Our new guard dog

We just got back from a long trip (more on that in the next post) and upon our return, what did we find living in a huge web alongside our house? This:

(click for a bigger picture)

According to an entomology site I found, this is a yellow garden spider. The site says they "can reach a length of one inch or more".... Yeah. This one's body is at least 2.5 inches long. No kidding. She's HUGE. And now that I know she can't kill me, I like her. :)

Name that plant

We have a number of flowering plants around our yard, all planted by previous owners. I don't know what any of them are, so here are some pictures. If you know what they are, feel free to enlighten me!

Mystery Plant #1:


Mystery Plant #2:



Mystery Plant #3:

(this flower smells like heaven!)

Any ideas?

A brief update

Vacation is here. The term ended on Friday with many of my former students graduating from IELI! I had taught many of those students last summer or fall, when they were in level 3 or 4 (of 6). It was nice to see them succeed and move on to the next big thing in their lives. For some of them, this means returning home. For others, this means beginning an advanced degree at UNT.

For those who are interested, here's a link to a web album of photos from our trip to England in March: http://picasaweb.google.com/ajlandt/England200702

Next weekend is ReaperCon. Gus's brother and a couple friends from Ohio will be staying here for the duration of the Con. Gus and I will be spending the next few days furiously painting up minis to enter into the competition. :)

There's not much else to report!

Ah, spring!

Thanks to previous owners of our home, we are surrounded by flowers this spring!

Apparently this ...

(Late February)

... becomes this!

(This evening)

(It smells like grape kool-aid!)

In front of our garage, we have a gorgeous rosebush, which smells even prettier than it looks:


There is another rosebush alongside the house, with light pink blossoms, but it only has two buds on it right now, so it wasn't worthy of a photo. :)

I love spring!

Jolly old...

Yes, it's true, we went to England for spring break. And here's some photographic proof!

Helmsley Castle

Rievaulx Abbey in the snow

Gus at Rievaulx

A lamb!

Skipton Castle

We'll post more pictures later.

Neighbors

I found this guy in our back yard today. :)


Here he is sunning on a rock, before rushing off to his job at Geico.

And so it began...

Hearken back with me to the days of yore:

Location: Compuware headquarters, Farmington Hills (Detroit), MI
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 1998
Time: Just before 9:30am
Scene: A few of the new recruits are standing around before the first class, introducing themselves to each other and making small talk.

~~~ fade into scene ~~~

Him: Hi. I'm Gus.

Her: I'm Angela. Nice to meet you.

~~~ fade out ~~~

And the rest is history! :D

RIP Hilton, 1996 (?) - 2007

Mid-October, Hilton started peeing in our sunroom. Since our sunroom can be closed off from the rest of the house (preventing the stench from migrating), we just dealt with it, cleaning up cat pee 3 - 4 times/day.

We took him to the vet to rule out any physical problems, and she said he was probably just marking his territory, since we had seen strays wandering through our backyard. Thinking maybe he would use another litter box if it were nearby, we put an extra box in the sunroom, in the corner where he'd been peeing. He did start using the box, but that didn't reduce his amount of "thinking outside the box."

The vet then suggested we try a pheremone spray, which is supposed to tell cats "I don't pee here!" It's effective in 90% of cases, but after a month it had made no difference in Hilton.

We went back to the vet, who gave us hormone treatment pills for Hilton. The hormones are supposed to relax the cat, so he won't feel anxious or scared or territorially aggressive. The pills are immediately effective in 80% of cases, but after 10 days had made no difference in Hilton.

The vet then said we should give Hilton complete, unlimited access to our backyard. Since he loved being outside, the vet thought that he would expand his territory to include the yard and pee out there, instead of inside. Well, he spent time outside and then just came back in the house to pee on our walls and carpet.

After three months of losing this battle, we decided we'd just have to live with it, since the sunroom isn't a vital room. Then, Hilton started peeing in the living room. He didn't pee near a window or door, which would have made sense. After all, from a window or door he might be able to see the evil strays, compelling him to pee toward them. There was no logical reason for him to pee in a place that wasn't next to a window or door. Yet, he did, repeatedly, in the far, dark corner of the living room, as far from a window or door as he could possibly get.

At that point, from what the vet told us, we came to the realization that Hilton wasn't just being territorial; he was scared. After three months of living here, it seemed that he was getting more scared every day. This wasn't a physical problem, it was mental.

Our vet's last resort was to make him exclusively an outdoor cat, but knowing what a scaredy-cat he was, there was no way we could banish him from the house. For him, that would be hell. (He's always been a fearful cat, timid around anyone or anything that he wasn't completely familiar with. And even though he loved being outside, he spent all his time outdoors tight up against the side of the house, slinking along on high alert, jumping at the slightest noise. He was scared, but he loved eating the grass so much, he still wanted to go out.)

