A Project and an Anniversary

Remember the days of the origin of this blog?  Back before any kid or even cat entered the scene and we were always occupied with house projects, painting and decorating?  Last night was kind of a little flashback...we had the home inspection a few weeks ago and...big surprise...there was rotting wood under both our front and back decks.  I recall shopping when we bought this house in 2013 and many of the houses we looked at had visibly crumbling decks.  I don't remember the details of our inspection when we moved in here but I know our front deck at least wasn't in perfect condition.  Our new neighbors had rotting wood as a problem on their deck when they had their inspection this summer.  I think it is safe to say that if you buy a house more than a few years old with a deck there is probably some rotting wood on it somewhere.

Last week, Justin replaced a board that was pretty spongy on the front steps.  It was a supporting board that you wouldn't notice just by looking like a normal person would.  Last night he replaced the little stair supports on our back deck.  The part you can see is not wood but some kind of plastic composite that is supposed to last forever but the supports underneath are, of course, wood and once they were revealed they looked pretty bad.  It is really warm here this week so now is the time to do it although are rapidly losing our 11 p.m. daylight and it is harder to get anything done outside when darkness comes at 7:30.  Justin had to plug in a spotlight to supplement the one outdoor bulb we have back there.  Something good came of this though...we found out that a mystery switch in the house that has always been a switch to nowhere actually controls the outdoor outlet!  After four years!  It's not even near the patio door.  The switch is in the dining room on the other side of the house.

The kids could hardly stand the excitement and they just HAD to be out there even though there were no stairs and screws were laying everywhere.  

Tessa really liked the woodworker pencil.  Those things are pretty weird when you have always known writing utensils to be cylindrical.  

Allan didn't know what to think about this.  He was not very comfortable with the bright light back there in his bird staring territory.  

Speaking of Allan, this should have its own post but the day already passed two days ago and I don't want to forget.  The 15th of October is Allan's adoption day.  It's been eight years.  I looked way back in my albums (2009 predates this computer so all the photos from his early months are in a file together).  He was so cute and little.  His ears look pretty large on his pin head.  

I'm so happy we got him.  He always has loved laying on the window sills if there is a piece of furniture there to support him.  Or, when he was six pounds he could just sit on the window sill although he is way too wide for that now.  I think of how he spent his first few months in the shelter in a cage with his brother (a very nice shelter but still...) and how he must have loved looking out the windows of our house when he first got there.  I also think about his brother and I hope he has had a good life too.

Fast forward eight years and Allan is still living the good life...

He's almost triple the weight he was when we came home and he still loves windows, beds and blankets.  He's very secure in his environment and he knows he has nothing to worry about.  I bought him a new pack of toy mice at PetSmart last week.  For some reason they seem to disappear and they had some Halloween themed ones on sale.  He made an effort to play so I know he still can do it although it's nothing like that crazy frolicking and leaping he used to do.  He did a quick charge down the stairs with his new mouse then shook it in his mouth (the signature "death shake") then pretended to hide and stalk and pounce...and that was it.  He was tired.