Category: General (Page 45 of 61)

As I write this it is 66 degrees outside; normal for this time of year is 42. For the first time I can remember, in February, we have had a night or two when the temps stayed above freezing. This makes the weather the big story in this part of the country. Orchard owners are concerned the warm temps will encourage their fruit trees to bloom early, which brings the chance a “normal” frost could damage or wipe out an entire crop. The rest of us are just enjoying the moderate temperatures! This week is supposed to see a cooling trend with temps in the mid to upper 50s, closer to average but still above norms.

I drove up to check on the mountain lot yesterday. There is snow on the ground but not as much as one might expect for this time of year. Many areas, exposed to the southern sky, are bare but the driveway and lower parts of the lot are still covered in white.

The Lot – February 7th

Lower end of drive

I didn’t bother to try and open the gate but walked up into the lot to check on the shed and the circle drive. My bench was clear so I sat on it for a while and smelled the pine scent; it was warm enough to start bringing that out. Time well spent!

I have just a few other notes to round out this post. Pam is out shopping right now;  I picked up a flu bug that is causing abdominal cramps that have taken away much of my energy. There may be a sick day or two in the immediate future.

My mother, now in her upper 80s, had an episode that kept her overnight in the hospital. She was having shortness of breath and, given her history of heart problems, thought it best to get checked. A new medication was prescribed and Mom is now back home and says she feels OK.

The last of foster kitten batch #25, KitKat, had a visit with the vet this past Friday for her spay operation. She is recovering nicely — but still is not any friendlier. Adoption is out; Pam has found a barn home for her (this placement is still some weeks away, waiting for consistent warmer temps) and I hope KitKat adapts to an outdoor life.  Pam will likely move the cat pen out into the garage in a few weeks, to give KitKat a taste of what is to come.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

In addition to a quick check of the Sanderling property, Fields was sent on a mission yesterday to drive by several homes currently for sale in Como and Fairplay.  I’m trying to wrap my mind around what kind of house makes sense to build up there.  There are plenty of log homes in the area – prow shaped and rectangular.  There are numerous unimaginative square cabins of the tarpaper roof variety (with the seemingly mandatory junk around the structure).  I think what we build will need to fall somewhere in the middle price-wise, and will have to rely on interesting architectural details and creative landscaping to stand out from the rest (while still blending in with the surrounding woods).  A bit tricky, that.

Happy Trails.

Little has gone on or “happened” this past week so this post is just going to be a collection of comments and short updates.

The weather is a little warmer but still in the 20s at night, making the mornings frosty. Only 1 day in the coming week has a small (20 percent) possibility of snow so the mild conditions look to continue for several days.

7-day forecast

Our local grocery store, City Market, has a loyalty card program that earns us “fuel points” on our purchases. We redeemed some this last week (points are good for a month) and paid $1.20 per gallon for regular after our $.70 cent discount. I took my extra fuel cans along and pumped 33.4 gallons total, saving us a bit over $23.00. Fuel prices will go up again, but we sure enjoy the current low prices. The 33 gallons will last us about two weeks as we are not running the truck or many of my toys.

Sanderling Update: We filled out the well permit application and mailed it off to the state, including our docket permit, warranty deed, and check for $100.00. It will be 6 – 8 weeks before we hear back.

I had dental work done this past week, a root canal and fitting for a crown. It will be 3 weeks before the crown is in and I finish this particular episode. I am not a big fan of dentists, but have two more teeth to work on before I can get an “all is well” so I’ll be back for more work later this year.

A CD player was added to our rehabbed stereo system so we can now move away from playing CDs on the computer. Player came from a Habitat for Humanity store in Grand Junction. I was also looking for a good cassette deck – we still have a couple dozen tapes in our collection – but did not find any so I am bidding on one from eBay. I hope to win it this week.

Daughter Felicity is currently in Malta (an island in the Mediterranean between Italy and Africa) but will begin a house-sit in England shortly. After that she takes the train to France for another house-sit.  Felic returns to the States in May to interview for an extended (5 month) house-sit back in the USA in the Portland, Oregon, area for next winter. Then she’s looking at cruising to Alaska.  That girl does get around.

