..."your call is very important to us..."

I knew that I HAD to accomplish some paperwork today...

after all, my annual county mandated flood insurance payment...
[$388...ouch...] was due tomorrow...
I needed to pay the last little bit...
[$6.97 that my previous insurance wouldn't pay...]
for the ER x-rays from my finger dislocation last December...

as well as a "follow-up" call in the ever continuing saga...
of my attempt to retrieve the last of my TSA funds...
[money needed NOW...since I haven't gotten work yet...]

I started first with what should have been a quick call...
["you received the fax yesterday ? so everything is now OK...
& the check is in the mail ?"]



to my TSA company...in MO...

"no... there's no fax yet...
no...there's nothing we can do until they contact us...
with the clearance to send you your $$$..."

so I called "them"...
[they're in Kansas... ironic, huh ?...]



after pressing "1" for English [don't get me started..]
I was treated to a very twangy recitation...

"welcome to our customer service line...
your call is VERY important to us...
however, all of our customer service representatives...
are currently helping other customers at this time...
as we are experiencing a heavier than normal traffic flow...

if you wish to stay on the line...
you will be helped in the order you have called...
if you wish to leave a message, press "1"...

after a couple of seconds of hopeful silence...
the Muzak began...
[why is it ALWAYS a whiny saxophone ?]
interrupted by a friendly man or cheerful lady...
reiterating just HOW important my call was to them...
and thanking me for my "patience"...

after 37 seconds of "music[?]"...
the loop began again with the twangy lady's message...
she lasted about 12 seconds...
then 25 seconds of music[?]/soothing talker...

then the loop began again...

FOR 47 MINUTES & 38 SECONDS...

[I'm not guessing..I kept checking the elapsed time on my phone...]

when the mind-numbing sameness was broken by "ringing"...
I held my breath...praying that I hadn't been disconnected...
& that I would NOT hear...

"...if you want to make a call...hang-up & dial again..."

thankfully, it was a nice guy with a twangy Kansas accent...

he listened to my travails...
and spent time first researching my question...
then crafting a letter to be faxed to my annuity company...
that should release my $$$...

he also agreed to fax me a copy & we said good-bye...

I then called my annuity company...
[more menu choices... why don't they let you "press x" for "bite me" ?]

they, of course, had NOT received the fax yet...
& since I couldn't recite it from memory...
[my copy was to go to the church...]
the customer service rep. was a bit loath to say...
that the check would be on it's way soon...

so I have to call back tomorrow...
[where have I heard THAT before ?...
oh yeah... HERE... from THEM...yesterday...]

they should have the fax by then...
then I just have to hope that it's what the annuity company needs...
to release my money in a timely manner...
it's NOT a good sign that when I got here[the church...]
there was NO fax waiting for me...sigh...

I also managed to call & renew my FEMA flood insurance...
[I had to call to use a credit card...]
then I called my insurance agent to get her working...
on some quotes for less expensive car/home owners policies...

I also RSVP-ed a wedding...
[I'm playing a different one earlier that same day...]
rescheduled my haircut for August 13, when I will hopefully have $...
mailed some letters on the way down to the church...
and then scheduled several bills to be paid online...
later this month, just before they're due...

then wrote several blog posts & published same...
since stupid Blogger doesn't publish my "scheduled" posts anymore...

all in all... a fairly productive day...
& since I was smart and CLOSED the bathroom door when I left...
Mz Sneaky Pie won't have created any MORE paperwork for me...

now I just have to hope that I"ll have good news tomorrow...
when I call my annuity company, AGAIN...

*SIGH*

...garden update, 2.0.2

after loosing most of my peaches to rats...
[they climb out on the limbs...
& eat the fruit right off the branch...]



