Remembering...

It's so hard to believe that it was 8 years ago today that our beautiful granddaughter, Haleigh Nicole was born in Roseville, CA. I can still remember the day that she was born! It was a wonderful, exciting day and I was so proud to be present at her birth. It's still so surreal the events that quickly followed. While it's hard to think of all the things we have missed in her life, I am still so very thankful of the brief time we did have with her.

Happy 8th Birthday, Haleigh! Grandma loves you!

Our "first" barbecue!

On Saturday, Kim, Tim and Ashleigh brought our new barbecue and microwave from Conway to Greers Ferry for us. In return, Ashleigh asked for a "juicy" steak! What better meal to have on a new barbecue? Since the house is still "in progress" I made the salad at the motorhome, baked rolls ahead of time, seasoned the steaks and packed up silverware, paper plates, napkins and drinks! My mom made twice-baked potatoes! It was a YUMMY meal! Tim and Don set up the barbecue, while Ashleigh gave "us" a tour of the house! The amazing thing...she was with us for a few days over Spring break, she remembered the names of the guys working at the house! There was no one working on the house today but during dinner, Troy and his wife, Louise stopped by. We had enough to feed them as well, but they just stopped by for a few minutes to show Louise the progress on the house.

After our early dinner, Don started up his tractor! Everyone had a turn on it, everyone except for Nana! The grass got trimmed and Ashleigh had a great time driving with everyone! It was an early day for everyone; the kids had to drive back to Cabot and Don & I needed to stop by the boat storage to unload some stuff we won't be needing for the next couple of weeks as we head west for the Baker-Vegas race.

The house is just about finished but Don and I are heading out for about three weeks. We took off today and headed to Little Rock. We are getting new topper awnings over the slide-outs. Don is also going to have them look at the dash air that we had worked on when we were in Knoxville last year. It didn't work too long...on the drive home from Knoxville it stopped working again! It looks like while Don is taking care of that...I'll be heading back to Greers Ferry to see the dentist! I chipped a tooth last night! I figured I'd better get it taken care of instead of having to find a dentist that I don't know somewhere in the middle of nowhere!

Furby had his first initiation in motorhome travel today and he did pretty well! He was in his carrier and meowed for a few minutes, but once I brought his carrier up to the front he stayed quiet the rest of the ride! It was probably a good way to get him used to motorhoming instead of having a long day for his first day of travel!

We didn't get far today, but we are headed west! It's been a long time since we've traveled and one of the first times I really didn't want to go! I'll be anxious to head back...because once we get back...we start moving in! :-)

Part One...

We are sooo close to being able to move in! :-) You can almost feel it! In fact, we've begun scheduling deliveries! :-) It's so exciting and I can't wait! Biggest problem? We are going to be gone for a couple of weeks...heading to the Baker-Vegas race! It's our 16th year as volunteers and we committed to it quite a while back! Being so close to moving in it would be easy to stay here, but like Don and I have talked about...we plan on living here for a LONG time! It's been a long journey so we should be able to make another few weeks! With the cost of diesel...it would be REALLY easy to stay here, but we won't! Move-in date? Tentatively scheduled for the week of April 28! It could be the week-end prior but things won't start being delivered until the 28th! It will be a good day to be busy - April 28th marks our granddaughter, Haleigh's 8th birthday. It just doesn't seem like it was 8 years ago that we held her in our arms!

Part Two...

Master bathroom
Front entry
Great room fireplace (not finished yet)
Master bedroom

Part Three...

Sidewalk in back
View of the back of the house
Powder room (blue tape is because there is no water/septic yet)
Front door/foyer

Feast or Famine?

Last Saturday we were honored to have Peter & Marian Harrison stop by for a couple of days to see us. We had to tell them, though, that they weren't the first guests to have "happy hour" in the house, although they do hold the honor of being the first to have "happy hour" in our bedroom! :-) The tile guys hadn't grouted the tile yet so it was the best room to have it in! :-)

It was a busy day for company! Kimberleigh, Tim and Ashleigh came to visit in the early afternoon! Tim and Ashleigh tried a little fishing, but didn't catch anything! My theory? Ashleigh kept reeling in her line and then wanted Tim to help her cast it out! It was a windy, blustery day so they didn't fish for long! :-)

Peter & Marian left on Monday, missing all the rain we had! It rained non-stop for hours on end! I heard that we had something like 7", but it might have been more! Everyone around here keeps saying that they haven't had this much rain at one time in a long, long time! Of course, they are also saying they haven't seen the lake as high in that amount of time either! I couldn't even find the "spot" Ashleigh & Tim were fishing at! The lake has come up 9' and it's a 40,000 acre lake (300 miles of shoreline)! That's a LOT of water! When we lived in Canyon Lake, we were used to the lake rising after EVERY rainfall, but it was only a 383 acre lake (14.9 miles of shoreline)! Not to worry though...we're still a LONG way from being flooded by the Hundred Year Flood! :-)

It's been a while since I've updated our blog. We've been busy with the house and moving steadily on! I was HOPING to be in the house by April 1, but it isn't going to happen. We should be close, very close, but Don and I will be leaving on April 10 to head towards CA and the Baker-Vegas race we volunteer at. This is our 16th year and we committed to it a LONG time ago! With the possible delays of having things delivered, we decided that it would be best to wait until we return so we have tentatively scheduled our move-in for April 25/26th! We will be at the race, head into Las Vegas for a few days and then head for home - literally!