The Honda turned over 352,000 miles. I had replaced the thermostat a few weeks ago and the check engine light no longer comes on, a good thing. One of these days  that car is just going to drop dead, but until then we keep on truckin’ with it.

My glucose levels are now averaging around 107. 70 – 130 is considered “normal” by the American Diabetes Association. Considering I started with a daily high of 338 in early December I am satisfied with the results so far. I did find that, for me, anything below about 90 results in trembling hands…not good…so I am getting closer to establishing the lower end of the levels that seem best for me.

14 day average glucose level

Pam is over a winter cold and is progressing on her guitar. We dug out a few of my early chord and song books; it is handy to have the chord charts handy when trying to learn a new song. It’s surprising how many books of this type we had kept over the years. Pam also finds lyrics and chords to almost any song we can think of on the internet.

We don’t have much going on right now so I may skip next week’s post unless something of note crops up.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

January – it has always been the month to “get through,” ever since childhood.  The high desert doesn’t feature the gray snow and ice buildup found in the Midwest, and I no longer walk the mile to school (and mile back) wearing pants under my skirt.  Still, a long and somewhat boring month.

Jer is missing his mountains; yesterday I located him on the driveway chopping firewood into kindling.

For some reason I am missing beaches, even with only a week’s exposure to the Florida panhandle last October.  I browse through real estate listings from that area to keep me dreaming.

Ft. Taylor Beach

Happy Trails.

Last weekend we had snow, but this past week has been warm – 47 degrees yesterday and forecast of 45 for today – so it feels more like spring than mid-winter.

The front yard is free of snow, as are the roads and sidewalks. A few small patches remain in very shaded areas, but that is also very “thaw-ish” in nature.

I was able to take the ATV out for a ride yesterday. The roads are muddy (mostly dirt, after all) but I had no problems getting around even on the off-road trails. Below is a photo of me at one stop along the way:

ATV ride, January 17

In other news, we had taken our two foster kittens to the Rifle Animal Shelter where they had their spay/neuter operations. Good news is all were adopted in less than a week. (A neighbor had picked up a stray kitten, Pam included it in the group, and it was adopted too.) We are always glad when the animals spend very little time in shelters.

Sanderling Project Update: Our docket receipt came back from the water court so now I can go ahead and submit the well drilling application to the state. It generally takes the state about 6 – 8 weeks to process these applications so we don’t expect to hear from them for some time.

For several months we had been seeing, and hearing, a red-headed woodpecker working away on a neighbor’s tree. I decided to get a few minutes of video of this activity: (Run time = 2:40.)

[cincopa AQKALNshyvig]

My glucose levels have dropped into the 120 range with a 14-day average of 126. My doctor had aimed at an average of 150 so I am doing well in that regard. The American Diabetes Association indicates a level of 70 – 130 before a meal is the target people like me should aim for, so I am doing well by that standard. My average levels should fall a few more points in the following weeks as my most recent tests (3 or 4) have all yielded sub-120 numbers. Progress, I guess.

Life goes on. Tax preparation is coming up in a few weeks, withholding statements should be out soon. Pam still has KitKat, the third foster kitten, in the cat room until it’s time to find a barn home for her in the (actual) Spring. With the modulated weather, the dogs spend more time outside and the 3 indoor-outdoor cats (Sunny, Soot, and Antonio) are also frequently outside  to stretch their legs and soak up some sunlight.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Aren’t we a regular bunch of bird watchers!  We like birds, here and in the high country.  We listen to the woodpeckers in the winter, watch the [nesting] birds in our cottonwood tree in the spring and summer, enjoy the hummingbirds and bluebirds in the high country.  I positively identified a robin flying around the neighborhood this week – kinda early for them. All good.

Happy Trails.

Snow: We woke up to new snow this morning, guess the weatherman was wrong this time. Forecast was for rain with snow above 7,000 feet and we are at 5,000 feet. We just hope the roads are cleared up a bit before tomorrow’s commute. We didn’t get a lot, less than 2 inches, but there are still flakes in the air and 30 – 40 percent chance of more to come in the next couple of days.

