Attack of the Roofers!

The cats were on high alert this morning. The neighbors lost some shingles during the windstorm last weekend & decided it was time to replace the roof; it's the first time they are putting on a new roof since they built the house. The roofers showed up just after breakfast; the cats kept a close eye on them.

Shiro in the middle bedroom keeping an eye on the roofers next door.

Xander & Shiro ended up sleeping with Dad on the other side of the house instead of in the middle bedroom. They didn't seem to like the roofers being so close to the middle bedroom; they could see them walking around on the roof next door. (Chibi went & hid under the living room couch as they were unloading the new shingles.)


Just before lunch we discovered a bunch of ants running around on the breakfast counter. Not exactly sure where they came from, they could have been looking for some of the bits of food that Mom drops when she eats or perhaps they are from the food that Mom leaves (uncovered) on the butsudan.


Nitrogenie closed on January 15th, so I needed another ice cream place to take Mom & Mrs. Vea for a treat. So I took them to 8&1/2 Desserts! The entry ramp is a little steep but Robert (the owner) & I were able to get them safely in to the shop. Robert also brought in a couple chairs for them to sit on. They were overwhelmed with the number of choices but Mom finally settled on mango with shoyu, Mrs. Vea had vanilla, & I had the 8&1/2 Perfection (a blend of 8 types of chocolate). We took a quart of vanilla home for Dad.

Mom & Mrs. Vea enjoying ice cream at 8&1/2 Desserts, new Subaru in the background.

Because Mom has a low platelet count she bleeds more than most other people when she scratches herself and breaks the skin. Last week she left 2 very large blood spots on the sheets. I tried soaking them, then washing, with limited results. I also tried soaking them in Bac-Out also with limited results. I finally tried Oxi-Clean, after seeing commercials about it. And the commercials were honest about the results! But I have no before & after pictures for you. So today I took the before photos for several of Mom's blood stained clothes and one of my food-stained sweatshirts. Check the blog tomorrow for the after pictures.


Today I also started a batch of jabon mui. I altered prune mui recipes that I was able to find online using the ingredients list from the jabon mui that I bought from Uncle Clay's House of Pure Aloha. But I wasn't able to run out to Uncle Clay's to get Grandpa Mui's All Natural Li Hing Mui Powder, so I had to use the regular stuff with artificial coloring and aspartame. The mui has to soak for a minimum of 3 or 4 days. If this works well, I will get Grandpa Mui's and make another batch; I have a large source of jabon rind.


Happy Birthday to Ann & Robin!