Pet Drama

Not long after we moved to The Funny Farm, I decided we needed a cat. I checked craigslist, found a listing for free kittens, and the kids and I went to pick one up. And so entered into our lives, Dragon, the coolest cat I've ever known.

One of the reasons I've liked him so much is that he's pretty laid back, as you can tell from the pictures above. The kids held him a lot when he was little, and he never really got upset or lashed out at them. In spite of his laid-back personality, he had an adventurous side, roaming all over (and outside) our property hunting for rabbits and other game.

It wasn't unusual for us not to see him for a day or two, but he always showed back up, none the worse for the wear.

This Sunday morning, however, I realized I hadn't seen Dragon in quite a few days. The last anyone had seen him was Thursday morning, throwing up on the hood of our truck. I started to worry.

Chris took the kids for a walk around the property, looking for him. More times than not, as we walk, we will start to hear some meows coming from the woods, and another minute or two Max or Dragon will appear to finish the walk with us. But this time, no Dragon. The possible scenarios started filling our minds. If he was really sick, he could have just gone off to die somewhere. He could have wandered up to the road and gotten hit by a car. A bobcat or fox might have killed him. We kept worrying. The kids and I prayed for Dragon before we went to bed that night.

It all reminded me of a story from my childhood about our dog named Mugsy. Not remembering it very well, I asked my mom about it. Here is her version of what happened:

"On a Sunday night, on our way to church we saw him lying beside the road on 108th Street. Wes (my dad) got out and looked at him and called the humane society to come get him. Mark was terribly distraught. When we came home from church he was gone. Mark prayed faithfully for him, and it was Mark who said he thought he heard Mugsy outside one night. I tried to remind him about what we had seen on Sunday night, etc. etc. but he wouldn't be dissuaded and went to look. Sure enough..... a resurrection!  And I think a strengthening of a boy's faith. I think God does things like that to build a child faith, don't you?"

 

Monday came. We still hadn't seen Dragon. There wasn't even any evidence that he was sneaking back home at night, as no extra cat food was being eaten. Monday evening at supper, Joe prayed for Dragon again.

Tuesday morning, Dragon had been missing for over four days. I went to let the chickens out and realized another duck was missing. It seemed all too likely that some predator had finally gotten him.

I wandered toward the shop, completely disheartened. Then all of a sudden, I heard an insistent meowing, and I looked up to see Dragon, trotting up the driveway with a field mouse in his jaws.

I told the kids the good news as I drove them home from school. "God must have gotten my message," said Joe.

The Kids

We've got a frost on the ground this morning, and though there is still some work to be done in the house before we start on the insulation, I am going to use the kids as an excuse to stay inside until it warms up a bit out there.

Last week the kids were on fall break, so we took a trip to the zoo. Here is a picture of Z next to a kangaroo:

Zivah is still as sweet as ever. She is really enjoying kindergarten, and wakes up every morning with a smile on her face. Okay, so that's not entirely accurate. Sometimes, when I am recalling her from somewhere deep in La-La Land, her eyes open with a "where am I now" look, but as soon as her brain kicks into consciousness, the daze turns into joyful anticipation.

The other day, Chris was sitting (slouching) on the couch, when Zivah decided to run over to give him a hug. She pulled up short before reaching him, however, and said, giggling, "I thought I was going to punch you in the balls!" It was hard to tell whether she was taken by sudden consideration or temptation.

There must be something about second grade that turns kids into grumpy, little, monsters in the morning. Finley was pretty hard to deal with in the mornings in grades two and three. Thankfully, she is doing better this year, since Joe is taking his turn at being difficult. He gets upset if I try to help him, and he gets upset if I try to leave him alone to do things in his own time. What really gets me is that his grouchy mood starts to lift about halfway through the car ride to school.

In spite of the fits he's been giving me, I have to admit the kid is smart. Take the other day for example. I don't remember what was happening, but Joe wasn't exactly being a model son. I asked him to come to me so we could have a chat. "No," he told me defiantly. I could feel that last straw breaking. "Don't tell me 'no'," I said. "Do you want a spank?" At which point he burst out laughing. Instantly realizing my semantical error, I had to laugh, too. The little punk...

At least he is holding onto some innocence. He asked us the other day what the "s" word was. "What do you think it is?" we returned. "Either 'stupid' or 'shut up'," he guessed.

I have to admire Joe's determination and focus. The kids have a little area they call "The Nature Club." On nice days, they spend time sweeping the rocks clear of leaves and dirt and picking up sticks. They decided that a nearly-dead cedar tree had to go, so they got a little (dull) hatchet from the shop and Joe set to work. I took a few hours over a period of two days, but he did it. He chopped down the 2-3" diameter scrub tree, then proudly dragged it up to the house to show me.

It appears some of the talks I've had with Finley are starting to pay off. We've discussed how owning animals (horses in particular) can be a lot of work, and that we need to know that she will be willing to do the work necessary if she is to own one. Yesterday, Finley and Joe took it upon themselves to muck out the stable where the calves sleep at night.