Cats: A couple of our inside cats are more likely to sit in my lap than others. Cirrus and Soot are used to being lap cats and like to settle in while I watch TV. Here is Soot on my lap during one such event:

Soot the cat on Jerry’s lap

The cats know when Pam is going to get their dinner ready:

Cats congregating for dinner

Dinner sure tastes good

Other Things:  All the holiday lights are down and packed away until next year. It is kind of sad to say this final goodbye to Christmas 2014.

Football playoffs are on and both our favorite college teams, Oregon and Wisconsin, had good seasons. The final college game between Oregon and Ohio State — for the national championship — should be a good one. On the professional football side, the Broncos may or may not move on…game is later today and we’ll be watching.

Pam is progressing on her guitar…even played a whole song yesterday!  As part of the renewed effort to have music in the house, I picked up a pair of small “book shelf” speakers (Klipsch B-10) and connected them to the stereo system. The system has been non-functional for quite a while, as the cats liked to claw up the speakers when they were sitting on the floor (rest of system is on our armoire) so I had to move the previous speakers to the garage. The new speakers fit into the armoire’s top shelf and are safe from the cats. While not the same sound as my old Bose 301s, the sound is not bad and it’s nice to have the house system functional again. (The system includes a turntable – vinyl is coming back!) Next I’ll pick up an adapter and put the TV on the stereo system; the TV’s built in speakers leave something to be desired in terms of sound quality.

We started the process of getting a well permit for the Sanderling property. In Colorado all water belongs to the state; this means we first have to get permission from the state to legally pump water out of the ground. It turns out the lot is in Water District 1 so we had to send a form to the Water Court, along with $5.00, to get a “docket receipt” that enables us to use water from a well for household purposes. We sent this in a few days ago and probably won’t hear back for a while, but the first step has been taken.

Next step, to be taken after we get the water court docket receipt, is to file a well permit application ($100.00) with the state. A permit will let us drill a well, and the docket receipt will let us pump water from it. Two forms, two different agencies, two different fees, just to get a well drilled.

The well will cost around $10,000.00 and will be, we expect, about 300 feet deep. I spoke to a Fairplay well drilling company and we’ll start looking at potential well sites in March or April. More on this endeavor in a couple months.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Woo hoo, aren’t y’all thrilled to hear of my progress playing the guitar?  The song in question has two chords, both chords use three fingers, and are close to each other on the neck of the guitar.  Callouses have started to form on the fingers of my left hand.  My right thumb started bleeding when the skin cracked; guess I’ll need to get with the program and use that dang guitar pick for strumming.

Happy Trails.

Happy New Year to all looking in on this blog. A new year has begun; let us all hope it turns out to be a good one. Sadly, world peace is probably too much to hope for.

It’s been a quiet change-of-year for the most part. The high desert has some snow on the ground but temps are supposed to get into the lower 40s this next week so what snow we have will probably melt, at least in those places that get sunlight. Average high for this time of year is about 37 degrees.

Christmas decorations are mostly down and packed away. I have a few lights on the garage and lilac bushes to take down yet; after that Christmas is really over. Pam goes back to work after a 12 day break and she is not looking forward to it.

The foster kittens are doing well, growing and having a good time in the cat room when Pam lets them out of their pen. Our larger cats generally leave the kittens alone, although Sunny likes to sleep on top of the kitten cage. This month spay/neuter surgeries will be scheduled, then two of the three should be ready for a local shelter and adoption.

I’ve updated a few of my Galleries as well as the text of a few pages; this keeps me busy on days (like today) when there is little to do, or that I want to do, outside. My thanks to Larry and Tabitha for their frequent comments on these posts.

2015 House Project: We are looking into “panelized” home kits. These are neither pre-fab or modular homes but are made out of insulated panels. Generally provided as a shell, it is up to the home owner to provide doors, windows, interior finishes, roofing, electrical wiring, and plumbing. The advantage is lower material cost, fast build times, and all interior walls, steps, and decking are included in the purchase price.

