This past week was a big downer.  Found out our 16 1/2 year old kitty has lymphoma.  The vet expects him to have another 3-4 weeks.  The only possible treatment is chemo, and I am not going to put a geriatric cat through that. 

I covered his belly for the picture since it is still shaven from his ultrasound.  He's doing very well though, all things considered.  He had stopped eating almost completely but with a combination of appetite stimulants, syringe feeding, sub-q fluids and predisone, he is eating (and eliminating) normally again. 
Took some updated pics w/ the new camera this weekend.  Still on auto as I didn't have much time or energy to play around w/ the settings.  New from the last set of pics: we got a piece of glass for the table behind the sofa, got the TV service started, upholstered the bench by the bed, painted and upholstered the desk chair, painted the desk, got a piece of mirror for the dark frame that will go over the desk, got a larger flamingo picture, and hung a few more things on the walls. 

Next weekend I hope to hang all the curtains.  We're putting a panel on the wall behind the bed, in the spaces between the large door/windows in the front room, over the small bathroom window, and over the shelves above the laundry.  Still waiting on the living room rug; last word was it should ship next week.

Gratuitous pet pics

This week I got a new camera, one I have wanted for over a year, the Canon G11.  I love it.  It's my first really good camera.  I used it last September during a trip to Canyon Ranch and was just amazed at how wonderful the pictures were.  I may be easily impressed since most of my pics are from a 5 year old Kodak or a 4 year old Pentax, but who cares.  This thing rocks!

So here are 2 days worth of pictures of the 4 leggers, and a couple of the human boy.

These were mostly on auto with no flash.  I plan to work on learning the manual settings asap as I know the lighting could be better.  Looking forward to taking some updated pics of the property this weekend.

Well the Tarpon cottage has really come along.  We painted the entire place (save for some touch up in the bathroom) and have all the furniture in except for this rug still on order.   It was supposed to ship the end of Sept and is now delayed until mid-Nov.  I will be pretty fired up if I wait this long and it winds up being canceled so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a delay.

I'll show the pics I took this weekend and then describe what is still to be done.  There's quite a bit but fortunately I will be working on it during the week at home in Tampa and not trying to fit it in while down in Matlacha.

Here is the front room, i.e. second or spare bedroom.  The doorway is to the left of the first picture.  We will move the fishing poles when we start to rent this out.  I think we may also paint the futon frame white or maybe espresso.

The fabric hanging is what I have on order to make curtains.  I'll hang 2 skinny panels to hang between the windows (to the left of where the fabric is in the pic).  They will be mostly for decoration but will function to cover the windows if desired.  Also those large dark fish on the floor will become wall art once I get the hanger things for them.

The flamingo picture is too small; we will get a larger one and/or fill in w/ other art.  There will be a mirror hanging over the desk.

The desk and chair are now in the garage waiting for primer and paint.   I am torn between a look like this

orange desk, white chair, turquoise and white fabric.

OR

white desk, orange chair, this for the seat (only on the reverse side where it's white w/ orange dots).

Onto the great room.  Still missing the above referenced rug, the pictures need to be hung, and I'll probably add another set of throw pillows on the couch.  I reupholstered the ottoman this weekend though and I'm lovin it!  Also didn't show the part of the room by the door as it was messy.  The table behind the couch is pending a new piece of glass and there is a plain board on it to hold things.  Also....I have to find a new light for over the island if I can't find replacement covers.  They are currently cobalt blue and while they don't bother the husband, I am way too AR to see past them in this color scheme.  In a perfect world I would have more neutral tile in the kitchen and bath too (or maybe I would have planned my colors around what is there, but that would have been too easy).

And the bedroom - the footstool is not upholstered yet i just have the fabric laying on it.  A few more pictures and there's really not much else to do in there.  Actually I take that back.  The more I look at these pics the more I want to see some fabric behind the bed.  The wall is small enough that maybe I'll hang curtains across the whole thing.

I might need to paint the wooden frame around that window white.  There's also no way to center the bed on the window and have a reasonable amount of room to get in/out of bed on that side.  So off-center it is and AR be dammed.

I got a new camera today - the Canon G11.  I am so excited and anticipate future pictures will look much better.  They better, anyway... that's how I sold the camera purchase to Chris :)