Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
There are a few things in life no one wants to talk about.
Of course I am not going to mention what they are here, because they will only depress me and will probably do the same to you. Included in the list, but really shouldn’t be, is one thing that I don’t think is depressing at all. It’s the topic of having a will.
You might think it’s strange that I bring this up and wonder why I’m talking about it at all, but the reason will become obvious after the next sentence. Just the other day, Laura and I met with the attorney to create two wills.
I know, I know…I debated for days about whether or not I was even going to bring this up, but I decided to talk about it tonight because I began recalling all the “will” conversations I have had in the past ten years. I think that just about everyone I spoke to about it said something like, “Oh yeah, I have to do that” or “Ummm, I really need to update mine.” There wasn’t anyone who said, “Yup, all done. Nice and tidy.”
I guess the reason why many people don’t have a will at all is probably the same reason I never went about getting one. As I put it to the lawyer, “This has been sitting on my to-do list for about a year now and I am just getting around to it.” It’s really not one of those “must do” things in life. It’s more of one of the “should do” things. I think a bit of organization here and there is much more appealing than total chaos at the wrong time.
We learned a few things while sitting at that big table earlier this week. We learned about the state laws and what would happen if we didn’t have a will at all. We learned what would happen now that we did. We also learned all about another type of will, called the “living will.”
If you remember the Terri Schiavo case, I am sure you will begin to understand the importance of having a living will. This, in some ways, is more important than a traditional will. Basically, this piece of paper gives the authority to one person to make a very important decision for you. You can click the “living will” link to learn more about it.
There is a really big area that so many people forget to address while making a will (or updating your existing one). It’s funny, because we actually reminded the attorney to update his own. This area has to do with pets.
Laura used to work in the animal industry. She told me that most animals that are put in shelters are put there because someone died and there were no instructions on what to do with the pet once the time for that decision to be made. Many family members aren’t too keen on taking on someone’s cat or dog, so these pets usually end up in the local animal shelter. Really, all it takes is one line in someone’s will to specify a friend or “pet friendly” family member that the pets should go to. It’s not like an order, but more like informing the people who usually read a will later on. “Oh, would you look at that. I had no idea that Daisy down the road wanted those cats.”
So, there you have it. I think I got through that with some definite skill. It’s sort of like navigating a landmine, but I realized that talking about these things can be helpful and a reminder for all of those people who might now say, “Let’s go get it done.”
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Sunday, December 7th, 2008
I was lying in bed last night at around 12:30 just thinking about the ins and outs of life. I turned to my side and noticed that one of the backyard motion detector lights had clicked on. They aren’t too difficult to notice…they basically make the window shades in the bedroom glow.
Over the Summer, I set three of these lights up for safe keeping. Who knows what happens in this backyard during the overnight and I felt that perhaps these lights would scare away the wolves if they attempt to peek in the windows.
I rolled out of bed, walked over to the window and pulled on the shade string. I looked down to the porch and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Then, to my left, another motion detector clicked on. I gave a quick glance, but didn’t see anything there either. I became slightly curious. I scanned slowly from right to left and then I saw it. Our very short friend had appeared again.
Apparently, the neighborhood has a cat that likes to make little pit stops here from time to time. He or she is a semi-long haired black and white one. The cat was walking towards the driveway, minding its own business when I saw it, so I decided to close the shade to get some sleep.
I remember a time over the Summer when this cat decided to stop by to sun itself on the front walkway. He or she was probably here for over an hour, just laying on the warm walkway the way cats do. Very cute.
Back to last night. Just as I went for the shade string to close the shade, I glanced over to the right again. I saw little flickers in the beam of the spotlight. I felt a gentle tingle in my stomach because what I thought I was witnessing was our first snow. This, of course, was through very tired eyes.
Here are a few photos of what we woke up to this morning.
Snow on driveway
Snow in the back woods
Do you know what’s nice about snow? Well, I’ll tell you. It makes everything brighter. You can’t miss it because everything in the house comes alive during the morning of a fresh snow fall.
Laura woke up about an hour before I did. After I got out of bed and stumbled down the stairs, we stood in the kitchen talking. I said, “Hey, did you see that it snowed last night?” She just gave me a look.
A few days ago, I was doing all sorts of work inside. I was running around like crazy. The sun was shining outside, but going down fast. This time of year makes you feel like the sun is setting before you even hop out of bed in the morning. I guess it could be with the way it hangs so low in the sky all day. I’ll admit, it gets on my nerves at times.
At about 2PM, I decided it was time for a break. I needed to get outside to soak up what light was left for the day. I know myself and if I sit inside too long, I become agitated.
