It doesn’t happen often, but it was snowing this morning as low as Cameron Park (about half way between Sacramento and Placerville), just a few miles from our home!. I don’t remember that happening since ‘04 or ‘05! Chains are required just past Placerville!

Anyway, this Sacramento Bee photo shows drivers during heavy snowfall along Durrock Road in Cameron Park about 7 a.m. this morning. It’s just not something we’re used to seeing this far down the hill! Everyone’s wondering if the next storm will affect the AMGEN Tour of California scheduled to pass through downtown Sacramento about 1 PM tomorrow…(More)

The last couple days have been emotionally taxing. Unknown to us, “Georgio”, our straight eared Scottish Fold cat, had developed dental problems. Those of you with pets will identify with how you feel when they have health issues.

We noticed a change in his mood a few days earlier but failed to connect the dots. By Sunday, he’d become solitary and lethargic and we knew something was wrong. Our vet agreed to see him right away, determined that he had some dental problems and scheduled him for surgery yesterday.

To make a long story short, he had five teeth extracted - his four canines and one other - a big payoff from the tooth fairy who, it turns out, is a feline herself (but that’s another story). Poor little guy, he must have been miserable. The vet gave us some oral pain medication we’ll squirt in his mouth every morning and some antibiotics we’ll give him for three of four days. Assuming he eats, drinks his water and uses his litter box, he’ll just need a follow-up exam in a week or so.

It’s amazing how these magical, jellicle little creatures, like children, become such a big part of our lives, a part of us, and when they hurt, so do we.

We’ll worry all week.

Some of you know that Dawn and I live in a nice area between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, much of it undeveloped and unspoiled. It’s one of the fastest growing cities in the tri-counties, yet local government and developers have managed to set aside a generous amount of land as natural habitat. For example, our home backs up to a natural creek, part of a protected strip of land that runs from high in the hills to the valley below providing refuge for a variety of wildlife. So it’s not unusual for us to see foxes, raccoons, wild turkeys, owls and an occasional coyote or deer in our yard. It’s what attracted us to the area — nice neighborhoods close to the city, yet still part of nature.

But every once in a while, nature interrupts our regular routine and last week was a perfect example. From our upstairs bedroom window, we’d been hearing “sounds” late at night and in the pre-dawn hours in our back yard, sounds we couldn’t identify. One night we thought we heard an animal attack and quickly dispose of another, not unusual in nature but something we weren’t used to hearing in our yard. Then, Saturday before last, while moving a deck chair from the garage to the back yard, Dawn heard something she hadn’t heard before — a sort of “growl”! She dropped the chair and raced into the house, but caught a glimpse of a dog-sized animal jumping from a tree near the creek at the rear edge of our property. I mistakenly assumed it had been a fox and dismissed it.

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Last weekend, Dawn and I took a drive to West Sacramento to visit the IKEA store. Dawn has taken up scrapbooking and needed a work surface for her new hobby, and we thought “something Swedish” might work. Besides, we’d never visited the store and thought it might be a fun outing.

For those unfamiliar with IKEA, it’s an international chain of giant, blue and yellow “big box” stores specializing in the sale of Swedish assemble-it-yourself furniture and accessories. The West Sacramento store occupies 265,000 square feet on 20 acres just off I-80, and presents 50 different room settings, four model homes, a supervised children’s play area and a 250-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries or salmon plates, as well as American dishes. One can easily spend a day just touring the store!

It’s a unique, well thought out concept, the scale of which neither of us had previously experienced. We grabbed our cart and soon learned that, to reach almost anything in the store, one is encouraged to follow the arrows on the floor which also serve to keep traffic moving in a logical and controlled, albeit slow, manner. I call it shuffling along, Dawn calls it shopping. Either way, it’s effective — considering the number of people sharing our experience, everyone and everything seemed to move smoothly.

Once we’d located the office furniture section and made our selection, a friendly and knowledgeable sales person prepared our “shopping list” and pointed us in the right direction to retrieve our items which were boxed and stored in numbered aisles and bins. A few things, it turned out, we were expected to grab and cart ourselves, while the larger, heavier boxed pieces would be waiting for us in “Will Call” after checkout.

Following the floor arrows once more, we shuffled made our way through checkout and on to “Will Call.” While Dawn waited for the larger boxes to be carted, I retrieved the Range Rover and, by the time I’d backed into the loading area, Dawn had everything ready for me to load. Another five minutes and we were on our merry way, none the worse for wear.

I have to admit, considering the voluminous quantity of merchandise, the sheer number of shoppers and the bulkiness of their orders, IKEA has the industrial engineering and customer service facets of the operation worked out well. We were duly impressed. Admittedly, shuffling  meandering following arrows this kind of shopping isn’t something we’re used to, but considering the scale of things, IKEA runs like a finely tuned watch.

