Fright Night.

It was 40 deg. on the screen porch this morning, so I didn't let the cats out there. But the forecast was for 70 deg, so I dressed in layers.

I knew that I had to take Jay to the next town, and we had quite a few errands. Jay had to go all the way to the south end of Conroe to pay a bill, so I did what I usually do when he is doing that, go next door to Krogers and shop for bargains.

I bought some Dill Dip, I love dill in any form. I had bought some Dill Seasoning when in Vancouver, Canada, that got me hooked. We used it for a long time when we got back to TX. Then McCormick had a spice called "It's A Dilly", it is not just Dill Weed, and we wouldn't think of eating eggs or avocado without it. Then McCormick discontinued it, and I can't get it anymore.

Milk was on my list, too. We had the little insulated bag with us, but hadn't put a cold pack in it. On top of that, we had been delayed at a couple of stops. I was worried about my milk and dip, as the weather had warmed up enough that we had to take our long sleeves off.

Low and behold, at one of the thrift shops was a Car Cooler, that cools or warms on 12v. That will be a handy thing to keep in the car.

Also there was a swan made of pine needles. We were talking about some of the beautiful things that people weave out of pine needles on RV-Dreams chat the other night. It will be something different in my swan collection over the front patio door.

Another think I bought was a campfire sandwich maker.

WalMart didn't have hardly an empty parking space, so things must be good around here.

Have a good Halloween, and don't drink and fly today!

Finally All Back Together.

It started out cold, so I had to turn off the AC, now it is the heater's turn for a few days.

There was no way that I could start the yard sale today, so I have been bunching things up, and making better pathways in the RVport. It will be about two weeks before I can get back to the yard sale sorting.

The kitchen and computer area still need some straightening out, after the alterations that we have done. At least both areas are operational now as I finally got everything hooked up and working!

These are two hospital tables that I already had, and they adjust in height. I have the wide one for the monitor and keyboard, the narrow one for the laptop, and it will raise up all the way to clear the little drawer unit, so to have access to it.

Golly there were a lot of wires to hook up, today!

Sticky Humid Day. Oh, What a Tangled Web.....

It is AC time again, but it has to be turned down to a lower temperature, just to get the humidity out of the house.

Someone had left a door not quite clicked shut on the Puddle Jumper yesterday, so as it doesn't get driven far enough to really charge the battery, the 9 lights in there had deadened the battery. As tired as I was , I put the charger on it last night, so I had to undo that before I could get Jay, and Mikey, Sam's poodle down the street.

Jay helped me move my two desks, again, as I had to add one more little drawer unit in the corner to fill in a space. While we were at it, I disconnected the PC and the printer, so we could give that corner a good clean first.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we disconnect a PC"!

I couldn't believe how many extra wires I had attached to the PC over the years! Printer, router, phone line, cable modem, camera cord, AA camera battery charger, two speakers, etc. Not counting all the regular cords. Most of all, I couldn't believe that I know where they all go!!

Jay vacuumed and shampooed that corner while I started grooming Mikey. Ray installed the electrical part of the dishwasher permanently. Then he installed a new light that I picked up off Lowes bargain table, over the vice on the work bench.

Jay and I worked on the little drawer unit that I wanted to put in the corner of the desks, then I took him home, so that I could finally bathe and finish grooming Mikey.

Just as I got back from taking Mikey home, the skies opened up, and it just came down in a gully whomper.

Then I got a phone call that someone had left a mama dog tied to a tree, she was all tangled up, with no shelter for her or her pups, and she was howling in despair. This was at the same house where I had rescued Debo from the same fate, when it was freezing cold outside last winter. We had had some bad thunder and lightening, even the cable had been out for a while, and Humane Society and Animal Control's phones were out. I called the local police, and they said they would get in touch with Animal Control. Why do people, (if you can can call them that), have animals if they are going to treat them like that? I wish a judge would order them to be tied to a tree for weeks on end.

I hope the poor mama dog gets some help today.

Washing Dishes.

It was another nice day, it did threaten to rain, but it was a hollow threat. My porch is still wet from the last downpour.

