You can send presents anytime!

  Thanks mom for the presents! I LOVE the crocks. Katie says you have good taste. I just can't decide what I want to put in them. I have to get batteries for the pepper grinder. I think that will stay right next to the stove. I tried the cake pan, but burnt the brownies. I haven't found the box with my timer in it yet, so I kinda winged it, and got distracted. Oh well, next time, right?


  Anyway, I used the boxes from your presents to make a Kitten Castle. There are several rooms inside, and this neat, recessed 2nd floor entrance onto a balcony. Of course they LOVED the boxes before I made them into the castle.


 Aren't they cute?


  They seem to like me, I wander from room to room they are usually about 30 seconds behind me. Wanting to be in the same room, but in typical feline fashion, pretending not to.


The naming contest is still open, leave a comment with name ideas. They are currently being called 'Brother' and 'Sister', so you only have a little while before they stick.
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Lakeland Florida

Or, I found out why rent is so cheap

Or, I now have a reason to build that folding Kayak

I am being really bad about keeping up to date with my blog. Too busy with the move and so forth.
 Not this friday but the one prior, 9 days ago now, it rained. Now, when I say it rained, that isn't an adiquite description. Imagine a swimming pool with a lot of bubbles in it. That is what it seemed like outside. It rained THAT hard. More water then air. With my place of residence being in a hole, it gets wet. Really wet. The water was half an inch over the threshhold for the front door. You can see that in this photo. I had the door open (it didn't matter, it was coming in anyway) with the towels set to slow it down. I was mopping it out with another towel and sweeping it out with a broom. It also came into the bedroom and along the wall in the living room.


 There is a channel cut in the yard to try to direct the water away, it was just overwelmed with how hard it rained.

Mom, I have an announcement to make. You have 2 new grand-kittiess!

I ended up with 2 kittens yesterday. I came home, and they attacked. Actually, they were sleeping in one of my moving boxes and I had to look for them for a while before I woke one up.
 Katie found this brother and sister through work. A gal had asked her to feed them for the night, and then tried to give them to her... successfully. Katie SMSed me, asking if I wanted them, because I had half-jokenly said I wanted a mean old barn cat called One-eyed-Jack (even if he had both eyes) to keep the critters out of my apartment. She offered to clean the litter box, I said SOLD!


 Now, what to name them? The male is the orange one, and the female is the darker one. She has 6 toes on each foot in front. My first choices are Deeohgie and Ceaytie, but Katie vetoed them immediatly like they where her cats. She insists that they are mine, but the female a little less so. My Second Choise was to call them the Kellers, Roche and Ratte, but again, shot down. For now they are called dip-shit and shit-head.


 So, I am opening up a kitty naming contest. The winner gets... a gracious thank you on my blog and maybe a Christmas card from their namelings.


 I have to finish unpacking and kitten proofing the place. They are going to tear my stuff up! Oh well. It will be fun!

Its official. I am a Floridain. I just walked outside with sandals and socks on. *cries*

Aqurium update.

 I bought a new stand for the planted tank. It fits really nice between the bedroom and bathroom doors. I replanted the whole tank. my microsord really took off, while my glosso has all but died off. I moved all the fish into this tank. I know have Khuli loaches running around in the microsword - that looks pretty cool. I am going to re-set up the CO2 reactor this week, I have it piped in, I just don't have the Yeast Bottles set up yet. I have to finish drinking the juice!


 I put my TV tank into my entertainment center. I REALLY like how this turned out. Katie isn't so thrilled about the TV not getting cable. The tank is just sitting empty for right now, I am not sure how I want to stock this tank. I may see about upgradig the lighting, or running crypts in it under the current low lighting.


 Here you see the 2 tanks together. I have an opening between the kitchen and the living room. I am thinking about either putting my 110 gallon tank in that area, or make a small 6" tall microtank to go into that space. I am leaning towards the micro tank. Not sure where I am going to put the 110. I guess they can both sit in that spot. We shall see.

The operation was a success, but the patient died.