Once home and unloaded, Dawn began assembling the file cabinet while I worked on the table (the cabinet, it turned out, was by far the more tedious job!) I’m always amazed at the things Dawn tackles and I’ve yet to see anything she can’t handle. It took some time, but everything went together properly thanks to solid engineering and easy to follow pictorial directions.

And in the end? Well, Dawn has a hobby work surface in our spare bedroom, and we earned our IKEA  shopping wings!

I’m sure there’s a “phobia” name for the fear of DMV eye tests but I haven’t yet identified it. Irrational you say? Of course, but aren’t all phobias? And it’s not a gripping, debilitating fear. In fact, it’s more a nagging worry than an actual fear, a kind of “mini” phobia.” But ever since I hit my mid-fifties, I’ve had to take an eye test at DMV in order to renew my driver license for another five years, and each time I receive the curt reminder from DMV, I spend a month or more dreading the appointment.

Not that there’s anything wrong with my eyesight, mind you. It was 20/10 when I was in the Air Force and has always been above average. That is, until the aforementioned mid-fifties when I noticed I had to hold the newspaper a little farther away each year in order to read it and could no longer read road signs from as great a distance. So I guess you could say I’ve been avoiding the possibility that maybe, just maybe, I could use prescription glasses. And before you ask, yes, I have a pair of those drug store “cheaters” for reading but seldom use them!

I said that mine is a “mini” phobia that only occurs for about thirty days every five years. My friend Dave, on the other hand, suffers far longer. While enjoying cigars in Michael’s back yard a while back, he shared with me his own DMV-eye-test-phobia (for lack of a better term) and went into vivid detail about how terribly worried he was about his looming DMV eye test which, at the time, was more than a year away. If I were to venture an unqualified guess, I’d say his is closer to a “full size” phobia.

Anyway, I received the DMV “notice” about a month ago, reluctantly made an appointment for 9:20 yesterday morning and worried all month that, since my eyes aren’t what they once were, I wouldn’t be able to pass the eye test. I arrived at the Folsom branch of DMV about ten minutes early and was surprised to find only a few people waiting. I picked up my number at the designated window, was called after about five minutes and proceeded to Window 14 where a friendly (yes, even cheerful!) lady took my $27 and had me read a few lines on the eye chart behind her. And what do you know, it was a piece of cake just like the last two times I took it! All that worry for nothing!

She punched a hole in my old license (so I could keep it, I suppose, to remember how I looked before the gray set in) and directed me to another window to be thumbprinted and have a new photo taken. I suppose my mug needed updating; the last two times I renewed, they’d asked if I wanted to use the old photo and, since it was a pretty decent one, I’d agreed. But after fifteen years I must look a little older — this time the option wasn’t even offered.

Oh, well. My darling wife says my graying hair makes me look more debonair (I’m reserving judgement until I see my new license.) But at least I can put away my dreaded DMV eye test phobia for another five years. Maybe by then I’ll have come up with a more clinical sounding name for it.

I‘ve been under a lot of stress these past several months, more than the level I normally carry, and it’s taken its toll on me. One of the bi-products of too much added stress is greater difficulty managing it. As a result, my muscles have become more tense (and stay that way to the point of pain and fatigue), I can’t relax or sleep, and I’ve become my “other” self, the serious, brooding one even I don’t enjoy.

Last evening I was reminded of something Dr. Theodore Rubin once wrote:

“I must learn to love the fool in me — the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool.”

Stress is exhausting and deadly. I need to become reacquainted with my inner fool.

Man wasn’t meant, I’m convinced, to venture outside in this kind of heat. We apparently broke a long standing record today - 108 freaking degrees! Too damn hot!

On the other hand, we should probably be grateful. We could be stationed in Iraq in 130 degrees, wearing 40 pounds of gear and a helmet. 108? That’s refreshing by comparison, a walk in the park for our military guys stationed in the Middle East. So quitcherbitchin’, Doug! (Image via John at  RT Rider)

I‘m a little under the weather today. Actually, way under. It started Saturday while attending a chili cookoff with friends, got progressively worse Sunday and has reached new heights today.

Precipitated by lots of sneezing, I had at first written it off as allergies. We live in the Sacramento area which means, if you didn’t have an allergy when you moved here, you eventually will. Coincidentally, we’re having all new carpeting installed. Wool carpeting. And while I don’t believe I’m allergic to wool, the horrible thought that I might be having an allergic reaction to our new carpets had already crossed my mind.

