Oh Routine...Where Art Thou?

We motored back over the mountains, down the turnpike, and through the toll booths on Tuesday, arriving home too late in the evening to see much of the changes (if any) in the ol' homestead. But after a refreshing night's sleep in my own bed, I bounded up at first light, filled with that thrill that comes when you are opening the first package under the Christmas tree.  Garden Walk!

Wow! Is is possible we were gone only 10 days?! So many things in our garden have started to ripen and are ready for picking. Now. As in, right now! It will take at least a week to get caught up. As Mr. T says, I always need a vacation when I come home from "vacation." Sigh.  I'll post all about the garden over on my other blog, Gardening With Giants. Click here to go there...

Even with all the time and attention the gardens now require, I must remember there are other things that need doing. Thankfully we are ahead of the game, so to speak, with chores: we changed the sheets, did laundry, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, and dusted before we left (told you my To Do list was lengthy...:); and, we did laundry at Missy M's, so the only dirties we have to deal with are the clothes we wore on the return trip. Still, there are few necessaries in the fridge or the pantry, so a trip to the grocery is in order.  Or, at least "on" order...as I am still a huge fan of online Express shopping at Harris Teeter.

Abbie apres nail trim

Also, I took advantage of an nice offer our vet (Guilford-Jamestown Veterinary Hospital) made recently: "like" them on Facebook and make an appointment for a free nail trim. Since Abbie missed getting her nails trimmed on her last vet visit (she was not in the mood, shall we say?), and since I had trimmed Elmo's and Duche$$'s nails just before we left (no easy task, as they have nails as thick as chop sticks and as hard as, well, nails...:-), I made an appointment for Abbs to get a mani-pedi on Thursday.

Easier said than done. Abbie...our little "chicken dog," who is a holy terrier at home but a meek, mild, scaredy-cat when out of her own domain...has apparently found her voice in Looeyvuh. Great. Ella Rae and Dixie taught her to bark at anything and everything that moves (which is an excellent trait when you are guarding a single woman's home, right?), and she is taking her lessons to the extreme. She's now a mixture of scaredy-cat-meets-Cujo. Not easy to handle. Here she is after surviving that trauma...looks like she's saying "hey, I'm cool...no big deal..." Right.

Mr. T had an appointment to keep Thursday, too. He had a follow-up with his ortho surgeon about his knee. Oh me. Not a pleasant time. The dr. drained the accumulated fluid on the left knee AND gave him a cortisone shot. Ow. Double owwwwww. But at least he said "no more crutches," which is a good thing since Mr. T had stopped using them a week or so ago anyway. Now he has to exercise on the recumbent bicycle and get fitted for some orthotics...all to help in the battle of keeping arthritis from taking over the left knee. We shall see...

And me? Well, I have been wading through the mount of mail and plethora of phone messages. Paying bills. Touching bases. Trying to catch up on some work. And, seeking the solitude of routine to get me on track again.

Routine? It's around here somewhere. I'm almost positive I saw it under that pile of papers...