FlyLady Influence?

Did you notice there were no posts Wednesday and Thursday? Wednesday we had unexpected company. Miss Munchkin's daddy had the day off from work so the whole family came to spend the day. When Miss Munchkin visits Grandma, Grandma gets no work done! And barely any computer time. So no writing, no posting here.

It is amazing the increased number of words that Miss Munchkin was saying Wednesday as compared to ten days earlier, the last time we saw her. Then it was "eat" and "car" that were very clear and "Pe-eey" for Penny and "Pa" with the appropriate ASL sign for Grandpa. Now it's all of those, and Penny almost has some n's being pronounced, along with "Daddy" and "Bye" and the sign for Uncle. And a lot more talking that sounds almost like real words, after several months of not so much jabbering. It won't be long and she will be talking a steady stream.

So that explains why no writing on Wednesday. Thursday, though, that was a cleaning day. Miss Munchkin told Grandma that her house was dirty. Well, she didn't come right out and tell me that, but she certainly demonstrated it. Kat has been following a FlyLady schedule the last several weeks and Miss Munchkin has been helping. Obviously she enjoys cleaning, since when Miss Munchkin was here she did the following:

• Swept the balcony with her little broom.


• Took one of Grandpa's handkerchiefs and tried to "sweep" or "mop" the living room floor with the cloth.


• Picked up any tuft of dog hair and returned it to Penny, setting it on top of Penny.


• And the one time we left my bathroom door open, she found the bottle of Ivory Liquid and proceeded to dump a large portion on the floor. Then she took a wash cloth that was on the edge of the tub and began scrubbing the bathroom floor.

So yesterday I swept, mopped and vacuumed floors. Of course, that did not take all day, but it did take a fair portion of time that I normally would have spent writing. And since I still do not have Penelope back, the rest of my writing time was spent driving! Arg!

Volunteering

For David's Speech class, he has to volunteer at a non-profit organization and then do a speech about his experience. Being the out-going people-person that he is (do you hear the sarcasm?), he chose to volunteer at the Friends Of Gypsy Feral Cat Rescue.

So far, he has volunteered eight of his required ten hours over the past three Sundays. He thought his work would consist of helping to socialize the cats, but instead he has been doing a lot of cleaning and grounds keeping as they prepared for an Open House held yesterday. And only in spare moments has he been able to really interact with any of the cats. Even so, he has enjoyed working there and it sounds like he intends to continue his volunteering even after his class commitment is fulfilled. Good for him!

I only had one caveat for David when he told me about the group and I looked over their website. I did not want him telling me about any cats that might need homes! There's a couple of really cute cats (is there any other kind?) on their website that are up for adoption, but we do not need more animals right now. Two pets in our apartment are just the right number.

This is Penny. A lot of people wonder what breed she is and we tell them she's a white shepherd mixed with who knows what! She's a good dog, even if she is afraid of her own shadow.

And this is Copper. She's a little over a year old and has adjusted very well to being an indoors cat.

So you can see, we really do not need any more animals in our apartment. So I won't be volunteering with David!

Rain and More Rain

We had more rain yesterday. The news this morning said we had 1.64 inches. And I know we had more than that on Monday. So now the pond is at full capacity. It was overflowing last night through the sluiceways and into the overflow reservoir. Even this morning there was still some water going from the pond to the reservoir. It is amazing how much water collects in these complexes when it rains. It is obvious now that the pond is here as much for water drainage as it is for esthetics.

I was looking for Mr. Alligator this morning but I did not seem him in the pond. Instead, he is now in the reservoir. He must have gone through the sluiceway along with all the extra water. He'll be more comfortable there, as the banks slope so he can get in and out of the water at any time. In the pond there were no banks, just stone walls, so when the pond level was low, there was no way he could get out of the water. Of course, getting out means he is more mobile now, but the reservoir is fenced off form the apartment complex and surrounded by open field and woods. He'll be fine until they begin to develop that area more.

I got a better look at Mr. Bird this morning. He is a Great White Heron. And today he was joined by a lot of smaller birds. They have moved from the reservoir to the pond, obviously not liking the reservoir's newest inhabitant.