Back-fill, garage, and cats update

We now have a cement floor in the garage. The house has had all the foundation walls back-filled and we can now walk in the front door of the house ... if we know the combination to the lock on the door, that is. Regardless, the entry situation is considerably less perilous now that it does not involve a narrow metal drawbridge. Until recently the house still hadn't had dirt back-filled against the foundation walls. First the ground was frozen and then it was too wet so things kept dragging on. I have made a decision about the cat door: the SureFlap Microchip pet door. It will open by recognizing the identity chip that has been implanted into the neck of each cat. You teach the door to recognize the cat and it will open only for the cats, not for the squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, skunks, or other cats. It will run on batteries that are supposed to last for a year.

The cats continue to live in Fergus Falls with my sister. They seem unwilling to go outdoors for very long. In Grand Rapids they would sometimes stay out for 2 days at a time. We wonder if Gretchen is putting some sort of "happy pill" into their drinking water.

According to weatherspark.com the "cold season" in Fergus Falls lasts "from November 27 to March 8 with an average daily high temperature below 31°F." In Grand Rapids, Michigan the "cold season" lasts "from November 29 to March 8 with an average daily high temperature below 40°F." Perhaps those 9 degrees make all the difference to our cats?