Random 5 for January 12, 2025 – Bloggers, exit strategies, friends, house projects, birthdays

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Perfect place to celebrate birthdays

Another California blogger checks in — I have blogger friends in fire-torn California. Slowly they have been posting to say they are okay. There are a few I haven’t heard from yet. That’s a worry. Here is a link to a post that touches the heart better than any reporter can. https://breathelighter.wordpress.com/2025/01/11/no-photos-few-words/

Things you think about – The fires have made me reevaluate an exit plan. I have three cats. Two would be easy to grab but the third would freak out. I’m not sure what will happen next and maybe you can’t really plan for that.

Old friends – This past week I finally connected with someone from my old gym. We had been trying to get together for lunch for months, but something always came up. I had mixed feelings about it. Sometimes when you meet up with someone from a different part of your life, you find you have nothing in common. That may be true, but we had lots to talk about and I enjoyed the luncheon. We will try to do it again. The key is the timing. Not too often so it becomes boring but not too infrequently either.

New year, new projects – We are prioritizing the house projects for this year. Nothing big. Mostly routine maintenance stuff like replacing the front door unit (it leaks cold air even with extra weather stripping) and a major cleaning of the paver patio. Fortunately, none of the projects will require on-site contractors for any length of time. I’m so over that.

January birthdays – I have one this week. They are the worst. It’s too cold here to celebrate. I’ve always wanted a July birthday. Hard to have an outdoor picnic in January in our area. My sympathies to all who share January birthdays unless you are celebrating on the islands in which case I envy you!

So how was your week?

 

 

67 thoughts on “Random 5 for January 12, 2025 – Bloggers, exit strategies, friends, house projects, birthdays”

  1. to the person with cat exit plan: you need assigned cat carriers that fit each cat, maybe nearest the door you use to exit, that each cat goes into as their go bag, with food etc. They go into and do not come out until everyone is in a safe place.

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  2. Happy birthday – extended version! You are so cool….not talking about the weather!
    Our emergency? hurricane evacuation plan has always limited out pet number: each person has one hand for leash or crate, and one hand for bag/backpack. (And right now it’s really hard not to go and grab a cat/dog in need since we have a vacancy, but realistically, …Sr Staff may need a hand as much as the dog HAHAHAHA. Actually after we relocate, the vacancy will be filled) When we were young, we had 3-4 cats and didn’t feel bad about tossing them into pillow cases and tossing them in the back seat, or letting the one that always crawled under the front seat and wailed all the way to anywhere. Just worry too much now if one tried to escape in route – living in the wild wouldn’t go well for anyone of our pampered bunch ( and got tired of one trying to sit on my head..with claws holding on….)
    Love the blender! Hmmmm, just the thing for a cold week?

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    • I had one cat that got out of the carrier on a 1-1/2 hour drive to the beach. She insisted on sitting on my shoulders with claws to stabilize herself. I had to pull over and have the “carrier” discussion with her. The other cat slept on the passenger floor until we came to a gigantic interchange with 8 lanes and cars going everywhere. That’s when she would get up and go under my legs as I drove. Hope you can fill your vacancy sometime soon.

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  4. Happy birthday, fellow January b-day person! Mine was last weekend 🙂 I know what you mean about planning for handling cats if a disaster comes. We had to think about that with our cats in Alaska as well. When we did have our biggish earthquake they all hid directly under the center of the bed. So that would have been a challenge to get them out of there.

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  7. Happy Birthday, Kate!

    Hope you find a few fun ways to celebrate ~ favorite foods, games, and adult beverages. Plus a fire. And a couple of cat cuddles!

    I just got a call from our insurance company that they are sending a check for our Loss Assessment Claim from Milton! Drinks on me!

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  8. Kate, I’ve had the same worries about an evacuation plan. I think I could get the two “out front,” and if Meesker hids under the bed, I’ll lift up the bed and get him (even if I ruin my back)!!!! But Sloopy Anne, I just don’t know. It’s takes lots of planning to grab her.

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  10. Happy birthday!

    When your life is in a place where, other than a few greetings by friends, your birthday goes by unnoticed, it doesn’t matter when it is. My older brother and I share July as our birth month, so a gathering of neighbors for a cookout was the celebration we shared (I did get my own sweet16). In school, some teachers allowed cupcakes to be brought in for the class, which meant your birthday was a “big thing” – we summer babies never got that.

    The grass isn’t always greener…

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    • My schools did not have birthday celebrations. I don’t ever remember any parent bringing in goodies for the class for any occasion. I think that started after I got out and then the peanut allergy happened. My teacher friends did not allow that in recent years for fear of life threatening allergies.

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  11. Happy Birthday! Make sure and celebrate…..I never was one for celebrating my BD but now that I’m blankety-blank years old I think it’s time I did. September is my month and while it’s not beach weather, it’s Fallish and that’s my favorite time of the year anyway. No big house projects – now that’s a pretty good birthday gift to yourself!!!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • I’ve aged out of big house projects. Our favorite carpenter died so that puts a damper on things too. He did our kitchen. When he was here he was like family. No blasting radios or smoking on the front porch (so you had to walk through a cloud of smoke to get in the house). Cleaned up every day. We had seen him in the spring and he was fine except for bad knees (which aren’t terminal) and now he’s gone.

