We were getting along fairly well under a ‘reduced travel’ order, until we saw COVID-19 leap over the Cascades, and until the highway and streets departments, asked about any decline in traffic, told the governor no, it’s not working.
So thanks to people who thought caution shouldn’t interrupt their daily routine, we are statewide locked down, and many businesses that had been able to function had to shut. It’s essential-functions only. Traffic’s quieter. But Scott can’t come help us. He did, hours before the shutdown went into effect, and got us set up, and the winter shutdown of water in the back yard is now not-shut-down.
But stores lack eggs…I’m sure it’s as lovely where you are. I hope you are all well.
I’m learning to cook ramen. Sort of.
ADVENTURES IN CHICKEN:
So you’re a family of five with one chicken. What to do? Boil the chicken, remembering to remove the ‘extra packet’ from the interior. Just boil it in hot water until it starts to come off the bone. You can also do this with leftover turkey. If your family likes liver, you could boil that, too. I’m not brave enough to add the gizzard or heart, but they’re perfectly fine if you dice them fine: they tend to toughness and strong flavor.
Strip the meat from the chicken. Plunk the whole carcass that remains into a very large pot of water with onion or garlic, a single clove, diced celery or celery seed if you don’t have fresh; diced carrot. Bay leaf if you have it. Boil, lidded; and boil some more. Then take a strainer and pull all the bones out. DO NOT GIVE THESE TO A DOG OR CAT: COOKED BONE SPLINTERS! You now have chicken stock.
Cut up the meat and set it aside. Search your fridge freezer for small wasted packets of veggies like peas and corn and stuff like broccoli or spinach you can dice up—I say wasted, because most freezers have packets that were opened that you didn’t use all of and it was too much to throw out. Set these aside. Even shriveled peas and such will reconstitute in what follows.
Now you take 1 cup per person of that stock, and put it in a smaller pot. Since I like Chinese, and this is going to turn out sort of like ramen, I add 1/4 tsp of Chinese Five-Spice in the bottom of the pot. You could add ginger, or pepper, or sriracha, or whatever. Put, oh, a third of the pile of meat (saving the rest for tomorrow) into the whole pot, pour in those veggies and bring it to a rolling violent boil.
Next take a sufficient amount per person of angel hair pasta (my favorite) or broad egg noodles or rice noodles or whatever you like, and break them up a little to fit the pot. Turn the fire off to stop the boil, but leave the pan on the burner as it cools down, for the time given on the noodle packet. 8 min for angel hair, 10-15 for spaghetti, and so on. If you want soft noodles, you might kick that temperature up to boil again halfway through the cook, then immediately turn the burner off and just let it sit.
Voila! ramen, chicken noodle, whatever. You’ve still got 2/3 of the chicken left, you’ve used up some veggies; and both the stock and the pasta mean you’re not going to be hungry for hours. I’m too lazy to sort this into a list of ingredients, so print it off and use a magic marker, eh?
@Walt — “We’re in an institution!” Snicker, that makes sense for a surprising number of workplaces I’ve seen. Ah, and they even admit it for “institutions of higher learning.” Snicker again. — What you are referring to is what my deep east Texas college buddy called “John Wayne toilet paper,” because it was (allegedly) “rough, tough, and don’t take **** off nobody.” Ah, he did know proper grammar, but hey, he was also an engineering student. 😀 So there was a high grammar looseness level and a high humor quotient. 😀 (He sounded like he’d come right out of an 1800’s old Western.)
If the kittens ever settle down, I might get to check the pantry for spices. (Hoo, if you don’t type an R there…. Hahaha.) (Don’t judge me, I’m low on sleep.) 😛
Plus, they are batting around some light metal something now and then. Where and what this is, I don’t know yet. Spoon, maybe? Something that makes a high, bright, cheerful metal sound.
I did a little, then got sidelined. — But the kittens are having a blast this morning. Haha. — If I can check later, I may be able to confirm if the other pail of cat litter is actually the missing one from Petco, or the one from Amazon. Either way, I still have one that didn’t reach my door.
Peppercorn seems to be feeling fine, and is wanting attention whenever she sees me. But I hope she’s healing fine. Today is the 2nd full day after surgery.
