Bathroom Update - Week Nine

So have you ever heard the joke about the man who's just finished laying carpet and he calls out to his wife, "Honey, have you seen the canary?" And in the background, you see a small lump in the middle of the newly laid carpet?


That's the story of the story this week. You can clearly seen a big bow in the plywood here. It was worse in the middle and at one point, Warren took out three screws and we lifted it up just to be sure. I could have sworn there was something under there, it bowed so much. Silly me, nothing was hiding under there. We joked about the canary under the plywood all day. Warren had to put more screws in than was called for in the instructions, just to be sure the canary was gone. :)

But I'm ahead of myself. We started out in the bathroom by measuring the layout of the rest of the floor to be covered by plywood. We were hoping to get the largest area possible covered by one large sheet of 4 x 8 plywood. It would require cutting several notches and angles here and there to do it. But then there would be just a half dozen small pieces to fill in the leftover spaces. Then we'd be done with this stage and could start the concrete backer board next.

So after we took all the measurements, and trouped upstairs and downstairs twice to make more measurement (Remember Vern the Carpenter of "Measure twice, Cut once" fame?) Eventually we got it drawn out and started cutting. No saw horse so we used old chairs from the basement and the older car.


We stopped to chat with our neighbor, Linda, when she stopped by.

Then we got back to work. Now, you do understand, don't you, that when I say, "We got back to work," I'm talking about Warren, right? Because about all I've been good for so far is holding the boards when Shop Guy saws with the dangerous circular saw. Well, I do do some vacuuming up of sawdust, which we all know is VERY important. But really, Warren's doing all the work, we all know that, right?

So after not very much more trimming, we got the big piece glued and started screwing it into the subfloor.

INSERT CANARY STORY HERE.
After that was done we, I mean Warren, got to the "easy" part of piecing the smaller spaces around the room.


And by 12:30 we were done. We had plans to go to a movie, but decided to take a leisurely lunch and do the movie tomorrow instead.

While I'm blogging about Week Nine, Warren is off the Lowe's AGAIN to see about the concrete backer board that is our next phase of the project, which won't take place till two weeks after Easter because we've got company coming for the holidays and would rather have fun with family, thank you very much!

So that's all for now, folks. Catch us in April for the next installment of the Bathroom Project!

Oh, for a parting shot, here's Miss Ellie, Princess of the House, looking slightly annoyed that her morning nap is being so rudely disturbed by all this noise and commotion.

Here's Hammy hiding in between the coffee table and the couch, waiting for innocent little Miss Ellie to walk by so he can POUNCE!

Mr. Hamilton the Movie Star

Part of the saga of the Computer Meltdown is the purchase of a new computer. Since I'm a Mac girl, I now have this fantastic iMovie studio in my computer.

Huh. Now I have to learn how to use it. So what better subject matter than Mr. Hamilton? It took me a while to figure this all out, but here is my first movie, all 21 seconds of it. Starring none other than Mr. Hamilton, that totally natural movie star himself. I took this over a year ago when I first got my digital video camera. Now with my iMovie studio, can Hollywood be far behind?

Oh, and yes, some day I'll tell you all about the Computer Meltdown...well, or maybe not...

Miss Ellie and the Green-Eyed Monster

It's the next day. I catch Miss Ellie staking her claim to HER spot, for heaven's sake. I think she looks a bit sad here or is it mad?

Because if you look at the next photo, which happened right after I took the picture of Miss Ellie on HER blanket, she stalked over to confront Hamilton, who was stretched out on Warren's lap and legs.

Now, if you ask me, Miss Ellie looks decidedly JEALOUS here. Because Warren is her person, Hamilton is Marcia's cat, for heaven's sake. What is he doing on HER person? And if you look closely at Hamilton, he's really egging her on with his smug, proprietary attitude. I can read it all over his face. He's rubbing it in.

I guess this is entertainment in the cat world. They are having quite the time, engaged in this friendly scuffle over who belongs to whom and what belongs to whom. We try not to interfere too much. It's too fun to watch, and they say animals need stimulation. It's not like we take these two cats out on a walk around the neighborhood, like Sarah's Dan does with Henry!

Peaceful Sleeping Kitties (??)

