From our contractor's mouth today: "You should be able to move in by Wednesday." Even allowing for some unforeseen last-minute detail that needs attention, we will be moving this week. We are going home at last.
Spring is racing in fast, so this is great timing. I can get the veggie seeds started, clean up the flower gardens, add compost, put down shredded newspapers, and cover it all with a thin layer of wood mulch (shredded wood mulch being more expensive and slower to decompose than the paper!). Our first spring at home, watching the entire wealth of flowers bloom for the very first time...rocking on the front porch during soft rains, and making a list of the birds as they discover the wealth of feeders and food offered in exchange for raising their broods, disposing of garden pests, and charming us as only feathered flowers singing can do!
The cats need a new pen; I've been planning it with help from sites found through Google--it will consist in large part of fenced "tunnels", large enough for two cats to pass each other, but not much taller than the tallest of them. The tunnels can run hither and yon, using far less material than their current large pen, and will expand on occasion to larger lounging spaces, complete with perches and shade and toys--and views of birds feeding, turkeys strutting, deer in the dusk, etc.
The current cat pen is being returned to its original purpose--serving the needs of an AKITA! After almost 6 years, we have another one in our family. His name is Yukon and pictures can be found by following the link at the top of this page. He comes to us from Puerto Rico, where he lived in a shelter for almost 3 years. Stimulation, physical and emotional, is in short supply at shelters, so it is no surprise that he arrived "shut down" emotionally. He was flown to a foster home in North Carolina--I thought he'd been there a few months, but he'd only been there a couple of weeks when he was delivered to us. Poor guy had been through more massive changes in a short amount of time than he'd likely known in his entire life. He's about 6-7 years old, a pretty black-and-white pinto, and very sweet. He does have issues--he wants to be a one-person dog (in our case, I am "it"; in the foster home, the husband was "it"; both of us happen to be ones home the most). Randy is his person, too, though, and we are actively working with Yukon to accept both of us as his people!
Please watch your email closely for news of a house-warming. For those allergic to our 4-legged, furry critters, it will happen very soon, before our possessions are mostly in place. The remodeling will be self-evident and friends and family come to share in our home's transformation will not be short-changed by a lack of knick-knacks and some furniture! The rest of you can stop by as you like, but an "official" house-warming will be announced when pets and personal effects make our move complete.
(Thank you, Randy, for being my heart's home all these years. And thank you, True Companion, for preparing our place in the garden of Time where we'll share our lives' fruit as it grows.)