Goober’s been wanting extra attention this morning, and has been getting it.
I think it has quietened down enough I might get to try to sleep again. Tried from 4:30 to about 5:30, no luck. I’ve had maybe 5 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours. Yay.
Gasp. I believe the cats have reached critical mass for nap potential. Everyone else may be sleeping late. I am going to attempt same.
Hoping I can avoid buying the list of spices for those enchiladas. I am not sure if I want to fix homemade or do that after the quarantine is lifted. But I really want some good Mexican food. So I m likely to try it when I have all the ingredients after the next grocery delivery.
At least in the cart, Kroger’s appears to have everything, but no toilet paper. I am still OK but nervous about it.Other supplies, I’m trying to use up what I can, while I also need to buy some things I’m out of or can’t find.
— Oh — OK, there’s still nap time — The vet’s office just called. Luckily I saw the number, but it’s one off from their usual number. It seems there was pain med for Peppercorn that they didn’t give to me, one box for that, one box for her collar. So (aha!) they are going to drop it off after work, sometime between about 12 noon and 2pm. Yay!
…Oh boy, giving Peppercorn medicine… I hope I can hide that in some food for her.
So far today, she’s fine, but it’s been around 15 hours since we got home yesterday, so she may really need it by the time it gets here. I’ve given the usual iffy directions, and I think they’ll be able to find me. Crossed digits.
Amazon seems to have…de-constipated…its TP supply chain.
Or if your friend can stop by an Ace Hardware, they seem to have TP, and other hard to find supplies.
You know, if Mama doesn’t seem to be in pain, giving her pain pills might lead to withdrawal later, and the immediate stress and perhaps thrashing might cause more pain than she’d have without the pills. I had some similarly minor surgery a while ago, and even though I couldn’t take aspirin, because of blood thinning, I didn’t really need anything, certainly not the opioid for which I got a prescription. And I had a wound drain, which I doubt Mama needed.
Unfortunately, docs are no more immune to advertising than the rest of us, so they fall for the latest greatest (most addictive?) drugs. I’ve taken to always asking for the oldest effective medicine: it’s most proven, and has had the longest time to display bad reactions. Of course, cats can’t go out and feed their habits.
Hm…what do habits eat? Seemingly, nuns.
___
Chanur’s Endgame = Chanur’s Homecoming + Chanur’s Legacy
Re Chanurs Legacy, that was supposed to say that ( when I looked back in March ) I could get a second hand used paperback for less than One Pound Sterling, but the Brand New Copy was , etc, etc, but my surprise wasn’t the cost of a book that was now essentially out of print, but that when looking at New, Unused copies, the Hardback was Half the price of Paperback.
If the Vet’s are going to deliver that medication, I hope they’ll remember to include the missing collar too.
Little Stuff: The vet’s office did get little mama’s pain meds and collar and tag to me. Five doses, so I don’t think she’ll have trouble. 2x per day, so this evening through Monday evening. I may stretch it out. — But the problem was getting it into her. I finally decided to do that while she’s napping. The vet asst. said it absorbs through the cheek, liquid, a small dose. So yep, find the open gum line while she’s sleeping, squirt it in, and hope she gets it. Withdraw the syringe as if, hey, I’m just sitting here, totally didn’t have anything to do with however that tastes! — After chasing her around for a few minutes, letting her settle, attempting to give the med, and her rejecting it, because she’s a cat, and can object strenuously. — This method worked really well. Attempting to hold her and give it to her, to open her mouth, nope, didn’t work.
I’ll wash her collar and she can keep wearing the new one. I’ll add the tag at a Andy time. I ordered a spare tag, and ordered tags for the kittens because they’ll be here into May.
Collars — mama slipped out of her new collar, so I had to get it back on her. Wizard also somehow got his off and I can’t find it. So he’s got a temp collar unit he can fit into an adult collar. I’ve ordered another kitten star and moon collar. These are by Bond and Co. at Petco. Unicorn’s collar was so worn, I’ve replaced it and tased that one and ordered a new adult-sized collar. But if I can find another brand, I’ll get it. Right now, she’s in a yellow-orange daisies kitten collar. — This means they are all in too similarly colored collars, no patterns, harder to distinguish. All but Dubhan / Beige Boy are in new collars now. But none of them have really outgrown the kitten size just yet. The kittens with adult collars are fitted way down, which I think is too likely to tangle; don’t like that.
