Shorty the Cat

Found some pictures of Shorty the other day and decided he needs his story told. Here he is hard at work.

Last winter Mrs. Evans and I noticed a white cat sitting outside our back sliding door to the bedroom. He was no more than 2 feet away from Pumper the dog who was sleeping inside the door. Shorty just sat there watching everything then left after 20 minutes. Later in the week he came back, only this time he was in our garage looking into the house through the dog door. I kicked him out and put the door blocker in place so he couldn't get into the garage anymore. Every morning I would go out to the garage and he would be curled up against the door waiting to be let in. We are not cat people and it was clear he wanted to adopt us. So finally, I took him to work and let him become a yard cat at the shop. We kept a bowl of food and water for him and on the first day he killed a mouse and left it out for us to see that he was keeping busy around the shop at night.

A few days after winning our hearts and minds the little feller just disappeared, gone, not even a good-bye note or anything. For 2 mornings we would race to his food bowl to see if he had eaten anything through the night but no, it was as full as when we left it the day before.

Now we've had a few shop cats over the years but they always vanish after a few weeks or months. Sometimes it's the owls or eagles. Sometimes they just walk away to be seen in a whole different area of the golf course. Sometimes they make it to the road and meet up with a car travelling 50 mph which I know for a fact hurts like hell. But this dude was gone and all of us tough guys were heart-broken. We thought he was going to be different. He really seemed to love his new job.

He had been gone for 3 days when I was driving home during work, to pick something up, I noticed it on the side of the road.......... there he was. Shorty.

He was running not walking up the freaking sidewalk to my house. It took him 3 or 4 days but the SOB had walked from the golf course back to my house! It's about 2 miles distance between the two places. I stopped and opened the door and he jumped in. I took him back to the shop. By the way, have you ever driven a cat in a car before? It can be hectic but he stood on the seat back taking in everything including speed, direction, time and what roads we were taking and yet he still found time to swipe my face with his tail every couple of minutes. I will never forget

the elation on, my co-worker, Don's face. We celebrated our prized mouse catcher's return to work!

Then 2 days later he was gone again. We hoped he just took a vacation again and we were right! He walked up to the house again! I got up to go to work and he was waiting patiently in the garage for me to come out. I put him in my truck and went back inside to put my shoes on. As I installed my shoes, I heard a horn honking which is unusual at 5:30am. Plus, the honking was coming from the garage. I ran out to shut the noise down to keep it from waking the whole neighborhood. I wasn't ready for what I saw. Shorty the cat standing on his hind legs and pushing the horn like this, honk-honk.......honk.........honk-honk. I'm not sure but I think he was sending a distress signal to other cats in the area. I couldn't believe my eyes or ears. I had to tell the cat to stop honking the horn at 5:30 in the morning! Which he did. I got him to the shop as quickly as possible and he stayed there for a few weeks until Mrs. Evans called early one morning after I'd gone to work to say "That *#%&ing cat is in our kitchen!" She put him out, got in the shower and by the time I arrived he was already back in the house sitting there 5 feet away from the sleeping dog just watching everything.

Then he was gone for week and we went hiking that weekend and found out later when Don came to check on Pumper, Shorty the cat was laid out in the spare bedroom right in the middle of the bed sleeping. When he was returned to work Don noticed Shorty had a 1" sized hole in the middle of his back and he couldn't walk. We figured he was attacked by a bird of prey. He was so traumatized he wouldn't tell us anything about it. We thought he would be dead by the next day. He just laid on the ground like a dead cat. But, he pulled out of it and after a week of recovery he was back to work and all was fine. Then he disappeared for good while I was in rehab. We never saw him lying in the road. Never saw him on the course. We just never saw him again. As cats go, he was a keeper. He never complained and never bit or clawed anyone. He was one of our best workers and is sorely missed.

After talking to the neighbors, we found out that Shorty (the little whore) was two-timing us by spending nights at their house under the name of Buster during his trips to our house.

Check out my Grillz!

Got a BBQ the other day. The dude did a pretty good job and only took a week to build it. Turns out he is cousins with a guy I played basketball with weekly in FH and who once picked me up hitchhiking on Gilbert Rd while driving by.