It is pretty obvious Finley's desire for a horse is not waning. She wants to start accumulating the things she'll need for a horse, so bought a grooming brush last week. Since then, she has groomed whatever animal she can get her hands on: one neighbor's donkeys, another neighbor's horses, and our calves. Here is pic from her lesson last week, where the focus was on communication with the horse from the ground.

I could ramble on about how Joe started selling his toys to his sisters and I had to step in so he wouldn't rip them off, or how Finley offered to pay for Joe's pack of gum, or how Z remembers to pray for Joe whenever he's hurt, but I'd better lay off for now and get to work.

Drywall Estimates

Estimate #1:

Guy #1 has been contracted to do the drywall work on some of the jobs where Chris has been working. He lives in Kentucky, but his crews live in Nashville. He has one crew that hangs the drywall, and another that finishes. He says he is picky and likes to shine a light down the walls to see how smooth the work is.

A white man in his forties, sporting a nice gut and mustache, he shows up in his nice, full-size truck, and proceeds to the house with tape measure and clip board in hand.

Half an hour later, he tells Chris he will call in a day or two with the estimate.

Estimate #2:

I found Guy #2 in the telephone listings online. He and his crew are currently working on a subdivision being built in Columbia.

A Hispanic man in his forties or fifties, sporting a modest gut and nice mustache, he pulls up in a 20 year old minivan. He proceeds to the house empty-handed. Chris offers him a tape measure. "I don't need it," he says. "Do you have a piece of paper?" Looking at the sheets of subfloor, he starts counting to himself in Spanish.

Five minutes later, he has written a materials list on the piece of paper Chris gave him.

Estimate #1: about 270 sheets of drywall, $9500 total.
Estimate #2: about 200 sheets of drywall, we buy material, he charges $16/sheet, total cost about $6500.

Chris and I hadn't bothered to figure up how much drywall it would take, and we were a bit shocked by the difference in estimates. We decided we would each do our own estimate to see who we thought was most accurate. Chris used his own method of measuring and counting, while I took my print, calculated the square footage of the walls and ceilings and divided it by the square footage of a sheet of drywall. What did we each come up with? About 200 sheets.

Who would you hire?

Burn Out

We have started year four of our house building project, and I think Chris and I are starting to suffer from burn-out.

Several months ago, I had decided that I would like to hire out the drywall work. After having seen Chris's drywall work (I have picture proof of the excessive sanding he has to do for his way of mudding the walls), it seemed this would be a wise thing to do. Besides, if we were close enough to finishing the house to be putting up drywall, it would be extra painful to have the drywall take forever. "It would cost a lot of money," Chris argued, "and I can do it myself." "I don't care," I argued back. "I am done with the goal of building debt-free, and think a small loan would be a small price to pay for the benefit of finally getting to move out of our trailer into the house. Let's at least get an estimate." He agreed.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a shift. Chris wanted to figure out the cost of everything from insulation to HVAC to carpet to see just how much of a loan we would need to finish the house. I asked him about it one afternoon. He said one Saturday morning , he was making yet another Home Depot run when he drove past a group of people in a park. It hit him that, if it wasn't for the house, he could be spending some real time with the family. If we got to the point of moving in, he didn't want a half-dozen major projects still hanging over his head. He wanted to be done and have the freedom of getting to shoot BB guns with the kids all day or something if he wanted.

So we have gotten estimates for insulation and drywall, still trying to be mindful of the financial cost while weighing in the cost of time and effort.

Some days, it seems like a move-in date could be near, and other days, such as the day and a half spent wrestling with the pipes leading into the septic tank, the road seems unbearably long.

Green Light Means Go

We just passed our electrical rough-in and are officially cleared for insulation and drywall.

Woo-hoo!!!

2013 Chapel Hill Homecoming Parade

Today was the homecoming parade in Chapel Hill. 

The kindergartners always have (in my opinion) the coolest floats. This year was a pirate theme.

 Second grade:

And 4th grade:

 (Not pictured are all the other floats that my kids weren't on. Sorry.)

It's (Another) Busy Week

It's Homecoming week in Chapel Hill again, so things are a little busy around here. The kids have been dressing up nearly every day. The first day was Duck Dynasty day, and since we do not own and DD paraphernalia, only Finley was able to pull some camouflage accessories together to participate. Tuesday was Duct Tape day. I went overboard last year with vests and ties and shoes and hats. Knowing there was no way I could top last year's outfit for three kids, I lowered their expectations and we managed to come up with some fun duct tape things to wear to school.

 Finley hadn't slept well, and was a bit mopey in the morning, even donning her duct tape hat.

 In between school outfits, helping with the 4th grade homecoming float, and laundry, I've been working on the electrical in the house. If it weren't for these push-in wire connectors, I am sure I would be cussing and crying and beating my head against the unfinished walls.

 They make wiring up messes like this so much easier, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for whomever invented the gems.

 I also wanted to post a picture of a pumpkin that Zivah drew in school, but it refused to load correctly, and so it will have to wait. My goal, is to have everything ready for a rough-in inspection next week, and so I am going to get back to work instead of fighting with this dad-blamed computer. Until next time...