Rain and Other Stuff

First stage of support piers

Raining again this morning. Third day in a row, and the house foundation again has water pooling up. But, the weather was good enough most of the previous week to allow the carpenters to frame a support wall down the center of the foundation that will help bear the weight of the modules. With the crane set scheduled for July 9, they've got two weeks to finish the foundation work, building 6" x 6" piers to strengthen the weight-bearing foundation loads for the rest of the house. I haven't been up to the factory this week, but by now the plumbing and wiring should be about done.

Rainforest Brown

Finally, finally, we decided on and selected counter tops for the master and guest bathrooms. We chose some Indian marble - Rainforest Brown for the master bath, and Rainforest Green for the guest bath. The prospect of a new home is becoming very real.

Pepper and bluebonnets

Pepper is learning more every day, though still has his doggie habits. While he still goes nuts upon seeing our visiting raccoon, he's becoming less aggressive toward Geordie, our long-haired tabby. Twice this week, Karen, Geordie, Pepper and I went for walks together. Geordie generally hangs back 10 to 20 feet, but I keep Pepper on a short lead, and  they've sat down within three feet of each other.




We all walked up to view the home site, and while Geordie wandered around the perimeter of the foundation, Pepper found a puddle resting on some damp clay, took a quick drink, and plopped down on the clay, belly first. As we got back down to the house, I encouraged him (didn't take much encouragement) to jump into the creek and wash himself off. I toweled him off in the back yard before letting him into the house. I think we're moving toward a Peaceable Kingdom, but not a spotless one.

My mother will be 92-years-old on July 3. On Friday night, I received a call from the hospice worker at the assisted living facility in which she lives, telling me she had fallen out of bed on Thursday. No bruising, but she complained of a headache and a backache; but, she didn't want to go to the hospital. My mother's had dementia for the past four years, and her judgement is always suspect. But, I told the hospice nurse to let her stay in the facility. I went to see her early Saturday morning. She seemed physically OK and no mentally worse than usual. She knew who I was, though had nothing to say, didn't respond to my questions, and didn't want to pet Pepper. Karen has a theory that people tend to die near their birthdays. I've never been convinced, but I hope she's right this year. Her loss of independence, clarity, mobility, and communication has been tragic and draining.

Today, I learned from the on-line version of the Laramie Boomerang that Bill Owsley had died at the age of 91. Karen and Bill became friends during years of yard sales. He was a lively man, an archaeologist, collector, teller of tales, and all-around nice guy. I know Karen will be truly saddened. So much death in the past month.

And, now our eyes are on Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood candidate was just declared the winner of the presidential election. As Robert Redford said in The Candidate, "What do we do now?" This is a remarkable opportunity for a Muslim government to prove to skeptics that it can govern in the interests of all its nations people and continue to support stable international relations. Stay tuned.