I'm determined to get to eat my 3 Fugi apples...
[which in the past, have suffered the same fate...]

so I'm asking : "does anyone know of a way to protect...
the ripening apples from tree rats & mice ?"

is there something I can put around them ?
something I can put on them ?

anything short of putting out poison...

if anyone has an idea, let me know...



as I was taking the picture of the apples...
something caught my eye...
a movement in the grass...

can you see it ? down & to the right of the old cart...
in the clump of grass below the tomato vines...
[click on the picture to enlarge it...]



"Herself"...Piglet, Queen of the Garden...
snoozing in the tall grass...

until she hears Molly, then she scoots under the chaise...
not wanting to play "chase" with the dog...



the grapefruit sprouts are doing so well...
if you make it bigger, you can see even more tiny shoots...



on the lower left, a growing blood orange...
[didn't have any last year...]
the upper right, tangerines...
[haven't had any of these for YEARS !]



after dealing with the doggie dirt devil aftermath...
I propped up the cherry toms...



which were about to break under their own weight...
with an old trellis & a stake...



I had suspected that the ripening cherry toms...
were the heirloom,"black cherry" by their size...
& as you can see, as they are now "coloring-up"...
they are most decidedly black-ish...

I also munched a "sun gold" that fell off...
it wasn't ripe, but it was close...



there are ripening tomatoes, everywhere...



I've seen some on every bush...



which is very encouraging...
since I haven't always had good luck with the heirlooms...

but not this year...



here's a lovely "pink Caspian" I picked today...
and there are "Bradywines"& "pink Caspians" a plenty...

YUMMM !!....



the pole beans have discovered the whirly gig pole...
I discouraged them a couple of times...
but they are determined to climb every height...
I'll never be able to get the beans down from there...



there are beans here...



and here....



and at least 4 good sized Japanese eggplant...



in these pictures, they need water...
they'll plumb back up after a nice drink...

now if I only had squash...
I could have a home-grown veggie au gratin...
baked with crusty Parm cheese on the top...
just like Mom used to make...

...dastardly doggie diggings

this picture of my growing squashes was taken 6/20...

I found this today...



though I had blocked off the bed...
Molly got in & had dug a hole halfway to China...
[probably to bury a pig's ear...]



I don't know if the crooked neck squash will survive...
the zucchini in the top left corner seems un-dogged...
as do the cukes in the bottom corners...

I guess it's my own fault...
for putting a hook & eye lock on the garage door...

she was getting there...
probably attracted by the dead possum...
that I recently disposed of...
knocking things down & making a mess...

I don't leave her in the back too long alone...
but it can sometimes stretch out...
if the kitties are slow to eat their food...
which can't be "down" when she's inside, "at large"...
or she eats it & they don't get enough...

& I was so looking forward to squash...

*sigh*

...the peaceable kingdom

Creamer is still at the vets...
probably through the end of the week...
she'll come home when her diarrhea abates...
but the week she's been gone has had an unexpected effect on us all...



yesterday morning, about 7 AM when I ventured out of the bedroom...
I noticed a strange calmness in the house...
as I looked into the LR/DR, I saw Molly...
still sleeping in her crate...
but I also observed Lucyfur & Mackie...



laying in a patch of sunshine on the runner...
washing each others faces...
then rolling about in playful frolic...
Thomas was stretching & sauntering in my direction...
but quietly... past Sneaky Pie...
who paused to rub heads with him [her sworn enemy...]
looking like good buddies as they strolled together...

MJ was rubbing my ankles...
Cagney & Charlie were lobbying for an early breakfast...
but NO ONE... was hissing, growling or being a butthead...
and then I realized that the corrosive element that was missing...
was Creamer...

she hadn't always been so crabby...
but had gotten much worse in the last month...

swatting & yowling at anyone who came close...
creating an atmosphere of fear & malice...
so now that she'd been gone a while...
even old enemies were so relieved...
that they were now getting along...

