Scouting Trip

J and I are headed to Mount Pleasant and surrounding areas this weekend to scout for potential properties.  We looked in the central part of the state before we were enchanted by the Traverse City area.  Now we want to give central Michigan a second look.  I still love TC but we are having a difficult time finding enough acreage (meaning at least 15 acres, preferably more) at a price point we want to pay.  We are also finding it hard to allocate enough time and days off to get up to TC frequently enough, since it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our home.  I will take pictures of anything promising and report back.

My daffodils from last spring.

In the meantime, on my morning walk today I discovered spring!  Buds are appearing on the trees and the sun has put in an appearance, thank you, sitting in a cloudless blue canopy.  My daffodil sprouts are about two inches high.  I, personally, am fed up with snow and cold.  Flowers, green grass, and birds singing are tugging at my soul.  I opened the back yard shed and my bike greeted me from the rafters.  Take me down and out for a spin it was screaming.  Soon. 

I am ashamed to admit it, but I just took my Christmas lights down from the roof, the latest I ever have.  In my defense, I refuse to climb up on a roof, in freezing weather, that still has snow on it.  Let me see, that seems to describe Michigan's lousy March, so I'm exonerated.  My lovely timbers (lumber) are also calling to me.  I can't wait to get the raised garden beds put together.  This year, however, I will have to erect a fence to protect the garden from the backyard critters.  The garden will be much larger in scope than any previous.  To the big box do-it-yourself store I will have to go in search of inexpensive temporary fencing that I can take with me when we move.

Have a blessed Good Friday and Easter weekend.  God is good!

D

Cats

Lucy- Dead Cat Walking

Remember my earlier post with a pic of Lucy?  Perhaps you're wondering why the uncomplimentary labels.  We took in this cat in early December when my mother-in-law Mary could no longer care for her properly.   

Since then she has already used up eight of her nine lives in the short time she has been with us.  Why you ask?  She lived with Mary since she was a kitten.  She was never exposed to other cats and rarely to people other than Mary.  She developed a standoffish personality, to put it nicely.  She was never friendly when we used to visit, hissing and swiping at us if we made the mistake of drifting into her personal zone.  

It has been a rough go since she came to our house.  She stood fast on the unfriendly front with me, up until about a month ago.  She has adopted the no litter box policy.  Meaning usually the hallway to the garage serves as her toilet.  She has vomited vile brown liquids at least three times on bed comforters, eliciting embarrassing rantings from me.  She dislikes the other feline members of the household and frequently hisses, swipes or screeches at them.  She resembles a walking skeleton with a fur coat.  She is the skinniest cat I have ever owned.  She has been diagnosed with the beginning stages of kidney disease.  

So today was to be her last day.  I had enough and last week made an appointment with the vet for 4:30 p.m.   She wasn't going to be coming home.

Yet, she got a reprieve.  I couldn't bring myself to take away what little life she has left.  She doesn't appear to be suffering and in fact has a voracious appetite.  She loves to chase the red laser dot on the floor and with her long ungainly legs, she some how manages to gracefully leap from one end of the kitchen to the other.  She has even taken to laying on the blanket with Jinx, the cat patriarch of the household, and I, when we are watching TV.  She has this growly purry thing she does when she is eating tasty tidbits that she especially loves.  She adores sleeping with J when he is napping.  So, despite all her negative attributes I have somehow fallen in love with this cat.

I was close to tears all day.   I've struggled since we got her.  My annoyance, anger and disgust warring with my growing fondness for her.  I've prayed for patience and enlightenment and direction on what to do with her.  Today God answered my prayers and showed me that she is still precious to him and her time isn't up.   I couldn't end her life, even though everyday J and I have to put extra time and effort into cleaning up after her.  I feel like we're the ones suffering not her.  God reminded me today, however, that love isn't necessarily easy, convenient or struggle free. Darn! 

 

So, I'm thankful to still have her and perhaps that's why I've been weepy.  Love, whether for another person, or an animal is worth struggling for and I almost gave up on it.  

Welcome home Lucy, for however long that may be.

Now to introduce the rest of the feline family.

This is Mr. Tibbs.  He is mostly an outdoor cat, except when the temps dip into the freezing range.  Then he loves to come inside in the the morning and spend the next eight hours of the day blissfully sleeping on the downstairs couch.  He is a sweet tempered puff ball.

Mr. Tibbs

Please, turn off the lights!

This is Moses.  He is a whiner and a bully.  But he loves to purr and have his belly rubbed.  He is easily upset by inconsistencies in his life.  Those include not being fed promptly, Lucy's failure to use the litter box.  Mr. Tibbs sleeping in his house on his sofa.  He likes to vocalize his displeasure loud and clear.

