Trip to Red Rock Canyon with the family

Last Sunday afternoon, the whole family piled in the van and drove to Red Rock, which is just outside Las Vegas. The place is just gorgeous! Yes, there are red rocks, but there are striped and polka-dotted ones, too. We all climbed up the side of a mountain of the striped and dotted variety, although the younger ones in the group did go to the top and back twice while I was going up about halfway.











Hubby says that Red Rock is a spiritual place, sacred to Native Americans of the area. I felt an indescribable peace and sense of well-being while there.











A good time was had by all. Hubby says that we'll go on another outdoor adventure tomorrow after church if it doesn't rain.

Report on Nothing and Elbie

Hmmm, I did not realize it, but apparently, Nothing has been in and out of the house for the last 3 days! He just stays out of Henry's sight, which means that he's out of our sight since Henry is always with us. According to reports from the constituents, Nothing has been dining on dog food and ferret food, as well as cat food.

Last night, Hubby and I went out on the Strip. He is the best tour guide! He has taken me to many of the hotels in Vegas and knows just where all of the interesting stuff is. Yesterday, we saw the Luxor, the Excalibur, the MGM Grand, New York, New York, and we ate at The Fatburger. I had never heard of Fatburgers before, but they're all over the U.S. http://fatburger.com It was a good burger--reminded me of a Whataburger, except that it had relish on it and the restaurant has a jukebox with all sorts of blues music.

We got home at about 2am, got into bed, and we heard a low, steady, persistent "Meooow" at our window. It was Elbie. I jumped up and went outside, and he actually came to me and let me pick him up. He then took off, running down the street, so I went back inside. Not five minutes later, he was back at the window. I checked on his food and water, and he had plenty of both. I thought maybe that he was trying to tell me that Nothing had fallen in the well or something. I never did figure it out, and Hubby said that Elbie meowed through the night. I guess time will tell.

I miss my friends and family, but I am truly happy at the same time. I feel very blessed to be me. :-)

Elbie has left the building!

Elbie the Cat


Well, while everyone else in Vegas is looking for (and often seeing) Elvis, the buzz at our house is all about Elbie sightings! You see, Elbie took off- sort of on his own as far as human companionship is concerned-and he is only seen a couple of times a day. Nothing, on the other hand, was here constantly for a few days, but now vanishes to wherever Elbie goes to during the day. So, we don't see Nothing very often. I feel naughty, as if I've got a double negative thing going here :-). I think that Elbie is mad because we didn't fully explain the Henry the dog thing to him, you know, that Henry stays in the house, that Henry wants to be friends, etc.



Henry and I in the courtyard


Our hope is that, in time, Elbie will stick around longer than to just eat and drink.



Elbie and Nothing Reflecting


Nothing has told Hubby that he really wants to come in the house, even with Henry here. He and Henry have come very far--they've been nose to nose on a few occasions without hissing or barking. We are hopeful that Elbie won't discourage Nothing, rather that Nothing will be a good influence on Elbie so that things can get back to some sort of normalcy in our/their lives.



Nothing the cat

Truck is unloaded!

Hubby's voice is almost back--he lost it somewhere in New Mexico. The contents of the truck are strewn about everywhere, but in a bit of order at least. Sonny can't find his phone charger. I found my sandals. We returned the truck to Budget. Hubby is at the office, and we are planning to go to the county offices to get our certified copy of our marriage certificate when he returns. The menagerie (Henry the Dog, Pfogo the Ferret, Birdbrain the Parakeet and his new friend--name unknown to me, Meathead the little blue lobster-looking dude, Nothing the Cat, Elbie the Cat) is healthy, all except poor Ratley the Snake:-(. He passed away while Hubby was in Boerne with me.
Hubby is back :-)--more later.
BTW, so good to hear from my good friends, annielou and madmomma--miss you, too!!!

The Trip or Cats in the Crate

We are finally here! We packed and loaded the truck on Friday evening--stayed up until 3 am--slept until 10 am, got up and finished loading the truck. We left Boerne at about 5 pm on Saturday, driving about 300 miles to Ft. Stockton. Had to stop to sleep at the Comfort Inn, then we were off again. Elbie the Cat was so good and happy in the motel, but Nothing the Cat didn't like it much. We had to give him his kitty-calmer pill so that we all could sleep. The next morning at about 11 am, we left to continue our trek to Las Vegas. As usual, we thought we'd never see the end of Texas. New Mexico was beautiful, Arizona was dark. The Hoover Dam checkpoint was a little scary because they almost made us turn around and take another (much longer) route. Thing was, they needed to see at least 80% of our cargo in the truck, but we had packed so well that it was next to impossible. My son and husband said that they both were praying, and lo and behold, they let us continue on our desired route. I have to say that I am glad I don't have the job of working security anywhere--doesn't seem like any fun at all...
The cats did well on their kitty-calming meds. They used the litter box, but weren't hungry or thirsty. That was weird--our kitty cats eat all of the time, usually.
We haven't completely unloaded the truck yet but will finish doing so tomorrow and then take the truck back.