Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
pets

dog vs. porcupine

Guess who won? Ultimately, the veterinarian’s office, but it’s safe to say the porcupine beat out the dog in that contest.

Brian took Buster on a hike yesterday. Buster found a new friend in the woods and got a face full of porcupine quills for his trouble. Brian was able to remove the worst of them while they were still in the woods (probably a dozen or so). I got out a couple more when they returned home, but Buster had enough of that nonsense and we were not able to remove any more. They were pretty small so it must’ve been a baby porcupine. I called the on-call vet last night, but he felt it could wait until morning as Buster wasn’t showing any discomfort.

So, I took him to the vet’s today. He had to be lightly sedated so that they could remove the rest–around 20. There were a few that had become fully lodged under the skin (and which weren’t removed), so those ones might make an appearance in the future.

The expectation is high that this will happen again.

movies

office christmas party

I really hoped this movie was going to be funny. But, alas, it was not. While there were a few amusing scenes, I don’t think I laughed out loud once.

My rating: 2/5 (one for Jennifer Aniston and one for Jason Bateman, 2 of my favorites, who could not save this movie even a little bit)

do-it-yourself

progress edition

We’ve been making some good progress around the house. I finally was able to power wash the patio last week (it was all filthy from the sewer project). I also power washed all of the furniture and painted the adirondak chair. The metal table and chairs are currently in progress, and will be done this week if I can catch a dry evening.

We had to get rid of our old compost bin last year. When the neighbor took the hedges out, it needed to be moved, but was in no shape for that, so it’s gone (though Brian did repurpose the wood into bird houses). I tried putting the compost into a pile on the ground, but that looked horrible, so I bought a 3-bin wire composter, which was installed last weekend. It looks so much better.

Up next, we’ll be fixing the basement floors that were messed up during the sewer project. I’m currently doing the plastic sheeting method of testing for moisture. So far, so good. If we get a favorable result from that, we’re going to put down laminate flooring in the bathroom (once we fill in all of the missing tiles with leveling compound). The flooring in the music room needs painted, too. We’re not going to do the whole floor, though–just the parts that they replaced. Brian’s shop doesn’t need any work as it’s just a concrete floor in there, so we’ll almost be back to normal soon.

Brian also put some trim in the laundry room. There’s more trim to do in there and the bathroom. And, the good news is, that the wood for that purpose has been purchased.

Now, if it would only stop raining, so I could weed everything in the yard once again.

celebrations, out and about

birthday weekend

As is tradition, we went to the Polkafest on Friday evening for supper. We caught some music from Alex Meixner and the Polka Family Band. Fun, as always.

We did not have any plans for Saturday, but that changed when I received a text from Carol that morning suggesting that all of us go out to celebrate my birthday. I’ve had a hankering for Franklin Street Bar & Grill lately, so that’s where we went. I guess we’ll call that a bonus celebration.

The three of us ended up doing our family celebration on Sunday, rather than today, because Brian had a late meeting scheduled (which he is still at). Brian did some steaks on the grill and I got presents!

Today was pretty low key. I had the day off, so I took the opportunity and figured out a problem with the sweater I’ve been knitting. It took a while to figure out, but things are back on track with that, so I’m pretty happy.

gardening & landscaping, holidays

rainy may

I was ahead with the outside stuff last month, but I have since fallen behind. I’ve been trying to get out between the raindrops (not to mention the chilly weather), but the opportunities haven’t been frequent. The weather seems to be more seasonal as of late, so I guess I’ll get caught up eventually.

As for my garden, at least it is in. Strangely enough, the one variety of garlic I planted is already ready to be harvested (this is usually more of an end of June/beginning of July thing). I planted a couple of other varieties, but they are not ready yet, so maybe it’s just a thing with that particular variety. We’ve also been eating strawberries for about a week, and those are a couple of weeks early, too.

Despite some bad weather, Memorial Day weekend was pretty good. I took Friday off work in order to work in the garden. It rained a lot, but I still got a number of things planted and finished the rest over the course of the weekend. Saturday saw a trip to the nursery and the purchase of flowers and some plants for the garden.

On Sunday, we went to my brother’s for a picnic, then it rained like crazy the rest of the day. I got some things done in the house and made some good progress on a knitting gift I started last week. Today was pretty relaxed. I did some things around the house in the morning; Brian and I went for a motorcycle ride in the afternoon, and this evening was spent in the yard and garden.