Lath work and post holes and bids on exterior plaster. Also (other people's) dogs and horses.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Tony's done for the week; that's his beautiful lath work up there. Clarence Sr. will be back on Monday to help him with the rest. If weather and temps hold, Sherm will be here on the weekend to work on the interior plaster. We also had Philip come out with a power augur to dig post holes (Wings has done it by hand in the past, but since the neighboring cattle wrecked the south fence, there were far, far too many for him to do it himself at this point). We had to reschedule Samuel (whose name, BTW, is Spanish and pronounced Sahm-WELL, not SAM-yoo-ul); he'll be here around 1 PM or so tomorrow to give us a bid on the exterior plaster. We have another informal bid already, so we'll have a point of comparison.

In the meantime, all the usual stuff proceeds apace. The two neighboring pups have decided they trust me now, and they come by every evening to be fed. they come by in the daytime, too, but Raven's territorial, and I have to keep him in check. In the evening, he can be kept indoors more easily. The girl pup's wounds, shockingly, have mostly healed; not only did she not lose the forepaw that was so badly shredded, it's mostly back to normal size and shape. Thank all that's holy for strong pupster immune systems — and for the veterinary antibiotics we managed to get into her. Her "brother" is a black pit, AmStaff rather than AmPit, but other than the broader jawline, he looks so much like Lilith it's spooky. And he has her eyes, identically. Wings also took some hay to the neighbor vet's horse over the weekend, and he's planning on getting a teen from the Pueblo to go with him to clean up the wire and other debris that's accumulated in the horse's outdoor space.

Tomorrow, it's more painting for me, the bid on the plaster, and extrapolating the next round of Lowe's orders. No time today to call the plumbers, but we'll likely do that tomorrow. If the long-range forecast holds, though, they won't be able to do any excavating for the tank until week after next; the rain will allegedly begin this coming Sunday and run right through the following weekend. Next week and the week after will also feature more medical stuff, so we'll see how everything goes.

Only one link tonight, to the wishlist for the Lowe's cards. As I said last night, I have to order interior doors and shower base tile more or less immediately, and there's a lot more to follow. As I also hinted, I'm kind of dreading the estimate on the exterior plaster, because it may be that the septic system is not the single biggest remaining expense after all. My stress levels don't really ever seem to catch a break with this stuff; I guess it's going to be that way until the house is done.

And as I also said last night, if your refund is burning a hole in your pocket, here's someone who could really use it. She's got a very long, difficult road ahead of her, and I'd like to see her and her girls and their dog have an easier time of all this than we did. From us, many thanks and much love to everyone.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.