Hi everyone!
Sorry I've been so absent in posting, just been spending time with
Dennis, plus working, plus dealing with getting our house built.
Anyway, we are all doing well and settling in really well in Australia.
Loving it here and it already feels like home.
Funniest thing happened the other night.  We have these "downlights" in
our ceiling, which is raked.  In the kitchen there are 4 lights and 2
turn on with one light switch in the kitchen and 1 also turns on with
another light switch in the kitchen.  These are the ones we usually use.
The last light can only be turned on by a switch located in the hallway
going to the spare bedrooms, so we always forget about it and don't turn
it on.
The other night, Dennis turned in on in an effort to get some mood
lighting and he left off the 3 lights we usually turn on.  The lights
are fairly flush with the ceiling but stick out a bit.  This caused this
funny shadow from one of the "off" light fixtures to be cast right where
the wall and the raked ceiling meet.
Vino instantly noticed something abnormal and got really agitated about
it.  He got up on the dining room table (very unusual) and then on the
kitchen counter (even more unusual!) and stood there, poised to jump in
bug eyed, perky eared readiness.  Dennis and I were laughing our heads
off because it was so obvious to us what it was.
Then Dennis decided to screw with Vino's head even more and said, "Get
it Vino, get it!" in a really excited voice.  This is what we used to
say when Vino was stalking a lizard in Thailand.  It gets him super
excited and we were delighted to see that it still works!  So much for
cats having a short memory!  Vino got even more into it and ended up
stalking the shadow for a good 10 minutes more.
As for other news, or updates rather, Vino is doing well since his
blockage and has had no other scares of re-occurance.  He loves his c/d
food and is getting back to begging for breakfast and dinner, and has
gained all the weight back that he lost.  His fur has grown back on the
wound on his back and on his arms and throat where he was shaved for
tests and IV's.
He is enjoying the back yard but mostly wants to be out there when we
are.  If we are inside he is most likely to be found on his spot on the
bed or else lounging on our lawn chairs which are just on the outside of
the french doors.  Another thing he enjoys is perching on the wooden
surround of our vegetable beds in the back, from where he can look up
this extremely tall tree and watch the kookaburras and the ringneck
parrots.
As for Dennis and me, we're doing well.  Our planning permission came
thru ok and we are now waiting on the quote from the builder...  Can
just tell it will be way out of our planned budget but what else is
there to do but go ahead anyway...  It will just get more and more
expensive to build a house the longer we wait so we might as well get it
over with now.  Loving our plans, can't wait, so excited to finally have
our own house!  Building boom here dictates that it will take at least a
year to build so we will be happy to be in there by next Xmas.
Dennis is off to work again on Monday so hopefully I'll be posting again
more then.  But who knows because I'll also be moving from working 3
days a week to working 6 days.  Good thing I really, really like my job

Hugs and purrs to everyone!