Because I have twenty minutes free …

As the dearth of any text here recently indicates, things have been busy-busy-busy … and the times when I haven’t been, I’ve been vegging to compensate.  🙂

So I have a half-dozen unfinished posts that probably aren’t worth finishing right now.  Instead:  the Readers Digest Condensed Version:

1. Travel I:  The trip to Fort Worth was nice.  Did you know that Thurber, Texas (where my mom’s dad was born) is just 40 miles west of Fort Worth?  Neither did I.  I’ll have to check that out on some future trip.  Aside from that, the trip was successful, and I had a wonderful post-get-together-socializing dinner at Del Frisco’s (mmmm … osso bucco).
2. Travel II:  We drove down at met the Ks down in the Springs for the weekend, staying at the Cheyenne Canon Inn, the B&B we’ve stayed at before down there — Jim & Ginger’s, as well as Katherine’s first time there.  We did the hiking over to the Starr Kempf kinetics, a drive up to Helen Hunt Falls and hike thereof, wandering through old Manatou (was sorry to see Filthy Wilma’s go, but enjoyed the “replacement” Green Horse Gallery — pottery was obtained), ate some fine dinners, and toured Garden of the Gods on the way home.
3. Home improvement project of the visit is the Craft Room (formerly Kitten’s Bedroom).  The idea here is to have a hard-floor room that all the science projects, art projects, craft supplies, etc. can go.  So, to date, we’ve torn out all the carpet (at least previously changed once before, based on the old staples in the floor from a previous pad), and laid out most of the new wooden laminate floor, which is astonishingly easy to install, except for a few places where the room isn’t a perfect square.
4. Kitty update:  Indy did okay while we were away — Margie seriously scored by getting an assistant from the vet come by to give him meds the two days we were gone.  Went in for a follow-up checkup today.  Indy’s eye has improved, but not as much as the vet would like, so we’re on new meds for another week. We can be coneless most of the time, but not when not being kinda-sorta supervised (so that he doesn’t rub on it).  Follow-up appointment a week from Saturday.  Mist, meanwhile, had his “wellness” check-up — the vet thinks he’s a bit hyperthyroid, so we got a senior test panel (oh, the indignity of not being able to pee in a cup on command).
5. Weather:  It’s snowing!  Yow!  Which may be sufficient (with sub-freezing temps all day) to put a kibosh on visiting with some friends up north.
6. School:  Kitten got her report card for the first trimester.  She got mostly “3” grades in all her academics (it’s a 1-4 score, and “3” means “Meets Learner Objectives” — but it’s not clear if that’s to full grade level, to the stuff already taught, or what — pinged the teacher but haven’t got an answer yet).  for her skills and behaviors she got all “CD” (top score, “Consistently Demonstrates”) for everything, with the note, “Katherine is a conscientious, hard-working student who is making steady progress in all areas.”  Nice.
7. Karate:  Speaking of which, as the pictures showed, both of us got our orange belts (7 kyu).  Woot!  So now we get to practice our next kata, Heian Sandan, together.  Yay!

And that will, hopefully, do for the nonce.  Time for a spot of breakfast, more floor application, and prepping for Thanksgiving!   Thanks for your patience …