The Long 30 Days

Twenty two days late, Marc took off this morning, headed for Bend, OR and the first leg of moving more of our stuff. Moving takes a trailer and his flatbed resides on my mother’s property, albeit with bad tires. So Marc stripped the Dodge of its nearly new rubber and wheels and hopes they fit temporarily to haul everything back here. The family has decided to hold Christmas dinner until Friday since he doesn’t expect to get in until very late Christmas night. You can see the care package I sent off for everyone for their get-together! For the next thirty days and nights, it’s just me and the four cats….

We managed to wrap up the main floor insulation chores and empty the house of everything so it’s a clean slate for the drywall contractor who is due to start this week. I will hope to check on the house occasionally so I can take pictures but our weather will be worsening and I try and not drive when it gets too bad out. It’s just not fun and I have nowhere to be that badly, that it’s worth the stress. However, if Christmas is not stormy, I do plan to work at the shelter so I can help shorten the shift of the paid employee who has to come in to feed the animals and clean the cages.

On the domestic front I continue to vacillate on paint color although I was decisive in picking bathroom color, flooring and countertops. I had tended towards a greige for the main area walls when Marc’s comments about living “in a prison” sent me scurrying back to the store for more bland neutrals. Now I am leaning more towards the beige/taupe side with just the slightest hint of gray. Guess he’s not much of a gray fan. I’ve also been madly perusing pictures of window furnishings hoping to find just the right idea I can probably make myself. The large living room window is the primary problem as its span is 108 inches, featuring two vertically opening 36” windows and a center fixed glass. I hadn’t really wanted drapery but I can’t find any roller shades of that width without going to some outrageously priced custom piece. Plus, given that our view is so nice out that direction, I want nothing that is going to block that, yet we will need the privacy at night when the lights are on.

I’ve got lots of projects in front of me, a stack of paperbacks and puzzles, and one very lively little kitten for entertainment. I’ll be OK; just lonely. It’s Marc who continues on with no breaks, no rest, and just a bunch of tasks and work in front of him as he empties out our Yuma place and gets it up for sale and then hauls all the stuff back here, over 2200 winter-driving miles. Good luck, Baby! Don’t get sunburned! (Spirit has really taken to Jerry, adopted this fall from the shelter and surprisingly, for a male cat not related, he to her. When they're ready for a nap, this is often the way I find them.)