March Madness

I'm amazed at how fast the month has flown by.   A look back at my covid spreadsheet (where I track daily numbers at the state, county, and zipcode level) shows that we've been busy with life:  the house, the garden, the cats, the cars. 

The daily routine of kitty medication, litter box hygiene, dishes, laundry, and vacuuming seems to take up almost half of every day.  I should mention that we tend to sleep in and leisurely drink coffee until 10:00 each day.  

Back on March 6th we had the monthly Instacart order and have been eating well ever since.  Our food waste has gone way down and our recycling has gone way up.  I've been baking lots of goodies, both as specialty items and as ordinary sandwich bread.  I'm slowly making my way through the pound of Canadian yeast that I bought last spring.  My baguettes and crumpets are things of beauty.  Pizzellas are a big hit now that I have a pizzella iron.  

The stucco has been finished on the new house next door.  Right now the cabinets are going in.  Once the stucco was done, the masons came and built the cinderblock wall that now separates our lots where the cedar fence once was.  With that completed, Caro is free to construct the new raised bed on the east side of the back yard.  Preparatory to that we moved the small tables and chairs, got a new and larger patio rug, and upgraded some of the irrigation system.  Lots of planning and budgeting.  

The cats have been a big part of this month's activities.  Henry Cat has an intestinal problem that may be a simple irritation or an ultimately fatal lymphoma.  For now, an oral antibiotic and a probiotic power have helped.  He continues to get daily eye medications to protect his remaining eye.  

Paddy had a gran mal seizure and upon investigation, he has hypertension.  While treating that with amlodipine, his weight and appetite has dropped precipitously.  He goes to the vet tomorrow for a blood pressure check and a look-over by Dr. Bouchet.  

The cars mostly remain parked.  Caro's low tire pressure light came on, so I bought an electric pump.  It works splendidly well.  My windshield caught a stone on the freeway and that led to a massive crack.  The glass was replaced, but the heads-up display was wrong.  The company replaced the windshield again; same result.  I'm now awaiting a genuine Prius windshield that will correctly display the HUD info.  Third time's the charm. 

It's nearing 4:00 a.m. as I type this on the morning of the 19th.  Typically, Henry Cat would be in here asking to be fed and then curling up on my lap.  Maybe he senses that the second Moderna vaccination yesterday (17th) has whacked out my personal thermostat.  At least the covid relief checks have made it into our bank account.  

With that, I'll end this epistle.