Architecture
We had a light snow most of the day, which left a dusting of snow on top of a hardened layer of thin ice that was not much fun to scrape off the windshield and windows. After 40 minutes on the road, I stopped at the post office in Corrales to pick up the mail, and noticed that the ice and snow stuck on the hood was only a little wind-streaked.
Work continues on the catio. We started preparing the old cement slab for resurfacing on Saturday, but then we discovered we needed to rent a high pressure sprayer to clean it before we put on the resurfacing cement, plus the temperatures are supposed to stay above 50º F for 8 hours after the new surface is applied. Since the temperature only got into the 40’s over the weekend we decided to prepare surfaces for painting.
The first photo is Laurie preparing to wire brush the French windows so I could paint them. In the second photo, she is telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern what they could do to help. The third photo shows Guildenstern supervising Laurie. He had a lot to say about our work, so much so, that it wore him out and he had to take a break (fourth photo). The French windows and door had not been painted in 22 years. The ivy had grown up on them which marked and pulled off paint in various places, so I spent a good part of the day painting the windows and doors with a very good, “stain killer” primer. The last photo shows Laurie standing by the freshly primed windows.
As I have mentioned before, we live in a cold spot — the reason Laurie was dressed in layers of warm clothes to work on the catio. We went to a dinner party last night in Albuquerque. When we left the party at a little after 10:00 PM, the car showed the outside temperature was 47º F. When we got home 20 minutes later, the temperature at our house was 26º F. We live about 10 miles north and west as the crow flies, and about 700 feet lower than the part of Albuquerque we attended the dinner party, yet we were 21degrees colder.
On our way to rent a pressure sprayer to prepare the slab in the catio for resurfacing, we got distracted by misty mountains and shaggy dogs, and ended up not getting the pressure sprayer. Such is life and art in New Mexico.
Lexus with a WAHGURU plate hovering while being serviced.
Get inked in Super Bikes style.
I had to get out my 17mm, super-wideangle lens to get a photo of Beaker impatiently waiting for the waffle that’s in the toaster oven. You can see the tips of his wings are a little blurry because he is fluttering them in anticipation. Guildenstern got up on the table, flopped himself down and waited to see what Laurie was having for breakfast. He wasn’t too sure about either the granola or the coffee.
Waffle Time For Beaker (WTFB). While I was heating up a waffle in the toaster oven, Beaker stood on the edge of his shelf impatiently watching the waffle through the glass door on the oven. When the waffle was done, Beaker tore off a piece and ate it on the edge of his shelf not bothering to take it to his food dish like he usually does. Even though he loves waffles, he will not eat them cold. They either need to be straight off the waffle iron, or toasted.
I finished putting up wire around the new roof on the catio, so now it’s reopened for kitty business. The new roof is lower, covers a 12 X 16 feet area, and is translucent, so even in the late afternoon there is plenty of light under the roof. The top of the kitty jungle gym is now almost three feet higher than the end of the roof, so the kitties now have open space all around, and a full 360º view from the top of their jungle gym.
Interesting graffiti in the alleys of downtown Albuquerque.
What is fresh cement without “Bass Music”? FDC is “Fire Department Connection” — a couple of interesting FDCs downtown.
I’ve gone out at sunrise the past two mornings (in 10º F temperatures nonetheless) to put the new roof on the catio. While I was out freezing, the kitties were in bed, under the covers, wondering why I was stupid enough to be out in the cold at such ungodly hours. As the first photo shows, I got a nice translucent roof installed that lets plenty of light in through the windows it covers on the north side of the sunroom. The kitties still can’t go out in the catio at night because I have to put wire up between the new roof and the structure over their kitty jungle gym.
Off Center & Not Even 