Robb in Ireland

The Dude visits Ireland! This shot was taken just north of Dublin, when we took a bus tour along the coastline. He's as talented a musician as his dad. As marvelous an artist as his mom. As handsome as ... uh,... OK - his brother. Just don't tell him I said so...

Interior Shots

And here are pix of a couple of rooms on the ground floor. As you can see, the owner really likes white! Well, at least it makes the dirt all that much easier to seek out and destroy. This house really is ideal for us - not too large, not too small, on a very quiet street, with a beautiful enclosed backyard perfect for all 4 cats (the local birds all disagree).

Home Sweet Home

At long last, here are a couple of shots of the home in Waterloo, taken just a couple of hours ago. Please note the sunshine: we are in the middle of an almost unbelievable streak of remarkable weather. I think we've had sunny skies for 28 out of the last 30 days. If ever there was a sign that the end of the world is near, this much great weather in Belgium has got to be it!

We've got 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a huge finished basement with two more rooms, which is Robb's mini-apartment (it's also got its own fridge, stove, and microwave).
On the ground floor are the large family and living rooms and an ultra-modern kitchen. We'll share some inside shots soon.

The Rolls Royce of Cat Shelters…Right Here in Belgium!

(Lucie's first post!)
Anyone who knows me knows how much working at animal shelters means to me. There are some wonderful shelters at home run with devoted volunteers and supported by generous philanthropists; it’s no different here. The major exception, however, is the sheer size of the shelter where I’ve chosen to devote one day each weekend. It’s called “Animaux en Péril” (Animals in Danger) and it’s in the small town of Braine l’Alleud, just a 5 minute drive from our home in Waterloo.

Every Saturday morning, anywhere from 10 to 90 cats await me at the shelter. The first thing I had to get used to here was thinking up French names for the beloved felines who are awaiting a permanent home. It was hard enough choosing creative names in English when I volunteered at the shelters at home, let alone in FRENCH! The second thing was how hard I had to work once I got there. When you have to clean up after so many cats (the litter alone is CATastrophic!), it takes much longer to get that task done. Usually there are two volunteers who work in the “cattery,” but for the last three weeks, I’ve been going solo. I have to clean approximately 125 cubbies, refresh the many bowls of kibble and water, wash the floors both in the “cattery” and in the cats’ litter room (which is off the sleeping quarters), and ensure that food and drink are changed outside in the “kitty garden.” That leaves precious little time to socialize those kitties that might not be as personable as we’d all like. BUT, I do make time, even if it means having to stay a little later than normal.

In addition to the cattery, we have 2 quarantine areas, to care for the sick animals and to segregate the newcomers from the general population for 5 days. We have a fully equipped kitchen where the food for both the cats and the dogs is prepared, a laundry room, gift shop and cafeteria (with outdoor seating for the nice summer days), and a surgical theater where area vets donate some of their time to do the neutering and other more serious procedures. I’ll share more details next time!

The Earth Moved... Really!

A couple of weeks ago we had a real, live earthquake here in Waterloo! Granted, it was only about a 2.4 on the Richter scale, but Lucie and I certainly felt it at home, about 8:45 at night, as we were sitting watching TV. It felt like a subway running through the basement of the house, lasting about 5 or 6 seconds. Only, the nearest subway is about 10 miles north, in Brussels. Having grown up in California, I said to myself, "That sure felt like an earthquake." But remembering I was living in Europe, I said to myself, "Time to cut back to just one case of beer a night." Sure enough though, the next day Lucie heard on the local French news that we had experienced the Big One. Well, for Belgium it was a Big One. She heard that of all the countries north of the Alps, Belgium gets the most earthquakes. Now there's a good trivia question for your next game night!

The Beer Bike: Great "Exercise"

I saw my first "beer bike" last week in a tiny town in Holland. What an idea! Seven or eight folks, 30 liters of beer, and a designated driver (actually two on the one I saw, one front and one rear)! Physics being far from my long suit, I still can't quite understand how the drinker/riders are able to pedal from the side of the bike. Maybe they actually can't, but no one tells them, just so they can later claim they were out riding for their health. If I had a few bucks to invest, I'd head to the biggest party campuses in the U.S. and market this idea.