Possums, cats and cataracts!
Well....we keep plugging away on our little projects around here.
Ron has just poured cement around several more fence posts for the privacy fence in the back yard. He has put up a nice flagpole in the front. (We missed our flagpole from our last place). We have finished the first part of our flooring project (the guest room) and have stripped all of the carpet, pad and cork tile from the hallway. We hit a self-imposed "road block" on the flooring here for 2 reasons. We have a pocket door between the hallway and dining room and have realized that it needs to be "shortened", except when we put it up and added all of the trim from the dining room remodel, we have forgotten how to get it down and actually are thinking that we trimmed it so well and so snugly that we may have to now REMOVE some trim. I think we will do that from the HALL side so as to not mess up the new trim and walls.
Also....when we remodeled in the living room and walled over the doorway at one end of the long hall...the one that walked from the living room into the hallway...it created a dead end in the hallway. Coming from the bedroom end of the hall, there is 6 feet of space after the door on the right (to the guest room) and the door on the left (to the dining room). We have not been able to think of anything attractive or practical to do with that space and are limited by the fact that the pull-down stairway to the attic is in the ceiling of that space. We finally decided that we could frame up a 36-inch bi-fold doorway to that space just past those above mentioned doors. That would create a closet. When the stairway is pulled down, it is completely contained within the "closet" and you walk straight through the doorway and would step on the bottom step. We would have to take care with what (and where) we store in that space so we can still pull down the stair and have access to the attic, but we decided to go for it. Yesterday we bought the tiny bit of lumber needed (and the door) for the project and will start this afternoon. Hopefully we will get back on track with the flooring within a day or so. I hope to have the floors done before we leave for Michigan at the end of the month.
As you know, we have had problems with "critters" off and on. They have been enticed into our carport by the cat's food, I guess. Spying raccoon footprints on the inflated ring of our pool recently provoked me to start setting our trap again. The other night, just before dark, I was in the kitchen and heard the trap slam shut in the carport. When I looked out the door there was a cat in the trap. He was going NUTS! We have caught several coons and they may crouch down and/or hiss at you, but they don't go crazy like this cat was. I stood for a second and had a flash of the story "Little Black Sambo" where the tigers run around and around the tree until they turn into butter!!! LOL. Ron quickly came out and we opened that trap to let the cat escape. He would have killed himself within 30 minutes had we left him in there!
In the morning, I opened the door to head out walking and there in the trap sat a POSSUM looking at me. Oh good grief! We call Animal Control and they come out at by 8:30 a.m. each time. If the animal is healthy, they take it to the country and relocate it....so I feel good about that. There is several acres of wooded land right behind our side of the street. I know it was THEIR habitat before it was ours, but if they continue to reproduce, they will be killed on the streets, or killed by irate homeowners to keep them out of their garbage cans. If I can help to relocate them, I am happy. We have had 2 coons and that possum (not counting the cat) in the trap in the past 10 days.
Yesterday I had an eye exam. It had been a couple of years, actually, since I had gone and my contact lens are starting to become quite uncomfortable. I end up wearing my glasses most of the time. The eye dr. said that my eyes were becoming DRYER which was causing the discomfort, but that I also needed a different SHAPE of lens because my astigmatism had increased. "What is that?" I asked. I was told that in MY case, it was because my 'cataracts' are growing. "WHAT?????!!!"
Is this what turning 60 is about???? Oh my.
She did assure me that I was a long, LONG way from needing anything done...that they grow slowly and most everyone gets them.
I took to bifocals gracefully. I accepted how gray I was and stopped coloring my hair at about age 50. I LOVED becoming a "grandma." But cataracts??? I am just not ready for this! LOL
Ron has just poured cement around several more fence posts for the privacy fence in the back yard. He has put up a nice flagpole in the front. (We missed our flagpole from our last place). We have finished the first part of our flooring project (the guest room) and have stripped all of the carpet, pad and cork tile from the hallway. We hit a self-imposed "road block" on the flooring here for 2 reasons. We have a pocket door between the hallway and dining room and have realized that it needs to be "shortened", except when we put it up and added all of the trim from the dining room remodel, we have forgotten how to get it down and actually are thinking that we trimmed it so well and so snugly that we may have to now REMOVE some trim. I think we will do that from the HALL side so as to not mess up the new trim and walls.
Also....when we remodeled in the living room and walled over the doorway at one end of the long hall...the one that walked from the living room into the hallway...it created a dead end in the hallway. Coming from the bedroom end of the hall, there is 6 feet of space after the door on the right (to the guest room) and the door on the left (to the dining room). We have not been able to think of anything attractive or practical to do with that space and are limited by the fact that the pull-down stairway to the attic is in the ceiling of that space. We finally decided that we could frame up a 36-inch bi-fold doorway to that space just past those above mentioned doors. That would create a closet. When the stairway is pulled down, it is completely contained within the "closet" and you walk straight through the doorway and would step on the bottom step. We would have to take care with what (and where) we store in that space so we can still pull down the stair and have access to the attic, but we decided to go for it. Yesterday we bought the tiny bit of lumber needed (and the door) for the project and will start this afternoon. Hopefully we will get back on track with the flooring within a day or so. I hope to have the floors done before we leave for Michigan at the end of the month.
As you know, we have had problems with "critters" off and on. They have been enticed into our carport by the cat's food, I guess. Spying raccoon footprints on the inflated ring of our pool recently provoked me to start setting our trap again. The other night, just before dark, I was in the kitchen and heard the trap slam shut in the carport. When I looked out the door there was a cat in the trap. He was going NUTS! We have caught several coons and they may crouch down and/or hiss at you, but they don't go crazy like this cat was. I stood for a second and had a flash of the story "Little Black Sambo" where the tigers run around and around the tree until they turn into butter!!! LOL. Ron quickly came out and we opened that trap to let the cat escape. He would have killed himself within 30 minutes had we left him in there!
In the morning, I opened the door to head out walking and there in the trap sat a POSSUM looking at me. Oh good grief! We call Animal Control and they come out at by 8:30 a.m. each time. If the animal is healthy, they take it to the country and relocate it....so I feel good about that. There is several acres of wooded land right behind our side of the street. I know it was THEIR habitat before it was ours, but if they continue to reproduce, they will be killed on the streets, or killed by irate homeowners to keep them out of their garbage cans. If I can help to relocate them, I am happy. We have had 2 coons and that possum (not counting the cat) in the trap in the past 10 days.
Yesterday I had an eye exam. It had been a couple of years, actually, since I had gone and my contact lens are starting to become quite uncomfortable. I end up wearing my glasses most of the time. The eye dr. said that my eyes were becoming DRYER which was causing the discomfort, but that I also needed a different SHAPE of lens because my astigmatism had increased. "What is that?" I asked. I was told that in MY case, it was because my 'cataracts' are growing. "WHAT?????!!!"
Is this what turning 60 is about???? Oh my.
She did assure me that I was a long, LONG way from needing anything done...that they grow slowly and most everyone gets them.
I took to bifocals gracefully. I accepted how gray I was and stopped coloring my hair at about age 50. I LOVED becoming a "grandma." But cataracts??? I am just not ready for this! LOL
Comments
Can't wait to see pictures of your finished projects.
I only hope you live long enough to see pictures of our finished projects! LOL
I'm with ya on the snake thing!
C.
Not my favorite, but certainly most frequently heard phrase these days......."age appropriate". Yes, being 60 does mean that.
God bless you :)