During all of this, we noticed that Hilton pretty much stopped bathing. He had always been such a fastidious bather, but in the last few months the extent of his bathing would be to wash his face after eating. Occasionally he would begin bathing the rest of his body, but after a few moments, he'd give up. His beautiful fur was becoming matted, and we had to regularly cut out matted hairballs. In the last few weeks, however, he was even neglecting to wash his face.

Over the past several months, we've asked all of our co-workers, friends, and acquaintances if they had any suggestions. We asked if they or anyone they knew would take him. Unfortunately, no one had any ideas that we hadn’t already tried, and no one would offer him a new home. We even talked to the no-kill animal shelters in the area, but none of them would take him, saying he was too old.

Since he was getting old, the peeing problem wasn't fixable (it was getting worse), he’d stopped bathing, we couldn't find another home for him, and - most significantly - he was living in fear, we felt the only thing we could do was have him put to sleep. At least then he wouldn't be scared all the time.

So, on January 20th we took him to the shelter, and they put him down. It was the hardest thing we've ever had to do. We miss that cat so much - he was an ever-present ball of fuzz in our lives for 10 years. He slept on top of me (Angela) every night for the last 8 years. Everywhere we look in the house we keep expecting to see him: curled up in the living room chairs, sprawled out on the floor (who knew a cat could take up so much room!), whining for treats every time we walk into the kitchen, snuggling up to us while we watch a movie on the couch, the volume of his purring competing with the soundtrack.

Life is different without him, and we will always miss him.

...and that's why they call them icicle lights!

This week is winter here in Texas. Next week we'll be back to spring. :)

Huzzah!

"Happy new year!" says Hilton.

Christmas videos

Here's a quick video from Christmas Eve, starring Gus and Hilton! And here's another, with Gus and Angela.

Grout: Before & After

It occurred to me the other day that the grout on our tile floor was - perhaps - not meant to be black. :) So I went to Home Depot and looked for grout cleaner. The only one I found had a list of hazards as long as my arm, and cautioned that users would need to have their skin covered from head to toe, and wear goggles and a fume mask while using it. Oddly, that didn't appeal to me.

I went home and Googled "grout cleaner recipe." There were many to choose from, most of them a variation on the ammonia-vinegar-baking soda theme. Not having any ammonia or vinegar in the house, I searched for even simpler recipes. I finally found one with just two ingredients: baking soda and water. I mixed up a batch (3 parts baking soda to 1 part water), grabbed a scrubby sponge, and tackled the grout on the kitchen floor.

Take a look! (The top is the "before" and the bottom is the "after," of course!)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas!

We finally put up and decorated our Christmas tree today.
We received a huge (HUGE!) box from Gus's mom, chock full of beautifully wrapped presents (as seen in the picture above). In an impressive display of self-restraint, we actually put them under the tree this morning without opening a single one (though we did gently shake a few)! We're both really looking forward to unwrapping all these mystery gifts on Christmas. Thank you, Gus's mom! :)

~~~
Monday update: We just received a huge box from my parents, too! Although those presents are not shown in the picture, they are also now in the place of honour under the tree. :) Thank you, Mom and Dad!
~~~

We also hung the stockings by the chimney with care, and set up the nativity scene on the mantle:

Note, if you will, Mortimer*:

And Mortimer's little brother*:

* For those not in-the-know, Mortimer and Mortimer's little brother are little crocheted macraméd mice that Gus and his family used to hang on their Christmas tree every year. They got promoted this year. Their new job is to guard over the stockings, protecting them from would-be sneaks. :)

Do you like what we've done with the house?

I broke our house. Gus and I were up in the attic last Thursday evening, fixing a hole in one of our heating ducts. We were standing on the rafters, which - in most areas - are covered with thin sheets of plywood. As Gus leaned forward to look at something, I moved backward, missed the plywood, and the next thing I knew, I was hanging by my arms, with my head by Gus's ankles and my feet dangling in the kitchen below!

The damage:

























There was insulation everywhere!

























We tried patching it up as best we could:















Fortunately, a friend of ours used to build houses, so this evening he's here helping us fix it properly. :)

Vacation!!

The second fall term is done, and I (Angela) am officially on vacation until January 9th! Today was the graduation ceremony for our level 6 students. Afterward, we had our department Christmas party at a co-worker's home.

While vacation for me is just beginning, Gus just got a new job! Yesterday, he started working part-time for Reaper, doing in-house computer programming work for them. During the semester, he can conform his schedule to mine (e.g., working mornings at Reaper when I'm teaching mornings). But for Christmas break, he'll be working 9-1.

We will not be going home for Christmas this year. That means, for the first time in 9 years, we will not be traveling over the holidays. We'll both certainly miss celebrating with our families, but the prospect of not driving on snow-covered roads, not having to split our time between western WI and eastern WI, and not having to worry about our cat, does ease the disappointment a little bit. :) That and the fact that it was 71 and sunny here today.

