Aaaand we're off!

 Today marks the first day we will see temperatures BELOW 100 degrees since something like the 9th of August.

It MIGHT just be in the 80s today... we shall see.

That will make it a good day to get the car ready for a road trip!

Heading to Santa Fe tomorrow for a few days. Just a short trip, because it was kind of "spur of the moment," and we didn't have time to save up much money.  We can never just go somewhere, because we have to save up first.

Living pay check to pay check, even now, at our ages, having worked our entire lives, with two full time jobs.  It's pathetic.

I sold a week of my vacation hours (was supposed to be two weeks, but H/R messed up, so we have half as much money for the trip as I had ASKED for), which will pay for our inexpensive lodgings.

We will take most of our own food, but hope to eat out at least once, maybe twice, to get the local flavor.

Other than that, the Georgia O'Keefe museum will be our biggest expense. 

We hope to visit the Santa Fe National Forest, and I have connected with a cousin of a friend who has promised to show us an easy hiking trail.

We will take our first day there to adapt to the altitude, and will play things by ear, depending on the weather, and such. 

Last Sunday, Sammie came back with all of the surviving kittens, who are all thriving and growing.  Unfortunately, NOW is the time for them to be caught, socialized, and adopted out....but the shelters are all full, and we have nowhere to take them. 

The family has been living under our car port, around/behind the trash cans, this past week.

Our house sitter is adept at helping our feral cats, so she will take care of them while we are away.

My treatment last week went okay, but I had to take an Uber, and get a ride home from a friend.  The kittens had decided to go up INSIDE of the engine compartment of our car to hide that day.

Dave saw one run under the car as we were trying to leave, and I got down on the ground, and could see up under the panel under the engine.  There was a tiny face looking out at me.

So, Dave opened the hood, and there were two more in there.... and they WOULD NOT leave.

I suggested the hose, but Dave refused, and I had to LEAVE, so he got me an Uber.  That was money we did not need to spend ahead of a vacation with a really low budget!

He stayed home, and tried for a few more minutes to get the kittens out of the car, but failed, and since it was 109 degrees he gave up and went inside.

When I got home from treatment, it was 111 degrees, but we went outside to try to get the kittens out of the car.  

I suggested the hose, and Dave refused again....trying everything else that he could think of.

Ultimately, our tempers flared, and he yelled at me, and I yelled back, and then I punched one of the trash cans (because I had just gotten home from going to chem alone for the first time ever, I was hopped up on steroids, it was 111 degrees, and DAMN, he had pissed me off!!).... and he decided maybe the hose was a good idea.

It worked like a charm. If only he had listened the first time, none of this stress would have happened.

We moved the car back to the bottom of the driveway, and set another plastic bin shelter under the car port. 

We saw the kittens going into the two shelters at dusk, and decided to keep the car down there until we could get that panel fixed.

Dave was to take the car the next day, but he was not able to, so he took it the day after that.  The oil change place we use had left it unattached the last time, so they fixed it for no charge.

This needed to be done before high speed highway driving anyway....so it's all good.

I'm off to make brunch for us, and then Dave needs to do all of the stuff he put off until the last possible moment to get ready for the trip.  

I can have an easy day, since I've done all of my chores.

Have a great week!

Not again....

 It was 108 here yesterday.  Likely to be again today... and the air conditioning isn't working!  

I noticed, in the middle of the night, that it was running constantly, and not cooling the house.

Dave is going to put a call in to our service and see if they do emergency repairs.  If not, we will have to go to a hotel tonight, and possibly cancel our trip to Santa Fe, because of having to spend the money NOW.

We shall see!

Sammie and her five surviving kittens showed up in the back yard this morning!  The babies all look pretty good, though their eyes are all crusty.

They are following her around now, and are VERY adept at running away and hiding.

They are all tuxedoes, three black, one grey, and one tabby.  The sixth one, the one that was all black, except for two tiny white spots on it's nose, is no where to be seen, so must also have died.

So, the two that I would have adopted in a heart beat, if it had been at all possible, are gone. 

We are hoping that we will be able to get her to continue coming to us with them, and maybe be able to catch them... but we already know that the shelters are over loaded, and we will have to keep them in a cage for who knows how long until we can get a freaking appointment to take them to the humane society.

Before the heat got so intense, we DID manage to get out and walk every morning last week (except my office day).  That was really nice... But, if we want to walk this coming week, we will have to get up before dawn, when it's only in the 80s.

Next week, I will NOT work in the office on Monday, because we have a mandatory meeting on Friday, and they're asking EVERYONE to work in the office that day.  

