Random Cat Play

Just in case you needed a bit of silliness in your day.   :)

P.S. My life / energy / time / will to live is being consumed by Summer Camp, so I will be pretty much absent until sometime after July 28.  Sorry, but that's how my job works.  See you in August!

Helpers

While putting up the fan down in the basement, we had to use a full-sized ladder and we discovered that the kitties (Mr Winks in particular) LOVE the ladder.  Winks loves it more than the cat tree I bought for him.  I guess that's a cat for ya, huh?  Winks wanted very much to help put up the ceiling fans and, in the process, kick us off "his" ladder.

Strangely enough, Martin was only interested in the ladder in as much as he wanted whatever Winks had.  He was much less confident on the steps and was not as nimble.  Winks would hang out on the steps, while Martin would only scamper up if something interesting was going on... like a feisty feather stick being rattled on the metal ladder.

We actually left the ladder up for a few days because the kitties loved it so much.  Are we spoiling them?

(Yes, that is a big belly resting on the step so that he can reach out and grab the feather stick with his paws.)

Adventures in Adulthood

You know how they say, "You're only as old as you feel"? I think there should be some kind of secondary statement that goes something like, "You're only as old as the stuff you get excited about." Don't believe me? Observe:
     small child - excited over poop jokes and bright colors
     teenager - excited over cars and hanging out with friends
     young adult - excited over parties and "college"
     middle aged - excited over children's poop and paying bills
     geriatric - excited over finding keys and spoiling grandchildren

See how things change? I personally have entered the stage where I get excited about home improvements, to whit, ceiling fans.  I'm not sure if that puts me in the "responsible home-owners" category or in the "give up now because your life is super boring" category. Haha! But nevertheless, I am super excited about my ceiling fans. ^_^

The whole story is pretty long, but to boil it down for you: when we moved into the townhouse, I wanted to add more ceiling fans... because I was raised in the South and all rooms need fans, I guess.  (I don't ask why.)  So, for the past 2years I have been on the hunt for fans, but have never really committed to anything specific. I did pick out a few models that I liked, but never could get over the huge price tag of buying three fans at once. Well, over the holiday weekend, I went online with the purest intentions of showing Mom what I had picked out, and what should pop up but the big SALE banner. Of course it was for the fans, and of course it ended within 24 hours. I was not planning on buying fans this weekend, but when the sale saved me more than $100, how could I resist? So I surprised John by leaving for the weekend with a small duffel bag and coming home with three ceiling fans.

I am actually surprised that John has been so gung ho about installing them. I guess he recognizes Crazy when he sees it and wants to avoid Angry Fan-less Crazy. (I've always known he is smart.)  We did have some adventures in the attic that lead me towards a deep hatred of blown insulation. (Scene-- John: "Just step on the studs." Anne: "WHERE THE HELL ARE THE STUDS?! EVERYTHING IS COVERED IN 8inches OF CRAP!") And we realized a long time ago that the builders/ previous owners love dimmer switches and that CFL bulbs hate them, but recently found that apparently ceiling fans hate dimmers, too. The first fan was making awful noises until we got the switch swapped out, and I was quite grumpy until we got it fixed.

Well, we did manage to get the second fan up tonight, which leaves us only with the fan that goes in the basement (which we need a ladder to install because the ceiling is much taller).  I am very pleased and hope that this will cut down on the "pockets" of dead air we get in our house.  I have definitely noticed that air is hard to move through a skinny, tall house.  We have several dead spots that don't circulate very well.  But hopefully, no more!