A Month? It's really been a whole month?

I just didn't have much to say.  Not much going on....

Got an iPhone, took pictures with it but I can't get them down loaded so I couldn't post about going to a Roughriders baseball game with Dawn and Mike.

Jeff went to the Chicago area, sort of a work/fun trip with a buddy.  He came home and in 24 hours took off to drive Route 66 with a guy he'd met in Chicago.  Rich had come to the States to fulfill a dream of driving across the USA. Jeff and Rich hit it off when they started comparing their trips abroad.  Jeff having backpacked Europe a few summers ago and Rich having rented a car and driven from the north end of Africa to over half way the length of the continent.

On this trip Rich had decided he'd rented a car in New York and drive to Chicago to head west on the legendary highway.  That's when he and Jeff met up.  Here is when the story started going really fast and I sort of lost track of things between where he had been, what he was doing in Texas and where he was going and the preparation of cooking a classic Texas meal of tenderloin Beef, it's what's for dinner, taters and Ranch Style Beans for a guy from Liverpool, England. I don't know if Jeff came back from Chicago with Rich or if Rich got to OKC and diverted to North Texas.  But he ended up here so he could say "I've been to Dallas!"  I wonder if Jeff drove him over to South Fork Ranch, I doubt it.  To top off his trip to Texas and make up for the fact that Jeff was unable to take him to a REAL working cattle ranch Michael and Di were out of town Jeff took Rich to the firing range and they spent the evening shooting all the guns.  Later, as he tried to scrape the black gooey mud that's one of the things we're famous for around here from his flip-flops, he told me he could die a happy guy now.  He never dreamed he'd ever hold a gun, much less shoot one.

The next morning Jeff and Rich drove west from here to hit Route 66 in Amarillo.  This is where I would insert the picture of Jeff standing on top on one of the many old Cadillacs at the Cadillac Ranch if I could get it off my iPhone!

Besides going to the Grand Canyon, they toured the canyons around Page, Arizona.  I think this was the highlight of Jeff's trip.  They spent a day or two in Las Vegas before heading out to Los Angeles.   There Jeff stayed in a hostel for a few days and hung out at Muscle Beach and spent time with one of Jolea's old friends, Judy, before heading home... on 9-11.   Not a real good day to book a flight Jeff's backpack was emptied and searched and he missed his first flight, causing a flying chain reaction for the day. But a great day to pick-up someone at the airport, that place was deserted! 

I know there were a few other things that happened, but they weren't all that exciting.

Then last Sunday morning around 2:30 I was awakened by what I knew was Jeff, but I couldn't figure out what he was doing and who he was talking to.  I found him laying on his belly in the entry hall talking to something under the table.  He looks up at me laughing and says, "I caught a kitten!"   Not "I found a kitten" or "I adopted a kitten" or "someone gave me a kitten."  No, it was that word CAUGHT, said with the pride of a Great White Hunter in an old movie.  He began telling me of how he and Jennifer were driving down 15th street and saw this kitten dart across the road, they zoomed into the parking lot and he jumped out of the car to try to catch it. I'm glad he clarified or I would have thought he was sitting in a jump seat on the front fender yelling "Get in closer Buttons! We're gonna loose her!"   Once out of the car he couldn't find her and then Jennifer spotted her in the crook of a tree right by his head.  He turned around and plucked her down as she hissed at him, but she immediately started purring so he brought her home.

OK, I guess that's a valid reason to bring a feral cat into our house.  She spent the first 36 hours in hiding, only coming out when we weren't around to eat the food we'd left.  If by chance we were able to see her or snag her she'd hiss and show her teeth, but she wouldn't run away, she'd allow us to catch her, and then she starts purring and becomes very tame.  Definitely one confused kitty.

Dawn brought us a cage to keep her in and that has helped the taming process. We keep her in this huge cage during the day while we're at work and at night, then let her out when we are around.  She's got her food and water, a box with a towel inside for a cozy nest Jody keeps the house like a meat locker so she could freeze if left out in the elements, and a little litter box.   Although this weekend she has decided she would rather use something other than the litter box we have in the cage.  She's waiting until she's out of the cage to do her business.  This could land her a trip to the great outdoors and a return to the perils of nature I've seen that huge hawk in the trees 3 times in as many weeks.  If we are going to keep her I'd prefer her to be an indoor/outdoor cat.  Heavy on the outdoor.  She'll just have to grow a bit and learn where her 'safe place' is.

Stalking my feet under the blanket.

She has the classic markings of a Birman.  Huge feet, that's fine I prefer a cat that is bigger than most dogs, that way I don't have to worry about it being outside and she'll look really heavy to a hawk.  Or she'll not grow into the feet and just be a tiny cat with really large feet, we'll call her Big Foot.  She doesn't have a name yet, but Jody suggested we call her Lucy as he was scrolling through the old sitcoms yesterday.  We'll have to see if that sticks.  A lot is riding on this litter box issue.  Our last cat was a genius as far as cats go, so she is going to have to really step it up.  Maybe I'll call her Miss Pissy, Piss for short.  "Here Pissy, Pissy, Pissy....."   Yeah that has a good ring to it.

Have a good week!