A.C.

No, I'm not talking about air-conditioning.  In this case, A.C. stands for After Cat.

I told how I found a new home for Abby.  I've never been a cat person.  Until her, and her mother before her, my only experience with a cat was my mom's Siamese who was a real character.  I liked having yard cats, but Abby was such a good hunter, she was a serious threat to my beloved wildlife.  She was about 3 going on 4 years old, so I don't really remember what it was like B.C.  In those nearly 4 years, the landscape has matured a lot, and it attracts more wildthings.

Abby has been gone for about 2 weeks now, and I can really tell the difference.  The birds seem to know they are safe again, and there's more of them in the yard.  There's also bunnies.  Abby was known to snag young cottontails, but I'm seeing quite a few of them now.  I'm not completely deprived of the company of rabbits.

The Carolina Wrens are nesting somewhere I think.  Maybe in the bird house I hung on the porch a long time ago which was never used that I know of.  They investigated, but didn't seem to stay.  I love this chipper little bird.  I found some tiny blue eggs (sadly broken) on the ground under a crape myrtle but don't know what bird was nesting there.  Not a robin (the only bird I can think of right off hand that lays blue eggs), they don't nest here.  Robins only pass through here on their migration routes spring and fall.  I suppose I could do a search to figure it out, but I'd rather discover the nesters myself.  Maybe I'll catch them going into the tree if they use that nest again.

There is one other difference A.C.  I can hear mice (or rats) under the house again.  Ugh.  They can't get in, I stuffed wadded up chicken wire in all the cracks and holes under sinks.  Haven't had a mouse in house since.  The original tip was to stuff steel wool in such holes, but I figured a really determined rodent could figure out how to pull it out.  No way they can move chicken wire.  I had to resort to the old standby to cull the population a little...DeCon.  I shove a couple boxes under the house.  Nothing bigger than a rat can get under there so no other animals are in danger.  In that respect, I do miss Abby.

Still working at the dejunking and all.  Took another carload to the dump today.  The timeframe has slowed a bit.  The house I had fallen in love with was sold, and I don't have another at the top of the list yet.  There's still prospects but since there isn't one I'm afraid of missing out on, I'm back to a more organized approach to getting the place ready to list.  First get rid of all the junk, then declutter my stuff, and then the thorough cleaning.  I also have to put some money into a couple minor repairs to make it saleable, and that should be taken care of within 2 weeks.  I pled "need to sell ASAP" to the contractor so they'd put me on a priority list.  He came out this morning to scope the jobs, and will get the estimate to me next week, and said he should be able to do it the following week.  So I have that much time to continue what I'm doing inside.

The daylilies are hitting their stride.  Perfect timing.  I can tag the ones I want to dig up for the move.  I have a list of things to dig up, and I know where most of the daylilies are, but it helps to have confirmation when they bloom.

Speaking of house-hunting.  Mano, is broadband internet a big help!  My last move, I could only see a little remotely.  Now I can see almost everything I need to know before I decide to view the house in person.  Google Maps aerial views!   I punch in the address to see what's around a property.  Realtor.com and Zillow.com are my main sites, but I will visit individual realtors to see if they have more info on their website.  I eliminate a lot of houses using those tools.

Still don't know where I want to end up.  Could be SC, NC, or maybe even TN.  I don't really want to stay in this immediate area, but I'm open to possibilities in my state.  It would be easier to move within TN than going over the mountains, and it might be financially prudent to stay here.  I think TN has the lowest cost of living of the 3 states.  We'll see.

tnt
Naturechild