an "I Can Laugh About It Now" story

Last Friday I drove to work, settled down at my desk and did work things, greeted my co-worker when she arrived, and looked when I heard her ask a little later, "Do you hear a cat crying?"  Why, no, I did not, but I did stand up by her desk, then outside, and then exclaimed, "It's coming from my car!!!"

My guess was that a kitten hitchhiked in under the hood, so I needed a place to put the kitten once I opened the hood and caught it.  I looked and looked, and eventually, I taped a large box back together that I found in the garage.  Upon popping the hood, despite my assumption, I was startled to see a kitten sitting on the engine block.  Before I could grab it, it dashed back down into the tubes and wires and out of sight. 

My coworker was equally startled to see the tiny kitten under the hood, and we guessed at what to do to coax it out.  "Here, kitty-kitty" is not the language we speak around our cats - mostly we meow at them.  That wasn't working.  I found a container of powdered coffee creamer, so mixed with water in a little bowl, it sat behind my tire.  It failed at an instantaneous reunion.  I had to get back to work.

In an e-mail I was reminded that St. Anthony helps find lost things, and he was a Franciscan, founded by the patron saint of animals.  I offered a prayer to St. Anthony to "find that kitten" - not entirely lost, but maybe.  An hour later I left for our new free lunch Friday program, and loathe to do so, I drove not knowing whether the cat had escaped unseen (my desk doesn't overlook my car) or whether it was shuddering at the heat and sounds of the engine.  Back at the office that afternoon, I popped the hood one more time and meowed for the kitten - no noise, no crying, no scuffing of paws.  No idea whether it was in there or not!

Back to work for the afternoon, and finally the hour arrived for me to return home.  Every bump (and there are a lot of them) on the highway home was jarring, and I kept an eye on the rear-view mirror for a kitten tumbling across the road, though the vision never materialized.  I pulled up to the house and took a deep breath.  I walked around to get my bag and things from the car.  Lucky and Curly, the two mamas, came over and were meowing quietly.  I encouraged them to meow a little louder in case the lost kitten somehow survived inside the workings under the hood, though I don't think they understood.

As I opened the door, I heard a howling cry of hope for rescue coming from the car.  I ran to the driver side to pop the hood, and there lodged behind the passenger headlight was a badly shaken up kitten.  It couldn't get away in that tight space, so finally I was able to yank it out by the scruff.  It darted off so fast, with neither mama following it, that I never figured out if it was Cracker or Twinkie - who look a lot a like, was born of one mama and nursed by the other.  I let out a "Praise the Lord!" and felt an amazing relief wash over me.

Sunday evening we sat out while the cats and kittens fed and then played with them.  Both Cracker and Twinkie were there and unharmed.  I am inclined to think it was Twinkie, but whichever it was, that one is still pretty tense to be held and petted.  Those darn cats - I don't even like cats.......

Favorite Time of Year

I keep hearing references to this being the favorite time of year for my family here - wood getting season!  We had a great first trip up into the mountains to cut firewood last Saturday, though I'll admit that I started the day in a bad mood - we were ready forty minutes before the rest of the crew arrived, and all I could think about was forty more minutes of sleep.

I love the smell of the pine!  And one actually fell into a cedar, and ooh baby - the smell of the cedar!  It is just so much fun to spend the day in the woods.  My brand new leather gloves were coated in pitch, as well as my overalls, my arms, and the ends of braids (not a mistake I made on Sunday with a long shirt and my braids tucked into my hat).

We ached and groused about the aches, but that's expected.  We were looking forward to camping, which didn't pan out, so after the second day, Thomas and I invited everyone over for a campfire.  We had the fixin's for s'mores, so after unloading the truck, Thomas prepared a pile of wood from the burn pile, and I filled the wheel barrow with several loads of rocks to make a fire pit.  I hosed down the chairs, hopeful that the clouds would go away, so the sun could dry the chairs and the fresh mud I made.

We had a lot of fun watching the stars, airplanes, satellites, and even a few shooting stars.  The campfire was mesmerizing...

...but don't be fooled by this soon to be four year-old.  She was more interested in hanging out inside, when the rest of us wanted to be outside.  I giggled coming out of the bathroom to the soft voice calling, "Are you in here?  Girl-Tori?  Girl-Tori - where are you?"

Going Down in Style!

We are not quite finished with the stairs, but let's dwell on what we have accomplished!  At the end of August, we pulled up the old stairs - the "treads", I believe is the proper term.  We had already prepared and cut, planed and poly-ed the new ones.  Thomas cut the ply for the risers while I painted the wall down to the steps.  Thomas installed the elbows we would use for mounting the treads, and then the real fun began.

 

Truly,  this was the easy part.  Getting our system in place took a little work, as I was gluing vertical tiles on the plywood to be mounted behind the tread.  Thomas accurately diagnosed the problem and fixed lunch.  Things proceeded much better after that.

I really like the nice smooth finish and the natural look of the wood.  The color is pretty, too.   We haven't tackled the landing and bottom steps yet...in time.  But at least we could pull up most of the plastic!  And the basement feels like a wonderful den for tv watching and puzzling.  The concrete floor stain is visible in the picture below - turned out great.

The picture above is taken from the closet - which has also been textured and painted.  Once I get some shelves up, it will fill up quick.  And I got the walls in my craft room textured and painted last week, too.  I did the same pattern as our bathroom walls - vertical stripes using a natural straw broom.  The texture reminds me of my engagement ring - rain / bark - very natural feeling.  The wall color is a 50/50 mix of some blue and green on hand.  Before it becomes a craft room, though, it will be storage for everything we still have in the trailer - the office and books, etc.

Hooray for all the progress!  Still to come - pics of the tile that I finally installed around the counters in the kitchen.  Next week it should be ready to grout!