Mr Diablo

The last house cat has now been moved out to the garage. Mr Diablo came into our lives forcefully 8 years ago. While we were gone to Florida for a week he snuck in a small 3 month old feral kitten. It took several days and a camera set up on night vision to trap him. After a little debate, because we were at a place where we didn’t want any more cats having two senior cats already, we decided to keep him. He lived in a dog cage inside his own room for several weeks where we forced our love on him hourly. It didn’t take long for him to decide he liked it and was able to be out and about in the house with the others. Until a week ago, after a UTI he decided peeing outside the litter box was freeing. Turns out it was, it gave him the freedom to roam the secure acre during the day and a nice garage, which is a cat’s paradise, to sleep in at night. (Along with his two former house mates) Like most reformed feral it took several days to adjust to his new living conditions. He is now happily eat and slowly discovering his new outdoor world.

 It makes me happy that he is adjusting so well and we will continue to monitor his progress because he holds a special place in my heart.

 Our house now is cat free and my sweet Duste worked hard on her day off to clean up anything he may have left behind.

 But our home is anything but lonely, we still have Ivy Rose, Conway Tweety and the fish!

Three more windows in!

It is official—all the windows on the main floor of the house have been replaced! Next up will be the two in the basement!

Next week or so the contractor will start putting up support ceilings. Which means two main rooms with be a mess with furniture along the edges and dry wall dust everywhere! I will be glad when this is over, for sure!

After these two things and a few small issues are done we will be taking a short break to save up for the two last big jobs of the year—finishing the upstairs and replacing the fuse box.

It is crazy to think we have lived in this house since Oct of 2008 and it has been none stop construction since then!  The end is near however, and that will be a great feeling!

Life without Chickens

 

I have to admit, although I miss watching them in the yard, my plants haven’t been happier and the garage hasn’t smelled better! We took a rainy Saturday and worked in the garage, cleaning and organizing everything. We got some peg board for two walls, brought in all the tools and rearranged the garage cats’ space. Most tools are hung up or in a drawer and the cats have easy access to their food with steps and two window perches! We put their lounging areas close to the heat source so they stay warmer in the winter and the litter box is located further away from their food and lounging areas. This has seemed to make them happy for the most part. Duste was and still is so excited about her peg board system, she also have shelves and cabinets to keep everything. It is so nice to have a functioning garage space!

 We have been working hard to light up our yard without the help of electricity. We have solar light around the boarders and in flower beds, solar lights on the fence and soon to be on the buildings, we have hanging solar lanterns, solar spot lights and string solar lights. All this and we still have a few dark spots left!

 We have the solar cover on the pool and we are ready for it to warm up! It took a few weeks to get it out of the swamp look but it is now clear and clean. Of course once it warms up I will need to get in it to really sweep it well and that usually takes a few days to get it sparkling clean. Miss Ivy Rose has already been in several times to take a lap or two; she doesn’t mind the swamp look or the cold water! We wanted a water dog and boy did we get one!

 Ivy Rose is nearing the end of her second round of obedience class. She is doing well, although her high energy gets her in trouble some times. We are working with her on our walks every evening; she is now even running a half mile with me on Saturday and Sundays! I don’t think she misses the chickens at all.

 I have to say it was nice to go away on vacation and not have to worry about the chickens. I usually worry they have gotten out or something has gotten in and so on. Shew!

 So far the yard is coming along and looking better than ever before! We put in a sidewalk to get from one sidewalk to the garage and we extended the garage side porch now that the coops are gone. It is now a nice grilling station and Duste loves it! She has her grilling tools hanging on the wall, a shelf to put things on and a trash can, along with a chair! The landscaping we had done around the porch and pools have really made all the difference in the over look of the yard! We are excited to see what adding a custom, wooden gazebo by the pool will add, but that is next year’s project!

 

My home and my Duste—I have it all, I am so lucky!

Duste is no longer a Temp!

My sweet, perfect, wonderful Duste got hired on!! She is no longer a temp and unlike most places this company hired her right at her 90 days! She will be eligible for insurance in a few short months, gets a $2 raise immediately and another $2’s right around the corner. Next week she will get her uniform, which will help tremendously as her “work” clothes are getting too big and there is a lot of prewashing, soaking and washing that goes into getting these clean. This company also offers lots of opportunities to earn extra raises!

 

 Meanwhile, we are thinking outside the box on how we can get me insurance, without having to work. Only one factory in town offers household insurance and unfortunately that factory is one of the hardest to actually get hired on at. So, until they legalize same sex marriage in our state we have no choice but to look for a worm hole. In October I can look into getting private insurance but my state also offers Health Indiana Plan. Of course the issue with that is you have to be without insurance 6 months and you cannot be eligible for insurance at work. It does not cover dental, vision or pregnancy care, for that I would have to apply for Medicaid. It’s a big risk to take. I would much rather have private insurance if we can afford it. We will know this in October.

 

We are working our way to our goal and so very excited!

Michigan Dunes

Vacation was great!

 

 

Ivy Rose remembered the beach well and immediately took to the waves. She ran, jumped, wadded and bit at them every chance she got! She rekindled her love for digging in the sand and watching the birds! We declared one day of vacation Ivy Fun Day and we wore her out! We all had a very good time! Of course a few days after coming back I immediately started planning the next one! Our next weekend vacation will be for Labor Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              
   We just love to travel.