Lots to say Tuesday

We have a group text off and on with us and our 2 neighbors. We were texting around dinner time last evening and young neighbor said she had extra stuff from her garden to offer and 4 year old does free deliveries. I said I'll take a couple cucumbers. She said she'll send some other stuff, too, that I can just give the chickens. So, the boy comes down, with his backpack on his back with the produce. He is just the cutest. I just love him. He's just a chatterbox now, so different than how he was when he was 2 or 3 years old, shy and hiding behind his mom all the time. One of the things dh found in going through his hoard was his box of a hat collection - old baseball/trucker style hats. He took the boy out to the shop to pick out a hat. He dug through and found one to his liking. Blue, with NHRA on it, LOL. He said blue is his favorite color (so it is for dh). DH also had some minion items a friend of his had sent a few years ago (they would send each other minion stuff in the mail) - a color and sticker books. He also gave him a little John Deere toy tractor. He loved that and already had plans to scoop dirt in it in his outside play area where he has a little construction site in his yard ;)

So, while the 2 lots next to us are still not showing as pending sale, I did find out that the couple did list their house in WA state for sale, as she said was their plan (to buy these properties and build). They listed 7 days ago, so that leads me to believe they must still be purchasing these 2 lots. I hope so. Like I mentioned having one neighbor instead of 2 more is better and also, they seemed like a really nice couple. The house they have for sale looks really nice and is priced at $750k, which is pretty pricey for the small rural area of that state they live in. Another sign the house they build here will fit in our neighborhood. 

"Joan" commented on my previous post about cat litter and smell and suggested an air purifier. I remembered we have 2 units, or at least I thought that's what they were. They were left at our previous house by the sellers, so we kept them (they looked like brand new). So, I got one down from the closet shelf where they are stored and looked the make and model up online and yes it is an air purifier and also supposed to help with odors. It has Hepa and carbon filters. I ran it all day yesterday on it's lowest setting. It's kind of a loud fan, which is kind of annoying, but especially annoying at the higher settings. At least I heard no complaints from dh yesterday regarding smell.

Kitty doesn't really like being downstairs much in the evenings. I keep bringing him down to try to get used to it. He will visit a little while and then zip back upstairs, only to make himself annoying in the loft area, so once he goes back up I usually just put him back in the office for awhile and then try again a little later. I went upstairs at 8pm to get him and before I could even open my office door I could smell the poop. Ugh. I went in (closed the door behind me, of course!) and proceeded to go scoop out the poop out of the litter/pellet box. Nothing in there. OMG. Where did he poop?!

So...earlier in the day that this new pellet box system arrived (last Thursday) I had poured new regular litter (2nd kind to try) in the litter box. This is the Arm & Hammer unscented w/baking soda kind. It was only in there part of the day and then the pellet system arrived and I set that up instead. The litter in the box was in a liner bag, so I didn't want to waste brand new litter, so I pulled the drawstrings up on the bag, kind of tucked it over to the opening area of the bag was tucked underneath inside the litter box and set it up on top of the crate. He pooped right on top of that plastic bag in that litter box!

Ok, time to ditch the pellet system. He is now set up with the regular kitty litter and I'm going to give this brand of litter a try. I like that the litter itself has no smell. I also decided to not leave any food in his bowl at bedtime, when I close him up in the crate. He has always been pooping during the night and that's my welcome smell when I go up to my office in the morning. Ugh. Plus, with that pellet system these past 4 or 5 days, it doesn't get buried much, so really stinks until I get it out of there.

This morning I opened my door to what I consider no smell (of course dh wouldn't think so, haha). Much better! So, only feeding during the day now, for sure and hopefully with this litter when he does it at least gets buried until I clean it out. And I turned the air purifier on to run. Keep your fingers crossed for me, haha!

I called our vets office yesterday to make an appointment. They had a recording that they are now only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. WTH?! I noticed when they sent me the vials for the dog, they had a different name on their billing. I don't know if the vet retired and sold or what is going on. But 2 days a week is just dumb. What do people do when their pet gets sick on Thursday evening, they're supposed to wait until the next Tuesday? Previously they were open M-F, 8am-5pm and Sat 9-12p. I hope this is just a temporary thing for them. I mentioned to dh that I had wanted to call yesterday and make a Saturday appt so I didn't have to take another half day off work. He surprised me and said "well, I can take him in myself". What?!! Who is this imposter? LOL. So, I'm calling back today to make appt and I'm going to ask what's up with only 2 days a week and if this is permanent for their office.

I got a call yesterday from the assistant who handles paperwork/etc for my mom's retirement account, letting her know about the changing of beneficiary percentages. She is working on that and going to also pull out her current one to go over how the "contingents" were set up. She just said what she remembers is it was one of the most convoluted ones she's seen, LOL. I said yes, I had to read it numerous times to figure out what the heck was what. She said the simpler the better, when it comes time to disburse. I said I totally agree. She then set up the quarterly update call we are due to have with the main guy for Wednesday and then can finalize the %'s on the beneficiaries and she will get that paperwork printed out for mom to sign. The amount we're going to reduce uncle by, I will use to double what she had set up for her step children and the balance added to to mine. She also brought up that maybe I just want my contingent beneficiary, in case I died before my mom, to go to my husband. I think that's a good plan. That way the money that was supposed to come to me, still stays with my dh (and dd).

DH did get the firepit moved to the better area in the back. He had to first move all the big rocks that were around the pit and reset them up in the new area. He had to cut down 3 smallish fir trees that were all 3 dead anyway and cut up those trees. Then he had to rake out the old area to get is smooth to add grass seed. He watered it good and covered with some straw and it should grow next spring.