Sunday Update - 2026 Week 25

Okay, so it's Week 25.  Imagine that.  It makes sense, though, since we're about halfway through 2026 and half of 52 is 26.  Look at me, mathing in the morning and junk.

I was a slug this week.  I only wrote once for 909 words.  I could make excuses, but meh.  Marketing also didn't go well, but even so, I moved 57 copies of DE.  People must not read much in the summer because my page reads are way down.  :shrug: I'm halfway between marketing a book this week and not bothering.  Tune in tomorrow to see what the choice ended up being.

No reading.

I made a batch of my Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies this week.  We finished them yesterday.  6 days for 2 people to demolish 35 cookies.  I might make more cookies today - only because I'm tired of paying for cookies.  Then I'll get tired of making cookies and go back to buying them again.  It's a vicious circle.

This past week, I did all sorts of active things.  I sewed the cover for the cat bed I made, took two walks, did stuff with the greenhouse garden, worked in the yard, and went grocery shopping.  I don't think any of that was particularly calorie-burning, though.  (Maybe the yard work.)  Weight: 179.4

I'm not sure if I talked about the cat bed I made a couple weeks.  I took a 'feather' topper for a queen-sized mattress, folded in half, and stuffed into a queen-sized flat sheet that was folded in half and safety pinned.  Well, one evening, Sawyer being Sawyer, discovered the safety pins and decided to attack.  I had to remove them so he wouldn't hurt himself.  The next day, I sat down and sewed the seams where the safety pins had been.  Then Hubs and I wrestled the topper back into it.  It looks good and the cats enjoy it, and now it's safe.

The greenhouse garden is chugging right along.  Still only two tomatoes - both of them ripened and we ate them.  I learned this week that carrots don't like it hot, and it's hot in the greenhouse, so there ya are.  The tops of the carrots are still pretty small and I'm not seeing the shoulders of the carrots yet, so I'm not harvesting, even though that pot has been growing since early March.  The potatoes... same.  The two surviving green peppers from last year that got munched... One is thriving.  The other is pathetic.  The three peppers I rescued from the feed store are doing okay.  Some of the trees are getting big, but I had to give the last rites to two oaks and a hickory.  I don't think pot life is good for those species.  The redbuds in the ground - Randy and Rudy - are trying to live, but critters aren't making it easy for them.

Working in the yard... Well, I had planned to go out and start digging up the rock paths to remove weeds, etc., but Hubs was out picking up sticks left by the last few storms.  I ended up helping him and then I got the idea that it was about time to prune back the cedars, so we did that.  Then we had to go around and pick up all those limbs.  By the time we did all that, I was tired, so the weeding project got put on hold.  We're starting that this morning - me on the paths and Hubs on the driveway.  Gah, the driveway... we haven't hit those weeds in years and it's so bad that you can hardly tell where the driveway is.  It all looks like yard.  None of this will be done in a day.  Tune in next week to hear how well we progressed.

The fawns are coming into the yard more often, but I keep forgetting to put out the trail cam.  Maybe I'll remember today, so I can post pics next Saturday.  

And I think that's about it.  Busy busy... or at least the illusion of busyness.  Have a great week wherever you are.  :hugs:

Sleep Deprivation ala Sawyer

Last night, we decided that it would be a good night to let the boyz have free run of the house.  We have great hopes of someday just letting the cats out so they can do their things and still being able to get a good night's sleep.  Let's just say that didn't happen.  I got maybe 4 hours of sleep.  Hubs got about the same.  Needless to say, we're dragging ass today.

The problem... now and every other time we've tried this... is Sawyer.  He's a moose.  He's also kinda spastic.  And he doesn't quite know what to do with himself most of the time.  Finn, loose at night, generally just picks a different place to sleep.  Sawyer wants to know why we aren't paying attention to him.  He meows loudly, scratches the walls (sounds like nails on a chalkboard, folks), and generally creates mayhem until one of us gets out of bed.  This is also why I can't take naps these days, by the way.

If you don't remember or haven't seen where I've said this before, Sawyer's name at the shelter was Chili Pepper.  That was a big hint there.  We understood the hint at the time, but we were thinking jalapeno and this boy is more ghost pepper.  And, like I said, he's a moose.  I haven't weighed him in months, but he was 16 pounds then and he's probably 20 now.  Not fat. Just solid.  And if big kitty doesn't want to do something, good luck trying to get him to do it.  He's a toddler with knives.  

He's gotten a lot better, but he's still... WOW.  Especially juxtaposed against Finn who is laid back and calm.  (Not quiet.  Finn's my talker.  But he's also not in an 'in your face' kinda cat.)  

I read somewhere that larger breed cats take longer to mature.  Finn, who seems to be part Siamese, was an adult cat at a year.  Sawyer? We think he's part Maine Coon. And, let's just say we're still waiting on him reaching maturity.  I hope he outgrows this.  

It's not like I don't know how to train a cat.  I have tried everything.  Water bottle squirts?  That worked for like a day and then he decided water squirts were fun.  Orange peels to keep him off things?  He was all like 'yay, new toys' and batted them around.  I put essential oils around.  He made a face and then attempted to lick it off, so I had to wipe it all off before he ingested it.  I've even swatted him on the butt.  He thinks that's just playing rough and he's all WOOHOO! MOM WANTS TO PLAY!

Don't get me wrong.  He's a boo and I love him.  This too shall pass.  I hope.  Until then, it's either lock the cats up at night (No worries.  Our office is huge, it has all their toys, it has the litter box, and we put food and water in here before we close the door.) so I can sleep or get used to dragging every day.  Sawyer has no problem with spending his nights in the office.  He sleeps, he eats, he sleeps some more.  Finn, on the other hand, hates being closed in here.  He sleeps, too, but you can tell it's under protest.  Unfortunately, Finn also hates being left out of the office, so where one goes, so goes the other.  

Right now, both of them are sleeping.  In my bedroom with Hubs.  Sawyer on the bed and Finn on the dresser.  If they could do that at night, life would be awesome.  Since they can't... :yawn: