Still Alive, No Thanks to Me

Yesterday was one of those days that left me breathless.

I got up and cleaned the house as usual, but had to take Babe, one of my mastiffs, to the vet for a checkup. She had an ear infection (as usual), so the ear cleaning and slobber shaking was one for the record books (I caught a couple of slingers in my hair, so simply wrote off the day as one where I hoped I wouldn't have to go anywhere.)

Home to work, where I worked on the revisions for THE OFFERING, due at the end of this month, when the UPS man brought some outdoor curtains I'd ordered.  Our back porch gets the afternoon sun, and in the summertime it's simply too hot to sit out there--ever.  So I saw these curtains in a catalog and thought I'd give them a try.  Fortunately, on our back porch there's a high bar with circle rings through it, installed there by the hurricane screen guys.  (We put up super duper protective screens when we're under threat from a hurricane.  Which has been exactly ZERO times since we had the things installed.  And took out a second mortgage to pay for them.)

But I digress.

So I stopped working to haul out the 20 foot extension ladder to hang the curtains.  Unfortunately a thunderstorm was rolling through as I figured out a way to hang six curtains on ten rings and one string, and as I stood atop the extension ladder, it occurred to me that being high up on an aluminum ladder wasn't very smart when lightning was flashing all around me.  So I kept climbing DOWN the ladder, waiting a while, then climbing back UP, but every time I went up the lightning would flash again.

Anyway--finally I got the last curtain hung, and my ladder shifted.  Now some folks will call Jesus's name as a curse word, but trust me, his name was the first thing that flew through my mind when that ladder shifted with nothing but me and a flat concrete floor, but it was definitely more like a "take me home now and don't let me lie here on the back porch with a broken neck and two mastiffs slobbering on me until my husband gets home, which will probably not be until almost ten p.m." prayer.

(A few years ago, during February, I tried to hang curtains on that back porch--found that two painters' drop cloths were the perfect measurement to cover the opening top to bottom and side to side.  But they were HEAVY and they had a tendency to MOLD, so when the wind wasn't whipping and ripping them to shreds, the rains left them moldy.  I think they lasted a couple of months, then I couldn't stand it any more. But that's when I became quite adept at scaling said 20 foot ladder.)

These new curtains are supposed to be weather proof and they're short--they're more like a fringe of flags than drapes.  I'll be happy if they simply dim the sun a little bit.

Anyway--got the curtains up, didn't fall off the ladder (thank you, Lord!), and went back to work. And then my computer alarm chimed, reminding me that despite my sweaty appearance and slobber-strung hair, I had to be at a board meeting in ten minutes.  It's not like I'm an essential person on the Homeowners Association Board, but I am the one who keeps the minutes, so they DO call if I'm missing.

So I ran out with my computer, went to the board meeting, and made it just in time.  Fortunately, the meeting was brief, so I was soon back home and working again--finally finished my page quota around nine. As I went to bed, I consoled myself that tomorrow (today) would be my SPCA day, which is always a lot of fun.

So this morning I went to the SPCA, and found that the path to our "pho-dog-raphy studio" was underwater--completely flooded.  So I had to find a new spot to take photos, and thank goodness I only had to snap three dogs.

I had also planned on snapping several cats, so I went out to my car for my lights and stands and all that stuff, then hauled it all into the cat wing--only to find that we now have SO MANY CATS that there wasn't a spare inch of workable space for me to take pictures in!  You have to have an enclosed space, or the kitties will run away and possibly get hurt, so the kitty photos were a no go.

So I came home to post-process the dog photos (I just love saying that), and then I caught up on cleaning my house.  Tomorrow it's back to work on revisions.

And that is all the excitement my life can take today.  :-)

Enjoy the photos:  Freckles, Dugan, and Tanner.  Fun little pups.

~~Angie