Catio Project - and a New Project

We have a new project, one we've been thinking about and planning for a few months. The netting and framework will become a catio, or safe outdoor enclosure for our cats. 

Here, you see Stace in engineer-mode, staring at his project, and thinking hard. 

 

Cora lent a hand for a bit. We've been blessed with beautiful weather, so we can work on the project and it's not too hot.

Here is where it will go, with the cats entering via a cat flap in the screen in the dining room window, on the left. 

Also this week, I worked on the 2024 and 2025 blog books, cleaned, and baked. Stace and I rewatched Wolf Hall, and he watched a lot of World Cup games.

We also went to Ellie's dance recital - we especially had to show up for our dancer, since Grandma and Grandpa were in Alaska.

With Violet gone, Evie had to hang out with Cora! (I promise she was happy; I just caught her looking angry.)

Cora had a friend in town from out of state, so she hung out with this friend group from her first high school.

And then...

...This happened.

While Stace was outside working on the catio, I heard a dripping in the bathroom. It sounded like someone left the tub faucet on, but we don't use the tub. I looked up and saw two streams of water flowing down from the ceiling onto the tub and floor.

Uh oh. 

Stace turned off the water and began clearing up six bags of wet insulation from the attic around a pipe that had burst.

The orange circle shows where the copper elbow is, on a joist, which it had evidently been rubbing on all these years.

As the ceiling began looking worse, Stace propped it up with a stick. We had a mitigation company come out on Sunday, and learned we'll need to demo both bathrooms because the drywall and the studs behind them are soaked. Then, high-powered fans and a dehumidifier will be brought in to dry out the internal structure.

We did NOT have this on our bingo card this year.

Needless to say, the catio is on an indefinite hiatus.

Once Violet was back, we went out to dinner as a family, for Stace's birthday. 

On his actual birthday, Violet, Stace and I started off on our summer road trip to Nevada. Stay tuned for more!

Violet's Trip to Alaska

Violet thoroughly enjoyed her Alaska adventure. She flew up on Friday, and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty picked her up. It just happened that cousin Alison gave birth to baby Harlow on Saturday, a couple of weeks early! So Vi got to hold a one-day old on Sunday, such a miracle.

On Sunday evening, my parents flew up, and on Monday, they were all off to Juneau!

Later on Monday, the crew took a half-hour flight from Juneau to Gustavus in a tiny plane, so they could spend the week at nearby Glacier Bay National Park.

Sunset on Glacier Bay - around 11 p.m.! In the far north of Alaska, the sun is up very early, and sets very late in the summer.

This pond was near the lodge, and Vi walked by it numerous times on their hikes. She said their trip was full of hiking

Here's a rainbow shining above the Lodge parking lot.

Hiking...

This photo shows a tree, next to a pile of pinecone shavings left by squirrels hunting for seeds.

A river that flows into the bay.

On Wednesday, the group spent all day on a boat ride into the bay, to see the glaciers up close.

They viewed the Margerie Glacier, which is 21 miles long!

Violet enjoyed learning about the glacier, and how it grew and receded.

This is Glacier Bay at very low tide - notice the tide marker stick.

This is the same tide marker! This was about a seven-minute walk from the lodge, where Vi got to experience staying in a room on her own

.

Here's a view of the bay from the lodge.

This huna house, or tribal house, was in the national park, a five-minute walk from the lodge. In it were interpretive displays about the Glacier Bay clans, which were displaced in the 1700s as the glacier grew and intruded on their homeland. It since receded.

Carl the Porcupine lives near the lodge, and is a visitor favorite. Violet also saw otters, whales, harbor porpoises, bald eagles and a moose carcass.

A closeup of Carl, taken by another guest with a good camera.

On Friday, Vi and company flew back to Juneau, where they visited Mendenhall Glacier, a short drive away.

The glacier is in the photo directly over Grandma's head, where the two hills come together. 

Violet said that in Juneau, it was evident how tourism impacted the downtown, where numerous cruise ships dock. Lots of tourist shops!

Violet loved her trip. They flew home Monday.

Golf Trip

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity, along with several of my workmates, to play TPC Las Vegas golf course. Me and another chap from work drove to Las Vegas on Friday, arriving by the late afternoon. We awoke early to meet up with the rest of the Woodward crew, and got in a minibus at 7 a.m. that took us out to the golf course.  

We played a team format, and I was paired up with a chap called Fernando. We played a better-ball, scramble format, where both players take shots, and then select the best position to take the next shot from. It was a really hot day, with temperatures topping out at 104. To make conditions tricky, there was also a 25 mph wind. Even with all that, and a very difficult professional standard golf course, Fernando and I played pretty well, and managed to win the competition. We finished 2 over par, and picking up a $450 first place prize, between us.

A smaller group of friends from work went out for a meal on the Friday night, to a Benihana restaurant, and finished the night in the Sahara casino, where most of us were staying. 

Tidbits

 Stace has a friend at work who used to be a mechanic, and he offered to help Melanie and Nick out with some car repairs over the weekend. That meant he drove their car home, and Stace got to take his baby home. Pretty sweet.

Still so cute.

I was given this little crocheted plant in a thank you gift bag from Jarod, and had it on my dresser. Winston decided it was obviously for him.

Violet finished up her sophomore year of school! She wrapped up her online classes early this week, and her one day of finals at the high school on Wednesday. She got mostly packed for her upcoming trip to Alaska, so on Thursday we had time for an outing.

She wanted to check out a stained glass store in Pasadena, and it was worth the trip. She found several pieces for projects she'd like to do.

We also enjoyed hanging out with the shop cat, Chonky Thomas. He has quite a following.

On Friday, I dropped Violet off at the airport in Burbank for her flight to Seattle! Unfortunately I didn't get our traditional "leaving" photo, as we were a bit flustered because I wasn't able to park and walk her in. The short-term parking lot was full up! 

Also on Friday, Stace left for a weekend trip with his work friends - more on that in a separate post.

On Saturday, I helped Melanie with a small wedding in Redondo Beach. 

We had a nice time together, and she took me out for tacos afterwards to pay me.

I also got paid in these beauties.

Week in Review

 Stace was off Monday for Memorial Day, and we went to Home Depot to check out supplies for the catio we're going to build. He found a Panini World Cup sticker album, just like the one he filled up in 1986. 

We then went to Total Wine and More, for cider - he's been reading his cider book, and wants to brew some up this year.

Violet had a solo horse lesson on Tuesday with Rocky. She got some great experience trotting and guiding the horse directionally.

Happy girl! So glad we have found this ranch and this way for her to ride again.

On Tuesday, after her lesson, she watched the film Hidalgo with us, because it features Viggo Mortensen in a grueling horse race.

On Wednesday, Vi and Cora had Sofia and Liana over for D&D, while I met up with a friend for Happy Hour/dinner.

On Thursday, Violet and I went to the optometrist and she picked out new glasses. Cora, meanwhile, went sliding for the second time this week, and later played D&D. And on Friday, I went up to Palmdale and lunch with my former newspaper co-workers. It was nice to see them again.

On Saturday, Stace watched the Champion's League final with work friends, while I met up with "the ladies" and celebrated one of their birthdays at Agua Dulce Vineyard.

We had a wine tasting and then enjoyed a picnic. It was a great time together.

On Sunday, we celebrated Rigo's birthday at their house.

They'd had a family part on Saturday, and Rigo showed us the very old sword he inherited and was just given. Very cool!

The kids (and young adults) played Telestrations, and other games.