Saturday at Tabby's Place

My Day

 A day off with pay, the first day of a four-day weekend.  I woke up at 3:15 and lay awake for hours, and did Wordle and Spelling Bee to pass some of the time.  Finally got back to sleep around 6:00.

Woke up again about quarter till 8:00.  Showered, drove to the dentist for the first cleaning and checkup since January 2020.  Teeth and gums in surprisingly good shape.  Look ma, no cavities!  The dental hygienist gave me an extended semi-soft pitch to buy a Water-Pik.

* to Walmart to pick up a prescription for PG; also a few dozen pounds of bird seed.  Time was, she and I would go out to dinner and drop $50.  Now, we buy dinner for the birds and the squirrels and drop $50.

* the credit union, for some cash for granddaughter Diana's 18th birthday and so PG could cash a couple of small reimbursement checks from her Medicare medigap policy

* the Weis in Macungie, nominally for some tomatoes, but also for the drive.  It's phlox season along the country roads, tall batches of purple and white flowers standing out amidst the green.  

* Wally's Deli for The Usual, a medium Boss Hog, hold the onions, sweet peppers instead of hot, add tomatoes, lettuce, and dressing.  PG got 3 small bags of an Utz-made potato chip sold only in small bags at delis.  Kettle chips, primarily in peanut oil.

* Home for lunch.  Went back out to Costco, hoping to fill up the gas tank ($4.66 a gallon these days) prior to driving to Tabby's Place tomorrow morning.  No such luck - the lines were longer than I've ever seen at this Costco.  Settled for going inside and getting peanuts, a two-pack of Rao's pasta sauce, and a pound of pecans.  

* A thunderstorm followed.

* Put together another playlist in YouTube Music, consisting of 1980's pop with a connection to Steely Dan.  Eye to Eye and Love and Money (Gary Katz), two albums by China Crisis (Walter Becker), and some one-offs like Jennifer Warnes's cover of Big Noise, New York.  The name came from another SD fan; since there weren't any SD releases between The Nightfly in 1982 and Kamakiriad in 1993, this described the music we used to get by between the two:  Metha-Dan.  

* Moments ago, someone thought they'd get a jump on Halloween and rapidly rang our doorbell twice.  Of course, when I checked there was nobody out there.  Ha. Ha.

What made this day different?

8:30 this morning - to the township dropoff point to unload a bunch of shreddable docs.  A long line going in, but most of them were there for a lacrosse tournament.

Satisfied and glad that the zelkova tree has leafed out at last.  For weeks, the tree was mostly bare and we feared it had died along with the cherry tree and maple tree in the back yard.  Can't say why it was so late.

Indian Blanket leaves are growing in the small box at the end of the driveway.  Last year's plant did well, and though I thought I'd read it was a perennial, there was nothing living in its spot in March or April.  I figured it had dropped seeds, though, and here's the proof.

Spaghetti for supper, and PG said she wanted ice cream.  I suggested driving to the Bethlehem Shop-Rite where the Haagen-Daaz should be on sale, so we did and it was ($2.88 for 14 oz. instead of $3.98).  Even better, her favorite Dove bars were also a dollar off, and she picked up the maximum four boxes of 3 bars for $2.99 each.

I got grapefruit juice and Cento tomatoes, she got hair spray and DiCecco angel hair pasta.  We walked up and down the aisles and checked out items we hadn't seen at the local Giant/Wegmans/Weis.  The cashier rang up everything, and it came out to $80.   I guess if you get enough things at $5 or so each, it'll add up after awhile.

Put on an Enigma album via YouTube Music on the way home, which pleased PG, and that made me happy.

Otherwise, she washed the sheets and started the dishwasher, I pulled a few weeds and scooped the cat boxes, and it was your basic ordinary Saturday.  

Headline news

Baltimore calls up Rutschman 

Orioles need Adley badly

Yellow

 

The 18 Cats I Petted Today

Fenek

Shifty

Baby

Willem (came out of hiding for it)

Rawlings (came out of hiding for it)

Spaghetti (briefly, before he opened his jaws to bite me)

Crinkle Bob (brought in a chair from the solarium to sit in front of his open cage)

Oram (plus some good photos)

Elliot (plus some wand toy play with Shaggy)

Carrot (extended lap time in the sunny, warm solarium)

Mishush

Stefan

Malora (and she purred and purred)

Grecca (who wouldn't shut up until I did)

Jeannie

Frankie (aka Blue Eyes)

Obsidian

Bartholomew (frail)

I came here to chew gum and pet cats, and I'm all out of gum.

Just outside the side door

 With the better part of a hundred cats on hand at any given time, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that just outside the side door at Tabby's Place, there's a small patch of catnip, which happens to be in bloom right now.