of those things on a very long list at this point.

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I'm on a well too. Usually I have plenty of bottled water in the pantry to get me through 2-3 days during a power outage. Unfortunately with the frozen pump or whatever is frozen, it has been a week. Thankfully a friend has been bringing me coolers of water that have gotten me through. Today I dug my car out and went into town and got several more gals of purified water. 

Crossing my fingers the pump situation is fixed tomorrow!

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9,055 steps yesterday.

Dug car out of snow, clearing decks of snow, then a quick grocery run, for what else? Cat food and water!

All the clearing yesterday did nothing to help my hands. Hopefully now they can get a rest from the hard physical work. Temps look decent for the next 10 days lowest mid 20's to highest in low 40's. No snow or below freezing in 10 days! Yay!

If pump guy does make it today, probably lots of steps back and forth to see if water flowing... I'll be glad to do those!

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8,003 steps yesterday.

No heavy physical activity ie shoveling snow, but still lots of extra steps dealing with getting water where I needed it. No pump guy yesterday..... left message I really need him today!!

Dentist appt tomorrow and I need a real shower/shampoo and to do a laundry for clean clothes! I may cancel dentist if I get no water. Having more teeth removed, and conditions here are less sanitary than I would like for recuperation.

Today is day 10 with no running water.  I am so weary of this whole situation. I just want it to be over! It has never taken this long before to get service. And now, the worst has been over for days, so I don't understand the problem. I understand this weekend with his kids, but today I need it fixed!!

 

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8,992 steps yesterday.

Water is finally back on so hopefully all the extra steps and lifting are finished. My back and hands can really stand the rest! My goodness did that hot shower feel good yesterday afternoon!!! What a relief to have the water back again!

Chewy order arrived yesterday and involved a lot of moving heavy bags, and going in and outside to get things out of boxes.  That is done for a couple weeks now too so no more stress on body for a while...

Today will be a real day of rest! Rescheduled dentist and neighbor's husband is taking her to dr (which I had agreed to do yesterday afternoon) so nothing on my agenda at all today!!! Except rest!

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Just now, Gramto6 said:

Water is finally back on so hopefully all the extra steps and lifting are finished. My back and hands can really stand the rest! My goodness did that hot shower feel good yesterday afternoon!!! What a relief to have the water back again!

Yayyyyy for running water! Soooo glad that got fixed. You did without for far too long. Your body needs the rest and some pampering. Relax and let yourself just BE for a while. You deserve it!

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7,315 steps yesterday.

I missed a bunch as I had phone charging and did a few things before I realized it wasn't in my pocket. Oh, well it was in the 100 or so range, didn't even try to guess...

Mostly quiet day, but I did have to go out to Drug store for test strips, PO for mail and grocery store. Added up to more than expected as is usually the case.

I did make an appointment to have my hair cut Friday.  It is getting so thin, long hair is not working for me any more. It is an inch or so below my shoulders, and I'm tired of dealing with it, so, going Jamie Lee Curtis on it!!  😸

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7,399 steps yesterday.

Refreshing straw in some of the shelters. It is nice to be outside in much nicer weather!

Really looking forward to the nice weather coming in the next 10 days. Sun and high as upper 40's!! Can really clean up kitty area much easier.

Hair cut today is all that is on the agenda as far as going out. 

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6001 steps yesterday.

Hoping for a quiet day today as this is going to be a busy week. Tuesday is Dentist for more extractions and Thursday is Dermatologist to look at a spot on my back. Busy, but may not be many steps involved...

Still have some work to go on refreshing kitty shelters, but I'm trying not to do too much each day. At least the weather is cooperating for once. We have a good looking week ahead. 

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6,420 steps yesterday. Not trying to get steps, just doing what needs to be done. I really am hoping for an early Spring, that will lessen my workload a bunch with no snow removal constantly needing to be done.

Thanks @altopower! It has been kind of brutal the last few days. The day after the shutdown, I had 4 more teeth removed ... ouch! And then 2 days later the Dermatologist cut a spot, or better stated, dug out an enlarged pore from my back.  Rough week!

Had a bit more snow and the shoveling was no fun being sore basically all over! Kitties are doing fairly well as now the weather has at least warmed up quite a bit into the 20's/low 30's. Spent a couple days refreshing the straw in the cardboard boxes which have held up fairly well all things considered. I spread out the used straw on the areas I walk outside so I don't slip on the ice. 

I have been totally exhausted and fortunately nothing scheduled for this month so hopefully I can rest and get back to normal...until next dental appt which is not yet scheduled (have to heal up first).