I came downstairs today for my morning coffee and t.v. news in the den. Coming around the corner from the kitchen, coffee cup in hand, I stopped abruptly.

What?? Two cats sleeping close to each other on the couch??

This doesn't happen in my house. It used to with our cats, Snuggy (short for Snugball) and Eekie (short for Eclipse.) They were litter mates, which I understand is about the only way cats will snuggle together in sleep. Quite the peaceful scene for two cats who barely tolerate each other on a GOOD day.

I quickly grabbed the camera to document this historic moment. Then I sat down for my coffee...

And I got to thinking...

This fluffy hand-knitted blanket is Miss Ellie's domain. She LOVES sleeping here! But Hamilton is on the blanket. Aha! They must have had a contest of wills during the night. And Miss Ellie lost. Yeah. That's the real story.

Now, to even out this battle, I have to say, Hamilton will let Miss Ellie have first dibs on the food bowl, just about every time. But if he gets in his mind that Miss Ellie has a favorite spot, he had been known to ace her out.

Case in point: Hamilton climbed onto Warren's lap this afternoon and had a nice long nap. Miss Ellie isn't much of a lap cat, so he can get away with this quite easily. But Miss Ellie doesn't like it and in the last couple years has even climbed into Warren's lap every once in a while. A real change in her behavior. One which Warren appreciates.

So...I wouldn't say this photo shows peaceful sleeping kitties. I would say it shows Miss Ellie resigned to her fate. And thinking about how to get her blanket back. Notice who is wide awake and eyeing me disdainfully...

Where's the Fire?

You will notice there is no fire in the fireplace, but there are two expectant cats sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace waiting, waiting, waiting... They don't understand why there's no fire beaming down its luxurious warmth to the cats on the rug. It's been sooo cold lately and every night when the humans get home, they turn on the fireplace. So how come there's no fire in the fireplace tonight? Maybe if we wait here, they'll remember, and turn it on!

They don't know it's been in the 60s and 70s outside the last three days. They don't know that a tornado ran through the county just north of us a couple of hours ago. Hamilton did climb up on Warren's chest when the sirens went off here because I wasn't home yet and he did NOT like that horrid noise. But the siren is long forgotten and now they are wondering why we've forgotten to turn on the fireplace.

BTW, in case you're wondering what you're seeing in the glass fireplace front, it's the satellite tv saying it's lost the signal. Wonder what's up? More rain? Hail? Storms? It's just waaay too unseasonably warm for cats or humans around here!

The New Cat Ornaments

I think my new "sister-in-law" did a great job choosing a Christmas present for me. I think she got it right, don't you?

Actually, I'm blanking on what I should call my daughter's new mother-in-law. Anyone know?

And then there's the Miss Ellie Ornament. Another great choice, I would say. What fun!

Christmas Cat Pictures

I tried all day to catch the cats in front of the Christmas tree. All I wanted was a nice cat and tree photo. Not a lot to ask, you say? Well, if you think that, then you don't know cats. They have their own minds and rarely take human requests too seriously.

I got a lot of Miss Ellie and her beautiful tail, of which she is most proud!

I got a lot of Hammy's tail, too. Not that he cares about a tail, for heaven's sake!

Hammy actually cared a LOT about playing with the camera strap.

I finally had to enlist Warren to get a nice photo of Miss Ellie and the Tree.

Hamilton eventually cooperated and I got a very nice shot of the HammerMan and the Tree.

Merry Christmas from us and the Cats!

Mr. Hammy's Morning Milk Run

For close to a year now, I have not followed my morning routine. Specifically, I haven't eaten my usual morning mueslix cereal. I've been on a DIET, which means Mr. Hammy has been on said diet, too. Not very happily, I might add.

If you know anything about cats, you know they are creatures of habit. They thrive on routine. They know where every object is supposed to be in their house. They make a daily sweep of their domain to be sure everything is where it should be. They know when you will be leaving and when you are coming home and when you are going to go to bed.

And they know when to get up and run downstairs and look cute so they can get the cereal bowl with a smidgen of milk in the bottom. So now you can see why Hammy hasn't come to sit with me much in the morning for the last year, unless he happens to be hanging out in the den where I eat breakfast, and then, of course, he'll be there and may climb in my lap, even if there isn't any milk.