One of the kits we are looking at is this ranch-style house plan:

Potential ranch kit

Link to floor plan and more details is at http://valubuild.com/manufactured-home-models-ranches/ranch-rap-28×56.html

Going forward, we have decided to have a well drilled at Sanderling before we make any other construction commitments; we hope to see adequate water flow but, if not, our plans will have to change accordingly. Nothing is going to happen for a few months yet, but I did download the well permit and will be filling it out and getting it back to the state in the new year.

E-mail contact with the Solargon company (a Colorado-based modular home manufacturer I had mentioned in a previous post) was disappointing.  Not as much value-for-money as we were expecting, less included in the housebuilding kit than we had thought, expensive and inconvenient shipping arrangements needed, and rather pricey overall.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

In the new year, I plan to drink more wine (white), read more books, practice the guitar, renew my passport — and maybe [help] build a house?  (Regarding the guitar, I will continue to practice chords in private, as Jer  says, “You need to tune that guitar!” when the issue is my fingering, not the guitar. I’m not very good at guitar chords – one week into it – and some of the sounds are “buzzing and plunking” discordant.)

I recently joined Facebook (I know, what took me so long).  Mainly I want to view the family photos I have been informed I’ve been missing.  And it’s true, there are quite a few family photos on Facebook.  Also a lot of other junk, however…

Happy Trails.

It was looking like we would not have a white Christmas, but it started snowing early Christmas Day and we ended up with 4 – 5 inches before it was all over. This gave me an opportunity to fire up the John Deere garden tractor, equipped with a blade, and plow out our driveway, sidewalks, and some neighbor’s sidewalks.

Before I get into our Christmas Day in detail, below is a clip of foster kitten batch #25 featuring Vivianne, Edward/Eddie, and KitKat: (Run time is 3:16)

[cincopa AgEArNcW0kDy]

We had a few presents under the tree, a classical (nylon string) guitar for Pam and a “selfie stick” for me. (A selfie stick is a light-weight monopod with a camera mount on one end. You can put your camera on the mount and take photos of yourself without the use of a tripod.) The RV trailer received a set of wheel covers to help preserve the tires.

Pam cooked an excellent meal and topped it off with a reduced-sugar rhubarb pie. Pie turned out picture-perfect and tasted great. Daughter Felicity Skyped from a house sit in Dublin, Ireland to catch up on events, and Pam had spoken to son Toby on Christmas Eve so the family news was pretty well covered.

We put on Christmas music and relaxed most of the rest of the day. My snow plowing took a few hours – two rounds as the snow got deeper – and the rest of the time was spent eating, looking at small house plans on the web, and trying to video-tape the kittens for the above clip. It was a relaxing day. We hope everyone reading this had a good day as well!

December 26th we braved the roads – still messy but the snow was melting – and did a bit of after-Christmas shopping. Not much; we needed a few groceries and sundry items such as a new pair of gloves for me. Does everyone have a pair of not good but not bad enough to throw away gloves? Mine finally reached the throw-away condition.  J. C. Penney had Isotoner gloves for men at half-price so I bought a pair for driving and another pair for general winter work. The feel of brand-new gloves is quite nice.

We had an unexpected repair just before Christmas…the F-150 blew out it’s alternator, $562.00 to repair at a shop. (Also included changing the serpentine, or fan, belt.) Ouch. The Honda needs a new thermostat; it occasionally turns on the “Check Engine Light” and the code tells me a replacement is needed. I hope to get to that job today or tomorrow. The Honda turned over 350,000 miles yesterday, a record for any car we have owned, so minor repairs are to be expected.

On the medical side, I had a reaction to the original prescription I was on, Metformin, and was switched to a drug called Glipizide. The Metformin gave me severe lower back pain, bad enough that I had trouble standing up and walking. The Glipizide seems to be much easier on my system. Glucose tests are coming in under 140 in the evening before dinner. This is good news as my doctor was aiming for 150 over-all. Tests at other times of the day are a bit higher so I still have a ways to go, but progress is evident. I’ve lost about 10 pounds so far and hope to loose more as I continue the low sugar diet I am on.

