Echo's Nemesis...

Behold - the biggest, baddest, meanest Kitty in the whole world...or so Echo thinks. Flint is wary of SNOWBALL, but Echo is downright terrified and will not even walk by her in the hallway unless I walk between them.

Try walking in a narrow hallway between a big, black dog and tiny white cat who spreads herself smack in the middle of the hallway simply to stake her territory!





Snowball has one blue eye and one green eye. When yu see her at night with a light shining in her face, the blue eye glows red and the green eye glows white!



Pa taught Snowball to play with a laser pointer. She will chase it all over the room, over furniture and even partway up walls if that's where he points it. Every night they play with the light and then Pa wrassles with her - spinning her on the floor and batting back and forth with her. She enjoys it and comes back over and over to play. This photo shows me pointing the light to get her attention for a good picture. LOL

Lots of things...

I've been so busy I've not had time to really write, but if you go here, you can see what I'm doing with my time.

www.constructiondiarystahels.blogspot.com

In the meantime, life is moving ever forward. Richard has been in Saudi Arabia for nearly 2 months now.

The dogs and I are adjusting to our country life. Flint was a little scared at first but has now become quite intrepid. Echo is fearless as ever, but for some reason is bothered by my Pa. She is not afraid, she just won't come to him when called. We believe that with Richard gone, she thinks Pa is challenging her place in the pack.

In other funny news, I did something nice for my sister and she said if I would do it, she'd buy a lotto ticket and if she won, she'd split her winnings with me. Today, I got a $1 bill in the mail. Yes, she won the lotto. Two whole bucks. She sent my half to me. Sisters!

In family news, my niece Katie's horse passed away. Dollar was 30 years old and had been ailing for a while. Katie babied him and made sure he was comfortable every day because he was her baby, her first horse.

Mom and Pa and I are getting into a routine. We work in the mornings up at Echo Ridge, come home for lunch and a nap, and then back up to work. Sometimes, Mom and I simply go shopping for things we need and Pa works alone. The shed should be finished sometime this week. Once its done, we will solidify details for the garage apartment and then Pa will make drawings and we'll eventually start building. That will probably be started sometime in May. We plan to take a break and maybe go sightseeing for a day or two before we dive in and start on the next phase of our building.

The New Life

So...

Yes, I've moved to the wilds of rural Missouri. Life has been an adventure for the last month but its finally settling down. Well, as settled as preparing to build a shed and a garage apartment can be.

The dogs have taken to country life very well! Flint is still a little nervous about the changes, but he's loving his new outdoor life, too. Echo is so thrilled to be outdoors she doesn't want to be an inside dog except to sleep. We've been working with her commands as she is choosing to wander off and not come back when called. Leash training is something she's never wanted to do, but we have to in the backwoods where the potential to get shot at can truly happen. She is learning her boundaries well and is responding to the commands as well as can be expected.

I have pictures and stuff I want to post about our new life, but will do it later as we are currently heading into town to pay for the fabrication supplies for the shed Pa and I will be building in the next week or so. I will not actually be building anything - I'm the step-and-fetch warm body and Pa will do the actual skilled building part.

I've spent a few days going to garage sales, farm auctions and checking out the wildlife Mom and Pa keep an eye on.

The bald eagles down at the lake's edge have once again come to their nest in the sycamore tree. We checked out the blue heron nests down on the neighbor's farm. And, up at the creek there was new excitement - a lone bald eagle was spotted and we're hoping there's a pair to make a new nest! As spring progresses into summer we'll be checking up on the area around that creek to look for a nest.

Anyway, off to shower and go to town!