It's no joke

What is continuing to unfold in Oklahoma today — and has happened elsewhere in the past — is why I don't understand why people get excited about tornadoes. Cheering for a storm is like cheering on war. At best, someone loses property — a home, crops, livestock. At worst, people die.

Those who chase storms for scientific research or to keep locals informed are doing good. But those who treat it like a tourist thrill ride or to get on TV make me sick. 

My thoughts are with the people in Oklahoma tonight.

I bent a little, but didn't break

I was going to post this as a reply to my friend Karen's comment on my previous entry, but it started getting long, so I thought I'd make it an update instead.

 I made it a full week without any pop! Even having pizza at Mom & Dad's on Mother's Day (the strawberry lemonade was great!), and eating out a couple of times for lunch, I managed to avoid it.

 In the spirit of transparency though, I did have a soda over the weekend, but it was the Sangria Señorial — no HCFS. I found the little Dillon's here in town still carries it. And there's a brand of root beer and ginger ale at the local natural food store I like that I will probably still drink.

 Breaking that mental trap of "I NEED to have a Pepsi" is the most important thing for me, because I'd fallen into that again and was drinking a 20-ounce bottle nearly every day. That's just not good, for many reasons.

 I think I am past that stage, though, and I'm finding alternatives. Iced sweet tea is one, as well as lemonade. I picked up some green tea bags tonight and will try that iced, as well. It takes a little more work than just going to a vending machine or convenience store, but it's worth it.

Giving it up. For reals this time

I've made a lot of changes in what I eat over the last several years. Good changes, I think. But there's a couple of food habits I have found nearly impossible to break. Sweets, I don't know if I want to. But I have cut back quite a bit on that. The other?

Pop. Soda. Coke (even if it's not Coca-Cola). Whatever you might call it, that sweet bubbly stuff I just have not been able to do without.

But.

Last Thursday I had some surgery (nothing major and not related to my breast cancer; that's about all you really need to know). As usual, I was instructed not to eat or drink anything past midnight. I had some cookies and milk about 10 pm Wednesday night, and a glass of water between 11:30 and midnight.

Mom and I got to the hospital about 9:30, well before my check-in time of 10 a.m. Thursday, and they put me in the surgical prep area right away. And then we waited. And waited. I didn't get in for surgery until noon. Of course I had a hunger headache by now. The doctor had told me the procedure would take maybe a half hour and I should be good to go home about 2:30.

I remember talking with the anesthesiologist about my name in the surgery room, then nothing til I woke up back in the surgical prep area. I was pretty groggy, obviously, but I do remember throwing up, probably because they gave me 2 tablets of loratab and I usually only take a HALF a tablet on my own. Maybe that's why we didn't get home until almost 5 pm.

Of course, I was tired and went right to bed. Mom came back to my house later that evening and made me some chicken soup. I didn't keep that down, either. I just went to sleep after that. So now it's been about 24 hours plus without any real food.

In the morning, Mom made me a scrambled egg, which I did keep down, thankfully. But the rest of the day, I didn't really eat much, just slept. Oddly enough, that evening, I wasn't really hungry, but I was looking forward to eating. So I ordered a small pizza from the local pizza place and a bottle of Pepsi. I ate the whole pizza and drank most of the Pepsi.

And when I went to bed that night, I couldn't sleep. My heart kind of raced, and when I did sleep, I had really weird dreams. I've had those kinds of nights before when I've had too much pop to drink, and I think the sudden infusion of caffeine after having no food in my body for nearly 48 hours was too much. Even the next day, I felt like I was still coming down from it.

So I haven't had any pop since Friday night. And I'd like to see how long I can go.

But I'm going over to Mom & Dad's for a Mother's Day pizza dinner. And I always have Pepsi with pizza. But I'm determined not to tonight. So I've got an alternative.

The last time I tried to give up pop, I realized that what really drew me to it is the taste. There's just not a lot out of alternative out there that have a big, bold taste like soda. Lemonade is one.

I had some meyer lemons I needed to use up, so I juiced those (the rinds from one went in my garbage disposal to clean it; the rest are in two mason jars with vinegar to make some cleaner), added some water and will add a little simple syrup I made this afternoon for a lemonade.

I had mom get me some groceries Friday, including a pint of strawberries. Seems like I never eat them all before they go bad, so this time I juiced them and poured the juice in an ice cube tray. So now I could add a cube or two to my lemonade, or my water bottle, or some tea ...

I pinned a few things to my Drink Up Pinterest board the other day, too, that I'd like to try. As long as I can find things that have a bold taste to them, I think I can finally do this.

Kitten funny

Having a bad day? Watch these

You're welcome.

We are now a House of Fur

I realized recently it's been quite awhile since I've posted. I have a lot to post about, actually, I just haven't gotten to it. So I guess it's time for some updating.

The biggest news is the latest addition to the household of me and my dog, Buster.

Say hello to Keaton (Get it? No??). She startled me Halloween morning in my garage as I was going to my car for work. She wasn't 100% afraid of me, but she wasn't 100% trusting of me right off either. But she would stay in the garage on the colder fall nights and eventually would let me pet her. She wasn't too fond of Buster at first, and would run and hide from him, much to his frustration.

December came, and it got much colder, and being the sucker I am for a furry face, I started buying some cat food and putting it out in the garage for her. It didn't taker her long to figure out the hood of my car was a nice warm spot to hang out after I got home. Smart kitty.

Eventually, I decided why not just make her part of my home, and set up a little place for her in the garage where she could be warm and safe. She seemed to enjoy having a nice, cozy bed on those cold nights.