Recently, I've started back with my morning cereal routine. Yes, this means the diet worked and I am much more at my battle weight now.

The most curious thing happened on the FIRST--YES--VERY FIRST, morning I clinked a spoon in the bottom of the cereal bowl while I went to grab the cereal box and milk jug.

Hammy appeared as if by magic, from points unknown, and started rubbing my legs in anticipation. Then he ran into the den and jumped up on the black, leather cube where I used to set the bowl when I was done. I hadn't even poured my cup of coffee yet, and there he was, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for a treat!

Someone once told me a cat has a memory of about 5 seconds and if you are going to spritz him with water to keep him off the Christmas tree, you'd better do it before 5 seconds has passed, or he won't know why he's suddenly wet.

Now, I'm thinking they must be wrong about this because the last time Hammy got milk in the bottom of my cereal bowl was last winter. But there he was, eagerly anticipating the reinstatement of his favorite morning routine!

He got the bowl, of course.

Thanksgiving

We came and went at a furious pace this past week. Off to St. Louis for Thanksgiving dinner with 23 at the table of our daughter, Sarah's, in-laws. We feel like we know the family now, this being our second Thanksgiving with Dan and Cassie and having partied at the wedding with all the Marshs.

Then home again to work on Friday, then cook another Thanksgiving for 11 at our house on Saturday. Great fun--for us anyway. Different story for the cats.

I couldn't make my bed all weekend because the cats took to our bed as a reasonable alternative to getting stomped on under all the feet in the house. They came down when the coast cleared to triptophan out on leftover turkey. Then back upstairs or outside, avoiding the humans at all cost.

Our son, Ben, seemed to be the best one to hit up for turkey treats, especially when he cooked a leftover smoked turkey pasta dish last night. Oh my! That was good! Miss Ellie slept last night, I can tell you. Hamilton hung around long after the spreading darkness called for him to vacate the premises.

No pictures--too busy having fun or cleaning kitchens to snap any shots. Will have to get on that, I guess.

Meet H & J

Meet H and J:

Henry and Jackson are my daughter's spectacular cats. Case in point: See how much fun they have with this toy.

This is my favorite photo of Jackson:



This is my favorite photo of Henry:



Or maybe this one is:



These guys have been buddies of Sarah's for several years now. They came to live with Sarah while she was still in college. So at least 8 or 9 years, I think. They're good buds. Loyal through and through. Right now, they are still adjusting to sharing Sarah with her new husband.



Henry LOVES Dan. They go on walks in the yard and Henry never strays too far from Dan.

So far Jackson is still skittish. I keep reminding Dan that when Jackson lived with us for a while it took several months until Jackson would warm up to us. Just give him some time. Eventually, he'll come down out of "The Stacks" and be friends.



I got to loving them quite completely when they lived with us. Still miss them. Hamilton misses Jackson A LOT. they used to play together, wrestling and running all over the house. Now Hammy tries to interest Miss Ellie is playing rough-and-tumble, but--you guessed it--she won't have anything to do with this kind of play!

Mr. Hamilton Defends His Home

The Morning Growl - Sorry it's sideways!

Hammy has an arch nemesis. Her name is Diamond. She is a semi-feral cat who lives next door. She's their Outdoor Cat. She's quite wild and has, in fact, taken a swipe at me on occasion.

She has this fascination with our Indoor Cats and visits our back deck every morning. This sends both our cats into apoplexy on a regular basis. I used to try and chase her off--hence the Diamond "swipes" at me--but now we just let the whole daily escapade play itself out. We figure since cats count on routine, it would be cruel to take this "favorite" routine away from them.

Here you hear Hammy's famous cat growl, letting Diamond know she is not welcome. Notice the way Diamond cavalierly ignores the fierce warnings of my Hammer-Man and gracefully hops up on our deck chair in disdain of Hammy's loud Caterwauling.

Moments later, Diamond has left the deck. The Morning Growling is over, and Hammy has settled down on one of his favorite Morning Spots for a long nap.

8 Things...

Laurie has memed me. So here goes...will try to relate these to the cats...

