Profiling Sophie

This is our beautiful Sophie. She will be 15 years old in May and she came to live with us in November of 2007. At that time we only had Rosie inside, and Dood still lived outside. After he was injured and had to come inside, Sophie had two boys to deal with. Rosie was 10 years old and Dood was 7. She was the baby at 1 1/2, and it was fun to see all the interactions of the three as they sorted out the pecking order. It was soon established that Rosie was the alpha cat, despite his gentle spirit. 

However, for the past 6-plus years, Sophie has been the Queen of all she surveys. She visits you in the bathroom, loves life on a pedestal, even if it is just a piece of paper, and give her a box and she is thrilled (it seems a new one arrives every other day).

I miss my boys very much, and as much as I would love to open my home and heart to a new furry friend, I think Sophie is perfectly happy as things are and I don't want that to change. So for now, I love my Sophie-girl.

Getting Started

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one. - Mark Twain

Sounds simple, right? It is and it isn't. We, and I speak from experience, look around at our house, our list of projects and suddenly feel overwhelmed. We may even utter the words "if only..." At this point it may seem easier to battle space aliens than deal with our tasks at hand.

It is easy to let things get out of hand and pile up to the point that we have no idea how it happened or where to begin. It can start by putting off one thing, saying "I'll do that tomorrow". We continue to do this in favor of what we'd rather be doing. After a while we have a backlog of undone tasks. 

These are often things that would have taken only a few minutes had they been done in a timely manner. Now we are faced with tackling a laundry list of tasks, one of which may actually include doing laundry.

As Mr. Twain states, break down your big task into little tasks. We will use a desk as example, and this is particularly apt with more people working from home these days.

First start by putting away everything that doesn't belong there. My desk is a catch-all for everything I don't want to deal with at the moment, and you know how quickly that can get out of hand. 

Next sort out the papers into file, recycle, shred piles. Put the recycles and shreds into their appropriate bins. Now you're left with filing, and that's everyone's favorite thing to do, right? No peeking at my desk now. To make filing easier, sort papers into related piles, e.g. bills, receipts, medical papers, work-related, and miscellaneous (which translates to "I still don't know where that goes".) Hopefully you already have a filing system –⁠ albeit neglected...or we wouldn't be here would we?

Most of us know these things, and once we have gone through the onerous process, we vow that we will never let it get that way again. Let me know how that works for you.

Merry Christmas

 Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Winter Cheer

It is feeling much like winter today, without the snow. We had freezing rain earlier, but now it is just cold, having apparently reached the high today of 36, and we are headed down to 28 degrees tonight. I would have much preferred to look out the window this morning to something akin to the scene below. Alas, the 10-day forecast is for dry and mild-ish days and cold nights so it seems there will be no white Christmas for us. 

Mild and cold are relative terms, of course. What is weather like where you are this year?

 

The Holidays Are Different This Year

 I don't get very many visitors around here these days. Consequently, I don't post as often, as one is motivated by the other. At any rate, I won't miss posting over the holidays.

Things are different this year due to Covid, and not everyone is on the same page when it comes to masks or no masks, to gather together in person or not. This is not to criticize anyone or group, just questions and answers based on nearly a year's worth of reading, statistics and my own ponderings.

Is it real? Yes. 

Is it dangerous? That depends a lot on your age and current health status. 

What is my likelihood of contracting Covid? Well, location, lifestyle and close or prolonged interaction with others outside your household increase your chances of catching it. 

Could I die? Yes, but the percentage is slim. 

You say many people have mild or no symptoms so why should I worry? You could be passing it to susceptible elderly folks or those with compromised health. 

Most people recover don't they? Yes, but some people take weeks or months to recover and some have ongoing health issues because of it. Consider, too, the time lost from work and lost income. They have more than Covid to recover from and both could take a long time.

So, the bottom line is that while it is mild and not troublesome for the majority of those who get it, it is a really big deal to others. Hundreds of thousands have died in the U.S and many more are affected, either directly or by virtue of having lost a friend or loved one.

*As of this writing, over 16 million people in the United States alone have tested positive for Covid, and over 300,000 have died. Worldwide, over 1.6 million people have died from Covid. 

Is it serious? That is for you to decide for yourself and act accordingly, and wash your hands often.

*https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

There are many sources of covid information. I don't know that any of them are entirely accurate due to discrepancies in testing and reporting, etc.