Sun. morning, Feb. 8, 2009

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for stopping by this week!

I sure wish I had not given away my ice skates! Our whole backyard is nothing but ice. I tried to remove some of it on the stone pathway in back with a chipper tool, but only managed to get a little of it off. It is so thick! Even though it warmed up yesterday to around 50, there is so much thick ice everywhere and it sure makes it difficult to walk on.

Hubby discovered yesterday the lining of the pond has risen due to all the inflow of ice melting in the yard. Uh-oh. Not good. Even though there are cement blocks at various places on the bottom of the pond, the rising liner will decrease the space for the fish, frogs, and salamander. I'm very concerned. The ice is quite thick on the pond too. Hubby says they will all be okay, but I'm not sure. The heater in the pond didn't seem to be working either, and we discovered the plug was pulled out of the socket due to the expansion/contraction of the ice near the plug-in box. Hmm. Well, hubby hooked up another extension cord to it. Now the heater is floating on top of the water with the ice below it and can't reach the ice to do its job until the water flow diminishes. Sheesh.

I had a lot of meetings this week but sure accomplished much. I even managed to get the laundry done, a little cleaning, and we got a new kitty! Boy-oh-boy, is Tooter upset! Still growling after three days, although this morning they did get about two feet away from each other. I was watching and waiting for the fight to ensue, but the new kitty, "Tigger-Digger" just backed off and became submissive. Little Tigger is so cute. She is a tiger-striped, black, brown, and has a brown spot between just above her nose. She is really sweet. We got her from a friend of ours that rescued her back around November. She is around 6 months old, and was spayed last week. She is a little thin, but she will pick up soon, I'm sure. She sleeps through the night, thank goodness. She likes all the toys and plays a little with them. She even has gone down to the basement, which hubby is thrilled about as Tooter will not go down there under any circumstances. Don't know why she is so afraid of the basement. Nothing every happened to her down there.

So, last night while hubby and I were sitting before the fire, Tigger got on my lap and curled up and took a nap. Cool!

For anyone who is interested...I posted two excerpts from chapter forty from THE DOOR OF FAÇADE on my website at www.Authornation.com. Click on the member tab, type in: survivor_beckyconrad and it should bring up my website there.

Going this Thursday to meet my friend and author, Joyce Bishop Morris and some other authors for the "InkPot" writers group. We always have a great meal, and interesting conversations. We are usually done around noon. It takes me a good hour and a half to get home. Thursday night I also have a W.I.S.H. group scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Hope the weather holds for both events.

Gotta go for now. Have a great week, everyone.
Stay warm, stay safe, and think-Spring!
Hugs,
Becky :)