Fall outof Winter

There are a few reasons it took me so long to get to updating. The usual reason, which is that the work has been very slow around here. The short days and long nights make house work very difficult, but winter has finally dissolved. A windier, but much warmer spring is about to commence. Now we're working harder, getting more done.

The bigger and more unfortunate reason for my blog truancy is that of the death of my beloved cat, Moogalee (AKA WWII). I know that the last entry covered her miraculous recovery, and I didn't want to announce her sad and senseless demise. In October, when we were we were traveling, our cat sitter was as negligent, and irresponsible as he could have possibly been. He left her outside the first night (and I guess the only night) he was in charge. Either a coyote or owl got her. I couldn't have been more clear about how important her being inside at sundown was. I know she went while she was having fun, hunting some smaller mammal, which is the only consolation for this disaster. I will say this: If you are a larger mammal and you see a german guy named Frank in Manhattan, about 40 years old, boring and dumb looking, please get him.

RIP WWII
You will forever be in my heart.

In December, after extreme mourning, we adopted a new cat. Life was nearly impossible without a cat around. The new one's name is 'Lil Weaz. 'Lil Weaz is great. She plays fetch and lets us walk her on a lease. We modified our traveling accommodations and bought a little “camper” to put on the back of the truck. I like to consider it the biggest and most expensive cat carrier I could have bought.

      

It was an extremely mild, extremely dry winter. We are still praying for snow and rain. The entire southwest is in the midst of one of the most severe droughts in recorded history. We've gotten almost no precipitation this winter. It's getting a little scary. All we can do is dance for rain.

We have been digging, digging, digging. Our “hole” is now about eight feet high. We have to get through these eight feet in order to get to ground level. It's rough. And now, it is also about four feet of rock, opposed to the past which was only about a foot of rock. Because of this, we bought a used jack hammer. It's great. The only problem is that it weighs sixty pounds, that and it doesn't move the dirt for us. So, most of our time now is spent hauling buckets of dirt out of a trench and dumping them either in tires or the back of the back of the house. We are getting very close to being able to start the lumber construction of this next room, which will be our living room.

We also spent the cold short days this winter finishing some of the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. We are now about 90% done with this one wall of the kitchen! All that's left is the upper cupboard doors, which we are in no hurry to complete. We have halted interior finishing work until we have another room. We plan on finishing the next room before we move any of our stuff into it. What a peculiar concept... 

Here is a video because I didn't think the pictures truly captured it.

 And some pictures of the cabinets as well...

In february we went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. IT WAS AWESOME! People ask us if we miss trees here in the desert. We don't. We just love rocks now. I'm might be turing new age. Here's some of the stuff we got, and a cabinet Dain built to hold some of our haul. I did the plastering and tile work, for the most part, our friend gave us all the broken marble we used for tile.

The other project we are embarking upon is the construction of our mud room, and the entrance to our house. A real door! It'll be a pretty nice upgrade. We've only just poured the bond beam, but it might be completed by the end of summer. All we have so far is this funny little illustration of an idea of what it's going to be. It's going to include a room on top for reading, guests, and when the apocalypse happens either a jail cell or possibly a donjon for battle.

That said, I will continue to be a deadbeat blogger and I will no longer promise to update quickly. See you in six months or possibly a year from now, who knows.

Lot's of love from the desert.