Jack

Good old Jack.

The best cat on the planet.  I had him and Alley for about 18 years, until we lost Alley last year.

I don't like cats and never have.  But I got these two, made the best of it, and ended up feeling about them like most people feel about their pets--a bit irrational, a bit silly, but oh well.  I even found myself doing something I swore I'd never do--telling cute cat stories. 

Jack is powerful and tough.  He is fearless--I have seen him attack huge dogs that entered the house.  Protecting us?  Fear?  But he didn't just arch his back and hiss--he attacked.  A Rottweiler and a German Shepard.  Made both of them retreat.  They don't make signs saying "This house protected by a 9 pound, old, cat." 

And he's the best lap cat I've ever experienced.  He loves sitting on your lap, and does it all of the time.  Curls up and purrs and goes to sleep. 

He's also a pain in the neck at times--gets on counters, can be under foot, won't stop scratching the door at night, sleeps on your head when you let him into the bedroom.

He's a presence.  It's like really "there" in some big way, unlike many cats that by their natures are often hidden from sight.  Jack never is.

He loves coming into the bathroom when we are taking showers, just lying on the bath mat.  See, I told you I now tell cute cat stories.  

We lost our cat sitter this year, moving away.  Neighbors we will miss.  It's for the best for Jack, though, because now we are more motivated to find a home for him while we are away where he can be around people, and that's what he needs. 

Our Seattle family is taking him--Jules, Jessica, Ian and Adam.  They volunteered, said they really wanted him, and I'm sure part of it was to help us out.  I wouldn't feel right about it with a lot of pets, but with Jack I know how much positive energy he adds to a household.  Like I said--he's "there."

Last year we took him to the Vet, who couldn't believe his age.  He said he thought he was 10 years younger.

A few days ago I noticed a lump underneath him, so we took him back.  Saw a different Vet who said the same thing:  "Really?  19 years old?  He's in great shape."  (actually he could be older--I got him full grown in 1995).  The lump was thankfully benign, but that night Jack tore out one of his stitches from licking it.  The Vet said the only way he could tell his age was that his skin was thin like that of older people.  So he got a staple and a collar.

Our poor little guy.  He hates it, like all animals hate the collar.  But he's tolerating it, and he should heal up just fine.

We have time to say our good byes to him.  I will miss his meowing when we get home--he's so much more like a dog in terms of his personality than he is a cat.  Yet, I am so happy for him--he deserves to be around people because he gives so much to them, and I'll know he's taken care of.  Anything can happen, but anything can happen anywhere and at any time.

He and I have been through so much together--good times, bad times, the move to Whidbey Island.  These last two years have been my best times since he's been alive, and I'm glad he got to experience those with me.  

Now he will always have a lap to sit on, for as long as he has left, that's about the best any of us can hope for, isn't it?

Good old Jack. 

Notice to drivers: YOU ARE BEING RECORDED!

My son-in-law, Sean, had an incident on his bike where somebody purposefully tried to hit him.  He had to bail.

Cyclists seem to bring out the worst in some people.  I know cyclists can sometimes be jerks, but the amount of venom that is directed toward them exceeds their jerk factor.  It is something else.  One theory I have is that many people don't like it when other people are happier than they are, and cyclists often appear happy and healthy.

So how do you ride bikes for fun when you know there is a certain percentage of drivers who are (1) hostile jerks who will try to kill you, or, (2) inattentive because of various factors (usually, these days, because of texting and talking on cellphones, even hands free, while driving).

It won't prevent all future accidents, but if everybody had one it could probably help:  A GoPro camera.

GoPro is a camera that attaches to your handlebars and records everything that happens.

Look how many people have been caught recently by surveillance cameras.  While they may not directly lead to good behavior, over time they might when people realize their unsafe driving is being recorded and can be used to prosecute them.

Here is ours.  See it on my handlebars?

And here are two photos it took of cars passing Vicky, and those photos blown up to reveal the passing car's license plate: (these folks driving these cars are in that 99+% of good drivers)

 

So, to all drivers everywhere.  If you fail to give Vicky the three feet of space the law demands, you will get your photo sent to the Sheriff's office.  

New DR Brush Mower: The Ford 350 4X4 Dually of mowers

Ordered it from Vermont.  I had one many years ago, but left it in Illinois.  It is a bit pricey, but we knew it should be good for the next 25 years or so, and would do everything we wanted a brush cutter to do in our lower field, along the side of our driveway, and in our woods. 

The thing is a beast.  There is no other word for it.  Heavy and powerful.  Just right for the uneven surfaces in our lower field.  It's safer than a garden tractor on uneven surfaces and sloped areas. 