But today I’m pretty sure this is some kind of super head cold and, while it ‘s unlike any of my prior colds, it’s evolved into more familiar head cold symptoms. And I’m miserable. Yes, I’m drinking lots of fluids, especially hot tea, and swallowing cold caps the size of horse pills, but I’m unable to stay home and “sleep it off” because the carpet installer (and sundry other renovation workers) are in the house working. Besides, it’s “month end” at the office…

So I’m limping along at work, Dawn’s feeding me hot tea and I’m trying to decide whether to cancel or keep appointments scheduled for the remainder of the week. Like always, I suspect I’ll “play it by ear”…which usually means I’ll try to tough it out.

All this is leading up to a preemptive excuse for the limited posting that’s sure to follow for the rest of the week. I’ll try (desire, discipline) but, if I get any worse, I may not be up to writing (reality, common sense.) I guess I’ll play that by ear, too.

Isn’t the renovation project finished yet, you ask?

Well, almost. It’s coming along but there have been a few bumps in the road. These, I’m told by those who’ve trod the renovation road before me, are to be expected, so we’re not pulling our hair out. And yes,  we can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

The painting took a little longer than expected due to some “issues” I won’t go into here but it’s nearly finished and is looking very nice. Our tile installer finished laying the marble Wednesday and will seal it next week when it will be “off limits” for 5-6 days. It looks wonderful.  And the faux artists completed the ceiling work and will return in April to faux the entry pillars.

The electrician has been installing the art lights in our hallways so we now have light when we get home in the evenings (navigating the hallways with a flashlight was getting old!) We’ll be selecting a new ceiling fan for the family room. And I believe the new chandeliers are ready to be hung…

The wood floors in our kitchen and breakfast nook will be refinished next week as will some of the wood trim on our stairway. So the kitchen will be off limits for a week or so…

The carpets should arrive in a few weeks, so we’ll have a brief reprieve from workers in our home until its installation. We’re actually looking forward to it! They’re all great guys, mind you, but we need a break, a little private time. And our cats will welcome the freedom to roam the house instead of living in the laundry room during the work week.

All in all, things have moved rather smoothly owing to a great general contractor who handles the bumps for me. He’s selected good sub-contractors, mostly people he’s worked with for years and whom he trusts will deliver the quality he expects. We’ll certainly use him for the next phases of our home renovation (after we recover from this one!)  

Sometimes it seems never ending but we’re keeping our eye on the finish line. Our “house” is becoming a “home”.

The subject comes up from time to time and recently the question was again posed : If your house was on fire and your family and pets were safe, what things would you want to save?

It got me thinking that I should prepare a list in case, God forbid, I find myself confronted with such an emergency. I doubt I’d have the wherewithal to evaluate priorities, so a list I’d given some prior thought to would certainly come in handy.

Everyone’s first answer, I’d wager, is “photos” and the same thought immediately crossed my mind. Fortunately, I keep our prints and slides in one drawer (and a closet shelf) while the rest are digitally stored on an external hard drive. Note to self: Off site storage!

While I ponder my choices and prepare my list, I thought it might be a good exercise for you as well. So let me know - you can use “comments” to this post or email - which things you’d want, more than any others, to save and why. I’ll post the replies (first names only.)  

I probably should title this post “Part 5 1/2” - it’s not really a full update on our ongoing renovation project.

As I suppose is fairly common in such undertakings, we’ve met with a couple snares. First, two of the three carpets we’ve selected are going to take around eight weeks to mill, far longer than we’d anticipated. Ouch!

And second, the painters have discovered that the paint isn’t sticking properly due, they suspect, to the former owner’s having improperly applied the original color. They’ll try resealing the affected walls today and then reapplying the new paint next week. We have our fingers crossed.

Dawn and I are still living in the upstairs guest bedroom, eating out a lot and unhappilty boarding our cats (except on weekends.) We know these things take time, and everyone is working hard, but we’ll be glad when it’s all over and we can resume our normal routines.

Meanwhile, Dawn snapped this image of Georgie, our silver shaded, straight-eared Scottish Fold cat, as he cautiously checked out some of the contractors’  tools and supplies the other day. He’ll be glad when things return to normal, too.

Some of you have asked about our ongoing home renovation project. Is it moving along on schedule? Are we going crazy? Are we going broke?

The answer is yes, the project is still plodding along, perhaps a a little behind schedule, and hasn’t yet driven us bonkers. Oh, we have our moments all right, and stress does raise its ugly head from time to time. But all in all, we’re managing pretty well. Is the project driving us to the poor house? Let’s hope not!

The demolition phase of the project went rather quickly. I guess it’s easier to tear out and break things than to build them. Anyway, we’ve been walking on bare wood floors for weeks while the contractor and his work crew have skimmed and refinished the walls in preparation for repainting.

