A CAT, & LINK TO THE PAST

Marc, Chandra, and Laila came out to the house, bringing birthday wishes for Grandpa, who turns a year older near the end of each October.  They also wanted to show us Laila's Halloween costume, which turned her into cat woman.  As usual, we had to convince Miss Laila that a picture or two really wouldn't hurt, and that a photo of her for the blog was mandatory.  She really looked pretty darned cute, right down to the penciled whiskers on her cheeks.  Speaking of cats, Patty is on a mission to replace her beloved Gracie, but I won't know any details until later today.

After a nice visit, the kids were headed back home, where the 8 year old was destined for an early bedtime.  It seems that during her sleepover at the birthday girl's house, the 5 young ladies were awake for most of the night, and getting to bed early yesterday was a priority.

Before, and after the kids visit, I finished my latest digging project.  This area adjacent to part of the circular driveway has been on my radar to level, at least as much as possible, expanding the drive area coming up to the garage.  When I'm finished with all of the dirt moving, the entire drive area will be covered with gravel.  With all of the rocks in our soil, using the backhoe is the only way to get the grade down.  Scraping with the front loader bucket helps finish the leveling process. 

 The small embankment at the upper left of the picture is our property line with the neighbor.  At some future time, I'll build a small retaining wall, and put up a fence along that border.

I received an unexpected package a couple of days ago from my cousin Diane in Stockton, CA.  Since the passing of her mom, my Aunt Martha, Diane has been finding links to the past, that she has been sending to me.  Most of the items have been photos of my Mom & Dad, but the items pictured below, belonged to my Grandfather (my Moms dad).  Grandpa Walt had 5 Grandchildren, and since I am the oldest, Diane thought these items should be in my possession.  I wish I knew more about his past, particularly his military service.  Based on the two Veteran of Foreign Wars hats, he obviously served during wartime, probably WWII, but possibly WWI.  Thanks Diane, this might inspire me to dig a little deeper into my Grandfather's past.