Monday, April 20, 2020

4-20-2020 Monday-noon

Good afternoon!
Tons of pictures today--from McFamily and of my own.  So grab a cuppa and here we go!
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Easter McFamily pic.
The boys worked on coloring Easter eggs.
I love these little videos.

The finished eggs.
The boys after the hunt.
Liam peeling an Easter egg.

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You can see from the sidewalk what they did to the window in Daddy's office.
Covered it with hearts!
Ian loved it!
I hear of people putting up hearts and rainbows and putting teddy bears in the windows.  All good, if you ask me.  :)
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They did their planting a little before I did.  All their seeds have sprouted now.
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Voles have been just destroying their beautiful yard!
One fell into the window well.
Annie would have been going nuts, but Blink took it more like all my other indoor cats always have.
The vole wars have been going on for a few years.  They've been infesting the area.  As you may recall I had one living under one of the bushes next to my patio last year.  Haven't seen it yet this year, but I have no doubt it is still there and may have had a family by now--who knows!  *sigh*
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Okay, I promised you I would tell you all about how I am dealing with the toilet paper shortage.  I knew Leah would be able to help me with how to take care of cloth toilet wipes because it is much like dealing with cloth diapers.
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First of all I needed to order some soap nuts.  Or you can also get various kinds of diaper soaps.  Using them keeps the fabric more absorbent.
My soap nuts came with a little cotton pouch.  It said use 5-7 nuts...so I put in six.

They last for several loads.  I'll have to remember to ask Leah how many times she uses hers.
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Lastly, this is what I was waiting for!  A hundred handmade toilet wipes from a lady on Etsy.  Came all the way from England.  There's my little pouch of soap nuts on top of one pile waiting to be washed for the first time.
Leah suggested I wash them like three times first off, but I only did once and could have listened to her, of course--LOL!
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  Lots of measuring was done.  I found a set of collapsible cloth square boxes on Amazon I hoped would hold the wipes.
And a set of wet bags that I prayed would fit... 
...my little silver trash can I already had in my bathroom.  It has a black plastic insert and a foot pedal that I thought was perfect for this purpose.
All my measuring and guesswork paid off!!
The wet bag worked like a charm!
Don't worry.  I have another garbage in-between the washer and dryer right in the bathroom, too, so this one won't be missed.
Half the clean wipes are waiting up on the shelf over the washer and dryer.
The other half are on the counter next to the toilet.  They fit perfectly in the cubes!
The lady also included a little freebie of a couple of makeup cloths.
Not that I wear makeup anymore, but it was nice of her.
Anyways, this is now what I use for peeing only.  Sorry--not up to using them for pooping--LOL!  But us ladies use more TP for urine than we do for pooping.  At least I do...even with my IBS issues--LOL!  So, I am delighted with how long a single roll of toilet paper is lasting now!!  Wow!  And I have to admit these are really nice and soft.
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Okay...what else...?
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Oh, it was snowing on Monday and I saw a killdeer running down the sidewalk!!  They have this funny way of running and stopping...running and stopping...like the little birds I remember seeing on the ocean beach.  Killdeer are most distinctive. (pic off web)
I just LOVE them!  I was so excited to see one!  I haven't seen one since I was a kid in the fields near our house.  I recognized its call, but I didn't get my cell phone ready for a picture of my own fast enough.  If you have ever wandered too close to a killdeer nest you will always remember the broken wing act that they perform to draw you away from their eggs.
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For those of you who have never seen it, I found this video on YouTube.
Just seeing one after all these years!!  A sheer delight!!  What it was doing lost in town, though, I can't imagine.
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Other than the killdeer sighting...there's been the usual Critter Cafe patrons.
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I had my Thursday night video chat with Leah.  And on Saturday I had THREE video chats with the boys.  Had a chat while they ate lunch, Gramma time with Ian while Liam napped, and then a quick bedtime story at night!  Extra Gramma time that day.  :)
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But I do have potentially sad news.  It was a week ago yesterday since I planted my seeds and...absolutely nothing whatsoever.  And I soaked them when they were potted and mist them every morning.  :(
Yes, Annie did step on and crunch a couple of the pots--knocking them over trying to get to the windowsill.  (The third from the right in the two rows closest to the window--the ones needing somebody to lean on.)  So there might not even be seeds in those, for all I know.  (Confession--there's dirt behind the cabinet I haven't cleaned up yet.)
 I shut her out of the bedroom and she spent the rest of the day crying outside the door.  Awk!!  So I moved away a box that was nearby (helping her to leap up there, I blatantly believe), moved the trays closer to the edge of the cabinet, and put the spray bottle where she'd like to land...to discourage her.  She got a second chance.  So far, so good on keeping Annie off the pots...but not so good on germination.  Fingers crossed.
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Oh, but one more mishap with Annie and she's permanently shut out of there whether she cries all day or not.  Gentle Annie doesn't really possess the height and depth of true cat howling.  Miss Karma knew the song of her people.  She could make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, drown out a car radio, and likely had a distance range of a good block or two.  ;)
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Anyways, I guess that's it for this week.  Partridges are here pecking away.  We're supposed to get up to possibly even 60 degrees this week!  Wow!  Right now it is a cloudy 49 degrees...and the tiny snow piles are melting away.
 
