Sale called off....

So now the latest is that our 'buyers' have changed their mind and decided against buying our place. Now back to square one....

We found out they were planning to sell it again in a short time for a profit; not in this market, they won't.

Summer is waning....

Hard to believe that we are past the middle of August already. We have had one week or less of really hot weather, but here near the coast, we sometimes get our summer weather in September.
The packing goes on. I have most drawers and cupboards in boxes now. Except the kitchen and dining room. Closet shelves, etc. are packed. We still live day to day, not knowing when we will move. We have buyers now for our house. Cash buyers. They have offered very low and expect the mortgage company to counter back, but so far we have not heard of any decision.
It is a good feeling to know someone really wants our house. I am sorry they will get it for such a low price. The cost of the 1/3 acre and the cost of building our house was more than what we have been offered, but we have no say in that part. We are just glad we have gotten to stay here this long.
Now I am wondering why I have all these boxes of 'stuff' packed when we are doing very well living without what is in the boxes! I am having fun throwing things out, selling items to friends (for low prices). Why do we accumulate so much 'stuff!'
I haven't removed pictures off the walls yet, so it still looks like I haven't done anything towards a move, but that is deceiving. I have items in our dresser we need on a daily basis and in our nightstands by our bed that could be put in a box in 10 min. and it would be ready to go. My next project is to refine what is in the dresser drawers to even less in quantity.
No, I don't want to leave here. This is home. Who will feed the squirrels and birds? Will we see turkeys where we move to? Will it be so quiet you hardly hear a sound day or night? Not likely.
Life goes on..............

From Here to Where???

Time to move; or almost.

So little by little, we are weaning ourselves away from our 'dream' home. We didn't plan on it ending this way, but it is good to be flexible and realistic. This home, which my husband built and has our sweat and hard work involved, had everything we could have ever wanted in a home. But things change; downsizing comes; life goes on.........

Latest happenings

I will admit I still miss the soft fur and cuddling of Kitty-Wilbur. I guess I could adopt an owl like Esther Layman has, but don't know how to catch one....
However, much has been happening since Kitty-Wilbur. Mainly our yearly conventions which are so wonderful and then the following which has been very tense and worrisome.

Our dear friend, Rex Hinkle, is in Stanford Hospital, Stanford California, just recovering from a unique procedure to dissolve blood clots in his already injured leg. In January I wrote about their accident which added to the complications of his having polio when he was 10 years old.

His 'bad' leg was scanned with a contrast dye and found to have continuous clots from his groin to his foot. So after two procedures, (developed at Stanford eight years ago) he is 95% free of the clots now. It has been quite a week for he and Kathy!

Life is never dull; and so glad it isn't!

"Kitty-Will has a wonderful Home."

"Kitty-Wilbur" adopted us the first part of March. We haven't had pets since 11 years ago when our 16-year-old kitties became ill. I didn't want another kitty because it tore me up to lose the ones we had.

So "Kitty-Will" started hanging around here and lived in the big tree in our front yard. Little by little, he moved to our front porch and wanted to be closer to us and our fatal mistake was when 'husband' wanted to feed him. It was obvious he had been someones pet and he craved affection.

One Sunday morning he, still being uneasy around us, took a little scrape out of my arm with his front teeth when I was feeding him. He was overly anxious and overly hungry. Who knows how long it had been since his irresponsible previous owners dropped him off in our neighborhood.

"Kitty-Will" had bitten down on Ed A.'s hand the night before, but Ed thought he was such a fine cat, he just ignored it and kept petting him. "Kitty-Will" loved the attention!

A little history: When our daughter was four years old, a neighbor dog bit her in the face. I was taking a college course at night at the time and one of the students was a veterinarian. I started asking him questions about animal bites and soon discovered that a veterinarian knows more about animal bites and the consequences than most doctors will ever know. I discovered also that the neighbor's dog had never had his shots. So I lived in terror, checking that dog every day for signs of rabies. It turned out fine and nothing came of it, but those old fears kicked in out of my memory.

So the day of the bite from "Kitty-Will," I went to many neighbors but no one was missing a cat. Everyone has their own cat! I was stuck with the reality of being bitten by a cat I didn't know anything about.