Moses in his Christmas kerchief.

This is Maya, better known as Sus (German for sweet according to H).  She now lives with H up at school.  She is a lover and is happiest plopped on a human lap.  Of all the cats I've owned she is the only one that has bitten me.  She can be demanding and contrary when crossed.  She used to be called Princess, and actually in retrospect it was a more fitting moniker.  She, however, loves people and would die of loneliness without human companionship.  She looks angry in this picture but I think it is just the black eyeliner she uses to accentuate the line from her eyes.

Sus, also sporting her Christmas kerchief.

Lastly there is Jinx.  He is getting on in years and has been with us since he was a kitten 14 years ago.  He is happiest also, when he is napping with J or sitting on my lap watching TV in the evenings.  He's never been fond of being held.  He loves to share my ham with me at breakfast and is there faithfully every morning.  He recently developed one white whisker, in deference to his age.

Jinx, laying on his skunk pet bed.

Oh, and this is Pinot and Grigio.  They have become frequent visitors to the bird feeder.  Just part for the entertaining menagerie that stops by.

Pinot

Grigio

Free, Or Not?

3/13 Wednesday
I went trash heap diving today.  I've been contemplating it for the last two months.  A brilliant idea sparked by Mel from Square Foot Gardening.  In order to build my 4 x 4 garden boxes this spring I need lumber.  Conveniently for me there is a new house construction site three blocks from  my home.  I pass it each day on my walk.  For the last two months I've been salivating over the lovely pieces of discarded lumber.  Why pay, as Mel points out, for lumber when it is available for the taking.

So, today on my walk, courage in hand, I approached one of the construction workers and asked if I could take lumber from the their discard pile.  He said sure.  That was too easy.  Why had I dreaded asking?  The temperature today was in the high 20's with snow flurries.  This is important to note because in my cleverness I knew the ground needed to be frozen, as I astutely observed on previous walks the ground surrounding the sites was suitably awash in red muck.  I remember thinking that could be a definite deterrent to a successful retrieval of scrap lumber.

Scrap lumber pile.

I hopped in my car after my walk, by myself I might add, when J's enthusiasm wasn't as over the top as mine was, and drove the short distance to the site.  Parking on the side of the street I was excited to see several promising scraps of 2 x 8's.  Since Mel's boxes call for at least
 2 x 6's, I felt I had hit the mother lode.  

I approached the lumber pile with glee and felt one foot promptly sink up to the top of my Nike walker.  Cold wet enveloped my foot.  I had stepped into a rut covered by snow and a thin sheet of ice.  Not to be deterred I carried on and scored four pieces of 2 x 8's about 3 to 4 feet long.  I'm heading to the car when suddenly my left foot is footloose and  fancy free and the top of my shoe is barely visible six inches deep, embedded in red muck.   I furtively take a quick glance around to see who might be witness to my embarrassment.  Fortunately I'm blocked by the the house and am witness free.  I delicately balance my shoe less foot on one of my new acquisitions as I dig, tug and wrench my shoe from the muck.  Since I am a good 30 feet from my car I have no choice but to slip my foot back into my now gooey red shoe.  My feet have now morphed into over sized red clay clodhoppers.  My gloves and the bottom of pants are also clinging stubbornly to the red clay, reluctant to part with it.

The offending muck, though it appears more brown than red.  Offensive  none the less.

I want to note that I would have worn a pair of boots, if I owned such a thing.  Being short, I have a correspondingly small body and small feet.  Size 5 shoes, boots or any type of footwear is a hard to find commodity.  I would give my first born for a pair of size 5 wellies!  What I will do on an alpaca farm without this critical necessity remains to be seen.

Beating a more cautious retreat to my car, I'm able to secure my treasures.  Once home I have to throw my sneakers into the laundry tub and let them soak.  I have to throw my winter coat, my alpaca gloves, my socks, my pants and my sweatshirt in the washing machine.

There still remains three 8 foot long 2 x 8's back on the lumber pile.  I was afraid they would be too heavy for me to lift and too long to fit into my PT Cruiser.  The allure of free, however, may outweigh the wisdom of discretion.  I may have to still retrieve them!  Perhaps tomorrow the temperatures will be colder and gooey red muck will be frozen to solid red chunks.

3/15/2013
Postscript

This morning J and I retrieved those three lovely 2 x 8's, which actually ended up measuring about 10 feet in length.  The ground was suitably frozen to avoid a repeat of the other day's performance.  Well worth it!

Look at my lovely treasures!