Vacation is rapidly winding down. I’m in the process of using up my 2022 allotted time, and as always after the holidays, I end up with at the very least 2 weeks and sometimes as many as 3 that have to be used up before April. And then the whole thing starts over again with a 4 week’s allotment. When I was with my previous employer, they allowed me to take 2 weeks of actual time off and paid me for the other 2, which worked out really well. They received an extra 2 weeks of work from me, and I got paid for the extra weeks of vacation as well as the pay for the 2 weeks that I worked. I can certainly see the present company’s preference/policy about paying more, but IMNSHO, they receive more in terms of the work that I provide, so why not let it be a win-win? Regardless, it’s their policy, I just have to endure it.
As usual, I had a plan (or a set of plans) for this vacation. My intent was, with the new kitten in the house to make inroads on ‘kitten-proofing’ the house, from the basement disaster area to the room we’ve been keeping her in until she gets older. Too, when we got her, there was an issue with the relatively new double power recliner we bought in October. As it turned out,m the back of it was just high enough for a kitten to crawl under and get stuck. So after a tense 30 minutes of not knowing where she was (and then finding her), I managed to upend the furniture and there it sat in the den, unusable until I could come up with a solution that kept her out from underneath and still allowed us to use it.
Which turned out to be the plastic chicken wire that the wife had gotten to keep the neighborhood cats from using one of our flower beds as a litter box. It apparently works well on the backside of furniture, once stapled into place with a pneumatic staple gun. Done in the middle of the night, while everyone else is asleep.
It worked so well that my wife was unaware that the piece of furniture was even changed from the position it was in for 3 weeks. So far it seems to be working. Princess Bella hasn’t ventured to go underneath or attempt to circumvent the solution. Of course, this is just today, I can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the next day.
One of my other intended projects was working on the space next to my computer desk, which hasn’t been hoe’d out in several years. It’s sorely in need of some work, if for no other reason than I have a 1980s-era metal power strip that, believe it or not, has been usable since I moved into my dorm when I first started college. That’s right, you read that correctly. I have a power strip that I started college with, and it’s STILL working well and hasn’t shorted out or anything of that nature. You can count on the fact it wasn’t made in China. US made, through, and through. Take that, Bejing! Though it might be better if it wasn’t buried under papers and other assorted debris, possibly creating a fire hazard. So, that needs to be attended to as well. Yes, the look of horror on some people’s faces right now is almost enough incentive for me to stop tapping away on my laptop keyboard and do that. I’ll get to it. Promise.
Finally, the room where Bella sleeps needs to be finished being kitten proofed. I’ve made great inroads since we started using that room for her, but I haven’t quite gotten over the finish line. For years that room was collectively known as ‘Oliver’s Room’. Oliver was my wife’s old cockatiel. While we had the previous 2 cats here (Jeb & Rochester), Oliver ruled the roost from his bedroom and came down in his cage for a couple of hours every day, so he could interact with us, fly if he wanted to (my wife never clipped his flight feathers, so he never knew a time when he didn’t have the option of flight, except when he got too old to be able to do it on his own) and generally not be alone as much. After he finally passed in 2015 (he lived to be 29 if you can believe that!) we still colloquially referred to it as Oliver’s room, since it was for so long. Now, at least for the time being, it’s being referred to as Bella’s room. Probably when it comes time for her to start roaming/patrolling the house at night, sleeping where she wishes, it will become Oliver’s room again. Time will tell of course.
Finally, I can give myself a grade for how well I’ve done this week. As usual, I don’t grade on a curve, so I have to give myself a C+. I did (finally) manage to get the double recliner fixed, I’ve made inroads on getting the upstairs bedroom situated, but I still have the pile of debris next to the computer (and behind it) to rectify. I started working on it last evening before dinner, but didn’t get too far before the cold in the room (we use space heaters there) caused me to stop. Of course, I no longer have that excuse as the new space heater arrived, to replace the old oil-filled one that burnt up the outlet that needed to be replaced on Monday. I do have another day to rectify the issues and bump up my grade, but tomorrow is my wife’s birthday, and I have to be going to bed early that evening, as I’m returning to work at the crack of 5 am. So, it may not happen. We’ll see.