Scotland...

Scotland...  Our friend and former colleague Simon M. is presently touring Scotland with his wife Carrie.  He sent along some photos that make me want to go there with Debbie!  In order: Cuith-Raing, Loch Ness, and a view toward the Isle of Skye...

Paradise ponders: cedar sheds, sunny cats, broken pipes, and handsome weasels edition...

Paradise ponders: cedar sheds, sunny cats, broken pipes, and handsome weasels edition...  Wednesday night as I was nodding off to sleep, my phone beeped: I had a text message.  It was our neighbor, Alan L., wanting to know if I was awake.  “Barely.” I told him, and asked why.  He wanted to know if I had the “key” (a tool, really) to shut off the irrigation water.  It seems that one of his kids' friends had driven an ATV over one of our irrigation risers and busted it.  Sigh.  I got myself up and dressed, and ran over to the broken riser with my key.  After I shut off the water, we inspected the break.  To fix it, we'd need to dig a hole around the broken pipe, about 2' in diameter and 18" deep.  Alan volunteered the three boys for that job, the following morning (yesterday morning).  I said I'd be back by 9 am with the parts.  Well, next morning I called Tim D. (our friend and neighbor), and it turns out he had all the parts on hand.  So I was out there by 8 am and “supervised” the boys with their digging.  I ended up doing the heaviest part of the digging myself, as it was beyond their ability (these are all 7th and 8th graders). Once we got it dug out, I cleaned the pipe off, sawed the break off flat, then glued in a female-to-female coupler, a short section of pipe, a female-to-threaded coupler, and finally screwed on the aluminum riser body.  After waiting ten minutes for the glue to set, I opened the valve.  The fix held, and the kids committed to filling the hole in.  That used up much of my morning yesterday!

We've recently started letting the cattery cats up into our sun room.  Debbie's  been decorating it (still more of that to do), but that cats are loving it already (see documentary evidence at right).  We've had as many as six at a time up there, lounging in the warmth and sunlight, and watching the birds (aka “cat TV”).  We let Jahar out there with them, under supervision.  Most of the time they all get along ok, though we've broken up a couple of tussles between Konani and Jahar...

The cats come up into the cattery through one of the metal basement window casement covers we had built earlier this year.  I put a short cat tree under the hole, and within a minute the boldest cats were up it into the sun room.  That's Konani at left, poking his head out of the hole to see if the coast was clear before coming up...

The cedar shed is nearly finished; I will be completely finished with it in just a couple hours.  I took the second photo below just before knocking off last night.  The only remaining work to do is the trim around the door!  Overall I'm very pleased with this kit.  No parts were missing, and none were damaged.  There's a small bit of leftover wood, perfect for repairs if needed.  The shed is sturdy, and it looks very nice.  It will look even better in a couple of years when the sunlight has bleached the wood...

Yesterday evening Debbie and I took a nice drive out to Hardware Ranch.  Blacksmith Fork Canyon was full of things in bloom, and wonderful scents (especially from the abundant choke cherries).  We saw some deer, an American dipper, and a weasel (we're pretty sure it was a long-tailed weasel).  I got a couple photos of flowers in the canyon, both species I don't recognize.

Our sprinkler contractor has been working away at trenching.  His helper (Dave) should start laying pipe and setting sprinklers today.  In a couple of weeks, we're told, we should have something that actually looks like a lawn – instead of the aftermath of a nuclear war...