I miss my ice cream. I miss my tea. I miss my cranberry juice and Pepsi. I am hoping that at some future point it will be OK to have, in very small quantities and only occasionally, some of these foods again. I have tried Splenda and Truvia as alternate sweeteners but they are not as good as the real stuff. On the other hand, we are eating more turkey and fish, foods I like and are better for me anyway. Life is always a balance.

Last night I had a service call to go into the office as our e-mail server quit passing e-mails through the system, and I am on 24/7 call for these sorts of things (even when I’m technically on vacation). Hours later I had the problem fixed but didn’t return home until about 1:30 AM so I slept in late. As I type this the day looks sunny but cold with a forecast high  in the mid-20s. Later this week we will get into the single digits for lows and will not get above freezing for the next week or more. I guess winter has settled in after a warmer-than-normal first few weeks of December.

I hope all reading this are anticipating a Happy New Year.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Regarding the kitten clip, these kittens are named after characters in the movie “Pretty Woman.”  Observing KitKat (the gray one) as well as attempting to catch her after she’s been running free has convinced me she is too feral for adoption.  KitKat will need to be introduced to our garage cat colony when the time comes.  Vivianne and Eddie will domesticate just fine.  It is what it is; I’ve learned one must accept the animals as they are.

The addition of a six string guitar to the house is my attempt to bring music back into the daily routine.  Although I’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar, I currently don’t have much time in the day to practice. I also may have waited too long in life to start playing, as arthritis is beginning to slightly swell my finger joints.  We will see.

Happy Trails.

Surprise!

I certainly was when my health office informed me I was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. I have ketones in my urine; this is significant as stored fat is broken down and ketones are made if your diet does not contain enough carbohydrate to supply the body with sugar (glucose) for energy or if your body can’t use blood sugar properly. I fall into the later category.

I had been experiencing some symptoms such as increased thirst and more frequent bathroom trips. Looking on-line I found these symptoms could be indicative of several underlying problems so I decided to get in and get checked.

I was diagnosed by the County’s health practitioner system. We have a service (C.E.B.T.) that covers screenings and routine medical care at no charge. The nurse who did my blood work was qualified to write prescriptions and was quite informative through the entire process.

I was hoping for something simple, like a bladder infection, but alas, I am now one of the 25.8 million people in the US who are afflicted. Of course, the same symptoms could have been the result of cancer, particularly prostate cancer, so in a way diabetes is not the worst case scenario.

I’ve already started to modify my diet and between that and medication my blood sugar levels have dropped over the past few days. While in the health office my count was 338, by the next evening it had dropped to 224 and last night it was 131. (Normal range, depending on who you talk to, is 100 – 140 or 70 – 120.) These are evening readings, taken around 6:30 PM before dinner. Readings at other times can be higher. This morning, before breakfast, it was 193.  I hope to be able to control my condition with diet after getting stabilized with the prescription medicine. I am currently on something called Glipizide.

The health office took several vials of blood and sent them off for testing. Of particular interest will be the results of the “A1c” test which is supposed to indicate you average blood sugar count over the last two months. While the clinic had said they would run this test my doctor did not yet have the results. My regular doctor  formulated an “official” treatment plan to go forward, basically confirming the diet I had already begun and monitoring the effects of the medication.

I didn’t notice any symptoms until we returned from our vacation trip, but diabetes doesn’t happen overnight so I probably have had it for some time. Some people who have diabetes never do experience symptoms.

As part of the treatment I had to get one of those blood monitoring devices. Geez…a lot to take in at once. I learned how to load my  “lancing device” with “lancets” and use this device to prick my finger to get a drop of blood to be wicked into the “test strips” and analyzed by the “glucose monitor.” At least  everything fits into a kit supplied with the monitor.

The lancing device has a depth setting…higher numbers drive the lancet deeper. I’m using the default setting of “4.” The device goes up to a setting of 7. (I can’t imagine using a setting of 7.) The lancets are disposable (single use, same as the test strips) and there is a learned procedure for removing them from the lancing device without damage to oneself. What a pain (literally).