Ray, Jay and I got the Haier dishwasher in and out of it's space, it is a tight fit, and installed the new water supply line. The new line doesn't leak. When I loaded some dishes in it, it seemed like it was never going to stop washing, and go ahead and drain. I thought that maybe the timer was bad, so I changed my clothes, ready to go to town to buy another dishwasher. But it did finally drain. I won't put it on 'long' wash again, as my dishes are rinsed off before they go in there.

It is just the right size for me, and it will give me more storage space, too, since I took the regular size one out.

Jay and I went into town anyway, as we had several things to do. I wanted to exchange the little cordless vac that I had bought the other day. I decided I needed the more expensive one, as it has a little brush and crevice tool. It is a lot heavier as it has a more powerful motor, but it will do a better job. This time I got a Shark, and the one I wanted was cheaper at Lowes than WalMart!!

WalMart is now offering Windows 7 computers. I am so tired of all the wires going to and from my desktop, that I have been looking at laptops again at different stores.

When we got home, Jay helped me moved some furniture around in the computer area, so that I will have two desks in an "L". Now that I have the router, I can have both computers going at the same time, and just swivel my chair around.

It still needs a bit of tweaking, as I have to move one more little chest of drawers, so that area is a mess as well as the kitchen. I can't put all my kitchen things away yet, as Ray still has to permanently install the power source.

"There is such a buildup of crud in my oven there is only room to bake a single cupcake. "-Phyllis Diller

Tomorrow is another day.

Groomed Muffie, Dishwasher In Place

Great weather today, not hot, not cold, no rain. What more could one ask for? I drove down and picked up Jay and Muffie again today.

Ray was waiting to paint the board that goes in between the Haier dishwasher and the cupboard that will be built in next to it, but that never happened. Jay was so busy trying to get the plumbing and other measurements right, that he never did cut it. He just can't think like he used to.
So Ray spent his time working on the drawer that will go under it, and cleaning AC filters, air cleaners, and ceiling fans. There were a lot of other things waiting to be fixed in the work shop, so he tackled some of them, too. Always something to do around here.

This is as far as we got with the dishwasher. It was taken out a couple of times, as once there was a water leak at the dishwasher end, and then there was one at the water cut-off end, which meant I had to into town to buy new dishwasher hose. So it still isn't working yet. But we can already see how much less room the door will take up in the aisle when it is open!

The foster cats were locked up in their cages, while I started to groomed Muffie. But I was going backwards and forwards so much to help Jay, that I didn't get her completely done until later in the afternoon. Her "Dad" didn't mind, as he had gone to the American Legion for the day. I had let the cats out at lunch time, so by the time Muffie and I got back in there, they sat in the grooming room watching me. "Prime" didn't even seem upset by Muffie this time. I think, given time, they would be friends.

Stopped at Conn's to look at their computers, but didn't see anything that I wanted today.

Plumbing! One Thing Leads to Another.

It was raining hard, but I drove down and got Jay, and Muffie, his neighbor's dog, as I was supposed to groom her today.

We all got wet. I had to change into my waterproof boots to paddle through the puddles, before I could even take the trash out to the road.

Jay cut a hole, with a hole saw, in the bottom of the little dishwsher for the drain, as it used to be a portable.

Ray did some more painting on the cabinet drawer and door that we will be installing.

To get the dishwasher drain off the disposal we had to take everything out from under the sink, so it was a good time to disconnect the sprayer, and install the soap dispenser. I never used the sprayer, as I have a fancy swivel one that I added to the faucet, and always used that to rinse the sink. The contractors who finished my house had done such a lousy job that we were going to have to drive into the next town to buy a new faucet, and also get parts for Claudia.

I took Muffie home, and said that I would have to do her another day. The main road below me was flooded, so we had to drive around the long way.

Claudia's water heater plumbing had sprung a leak last night, and from the way it was spraying, it was flooding her bathroom, and not going in the water heater pan. It was plumbed with two kinds of pipe, not CPVC. At Lowes we showed them what pipe we had, to connect to the galvanized fitting on the water heater, so they sold us a lot of fittings, and more pipe of another kind.

It all looked so complicated that I stopped at our local hardware store on the way home, and bought 2 Flair-It fittings that would do the whole job. One of those was an inline shut-off, so that she wouldn't have to be without water again, if something happened to the water heater. We got those installed, and came back here to install my faucet and soap dispenser.

