While I Was Out...

the landscapers came and transformed the most white trash yard in the entire subdivision (trust me, I'm not exaggerating) into a magazine cover. I tried to take some pictures of the front of the house but it was too shadowy. You can't see the dainty white flowers and the dainty blue flowers, and you have to see the dainty flowers to get the full effect. It's just overwhelming. The birds already love the magnolia - sparrows were checking it out and chirping excitedly. But the pond, OMG, the pond! My backyard has been transformed into a little Japanese garden, or will be by the time the plantings mature. I have a refurbished sprinkler system and a new timer. It's time to ditch the cheap plastic patio furniture and buy something nice and appropriate for the setting. This weekend I'll pressure wash the patio and start shopping for nicer furniture and finally upgrade the ancient rusting Weber kettle grill for the sleek green model with the side table I've always craved. If the weather is nice I'm dragging a lawn chair out there this weekend, to bask and listen to the water. It's all so pretty, I don't regret spending the money at ALL. SO worth it. It would have taken me a season of back-breaking labor just to get the backyard into this shape, and Home Despot would have charged me $1500 to deliver and plant that one magnolia tree.

There were two large flatbed trucks worth of stuff, a Bobcat, pallets of sod, and a crew of about 8 men tearing up my yard when I came home at noon to see what was going on. I swear, it looked like an episode of Extreme Makeover, they were just swarming the yard, digging and hauling and planting and watering. In my many years in this line of work I've never been one to cash in on the perks of working for a builder or used my ties to contractors, and I probably wouldn't have done this but for one of the guys in my department telling me to call these guys, they are the nicest guys on earth and they'll take care of me, and boy, did they ever. UN-REAL.

Happy happy!

And now...what is the sound of a ghost cat crapping? Last night the weirdest thing happened - I woke at about 2 because I had to pee, I came back to bed and wasn't really that sleepy so I started channel surfing with the volume down. Suddenly I heard the distinctive sound of the catflap to the garage flapping - Murphy heard it too, he barked. I took roll: Dudley was locked in his crate. Murphy was on his bed. Higgins was at my head and Boris was at my side. Who made the cat flap flap?

This morning I talked to Girl and before I could even tell her this story, she told me she'd gotten up about 12:30 to take some Benadryl (she has another cold, the price of working in Tourist World) and Boris was so spooky, she walked up behind him in the kitchen and he went straight up and screamed, like a cartoon cat. He's normally the most lethargic thing on four legs, so this was unusual enough to remark about.

Now we're wondering if ghost cats wander around sometime, scare their brothers and use the litterbox.