Is it a cold or allergies?

I think I have a cold. I have been sneezing and everything smells kind of funny, sure signs of a cold instead of just dry air and really irritated sinuses. I have been having problems with my sinuses, never been prone to allergies, but here seems to be a different story. It has been quite unpleasant.

Yesterday I finished up the grapefruit tree. As far as I know it still has two baby grapefruit on it. I will have to go look. They are so tiny I have to hunt for them. The other day I enlarged the berm under the tree and yesterday I added a second sprinkler head so the other side of the tree could get water, fertilized it and put down six bags of chunky potting soil to use as mulch. It is very high in organic matter so I figured that would work. It looks pretty good. At the same time I hooked up the tiny line I pulled from the shed and now have an automatic filling bird bath. When I figure out where it is going to be permanently, I will dig it into the ground. Thinking along the edge of the tree line to keep it shaded most of the day. The birds are going to be disappointed as I also replaced the timer on the system so that it shuts off completely when it is done. The old one was letting water through so there was water coming out of it all the time and I saw bird after bird go and get a drink from it. They will adjust.

I bought a new seed block yesterday, but am hesitant to put it out. I have a whole flock of mourning doves that came in and decimated it. It is quite pricey, so I think I am going to just give them a certain amount of loose seed for a while to try and keep the cost down. That block didn’t last three weeks. The one I had in the desert lasted the whole time I was there and it was still there when I left. I’m also only filling the feeders once a day and when it is gone, it is gone. They will have to wait until the next day. Just too expensive to try and keep them full.

Today’s project is to replace the faucet on the bathroom sink. Both the kitchen and the bathroom fixtures came the other day. But I don’t want to do the kitchen one until my water filter gets here. I will have to drill a hole in the counter for the filter faucet. Considered just getting the above sink adapter, but I really want it off the faucet and separate. Besides the new faucet is one of the pull down sprayer types and it wouldn’t work.

I still have a whole list of things I want to do. I could never get them done in a day so I am picking them off one by one. Since I have been sleeping in the chair in the living room, I am really tired. But in order to keep Kali Cat out of the bedroom, that is what I have to do. She really wants to go in there, but if she pees in there, there is a good chance I would never find it. So I am keeping her out which is keeping me out. If I go in and close the door, she will sit there and scratch at it until I get up and let her in. It is a hollow door and is very loud, she uses her claws. That is one of those “bad” sounds that makes me want to yell at her. She is still alert, loving, and somewhat agile. She can and does jump up on the arm of the chair, which is quite high, is getting around fine and seems to have all her faculties. Other than the peeing issue which is getting bad, she is Kali Cat. I don’t know how long she can continue like this, or how long I can. Yesterday was a bad eating day. She didn’t like anything I gave her, especially the food with the pill in it. Today seems to be marginally better. She ate most of her pill food so I gave her more.

Yesterday was soup day at the club house. There were two, turkey noodle and ham and bean. Made from Easter dinner leftovers. I wasn’t going to go, but since I had to go out and get rid of my trash and cardboard, I combined the two. I was bad, ate bread and cake. I had cake on Sunday too, and I haven’t been walking because of my knees. So I really do need to get out there and walk. Going to try again this morning. I didn’t get to walk yesterday because the guy that bought the tracker had to bring the paperwork back to be notarized. You can’t sell a car in Arizona without having it notarized. What a pain in the ass.

I’m going to look into becoming a notary. Here you have to have a bond before you can apply and you also need to buy an insurance policy, plus the cost of the application. But everything is good for four years. I should be able to make that money back in four years. It could be handy to have a notary in the park. We ended up going to White Rock Real Estate because I bought thru them and all agents are required to be a notary. They didn’t charge us, but we did have to wait until he was done with his current clients. That took almost 40 minutes. Not that being a notary would have helped in this transaction. I think they would frown on me notarizing myself.

I’m really enjoying the cooler temps. Supposed to be back up in the 80’s around Monday or Tuesday, then the 90’s by the end of the week. I am going to enjoy this while I can. Finish up my outside projects before it gets too hot again. I still need to move the bird feeders and get the second shade sail up. Although I am not sure the chain link fence will hold it in a good wind. We’ll see. Plus the shade cloth on the end of the patio (if it ever gets here). Still need to get the shed organized and useable. Every time I turn around, it has become a disaster once again. I found the shelf liner stuff so I can finally organize my tools in the tool chest. Half of the stuff in the shed is camping gear. When I get the new trailer, that will free up a lot of space in the shed. Gotta get Ody sold first tho. And that isn’t going very well.

The finished tree and new bird bath…

I think the bird bath is going to go on the opposite side of the tree where it will be shaded most of the day. I am going to put it on the edge of the berm slightly tilted towards the tree so that when it fills and over flows, it will go to the tree instead of just on the ground. I will also buy most of it to help keep it cool.

The little garden seems to be doing OK. Everything came up and looks healthy enough. The bunnies haven’t ventured up on the patio, and even if they did, they would have a hard time getting what is in those two pots. They don’t like asparagus, they didn’t eat the ends I put out the other day. They don’t like brussels or watermelon rind… pretty picky for free vegetation. Not sure a compost pile would be a good thing here. Maybe if I had a tumbler I could get away with it, but everyone is so close, a standard pile wouldn’t work. I’ll keep my eyes open for a used one I guess. I need to thin the tomato plants and will pot up the ones I pull.