No big deal, but I am still without hot water at the sink, until the little dishwasher is installed, as we had to stop for the day.

Painting. Blogger. MSE.

My World Clock had fallen back an hour, so it had to put it on a different time zone this morning. It didn't know that the time change had been postponed.
Another mild day, with no rain in the forecast, so as Jay didn't show up, Ray and I were doing some painting outside on a table.

I mixed up some paints to get a salmony color that I wanted for Bobcat's board to match the shells in my bathroom. Ray painted it while she was locked on the screen porch. I didn't want her to jump up, the board not be there, and jar her bad leg in the bathtub.


The one circuit was still shut off in the kitchen at the breaker, I forgot and tried to charge my phone! That circuit also controls the hood fan/light, disposal, and over sink light, so it didn't take long to wire nut and tape the bare wires for the dishwasher, and turn it back on.

Ray started getting the shelf, door and drawer primed and painted white for the kitchen, they still needs more coats.


Bobcat woke me up early, so I put that time to good use, I hope. I un-installed my security program, and installed Microsoft Security Essentials, as I heard that it should be better. After it was installed, it took a long time to scan, so I had plenty of time to get dressed, and feed the cats.


I was hoping, computer illiterate that I am, that it would cure some of the problems that I have been having since I had that virus. But it didn't. Somewhere, in the deep dark crevices of this machine there has to be a button which will fix them.
To get into chat I either have to restart my computer, or go through Firefox, which I prefer not to do. It says my Java is not enabled, but I know it is, 'cos I checked. I restart, and it is OK. Weird!


There are two kinds of comment boxes on Blogger. One has an outline for the comment box, and the other doesn't. I can comment on the ones in a box, but not the ones without. I couldn't even post a question on the Blogger Help Forum, either, maybe because that place to post doesn't have an outline? Now, that doesn't make sense to me. It does the same thing, I can click or try to type, and it doesn't even know I am there. I am not trying to go around incognito, I'm not in the Witness Protection Progam, but it acts like I am.

While I was waiting for MSE to do it's thing, I got my laptop going, and still can't get it to go to Live Writer. A sign comes up and says something about an error 401, unauthorized, and has to be remedied, but no button to tell me what or how.



Then I put new cartridges in the printer, and they didn't work. Fortunately I had others. Not a good puter day!

Dishwasher Exchange Started.

It was rather cool first thing this morning, in the 40's, so I didn't put let the cats out onto the screen porch until later in the day. It was sunny, but not hot, just like a lovely south TX winter day.

It is so peaceful without "Pretty"! Her new people wanted an active, lively cat, and they got one. "Prime" and "Patches" just had a laid back, peaceful day.

Bobcat is enjoying her new step that we made yesterday, but she has been giving me a "Why did it take you so long to do this?" look.

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." - Jeff Valdez

I picked up Jay, and as I really wanted to get my big regular size dishwasher out, so that I could offer it in the yard sale, we started on that. That part was easy, it was getting the plumbing figured out for the smaller dishwasher that took the time, and even a trip to the hardware store.

When I saw the dust, and stuff that had accumulated under the dishwasher over the last few years, I was glad that I will have a shorter one built in, with a regular wooden toe space, to keep out the dirt. A dishwasher isn't like a fridge, where you can roll it out to vacuum it, and it's space.

We now have the shelf cut for the little dishwasher, the parts to hook it up, even the drawer for under it, and the door for the shelves that will be next to it, all ready, but it was too late in the day.

It's All About The Cats Today! "Pretty'" Gone.

Cooler weather, so we were all wearing sleeves today. I picked up Jay as he wanted to work, and I had some stuff that he could do.

Ray only had an hour that he could work, so he put weather stripping around the back door on the windy, cold, north side of his utility room. It gets drafty in there, on top of this hill with just fields behind the house, and Blackie, their cat, sleeps in there. Also more comfy when doing laundry.