So much fiddling around, I didn’t do much for a while. They’re fed, I ate, I’m hungry again. I have fatigue and allergy symptoms, but not like what they say are warning signs for the coronavirus. And it comes and goes. Annoying and worrisome and. a bit scary, but I don’t think this is the coronavirus. If it sticks around through Monday or if I get worse, I may need to see a doctor, but I don’t think that’s what this is.
It was raining off and on all day. I missed hearing a Pantry delivery. I have an excess of Kleenex now and must change delivery frequency. But hey, if I have to, I can use it for the other end. (I will check Amazon and I’ll tell my friend about Ace and ask if he can check. Thanks, Walt!)
The shipping box was nearly soaked through, but the Kleenex boxes were only damp. Not ideal but OK.
Oh, and two of the kittens thought I was a good lap to nap in while I was trying to take care of mama. This was sweet, and nothing better to do except pack or clean, so…I sat with them.
Not much done today, and still have the spices to look at before I order.
I’ve got Motrin and other pain relievers, mild, but I may not even have Nyquil on hand. I don’t really want o take something , so I may leave it and order with groceries.
Snacks for everyone — and I am thinking how I don’t have much to snack on or fix in a hurry, since Iused TV dinners and most snacks. — No other problems, just really fiddling stuff. — Hoping to get some done tomorrow, and hoping the repair s get done during the week No idea when / if the apt. inspections will happen as claimed; they gave no date to anyone.
I checked spices, adjusted my order, and — No available delivery times? Oh, frell! Maybe it’s the lateness of the hour. I will check tomorrow. If there’s still nothing, I will remove several things (the ingredients for the enchiladas) and make a list and try via Amazon Fresh, with the enchiladas reserved until later, and order frozen enchiladas as a compromise. Yikes. Hadn’t considered that. No delivery times from now through the whole week. Egads.
Some are recommending washing delivered packages since the delivery person and others in the supply chain may be infectious, possibly with no or negligible symptoms. For example, someone with allergies and a low level of coronavirus symptoms might not be able to tell they are sick. And, the delivery companies are hiring like crazy, always behind, so it’s got to be amateur hour with cleanliness.
My understanding is that the virus’s coating can be quickly destroyed by soap and water, just like washing your hands, so you can just wash the individual packages. The soap destroys the virus coating. Freezing will preserve the virus; cooking will destroy it. But one can’t have contaminated surfaces lying around–including delivery bags and boxes–or you may get transfer. I’ll note that the recommendation for hand washing is 20 seconds–look for a demo on how to wash like a surgeon; one was on BBC–alcohol/Purell or bleach solution needs a minute. (The reason many doctors use Purell is that it has skin moisturizer, while washing for every patient would dry their skin possibly to the point of skin problems.)
From the result (in the video, I think) that the virus dies on cardboard in a day and plastic or steel in 3 days, maybe an option for dry goods is just setting them aside–but cats may not honor the set aside. Of course you can’t do that with frozen or refrigerated goods, and the colder temperatures may (should?) lengthen the virus’s viability. If you put stuff in the fridge before washing, the fridge is contaminated. It’s maybe worth thinking about whether a given product or container is machine packed.
Due to lack of tests, and no test for virus antibodies in a cured person, we still don’t have good numbers on the number of asymptomatic carriers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1Vuv9zfzI
Here’s a good hand washing video, silent for some reason:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz6fyfxD4xE
What they’re not saying is the a lot of the curled finger and finger in palm action is to clean finger nails, nail beds, and under fingernails, which should be very short for the duration
I haven’t gotten these yet, and you can definitely use paper towels, though I find I need several to completely dry.
I have been using cotton hand towels, washing them thoroughly and drying them utterly dry as hot as possible. Just use them once, then wash thoroughly. I have several sets having several sets of guest bath and kitchen towels just from wanting something different.
