autumn Ghosts... We have a friend who asked us to go on a ghost tour. I'm into spooky stories, but I have to admit, I am not a believer in ghosts. But, it sounded fun. We met our ghost tour leader on the somewhat crumbling steps of the local Elk&
cats Just Minding My Own Buisness It was the end of a long week, the first morning I'd gotten to sleep in, and I was luxuriating in the morning's slowness. I'd had coffee, breakfast, and gotten to read a little. I was sitting there, minding my own buisness, when a
cats One Chicken, Two Chicken I live in a rural area. On my street, we are probably the only people who don't have a collection of farm animals. We do have two ferocious, indoor felines who regularly let the bird population know, if that window glass wasn't there, they'd
houses Gov Showers In what seems like another lifetime ago, I moved into a house I rented from the government. It was a tiny thing, no actual foundation, totally crooked to the road, built in the late 1920's and forever maintained with parts from that era. We used to joke it
cats Physics Be Damned At one point we lived in a house with a concrete slab foundation. When we moved out of it, we moved to a farmhouse with... Well, not a concrete slab foundation. The first night we spent on the ground floor of the house, my husband fell asleep almost instantly (he
cats The Mattress It came to my husband and my attentions that we had reached a point in our lives where it was time to buy a new mattress. Like most couples, we had varying opinions on how space should be allocated, but like anyone with a cat, our opinions were not factored
houses Saturday Night One Saturday night, my husband and I ended up at Lowe's. Not randomly; we had been trying to get there since the afternoon, but it wasn't until eight pm that we walked through the doors. Unlike the daylight hours, the place was nearly empty, except for
food The Sound of Silence In my twenties, I worked on Maui. I lived in a housing unit controlled by my employer, and in general it was pretty nice. There were several duplexes all in a row, and everyone in the little 'neighborhood' knew each other. One rainy night, as was typical for
houses You Can't Go Upstairs Every now and then you get home from work, get into your comfortable clothes, and melt into the couch, excited by the fact you're finally home. One day I was doing this, and my husband came in and sat in the chair across from me. We stared at
horror The Prayer Room In my early twenties, I lived in an adobe house. It had been built in the late 1800's, and was one of those houses where they'd never really installed a heating system. Instead, they had some sort of allegedly functional heater in the basement, and then
horror There are Two Types of People... ...Those who feel color, and those who do not. My husband is one of those people who doesn't feel color. In fact, I know, without him reading the previous sentence, that such a statement makes no sense to him. But me. I feel color. Colors have the ability
houses 15,000 Pounds My husband and I moved into an old farmhouse. The house itself was full of weird stuff, like SEVENTEEN different types of flooring, and we decided we would, one day at a time, remodel it. Which is something that was only possible because my husband has skills. I am mostly
travel Phoenix Invades One year for my birthday, my husband booked us a cabin on a little guest ranch outside of Prescott, Arizona. The ranch lay off a twisting of Forest Service roads in the Pinon/Juniper forest, and in the dead of winter we were some of the only guests. The ranch
food The Process of Pears When we moved into our house, we were told the pear tree in our front yard was just going to make wormy pears. We were told we should learn to make cider. Which, when we moved in in the middle of winter, seemed like a fine autumn activity. Of course
food They Lie To Your Face I have two cats. One is grey and one is a calico. The grey one is sweet and not super smart. The calico can be sweet, but she is too smart to be sweet when it's not to her advantage. The grey one got pancreatitis. The vet said
