12 Oakdale

December 10, Alec and Winston appeared with our new 75” TV which has taken over the south wall of the living room, starting a domino effect. I agreed to have the 3 paintings be hung in our bedroom, but first I will paint the wall behind our bed. That will happen after Grant removes the existing screws and mollys, then patches the wall. Plus I have to measure the square footage to see if I have enough green paint left from the living room to avoid buying more. More importantly, it means we don’t have to make another color decision. For the nonce, the paintings are lying on the guest bed. We also can reclaim the bookcase for the books stacked on the ottoman and Dad’s sea chest. That means Suelen, the Brazilian woman I’ve hired to clean twice monthly ($115/visit) will have less stuff to move, dust, move dust.  She and her assistant Frabrina came December 20 and spent 5 hours deep cleaning the house ($250 and worth every penny). They scrubbed every surface, wiped the grime, mopped the ...

I woke up with a fever and coughing. I’ve caught the cold that Clara has been fighting all week. We thought she was past the contagious stage when she came over to make cookies last week. Guess not. The next day, her fever was back. What’s done was done. Another opportunity for my immune system to be exercised. Stephane, Kyle and Clara came over for our traditional Christmas dinner of roast beast, a three-rib hunk of beef that we will be eating on for a week. Steph made beet and greens salad, Kyle brought huge twice baked potatoes (half of mine is waiting for me in the fridge), Grant made his green beans with tomatoes at Clara’s request, and I baked a mincemeat pie, topped with whipped cream. Pickles, garlic white bean dip with crackers, and cookies filled any empty spots in our tummies. The kids used to love a song titled “No More Room For Broccoli” which explained how stomachs could be too full for nutritional dinner parts, but there was always room for dessert. We filled every nook ...

When I went to Serbia to see long-eared owls, on the way I visited my niece in Switzerland. Fortunately the first weekend, my other niece came down from Sweden to see me, and she introduced me to the two-pants v one-pant day. What a wonderful concept. They had offered to translate the temps from Celsius to Fahrenheit, but since I have no idea what to wear at anything under 70°, that was useless. So each morning, Emily would tell me, “ Aunt Pam, today is a _____ pant day.” What a help. Of course, looking at owls in Serbia was always a two-pants day, plus long down coat, scarf, gloves, boots, etc. Today I got up today at 3:00 AM to participate in my first Christmas Bird Count, I knew it was a two-pant day here in central Florida. I was to meet Wes at the MacDonalds in Mount Dora at 4:00. We would drive to a wooded area and look for barred owls and any other type owl until 6:00, when we would head back to Mickie D’s for breakfast. I planned to skin down to one pair of pants in the bathroo...

The first cold front of the season has slipped in, and, baby, it’s cold outside, with a low of 41° Monday and Tuesday night. Yesterday, it warmed up some, and only dropped to 45° last night. Brrr. I made William a cardboard den and placed a lamp over it for some heat which is fine since it didn’t rain. A temporary solution. We have to design and build him a weatherproof structure before colder temperatures come. Annie has been reluctant to venture out after being stuck on the porch one of the cold nights. She had refused to come in when we were going to bed. The next morning, she let me know it was all my fault that she was cold. Since her kitty litter is out there, I used a gentle prod to help her make her mind up to go out. She caught on. Now I have to carry her out. She is a fair weather cat. Sleeping on the couch in the warmth  is her plan, with occasional forays to her food bowl.  I’ve added fast walking to my exercise program since I’m reluctant to swim even with my wets...