House and the Furry Herd - and a visitor...

As of this morning I have all of my refinished furniture and the painting is done. The floor is installed, carpet installed and all the small things fixed.

They did never manage to paint the wood under the counter black to match the other pieces (or even completely peel off the black plastic that was on the piece they put under there) but I'm ready for them to be done and I got half of my kitchen painted in the process so I figure I can manage to paint the piece black. (the wall under the cabinets you see here is the last of the purple).

I still need to replace the stuff that keeps the front door from leaking. I can't remember what it's called but it seems that it's keeping the front door from closing well. The lock box on the doorknob doesn't help. That scraped off some of the paint on the front door, but I'm just going to deal with that as well. I don't think it's that noticeable. Certainly there is plenty of cleaning that could be done prior to worrying about a paint chip.

Overall, it looks pretty nice. I just need to finish unpacking things. My plan is to get everything unpacked so I can get the space in the garage to move my current kitchen table in there - so that I can purchase the new kitchen table. State Farm got me a check to cover the table in about 3 days. That was nice at least.

I've been changing out the outlet and switch covers in parts of the house to kind of 'dress' things up.

My sister was out of town this weekend and Dan spent most of the weekend in Raleigh with me. He also brought Squiggy to Raleigh to hang out with all my kitties. She did surprisingly well. She was cautious and there were a few 'Mexican Stand-off's' with Squiggy and Peepin, but there was no hiding and no mega fights.

It has been determined that Widget (aka, 'Giant Cat') is a bit of a bully as he seems to like to chase other cats around the house to the point where they are made uncomfortable. My sister's dog, Ash, also has this bad habit of staring down cats and getting too close and following too much...but he was kicked in the head by a horse so I am pretty sure it isn't malicious. Just stupidity.

Squiggy took to the stairs for a little while. It seemed her goal was to prevent travel up or down the stairs. Dexter just jumped over her. Peepin eventually made a run for it and Squiggy moved back to her perch on the living room chair.

With the house being re-done and Cosmo still having those bad habits, his new home is the garage when he's not being supervised in the house. Tsu and Cosmo are close and she likes to spend time in the garage with him. I think she is also still a little cautious around the dogs. Although Tucker does behave herself fairly well.

The pictures I have of the house don't have the dining room table and the chairs that were returned on Friday, but they do look very nice. In the dining room picture you can see a blue pot up on the top shelf on the wall - fairly close to the ceiling.

Dexter and Lli were behaving like a herd of elephants on Tuesday and somehow managed to knock down that pot and break it. Sadly that is/was my favorite piece of pottery (I collect pottery) and the most expensive piece I've ever purchased. The four pieces around it were all of $15 - $35 each and none of those were broken.

The pot was up there because for whatever reason I thought a wall shelf that high was probably the safest place in the house. Appears I was wrong. After I stopped crying I glued it back together. Dan and I are going to Sedona in April and I think that's were I found that pot there. I have found lots of nice pottery there in the past, but this time I'll see if they have anything I can afford by the same artist. I used to have a business card with the name but I can't seem to find it now. Hopefully there will be something there in a gallery and I will at least have a choice.

Early the next morning they knocked over the fire grate during one of their chase scenes. I am glad they are playing and being kittens and having fun - but I do wish they could keep it on the floor.
Last night Dan and I went to see Wendy and Lucy at the Chelsea Theatre in Chapel Hill so I stayed with Dan. I didn't get any frantic calls or emails but basically I don't know what (if anything) they broke yesterday. Lli is really quite the little jumper. I'm going to have to hobble her if she doesn't watch it. That's why they make kittens so cute - so when they do bad things and destroy your home you can't stay angry very long.

Anyway, it appears that things are coming together at home. Now it's up to me to get things unpacked and organized. At least that's something I can do on my own time frame. One thing the restoration company and their contractors never seemed to get down was letting me know when they would be coming to the house to do work. At least no one will be showing up as I am walking out the door in the morning with questions and such so that I'm late to work. They seemed to time that pretty well and I suspect my boss is just about sick of it.



Well, that's about it. As Dan likes to say on his blog:

'more later'....

Meet Trillium Whorl 'Lli' (pronounced lily)

A few weeks ago I went to Alley Cats and Angels to meet the newest cats. In the bathroom were the two black Japanese Bobtails. One was a very chatty little girl with a tiny bob that kept rubbing up against me and chirping. Maybe it was because she was so vocal, but I knew she should be my next cat.