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      • That’s a shame about the carpenter who did your kitchen – I believe you were quite happy with that work – sounds like he had a work ethic that’s getting touch to find these days!

        Hugs, Pam

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  12. After reading all of your comments love how your birthday trumped the sadness of California, even if it was just temporary.

    Being safe is no small thing, and yes, losing everything is huge, but to have your life spared. It’s actually amazing there aren’t more casualties.

    I saw the most poignant film. Two firefighters rescued two dogs that looked gone…they put oxygen masks on both, on their hands and knees, knelt beside them, rubbing their chests and both dogs came back to life.

    Mr. Rogers, my ALL TIME hero would tell kids, always look for the helpers no matter what is happening. They’re there.

    Happy Birthday Kate. So glad we’re friends. Susannah

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    • Awww thanks! There are heart warming stories coming out but I imagine there are tragedies too awful to be reported. Your birthday is the perfect time! Warm and green. That’s my favorite.

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    • Smart girl! I know a few people with birthdays right around Christmas. It’s a very festive time so it’s fun to celebrate but when you’re young there is the joint present thing.

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  15. Happy Birthday Kate. You can get around the cold-weather birthday by celebrating a half-birthday, six months from now. My mom’s birthday was Valentine’s Day and if it fell on a weekend and was nice weather, we’d go out for lunch, otherwise on a weekday, no way would we attempt going out. My birthday is in mid-April and sometimes we still had ice or snow, so every August 14th I took a vacation day and it was designated as our birthday celebration day. We’d go to the mall, or to the show, then go out to eat, assuming it was not a stormy day, so we liked doing that. I watched a few videos earlier today – one, a man reunited with his dog and hugging it so hard and crying so hard, I soon was crying too. A woman who boards horses (and currently boards 500 horses) was taking in “strays” … horses that bolted after fires got too close or their living quarters were destroyed or people brought their horses to them to be safe from the fire … 700 horses. I can’t imagine.

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    • As an adult, I’ve almost always celebrated my half birthday until I got old and didn’t celebrate at all! 🙂 I’ve heard similar stories. Transporting horses isn’t easy or quick.

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      • I remember being a kid and it was my mom’s birthday and I said “today is your birthday – aren’t you excited?” Mom said “when you get to be my age, it is just another day of the week, nothing to get excited about.” All these years later, I get it. 🙂 Yes, it is dangerous to transport horses, especially during a fire of this magnitude. I’ve watched horse rescues before from other wildfires and they have to blindfold them sometimes so they aren’t afraid and I think I’ve seen them put a hood over their entire head to protect their eyes and nostrils and keep them calm. They would be terrified enough, but having a strange handler as well.

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  17. Hope you have a happy birthday. I always have had enough carriers to evacuate with all my cats, but I worry now because there are 3 ferals I can’t touch let alone catch.

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    • I have enough carriers. When we moved, I moved them early (like 6 a.m. before food) on the day the movers were coming so I could lock them in a bedroom at the new house. I was terrified that once I started to crate one, the rest would give me trouble. All went well although the cat-bernacle choir on the way to the new home was loud! Sasha’s first thought is always “let me go under the bed and figure this out.” Untouchable cats would be hard. I had a neighbor a long time ago whose house burned down when no one was home with their cat inside. The local rescues told her to put out food and some of her toys and keep checking back and they were able to catch her. Somehow she survived but was skittish until she saw her owners. They had no idea how she got out of the burning building. Happy ending.

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  19. Happy birthday, Kate. January must be a hard month for birthday parties. What about when you were a kid? Did you have some good parties anyway.

    My birthday is in early May–still cool but you feel like it should be summer. I must have been about 12 when I decided to have a swimming party at the local lake. (It was still cold from winter.) My friends came in their bathing suits, and we ran into the water, and splashed around for a few minutes, ran back out, wrapped a towel around our shoulders, and stood giggling and shivering in the open-air kitchen. We were young enough to think it was kinda fun, but I didn’t have that kind of party again.

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    • We didn’t do birthday parties when I was a kid. Even in school it wasn’t acknowledged other than a “happy birthday” from friends who knew. I had a friend give me a surprise sweet 16 party and another gave me a surprise 40th. Other than that it’s just been getting together casually with friends or sometimes not. Yeah, May isn’t water weather either but at least it’s nice enough to be outdoors.

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  25. Which cat is the one who’d be hard to grab? Morgan?

    I must say I love having an October birthday but I think a January one would be quite nice, something to look forward to at a time when most people feel a bit deflated.

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    • Sasha is terrified of strangers and anything strange. If you had one January birthday and no one wanted to go out because of the cold and being broke from overpartying at Christmas, you would change back to October.

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  26. Happy birthday month, even though it’s cold outside. And so glad to hear none of this year’s projects involve contractors. We are kinda over that too for now, hopefully for a good long while!

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