My testing kit

Pam has been helping by going on-line and looking up foods and diets appropriate for diabetics. There is some conflicting information, but all pretty much come down to reducing sugar (for diabetes) and salt intake (for weight loss and blood pressure). Carbohydrates are necessary to get some glucose in your system; the trick is to determine the right balance. We are already planning an uptick in meals of fish and lean meats along with more unsalted nuts and alternative foods.

But, for the short term, I have given up my regular tea (I use a lot of sugar in mine), ice cream, cranberry juice  (kept in my refrigerator at work), crackers, and desserts. (Wouldn’t you know, we have 2 flavors of ice cream in the freezer as I speak.)  Some of these will be replaced by other sweeteners and flavoring substitutes, but it will take a while to get everything in place.

It was a bit of a shock but it won’t slow me down — much. I’m going to try Truvia sweetener in my tea and I’ll adopt a different diet that is probably better for me, and I’ll likely lose some weight, not a bad thing. The questions are more about going forward as diabetes tends to get worse over time, so this will affect me for the rest of my life to an increasing degree. How much so remains to be seen. I am hopeful it won’t be a major factor.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

All retirement plans going forward depend on a modicum of good health for each of us.  This latest diagnosis is a bump in the road, yes, the first in no doubt what will be many medical issues as we continue to age. It’s also a clarion call to move forward with land development for summer housing and to explore winter retirement alternatives.  No time to lose!  Should be an active 2015.

Happy Trails.

Thanksgiving is over and it’s time to catch up on a few things that have happened since the end of our Florida trip. None is of great import but (cumulatively) they do reflect on our daily lives.

The trees have dropped all their leaves, except for a large branch on our cottonwood tree. Several days’ chores have included raking leaves, mulching flower beds, and generally cleaning up for winter. One surprise came to light when a neighbor’s tree became bare: A large hornet nest.

Hornet’s nest in a neighbor’s tree

The nest is large enough to be seen from our house — and there is an empty lot between us. I haven’t noted any activity, the hornets are probably bedded down for the winter, but this may explain the lack of small nests around our eaves which has been common the last few years: all the hornets are now concentrated in this one large colony.

I enjoyed a local ATV trip near Palisade, about 22 miles from our house. I’d heard about this trail, named Chalk Creek, but the only sign I saw indicated the creek’s name was Rapid Creek. In any event, the trail is a loop road that mainly services two large power lines in the area. It is not very scenic but does offer a few views of Mt. Garfield, a local landmark.

Mt. Garfield from Rapid Creek ATV trail

Since this trail is at a lower elevation, under 5,000 feet, it is passable when higher trails are closed. It is also short – 19 miles – which makes it a good choice for a ride in this time of dwindling hours of sunlight. Although not a difficult route, it has quite a few rocky stretches which makes for a fairly slow ride.  I was pleased to finally have a chance to explore this area.

The last bit of activity includes a day-after-Thanksgiving trip to The Lot. In addition to checking the storage shed and general fall wear-and-tear on the driveway, we wanted to get some fresh evergreens to add to our outside holiday decorations. We drove up to the lot and back in a day trip, with the dogs. I knew from checking local conditions there would be some snow, very little in Elkhorn Ranch, and the temps would be in the low 40s.

It turned out to be a pleasant mountain drive, and I enjoyed being in my  mountains again. We arrived early in the afternoon, cut the greenery from the lower edges of some trees (we will need to trim them more fully next year), walked the lot for a while, then headed home. It did seem odd not to have the RV trailer parked at the top of the drive, and, of course, no toilet facilities.

Late November on The Lot

Bare trees and snow-capped peaks = winter

Bare trees and light snow made it clear winter has taken over the high country. We did see one issue; it appears an animal, probably a deer, had tangled with the dog run fence, tearing it away from the gate and bending up a section. We’ll have to fix it next spring, but for now I just rolled up the twisted portion, leaving a gap in the enclosure. Hope the animal wasn’t injured – we didn’t see any hair or hide on the fence.

Otherwise life has returned to its normal routine. Later today we will go grocery shopping and start putting up outdoor Christmas decorations. I’m pretty much done with yard work for this year and our wood cutting ended before our Florida trip, so there will be fewer projects going on in my evenings.

