Hungrey the Traveler

Last Saturday I thought I would take the cat that adopted us when we moved into the rental up to the new house and let her get used to the new house. Around 3:30 I popped her in the car with me for yet another blazingly hot day of moving stuff over. She did ok on the ride but did let out a few snarly noises. When we got there she bolted out of the car and ran to explore or so I thought. When I got ready to go back to the yucky pucky old rental place I did not see her. I was not so worried because I had left plenty of food and water out for her. I thought oh how sweet she is exploring her new domain. At about 10:30 pm that night Morris came in from work and said, I thought you took Hungrey to the new house (I had told him on the phone that evening) and I said yes I did. He said, well she is back here now. OMG I can't believe she found her way back over. How did she do it? We are still amazed. Now I worry when we do move if she will not stay with us but always come back to her original home. What to do with a wayward cat.

Meet ya at the sweat lodge

On Sunday I participated in an authentic Native American Sweat Lodge ceremony. It was so fascinating. The women have to wear dresses and this point becomes funny later in the journey. You first get sage smoke waved across your body with a feather that is very special and has its own box for storage. Before you crawl into the dirt muddy floor you have to bow down and kiss mother earth. OK dirty lips won't kill me. The ceremony starts by bringing in 7 stones (lava rock) that have been heated to a million degrees in a burning fire for several hours. I was honored with being asked to be the one who crossed each stone with a sage braid and herbs were also sprinkled on by a different person. The stones are placed in with deer antlers on to the middle of the circle. Everyone settled in and you close the flap. Much singing and prayers are offered then each person shares a bit. A bit like an AA meeting combined with church but very reverent to mother earth and about being a kind and gentle person not at all preachy. Then after about 15 or 20 minutes the flap opens but you do not exit. Seven more stones are brought in and another round goes with different herbs. More singing which I did not know but it was one persons 50th birthday so I did know how to sing that part. Break again - flap opens and by this time I am dripping wet with sweat along with everyone else. Round 3 starts and it was my turn to share and I was crying - not sobbing but tears were rolling down my face as I expressed my appreciation to the group for inviting me to join in their ritual. It was very moving and I said a few more things and then it was time to take medicine. Well, not knowing exactly what the medicine was I participated. A little medicine never hurt anyone, right? It was very dark and I thought it had a slight greenish tint so I thought maybe Kiwi, oh yummy. I took the smallest piece I could find but it was not Kiwi - tasted more like mushroomy dirt. Then a huge jug of tea was passed around and many took huge swigs. I only took a sip as it looked a bit funky like it was made with wild herbs and bat butts and such. Round 3 starts and they put a very powerful strong herb on the rocks and by the time it was over I thought I was breathing fire. It was so very hot I thought I might spontaneously combust or my hair might catch on fire but I made it. Some people were laying on the ground at this point and I wondered if they passed out but everyone was fine just weak. Flap opens and man was I happy. Air - fresh air never felt so extremely wonderful! There are traditionally 4 rounds but I excused myself after round 3 along with 2 other ladies. Later I find out what I drank and ate was Peyote. Yikes - I did not have any strange visions or dreams other than thinking I was a fire breathing dragon - just kidding - just felt very relaxed and calm. I only took small amounts but no one else acted any differently either. One lady became a bit sick to her stomach but it passed. Now back to my dress - when I came out and finally rested enough to go change my clothes I noticed that my hands were purple. That alarmed me so I asked one of the women if that was normal and she laughed and said well it is probably faded off from your skirt - which it did. My legs are purple, my hips are purple - it looks like I fell down a flight of steps and my body is totally brusied. It has not washed off all the way - so maybe it will fade out in a few days.

What an experience - it was truly enlightening. Afterwards they had a huge BarBQ and fun was had by all. Try it you might like it. Or at least be able to say you participated.