Can I echo everyone else's thoughts...It is soooo good to be back!! I would miss all of you sooo much if they shut the site down.... 

I guess I never went to the threads where all the problems were...from my perspective everyone here was always very nice, considerate of other's feelings, and very respectful of their opinions whether they agreed or not.  🤷‍♀️ no clue what was going on elsewhere.

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6,209 steps yesterday.

Still trying to be in resting mode, but it just doesn't seem to stick as the day goes by.

Today I'll have to run into town to pick up a UPS package at the drug store (a local UPS drop location) as the driver wouldn't drive my road yesterday. Curious because later in the day the USPS driver had no problem driving my road to deliver a 22# bag of cat food (thank goodness!). And he was in his personal car, not a truck!

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I hit a milestone today with my weight loss: I'm now down 75 lbs in 7 months. Go me! I had gastric sleeve surgery just before Thanksgiving and have lost 40 lbs since surgery date, but the rest came off before. I'm not finding it all that hard to do, but almost everything in my mouth needs to have protein in it. I don't miss cookies or cakes but I do miss bread. Not enough to eat it because it's a trigger food and I don't trust myself. Cheese, tho? Yumm!

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Yay for you!! 🥳  That is Awesome! I feel your "pain" over giving up bread...as a diabetic I have had to give up almost all carby foods in order to keep my blood sugar in line. It wasn't easy at first, but considering the alternative, after a while I got over the cravings and learned to find other treats. Yes! Cheese is a great one! I realize our goals are different, but one of my best treats is bacon! 🥓  The fat is actually good for keeping my sugar down!! LOL, it is protein...😋

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6,589 steps yesterday.

Mostly pushing snow off the decks and paths. Fortunately it was pretty dry snow so not too heavy. Overnight snow was supposed to be wet, ugh, that means harder shoveling today. Just a little dusting for today and maybe tomorrow then no snow for a week. Yay! My hands need a rest from the shoveling/sweeping snow.

My friend is coming over to help me clear the snow later today, then I am going for any rest I can get!

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6,356 steps yesterday.

Lots of work outside. Shoveling very wet snow is much harder work.  (Had about 4-5" new snow Wednesday night and it was really wet snow.)  Also had to fix some of the feeding stations that the snow collapsed. Really feeling it today. Some flurries the next couple of days but not much snow. Hopefully I can rest today.

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7,044 steps yesterday.

Laundry and normal cat care.  I did go to store for more cat kibble yesterday, as I felt Chewy would be late. This morning I checked Chewy tracking and no surprise, weather delays! The wet food says still Monday but the various kibbles not even an estimate. Winter sux! Glad I listened to my "inner voice" and got kibble.

New snow overnight, looks like 1-2" more. Today's forecast is 36°/20° cloudy and some sun. 10 day looks pretty good, but last weekend it did too and we had a good amount of snow during the week. I'll believe what I see...

Some shoveling on the agenda today but I really need to rest more. Really achey all over and my hands are really bothering me again.

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7,189 steps yesterday.

About an inch of light powdery snow overnight. Mostly easy shoveling, did both decks and the path to garage. Added more straw to some shelters and checked coolers which were all still dry inside. The sun was out, though it was still below freezing, I was actually working in just a long sleeve shirt and sweat pants. Funny how one gets acclimated to the cold. I do much better in the cold than in the high heat, I never acclimate to the heat!!

Will try again today to rest more, but it seems almost pointless. Need to gather garbage today for pick up tomorrow, one more chore. I want to fill my bin as full as possible, the start of Spring cleaning.

I am really. disappointed with Chewy this time around I get 3 boxes every 3 weeks.  This time only. one box shows as on the way and of course it is all wet food which is not their main food. The other two w/kibble both say: "Label Created Reno NV" one on the 7th the other the 8th. No movement after that. I'm going to call them in a few minutes and have them check this out. Maybe it is a FedEx glitch...

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6,198 steps yesterday.

A quick trip to grocery store yesterday for emergency cat food as call to Chewy and FedEx online not satisfying me food would arrive today. Well, this morning when I check tracking at 6:45AM all 3 boxes show delivery today! Like the weather, I'll believe it when I see it at this point. The original box shows Out for Delivery but the other 2 don't, but show today as delivery...  Maybe I did rattle a cage or two yesterday??

Collect garbage on the agenda and maybe if Chewy comes early enough, a trip up to town, I think my refrigerator is dying. Freezer still OK but fridge thermometer says danger zone, 50°. It has been a reliable old guy, replacing the brand new one I bought when I moved here (2004) that died at 2yrs2mos. This one was made in 1998, bought it off an ad, but I think is finally going.

