Friday Night

I can never think up really snappy titles for these things; sorry.

Tonight I broke out the humidifiers--it suddenly got cold, which sucked all the moisture out of the air, not to mention me. The humidity was down to 46% in the living room at noon. Currently it's at 51%, which is better.

Years ago a very kind friend gave me a humongous humidifier that worked but was really noisy. Last year I finally looked at the thing and realized that it has (*gasp*) filters. Which I had never changed, and which were, not surprising, completely gross, not to mention plugged. So I found replacements online at the end of last season and put them in, and what a difference clean filters make! You can hardly hear the thing now! It's amazing!

Guess it pays to follow directions.

So besides getting overcharged a thousand dollars by the plumber when he installed the shower this past spring, it's really been nothing but a pain--it's too high to be comfortable (the guy who put it in was like 6'4"--he installed it for his height, not mine), the pipe on the handshower isn't long enough for me to use it to do anything else useful, like rinse muddy dog paws or wash my hair without taking a shower or, it turns out, to fill the humidifier tank. And the new tub faucet barely clears the edge of the tub, so I can't fill the humidfier tank there, either. What a waste of money!! I'd have complained long ago, except I don't want the guy setting foot in this house again, and I can't afford to pay another plumber to fix this guy's screw-ups.

Timber's doing fine. The laptop still has a virus and is still running the antivirus program, so I still can't post any pictures. His t-shirt and "turtleneck" came off last night and he's been good about leaving things alone. The incisions look good, no inflammation or swelling. The wind died down this evening, so I sat out with them for half an hour after I got home, his first time to play since Wednesday. Ten to fourteen days before his stitches come out, so I guess that's next Saturday, maybe, or Monday. Is that the Monday before Christmas? Yikes.

I've decided to see if I can find a suitable wood file or rasp to do the dogs' claws with. They don't seem to be too expensive; I just need to find one that's the right texture and size. I'm thinking about making some woodworking store's phone-salesperson's day by asking them to recommend a file or rasp for dog nails!

I'm making good progress on my calendar scarf, but realized I won't have enough yarn to make the entire thing, so I decided to make the first 11 patterns, skip the ones in the picture that go behind the neck that I can't see, and pick up again with pattern 15 or 16 and just keep going until I run out of yarn. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to block it. Even if I had blocking wires (which I don't), I don't know where I'd pin it out. I don't have a table or desk or rug, and the bed isn't useable (Ts nap on it). Well, I'm sure I can figure something out.

On re-reading this, it sounds pretty whiny. Sorry about that. Can I blame it on the weather?