I opened the garage door and took a few steps outside. As beautiful as it was, it was a bit brisk. I remember this because when my cold pants hit my leg, I got goose bumps.
I went over my usual routine…walking up and down the driveway, looking at all the plants. I imagined what they were going to look like come Spring. I put a whole bunch of them in the dirt this year, so I get excited when I think about what they will become.
As I made my way down to the bottom of the driveway, the filtered sunlight hit my back. It felt so good, because it instantly warmed me up. I walked a bit further and found a spot where the direct sunlight was shining on the driveway. I moved into it and stood there in the warmth for a few minutes, just staring in the woods.
Then I closed my eyes.
The very first thing Laura and I noticed when we opened the car doors to visit this house was the quiet of the neighborhood. I am talking silence. I have rarely heard this type of quiet and was starting to think it didn’t exist. There is usually some sort of background noise that one becomes accustomed to, but not here, and that’s what really makes this place.
When Laura’s parents visited us over the Summer, the first thing they said upon getting out of their car was, “Wow, it’s quiet here.”
I must have been standing there for about 15 minutes. I have to tell you, I really, really enjoyed just simply being where I was. That kind of peace doesn’t stop by too often; I have to kind of go hunt it down.
I heard Laura give a quiet giggle in back of me and I turned around. It was like I just woke up. The sun was still shining on me, so it was difficult to see what she was doing. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that she was taking Holly up to the mailbox for her daily walk. Laura likes to take the dog out for a while, so Holly can enjoy the scenery too.
It’s strange, because I am still thinking about just standing there in the driveway.
I don’t know why, but I’m sure it has something to do with…
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Saturday, September 20th, 2008
This is just hilarious. Of course, it’s not as captivating as my recent beer posts, but at least it’s humorous. Those cats.
For the longest time, we have been dealing with only owning one cat bed. When you have three cats and one cat bed, the conditions are ripe for a fight. We didn’t have all that much fighting, we had kind of something else.
Our cat, Simon, is a real lover. When anyone else is in the one cat bed, Simon likes to walk over, put one paw in the bed, start licking the cat’s cheek that is already in the bed and then lay on top of him. It’s a real treat for the cat that’s been enjoying the bed for the past few hours. Now, they have to deal with a big, fat orange cat on top of them. Flipper Human doesn’t take to this too kindly. He usually gets up and leaves. Michael sometimes puts up with it, but only on the coldest days. Usually, if one of the cats lets Simon lay on them for a few minutes, they will for the duration.
Laura decided to have mercy on the other two cats. She recently purchased two additional cat beds to make peace around this place.
I just thought I would show you what three cat beds and three cats look like.
Cats in their cat beds
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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
I know there are sooooo many people out there who hate pictures of other people’s animals. I also know that I have said this before. I am probably one of them. Oh well.
Since you have probably visited this blog before, you know that sometimes I just can’t help myself when it comes to this kind of stuff.
I found this picture on my camera the other day…
I guess Laura was taking pictures while I wasn’t looking. C’mon, can you blame me for putting this up?
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Friday, April 25th, 2008
Do you want to know what really hurts? My legs, that’s what.
I am not sure if I ever told you that I hate moving. Boy, if there’s anything that can suck the excitement out of the big day, it’s the actual work involved with it all. And we even had a moving company this time. Oh well. Everything went well with the move. We filled a 24′ truck all the way up. I really didn’t think we had that much stuff. I actually had to leave my little blue recliner back at the house. That’s ok, I got that for free anyway.
So, now that we’re here, I think we’re getting used to it. Since we don’t have any plates (they are still back at the house…we have a few more bins to grab when we go back to do a final cleaning), we ventured out to the local Chinese food place last night. We were soooo hungry. I hadn’t actually eaten anything all day and was ready for some food. I have to say, the Chinese food wasn’t bad.
The place is still all full of stuff like big bags and boxes, but we’re getting there. I have the garage about half unpacked. I am starting a list of stuff I need, so when we go to Lowe’s, we can grab it. I need some of those automatic door closers, like the ones for screen doors. I don’t want any of the animals to get out. Also, we are going to grab some new door knobs…some of them are a little wiggly. All in all, everything seems to be in good order. One thing I am finding that I really need is a few 2X4s and some shelves.
I think the cats really like the upstairs. They seem to be very lazy and like to lie on the carpeting.
I will write more later, when I get some rest. I think I was so tired last night that I didn’t sleep all that well. I hate it when that happens.
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Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Have you ever noticed the complete disinterest that people have when being forced to listing to pet stories? They go something like this…”Yeah, my cat is really something else.” “No, mine is crazy and wild. I really think that my cat does the nuttiest stuff.” “Dude, trust me, just the other day…” Get the picture? People argue and argue about who has the funniest animals with real “personalities.” The truth of the matter is that no one really cares about other people’s pets. If they listen, they listen out of politeness. I am fully aware of this.
