Oh Great!

I’m really enjoying cleaning out the loft and identifying what will be recycled and finding all my craft supplies and Fred loves that the ladder is up all the time. The kittens are almost always in the loft now. And it’s warm — at times 10°. Both Darrell and I were working outside without our coats on; I was in the shed and he was in the studio.

The day, however, delivered a series of disappointments:  

Oh great: Worms.

I bought a mask in Africa that had tiny worms in it and I had to bake the mask in the oven to kill them — and for a long time. My whole condo was wood so they had to be exterminated (and using heat was a not toxic extermination solution). My bedside table is infested and it’s too large to put into the oven and my entire home is wood logs and all my furniture is the same wood as what is being eaten. Yikes!

By the end of the day: The vendor invited me to return the side table and exchange it.

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Oh great: iTunes is broken.

I listen to music all day long, from the minute I wake up to when I go to bed unless I watch a movie or TV (and that’s rare). Yesterday, iTunes started turning itself off. It taxed my barely technical brain to figure out what was going on. It kept happening no matter what remedial steps I took. But Google and I persevered.

By the end of the day: I fixed it and I can’t believe it.

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Oh great: An ash dump.

I had a large bucket of ashes on the deck. I’ve been filling it since I moved here because I wanted to read about ashes and fertilizing with them before I did anything about disposing of them. Now they are wet and all over my deck because Sheba was bored while I was working in the shed yesterday.

By the end of the day: The ashes were still there. Today I will deal with them.

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Oh great: Ugly tiles.

The tiles look like concrete. I wish I’d done terra cotta tiles but they are too porous. I chose to be practical; it’s a studio. But they’re really ugly and I can’t believe I chose them.

By the end of the day: I let go of my concern. I’ll have rugs and my creations will capture visitors’ eyes. Besides I’ll be putting in a large nice rug and some mats where I stand to work

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Oh great: Bird wars.

The Jays seem to be gone. I haven’t seen one for a few days. But the other day a Thrush showed up and the next day there were two. Today there were six and then eight and they are big and aggressive. The poor Sparrows and Chickadees didn’t have a chance. This is new.

By the end of the day: There was no more food. The Thrushes are ravenous.

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Oh great: No more pies.

There’s the pie lady but her pies are twice as expensive as the blueberry pies I love from the Village Food Market. But they’ve discontinued carrying piers and, of course, they’re very grateful for my understanding. The pie lady is only sporadic so I’m going to have to bake my pies myself. Myself!

By the end of the day: I made a deep-dish apple pie. (See photo above.) I had to patch together the top crust with a second batch of pastry because Fred and Ethel ate some edges when my back was turned. It smells great. I’ll have some later and I’ll give a nice warm piece to Darrell.