I will go for my labs after work tomorrow, and have my treatment on Tuesday.

Please think cooling thoughts for us.... I don't want to have to go to hotel tonight!!!

UPDATE: a real human answered when Dave called the HVAC service line, and we are in the queue for an emergency technician to come out some time today.  I hope the repair is covered under the warranty, or, once again, bye bye Santa Fe.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  A/C was fixed by around 2 pm..... $200... not too bad. We can still go to Santa Fe!

Slow news week

 Not much to report here at Dragons' Roost.

Mama Sammie cat keeps coming around for her meals, but we have not seen the kittens again.  I hope they're doing okay.  She is clearly still nursing.

The house next door has been worked on a bit, and huge quantities of the junk that was left behind has been moved out to the curbside, and is falling into the street.  

"Trash pickers" have been by, and they sling stuff all over, looking for treasures, and then leave the mess all over the yard, and in the street.  Some of it was even in our yard this morning.

It's awful, but this coming week is "big trash day," so it will be picked up soon.

I am just glad I can open the shades in the kitchen again.  I've been keeping them closed, because looking across to that mess in the back was causing me distress.  I know there isn't a dog living (surviving because of us) out there any more, but it was reminding me of those stressful weeks.

We are having another respite from the heat this weekend.  It was supposed to be near-record-breaking heat, but there have been clouds and rain instead, keeping the high temp about ten degrees less hot than predicted.

It was only 95 yesterday, instead of 105.  This morning, it's cloudy again, so we're hoping for another less intense afternoon.

Since I now earn three weeks of vacation a year, and the only other co worker who has been there longer than I have gave me a heads up about that, I have scheduled a couple of weeks off.  

I have also cashed out some of my vacation hours, because, apparently, at a certain point, if you have too many saved up vacation hours, they stop adding them.

I think that's awful.... I mean.... I am earning that time....maybe I am saving it for a reason?  Like my co worker who THOUGHT she was saving up hours to go to Europe, only to find out that she hit her maximum, and the hours stopped accruing.

Grumble.

SO, since I had not been aware of that stupid rule, I have fixed my hours so that I am not in any danger of losing what I earn.  The extra cash from "selling" a week of vacation back to the company will help us pay for a little trip we want to take, so that will be good.

After scheduling two weeks of vacation (one now, and one at the end of October), and selling some, I still have two left in the "bank," and will be adding more to it every pay period.

Nothing much else going on here.... just working and sleeping, basically.  

My department has a new manager (it's the position I didn't apply for last year because it required a) a college degree, and b) occasional travel to the Tulsa office.

I can't quite make her out.... I definitely do not trust her yet.  

She is coming to sit with me again tomorrow, to observe one of my many, many concentration-intensive tasks.  

This one is one that was always only ever done by the director, or the VP...but was given to ME when the entire management team quit, because I was the only one capable of doing it.

I hate having someone watch me do these more difficult tasks, because I get nervous, and I am afraid of messing up.  It's more likely, then, that I will mess up.... Ugh.  

She doesn't take notes, and she isn't going to remember any of it.... because there are so many steps.  But, it is what it is, and I will get through it.

SO, on that note, have a good week!  

Back in the saddle

 SO, my echocardiogram showed not only no further damage to my heart function, but a 10% improvement!  

Treatment was resumed immediately, and onward we go.  I will now only see my doctor every other visit, and we will continue with treatment indefinitely, OR until I start to notice shortness of breath, or swelling in my feet, i.e. heart failure.

I guess I am sort of still a guinea pig....but we shall see.

Next echo, and scans, in December.

On Monday evening of this last week, the whole family (including Carlos), and extra helpers, showed up next door, with trucks and a trailer.

I watched the mom, with my own eyes, catch and carry the dog into the house.  The little girls were squealing with delight--hopefully excited that they could have their third doggie back with them again.

I contacted the city, the investigation was called off, and I've donated the food to a dog shelter.

All last week, there have been crews at the house, taking stuff away (our guess is to the dump), and working on the inside of the house.  

Yesterday, they mowed the back yard, which had not been done in months.

There is no dog there.... (we were worried that they had merely put him inside when they caught him on Monday night, but no, they took him.... somewhere.)  Our hope is that he is back with his doggie sisters, and the little girls who clearly care a LOT more about him that the parents.

It's a burden off of our hearts, regardless.  I hadn't realized how stressed I was about it until I burst into tears upon seeing him in the female adult's arms.

Not much else to report.... the weather has broken, so we are going for a walk in the "woods" this morning.
Have a good week!