This Week With Jane and Charley: Catnip Mice, the Woodlot, House-Staining Project & Holiday Grief

(Here’s what’s happening in our world this week, including the continuing adventures of Charley, the little black cat that Tim sent me the day after he passed. Read all about her shenanigans here. -jb)

This week in our world, Charley got some new catnip mice, and they’re wearing Christmas sweaters. I’m not a Black Friday shopper, but when I saw that her favorite cat food was on sale at Pet Supplies Plus for 30 percent off, you can bet I made the trek over there and bought a couple bags.

I probably mentioned that we’d had issues with her throwing up a while back. I guess that’s not uncommon with cats. I hear about cats throwing up all the time. Anyway, our vet, Dr. Mason at Oakwood Veterinary Hospital, said to try her on Hill’s Science Diet. So we’ve been on that for quite a while. She still throws up now and then, but not as much as before. And sometimes there’s a big fat hairball in there, so that makes sense she’d want to get rid of that.

While we were at Pet Supplies Plus, I saw they had mice with catnip in them on sale. Not only that, they were buy one, get one free. And they were wearing Christmas sweaters! So of course, I brought home a couple of those. Well, actually four. There were two mice in each package.

She went a little crazy for those mice. Here’s some photographic evidence…

By the way, I found that coffee table at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Cass Road last year. I sanded it down and intended to stain it at some point. But Charley started using it for a scratching post, so I decided to just keep it unstained. Of course, she’s got a scratching post that’s actually made for scratching, but does she use it? No, she does not.

The House-Staining Project

In house-staining news, I accomplished my goal of staining the south side of the house this year. If you remember, I mentioned last month that my goal is to stain one side every year, and yay, I got that done this year. The house hasn’t had much maintenance since Tim and I built it 35 years ago with help from Jon Andrus and Tim’s dad Tug, so I’m catching up on stuff.

Staining a log home is a several-steps process that involves power-washing to remove any old stain, spraying with insecticide to deter the woodpeckers and carpenter bees and ants, filling the cracks, doing at least a couple coats of stain, and fixing any chinking issues.

I haven’t gotten to the chinking part yet. I think I’ll get all the walls covered with stain to prevent any more wood damage from the weather, and then worry about the chinking.

Here’s the wall I did this year. Is it perfect? No. Will it protect my wood and keep my house from falling down? Yes.

Last year, I taped off all the chinking on the east wall, and honestly, it really didn’t make much difference. I still got stain on the chinking. So this year, I decided not to tape it off and think I actually got LESS stain on the chinking.

Plus, I decided not to stress over it because I discovered that Sashco has “chinking paint,” so after I repair all that, I’ll give it the once-over with the chinking paint. Here’s last year’s wall all taped up…

Also, I use Sashco’s oil-based Transformation stain. I use Sashco products because they’re what Tim and I used when we built the house, and their customer service is amazing. They talked me through the whole process.

After getting samples of a few different color stains, I settled on “Natural”; the others seemed too dark. Although these all look the same below, don’t they? Of course, it was getting late in the season last year, and I was stressed out about the impending gales of November.

Yes, I should have ordered samples earlier in the year. Did I? No, I did not. But I didn’t want to let that bare wall go through the winter after power-washing it.

Below is the “Brown Tone Medium” I thought I might use initially. Nope. Ended up power-washing it off and using “Natural” instead. Plus the lighter stain blended in better with the log filler color I used (Log Builder Acrylic Latex Chinking Sealant, Woodtone).

Yes, I should have gotten some samples before ordering a case of 12 cartridges. Just decided to go with it. Is it perfect? No. Is it good enough? Yes.

Anyway, I’m happy to get another wall stained on my years-long house-staining project. Hey, if I start earlier next year, maybe I can get the last TWO walls done. But I won’t stress if I don’t.

Update from the Woodlot

This week, I put together the last of my firewood frames and split a little more wood. Some free wood in Leelanau County that someone posted about on NextDoor (thanks, Herbert!). You can never have *too much firewood, but I’m feeling pretty good about my winter supply.

Deck the Halls With Holiday Grief

And finally, if you’re getting hit with holiday grief, be gentle with yourself, know that you’re not alone, and that it’s ok to feel sad.

Most of the year, I seem to do pretty well with keeping busy and staving off grief. But December and January are tough for me, not only because I’m missing Tim, my parents, my sister and everyone else I’ve ever lost, but also because Tim went into the hospital in December 2021 and passed in January 2022. So I think there’s a lot of grief and PTSD associated with this time of year for me.

A silver lining is that I never have much appetite during grief waves, so I can usually count on losing a few pounds. I tend to freak out when the grief waves hit (will I be stuck here forever?), but I know it’s just part of losing people you love and carrying on the best you can. So far, my track record of getting through the grief waves is 100 percent.

I can’t say that I’m good at embracing it, but I do my best to work with it and try to remember to use the tools I have — keeping Charley close (she already knows when I’m sad or anxious), getting myself around people (thank you, OMP community, and thank you, Mom, for this wise advice), eating when I can, working in the woodlot, doing my yoga and hiking through the forest, praying (for me and others) and asking for prayers, and watching Hallmark movies (nothing sad for me!).

So if you’re missing your loved ones this holiday season or any time of year, or if it’s just been a rough year, or if your life looks a lot different than you thought it would, know that I’m thinking of you and that you’re not alone. We’ll get through it together.

This life will break your heart, but there is also beauty — even in sadness.

Also Read…

This Week With Jane and Charley: Splitting Firewood, Staining the House, Getting Stuck in the Slider