Rolling out the red carpet

Nicki on the red carpet.

I had a whole-home humidifier installed this afternoon, with the hope it will help air quality in the cold, dry winter to come.

It was a three-hour, noisy procedure. Derry hid under the bed the entire time, of course, and Nicki alternated between going downstairs to check out the work, going outside, and needing comfort and reassurance (I presume) from me. He did great, though, even taking his Flovent as one of the guys (there were two) came upstairs to turn the furnace back on. He didn't miss a breath; I was impressed!

I had taken the afternoon off work, and was able to put up my holiday decorations before the furnace guys arrived. I think it's the earliest I've done it, but I can't do it either this weekend or next, so it was now or in the December cold. I opted for the sunshine and +10 Celsius weather.

The only thing I didn't put up yet was the wreath, and of course I'm not turning on the lights until the end of the month. I might get one of those greenery planters for the step, the ones that all grocery stores seem to sell, but not for another couple of weeks at least.

The whole time I was outside doing that there were guys next door, re-shingling part of the neighbours' roof. One of the men had a trailer for the debris and I asked if I could pay him to take my brush away. I had trimmed back the shrub by the step a while ago, but missed the brush pick up a few weeks ago. For $15 the roofing guy took it all away for me, which I thought was well worth the price.

Then, while the furnace fellows were here, my co-worker, the one whose mom recently passed, stopped by on her way home with a personal thank you for my support. (Very kind of her, but certainly not necessary.)

So both Nicki and Derry had a big day: The noise from the roofers, my being outside doing the decorations (it drove Nicki crazy to be inside while I was out, he meowed his head off most of the time), the humidifier installation, and my co-worker stopping by.

Nicki's now sound asleep on the couch, Derry is hanging out by the patio door, and I'm ready for a shot of rye and a hot shower, in that order.  :-)

Peace.