While he was doing that, Jay and I were making something for my 14 year old Bobcat. She loves to sit at my bathroom window when she is not asleep under my bed, or on the porch. I have a stool there for her to jump up onto the tub, but with her arthritic front leg she was having trouble, balancing on the edge of the tub to jump up, or down, from her window. Jay and I made this board, and it has a piece along the buttom to stop it from moving. Now she is tickled pink about her new step. It will get painted.

Jay and I did a bit more repair to that back utility room door, and put a sweep on the bottom, to try to keep the drafts out.

I took Pretty into Conroe and we met my SPCA boss, who will keep Pretty overnight, and then she will go to her new 'forever' home tomorrow. She is very sweet, but too rambunctious for me. The other cat's wouldn't play with her, and she seemed to keep them on edge. She was always getting into something, and insisted on getting tangled up in all the wires to my PC. Now she will have a little girl, and a Chihuahua, to keep her occupied, so I am glad.

When I got home, I let the other three out on the porch, and they seemed to know that their lives were going to be a little bit more peaceful now. I couldn't get them to pose all together in one picture.

Phrases that don't mean what you think they mean!!
http://www.asylum.com/2009/10/06/phrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean/?icid=mainhtmlws-maindl5link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asylum.com%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fphrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean%2F2Fphrases-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean%2F

So it was all about the cats, today.

Best Pick for Shampoo and Pet Food.

It was cooler, but it was drizzling rain. It had obviously rained harder during the night, as some of the yard sale things were damp.

Ray and I anchored the plastic sheeting better over the row of tables beside the fence, by tying knots in the corners of the plastic and using bungee cords to hook onto the lattice fence. I haven't spread the things out yet, as I still need to get my van in there.

We sorted out some more stuff, and I will be so glad when I can have the sale, next week, and get most of it outta here.

I was waiting for the new 'better' cat food to arrive at 3.00 PM at the feed store. When I called to see if was there, the lady said that she was very disappointed. She won't be switching to it, and nor will I, it has "By-Products" in it, which is made of dead, disabled, and diseased animals of all kinds. So we are staying with the old brand for now. It is still not the best there is. Kumpi Kat All Life Stages Food is one that gets the 10/10 score, if I could get it, I would try it.  But Wellness Brand cat food has great reviews, and I can get that at Petco, so I have Bobcat on that.   You can measure your cat's food by these reviews: http://hubpages.com/hub/Cat_Food_Review They also have a page for dogs.

I couldn't understand why my hair was so dry and brittle. Lots of it came out on my brush, and I know that I am not on chemo! Thank Goodness! I did some searching, and found out that I was using a shampoo which the second largest ingredient, after water, was Ammonium Lauryl Sulphate, which is very, very harsh.

I had forgotten to look at the ingredients in the shampoos at WalMart, or at Sally's Beauty Supply, but remembered when I was in the Dollar General, and found one, now my hair is a lot better. This is the criteria that I had printed out, to have with me:

1. Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate - very, very harsh

2. Ammonium Laureth Sulfate - very harsh

3. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - still little harsh

4. TEA Lauryl Sulfate - good

5. TEA Laureth Sulfate - good

6. Sodium Laureth Sulfate - gentle, great

So please look at the labels. Just like you would for the food you, or your pets eat. It is all about the money, and if they can sell a lot of a product made cheaply, they don't care about you.

But I do, or I wouldn't bother writing this today.

Not Much Accomplished. Pet Food!

Another lovely day with the windows open.

This picture of me was taken last Wednesday, by Heidi, my niece, visiting from England.

The sign above my head tells a fireman how many animals are in the house, and the one by the bell tells you that if you abuse an animal, you will go to jail.

Ray came and we worked all morning but didn't seem to accomplish much.

We tried to solder a loose wire on a special heater that I have, and the cold soldering iron wouldn't work. It had already taken a while to get the darn heater apart, even with using an 'easy-out' on the screws.

Ray waxed the roof of the van where we had painted it white, to get it protected for winter.
That white roof is great, not only does it reflect the heat, but I don't loose the navy blue van in the parking lots anymore.

We riveted some small bars on a cracked flat part of the little Oreck canister vac I got on Friday. That part went fine, but then we couldn't find the hose to the vacuum.

I thought it must have been left at the thrift shop, so, without any lunch, I drove down there before it got thrown away.