I feel the advantage of washable towels is that you don’t have to carry them out to the trash, which is another chance for contamination. The advantage of these white towels is that they can be bleached, hopefully to disinfection, so if there’s any flaw in water or drying temperature, it won’t matter. Of course, you need bleach. They’re $21 with about a week’s delivery time. You don’t have to be a Costco member for these, or a lot of other things.
https://www.costco.com/unitex-100%25-cotton-towel%2c-white%2c-14-in-x-17-in%2c-52-count.product.100460088.html
Costco also has long-life foods from protein drinks and bars to MREs to huge prepper packs.
Whee…. My local Kroger’s has NO delivery times available all week. None.
I found you can’t print a concise grocery list from their cart. Instead, you get a multi-page mess with narrow columns and images and…it’s senseless. You also can’t get a text file with same.
I just spent quite a wile writing the list into a text file, saved.
If one of those local friends could do curbside pickup for me, I’d be OK.
But likely I’ll try Amazon Fresh and I’ll look at other grocery stores in case I can get a delivery from there.
I had that nap for an hour or two after I fed the cats. I may have napped an hour during the night. But I am way short on sleep, and so I’m going to try again. No expectation of any visitors today, those friends or anyone else, which is OK, usual.
Dang it, the time spent to check for delivery, put in a grocery list, and submit it…again.
I don’t know why I didn’t expect people would do this between Palm Sunday and Easter and/or Passover, with the shutdown newly extended. But…daa-aamm.
CommentMy daughter has found that it is possible to place orders at midnight for most delivery sites – apparently the sites open up the delivery slots for the next day at that time. They fill up fast. So if you are up at midnight, BCS, try to do it then.
There are now delivery times available for Friday, the end of this week, and maybe after, but those are likely to fill if I don’t take one.
It looks like the two major competitors in town use some third-party sites for delivery, but I can’t tell if I can order from there.
It looks like my best bet is either Amazon Fresh, or see if one of those friends can do a curbside pickup, or else I wait until Friday but submit my order today. I’m going to try Amazon Fresh to see if I can get most of what I want there for tomorrow, and any other items schedule for Friday from Kroger’s.
Both Amazon Fresh and Kroger’s show no toilet paper, unless you want to wait until the middle of May. Seems like a long time to hold it. By then, I’ll be on wash cloths or that litterbox idea…..
Yeah, notice I don’t put a lot of faith in asking those friends to do a grocery run for me, just to pick up the order curbside. :-/
It was not the noisy upstairs neighbors who moved. I don’t know if it was budget or noise and repairs and so on that prompted the other neighbors to move, and I’m not sure they are out. Just occasional hello’s, no more interaction than that.
I slept from after 9 to noon and then to before 2, so maybe 4 to 5 hours at most.
So odd what I’m out of, low on, or have too much of. The oddest part is to be out or nearly out of several things at about the same time. It feels odd to be buying spices now, too, but I looked and don’t have those, and couldn’t find one I would swear I still have, just don’t use often.
Weird: Amazon (Pantry and main site) don’t stock Dr. Pepper products, as if there’s some feud with the maker. But now Amazon Fresh does handle it. Why the difference between the newer Fresh and the older Pantry? Heck if I know. Oh, you can get Dr. Pepper shipped from Amazon’s main site, if you want to pay multiple times the cost in-store. Uh, no, I like it a lot, but not that much. I would guess it’s some CEO’s ego thing. Would’ve thought it’d be over and done with by now, but no.
Hmm, what I’d thought was a remaining bag of Fritos is instead a bag of Chex Mix. Huh.
Well, I guess it beats unlabelled tin cans or blocks of protein, whatever the cake was supposed to be made of, or those Alliance ration bars…. But it doesn’t top strawberries or fresh spices and tomatoes ….
Hi all,
Blue, glad to hear Peppercorn is back and doing well; she should do fine.
