Yes, its been a while, but...

 

...but I am still here. 

We continue to pour money into "Withering Heights".  Recently, it was gutters and trees.  New gutters that work, and new trees that will soak up the water from the strings that run under the lot. 

We have planted birch trees and will add in dappled willow bushes.  They will soak up gallons more without destroying the house's sewage or water supply lines. 

Still, the lot is wonderfully wooded, and it is like a private forest around here. 

Rocky is showing signs of old age and I am really worried about him.  He's fifteen and has slowed down so fast.  He has kidney issues, so peeing in the house can happen.  So we invested in a Bissell Litle Green Steam Cleaning machine and it has become my new favorite thing in the world.  I can grab it, right when it happens and get all of the pee out of the rug fibers.  Then fill up it with just enough cleaner and clean the area.  So worth the money.  But back to Rocky, he's having major dental work done in June so I am hoping he comes through that.  Can't think about what happens if things don't work out, you know?

Now we are getting the house appraised so we can move onto phase two, the air conditioning, the kitchen and the sleeping porch windows.  The previous owner, a Neanderthal who fancied himself a carpenter really effed up the sleeping porch.  But the biggest eff up is what he did to the fifty-year-old replacement windows, which now have to be replaced. 

But I gotta tell you, all of this weighs heavy on Cookie's mind.  I feel so tired, so overwhelmed. I am hoping that soon, thing will turn a corner.