 The old iMac bit the big one last weekend. It didn't make the trip from Boynton Beach into Fort Lauderdale a year and a half ago, and it just sat on a dresser all that while. It would power on, and power off almost instantly, I never could get it to boot.


 I pulled the hard drive (it has my LIFE on it) and the gig of RAM, and it went to heaven where all macs go! I also junked out my old Epson Stylus Photo EX. Between the 2 devices, I had dropped $2200 9 years ago now. Has it been that long?


My brand new (over a year old now, I started blogging when I got it) Compaq is shortly to follow the iMac's fate, but I won't bother keepig any parts out of it. The stupid thing won't play a video DVD or stay running more than 24 hours. Actually, it is going to become a linux box, and live in my Kitchen when I build a new box. Good for web browsing for recepies.

Photos of the truck moving my stuff.

I promised pictures. So here are some.
 This is the last load, the final moving in!


 I had just a little more then what would fit in the truck, so I had to get that big tub and strap to the roof.


 The hamper wouldn't fit in or on anythiong, so it got hung off the back. I think it makes an effective spoiler, don't you?


 I could still use my right side mirror. I had the truck packed with all my stuff for the last move.

1 week

Well, I have been in Tampa/Lakeland for a weak now. The commute isn't too bad, about 45 minutes. I should be getting my internet hooked up tomorrow morning.

Katie and I cooked dinner tonight. We made grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, turkey bacon, and omelets. Very yummy!

It rained tonight. Bad. I washed my truck in the pouring rain. The rain also washed
my kitchen and bedroom floors. I am going to have problems with flooding when it's
really bad out.

The air mattress is in the middle of the living room floor. A few items have made it out of the boxes. I have to put my computer desk together for tomorrow morning. I don't know where the laser printer is going yet.

I bought Pony Clamp pipe clamps last night so I can fix a cabinet door. I am going to get one or two more for when I glue my cutting board cabinet top together for the kitchen counter I am going to be building.

Hopefully some photos will get posted tomorrow.

5000 miles on my truck. It is not new anymore.dirty and some bad scratches inside and out. Oh well.

Moved in

Man are my legs tired and my feet sore. The truck is almost unpacked. I just have the filing cabinet and an old computer to unload.

Katie made dinner tonight. I was going to but she started it when I was in the shower. She used that pan first. I made unsweet tea for her though. Two and a half gallons of it. That should last her the week I hope. Sweet tea for me tomorrow.

My fishes look happy. I got a new juice container so I can start the CO2 injection later this week. I also want to bake some bread. I ended up with the packets instead of the jar as they didn't have the yeast I wanted.

It's going to be a while before I get out of these boxes. I am not sure where I want to keep my bike. I am wanting to put my rackmount computer gear in the same closet as the washer and dryer out of convenience. I have to see what the temp and humidity are like.

Arrival

Well, I am here. It took long enough. I started yesterday at 8:30am by getting the truck serviced. why is it that it went in fine and came out with a power window not working?

It was raining from tropical whatever-it-was daryl. I started boxing stuff. Lunch, and then I started getting serious. A long story short, at 10:30 I had most everything outside and finally accepted that it wasn't all going to fit. A trip to walmart to get one of those trailer hitch luggage racks was an excersize in futility. They had the rack, but not the reciever bar to make it work on my 1.25 inch reciever. Plan B - the biggest tub they have strapped to the roof. It worked. At 3am I was loaded. I pulled into my place at 7.

Now I am unloading.

I best get back to it.

Rainy day

It's one of those days today. Yesterday was the first day of hurricane season and it's been raining for two days straight. We need the rain, but on my last day of moving?

I had the first service this morning for my Escape. An hour and fourtyfive minutes. Bleh.

I just have a bunch of odds and ends, my computers, computer desk, clothes and so forth. I am hoping it will all fit in the truck. My chair will be the hard one. I guess the boxes, computers, and filing cabinet go in first and I then loose-pack around the chair.

If you want my new address drop me a line.

If my packing is going to get done, I best get to it.