We still have plenty of supplies and food, but are out of fresh. The frozen vegetables are getting tiresome, but manageable. Last night we made tortilla soup; modified to fit what ingredients we had on hand … it was NOT as successful of an improvisation as the homemade pizza last week, and there’s enough left for tonight. Not as thrilled we get to eat it again LOL, but certainly a small issue. Pro Tip on the pizza: Overnight ferment on a most basic of doughs, using 1/2 teaspoon of yeast instead of the usual 1 packet made the best dough I’ve ever made. There was no mozzarella cheese in the house, and hubby found a slightly past date puffed up pack of Armenian style string cheese with black nigella (onion) seeds in. It seemed okay, although a bit stronger than I’d usually like … on a pizza; it turned into something so delicous I’ll try that trick again … along with the yellow cherry tomatoes beginning to wrinkle a bit, cut in half, and put cut side down all over the pizza as it went into the oven. Winner.
After a phone consult with doctor, one of my regular meds was increased, and an antibiotic added for sinus infection lingering for months along with seasonal allergies. Hubby went out to mow the grass (WHY, oh, WHY lol???), and 40 minutes later …either the mower or that antibiotic gets added to the list of those I’m allergic to. Had a reaction 2 days ago, then okay, now not. Half a Benadryl and much better, so I’m betting it’s the antibiotic, darn.
Inspired by the pros here, I thought I’d try an online grocery order. I wanted curbside pickup, NOT anonymous new hire Instacart shoppers, as I share Walt’s concerns. I suspect my DOG could get hired to go in the trenches as a shopper right now ……….. So we thought curbside might be the way to go, at Aldi’s. HA! Spent an hour building a nice order, another argui … er, chatting with hubby about what was in the order, hit the place order for curbside, and it switched me to delivery. Huh? That store and zip are supposed to have curbside. Tried again last night; same experience. After the third failed attempt, I noticed the next available order date was in 2 weeks????
Gave up, and ordered seeds from my nephew’s company, took CJ’s comment on Facebook to heart, and ordered a hydroponic garden unit. I may just confirm I don’t have a green thumb LOL, but will give simple, quick growing greens like leaf lettuce, arugula etc. and such a try. If we really get desperate meanwhile, I think we decided it will be safer in the long run to just go out ourselves en mask, at an odd hour, to a small store that looks empty of hoarders and of personal shoppers, and run in and out.
TP: Walt gives excellent advice. I got what I had shipped in from commercial stock. Most is awful, but there are better qualities. I was able to find center pull, 2 ply, 8″ x 5″ sheets of decent quallity, in large rolls. Also sources for commercial: Office Supply houses, Restaurant Supply houses (paper AND non-perishable foods but watch the quantity sizes) etc.. Some of the issue is the bigger cases or packs, like what you’d buy at Costco etc., are not really stocked in Costco, Target, Walmart etc.’s own warehouses. It’s shipped direct from the manufacturer to the consumer to save shipping and warehousing space. A nice customer service rep said he showed the TP in stock, yet online it was sold out. Puzzled, he put me on hold, and came back to tell me the story about shipping, and that his company had a small quantity IN their warehouse. This is true of many larger, bulky, heavy or evn just slow selling items. Bingo, my TP order was out the door. So try to find a human, ask questions, and be ever so politely persistent; you might get lucky.
I’m off to see what I can find to make that leftover tortilla soup more palatable for dinner. Cilantro …. cilantro … cilantro … is the first thing to be planted in that hydro-garden!
A BIG THANK YOU to CJ for mentioning the hydro-garden; I’d never have thought of it. Expensive, and soon enough we’ll have real farm produce, but meanwhile, I always wanted to try, so this seemed to be the moment.
Be Safe and Well, everyone.
AAARRRGGGHHH!!! — Oops, I believe that was the name of the wolf character in the Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. I could stand to listen to / read that again, got a kick out of the book back when. My mom loved it and recommended it to me.
That aside — Aaarrrggghhh!!! Again! — I spent heaven only knows how long on that big A site, getting “Fresh!” items into my cart. I took a break to feed the cats and myself. — I just tried to checkout and setup the delivery. Never mind it will either just leave it on your doorstep or deliver in person, attended, depending on how you choose. Like I really want them to leave my order sitting there….
OK, no problem, set up delivery date and time and…. Today? No. Tomorrow? No. Tuesday? No. No day starting with T, it seems. It doesn’t offer beyond that. No times available. — Seriously? Amazon and its Whole Foods Market partner can’t deliver either, any more than my local grocery store.
