Today's lovelies

The day lily business is good.

Today's favorites. 

I got back on my walking program today. 10,000 steps and a few more chapters of To Kill a  Mockingbird. 

Progress

Barley

Only 4 days of medicine left for Barley so we are on the downhill side of this event. She's acting more normal and eating better so I'm pretty sure that once we're done pumping medicine into her, she will go back to her normal self. 

Today was a weird day. 

I had been invited to play bridge at a woman's house who I met recently and she was hosting a bridge retreat for friends from the Twin Cities area and friends from the Chetek area. She was in need of another player and had asked me if I wanted to come and I said I could play this afternoon. I had been there on Friday afternoon as well and left there thinking I had probably never before played Bridge with a group that was as experienced and had that kind of bridge expertise. But everyone was quite nice and made me feel welcome and I enjoyed the afternoon. 

Today was a mixed bag. My first opponents were duplicate players who used so many conventions I felt like they were speaking a foreign language.  They steam rolled us.  Later, my partner and I joked that it was like being on the Titanic. It was not fun.  The rest of the day the cards went better but there was residual angst in the air as the hostess & and some of her guests had gotten crosswise the previous day & evening so it was kind of weird.   

I was glad to get away.  I took a wrong turn on the way home but happened by a veggie stand that way & brought home some good tomatoes for supper. 

Life is interesting.

Summer Joy

I has such a nice day today. 

I listened to the 'Hamilton' Soundtrack,  read,  played word games,  relaxed,  and did just a few chores.  On Amazon Prime Day I bought the Echo device.  She's a fun toy and I love listening to the different genres of music.  Jazz piano, classical or like today,  a soundtrack.  She's also a good secretary.  She keeps my shopping list, sets timers and alarms,  and updates me on weather or sports when I ask.  

And,  she'll even tell me a joke.  

Today was peaceful,  the TV has been off all day.  No news, although I have not avoided seeing the latest POTUS antics on Twitter.  

But,  having the TV off does lessen the impact. 

A friend posted this today,  its a good one,  eh?

  The sunflower is one my squirrel friends planted in one of my pots of geraniums.

Stand tall. 

Happy summer.

Funk

Some days, stuff gets to me.

Yesterday I was feeling heart ache for the loss of a dear feline friend Out West.  My friends and their pets are important to me.  Knowing my friends are grieving makes me so sad.  

Our pets are...well, if you have one, you know. 

Some flowers from my yard to brighten the mood.

Friend Nina dug these phlox up out of her yard 2 years ago.
Last year the deer ate the buds, this year, it's very showy.

I planted several packages of white morning glories.
These are beautiful, but I was hoping for at least one white one.

The hops vines are growing little cones now.
The vines always yellow and dry out this time of year, but it looks like it will be a plentiful cone year.

Barley is on day 7 of her antibiotics, 7 more to go.

She's not very happy with me, but we are getting through it.

There are some issues with peeing outside box but I think (and hope) that's all part of the deal.

She seems to be snubbing the wet food most of the time, 

but maybe those drugs don't do much for her appetite.

She's not hiding under the bed all day anymore, so that's an improvement.

Yesterday I had another water leak, this one was in the utility closet on the outlet from water heater.  By the time I found it, everything back there was soaking wet.

Lucky, my pal Ryan the plumber, was able to come by after work last night and by 7pm, I was in the shower which helped adjust my sour attitude.

I suppose eventually we will have replaced every metal fitting in the entire house, but it is surely tedious and upsetting to have these continual problems.

Some days, I wish I was renting, but then I take a stroll around my yard and I feel better.

Feel better friends.

Lucky Days Parade

Stella, Ruby, Jude, Jens, Zak & Anders
Pals hanging out.  Summer fun.

I loved this parade entry from the local restaurant.  

Past royalty on the Luck float.  Sometimes lemons give you lemonade.
I have heard there was an incident with this year's royalty, so this was a great fallback plan.
Hello girls!

Frandsen Bank had all the Johansen's involved
Ruby, Anders, Jens and Jude & even Mom and Dad

The kids were having fun being in the parade.  Tossing out candy and toys.

Jude drove his 4 wheeler and the rest of the kids walked along.
Driving while looking backwards?
Guess he needs some safety tips.

Jude at the wheel, Anders, Heather, Ruby, Jens & Kyle

Serious driver.

Ruby, Jude, Jens and Anders

Jude, such a little man

Here come the Johansens

The Luck High School Marching Band

The Coen Belgiums.
Couple of beauties

Good friend Dorothy Sorensen looking regal.

The FFA kids walked some cows & calves in the parade.
I'm glad it was not a very hot day, I don't think the cows really enjoyed it too much.
But the little kids along the way did.

It was a big parade with a great turn out.

Looking forward to next year.

In and Out of Luck

This morning was the In and Out of Luck 5K Run/Walk as part of Lucky Days in Luck, WI.

