Calgon, Take Me Awaaaay...

Brynwood Needleworks - The Habitat at the Farmhouse

 

I think the easiest way to tell you about my day yesterday is to share the Facebook post I put up late morning...

"Let’s see. How to describe my morning so far?

I woke up to rain and a husband who’s under the weather. I let each of the dogs out, in turn, and then put them back in their kennels to get dry.

While waiting for Tag to finish his business in the yard, the two barn cats came on the porch from The Habitat (an area in the woods where I leave birdseed for the opossums, chipmunks and birds all winter). Claudette had a live chipmunk in her mouth, which I promptly scooped up. It ran up onto my shoulder where I grabbed it and put in my sweatshirt pocket to protect it from the girls.

Two mad wet cats, wanting what I’d taken away from them, so I came in the house, found a box in the basement where I secured the chippy until I could take it back to The Habitat to set it free. ..but not before it showed its displeasure by nipping my thumb and drawing first blood.

I went out to the barn, followed by two mewing felines, and put out food for them and

Claudette’s prodigal son. Hopefully, that would keep them occupied until after the chipmunk was released.

I moved the yard tractor out of the garage so the driver could pick it up this morning for service. I turned around to see that two wet cats had followed me in and gone into hunt mode. When I started the tractor, Crystal hi-tailed it back to the safety of the Compass Barn. Claudette jumped into the boat that’s in storage in the garage, where she had a bird’s eye view of all activity. She remains there for a little “alone time”, away from her kids.

I filled a bucket with water and cleaner, grabbed a brush, paper towel, and garbage bag, and proceeded back to the porch to clean up the remains of last night’s carnage... “gifts” from the girls. I’m glad I didn’t have to add a chipmunk to the bag.

Once I came back into the house, I put on my slippers, thoroughly scrubbed my hands, disinfected my thumb with LOTS alcohol, and put on a clean bandage.

While I was feeding the dogs, I put the kettle on to boil a cuppa tea. Carly delivered each dish as they were emptied, I made my hot tea, took my morning meds (Quercitin, zinc, NAC, Vit D3, and Vit C, to keep C-19 and any other nasty bug at bay), and now that the tractor has been picked up, I’m sitting down to catch my breath.

(By the way- I also looked up chipmunks and rabies. It looks like they’re not carriers, but I’ll keep the wound clean. If I start growing hair on my palms, or foaming at the mouth, I’ll head to the ER.)

How’s your morning going?"

I ended up calling the doctor's office right before lunch, just to make sure I was up-to-date with my tetanus shot (I am), and see if I missed anything. I'm just supposed to keep track of the bite location, and if it starts to look infected, I should go to the doctor asap. In the meantime, I was told that washing it out with soap and alcohol as I did was good enough. I might want to also cover it with a little antibiotic ointment (which I also did), so I'm good. 

The nurse admitted to me that she was having a hard time not laughing out loud at my tale. She said she would have freaked out if the cat had brought the live chipmunk to her. No way she would have tried to pick it up. I told her to feel free to giggle. I could actually see the humor in the entire event, as long as I wouldn't die from the rodent bite.

Most of the rest of the day was uneventful, except that late day, Claudette showed up again with a larger chipmunk in her mouth. This time she made sure it was dead so I couldn't save the poor thing. I took it from her anyway and disposed of it before she could disembowel it. Ugh. Well played, cat. Well, played.

Claudette - 1

Me - 0

Tag and Carly On One End Of Our Sectional

By the end of the day, everyone was settled in. Tag and Carly commandeered one end of the sectional, while...

Bella Butt

Miss Bella prefers to snuggle her butt right up against me on the other end of the sectional. Seriously, I sit on this too small sliver of the new sofa, as the canines have invoked squatter's rights on the rest. I'm pitiful. 

The Barn Girls were actually snuggled up on a chaise lounge on the porch, while Leo slept wherever he wanted in the barn. As an aside: I actually got close enough to reach over the top of him to turn out the barn light last night. It won't be long before he'll be visiting the vet. (Yay!)

Let's hope today goes better. I'm nursing Handsome as we try to avoid another trip to the hospital, and today, I'm going to try to get all the tax information pulled together to send to our accountant. Yes. I'm one of those people who runs right up against deadlines. I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how it goes.