One more really unexpected/unwanted expense! Sheesh, I must have really offended the Universe somehow!

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7,917 steps yesterday.

An exhausting day! All of Chewy order did arrive, phew! But that was a lot of lifting and moving heavy bags of kibble and cases of wet food. Refrigerator definitely going so drove up to town and walked all around Appliance store, settled on what I wanted, and new fridge will be here tomorrow!. Back home was more work taking all the photos off fridge and trying to plan what to do with the frozen food for the 8 hrs it takes fridge to cool down. Most of the fridge things will do fine in coolers (not the kitty ones!) in my car, it will be cold enough there for them. I need to find someone that can hold onto the freezer items for a while. I hope the fridge comes earlier in the day rather than later!

It is going to be a crazy couple of days!! I'm going to have to make some access in the garage as they are also going to haul away the two broken fridges out there along with the one inside, at $20 ea,  that sounded like a deal to get rid of all of them!

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5,718 steps yesterday. Basically too sore all over to do much.

My friend came over in the afternoon and took my freezer items that absolutely needed to be kept frozen. I feel better about that food now. Refrigerator being delivered between 1PM and 3PM. Hopefully it gets to temp soon enough for my friend to bring my food back later today. Hope install goes easily no hitches! It will be a real relief not to have to worry about it any more.

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6,781 steps yesterday.

Sweeping early morning snow off porches, emptying fridge, clearing area in garage for removal of 2 old fridges, and all the kitty feeding/shelter checking added to the normal step count.

Fridge guys came at exactly 1PM and had it installed before 2PM! They were great! Waited a bit and put some semi perishable things back in then waited until evening to put rest of shelf items back in.This morning it is humming away very quietly and perfect temps inside. My friend is bringing my frozen food this morning and then all will be normal once again.

I expect to see a big drop in my electric bill for this change, old fridge was built in 1998 so not so energy efficient...plus how hard it was working at the end. That will be a great offset for the stress involved in all this mess.

Sadly, a new storm is passing through and today we may get 3-5" of new snow!! Yuk! So much more shoveling!

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6,793 steps yesterday.

Two rounds of shoveling, about 4" of new snow total during the day. UGH! None in forecast thank goodness. Organizing fridge and adding freezer food friend brought over. Snowing again yesterday evening, don't know yet what is awaiting me outside this morning. Hope not much as I am so tired and achey can't do much more of anything!

Something. surprising happened yesterday!  My son and Iwere talking and he said he is retiring next Thursday!! Retiring? How can my baby be retiring! Yikes! He has put in 30 years with the County Fire department (he is a Battalion Chief now), before that was 2 years a Paramedic. He'll be 53 in May, he called from work so couldn't tell me his plans but I'm sure he has something else up his sleeve even if just a part time gig.  Retiring...I'm semi shocked, and suddenly feeling old,  he sounded really happy!

DD has 25 years in with her Police department, she is Chief of Police, I better get ready to hear she is retiring too soon. She still has littles at home so she may work longer. She is 2 years younger than DS. 

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2 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

6,793 steps yesterday.

Two rounds of shoveling, about 4" of new snow total during the day. UGH! None in forecast thank goodness. Organizing fridge and adding freezer food friend brought over. Snowing again yesterday evening, don't know yet what is awaiting me outside this morning. Hope not much as I am so tired and achey can't do much more of anything!

Something. surprising happened yesterday!  My son and Iwere talking and he said he is retiring next Thursday!! Retiring? How can my baby be retiring! Yikes! He has put in 30 years with the County Fire department (he is a Battalion Chief now), before that was 2 years a Paramedic. He'll be 53 in May, he called from work so couldn't tell me his plans but I'm sure he has something else up his sleeve even if just a part time gig.  Retiring...I'm semi shocked, and suddenly feeling old,  he sounded really happy!

DD has 25 years in with her Police department, she is Chief of Police, I better get ready to hear she is retiring too soon. She still has littles at home so she may work longer. She is 2 years younger than DS. 

That's so nice, that your children are able to retire!  My husband and I were just shy of 60 and 55 when we said "enough."  Fortunately, we had good pensions, which are sadly getting more rare these days.  

I hope you didn't get a lot of snow to shovel today!  We got some a couple of nights ago, but it's mostly melted now.  Other than an arctic chill a few weeks ago, it's been fairly mild this winter (in eastern WA.)  I love Spring, and it's only about a month away!  😻

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9 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

That's so nice, that your children are able to retire!  My husband and I were just shy of 60 and 55 when we said "enough."  Fortunately, we had good pensions, which are sadly getting more rare these days.  