Here it is being loaded.

At the ferry dock:

At home.  We decided that a baseball cap and a beer were appropriate for a guy who uses this kind of machinery.  Wine is for sissy dancers, not for owners of a DR Brush mower. 

Getting it off of the truck took ingenuity......and luck.

So, let's see.  How do you put it together?  Let's read the instruction manual.  

Like this.  It is heavy, man.

Here I am trying it out in the lower field.  It will require more effort than riding around on a garden tractor, but the exercise will do us good.  And it will easily rip down the Stinging Nettles along the side of the yard.   If we want to clear trails through our woods we can now do that.

Most importantly, I won't have to spend endless hours underneath it trying to fix it.   Yeah!!!!

Preparing for the next road trip

Our summer can roughly be divided into three chunks.  The first is preparing for and riding the STP.  Although we do a lot while in this training, many days are devoted to riding, preparing for riding, or healing from riding.

The next chunk has been time with grandkids.  Of course we see them at other times, but the last three weeks has been almost exclusively devoted to them.


The next one is getting ready to go.  These preparations, like for our other activities, occur throughout our summer, but now they are into full swing.

So now I'll report on some of these projects.

The first was putting up wood.  Last year we had a major wood project--cutting down several trees, cutting them up, and splitting and storing them to dry.  Fortunately, that isn't something that needs to be done every year.

This year, all we needed to do was to throw the wood into the trailer and haul it up to the breezeway with the lawn tractor.


oops.

We no longer have a lawn tractor.  I gave it away.  I had been fussing with it all summer, and finally got all fussed out:




It died in that spot, and I just had it hauled away by someone who might be able to fix it up and make some money out of it.  But it was every dang time something was happening.

When I bought this mower, back in 2007, I had planned on it lasting just a few years.  I knew it would take a beating for awhile in the yard until I got all of the stumps, rocks, and branches out of it.  Then the plan was to get a better mower.

So this was just part of the plan.  And we did buy a good mower, in fact a really good mower, in fact the bestest mower on the planet:  A DR!  It is on order, so we won't see it for awhile, but it will be safer and easier.  More on that later.

However, the DR isn't a lawn tractor, and when I dumped the old guy it hadn't occurred to me that this meant that we wouldn't have a lawn tractor to haul things around in.

So, what do we do since we don't have a lawn tractor to bring up the wood from the outside shed to the breezeway?

We needed a new lawn tractor, and here it is:

The breezeway before we started:

I brought up the wood and Vicky stacked it.  This will be enough for the few weeks we are at home during wood-burning season.  

Now that part is done.  On to the next project, which is home security.

The boy who took care of our cat and watched our home is moving.  So we needed another plan for both.  Jules, Jess, Ian and Adam will be adopting our beloved Jack, which is hard for me but best for him.  

We had our home security system updated and improved.  We added a heat and cold sensor, so if the furnace stops working for some reason we can get it repaired before there is damage.  We purchased a camera so that we can monitor the house from our IPad.  How cool is that?   

Camping with the Grandkids

The past three weeks have been devoted to our precious grandchildren.  We have had them stay at our house and in our camper.  We have roasted hot dogs and s'mores, hiked, and played at the beach.  The camper, our home away from home for seven or so months of the year, provides an easy way for us to take them into the wilderness.


For now, we stay at State Parks, which are a good introduction to the wilderness.  Later, we will take them farther into the forests and deserts.

Our first trip was with Marina and Stella

 Then we had Soren, from Georgia, for a week:

 

Then we got the three boys, Soren, Ian, and Adam, for a day and took them to the Snoqualmie tunnel:

 This is what you can see from the east end:  A spot of light.

Then we had Ian and Adam for a week.  Since I worked my way through college being an ice cream man, I am helpless when I hear the bell:

Vicky got soaked, along with her cell phone:

Boys will be boys:

Have you noticed?  All of the grandkids are taken to see the largest tree on Whidbee Island.  It is an old growth Cedar which was saved because a bunch of tree huggers wrapped themselves around it many years ago.

Thank you tree huggers.  Look what you have done for our grandchildren:

We feel we are doing something important in their lives--we have the means and opportunity to take them out into nature, and experience it.  At least that's what we are hoping to do.  All of them seem to really enjoy it, and so do we.  Immensely. 

"What's that?"

So  asked grandson Soren.  In his 5 years of life, he has only known of phones small enough to fit into a pocket.  What was he to make of a phone that needed its own special building?  It was pretty cute.

Us:  "It's a phone booth."

Soren:  "What's a phone booth?"