The Cat Won

Well it stopped raining. I, for one, never complained. This might go down as the greatest summer ever in my book. It is July 17^th in Dallas and we haven’t had a 100 degree day yet. Yesterday was the first ‘Ozone’ day since who knows when. It has been great.

Well the cat won. As you know our cat, Trigger, has diabetes. We don’t know why but after five or so years he peed on the carpet for the first time ever. From day one, he has always used a litter box. We don’t know if he just couldn’t make it to the box this one time, or what. Since his pee was already there we battled him over the next three weeks of using the same area of carpet multiple times as his restroom. We tried our normal discipline routine. We tried new forms of discipline. We even took him to the vet to check for a urinary tract infection. No dice. So after three weeks of battle, Trigger won.

What did he win, you might be wondering? Well he won a new wood floor. I have a low tolerance for cat pee smell, but Holly is even worse. Last week we pulled up the carpet in our living room, hall and yanked the linoleum in the laundry room. Over the weekend and after work this week we have been laying our new oak wood floor.

Now I helped Dad lay his laminate floor some time back. I figured my extensive knowledge and practice would pay off. I also knew I could call on Dad to return the favor and help. Sure enough Dad and I laid the hardest part, full of notches and un-straight walls, over the weekend. Mom was a trooper and pulled all the grass and weeds from our flower beds! Holly and I have been working to finish the remaining area by Wednesday.

Why Wednesday you ask? Well Holly and I have initiated a summer barbeque series at our home. Our first one is a ‘Flip Flop Party’ to be held this Wednesday. I really thought we could finish the flooring over the weekend. I didn’t count on the extensive notching needed to get into the laundry room. My expertise failed me there.

So here we are. Trigger likes the new floor. My knees and back hurt. Holly is a handy flooring assistant.

Happy Fourth of July

Holly and I are headed to Phoenix in the morning to celebrate my dad's graduation on the 6th. I will blog more about that when we return, but here is my thought for the holiday:

"How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy." - Paul Sweeney, author

Plus you can't have a fourth without:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

~ Declaration of Independence
~ July 4th, 1776