I made an appointment with a local veterinarian and asked the pet hospital where she worked to board "Kitty" (isolate him) for ten days. They checked him over the day I took him in and found him to be a healthy, attractive 11 pound cat and a neutered male at that. Now I knew he'd been someones pet.

I picked "Kitty-Wilbur" up on the tenth day of his visit to the pet hospital. He'd been tested for cat fevers, including feline leukemia and was released as a healthy specimen. He was so happy to be back "home" and adoringly rolled at our feet. We had a cat whether we wanted one or not.

He became a garage kitty with a pet door that 'husband' had installed just for his use, but he wanted nothing to do with the pet door. So during the day, the garage door was left open just enough for him to come and go. At night he was tucked inside safe from the night's predators.

The very next day after coming "home," he 'lovingly' wrapped his paws around my leg and took a bite of my flesh again! This time a bigger chunk. I was very disappointed in "Kitty-Wilbur" at this point. Here, I'd had him watched for a disease, had shots given to protect him from future ills, had him protected from worms and treated for fleas but alas! his character was the same. He would do the same to husband when it came to grabbing the legs but husband wears jeans and I wear skirts so he didn't get to feel the impact I did.

"Kitty-Wilbur" was with us a month (if the isolation is included) but I began looking for a new home for him. We are facing a move from our home to a smaller one soon and husband is allergic to cat hair, not to mention the "character flaw" Kitty had in his possession.

There are shelters that promise to find homes for pets or they will keep them. The only drawback is a paper must be filled out called a "character sheet" to see if the pet is adoptable. Oh, what to do....... So I spoke on the phone with the veterinarian and we agreed that in all honesty, I couldn't say "Kitty-Will" was a good candidate for adoption. We also agreed that actually putting him to sleep permanently would be the most humane and kind option for "Kitty-Will." Who knows if someone would take him home with them and the first nip on the leg and he might be badly treated. He wouldn't have the kind nurturing that he was used to at our house! We brushed his fur, fed him canned cat food, made sure he was tucked in at night...He adored us and we really liked him!

But an appointment had been set prior to this for a booster shot he needed, so that instead was set up to be his day of departing this scene.

I was dreading this upcoming appointment. We have faced this before four times. As the day came closer, I was counting the hours; then it came down to minutes....

When it was time to go to the pet hospital, I went into the garage and picked "Kitty-Will" up from his cozy bed, wrapping him in a big bath towel and put him into the cat carrier. Tears had been choking me up all day and now they were falling on his beautiful coat. I was trying to tell him good-bye and explaining what I was about to do was for his good. He just looked at me like "What now? What did I do?"

Husband and I drove him to the dreaded appointment and I asked the staff there to please take him to the other room as I couldn't bear to wait while the veterinarian performed her task. An empty pet carrier was returned to us and amidst the rain, we cried our way home.....

All "Kitty-Wilbur" had wanted was a friend; someone to whom he could devote himself. I am consoled by knowing I gave him maybe his best weeks of care and kindness and in the end, he would hardly have felt a thing as he went to sleep forever. At least, I hope that is true....

No more pain; no more hunger or fear. "Kitty-Will" has a wonderful Home......

Some news on Chile today (regarding Quake)

Larry Christianson, Jill's brother, told my friend this morning on the phone that he understood that this quake in Chile early this morning had 800 times the strength of the Haiti quake. Very hard to fathom even a portion of that power. And that's not to down play the Haiti suffering and losses either. In Chile there are resources for construction on many levels to be much sturdier, but there are many old and many poorly built structures also. One 15 story building was reduced to the height of four stories, said one piece of news from Concepcion`.

Another news source online says that there was an 8 meter (26 feet) tsunami that came ashore at Constitucion`,north of Cauquenes and on the coast straight west of Talca.

Irene ~~~ Part 2

My friend, Irene, has been cremated and we have found the location of her husband's ashes. Irene's county guardian is working with me to get Irene's remains to the same cemetery. Then we can have a proper memorial service for this old friend.

Irene left this scene (expired?) on January 25, 2010. If I'd gone there a month earlier, I could have visited her in the county hospital.

Well, I will at least do all I can to give my old friend a memorial; that is the least I can do!