As the dust settles

It's been a long week, but we're at the end of it, thankfully. The skies are blue here, the wind has died down -- and although the temperatures are up, the sun sets early so the heat dissipates quickly. Thank the Good Lord!

We started cleaning up from the winds. DH and the landlord made quick work of dismantling the dog kennels from the trees where they landed. We don't use them much, but they have to be back up for the kennel inspection early next year. Then they leveled the ground a bit -- we had sand dunes that would have made Laurence of Arabia weep!

I ladled out the washing machine tub, and washed it out a few hundred times. Finally did some laundry, hung it on the line, and it dried quickly in this heat. Nice to have clean clothes again.

There is so much more to do -- but I started by cleaning the kitchen. Washed dishes, washed down counters, put the curtains in the washing machine. Made crockpot beef stroganoff in our new slow cooker -- yummy.

My boss surprised me by volunteering to work tomorrow -- and offering me first choice to work or take the day off. I chose the latter, of course. So now I have the next three days to try and accomplish all that I had planned for last week.

We've really felt Serena's absence this week. DH has had trouble adjusting to food preparation - she was such a big eater that he keeps making up too much dog food. Lexie seems much more anxious - in our house Coco and Quincy sit in the office with me, Lucy in her crate, Nellie goes back and forth between rooms - and Serena and Lexie together in the living room with DH. Without Serena, Lexie seems a bit lost. They weren't particularly close, but greyhounds seem to be comforted by other greyhounds. And, at least with my greyhounds, they NEVER seem happy alone. When Lexie is alone in the living room -- she just doesn't seem comfortable. Hopefully she'll adapt -- and we need to concentrate on paying more attention to her.
So all in all, calmness has descended.

It's time for the nightly news -- and then to bed. Have lots of eBaying to do tomorrow -- need a good night's sleep.

Thar She Blows!

 

This is what it looks like when you live in a place surrounded by dirt! We are awaiting development of tons of new expensive houses turning our rural horse area into a city I guess -- oh joy -- but in the meantime we have empty fields of dirt. And today we're having winds of 45mph and they are predicting they could go as high as 80mph.

We live in a very old mobil home -- built the year I graduated from high school, so it's really old --- and it is not exactly well insulated. So we're eating dirt a lot today -- inhaling dirt -- and the window sills are covered with dirt, it's coming in from every corners, every window, every door.

We let Serena go on Friday - probably good timing since I'm not sure she'd have kept her balance outside with this windstorm. She was brave to the end, she died with her head in my lap while the tech gave her the last shot -- well, not the last shot. As it turned out, her heart just kept beating, they ended up having to give her more. Without the cancer, I swear her heart would have gone on for another decade. She's left such an empty spot here -- we still have five dogs, which to most people would seem like a lot, but Serena was a large presence, and she sure is missed. I trust she's made it to Rainbow Bridge and met up with Tora, Flash, Dulce, Muddy and the rest. When we get there, we'll be bowled over by dogs -- can't wait!!!!! (Well, I can wait until it's my time -- but you know what I mean -- I look forward to seeing my furkids again).

Here's hoping we don't wake up in Kansas tomorrow morning -- not that Kansas isn't a lovely place, one of my favorite people live there -- but . . . This place is not my favorite place I've ever lived, but it's home for now, and I'd rather keep it in one piece.