Flat Nana and Momo go for a hike

Last night Flat Nana and Momo went for our walk and they saw this enormous mountain and as you cn see they hiked up it. Later Flat Momo was climbing up Momo's head so he could get a better view :)

You say Moth - I say Butterfly

I thought this was the most amazing and gigantic butterfly I had ever seen - little did I know it is actually a moth. It is still quite remarkable, don't you think? Look at the size of its legs and body - huge!

A New toy for Digi and Kalila

Just kidding but we sure wish this was ours - we could definitely use it and get a lot of work done. They left this up there when they were finished with the driveway. I was so so tempted to climb abroad and give it a whirl.

Septic tank beginnings

The soil testing has been completed and all looks good to go ahead and begin putting in the septic tank. We have such hard rock up on the ridge that they have to bring in this huge cutter thingy to slice thru the rock. It is rather scary looking. Now Miss Kalila Boo you can't build a playhouse down in that hole. Maybe we can talk Momo into building you one up in a tree. :)

And More Driveway

These shots may give you a better view of what it actually looks like. We got the estimate back on the septic tank and it was quite a bit less than what the contractor quoted us with his person. We went with someone we know and he gave us a great price plus he is our neighbor so we know he does good work.

Expanding Driveway

As you can see we have had to widen the driveway in order to do everything needed for the house. We liked our old driveway better but we really did not have a choice. They will put the crushed rock back down when the construction is finished - so for now it is back to dirt. Can't you just see Digi zooming down that hill on his Big Wheel - I can but only with Nana or Momo at the bottom to catch him. Over protective Moms only lead to Over Protective Nana's :) Well - it is a big hill.

Sugar Sweet

Look how precious! I can't believe how long it has been since I last blogged. Much has happened my babes and their mom and dad came to visit and we had tons of fun. We have started on the septic and moving trees around again. That is always fun. The well should be started soon. Hopefully we hit water before we hit China :) Will post more pics soon - promise.

Peacocks anyone

The peacocks have been eating the cat food. They actually like it better than bird seed. Seems like the lady at the end of the road has about 6 or 7 males and maybe 4 or 5 females.

Building Plans Begin

I have officially moved up to Austin. Morris will be on his way soon. We are going over our building ideas and plans at the moment. Amazing when I started this Blog it was just a way to keep Cactus Ridge in my mind and Heart. It came true in a very short time. I always believed it would - I just made it happen sooner rather than later. In a years time we should have our house up on our Ridge built and hopefully moved in. I am so happy and also feel so fortunate. Good things are all around me and it makes me smile.

Namesake

This is how Cactus Ridge got its name. There were so many little patches of cactus everywhere when we first bought the property and the flat part on the top is where we decided it was a ridge - hence - cactus ridge. The sign does not hang where the picture shows permenently but I stuck it there to take a picture. We have since mowed down a lot of the cactus because they are thorny little creatures and if and when the grandchildren come over, we did not want them to get stickers. Also, that little plant looking thing was everywhere also. I like those, they are really soft on the interior leaves - kinda fuzzy feeling. Won't be long now. We are taking our first load of stuff up there tomorrow.

Getting ready for the move

As you can see by the photos we are getting ready to slow down and enjoy life more. We plan on doing more swinging, more laying in the hammock together and enjoying life to its fullest. Time to move out of the city and live a wholesome country life together. We are planning to move in August and hope to see all of you before we leave. We will miss all of you but you can always come up for visits. Dig the garden boots - I love them.

How to have fun on a Saturday afternoon

This may sound silly but this is so fun. I love riding around on the small tractor/mower. The land is a bit uneven so you bounce around and up and down. You can change the speed to really fast or really slow. You can also go in reverse. I don't mind volunteering to cut the grass when I can do it on this mower.

Been Away

Well as you can see I have been away for awhile. So much news to share. First of all I want to say Happy Birthday to my dear sweet Kalila. She is two years old today and as cute as can be. Here are pictures of our new and improved driveway. We had it regraded and crushed stone put on it and it has packed down hard just like concrete. The stone is called Kalechi and I am sure I probably spelled that wrong but you get the drift. We are moving to Austin by the end of the summer. So excited about that and can hardly wait. We decided to rent a place up in the woods to decide if that is really what we want. We found a place 2 streets down from Cactus Ridge and we are going to lease it for a year. After about 6 months we can decide if we want to build on the land or just buy another house in Austin and keep the land as our get away. That way if we do decide to build we will be close enough to supervise the contractors and make sure things are being done right. Lots to do. We listed our house last Thursday and we will see what the market brings. Send all qualified buyers our way.