They had not been open since last Friday, so unless the dumpster had been emptied, the odds were good. But they couldn't find it. So I went to a couple of other shops where I thought I might buy a hose, but did not succeed.

I stopped at the feed store to get the cats some more Exclusive Cat Food, and the lady told me that they are getting in an even better food tomorrow. So I will try that. She was upset about the people that come in to buy the cheapest food, full of corn meal, just like the grocery store pet food.

Then they wonder why their dogs have skin problems and other health troubles! She was glad that I try to feed mine the better foods, but I know it is cheaper than paying the vet!

"A cat isn't fussy - just so long as you remember he likes his milk in the shallow, rose-patterned saucer and his fish on the blue plate. From which he will take it, and eat it off the floor." - Arthur Bridges

So I came home empty-handed today!

Visit with Linda and Howard in Cagle Rec. Area.

This morning I visited Linda and Howard of http://www.rv-dreams.com/ in the Sam Houston National Forest, Cagle Recreation Area, near New Waverly, TX.

This is only about 15 miles from my house, about 7 miles as the crow flies, and I had never been there. Another lesson about exploring your own back yard, as you never know what gems you will find!

When you see lovely campgrounds like this, you wonder why anyone would want to be on hot slabs, all in a row like sardines, in an RV park or resort. This site is $20 with full hook-ups. It would be $10 for me with a 'geyser pass'. I tried to imagine camping there, and taking the walk down to the lake, but I think that is when I would miss my late DH, and my dog, the most.

Taking Bobbiecat in one of her special animal strollers, just wouldn't be the same. She has two strollers, and the orange one cames off the wheels and becomes a back pack. I used it as a regular back pack, for things, when I went to AR to get the Mirage! With all the see-through pockets it was great for finding maps, drinks, snacks and things when I was on the bus. Then that left my hands free for carrying the rest of the luggage.

Her other stroller doesn't come off it's wheels, and can't even be used as a carrier in the MH, so I hardly ever use it.

The sites at Cagle are huge, and the tent pad was on their site, so it couldn't be rented to anyone else. I had been to another campground in the Sam Houston National Forest years ago, with my son, as there were ATV trails near there, but never ventured to this one. I will have to remedy that, when my fosters are adopted in to their 'forever' homes.

It was great to see Linda and Howard again. Hugs all around. We figured that it must have been about October 2006 the last time we saw each other. How time flies! We sat under their awning in wonderful weather, and chatted about all kinds of things. I was looking in and around their rig, as I am not up on all the newer stuff, as I mostly work on vintage RV's. Even the door latches on the fridges are different now!

They had a satellite dish for TV, screwed onto a board, on the grass beside the rig, as the trees would interfere with the roof mount one, and were using their phone for internet again. More than one way to skin a deer. I didn't want to say 'cat', 'cos why would you want to skin a cat?

Their visitors came over, Wayne & Renea, who had their Class A in the next site, but that was still quite a way away, these sites are so large. They are from Monroe, LA, which was where my home park (Shiloh) was, when I belonged to Coast-to-Coast. Another instance of meeting great people when you are RVing.

Most of the time I was there, a riding lawnmower on steroids, similar to the picture, was racing around at maybe 15-20 MPH, almost like an ATV. It's rear wheels were as big as the ones on my van. As it got closer it was kicking up quite a bit of dust, so the picnic that I had brought, had to be eaten indoors.

I didn't see their 5er (fifth wheel trailer) last time, as we met in Willis,TX near my house. It is only the second time I have been in a big full time 5er, as the ones that I had were smaller. Deb and Rod's (http://debandrod.blogspot.com/ ) was the first one, when I visited them in Schertz, TX in the Hill Country, last year. The big 5ers do make lovely homes, but all those stairs would do me in! But you have to have steps to have all that basement space, so you can't have it all.

"I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn. - C.E. Cowman "

A great time with old friends today.

Yard Sale Preps. Aloe shipping.

It is lovely weather here, so I would love to take off in an RV. But I have other things to do, and my foster animals to care for.

I picked up Jay, and Miss Ronnie. Jay got more boxes of yard sale stuff down from the storeroom attic, and Ronnie stapled the labels with the sizes on all the pants, and hung up a bunch more of the clothes.

