I often wonder how Lord Dudley Mountcatten manages to looks pudgy when the silly cat actually eats very little. Maybe half a Fancy Feast tin in the morning and another half at night… on a good day. Sometimes he just turns his nose up and walks away.
He won’t eat fish, or treats, or any human food. He won’t eat anything sliced, diced or shredded. The husband laughs at my attempts to stimulate his Royal highness’s appetite… and it’s not uncommon to see me following the little bugger around the house at mealtime with a bowl of food and a spoon. ( the cat, not the husband )
So when Lord Dudley recently expressed an interest in being fed on the laundry room windowsill?
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His loyal minion obeyed and fed him on the laundry room windowsill.
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Dinner with a view, you can’t blame him. And I’d already covered the dryer with a soft towel for his comfort… so why not?
I’m sure I’m not the only who’ll be complaining today as it seems the entire United States was slammed by what they called a bomb cyclone event yesterday.
The wind? Insane. It gusted almost 70mph at our house.
The rain? A deluge that flooded roads, businesses, and homes.
Our nightmare started yesterday at 8:00am just as I was about to step into the shower. Bam! No power. Which meant no shower, sandwiches for lunch and dinner and an epic 13 hour gin rummy tournament by flashlight. Temperatures during the day were mild with a high of 52 degrees, but by nightfall it was frigid.
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Thankfully we have a fireplace…. and while it won’t heat the whole house, it did manage to keep the living room at 58 degrees when the outside temperature dropped to 7. Of course my husband the Marine runs the operation.
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Which means throwing giant logs on the top to get it truly blazing.
This does not always end well.
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Because sometimes the logs revolt and pop back out. Giant cloud of smoke, sparks that burned the carpet? You betcha!
But as we sat in the dark enjoying the smell of smoke and scorched Berber, the fun was just beginning. Yes, just as we were about to call it a day and go to bed… shingles started lifting and literally flying off the roof. We watched them sail into the backyard, the neighbor’s driveway and the road. Good times!
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Or not as it turns out.
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Five new leaks as of this morning.
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Did I mention Lord Dudley Mountcatten is utterly terrified of the fire? Positively and absolutely. He fled to the furthest reaches of our bedroom and cried nonstop. Which meant instead of sleeping on the relative warmth of the living room couch, I had to snuggle his highness in the frigid bedroom all night and got no sleep whatsoever because to top it all off? Our neighbor’s wood stove caught fire at midnight.
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Thankfully no one was hurt.
It’s 1:00pm now and we’ve been without power for 29 hours. I haven’t slept nor showered and just discovered it’s not easy to make tea and toast in a fireplace. I have to say …. I’m more than ready to fill the house with electric current. This pioneer woman thing is getting old.
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Here are a few pics I grabbed from friends.
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Our little downtown park.
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Not sure if you can tell, but the water is right under the bridge.
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Yikes!
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You’re looking at a pier and a parking lot. Or rather, you should be.
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We may be cold, dirty and hungry… but I’m still glad we don’t live there.
On one of our random scenic drives around Vermont we stopped at a diner for lunch. Wondering if there were any points of interest nearby, we asked the locals who promptly sent us to Huntington Gorge.
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At first glance it didn’t look promising.
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And to be honest, the second and third glances weren’t any better.
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Everywhere we looked there were warnings.
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And while I’m not normally obtuse, I was beginning to get the feeling we weren’t wanted.
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So of course… after all the Danger Will Robinson! signs?
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My mountain goat husband had to investigate.
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Right at the very edge they warned us about.
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Please note yours truly listened to robot and was well out of danger range.
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Yeah. That limb will hold you honey, no problem.
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Needless to say he survived. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Because there’s an infinite supply of ridiculous headlines and I like to share the wealth.
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No good can come from arming squirrels. Trust me on this.
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Apparently your bladder is just like your cell phone battery. Drain it all the way down before you recharge… and don’t tinkle until you’re full.
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Gee, that sounds like fun.
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Unexplored avenues. Guess that’s one way to shrink the population.
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Yes, they really had to warn idiots to stop looking ( or licking, as the case may be) for a free high.
Hey there! Here is the “ribbiting” late night content no one asked for. Yet here we are. The Sonoran desert toad (Bufo alvarius), also known as the Colorado river toad, is one of the largest toads found in North America, measuring nearly 7 inches (18 cm).
