Hanging - Shelf and Iguana

I finally installed my cat shelf so the cats would have a place to look out the bedroom window. This all sounds so much easier said than done. I wanted to have a shelf next to the bed that could fold against the wall when it wasn't being used. So I needed a folding bracket, sort of a triangular bracket where one side folds into itself. It's something that's kind of hard to describe in English and isn't the most common thing in the States. So you can imagine what an adventure it was trying to find one here. I went to 7 different hardware stores. A few people looked at me like I had 2 heads; others knew what I meant and had seen one once in a catalog but never in person. I was referrred to store after store but had no luck. So finally I just ordered them online, and had them sent to my friend F's place who was coming down here on vacation. (F also brought me some real maple syrup which I can't wait to put on pancakes. It's hard to get and very expensive here because it's an exotic, imported product.)

So I put up the shelf with difficulty. I'm highly experienced in the ways of drilling into cement and brick now. Oh yes, it all sounds so easy. Just choose the correct drillbit, drill a hole, put in a plastic piece, and screw in a screw. Well you just try getting a drill into some of these walls. Yes, I have a special concrete drill bit -- and? Yes, I have the "correct" size. But I have since learned that sometimes it's not exactly the correct size and you need to screw the screw in a little bit and then hammer in the screw! Yes, I said "hammer a screw". That's what the guys at the hardware store have advised me. I'm glad it works, but to me if you have to hammer a screw into the plastic piece to get it to fit into the wall, it's really not the correct size! But the shelf is up and the cats are pleased.

As I was talking on the phone to my lawyer (oh, that's a whole other blog entry!), Che$ter and I were looking out the window when something fell from the sky. I thought it was a tree branch. But then I realized it was an iguana! And it was able to catch its fall by grabbing onto a branch. That photo above is what I saw through my (newly installed by me!) screen. Wow! I went out the front door and got closer (but not too close because I have a wonderful 80-200mm lens that I bought before I moved here) to get the photos below. Incredible!