While we were doing this Animal Control came to pick up the sweet stray tabby tomcat that they had botched up getting into their truck the other day. Yes, he came back here! He knew he would get food, water, a comfy bed, and shelter in the carport. We hope that he will be fixed, and adopted, as he really is a sweet cat. We hated to see him go, but it had to be done.

Jay got the mesh playpen down, and loaded it full of blankets and sleeping bags for sale.

I washed out the big plastic bins we put things in, as they had got dusty, and ran around all over, trying to get stuff organized out of the boxes. The yard sale won't be until next week, but it takes a while to get it all set up. So it has to be done bit by bit, when we have time. It is all laid out in the back of my RVport, so it is under cover.

Then I had to make a very big long shipping tube to ship a very big long aloe, and took it to the Post Office.

Happy 30th birthday to Al today.

Jeans. Back to the Floor!

It was chilly this morning, by our standards, anyway.
Jeans, instead of shorts, were the gear for today, for the first time in months.

Ray and I had laid most of the linoleum on Friday, but not the little corner where the fridge goes, as it had to be cut and patched in. We moved the fridge again, but it took quite a while to get that part cut just right. It had to butt up precisely against the existing lino, and as neither edge were 'factory', it took a few cuts with a straight edge, but finally it was stuck down, so that the seam didn't show.

The baseboard was nailed back on, and then we had to get the new carpet bar down between the carpet and new lino all across the room.

The old carpet bar didn't have 'teeth', and the new one did, so to get it to fit right, we had to take up the old tack strip. The bar was carefully screwed in place, and then I got a wide trowel and pushed the edge of the carpet into place under the lip of the bar, so that Ray could hammer the edge of the bar over it.
We still have a couple of other jobs to do in the guest house, but Shay will be home today, so we will have to wait until the next time she is away. Shay is one of those folks who doesn't like to be disrupted around remodelling!

The sun was shining, and the cats were playing on the porch this afternoon. First time it hasn't been too hot for them to do that.

"Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend." - Zenna Schaffer

Wish I could be RVing on this lovely day.

Adoption Day. "Pretty" Meets Her New Family.

It is so much cooler these days. So nice to have the windows open airing out the house. I spent most of the morning catching up with a few odd jobs. You know, laundry, bills, etc.

After loading the cats in their respective transportation carriers, with a great tussle I got the cages loaded and seat-belted in the van, to go to Adoption Day.

Neither my SPCA boss, Kenya, nor her second in command, Chris, were at Petco when I arrived. Another foster mom helped me unload the cages onto a shopping cart and we rolled them into Petco. I put my cats in their display cages, but I knew I could not just go off and leave them there alone, especially as the foster mom brought two more cats. Kenya called me, she was delayed, but on her way, and asked me if I would stay. Another foster mom, Barbie, arrived with about 6 or 8 cats and a couple of dogs. Kenya arrived with the rest of the dogs. One only 2 lb. full grown, and others up to maybe 70 lb! Chris wouldn't be there today, so I knew they would be shorthanded, even though Barbie was staying.

Kenya does the viewing and adoptions in the Training Room at Petco, and sometimes that takes quite a while. So someone has to be in the Adoption Room to answer questions from passers by about the animals. The dogs have to be walked outside every now and then, so it really takes three people. One dog, who looked like a big "Benji", was adopted, as their application had been approved last week. Lots of folks held the little skinny 2lb. MinPin, Prissy, she is a cuddle dog, but not ready to be adopted yet. There was a young little white dog with tan ears, and an adorable face, Mackie, that I had seen at Adoption Day last time. She is so quiet, sweet, and laid back that I was tempted. But she would outlive me, so it would not be fair.

Pretty's possible future family arrived to view her, so Kenya and I took her into the training room. Pretty just loved on them, and purred, and they loved her. I answered their questions about her, and left. Kenya left them to have some alone time with Pretty. When Kenya went back, they had decided to adopt her, but they are going on a trip next weekend, so they don't want to pick her up until the 26th.

I helped all I could with the people looking at the animals. We have loose leaf books, one for our cats and one for the dogs, a page devoted to each animal, so I had to refer to that sometimes to find out particulars about a certain animal. Several people took our card, so that they could look at our other animals, or fill out an application online, http://www.spcaofmc.petfinder.com/ and one filled it out right there.