This week has been a very productive week! The tile was installed, part of the kitchen granite, knobs were started (door and drawer) and more of the faux painting was done! It's really coming together now! If you want to check out the progress, go to: www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith. The house pictures are in Emerald Isle, Greers Ferry, Part 9! The faux painting is in it's own album, Faux Painting by Angelfish.

Ragdolls (Lolita/Sweet Pea & Freddy/Furby)

It's been a year since I lost my cat, Maggie to an aggressive tumor and just a short while since my Mom, lost her cat, Nicole. Both our cats lived a long, well-loved life. For my Mom, who lives alone, losing Nicole left a very empty house to be in. I always knew I was going to get another cat, in my whole life I don't think I've ever gone this long without one. I really thought I'd wait until we got into the house before I did, but sometimes things happen for a reason! :-)

Nicole was a Himalayan and my mom's last several cats have been Himis. My cats have always just been domestic cats. My mom thought she wanted another Himi, but we discussed the pros and cons of care. Long haired cats generally take a lot of brushing to keep them from becoming matted and of course, there is the hair to deal with.

My sister, Karen had sent both my mom and I some web sites to check out and one of those happened to be about Ragdolls. After reading about them, I knew that a Ragdoll was what I wanted my next cat to be! A ragdoll has fur that resembles a rabbits. They are a long-haired cat but their fur doesn't mat. They aren't no-shed, but they are low shed! They are also a much larger cat than the Himilayan or Persian but are in the same family. Ragdolls are very affectionate and are typically called "lapcats". The unfortunate part...a kitten can cost from $550 - $1200, with a cat for breeding (un-spayed/neutered) going all the way up to $2000! That's a little past both our budgets, especially when you can get a sweet, loveable cat at the nearest animal shelter for about $150 (spay/shots, etc.)

I was looking and found a breeder here in Arkansas, but after talking to her, none of her cats were even pregnant yet. It would be nearly six months before she would have any ready to come to our homes! I found lots of breeders, but none of them close enough to drive to when I happened upon a website of a breeder, in of all places, Diamond Bar, CA. She had several "older" kittens that she was selling for only $100. I had also found several retired breeders, but these were generally about 3 years old. The only problem, since she was charging so little, she wasn't willing to ship them. I happened to wonder if she would let me sister, who didn't live too far from Diamond Bar pick them up for us and ship them to us. When I e-mailed, she said that would be o.k. Karen agreed to pick them up and get them on a plane for us, so I set things in motion! It wasn't quite as easy as we all hoped starting with cat carriers that didn't arrive until a week after the cats got HERE, but eventually the cats did arrive! :-)

I have always had male cats, my mom prefers female so Lolita and Freddy were the perfect choices for us! Both cats are 8 months old with Freddy being the younger of the two. They aren't brother and sister, although their grandfather's are the same (or something along that line). Both of them have settled into their new homes and are both so sweet and loveable! Lolita (now named Sweet Pea) is the top two pictures, Freddy (now Furby) is the bottom two!

**Furby is going to be a great match for Tess! He's not afraid of Tess and continues to taunt her!**

Snow Today...Gone Tomorrow!

We were very excited when several of our friends said they were going to come see us in March! We were hoping to be in the house (that was months ago), but knew before they came that we would have to have them come to the RV Park we are at and not the house, but we were still excited to see them and to show them how the house was coming along! First to arrive would be Marlene & Bob Rea for two weeks, Marian & Peter Harrison just for the weekend and then Dottie & Lew Anderson who were originally going to be here for about a week and then it changed to about 4 - 5 days.

We were disappointed when we first heard from the Rea's right after our snow arrived. They were afraid that they would be running into bad weather so they rearranged their direction of travel and decided to stay in Arizona for a while before heading east. They happened to be at the same park for a few days as the Anderson's so I don't know if they talked about it or not, but then we heard from the Anderson's who also changed their travel plans. Even though we told them that the snow was probably not going to happen again, and that the "locals" all said it was "not normal", they decided to wait. We have been enjoying spring time weather since the day after our last snow, with the exception of our day of rain (7" that soaked the entire midwest). Today was in the mid-70's and tonight it's only gotten down to 50 degrees!

