DFW was eh

Yes, Mom, I will write a blog, though life has seemed largely un-comment-able. Frank and I took a roadtrip to Dallas-Fort Worth, to conduct a little reconnaissance. It left us rather cold, despite the heat. This is Dallas:

There was one house that was o-kaaay. Largely because it was different from the rest of them:
Because the others looked like this:
Which may have been fine, except they ALL look like this. And they all have the same brick mail box. It seems to be a thing in Texas: http://www.beautifulbrickmailboxes.com/ And when they didn't have mailboxes in front of the houses, they had mausoleum-like mailboxes at the entrance to the subdivision. Imagine the line of traffic at 5:00pm as everyone is stopping by to pick up their mail. Yes, we did see a couple people doing just that when we were driving by.

You know the old saying, "No shirt, no shoes, no service?" Well, this used car lot had a different spin on things in Fort Worth. The sign read something like, "WE FINANCE - no driver's license, no credit, no social security - NO PROBLEM." Interesting.

Me driving:

We stopped for a night in Little Rock, AR on the way home. I found this sign curious--it was in a bar/restaurant we ate at:

Little Rock was one sleepy town, but they do have a nice looking riverfront:
In other news, Frank has a race in October. Hopefully his car will be in good working order when the time comes. Once that weekend is over, we'll start tearing this apart:

My dad's old motorcycle that sat in a barn for 30 years. Every inch of it seems to be rusty. I can't even imagine what a project this is going to be. It's a 1967 Honda CB160, apparently it was quite a popular bike in its day, and still has quite a cult following. Here's a taste (and, yes, I have forbidden Frank from racing this thing, should it ever get running. Thankfully, he is not interested):

I've started my welding classes. I'll take some pictures of my work soon.

Sig seems to have a rodent ulcer, not cancer, as it is slowly responding to the most recent shot of steroid treatment. He's super annoying lately though--he's VERY talkative and wants to go outside all of the time. I'm thinking we need to move somewhere with a barn so he can just be a barn cat.

I've got a lot of availability in my work schedule right now, so if you know any people in Peoria, recommend they come see me for massage. I'll take good care of them. :)

Mostly a CAT Progress Report

Well, unfortunately, Frank's band did not get to play for the 1/4 Scale Tractor Student Design Competition Friday night.  That would have been pretty cool.  And only now is that the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in the oven, which, of course, I'm happy about as it'll soon be around for eating.   

The cats have been making progress adjusting each day.  Sig has been enjoying going outside on a leash.  I'll try to get some pictures of him soon; I think he looks pretty funny.  I tried to bring Bodhi outside the other day but ended up terrorizing her.  I'm feel a bad cat mom, and she may not be venturing outside again anytime soon.  

It's been fun watching the cat skirmishes and interactions while they're learning to live with each other.  Sig and Mabel have kind of cooled off with their posturing, but Mabel had been doing a lot of hissing and growling at both  Sig and Bodhi.  Bodhi had been mostly running and hiding, but in the last two days has started standing her ground more hissing back a little as needed.  Sig is mostly non-reactive when Mabel initiates something, and kind of annoying-little-brother-ish other times.

Here are some pictures of some cold-war-ish state of things the last few days:

That's Mabel on the left, Sig on top of the chair.  I think he was antagonizing her here with his presence, she was growling.

Sig, again, antagonizing Mabel, and trying to ambush her tree.  

I've been feeding them yummy wet food in the morning, and plan to slowly bring their bowls closer together.  The first day I did this, when Sig approached Mabel's food, she gave an old fashioned slap across the face.  He didn't respond or move at all until she'd finished eating and left the area of her dish.

But this one I just took a few minutes ago:

That's Mabel behind the curtain, Bodhi coming out from behind the chair, and just a few minutes after this was taken, Sig started licking Mabel's tail.  (!!!!!)  Mabel was making some grunting noises, but no hissing or slapping.  I think we're really on a path to success!  

*****

In other news, I've spend a good deal of time cleaning my car the last two days.  It's now cleaner than it's been in 6 years (I've had it 7).  And Frank walked me through changing the oil in my car, added air conditioning refrigerant to my car (yay! for A/C), figured out why my engine light was on (some tubes connected to an air filter chamber weren't connected), AND, maybe most importantly, Frank figured out why my horn was not working and fixed it (the vibrations of a honking horn vibrated a wire loose).  This does not mean I intend to use it excessively, however; I am not in Chicago anymore, afterall.  :)

There's also a Buddhist/Insight Meditation group in town I want to check out on Thursday.  This a group that Bhante Sujatha of Blue Lotus Temple, with whom I went to Sri Lanka three years ago, is going to be teaching in August.  So, if there are Buddhists in Peoria that are my "sort" of Buddhists, these will likely be them.  :)  

Tomorrow I've decided to start looking for work.  Vacation is over.  :)  More on that later...