Kenya ordered take-out from the Chinese restaurant across the parking lot, so about 4.30 we ate at a table behind the cat cages. At 5.00 PM, it was time to start packing up. That takes a while. First, move the dogs into their cages in Kenya's big van or into their foster mom's vehicles, then those big display cages can be folded up. The cats are put in their carriers and loaded into the various foster mom's cars, and those display cages can be folded up. Then all the folded display cages have to be loaded into the back of Kenya's van. Chris usually does this, as she is used to handling heavy stuff, she cleans horses hooves for a living! But with her absent, it was up to Barbie. I helped by folding up cages as the dogs and cats vacated them. Kenya helped me get my three back in my van, and we came home. I didn't even try to carry the cats in their cages, into the dog room. I got each cat out of it's transportation cage, and carried them very securely, into the dog room. They were glad to be home.

So another busy, cool day.

Whew! What a Day!

The day started out unexpectedly with a mad rush. Thank goodness it was not hot or humid!

I was working on the computer, still in my nightclothes, when my 17 year old grand daughter Michelle, called. She wanted me to take her to school, as she had missed the bus.
I told her that it would take at least 45 minutes for me to get there.

The cats had been out on the screen porch since early, and neither they, nor MaeMae, had even had their breakfasts yet. I usually get dressed and feed them when I get off work at 8.00 AM, before we start working around here at 9.00AM, so was a mad scramble. I knew that her school was nearly into the next town, Conroe, so I called Jay so that he could go with me, as he had stuff to do there. He also had to help me move the furniture out of the way in Ray's kitchen again, before I could leave. I had the floor leveling powder, so Ray could be floating the floor until I got back.

I did feed Bobcat very quickly, as she gets sick if she doesn't eat her canned food on time, and got the cats back in the house, so that MaeMae and I could go pick up Jay. Then he and I moved the furniture, left MaeMae in my house, and off we went.
We picked up Michelle, in another subdivision quite a few miles away. I raced down the freeway, over the speed limit, and got her to school. She was late, of course.

Then on to Conroe. I had trouble finding the right carpet bar that goes between the new lino and the existing carpet. All they had at Lowe's was 8' long. I didn't want any joins in it. Finally found a 12' long piece at Home Depot, and it only just fit in the van. By the time we had made some other stops, it was way past lunchtime, and I was already worn out. I dropped Jay off at his house, and came home to feed the animals, and me.

Ray had floated the floor, so we started struggling with the new linoleum. After vacuuming scrupulously, we laid it out, cut to it to fit, rolled half back, and applied the mastic to that half of the floor. We got that half of the lino rolled into place over the glue, and rolled any air out. Then rolled the other half back, applied more mastic and got that side glued down. By the time we had done that, we were too beat to nail the baseboards, or carpet bar. So we put the furniture back for now. Too tired to come back here to get the camera!

The baseboards can wait until another day!

Fixing floor. Gee, What A Little Water can Do!

This post already disappeared once, but maybe I can recreate it. This is the day we had to start fixing the kitchen floor in my little guest house where Ray and Shay live. Shay is away house sitting elsewhere until Sunday.

MaeMae and I picked up Jay. Ray's back is still bothering him, and as much as he doesn't like to be around Jay, (even if Jay is sober), he knew that he could not do the floor at this time. Jay and I moved the dining furniture, hutch and fridge out of the kitchen. Jay removed the baseboards, and Ray started cutting out the old linoleum. We cut out some soft spots on the floor, and the shower the other side of the wall was suspected of being the cause. But it wasn't that. A while back the window Heat/AC had been leaking in the wall, and we had altered the pitch of it to rectify that. But it had already done it's damage to the floor under the old lino.

Some blocking was screwed in, and 3/4" plywood screwed in the hole. Ray went around on his knees scraping up the old floor mastic, and it is pretty smooth, but we will need to use some Floor Leveler, which we will 'float' tomorrow.

All the up and down the steps, over to the board rack, and up to the plywood storage did my knees in, and by 1.30 we had all had enough for today.