So all that is going to sit in my virtual shopping cart, or I may be able to “Save For Later” in Amazon Fresh. Nuts. So I wasted that time. (OTOH, a few things they had looked neat, I will try those later.) Several items were not available and others, I made good-enough substitutions or got creative. But it’s kinda unnerving seeing things out of stock and no delivery available.
So… I am going to see if Kroger’s has a delivery date and time this week after all, and set for what I can get, and make do until then. That’s about all I can do. — I won’t starve, but I am out of a few necessities and nearly out of a few more.
Huh, would that I could do hydroponics in the apartment, but ah, no, LOL.
@Cathy in PA, if you search this blog, you’ll find some time back a recipe from CJ for pizza dough. I have it copied down and can post it here if you’d like. Back later
I’m very indifferent about the canned roast beef I used with leftover rice. I will use it up before it’s a problem. But hmm, I will figure out something for the next roast beef can. — I have a pound of hamburger left and a bag of frozen meatballs and a small pack of fish, and then it’s strictly canned meat, tuna and chili and such, until I get groceries in. Whee. Think I’m going to have to toss the last bit of coleslaw mix and some carrots. — A baguette of garlic bread I bought last time may or may not be good still; I’ll find out and toast it or toss it.
Bleh. — Also, I am out of chocolate. The world hasn’t ended (so far, haha).
Oh, I’ll live. I made it through Ike and Harvey. But wow…..
The cats are fine. I’m going to spend time with them and then eat the last of a Key Lime pie and pout like crazy.
(From the Farscape fan cookbook)
Cargo Bay Rice and Beans ñ serves 4 to 6. For the crew of Serenity, make a double batch.
Notes: If you canít find sweetened coconut milk, you can use regular coconut milk with a tablespoon of brown sugar added. Or, you can mix Ω cup of sweetened condensed milk with Ω teaspoon of coconut extract. If you don’t like things very spicy, start with 1 Tablespoon of curry powder. You can always add more later if you need to.
Equipment
Large saucepan with lid
Spoon
Wet and dry measuring cups
Ingredients:
1 cup dried, split lentils, any color
1 cup instant brown rice
16 oz can black beans
3 cups chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup sweetened coconut milk (like Coco Casa or Coco Lopez)
1-4 Tablespoons curry powder, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Put rice and lentils in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add coconut milk to rice and lentils. Add the black beans, including the liquid in the can. Add 2 cups of the stock to the pot. Add curry powder, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling, uncovered, sirring often. Once the mixture reaches a boil, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add a little bit more chicken stock if mixture starts to get too dry.
Uncover pot, add tomatoes and liquid. Cook for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add more salt or curry powder if needed.
Turn off heat and let rice and beans sit for 10 minutes. Uncover, stir and eat! While waiting, use the leftover coconut milk to make a batch of Painkillers. (http://www.pussers.com/rum/cocktails)
Recipe Source:
Carolyn Parkinson
The Signal Podcast / Episode 4-04
http://fireflydvd.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=34312&highlight=#34312/
Source Link: https://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/?p=2622
Source Description: Been doing alright with homemade bread…going to try pizza
See Also her post: La commedia della pizza
Tempted to fire up the bread machine at work today and make a loaf, but I will be in a meeting by the time it comes out of the machine, and there are only 3 of us to eat it 😛
I ordered from Kroger’s — for Sunday morning delivery, the earliest time they had still available.
Today, I realized I wanted carrot cake or muffins. I have those in a future order in the cart, with other items. I don’t see a way to save the cart to a list or save a cart for later, so I could just add an item or two to the upcoming order. (When I tried before, I got two deliveries, whoa.)
I went through and deleted nearly all the items from the Amazon Fresh cart, except things I couldn’t get from Kroger’s.
I discovered I can’t get either shredded / julienned carrots (fresh) such as if you want carrot salad, or diced carrots, frozen, either with mirepoix or solo but only with frozen peas and carrots. So that, after I use up the canned peas and carrots.
Ye gads and little fishes, getting spices and supplies (soap, trash bags, items I’m out of or nearly so, pushed that Kroger’s order into the stratosphere. But I’m surprised it wasn’t more, for the usual month’s worth plus that. So I did OK, just, wow.