Tag your it

Instructions:
Remove 1 question from below and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post.

1. What do you really really want right now?
To move to Austin and get the heck out of Houston.

2. If you can turn into anything, what do you wish you can turn into? A successful inventor.

3. How are you feeling now? Sore throat and I want to go home.

4. Where is the place that you want to go most?
A return trip to Gatlingurg Tennessee, visit Italy, Switzerland and Ireland.

5. If you have one dream to come true, what would it be? Living closer to my grandchildren and being able to have them over on week-ends.

6. Do you want more children? My days are over for that. I'll take all the grandchildren they want to send my way though.

7. What matters more - money or love? Love hands down.

8. What cheers you up for the rest of the day? Spending time with my family and a good belly laugh. I love to laugh - it just feels good.

9. If you meet someone you love, would you confess to him/her? Absolutely

10. List out three good things of the person who tagged you.
a) She loves her children immensely.
b) She is very adventurous.
c) She has wicked sense of humor.

11. What are the requirements that you wish of your other half?
Romantic, outgoing and friendly, ability to survive my weirdness, likes to explore and travel, loves hugs.

12. What type of person do you hate the most?
People who talk out of both sides of their mouths or lazy people. There is a difference between being lazy and just chilling.

13. What would you do if you won a million dollars? Quit work, move to Austin, buy a small home in England and spend half of the year in one place and half in the other.

14. What would you wanna be remembered for after you're dead? That I was a fun Nana and a good wife.

15. If you have a chance, which part of your character would you like to change? My addictions.

16. What would you most want to achieve right now? Getting a job in Austin.

17. What do you think is the most important thing in your life? My Family.

18. If there's one thing in your life you wanted to do but yet unable to, what would it be? Travel more.

19. What do you see yourself as in the next 10 years? Out of Houston, maybe a hot air balloon pilot :)

20. If you were an animal, what would you be? A pampered cat

OK Chris, Delynda, Renee, Debby, Deb, Christy, Gary, Lesa - tag your it.

Texas Chainsaw Tree Massacre

Never mess with a man when he has a chainsaw in his hands. Don't make hand motions as his hands will follow his eyes and then whack there goes another limb. Don't hand him a nice cold drink because as he reaches for it zip there goes another branch. Don't walk up behind him because eekkkk you could lose an ear. The offer still stands - anyone wanting to stack up on firewood is welcome to come an haul off all they can handle from the driveway.

Seriously missing the kids

We arrived home safely after a really long journey. We are so missing everyone though. The kids were so much fun and we really got to play grandparents big time. The trip to the Lake District was fantastic. So pretty and we even had snow on Easter which I adore. The easter bunny even visited us. I sure wish we lived closer - this 2 times a year thing just plain sucks. Of course, the kids would be spoiled rotten. The last night there we were laying in Tosha's bed and the kids were snuggled up next to me and we were watching Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and I was in heaven. Nothing beats their cuddles. Now I will just go and have a cry.

Yippee Yippee Yah Yah

We are off tomorrow to see Tosha, Nik, Digi and Kalila - can't wait - we are all so excited. We arrive there on Saturday and then on Sunday we all leave to go to the Lake District for some serious fun and games. Can't wait to see the kiddos. Digi said today on the phone today - don't forget the chewing gum Nana and also bring some sweeties. Little does he know they are all packed and waiting for the plane. See you all soon.

Mrs. Always Right

You can see our lovely pillowcases that I think are so accurate - just kidding - but it was worth a try. Also you can see we have a real bed and we have started putting up our paneling. Today is Mr. Right's birthday, so I wish him a very happy day.