Creative thinking

My students were comparing two pictures of the same house, one before renovation and one after. They were supposed to describe the changes that had been made to the house.

One of my students didn't know the word for "chimney," so I asked if anyone else could tell him what it was. After several moments of silence in the room, another student offered, "I believe the term is: Santa's Entrance." :D

The moment you've all been waiting for....

I finally - finally! - took pictures of our new place. I took them on Thanksgiving Day, in the mid-afternoon. It was a beautiful day, with an afternoon high of around 75. Gus and I spent a few hours of the early afternoon at a local church, helping serve Thanksgiving dinner to some of the 2,000 people who stopped by for a free meal. After we returned home, we did some yard work and took pictures! (You can click the pictures below to see a larger version.)

And now, without further ado:

The front of the house


The kitchen/breakfast area


The living room


For contrast, the living room, before (note the lovely pink walls)


The back of the house


Hilton the Explorer


Our workshed and tree


Thanksgiving Day flowers


A strawberry?

Home sweet home

We are about 85% settled into our new house. We moved in on Monday (the first day of the new term at work), and all of our belongings are here. Most of them are unpacked, too! Each room is finding its new purpose in life, with a dash of fresh paint to aid in the transition. There are still a number of little things that can be done to improve the house, but it's great as it is! And best of all, I can play piano as loudly as I want!

Our evening temperatures have been cool for the past week, so we've made use our fireplace a few times already. During the day, when it's in the 70s or 80s, we get a great breeze going through the house by opening all the windows in the sunroom and kitchen/breakfast area.

Work is going well. I'm teaching level 4 this term, which means afternoon classes, so I get to sleep in! I have 26 students again this term, and 11 of them are students I've had before. It's fun seeing familiar faces. And my student evaluations for the last term were high enough that I'm fairly certain that the students are happy to see me again, too. :)

I plan to add some pictures of the house to the next post, so stay tuned!

One down, one to go...

The first term of the fall semester is, for all intents and purposes, over. Today was the last day of classes, Monday my students will have their grammar final, and Tuesday I will give them their communication final. Next week is known as "Quick Turnaround Week," because we have to proctor final exams, grade final exams, and submit end-of-term grade reports for every current student, all while proctoring placement exams for the 60 or so incoming students.

On Friday next week we will get our teaching assignments for the next term, which starts the following Monday. Rumour has it that I might not be teaching level 3 next term. My supervisor asked if I'd be willing to move to either level 2 or level 4, and I said sure. It's always good to learn new things. :)

In other news, the house closing was moved up from November 1st to October 18th, which is next Wednesday. So in the middle of all the chaos at work, we'll be moving.

My family in the frozen northern wastelands got snow this week. It's been in the 70s here. I love Texas. :D

Mid-terms and other news

I have been very bad about updating this blog. If anyone is still checking it, here - at last - is an update.

I am teaching two level-three communication classes again this term. These are the same level, same skills as last term, which makes lesson planning a lot easier! We just finished week 4 of the current term, which means I had to enter mid-term grade reports for all of my students this weekend.

My 6-month review is coming up, so I have to be observed by both the communication curriculum coordinator and the program director in the next two weeks. I'm not looking forward to that, but since I know its purpose is to help me be a better teacher, I'm trying to look at it more positively! :)

Gus is still working part-time from home. He spends his days alternating between working, painting minis, listing things on eBay, and trying to ignore the incessant demands of our very vocal high-maintenance cat. Since I'm away from home during the day, he has also taken over maintaining the household, which is very nice.

And speaking of households: After eight years of carefree apartment living, we have made an offer on a house! The sellers accepted our offer and now we're waiting on the bank. If all goes well, the closing date will be November 1st and we'll officially be home-owners. How scary is that? Our current apartment lease is up the end of November, so we will have a full month to clean, paint, and do whatever else we deem necessary before moving in.

Now I realize that we may be accused of getting ahead of ourselves, but we spent last evening wandering the aisles of Home Depot looking at all the home-improvement items, flipping through decorating magazines, and staring in awe at the vast selection of paint chips. I even brought a few home!

In weather news, the weather has been fabulous since we escaped the clutches of August. Most days the highs have been between 75 and 85, and the nighttime lows have been in the 50s. We've had some great thunderstorms, too. Now that we've left the brutal summer behind us, I'm feeling quite positive about Texas. I can handle three months of bad (very bad) weather when the other nine months are perfectly livable. :)

Gus' mom is coming to visit us the first week of October, and my parents are driving down for a long weekend the middle of November. By the time they arrive, we might actually be moved in to our house!

Tune in next time for the latest adventures of Gus and Angela!