Dang, I really want carrot cake or muffins now, haha. I may have to investigate further on Kroger’s site.
Oh, eeee, Amazon Fresh — if they run out of something, they delete it from your cart rather than, say, having it to a cart for later availability. Wow. So several fresh food items and a few others got removed. I would’ve been out of luck if I’d gone that way without double-checking. Will have to remember it for future reference.
—–
Yeah, if my bread machine got moved, it’s still in storage. Definitely did not get to my apartment. And that bread is very good, I made a few loaves from her recipe.
LOL, I have a feeling the 3 staff would make short work of that bread, or abscond with it. “What? There was a giant…uh…bread-eating…uh…furry critter…it went that away!” 😀
—–
Peppercorn and Goober had a spat last night, but neither got hurt, thank goodness. They both escalated. Sigh. – Before that, after I was ready for bed late, Peppercorn either got tangled in the living room window blinds (oh, hey still aren’t fixed, so it doesn’t matter) or else she saw a cat outside (Mystic or a stray or neighbor cat) and oh, it was on. I threw on jeans and sneakers and rushed in, hoping it wasn’t she and Goober or one of her kittens, and found her coming out of the blinds, some cat or cats outside yowling back, she was ticked off, still growling and upset, and wow. The kittens were hiding or sheltering in place, hunkered down. Goober was safely and sensibly elsewhere (haha, good kitty) and Peppercorn was highly incensed. (Hmm, not incense-laden, upset. Must recheck spelling, dang spellchecker respelled it.)
After making sure everyone else was OK, unhurt, present and accounted for, I then continued talking to Peppercorn and risked petting her a little. Oh, she was fine with me, I wasn’t the interloper. Fortunately. This is one alpha female cat. Bossy boss-lady kitty. But since she didn’t think I was the problem, getting reassured by me was welcome.
She and the kittens subsequently ALL came into the bedroom with me (and Goober). This precipitated the spat later, but they both settled down, with me petting both after they stopped, me there, concerned for Goober. Both were unhurt, just not too happy, because Goober had felt crowded by her but wouldn’t budge from where he wanted to be. (Good for you, Goober. Stick up for yourself, buddy.)
After a bit to cool off, Peppercorn ventured around the room, looking things over, maybe the first time since she’s been back home. Everything was AOK, met with her approval, so she decided to nap on the desk with me a while. OK, kitty, cool. Kittens on desk She moved after a few minutes, onto the bed. Kitty, please do not pee, but I will let you on the bed, if you have. She (most thankfully) did not soil or christen the bed. She napped peacefully after grooming. She later looked out the window, which means stretching on hind legs, forelegs on the window sill, looking out. Apparently, this didn’t bother her incision or hurt her. She stayed on the bed a while before going back to the desk where I was. — I tried to give her a dose of pain meds, but nope, and nope, she moved her head both times. I’m playing it real cool, so as not to have her connect anything with me. I do not want to be the bad guy. Later did try again, but I think it rolled down her chin instead of absorbed in her cheek or gums. Drat. I still have three does left, because she hasn’t seemed to need them. I may hold off on those.
Their breakfast feeding went fine. But at lunchtime, I topped off their dry food, thinking now that would be fine, and fixed my lunch or dinner tonight. But during this, dangd if one of the kittens and/or Peppercorn didn’t jump and almost get caught, then later again while I was bending over to get something. One of them, in jumping, claws extended to grab a leg as usual — nearly scratched me near my eye and cheek. I yelled no and drew ack, shocked but not hurt, very close call. Peppercorn fussed, as if she might fight, but since I wasn’t going to fight her, we did OK. I walked off a minute, to make sure she got the idea I wasn’t interested in a fight, and then I came back.
Problem solved. I don’t know if she and the kitten will learn right from that, not to do all that. But dang, I did not like that. — With the kitten, Unicorn, it isn’t a problem yet, but she still has not learned to curb her enthusiasm and not try to grab, jump, climb my leg at feeding times. She doesn’t seem to mean any harm just wanting to get food and hurry it up, human, and oh boy, you’re gonna feed me! (Us.) But it’s bad behavior she needs to learn is a no-no. She needs to learn NO. — And Peppercorn needs to learn to calm the heck down about things, with a human. I don’t want to get in a fight with her over some fool thing and get nipped or clawed. I don’t want her scared and therefore fighting, just because she’s afraid and doesn’t know any better. (Such as getting her claws caught in my sock or sweatpants, twice now.)