Much effort and time went into selecting new paint colors and carpets. The carpeting will require more time to mill than originally anticipated, so we may have a delay on the horizon. Three carpets have been selected: one for most areas of the home, a second for the stairway, upstairs landing and guest suite, and a third for the gym.

The painters have been busy since last Thursday. All the interior doors had been removed and staggered in the family room where they’ve received multiple coats of white paint. They were rehung this week and the hardware reinstalled. The moulding and trim have been painted and the walls are scheduled to receive their first coat today or Monday. 

Are Dawn and I still speaking? Of course!

The renovation project continues. The workers have torn out the marble in the entry and prepared the floor for the “new” marble. Why replace the existing marble, you ask? I asked the same question. As it turns out, once the colors and fabrics had been chosen for the furniture and window treatments, we noticed that the existing marble contained a distinct pink hue. So, for that matter, did the wall color… as I’ve said before, everything is connected.

Of course, whenever undertaking such a project, one never knows what might appear under the old tiles. In our case, it was an unorthodox method of “floating,” all of which needed to be removed and replaced with correct sub-flooring.  It was a lengthy and messy task  but we’re ready now (knock on wood, pun intended) for the new 16” marble tiles.

The walls are being “skimmed” as I speak and will probably be sanded and ready for paint in a week or so. It’s all European “smoothwall” so the process is somewhat exacting. Our designers have recommended paint colors and we’ll look at sample boards next week to get a better idea of how the color might appear over a large area (visualizing color over an entire landscape from a small color swatch is not one of my strong suits.) 

We decided today to cap the floor outlets and replace them after the carpet, area rugs and furniture are installed. Improper placement of floor outlets would be disastrous. We picked carpets Monday; a solid for most of the areas, a cut pattern for the stairs, landing and upstairs bedroom, a commercial carpet in a darker shade in the gym and a dark, patterned one for the study. We may also use the cut patterned carpet in the master suite. The baths will be another project down the road, probably a natural stone.

Of course, no project of this magnitude can proceed without an occasional hiccup. In our case, there are numerous delays associated with virtually all our window treatments. I won’t go into them here, but we’re concerned the windows may not be treated by the time everything else is finished. But, all in all, we’re proceeding well and, thanks to a very capable and responsive general contractor and good design team, have had very few “issues.”  

We’ll be refinishing the wood floors in the kitchen and breakfast nook as well. The contractor will dovetail all this together so it plays like an orchestra. Glad I’m not handling all the scheduling and timetables. I’ve embedded a couple photos of the entry during demolition (they’re popups, so click on them for a larger view) and will post more,  perhaps even a slide show, when the project is further along. Keep your fingers crossed everything continues smoothly.

The house has a hollow, empty appearance and a slight echo without furniture in the living, family and dining rooms. It was all moved out yesterday in two truckloads; one destined for the consignment store and the other for storage until our repainting and recarpeting is completed. It was a long day and, although I didn’t do much of the heavy lifting, I was beat.

And I was as nervous as a cat the whole time as I watched the movers lug our heavy brass curio cabinets down the stairs from the landing, dismantle our piano and flip it on its side (terrifying!), and dolly our heavy furniture across the uneven walkway and into their truck.

In the midst of movers coming and going, our tile contractor came to measure the entry for new marble; turns out I’ll only need 400sf of 16-inch tiles instead of the 500sf we’d originally estimated. I called the supplier and gave him the revised quantity… and my credit card number (Ouch!)

And the upholstery company that re-covered our dining room chairs delivered the window seat cushion they’d made. It had been a little short when they brought it out the first time so I’d sent it back. This time it seems to fit perfectly. (Sigh of relief!)

The three young guys that will be dismantling our exercise machine came by around 6:30 last night to give me an estimate on the job. They’ll dismantle the machine and move the parts, along with some other exercise equipment, to our storage locker, then return and reassemble it all in the gym after the renovation (Ouch again!) They’ve been somewhat unreliable about keeping appointments and returning phone calls but promised to be here Saturday morning at 8 sharp. (Pending sigh of relief.)

It felt good to be closer to a state of readiness — the demolition is now scheduled to begin Wednesday instead of Monday — but I was exhausted last night and, after a wonderful dinner (bless Dawn’s heart), fell off to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Of course, we’re still not entirely ready for demolition. There’s still a lot of “stuff” to be boxed and hauled to the storage locker and various charities. It’s amazing how much we accumulate and hate to part with even after realizing it no longer fits or we no linger use it. So we’ll be taking this opportunity to purge.

But, as my cousin Mike advised, we’re keeping our eyes on the prize; our “house” is becoming our “home.”

Shannan sent this. Says she fully appreciates our cat hair dilemma. She has three cats and has finally figured out how they manage to distribute so much hair…

I knew they had a system!