8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. Hamilton, my cat
2. Miss Ellie, my husband's cat
3. Henry, my daughter's cat
4. Jackson, my daughter's other cat - she's got 2, too!
5. Lucky, my son's cat - he's only got one but he's huge, rescued from a shelter in D.C.
6. Snugball, my daughter's childhood cat - gone by not forgotten
7. Eclipse, my son's childhood cat - gone by not forgotten
8. Peaches and Popcorn - our cats when first married in Minneapolis - gone but not forgotten

(You are maybe beginning to see the 2-Cat Pattern here?)

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

(I made this list out about 10 years ago and one by one, they get done!)

These are done:
1. Have an English Garden - multi-leveled
2. Have a Family Home - big enough for family members to come back to and visit and hang out and celebrate holidays in
3. Put in Hardwood Floors
4. Retire from Teaching (after 30+ years)
5. Get something published - several Americana articles in Country Decorating Magazine - this was several years ago so hardly counts anymore

These are not done:
6. Sing in Rockin' Gospel Choir - I'm still hoping for this one!
7. Own a summer home on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan - would have to win the lottery for this one!
8. Erect a Family Vacation Lodge on Warren's Family Land in South Dakota - ditto #7

Hamilton's Checkered Past

When we brought Hamilton home a few years ago, the animal shelter could tell us very little about the guy. He had been picked up by the shelter, a stray in horrible condition: skin and bones, declawed at some point in the past, but obviously running wild for a long time. They knew this by his low weight, but also because he had worms, ear mites, fleas, you name it. It took them several weeks of tender care before they could put him up for adoption.

We had just lost Eclipse, Ben's cat of many years. He had sort of become my cat after Ben left home, so I was missing his nightly visits under my legs as I sat at my computer. Soon after Eclipse's death, Warren gently nudged me to the shelter to meet a new cat.

We walked into the shelter's "Visitation Room." Bare room, windows out into the hall, shiny gray-painted concrete floor. Nothing else. An attendant brought this cat into the room. I sat down on the cold concrete and took at look at him. He was a beautiful tri-color, mostly brown and gold, very tiger-like, if you know that black and gold are Mizzou's colors. (At this time we lived in Columbia, MO--home of the Missouri Tigers.) The attendant closed the door. Warren stood off at the side of the room and let us get acquainted.

Hamilton, who had no name at the time, climbed right into my lap. I fell in love. It was that quick. Eclipse had been a rather stand-offish type of cat. Never sat in any one's lap, ever. So when this brown and orange cat with a thinnish, striped tail, climbed right into my stranger's lap, I was pretty much a "goner."

We paid the fees and took him home. Within a few minutes of his arrival, I "knew" his name was Hamilton.

Before long, we felt we had pieced together Hamilton's past. This is all imaginary, mind you, because we have very little to go on, but I'm pretty sure we've got the main details spot-on.

He was declawed when we got him. And very affectionate. Climbed right up on my chest the first night and sat down and accepted my petting. So I think he was once very loved by someone. Declawing is tough on a cat but costs money, which implies somebody cared. His loving nature implies that he was well-treated.

BUT he was found emaciated, wormy, flea-ridden, mite-ridden... So something BAD must have happened. He got out and didn't come back, but that doesn't seem right, because he is so loving, so I think he got lost. Or maybe his person was an older, retired type who died or was moved into a nursing home and Hamilton somehow got separated and was out on his own with nowhere to go. You are welcome to think up your own scenario, but I like my old lady story the best.

When we got Hamilton, I didn't want him to EVER go outside again. It's a big, bad world out there, and with his being out for so long, I worried he would never come home to me and couldn't bear that thought. So Hammy stayed in for many months. And we got to be the best of friends.

But come spring, Hammy got insistent that we let him out, so eventually we did. And his favorite routine, still is, actually, was to leave after dark, run and hide somewhere, and come home before dawn, let in by Warren, who gets up early so he can get to his Morning Drive Radio Show.

If Warren missed letting him in, which happened on weekends sometime, Hammy would not come in if it was light out, still won't. It's as if he is frighted by the sunlight. This makes me think he hid a lot after he was abandoned. We found his favorite place up in Columbia was in the sewer down the street. Well, not really a sewer, more like a storm drain. Once we knew where he hid, we could coax him out of there with a can of messy, smelly cat food if we were very patient.