I hope you didn't get a lot of snow to shovel today!  We got some a couple of nights ago, but it's mostly melted now.  Other than an arctic chill a few weeks ago, it's been fairly mild this winter (in eastern WA.)  I love Spring, and it's only about a month away!  😻

Thanks! They are both very hard workers and love their jobs, I knew he had a plan for retirement, but he never said anything about when he would implement it. Really caught me by surprise, though after thinking a bit, 2 of his 3 daughters have graduated college and the 3rd will graduate this Spring so the timing is right for him too make this change.

DD's 3 kids are 12 and under so I could see her working for a while longer, but who knows? 

I wasn't able to retire until 62, what helped me a lot was selling my CA home that was paid for and moving to MT where homes and costs are/were much less than CA. I am glad the kids are set well enough to do so much younger.

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6,155 steps yesterday.

I tried to take it as easy as possible, but still some snow clearing needed. When I got ready to go out, I couldn't find my heavy Winter gloves and spent a bunch of time searching all over the house. No luck. Best way I know to find them is buy a new pair! So will do a bit of Amazon shopping today!  😸

 

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7,368 steps yesterday.

Ended up with 4 stops on my errands yesterday, including two different grocery stores. Had to search around in the other 2 of them looking for what I wanted, adding more steps than I originally thought for the day. Bought some great gloves though and yet, the missing ones stay missing..... sigh

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5,887 steps yesterday.

Finally got a lighter day in. I did get my steps each hour, and one was very high (forgot what I was doing then), but it was a much needed restful day at last. Sure helps when I don't have to be shoveling snow!!

Now I have 2 new pair of gloves! One pair is more a working glove while the pair from Amazon a little bit dressier. Still no sign of old gloves... 🤷‍♀️


 

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29 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

I wonder if you laid them on top of something like the bbq or a bin and they are covered with a blanket of snow?

That is a distinct possibility!  There ius still some snow on the front porch and the other possibility is where the straw is kept. I may have taken them off and switched to the leather gloves for handling it and they got buried in straw as I took more out. Some searching the snow & straw in order today! Thanks for the idea!

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15 minutes ago, xwordfanatik said:

I've been known to look for my glasses, when I've already got them on.  🙃

But only when I first get out of bed!  

 

Ha Ha.  I saw a man in the store the other day that had a pair of glasses on and then another on top of his head.  Not sure if he knew.  I frequently fall asleep and then wake up with my glasses still on.  I'm just lucky i have never broken them.

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17 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

I’ve been talking on my cellphone while heading out of the house, looking for my cellphone while doing so. 🤦‍♀️

Yeah, I've been known to do that, though I wasn't talking on it, just carrying it as I was leaving!  Even went as far as go to my laptop and start to look for the "Find my Phone App" then realized it was in my hand when I put it down to type!!

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6,056 steps yesterday.

For some reason I was really achey last night so took a 2nd Meloxicam before bed. I do feel some better today. I have only been taking 1 in the morning. My rx says can take 2/day but Gastro would rather I keep it at 1/day so that is what I do.

Nothing on agenda today. Even so, something always manages to crop up....

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5,770 steps yesterday.

Fairly quiet day yesterday. Did some checking of a few coolers and found several had ice inside below the straw, others were fine. Guess some have leaks. Emptied one but it was late afternoon, too late to do all the ones needing switching out. So project for today is check every cooler and see which ones need total refreshing. I'm going to mark the ones that have ice so I know which ones to keep an eye on from now on.

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5,794 steps yesterday.

My back and hands are stiff and achey from yesterday's work on the cat coolers. I  was gobsmacked by the amount of ice in about 6 of the coolers. Both my friend and I have no idea where it came from other than maybe condensation. There were no leaks to let water in and I can't imagine a cat bringing in that much moisture. Actually even breathing out that much moisture. A mystery to be sure. 

There is still more that needs to be done outside, but it is going to have to wait at least a day.

My friend and I started to make plans for the cattery in the garage yesterday. The TNR shelter is taking March off so our plan is to get it made then. I decided to give up half my garage for it as it is already insulated and has nice windows and piped for natural gas already. However there are lots of boxes and extra furniture in there to be moved/repurposed/tossed, so it will take a lot of work. I just hope kitties can/will accept it.

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6,518 steps yesterday.

Just puttering around. Today is garbage gathering day and a little clearing out of things maybe from garage. Also high winds predicted this afternoon into tomorrow so need to check that all is secure outside.

I think I am going to make a grocery run later this morning. Monday, with snow and wind, sounds like driving is not going to be much fun, today with maybe a bit of rain sounds better for driving.

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