One thing we have learned here is that the snow is generally gone by the next day and this snow was no different! I think we've only had 3 or 4 days of snow this winter and 3-4" was all we ever had in one day! There's a saying around here "if you don't like the weather today, just wait until tomorrow"!

The good news...Marian & Peter came on ahead (they're from Indiana so I think they are used to the "white" stuff) and the Rea's are coming in May! :-) We'll be able to have them at the house instead of the RV park since we should be done and moved in by then!!!

Ice, Paint and Appropriate Gloomy Weather!

We were supposed to have a really bad ice storm. It began raining while we were at the house and it was only a matter of minutes before we had the ice on the eaves of the roof line.

It was an appropriate day of rainy, gloomy weather as I had to take my mom, and her cat, Nicole to the vet where we had to put Nicole to sleep. Nicole was 17-1/2 years old and had been in declining health for the past month or two. She had stopped eating, was having trouble walking (her legs would just go out from her almost like she was ice skating) and she was alternating between having accidents and not going to the bathroom at all. It's the hardest decision we sometimes have to make, but in the end...isn't it one of the greatest gifts we can give our pets? These little balls of fur make a big difference in our lives, and all they ask in return is to feed them and love them. Their passing sure leaves a great big hole in our heart! Even though it's only been a few days...it still seems weird not to have her sleeping on the bed or coming out to get a treat when I go to my mom's. It was at this same time last year that I lost Maggie. Maggie had an aggressive tumor on his leg and it had finally gotten to the point that he was having trouble walking and was in pain. I knew that I couldn't let him continue on. That would have been selfish of me. I still miss him a lot! Once we get into the house, I will get another cat. It won't replace Maggie, but will be another fur baby to love!

The really bad ice storm we were supposed to have never really materialized. We had rain and we had cold temperatures, but nothing too severe. The second picture you see is the ice at the bottom of the mirror on the motorhome. This was pretty early on and before it got dark! I think it was really too warm to freeze much more than this!

Friday the painters were finishing up the trim and painting cabinets. On Saturday we went to the house and nothing had changed and there were no painters. Imagine our surprise when we stopped by on Sunday and painters were there...priming the rooms! They had the hallway, both guest bedrooms, game room, breakfast room, entryway (wasn't supposed to be primed yet), and my craft/utility room done! It's just primer and the color isn't quite what it will be once it's done. In the pictures it looks kind of "orangey" but it's not really! The painters are going to be back tomorrow and Angelfish (the faux painters) will be there as well!

From Earthquake Country to Tornado Alley!

Being native born Southern Californian's Don and I are "used" to earthquakes. We aren't used to tornados though! Last year in Florida we had a tornado that hit about 15 miles north of us. This year, in Shirley, AR we once again had one that was way too close and hit far too close to "home". The tornado started off in Atkins, about 130 miles south of us. It never left the ground creating damage all along it's path. It hit Clinton which driving, is about 15 miles away. It's actually much closer as the crow flies. It didn't stop there though but continued it's path stopping just short of the Missouri border.

Last week I headed to Clinton to go to Wal-Mart. It's the closest one around and I didn't even think about what I might encounter. Remember I said it's a 15 mile drive? Well it took over an hour to get there! That wasn't even to Wal-Mart! I couldn't believe the damage and destruction. The pictures you see on t.v. and in newspapers just doesn't really convey the scene before you. Seeing entire trees pulled up, houses with their roofs completely gone and places where a house once stood covered in debris instead of the house are amazing! We have lots of trees in Arkansas and there was a huge area of trees that were all snapped off. What's even more amazing is the neighborhoods where all but one house is gone.

We consider ourselves lucky. Lucky that it didn't hit us. This will affect the building around here but shoudn't bother us since we are past that stage. The house is coming along just very slowly and much slower than we would like. Now that you can see it becoming a real house it makes you want it to be completed even faster! The painters are in there now and have been for several weeks. We were told on Friday that they will probably be there for about 2 more! Why does it take professionals a month to paint the interior of a house? :-) Oh well, it will be worth it when it's done!

On Valentine's Day, being the true romantics that we are...Don and I brought home (to the motorhome) a pizza from Pizza Hut and watched Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice! Couldn't miss those! :-)

A lot of our motorhoming friends are now in Lancaster, CA attending the Monaco pre-rally. This is the first rally we've missed in several years but hope to be at the next one which is in July in Michigan! :-)

I put out some bird seed a few days ago to see if I could get some pictures of the local birds. Here's one that I was able to get. I'm going to have to work on getting a little closer but it was too cold on this day to be outside for very long!

There is a website that shows some of the damage around Clinton. It's amazing! It's http://www.clintonark.com/. If you'd like to see the progress of the house, it's at www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith look under the Emerald Isle, Greers Ferry, I think I'm now on part 8!