I knew that I was glad to not have to always look where I was stepping...
for fear of stepping on her...
or in one of the puddles she'd leave everywhere...

it was nice not to have to carry paper towels & cleaning spray...
when ever I walked through the house...
the rest of the gang could actually walk through the utility porch...
to the cat boxes without stepping in something nasty...
I could do laundry without disinfecting the floor first...

and it was so nice to not hear...
the constant conflict seeping through my bedroom door...

so I decided to make some changes before "she" returns...

I borrowed a 30" x 30" x 18" cat cage from a friend...
Creamer will have her own space, safe from all interlopers...
[real & imagined...]

she'll have her proper food, water, a bed & a litter box...
she'll be where she can survey everything that goes on...
without being able to continue her "reign of terror"...

she'll feel secure & have the proper food to get better...
the rest of the kitties won't bother her...
[they only reacted to her crabbiness, anyway...]
Molly won't get her nose clawed anymore...
the other kitties will continue to be the "get along gang"...
and I won't be constantly brokering peace...
as well as cleaning up nasty messes...

perhaps then the Corona virus will work its way through...
and won't reinfect anyone else...

it would be nice to be able to not have to watch...
as any more of my friends, sicken & die, long before their time...

...garden update, 1.3

spent the entire day outside yesterday...
enjoying the light breeze and moderate weather...
after enduring the heat wave last weekend...



the driveway fence boxes look SO good...
they're filling in well & the watering system WORKS !

so after mowing the lawn...

no small matter, as it involved discovering & disposing of...
the quite dead possum in my garage, next to the mower...
[fortunately, I was putting out the trash anyway...]
then, having just enough gas to get through the thick grass...
without going on a gas buying expedition...

and did I mention that it was after 10 AM...?
so it was pretty bright out there...
not hot, just BRIGHT...

I will tan OK, but the light hurts my eyes...

& even with sunglasses, I get headaches...

that accomplished, I turned to the front porch...
with its messes & problems to solve...



I got this to help solve one of them...



these two hanging geraniums had a bad spring...



and now need to have more potting soil added to their baskets...
[the moisture saver kind with MG plant food added...]
and some rocks on top of that to help keep the new soil IN the baskets...

this will involve climbing ladders & getting dirty...



I spent several hours planting portulacas...
and moving them to the front...
they languish in the shade & needed to be in the sun...



I also planted these crimson dianthus, blue lobelia & white allyssum...
I still have some more of these to plant...
as well as some petunias & begonias...
but I really have to clean off the porch first...



here you see a small lantana, next to the gardenia...



and another,["Radiation", I think...] hiding where a small azalea died...
it can get very bright & hot here, at least for a few hours...
but it's morning sun that's gone by 2 PM...
and lantanas flourish in bright sun...



and a nice surprise !

the newer grapefruit seeds I stuck into the pot...
are sprouting !
if you look closely, you can see 2 seedlings & a sprout just opening...
what fun ! a mini grapefruit grove...

and saving the best for last...



more peaches...
and 4 tomatoes...
2 Brandywine pinks & 2 Ace...

yumm...

...roses

not a prolific year for roses yet...
but the few that come are spectacular...

the paler pink are the root stock from climbing "Joseph's Coat"...
the multicolored stock died back...
and the pink root stock remained...

I'm really glad, because I would have never bought pink on purpose...
but I am really enjoying these...

enjoy...

...stupid Blogger

is anyone else out there...
having problems with scheduled posts NOT posting ?

This has been going on for a couple of weeks now...

I write several posts to be published at a future time...
put the desired publish date/time in the post...
hit "publish"...am told that it's "scheduled"...

and it never publishes....

stupid Blogger...

I've learned to deal with l-o-n-g image uploads...
having to put a group of images "backwards"...
so that they'll print,"in order"...

but the "scheduling of posts"... worked...

for a long time...
now, not at all..

since I have to travel to get online...
the scheduling allowed me to keep some sort of presence...
on a sort of regular basis...

and now...

I apologize for the rant...
but it really annoys me...

I guess this means that my posts will come in bunches...

stupid Blogger...