I thought about getting her spayed (or neutered; I wasn't sure which at this point) and even brought her indoors a few time to check out the house, and on some warm weekends when I had the back door open she would even come in to check things out herself. But about the time I thought I'd have the money for the spaying/neutering, I noticed she was looking a little ... round.

So I decided to wait awhile.

And so, three weeks ago today, I went out to the garage to feed her but she didn't come running like she normally did. I spied her up in the rafters, and realized there would be only one reason she wouldn't come get her food.

Yup. Kittens. Four of them. I fixed up a box with some old sheets and towels for bedding and that's where they were for the first couple weeks of their life. But as they started trying out their wobbly little legs, I decided to move them inside.

A friend has loaned me a pet taxi for a large dog, which is big enough for Keaton and her kittens to all have some room. It's in the walk-in closet of the spare bedroom, and I leave the closet door open and the bedroom door closed so she can get away if she wants to while the kittens are napping. The last few days, I've let her go outside while I'm home. She seems pretty happy with the arrangement.

And how has Buster reacted to the kittens? He's been a very good dog, actually. Since I brought them inside, he can't wait to go see the kittens as soon as I get home or as soon I get up in the morning. He sticks his head inside the kennel, and he sniffs and licks at them, but he's really pretty gentle. Of course, I watch him pretty close and when he seems to be getting too excited then it's time to go. Keaton even seems OK with him being near. She's never tried to move them or hissed or anything at either of us. She seems pretty trusting, which I find amazing.

More cute kitten pics:

These were taken just today:

Come back soon; I'll post more pics, I'm sure.

Blame Pinterest, breakfast edition

This morning, I got busy making a bunch of stuff for breakfast. I've never been much of a breakfast person, but I also really hate that feeling I get at work when all I can think of all morning is "how long until lunch?"

But having two jobs, I don't have a lot of time. So it's nice to be able to find a lot of things on Pinterest that I can make ahead when I do have time. So today was breakfast day.

I made these baked oatmeal muffin things. I halved the recipe, because last time I made these, the full recipe made nearly 30, and there's only so much room in the freezer! This time, I also put the chocolate chips in the batter instead of just on top so they'd be less messy after heating in the microwave.















Then I made these egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches, and these breakfast cookies. So I should be set for breakfast for awhile.

I've also got quite a bit of stuff, mainly soup and chili, in the freezer for lunches and dinners, too. It does take a lot of time at once, but it is overall a time saver. Plus I'm eating better, and not eating out every day.

ETA: As if that wasn't all enough, I decided I'd throw some soup in the crockpot.

Dry Big Creek, Foggy Morning

Big Creek runs alongside my property. When there's water in it, at least. With the drought this summer, it's completely dried up. When Buster and I woke up this morning, it was pretty foggy and I had a notion to take the camera along with me. So here's a photo essay of our walk, and the dried-up creek.

My backyard.

The bridge near my house, looking upstream/north.

Downstream/south.

Field along the road on the other side of the creek.

Looking south from a bridge south of my house. The creek takes a big bend just beyond here and loops back around to town.

Looking north. Can you see it? No, not Buster's nose.

Here's a closer look. A whitetail doe, checking us out. There were at least four more that came out of the trees to the right, and they all ran upstream.

From the walking bridge at the park a few blocks up the street from my house, looking south/upstream.

And looking north, toward the 10th Street bridge.

Squirrel!

And there it is.

The dock in the park between the two bridges.

I believe this is Fourpoint evening primrose, growing along the bank.
(Source: Roadside Wildflowers of the Southern Great Plains, Freeman & Schofield) 

Not sure what this is, but I like the color it turns in the fall.

From the 10th Street bridge, looking south to the walking bridge.

And looking north toward the railroad bridge.

At some point soon, as long as the creek remains dry, I'm going to take Buster on a hike along the creek bed. I did this a few years ago with Nipper, and it took us more than two hours to get from my house to the walking bridge! Still wish I'd taken a camera that time. So maybe when the days are a bit cooler and the vegetation has died back some, we'll do that. And I'll take the camera this time, because there's some cool things along this creek.

Garden is getting somewhere

I didn't know if I should keep watering my garden or not, but I kept doing it. And it is paying off.

The gypsy bell pepper has a couple new fruits growing on it.

This one seems to have a hole in it, so guess I won't be harvesting that one.

The jalepeño plant has three more peppers on it.

My roma tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.

I'm not sure if I'll get anything from my cucumber plants. They're still pretty small and some of them seem to be shriveling up.

I also have this rogue sunflower out front. It's almost as tall as my porch roof!

Hot & dry

It has been extremely hot and dry here for more than a week — temperatures 100+ and last night was the first rain we've had in a long time. Lawns are turning brown, and even the creek I live along is just a series of puddles, really.

So last week, I set up a watering station for the birds and other critters. It's pretty simple. Just a dish from a clay pot. I put a few rocks on one side so smaller birds can get in and out easier. Then I cleaned out a milk carton, filled it with water and poked a small hole near the bottom and hung it over the dish on a garden hook. It drips into the dish, helping keep it filled while I'm gone. The sound of the dripping water is also supposed to attract birds, plus some of them seem to enjoy standing under the drips for a bath.

This little family seemed to enjoy it. I think they're young starlings.

This grackle took a long drink and then a little bath under the drips.

And I got some neat splash and ripple pictures.

More produce!

I have more growing in my garden! I ended up picking the two bell peppers and the two jalepeños. I've put one of the bell peppers in a salad for lunch. Haven't had the jalepeños. I'll have to figure out the best thing for them.

Here's a look at the roma tomatoes. I took these yesterday after watering.

And then this morning, I noticed a third tomato getting started!

 And I also seem to have some cucumbers getting started, too! I counted seven tiny ones.