These toads have prominent parotoid glands that secrete a potent toxin. It can make you sick if you handle the frog or get the poison in your mouth. As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking. Thank you.
I have a friend who does a different type of Christmas tree every year. Some years it’s weird and funky, some years it’s traditional. This year I made a suggestion I wish she would have followed…
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She was not amused, but damn. That’s epic.
Every couple of years the lazy Susan cabinet in our kitchen goes off track…. and every few years my husband asks why we need so many cans.
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Someday I’ll have an answer.
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I need this in my life.
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Who needs pie when you have martinis?
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Isn’t it sweet my cat loves rocks as much as his human mother?
And finally, a Christmas tree for Mark who has an affinity for awkward pink birds….
Since 2014, I haven’t done much holiday decorating. My mother adored our house when it was decked out in red, green and gold, but the year she died my heart just wasn’t in it. The following year we started traveling for Christmas… a different destination each time… and there didn’t seem to be any reason to decorate an empty house.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be hitting the road in 2022 and after hearing how much the neighbors missed our displays, I caved and decided to put out a few things to get into the spirit. Wreaths on the windows and doors, white candles and snowflake lights, a lighted deer and tree on the front lawn.
Outdoor finished, I only planned on dressing up the tables. Dining room with Charlie Brown Christmas tree….
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And kitchen with mini tree and snowmen salt and pepper shakers.
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I thought I was done, but I bought a poinsettia.
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And then I thought why not put that garland with the pinecone lights on the kitchen shelf? And while you’re at it add a few reindeer.
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And if I dragged that garland out, I might as well decorate the mantle too.
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And if I did the mantle, I should probably do the hearth.
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So much for just a little decorating.
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A snowman Christmas card box, a few randomly scattered reindeer, tea towels in the guest bathroom, a red jingle bell heart wreath on the kitchen door and I was finished. Yes. Definitely.
Well, except for my line of rampaging, pitchfork wielding snowmen.
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But that was it, really… I was done. Until the husband walked in, looked around and said now we need a tree.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten was ready.
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But once the tree was in the house … I began to worry.
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Please note the little devil is literally licking his lips. That can’t be good.
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Shiny colored balls? Please mom, hang them now!
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Alternating white, red and green lights. Alternating garlands of gold leaves and weeds. Red, green and gold ornaments, a star on the top and it was done.
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I can’t swear to it … but I think Lord Dudley was waiting for us to go to bed.
Day tree –
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Night tree-
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Decorating the tree this way takes a lot of time and effort. But I’m always pleased with the results…
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The problem is…
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So is Lord Dudley.
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And now I’m wondering if I can stay awake every night until the New Year when it’s time to take it down.
Because there’s never a lack of ridiculous things to talk about.
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Do I need to color rainbow animal poop? I do not, but speaking of pooping animals…
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The required new Lord Dudley Mountcatten shot.
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Another item has been added to the husband’s man cave display of torture implements old tools. A hobbler as seen on the upper left. He says it’s for cows, I’m wondering if it will fit in my purse so I can use it on him the next time we go antique shopping.
And lastly, something for Mark…who has a thing for flamingoes and likes to decorate for Halloween.
On our second day in Vermont we headed for New York. Seems crazy, but stick with me … it was worth it.
Of course we didn’t make it very far before my husband had to turn around and check out an old Ford truck.
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It looked just like his… same year, same color except this was a 250 instead of a 150. Price tag, for a truck made in 1994? $22,000. That is beyond insane (and made me want to list his for sale as soon as we got home).
Back on the road, we pointed the car towards the Champlain Islands.
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If you’re unfamiliar with this area, Lake Champlain is large. 107 miles long, 64 foot deep. There’s often talk about adding it to the Great Lakes but nothing ever comes of it.
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There are a few ferries that cross it from the Vermont side, but the ride is pretty and we weren’t in any rush.
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South Hero, North Hero….
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And Grand Isle.
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Miles and miles of nothing but farms, mountains and lake. (spellcheck changed lake to kale. No one wants miles of that!)
When the headless version started walking around, I shivered.
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I didn’t understand half of that description, but the mere thought of first grade coders running amok sends a shiver down my spine. Keep little Johnny away from the computer… teach him to be a plumber. For the future safety of the planet, not to mention your leaky toilet.
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 