So I think he was very traumatized by being lost and alone in the big, bad world. And very happy to finally find a family that would take him in and love him. And the reason I know this is because Hamilton never purred when he first joined our house. It was as if the purr was scared right out of him by his experiences in the cruel world. It took a couple of years for him to find his purr again. It was quite the moment when I first heard that purr, I can tell you. Quite the day.

Now, Hammy is giving me the "signal" that it is time for his nightly routine. He hasn't started talking to me yet, but he's winding up for quite the performance. So, it's off to the door for "The Goodbye Song and Dance." My favorite time of the day!

The Grateful Day Challenge

While surfing around my daughter Sarah's blog, I discovered a neat idea, called the Grateful Days Challenge from a website called my little life:

"So I am issuing a challenge for the next 18 days leading up to Thanksgiving - the Supreme Holiday of Gratefulness - The Grateful Day Challenge. Blogging about the things we are grateful for - no matter how small, odd, random, or big they may be. TOPICS: Family, Friends, Nature, Art you Make (hobbies), Home, Learning/Imagination, Art you Enjoy, Food (Cooking/Eating), Health/Body."

I will start by being grateful for my two cats, even though one really belongs to Warren (Miss Ellie) and one to me (Hr. Hamilton). Both cats chose one person to be their "primary" but the "secondary" person in the household is still okay, especially if the "primary" is not in the house at the moment.

One of the things I'm most grateful about is the Loyalty of Our Two Cats. A cat will sit on your bed all day long if you are sick. Not even a mother does this, if you think about it; although my mother was the best sickroom attendant ever: tapioca pudding, icey cold Vernor's Ginger Ale, cool forehead cloths, you get the picture. But a cat will figure out with their special "cat-radar" that you are under the weather, hop up on the bed, and cuddle up real close to your legs or head. (Miss Ellie is a leg-cuddler, Mr. Hamilton has claimed my pillow for his cuddle place.)

My pillow was where HammerMan hung out while he tried to tell me he wasn't feeling good. Took me a day or two to figure it out. He didn't start by limping, just didn't want to go outside. He cuddled on my pillow all night, which is always welcomed, but stood out since I wasn't sick and needing any tending. He was.

He's better today. And I'm grateful for him, my Friend, my Pal; we are Buds-For-Life, for sure!

The Nightly Routine

Hamilton is MAADD!!!!!!!

We are a two-cat house. But it didn't start out that way.

I married into a one-cat family. Warren and I met in Minneapolis in 1974. He had an orange cat named Buffy. But Buffy died--more on that another time--and we became a two-cat house shortly after that.

We've been a two-cat house ever since.

Today, Hamilton and Miss Ellie live in our house in Missouri. Or maybe we live in their house. It's a toss-up some days.

Hamilton joined our house a few days after Eclipse, our son Ben's cat, died. Ben had grown up and moved to New York City. Eclipse died while Ben was away. Warren dragged me over to the city animal shelter a few days later to introduce me to Hamilton. It was love at first site.

More about Hamilton's early years another day. I have more important things to talk about right now.

Hamilton is MAD because he's injured. He doesn't like to hurt. He's hurting, and of course, I'm hurting, too. I'm hurting because I let him go out at night and he got hurt on one of his midnight adventures. I want Hamilton to be himself, who came to me with a past--more on that later-- but I don't want to lose him, either.

I love this cat. He is the first and only cat who has claimed me as his person.

And tonight he is hurting because he got into it with some critter outside a few days ago and hurt his back right paw.

He's MAD because we forced him to visit his enemy, the Vet, who is actually a good guy who understands Hamilton, but he gave Hamilton a shot in the BUTT, for heaven's sake. And tonight I gave Hamilton an eyedropper full of an antibiotic. Good grief, folks, leave me alone!

So Hammy's quite put-out by the PAIN, which is mild, according to the Vet, and the INDIGNITY of the forced feeding of yucky stuff.

He won't be happy with me when he figures out I won't let him go out tonight. But he loves me, so I know he will forgive me, when he gets done letting me know how MAD he is.