With that said, here is another picture of Simon. I thought this picture of him wearing my hat was pretty funny. Right?
If you take a close look, you can see my chest hair overflowing past my shirt.
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Thursday, December 6th, 2007
I got a call pretty early this morning from the lumber place. They told me they were about to leave for my sheetrock delivery. Man, I still had my coffee in my hand.
I got ready and waited for the guy to come. A few minutes later, he was backing into the driveway with my twelve sheets of sheetrock. I helped him take the stuff off the truck and stack it on some leftover lumber from the porch that I laid on the driveway. Tim, next door, was kind enough to give me a hand bringing it inside. Actually, this was the first time Tim has seen the inside of our empire.
I had to keep the doors open so Tim and I could bring the sheetrock inside. For safety reasons, I put the dog in the computer room and the cats in the bedroom. I put Red in the bathroom because I didn’t want her to pee anywhere. After Tim and I were done, I went into the bedroom to get the cats. Of course, Michael was sitting on top of the bed looking at me. You can’t scare that cat. He would walk into a volcano if given the chance. I went to look for Simon and Flipperhumanbodyman, but couldn’t find them. Then, I looked behind my trunk. There they were…
What wimps.
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Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
Some people get so embarassed about photographs. They care what their picture looks like on their license or passport. Not me…nope.
I was sitting on the couch last night hugging my cats and I asked Laura to get the camera. I thought she should really catch this. So, she hustled quickly into the other room and got it. Why? Because any chance there is to take a picture of the cats, she hops on it. A picture of me? Well, let’s just say not that fast. Anyway, last night I was lucky.
Isn’t that just so cute? I am talking about me. Oh yeah, the cats too.
It’s funny to think that just a few years ago I was at the peak of perfection. I would walk down the road and people could hardly keep their eyes off of me. I would even hear faint whistles. Now, I am just a rarely shaven thirty something guy with some fat cats. Maybe we will start putting some pep into our walks at night…yeah, that will chisel my chest again and give me that buff, ripped feel.
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Friday, December 1st, 2006
For the past few weeks, I have been engaged in a fierce battle with a mouse in our house. An evil vermin, if you will. Recently, our cats have been sitting quietly on the kitchen floor, staring at the lower cabinets. Laura claimed there was a mouse in there, but I hesitated to believe her.
I was wrong to hesitate and I can admit that. The reason I can admit that is because I really do have a wonderful personality. People tell me that all the time. Ok, really now…
Anyway, I decided to purchase those little gray humane mouse traps. I got the ones made by Victor. Well, the first night, there was evidence of a real mouse. He (or she) decided to enter the trap, eat the peanut butter and leave. Ok, fine. I reset the trap.
The second night, the mouse entered the trap, ate the peanut butter and the trap door shut behind him. Well, the mouse decided to kick the door off the hinge and escape.
I knew I was in over my head. This mouse, or whatever it was, was stronger than me. Stronger and smarter. I needed some heavier ammo. I went to the store and purchased the next trap up the chain of traps. I set that sucker and hoped for the best. Morning came and I checked the trap to see if my prize was there…ummm…all I found was a trap with no peanut butter and a bunch of chew marks on it. At this point, I concluded that this was no mouse at all. It was either a raccoon or a bear.
I repaired the trap by using a hose clamp to tighten down the lid. No luck. The mouse entered the trap the next night, laughed and proceeded to eat the peanut butter and leave. How he does this is a mystery to me. After his good meal, I think he may have climbed up to our sink for a quick back stroke and sponge bath.
I contemplated getting a bigger and better trap. The one I wanted costs about $18. But first, I wanted to try the last cheap method. I happened to be in Wal-Mart the other day and saw this very simple box with a hinge-door. It was so simple and cost only $1. I bought it to give it a try.
I set the trap and waited. Two nights ago, I heard some commotion in the kitchen and woke up to see what was going on. I saw the trap just sitting there in a new position. Nothing.
I set the trap again last night. Well, around 5:30 this morning, I heard a very distant scratching noise. My ears were very sensitive by this point. I went out to see if there was an empty trap and LOW AND BEHOLD, A MOUSE!!!!! I caught the beast. I cute little (but very strong and smart) field mouse. We stared in each other’s eyes for a good long time. I saw the defeat in him and he saw the pride in me. Nothing but respect. We both knew the game was over. Check mate.
I drove down the road and let him go in the woods. He quickly bounced away and stopped to give me one last glance. I swear I heard, “Good bye my worthy adversary.” Maybe it was the wind…
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