In addition, she's young and she and Dexter have become great friends. In fact, right now the two of them are tearing through the house chasing each other downstairs. Both are having great fun and the older cats are appreciating the break from all the silliness.

She's quite the jumper and has climbed a few shelves at this point.

Unfortunately she enjoys sharpening her claws on my furniture, but we're working on that.

In the picture here she is shaking her tiny bottom as she prepares to pounce on Dexter who is lurking on the other side of the stairs.

She likes to chew on things - like my sister's fingers below.

When she's happy her tail wags kind of like Tucker, my corgi. I've never seen a cat wag their tail. She has a cute little trilly voice and ultimately having her to play with Dexter is just fantastic. It's clear the two of them are having a great time. They are about the same age, so I would say they have more in common than any of the other kitties.

Unfortunately there are issues with any kitties. As I sit here writing this my sister's cat, Peepin, is vomiting on various stairs as she heads upstairs. Thanks Peepin.

I'm happy with Tucker (the corgi) she was raised with cats from when she was a puppy and she seems to know how to not intimidate the cats. She tried not to make direct eye contact and she turns submissive when they walk by.

So, here it's been only two weeks and Lli is comfortable walking on the floor next to Tucker. The only problem really seems to be my sister's dog Ash who likes to push the cats a little too far. And sits around just staring at cats until they get nervous.

Anyway, she's terribly cute, friendly and playful. It's nice to have kittens again.

A Blog in Four (completely unrelated) Acts

I thought it might be a good time to do a short blog with a collection of things I hadn't yet mentioned.. A few interesting pictures and a few boring updates. Kind of like a Christmas letter but the holidays are long over and there won't be any references to my kids.

Act 1: More Snow

My sister sent me this picture yesterday after she saw the snow post. I thought it was a really nice picture, certainly makes my fence look a lot prettier than it does on a daily basis.

This is looking out the side towards my evil neighbor's house. There would be more trees if the evil neighbor hadn't taken it upon himself to cut some of my trees down. But I digress.

It's really quite warm here today considering this snow fell just over a week ago. First nice snow fall in a few years. They are calling for some more snow showers next week but I would be terribly surprised if something managed to stick. I need to wash my car. Unfortunately the beauty of snow is very short lived.


Act 2: Wine

Tonight there is a wine class with Pamela. I'm not sure what the theme is, but it will be nice to get out again. It's been a month since the last class and I've been drinking swill as a result of my very tight budget. I enjoy the wine classes, learning about the wines and being able to taste the wines without having to commit to a whole bottle.

After class, Pamela is going to come over and I'm going to make some food for us. It will also be nice to cook for a foodie person. I'm thinking some nice oven roasted veggies and a lean meat. It won't be so homey around there but it will do...


Act 3: Vampire Cats or 'Catula'



My mother has a cat they call Puddy. Puddy is kind of a huge pasty orange cat with some white. He came from Key West and doesn't have much of a personality, but he's sweet. When they first took him home he was a thin boy. Turns out he had some dental problems and as soon as they got fixed he started eating. He hasn't stopped yet. When I visit he hangs out in my bedroom and eats my cat's food. He's also in love with Tsu but has learned to better keep his distance. She gets rather aggravated with him.

Anyway, Puddy has a massive overbite. Even larger than my cat Cosmo. And he looks like a vampire cat. I had to hold his head to keep him looking at the camera, but I assure you his lips are not pulled back in that photo. Those are some impressive fangs.


Act 4:

Augusta is getting her new kitten tomorrow. Persephone came from a co-worker whose boyfriend found the kitten under a car in the driveway. She has been staying at Alley Cats and Angels and was supposed to go home over a month ago but there was some ringworm and then a cold.

Despite the delay, she waited and Persephone will be going to live with Augusta, Jason and Kennedy tomorrow. Kennedy (Augusta's daughter) seems to think that you can just 'keep' a kitten in your room. Good luck.

Persephone is also very tiny. Kind of a mini kitty. And she appears to still be pretty small. I won't be able to go see her tomorrow but I plan to go to visit Augusta on Saturday and see the new baby at home!

Augusta and Jason already have a grouchy Siamese cat that they took from me about 2+ years ago. Pamela found her outside her house 3 years ago and Eno (the Siamese) doesn't care for other cats.

Lucky for her Jason and Augusta do.