Mr. Fluffles has a limp. It started late yesterday afternoon, long after our cookout.

I’d removed a big clump of litter from one of his paws in the morning and am afraid I might have hurt his leg or foot in the process.

He’s been resting and we’re planning to let him be for a day or so. If he’s not better after the weekend, we’ll take him to the vet. He’s about due for a checkup anyway.

PAN Action Cookout 8/24/2012

Had a lot of fun with our friends today and good eats besides. We’d worked hard on yard and house cleanup. Our friends brought fruit salad, green salad, watermelon, wine, hot dogs, hummus and boca burgers. We picked up beer, soda, water, chicken kebabs and sweet sausage.

From The Sap Also Rises, http://www.flavourcountryfeedlot.com

We signed up this morning to volunteer for another concert at Payomet. This has been a source of real delight for us this summer. We’ve seen John Mayall, Buckwheat Zydeco and next month, Leon Russell and in October, Shemekia Copeland.

Yesterday we had a terrific visit with Ron’s cousin Cheryl, her family and friends at her bro-in-law’s house on Martha’s Vineyard. Pure pleasure to spend a few hours with such delightful, hospitable people.

I put in 8 tiny hardy mums and 3 Coreopsis as well as a partial layer of compost. Hoping for a little more rain.

This is looking like the Mad Hatter’s garden. Over 40 plants and all different types. It evolved in part because not all of the plants survived from last year. I let some spread, like the astilbe and the forget-me-nots.

I hope it looks okay when everything grows in, like this gorgeous English country garden by Sally Dunn. Right now, it’s fairly indescribable. The kids might call it “random” and they’d be right.

Saw a rabbit in the back yard today.

Joe Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald nails it perfectly with this column.

I’d planned to go to MSFT training today, but the thought of hauling to the Science Museum – a ridiculously inconvenient location for anyone travelling from south of Boston – that I settled for doing some client work instead.

It went pretty well and I’m happy with that.

I finally found and returned the last Comcast cable box, thus saving us $40, and picked up a few things from Walmart on the way back.

I also found Ron’s iPhone, which was on the kitchen table.

I did some laundry and plant feeding.

I re-org’d the kitchen a bit today and was able to clear a good section of counter top.

Grilled chicken for supper. Last night, we ate at Candy’s, and she gave us a gorgeous piece of eggplant parmesan which we thoroughly enjoyed tonight.

Cleaned Fluffles up a bit this morning; his hair was a mess from the eardrops I’ve been putting in his ears.

I picked up some tiny hardy mums at Walmart and three “free” Coreopsis from a nursery that seems to be closed for the year. I left them a note to call me if I owe them anything.

I didn’t get to watch the Windows8 videos or install the release preview on my old NT laptop. Can’t do everything, I guess.

I’ve felt like a worthless thing this week, or maybe tired, burnt out and suffering from the humidity is more like it. I decided to drop out of O-F and PAN Action. Too much work for too few results. Ron said he’s relieved, he was worried about how depressed I was becoming from exposure to such constant angst. I did spend some time with one of my new acquaintances, helping her with computer questions, and that felt worthwhile.

Yesterday was reasonably productive, though, in spite of my psychic paralysis. The plumber stopped by early to replace a leaky washing machine hose shutoff with a pair of nifty-galifty valves. We got organized enough to eventually accomplish 7 (or 9 depending on how you look at it) errands in one run to Falmouth: returned equipment to Comcast, stopped at Ron’s credit union, put gas in the van, paid a bill at BofA, picked up a prescription and returned some items at Walmart. We also got our glasses adjusted at Cambridge Eye, redeemed deposits on over 80 cans and bottles and bought some wine for dinner at Kappy’s. I got us signed up with Viridian and checked out Credo for cellphone (coverage is not that great on Cape).

We finally got rid of Comcast television today. The savings will be enough to pay for our homeowners insurance for a year. Everything’s hooked up and working.

Ron cleared the brush under the hammocks today. I put Jack’s on the little garden in the front.

I also helped a friend with computer questions and after lunch, hooked up the Vonage equipment. We can make outgoing calls but not incoming, at least not until the number is switched tomorrow.

I had enough energy to make supper tonight: chicken sausages, homemade banana bread, corn, salad with tomatoes and basil from the garden.

Having been warned ahead of time, Ron ignored Sullivan Tire’s attempt to upsell him, thus saving $180.

I mowed the lawn today, saving $50.

This past weekend, we decided against buying awnings ($2,000+), Sunday brunch ($18) and tickets to the Cape Verdean festival (??). Ron did buy tires during tax free weekend, saving about $24.

Tonight, we opted for cheese and crackers at South Cape instead of this week’s concert at Nauset (4 gallons of gas at $3.59/gallon).

We did pick up two prepared meals at Roche, and I ordered an application of weed killer for the lawn at Edgewater.

I still think we’re ahead.