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Today has been a good day.  

My visit with the oncologist (actually her PA; she had to fly to India yesterday for a family emergency) was the usual "boring" one: as usual all my labs/markers are good.  

I had gotten there early for my 10:45 appointment, but despite a filled waiting room they actually took me early, so I was out of there before 11:00.

On the way home I stopped at the Flying Pig and picked up some of Cindy's colorful thread scraps for the suet feeder.  I'm sure the nest builders will find uses for all of it.  

And on Sunday I expect to collect some roving from Perri.

Alex didn't go snowboarding today after all.  So first we went out of lunch (tried the Poke Bar, which was delicious; I'll definitely go back!) and then headed to the animal shelter.  Right before we got there I saw SAS, so we stopped and I picked up some blue ribbon for Latina, and a couple of buttons for a shirt "project".

Alex had never been there before, but I'm pretty sure he has 'filed it away' 

for the next time he needs a costume!

And then it was off to the day's Main Event.  Walking past the various cages at the shelter I saw a couple of possibilities, but once I spotted Mr. Brown I knew I needed to check him out.  

We took him into the Meet & Greet Room, and I was definitely taken with him.  

Long story short, he has joined the family.  He's very sweet, though doesn't seem to know how to play.  Pretty sure we can fix that!  Of course he likes the yard - but he was really reluctant to come in the house.

No doubt <g> I will be posting lots more pix in the coming days.

It's been a very productive day, despite my lack of sleep.  I worked much of the morning in the backyard, raking and trimming, and much of the yard is looking a lot better.  Of course I ran out of can before I ran out of leaves, so all the downed cottonwood leaves will just have to wait until the cans get emptied on Monday.

Alex got home in the wee hours of the morning 

so we got to see a little of him this afternoon.

It was another delightful day in the park with Marcie and Latina, and naturally much more peaceful once Tom finished mowing parts of the Back 40.  I even found a place for the birdbath, and now just have to wait and see how long it takes the birds to find it.  My replacement bird book has shipped, so once it arrives maybe I will be able to ID some of the visitors. 

In the late afternoon I got out the hedge trimmer and attacked the front yard.  It had gotten quite overgrown, but now is reasonably manicured and ready for the new spring growth about to appear.   While I spent a fair amount of time and effort, my work doesn't quite look like this... <g> 

Yesterday was a good upper body workout at the gym.  Again, I was able to do the inclined press without any help from Jim, "proof" that I've made progress.  And I'm not sore this morning... though the day is still young!

Sure was delightful to sit out back in the sunshine yesterday afternoon!  Latina was exuberant; she had missed her time in the park and was thrilled to be back.  And I'm pretty sure Pokey agrees that the current weather is definitely preferable to the long stretch of winter we'd been experiencing, though she's considerably less obvious about it.

The (non) sleep saga continues.

Last evening Tom and I were catching up on some taped Jeopardy shows when my eyes got really heavy.  Next thing I knew he was prodding me awake.  

Apparently my snoring was interfering with his viewing pleasure?

I didn't have much trouble falling asleep in bed later.  

But after my nightly bathroom run I could not fall back asleep.

After an hour I gave up and turned on the light to read.  At least I am enjoying the book I picked up at the library yesterday.

This charming, irresistible debut novel set in London during World War II about a young woman who longs to be a war correspondent and inadvertently becomes a secret advice columnist is “a jaunty, heartbreaking winner” (People)—for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Lilac Girls. 

At last around 4:00 I  finally got sleepy and was able to fall back to asleep, 

though only for an hour or so. 

But look what I found on FB this morning.  

It definitely put a smile on my face!

https://www.facebook.com/Naturee.jellysmack/videos/2172544592838705/

Now to post the last batch of Saturday's quilt pix 

before I head out to soak.

miniature Storm At Sea:

By yesterday afternoon my headache was bad enough to take some Tylenol.  While it didn't banish the pain completely, it did keep it from getting worse.  Come to find out that Marcie had a bad headache - and serious cough - on Sunday.  She thinks she picked up a bug at the quilt show on Saturday (no doubt there were germs floating around that large crowd) but that seems like an awfully fast segue from exposure to symptoms.  In any event I'm pretty sure that my headache is from my neck being out.  Soaking this morning did seem to relax it some.

More quilt pix from Saturday - and no, this still isn't all of them!