Went to LV with the Mrs. a few weekends ago and had a good time. Stayed at the Aliante Station which is new and sits NW of LV out all by itself. Very nice and self-contained with the best gym I've ever seen. Saw the movie The Hangover and can see why it will be the largest grossing comedy of all time! It is ribald and raunchy but is very funny. We went to Boulder City to kill some time waiting to pick up DD's grandma from the airport and had a great lunch in a hole-in-the-wall place called Milo's.

Therapy is getting a little easier and the shoulder is starting to heal. Also, I won an ice wrap today. I knew I would win the monthly drawing after all the donuts and cookies I dropped on that place. Going camping this weekend near Mormon Lake to try and cool off.

Back to work

Got released to full-time work yesterday. Got the work truck back from Don also much to his chagrin. Had an ortho Dr. appt. yesterday as well and he says the knee is on schedule and we can now concentrate on the left shoulder and right arm. The arm still doesn't straighten fully. The shoulder has 2 partial tears in the scapula area. Docs and therapists feel the tears have healed and just need rehabbed, so we began doing that today. My new rehab schedule is Tuesdays and Thursdays working more on the shoulder and then spending some time on the knee and ankles. So it will be fewer days a week but more time (2.5 hrs) each day. Plus, walking and exercising in the pool on off days. We're trying to get this all fixed up before my remaining 15 insured visits expire. Feels good to finally move on to the last of my injuries.

Taking Mrs. Evans to Vegas next weekend for a few nights and to do some birthday shopping for her. Looking forward to a family camping trip to possibly Colorado next month. Welp, time to hit the gym /pool for some water walking and dog paddling.

Can't stop talking about myself!

Took some time off so I will have something to blog about. Had some visitors last weekend. My dad and his wife came up and Matt came down from SLC. Matt, as always, is a good mixer at any get together. His puppy is getting BIG and Pumper was happy to have a friend to play with. Did a little touring around S. UT. Went to the Mountain Meadows Massacre site, a place where Mormons killed up to 100 innocent travelers and tried to blame the local Indians for it. Not their proudest moment but at least they fessed up 100 years later.

The artist formally known as Chris Peterson pulled a fast one on us and sent 2 paintings for the price of one. We don't consider him a starving artist and feel lucky to have both paintings.

Had a fantastic dinner in Mesquite for our anniversary. Here is a pic of the aftermath. Mrs. Evans can be seen trying to push my belly back in.

Joined Facebook today or as Dad calls it, Spacebook. Got hooked up with no less than 4 elementary school chums within 20 minutes, a few of which I hadn't talked to since the early 80's. They all look old just like me.

Been going to the rec center to walk around in the pool and get exercise on the legs. Did without crutches this weekend and have been using a cane. I am more willing to use the cane, crutches are not as fun as they look.

Work time

Not used to working at 5:30a. Going to start at 5am beginning next week. Wasn't getting much sleep to begin with. I feel like a zombie during summer. Our company, SunCor Development, has decided to not be in the Golf Course or Home building business anymore and wants to have all properties sold by the end of 2009. We have some investors interested in Coral Canyon, which they would get for a great price. Too early to get excited or worried though. Took a trip down to Mesquite yesterday and picked up some sod. It takes us a few days to prep and lay 2000 Sq ft.
Sending the continuous passive motion unit back to the medical supplier tomorrow which will make Pumper happy. She wasn't pleased with it taking up her prime TV viewing spot.
Mrs. Evans picked out a lovely painting, as her anniversary gift, by the reknowned artist C.G. Peterson. I wager someday he could quit his day job, cut off his ear and paint full-time. I sent my lady flowers today to her work. Chicks dig getting flowers at work so they can show all the other girls there how much they are loved and to shove it in a few of their faces. We are going out to our first real dinner since last year to celebrate our 6th.
It only took me a few weeks to run out of things to blog about. So unless I get a more exciting life, I will probably end this one. Blogs are kind of the family slide shows no one wants to watch. Matt said it best when I proudly gave him my blog site. "I don't read blogs."

Hot

Starting to get hot here, got up to 93 yesterday.