So — Yes, Peppercorn is going to be given away to a no-kill shelter so she can get a good owner. I will let them know of the behavior problem, but that she is otherwise sweet and needs training to see she doesn’t have to get so aggressive anymore. Unicorn is also going with a note about that jumping / grabbing / climbing, which is a common enough thing, but most kittens get out of that with a little teaching.
No problems with Ducky (male) or Pinky (female). They should do fine. DUcky’s the quiet, off-to-himself one, but he has shown some signs lately, he could warm up to a human, and so has Pinky. They just need the right human for them.
Wizard has been more close lately, and Dubhan has been a little, but not so much. I still think I’ll keep them.
I saw and fed Mystic yesterday morning, but couldn’t let him in, of course, to the living room or bedrooms. He had to stay out. I think he ate and went on his way.
The kittens have tended to want to be wherever mama is, since she came back. They missed her, even though they didn’t show it while she was gone. They did hang out with me a lot more while she was away, though, as the substitute dad and leader and generally nice guy (and source of food) and attention).
Usual stuff today. — No idea if the little gate latch and missing fence board will get replaced. Hasn’t happened yet. I’ve lost track now of which day I reported it, Tuesday or Friday.
The dinner I fixed: browned some stew meat in a pot with a little oil and season-salt. Then added a package of frozen stir-fry veggies. Wondered why I hadn’t gotten out my small wok for this. It would’ve been just as easy or better, except that wok’s base is small and it could tip over if messed with. It doesn’t have a lid, which I still don’t like. But it’s a handy size. I added a brand of teriyaki sauce I haven’t used before (Yoshida’s). Too much water still in the mix; I didn’t add any, just what was in the beef and veggies. Added a bit more teriyaki sauce. It might reduce a little more. Letting it cool, though, and will have it tonight. With noodles, because I just combined the leftover rice with other leftovers to use it up. Hah, it may be spaghetti noddles rather than any Asian noodles, because that’s what I have. It’ll be tasty, but may need to reduce down more.
I keep forgetting the load of clothes in the washer and will have to rewash and pull those out to air-dry.
Spent so much time on the grocery nonsense, I didn’t do much Sunday towards reducing or packing. Tomorrow it has to resume.
What the…? I think that’s a cat calling outside. Oh, no, I am so not taking in another cat, sorry, kitty.
Hang on, gotta see if that’s inside or outside….
Thanks for the warning about Amazon Fresh, BCS. Try this: go to Amazon, select Amazon Fresh for the search, and search for nothing. This brings up past orders and suggestions for discontinued items, though I’m not sure about the deleted items you mentioned.
Could someone please drop a link to the “hydro-garden”? Since I don’t use FB, I can’t read it.
Confirming something thought to be the case:
Experts tell White House coronavirus can spread through talking or even just breathing
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/health/aerosol-coronavirus-spread-white-house-letter/index.html
Since I haven’t bought from Amazon Fresh before, it didn’t have past suggestions or orders.
But it did have — TOILET PAPER! YES! — Cottonelle 12 rolls or Quilted Northern 6 rolls.
Excited, I tried, and… Can’t deliver today, tomorrow, or Wednesday.
TEASE! Oh, such a tissue of, of…. Aw, heck…. Yeah, attempted literary heights aside, that’s a real bummer. — All right, but I can keep on trying. Kroger’s still claims no such thing as toilet paper, never herd of it, zero search results. — I’ll keep trying with both.
Amazon, you fickle amour, you tease. You’re keeping the toilet paper all to yourself, aren’t you, Alexa? Hurrumpf! What’s a disembodied computer voice want with a bunch of toilet paper anyway, huh? Huh? HUH? — LOL.
Well, shoot, at least for a minute there, I thought we were about to achieve TP rollingness. Oh, the tragedy, the ignominy, the…. OK, yeah, it’s just tissue.