Won't be long now and I will quit feeding the birds, clean all the poop off the patio, and be able to sit outside to read with my new pillow.  May or may not have flowers, but I will be out there, regardless.  :)
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Stay safe and well, everybody!!
Till next week. :) :)
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From someone who knew more about isolation than we will ever know...
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"I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains."
Anne Frank

15 comments:

Rita said...

My comment to get your comments. :)

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Wow, you have truly solved your TP problem. I have to admit, lately I've been so stressed over lack of internet, I have been having extremely loose stools (TMI?) I would say 50/50 for me.

Ian looks like he needs a haircut, or maybe he likes long hair. The boys were cute with their Easter photos. Leah STILL looks SO good, too.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Forgot to ask. What is a VOLE? Never heard of them. I'm off to do an internet search.

Jenny Woolf said...

I didn't realise toilet paper was short in other places. For some reason there was a big run on it here at the start of the lockdown. You are so well organised. Those are just beautiful pictures of the children, they're so good looking and sweet and I can not believe how fast they are growing too! The grown ups are looking in good shape too! Lovely family pictures.

DJan said...

Thanks for the information about the toilet wipes. We don't seem to be having a TP problem any more. I saw lots of it for sale at Costco last week. Thanks for the killdeer video; I enjoyed it very much. And yes, the boys are growing so fast, and they do look happy and healthy. :-)

Far Side of Fifty said...

Such cute boys! Glad your TP problem is solved! Hope your seeds sprout soon:)

Bonnie said...

Both boys look so cute and I can tell they had a fun Easter. Liam sure enjoyed peeling that egg! That's a big part of Easter, peeling and eating a decorated egg. I'm glad you are getting lots of video chats with the boys. That is so much fun for all of you. The window full of hearts is so cute and you can tell Ian is proud of it! I've had a teddy bear in one of our windows and so have a few neighbors. I love to see the happy symbols of us all sticking together through this.

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

Your McFamily are wonderful, thank you to Leah for sharing Easter Eggs too. You are so nice Rita to share your week. Hope Annie learns that jumping up where the peat pots is not a good place to land.
Hugs
Joy

Anvilcloud said...

Sue has mentioned that we used to do diapers and could do tp if necessary. Fortunately it hasn't been necessary. After that crazy early run when we had enough anyway, obtaining tp has not been a problem for us.

However, I always clean with wet after using tp for unowhat, and I can no longer find those wipes, so I am now using cloth for that function.

pearshapedcrafting said...

How lovely to see the boys experimenting! Loved watching Liam peel and eat that egg - plenty of drool going on and so funny when he just wanted to eat the yolk! Love how the window was decorated! I couldn't work out what a window well is - does it keep cold out? Glad you sorted you TP problem! We managed to buy some with our on line grocery order last week so have enough for a few more weeks!
How lovely that Killdeer is! It lovely to see an unusual visitor in the garden! We had a buzzard circling for a couple of days the other week - not seen it since!
I do hope you get some plants to grow!
I'm off for a catch up now - just don't seem to get on the computer very often these days but I do so appreciate your visits - smack on the hand for me I think! Hugs, Chrisxx

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Great to see the Easter videos of Liam and Ian and their egg coloring and peeling. The hearts window decoration was very sweet and I have seen a few others online, but none locally on my walks. The cloth wipes do seem more ecologically friendly than using so much TP. Some stores here are still out or limiting purchases, but luckily we are OK for now. Too bad about the seeds not taking, but I'm not a gardener so no advice here.
To answer your question about the FEE movies sites and whick I liked, I really liked The Internet Archive because of the vintage ads and movies there, but the quality on some wasn't that good. I also liked Tubi but only watched 1 movie there. The Hoopla and Kanopy free streaming from my local library are very good and I watch a lot on YouTube. Hope this helps.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Great post, with lovely Easter videos thankfully I have plenty of toilet paper.

Divers and Sundry said...

Easter festivities! What fun!

I used cloth diapers for my kids but hadn't considered the same system for cloth wipes instead of toilet paper. I'm tempted to get a bidet installed.

What a pretty little bird! I like seeing birds I don't usually see :) Maybe the seeds just need more time. Mine never sprout as quickly as I expect them to. Here's hoping! It sounds like Spring is coming soon to your neck of the woods. We're having highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s here and rain every few days. Patio weather when it's dry :)

Deb J. in Utah said...

Hi Rita - interesting post. I am just now catching up on blogs after a very busy week. I love that cloth TP idea. Great way to save TP if one is up to the extra work and laundry. We are starting to find more TP on store shelves around here. Your grandsons are sure cute. Looks like you all had a nice Easter Celebration.

Lady Fi said...

Such fun shots