What's up

We are doing some remodeling and the above is a picture of our new counter top and smooth surface cook-top. We also will be putting down new flooring and replacing an aging sliding glass door. All of these updates will make the house more comfortable for us and should we ever sell, they add value.

Recently we were at the creek house and saw this creature. I think it is a Man of War. Another reason not to get in the water. while we were there we enjoyed the company of my brother and sister and their spouses. We have finished most of the inside tasks, the most recent being carpet in the living room and the front bedroom. We have a kitchen counter to go but it will be simpler than the one above.

Here is photo of the living room.

And the winner is...

Yesterday Martha received the winners trophy seen above. Back on Super Bowl Sunday there was a party at church and during the party there was a Chili cook-off contest. Martha did not officially intend to enter the contest but made the chili to make sure there was enough. Since she brought the chili, she was entered automatically. There were 8 entries and after all the elders sampled the entries, hers was the winner. Now her name is forever engraved on the Chili Bowl trophy. Now we have to store a huge trophy somewhere. Maybe we can get them to store it for us since it is supposed to be a perpetual trophy. The Chili was delicious, if I do say so myself.

Cold weather traveling

For Christmas break we traveled to Michigan with the 5th wheel. Needless to say it was cold. Martha's Mom was not doing well and we wanted to see her again so we went. We stayed 2 weeks and had a great visit. Mom rallied and was able to enjoy the visit. I think she was pleased that we came and that all the siblings were able to get there and visit. We came home on the 29th of December and Martha's mom passed away on New years eve. So we made another trip but did not take the trailer or the cat. This trip was much easier and cheaper for fuel. We stayed most of a week and returned on the 5th of January.

Going back a month, Martha graduated from Howard Payne on the 8th of December and at long last received her degree. We are very proud of her accomplishment.

This year we will try to concentrate on the creek house which still needs a lot of TLC and making some repairs here at our home. 

Updates on the cat and projects

Maui traveled with us recently when we went to the creek house for Thanksgiving. She travels very well and has finally become more friendly and she wants attention more than she used to. We were there a week and worked on various projects mostly related to getting new carpet on the floor. In the end they would not install it because we have tile on the floor that contains asbestos. It dates from the 1960's when no-one knew that it was a hazard. Next time down we will try to remove it but it will be a chore.

Note the damage to the trees in the photo above. These are chinese tallow trees and have been there nearly 50 years but we had a freeze a couple of winters ago and they were severely damaged. The near one will probably need to come out but the other one looks better now and may eventually survive.

While we were there we saw this flying machine go over the house. It is a powered parachute and it was quite interesting.

The weather was great the whole week but we did get a smattering of rain on Friday.

I have been working on a boat that my dad built a long time ago. I have been refitting it for sailing and also to use a trolling motor to go fishing here locally. It is getting close to finished so I wanted to post a couple of pictures.

That about does it for this post. Martha graduates from HPU tomorrow and receives her degree. She is very excited about that and so am I. I may post a picture of her in her cap and gown tomorrow.

Drinking from the fountain

Maui the cat has been with us for 6 months now and is still making progress toward total acceptance. When she first came she would not drink much water and in an effort to improve that and keep her system working, Martha searched the web for a solution. She found that cats like a fountain with running water and everyone who wrote about them said their cat just loved it. So I got a bowl and pump / filter and we tried a fountain. It seemed like a nice one but she totally ignored it. Once in awhile she would look at it or sniff near it but she would not touch it. We thought it was too big so we got a commercial one and tried it for a few weeks but had the same result so it was returned. We refused to give up though and kept it full of fresh water and in just the last couple of weeks she has begun to drink from it. She actually might have started sooner than that but we didn't see her do it.

We took her camping again last weekend and once again she behaves differently when we place her in that environment. She is much friendlier and wants to be with us. We are still learning to understand her behavior which sometimes is different from any cat we have ever had.

Rain and more cat

We had a good rain over the weekend. We have been in severe drouth and water restrictions for a while and the  rain was most welcome. Saturday saw a total of 3.5 inches and some places like in the lake watershed got even more than that.



 



The lake has risen a little more than 3 feet as of today and it appears that more is still coming in. It would be nice to get more rain now while the ground is saturated and maybe have a chance to get the lake full. It is still 10 feet below the spillway and we would like it close to full.

 

Sometimes she is so cute. She continues to improve and get more friendly. We will go camping again soon and see if that helps. It did last time.

 

 







The Cat - chapter 2

We have had the cat for 6 months, she is the strangest cat we have ever seen, in fact she is the exact opposite of what you think of as "cat".

When we got her I wanted a "lap cat", one that would love to lay in my lap and get attention. It quickly became apparent that she was not that kind of cat. She did not mind being nearby (several feet away) but not touching. At first she would get on the sofa but after Martha put a towel on it for her to lay on, she decided that the sofa was off limits and she refused to get on it again. Her attitude was "feed me but don't touch me". We wanted her to drink more water and everyone said that cats love to drink from a fountain. So we made a fountain with running water and she just looks at it and wonders what it is, she has never, as far as we know, taken even a sip from it.

Shortly after we got her, we took her camping in the pop up trailer. She warmed a little on that trip but when we came back home she reverted to her old ways. She still would not get on the furniture or accept attention.

In July we took her to the creek house. She travels wonderfully (six plus hours each way) with no complaints and only got frightened once at a gas station. Once there she explored the house and made herself at home. All the familiar things were there such as the litter box and food and water dishes. Before long she decided that the place to be was in one of the recliners. We can't find any reason for the change in behavior but suddenly it was OK to get in a chair. The next morning as Martha was having her bible time, Maui climbed in the chair with her and stretched out in her lap. That was a total surprise. The grandchildren came that week and she hid a lot in the bedroom but when she could she was in that chair and would get in our laps if we were also in the chair. It seemed that her attitude completely changed. When we returned home however, she reverted to her old self. Very puzzling.

There was little change in her behavior over the next month or so but then we got a 5th wheel travel trailer and went camping again. We took her with us again and once she had scouted out the trailer and knew where her stuff was she was comfortable. The trailer has 2 recliners and once again she adopted one and was there in the chair quite a bit of the time. It was like this house is different and it is OK to get on the furniture but not in that other house where we are most of the time. She really seemed to like it there, but when we came home it seemed that she was back to her old self.

A day or so went by and one day I was sitting on the sofa watching TV when suddenly there she was beside me. She pumped my leg a few times as if testing it and then climbed on it and laid down. It was her idea and there wasn't much coaxing from me. Since then she is almost like a different cat. She is still stand-offish and only wants attention when it is her idea but she has changed and is far more friendly than ever before. This cat may turn out to be OK after all. She is getting better every day but she still won"t drink from the fountain.

I'll report again later.