Fat Cat Grooming

One of my cats is an eager eater. We have to put her in a different room so the others have a chance to get at the food. This morning she was casually grooming herself after indulging in some canned cat food. This is Betty Boop who is about 3-4 years old.

"Are you talking to me?"

"I'm busy, don't interrupt."

"I just love a relaxed bath in the morning after a good can of food."

This has nothing to do with the house, but it is a nice diversion. And I do know that Betty is massively obese, but it's hard to put one out of nine cats on a diet. Several of the others are extremely skinny. I do try to keep her from the food.

Almost Done

Today the stair guy is installing the newell posts and handrail which means that we can FINALLY go for our certificate of occupancy (CO) tomorrow or next week. Getting the CO doesn't mean that John can move in just yet though. We've still got some painting and floor work to do. Apparently you do not have to have your floors done before being allowed to move into your home. A homeowner might just want naked oak on the floor. It's not a code violation. The challenge may be to keep John from moving in before we finish the naked oak floor.

Anyway, here a few photos from the past few days. This is the upstairs bathroom.

The sun tunnel provides an incredible amount of light.

Now here is the Toto Promenade toilet. John says it is the best thing I have ordered for his house. He's still a little miffed at some of my paint choices.

One thing I really like about the toilet is the large flat top. In a small bathroom that makes a big difference. 

This photo shows the porch floor with the second coat of Waterlox. Rich (my brother-in-law) has been doing the staining and the floor finishing. It's beautiful.

Porch floor with 2 coats of Waterlox

The above porch was designed to be a cat porch where John could let his cats stay most of the time without them doing their cat business all over his house. Before we could get the house built, his favorite cat, Nub, died from renal failure (which might explain why he didn't use the litter box reliably). The only cat left was Gump seen below. Gump is 18-years-old and very skittish, almost feral. Somehow we were able to merge him with my cat family and he has now become my cat. That allowed the front porch to be simply a porch, not just a large litter box. Also he is good about going in the litter box so he has not become a problem for me. 

Gump begging for food.

Next I'll get some photos of the stairs. The stair guy (I don't know the name of his company off the top of my head) is amazing and quite meticulous. I think you will be impressed.

That's it for today. Thank you for looking at my blog.

Why my Bernina has a dull needle

Note: This topic is not green-related. It is GREENERY-related though.

I'm working on invitations to my wreath-making party which will be held on December 2nd and 3rd. Two nights so the people the people at work can attend either night.

Last year the invitations pretty much took a month to make. I just could not do that this year as I am way behind in my Net Zero Energy Class, working on my home, fixing some stuff at Kathy's house, and planning for John's new house. I tried several ideas for invitations and just didn't like any of them until I came up with this. I did the same thing last year when we gave gift cards to the teachers at the Head Start school that the ER has adopted.

Invitation wallets. I've sewed about 65 of them in my favorite Christmas scrapbook papers.

So the Bernina is being used again to sew PAPER, not beautiful fabrics as she deserves, but PAPER. i have had fun doing it though, partly because I'm so happy I have a relatively easy design for the party invitations. You may recall that the idea for these cards came from a craft blog called Just Something I Made. Cathe, the author of this blog has great ideas and she loves paper just like I do.

Sunny went to the vet to get spayed. She did not do well afterwards; she developed a fever up to 105.4 and felt awful. She had to be on antibiotics and no one knew why she got sick so fast. I was seriously worried about her. I thought it might take awhile for her to get back to her normal self.

Nope.

She's back to her wild child self, running up and doing blitz attacks on the cats that outweigh her by a factor of 3, dumping out the food bowls and scattering the food all over the kitchen, sneaking through any open door to get into anything possible. She's back alright. I just adore this kitty.

Not much going on - pet photos

We're getting ready to go out west to ski. We leave Thursday. I work all day Wednesday so that means today is LAUNDRY day. I'm not doing very well getting stuff done though. I've had a cold for 2 weeks and I'm just tired. 

No new photos of the shop because the driveway is a quagmire and I don't even know if there is power yet. It's supposed to be in today. NEWS FLASH!! John said he has power! Great news.

Since no photos of the shop - here are some photos of the animals. Not everyone is represented - Little Dude is huddled up somewhere and Daisy is outside.

Buddy Mac Brown about 2 years ago in the snow. He is very difficult to photograph. I think you can see that he has much more grey now. He is at least 14 years old.

Buddy's photo a few days ago. He will not pose for the camera.

Burbank - Buddy's companion. Somehow Buddy is the boss despite his advancing age, cataracts, hearing loss, hypothyroidism, Cushing's Disease and height disadvantage.

Hayley Bailey - found on a hay bale, of course. My shyest kitty. I just love the one white whisker over her right eye.

Baby Girl Blue - given to me by some friends whose last name is Belue. She is just the prettiest thing. The boy cats here just love her in spite of the fact that everyone has been fixed since kittenhood. They still know a pretty cat when they see one.

Rocky - Hayley Bailey's brother. A very sweet, somewhat shy cat.

Betty Boop - so named because of white ears. Huh? John named her, ask him to explain it.  She is very sweet too. 

Big Head - named for his very large, masculine head. Still have not captured him to get him fixed. He disappeared a few days ago and came back all bloodied. He seems to be doing well though. No signs of infection at this point. He has GOT to get to the vet before spring kitten season begins in earnest.  

And who is this? - why, it is Effy. John's newest cat. She broke into John's house and joined up with his crew. He left for work one day with 3 cats and came home to find 4 in his home. She (we think she is a she) broke in through the ducts in the floor. We are going to put posters up and see if anyone has lost a cat. It only takes a little imagination to figure out why John named her that. I believe her name sounds like the first word that came out of his mouth when he realized he had 4 cats. 

What are you after, Daisy?

I have been meaning to post this for awhile.

About a month ago, I saw Daisy, my only indoor/outdoor cat after something in the driveway.

What are you after, Daisy?

So I took a picture.

Then I put down a quarter to put it in perspective.

Amazing, huh?

It's called a ring-necked black snake or something like that. They only grow to be about 12 inches long. This is obviously a baby. I put Daisy in the house and a little later I saw the snake crawl in the grass. I know it's only a tiny snake, but it was pretty exciting for me.

I will try to post again later today. I have a project I am working on that is really fun.

Lucy

Things to do in the Fall

We have had a most glorious beginning for this fall. The daytime temperatures are occasionally a little toasty, but the nighttime temps cool off beautifully. My brother finished his chemo and had a totally negative PET scan. Whew! That was a relief.

Projects for the next few months include:
1. Build a workshop for John so we can move the shop out of my basement. He can then be more productive and eventually build a real house for himself.
2. Finish insulating the attic at Lenore (my job). I actually like doing stuff like that.
3. Do the design work for the kitchen at Lenore (i.e. where the hell does everything go? Where is a refrigerator supposed to fit? A stove? I think we need a design professional)
4. Gut the Lenore kitchen
5. Gut my bathroom in prep for renovation. I have the design work done for that.
6. Arrange to have cabinets made. I think I am going to ask John's boss if they would be willing to do this small job since John won't have a shop built in time.
7. Wreath-making party (parties, really) on November 28th and 29th. I am going to host it on 2 nights so everyone at work who wants to come can come on either night.
8. More crochet baby blankets - lots of baby girls being born.

First a picture of Little Dude, the kitty who just kills me because he is so cute. I just love his nub tail which spins like a helicopter when he is excited (or hungry which is about the only time he gets excited.)

I'll try to post again later with some other photos.