Got measured for a new knee brace today and will only have to wear it for the next year. Got on the treadmill today and walked for ten minutes with 60 lbs. lifted off of me. Also, will send the continuous passive motion machine back to the supplier now that I have maxed it out. It flexes my leg from -3 to 130 degrees continuously until I can't sit still any longer. I usually can sit for an hour or 2 at most.

Here is a picture of a few paintings we are looking at to add to our fledgling collection. The artist is a teacher in FH and a cohort of Mr. Yoder. We saw some of his work at Tim's last year when we were down there. Tim is actually a real good portrait artist in his own right. He has many drawings of young girls. They must be easier to draw.

Aerifying weekend

Getting ready for greens aerification on Sunday so I'll post today. I seem to do dumb things at work but getting better at it. Lost my phone somewhere over 80 acres of grass today but found it after 20 minutes of looking. Fell out of my pocket.

Went to Costco! Mrs. E had a hell of a time manuevering the flatbed cart. I almost fell off my crutches laughing.

Leg feels ok just can't shake the limp unless I use crutches. Therapist says he wants me off of them in 2 weeks so we'll shoot for that. Here is a pic of the leg from last night not nearly as swollen but still some around the wound. Now riding bike at P/T it gets easier each time. Also, did some stair stepper. My main therapist aide Michael Smith had his last day Friday and is now going to Guatemala on his mission to spread the good word for 2 years. Good kid, good kid. He will be an excellent Dr. someday. I hope I didn't sully his mind too much. Towards the end of our odd working relationship, he learned to walk away from me very quickly when my selective Tourettes syndrome kicked in. My main man Vern. V-E-R-N. Thats for you Rain Man fans. Lortab just makes me want to share my thoughts with everyone! Too many thoughts if you ask my beloved Mrs. Evans.

Ortho Visit

Went to the Doc today. He is a quiet whistling fellow. Kind of a genius. This is the guy who drilled a hole in my knee bone and secured the new ligament in place with an 'absorbable screw'. Which he decided wasn't strong enough to hold inside my.......muscular body. So he took the screw out and used 2 very large staples in it's place. These are different than the 20 staples used to secure the wound. Took some x-rays and there is my knee and 2 staples looking very out of place. He walks in starts to whistle to himself looking at the x-rays and declares the staples are in perfect position! Then he lays me down and starts playing my leg like an upright bass until I yelp the exact note he is looking for. Then he says I'm on track and with 6 more weeks of P/T I should be good. Still 4+ months away from running, hiking, and falling down without aides. The day after my procedure, he left to climb up to the 1st base camp on a mountain in the Himalayas. Mt. Evergreen or some name like that. He really is an adrenaline junkie.

Walked without aides today but still need crutches and will be getting a smaller knee brace Friday. Now able to work Tuesdays and Thursdays and weekends.

Good news! My replacement remote for Direct TV arrived today, it will keep me busy at least through tomorrow.

new tables

Here are 2 tables we got for behind the couch.

Got all trenching done for drainage, gas line & irrigation in back yard. Gas line goes in next week followed by all irrigation tie-ins and final drain pipe placement. Then we can cap the whole yard with 3-5 inches of dirt and begin designing the yard deck and building it.

Work went ok. Broke the suspension on my cart, it must've been weakened by the incident of Jan 21st.

Mrs. Evans almost got picked by the preacher last nite at the tent revival but must've not looked desperate enough.

Not much pain in the knee it just feels weak. Hopefully they will start strengthening it next week.

2nd try

For some reason this pic is my favorite either because I got to hang with my pal or got to stand on a 1000' cliff edge or I had no crutches then.


This seems better then the Windows live blog I attempted to send out because the viewer is required to have a login for "live" which sucks as Mrs. Evans pointed out to me. Plus it goes directly to spam when sent. So far so good. and this URL is easy to remember.

Not much happening today. Did some digging in the yard by proxy. Mrs. Evans snuck out to a nearby tent revival with the neighbor. No joke they put a tent up right next to a Maverick gas station. I think they just went to Mesquite instead to play BINGO! The lord works in mysterious ways.