Except — Pam trapped 3 kittens last week that had come to our back deck feeding station with their feral moms. They look to be about 6 – 7 weeks old and are wild, but are getting used to the idea of humans taking care of them. Two of the three can be handled; the third one is getting used to being petted but not yet picked up. Pam hopes to get them to the vet and then off to a shelter for adoption after the new year, which means they will be with us for many weeks to come.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

This little wild litter is foster litter #25 for me.  And I thought long and hard about bringing these kittens indoors, as they were still with their moms.  If it had been summer, I  might have left them outside to live or die as fate dictated.  However, it’s cold here now and small kittens have a very low percentage of making it through the winter outdoors [especially on the mean streets].  Plus, IF they can be domesticated, kittens need to be handled by humans before they’re two months old.

Not my only cat issue this week.  Soot has a draining puss ball on his rump, the second in as many weeks (the previous one was on his neck, maybe he’s learning to run?).  He’s an indoor-outdoor cat, and apparently neutering hasn’t greatly diminished his testosterone output because he has to mix it up with other cats when outdoors.

Always something at The Ark.  The vet pretty much sees me on a monthly basis for something or other.

You  may wonder why we didn’t cut a Christmas tree at Sanderling, in addition to bringing home greenery?  I don’t think there’s a nicely-shaped potential Christmas tree — of the appropriate height — on the entire seven acres.

Happy Trails.

As mentioned in a few of my vacation posts, I have put together a video clip covering various stops we made during our trip. (Run time is 22:22.) The quality is not high as I had not taken into account the humidity and did not keep the camera lens scrupulously clean. My bad. I hope you will find this video informative and entertaining in spite of the somewhat poor quality.

Another link to this, and other video clips taken over the years, can be found on my Appleattic Home Page and is titled “Page to view video clips.” The direct link is Gulf Coast Video.

I’ve put together a Photo Album of the trip and have a link to it from my Galleries page. The direct link is 40th Anniversary Trip. There are many photos in the Gallery that have not appeared in these posts so it may have a few surprises.

We would like to thank our daughter Felicity for arranging her schedule so she could take care of our dogs and cats and make this trip possible.

Felicity and Jer in their Florida and New Orleans T-Shirts

Also thanks to Mary and Jeff Hayes for their hospitality and for putting us up for a few days, and for Jenn, Jeff, and Rowan Gould for making time in their schedules to visit with us.

Here are a few observations about this trip:
Our pre-conceived ideas about the South are not always accurate or complete.
A carriage ride in downtown New Orleans is worth taking.
Houmas House Plantation was the best last-minute addition to the trip.
The panhandle (Gulf-side) beaches are fantastic but the ocean-side beaches are more interesting.
Key West is expensive.
Epcot requires a lot of walking and one can easily spend a full day there and not cover all venues.
Ft. Walton Beach was a great beach stop with St. George Island a close second.
Key Lime pie is not over-rated.
Fresh fish meals are far better than frozen fish meals.
Family and friends are still the glue that hold us together.

Larry asked, in his last comment, if there was a particular spot we will remember after other vacation details have faded, and the answer  would be: Long Beach, Mississippi.

Long Beach was our first Gulf Coast beach stop and came as a result of Pam spotting a small road on  the map that followed the coast line. We left I-10 to follow this road, saw that first broad expanse of white beach, and we just stopped on a spur-of-the-moment. Even though it was after New Orleans and the Houmas House Plantation, this stop made us feel like we really were on vacation. The first feel of warm white sand under our toes and splashing in the surf under a bright sun made a memory that will not soon be forgotten. We have walked many beaches before, particularly when we lived in Oregon, but the Long Beach stop stands out as one of the strongest memories we have from this trip.  It says – “Vacation!”

That’s it for now, Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

As Tabitha noted in her comment, you “pay” for your vacation when you re-enter the normal routine again.  In our case, the Gulf vacation was a hint of a leisure life style we might be able to experience (somewhat more frequently) during retirement.  It gives me the incentive to move forward with retirement plans: develop the Sanderling property for summer use and find a winter location elsewhere.  Having reviewed our pension schedules and with a more firm timetable in mind, onward.

Happy Trails.