I went over to take photos of the race.

The 463 photos are posted on my page wjophotography on Facebook.

 For Non Facebook Users: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.369233926828298.1073741922.285779561840402&type=1&l=2aae1290ae

(I didn't stick around for any other Lucky Days festivities, although there was a huge car/truck show lining up on Main Street.  I had to get home and take care of medicating Barley.  

She's much better but now we have to be steady eddy with the drug administration to be sure we knock out the infection.)

It was a nice morning, and I was on the road about the time I usually wake up and roll over, ha!

I caught a nice image of a typical Wisconsin sight on my early morning drive.

'Sconny

I made a quick run by the West Denmark cemetery on the way home.

I was pleased to see Dad & Ev's geranium is thriving. 

And the hosta I planted for Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt AneMarie & Bill is also doing well.

A few bug bites on the leaves, but winning the battle with the weeds between the two stones.

Once home I noticed that the squirrels have had a successful bloom of one of their plantings.

They planted this sunflower in with my geraniums, I let it grow.

Summertime and the living is easy...

Kitty health

I have been lucky that Barley and Hops have been so healthy their whole nine years of life.  Trips to the vet have been minimal and that's just the way I like it

On Wednesday evening when I noticed that Barley was trying to pee anywhere and everywhere in the house and having very little success and a lot of pain, I knew we were headed to the vet for help. They were busy at the vet and but said I could drop Barley off and they would look at her in between appointments which was very fine with me. Eventually the vet called to give me her idea of a  treatment plan.

Well I'm no vet, but I know what the symptoms are for a urinary tract infection and I know what's in my checking account. So we had a conversation about what needed to be done versus what she would like to have me do. In the end we settled on a minimal treatment plan which included a urinalysis and medication.
Normally, the vet gives you the medications you need however this time they were out of amoxicillin. So they called the prescription in to Walgreens for me. It was a source of confusion at Walgreens as, if you can imagine this, Barley was not in their prescription system. So she had to be registered as a new customer complete with HIPAA consent forms. But the Walgreens people were very helpful, maybe a little amused, and I got the drugs without much drama.

This morning at about 4 a.m. I managed to get the second dose of antibiotic down Barley's throat along with a dose of pain medication. She should be resting most of the day with the medicine on board after that day filled with anxiety yesterday. 

I don't think cats like stress anymore than humans.

From what I have heard, most cats start responding to the antibiotics within a short period of time so I'm hoping by this evening Barley will be feeling better and peeing better and then we'll have two weeks of fun, with twice a day dosing of liquid medication. I have a pretty good system of wrapping her up like a burrito but it is still a fight to the finish.

The Vet also suggested I switch the cats from a mostly dry cat food diet to a mostly wet cat food diet, something the kitties will love. Of course I'm also to feed only certain brands which are lower in phosphates to help their kidney function as they age. So the hunt is on for the right cat food with the right consistency, as the cats are a little picky.

I'll be really happy to see Barley acting like her old self and I'll be doing the dance of joy when I have given her the last dose of the medicine 2 weeks from today. In the meantime, I'll be sticking closer to home then usual to keep an eye on her and make sure that she doesn't need further testing or other diagnostic procedures and that her diagnosis is really UTI as I currently am believing.

10,000

Felt like a weakling yesterday.

Got 13,000 steps today. I guess I needed a day off.

Red Verbena

Red impatiens

Red is in this year in my yard. 

And the beat goes on

Every morning a few new day lily blooms open and I am every amazed.

On Tuesday morning I snapped some photos between rain showers.

I love these beauties.

Everyday a new batch open, so while I'm sad that they only last about 24 hours, 

I'm delighted to have the new day.

Got it done

I got my walk in this morning, went to the dentist and then came home and tackled the sewing room/ office project.  I have friends coming over to play cards tomorrow,  it's a great motivator.

I'm very pleased, good light,  room to get around,  access to the window,  organized and ready for lots of sewing. 

Along the way, I ran across this certificate in a box.  I pulled it out and framed it. Now it is on the wall in the office on my Coors wall of fame.

I got the 10,000 step award from my phone about the time I was finishing up.  It's a great feeling to have it done. 

Even with all that went on, it was good

I had a good week.
This was my first 7 day stretch of hitting my 65 minutes of activity goal.
Hopefully, I can stretch that out to 14 days in a row.

My phone sends me an award whenever I meet my goal, it's a good motivator.

BTW, the phone also scolds me if I am not getting any activity, 

that feature I don't appreciate as enthusiastically.

Who's watching who?

The cats always seem to know when something is out of the ordinary.  

The cats are such creatures of habit, I can predict where each will be sleeping, most time of the day.

But then, once in a while, the cats will do something completely random, out of pattern.

And when I notice, it makes me laugh.

Another favorite lily from this morning's bloom.

2017 07 15 Lily of the Day