breakthrough

We had a minor breakthrough this morning: Thirteen walked up the ramp on her own. She was heading for the side like she always does, to try and climb the stairs but get trapped underneath. I followed her calling her name, which normally doesn't affect her much because she can't hear me and if I'm behind her, can't see me. But she must have heard this time because she turned around, gave me that scared look, like she knew I was going to grab her and pull her out from under the ramp, and then turned and walked up it on her own. Yay! It only took a week, honestly faster than I was expecting.

The only problem we've noticed with the ramp is that every time Jane runs down it, it bounces and shifts down a bit. Several times a day I have to go out and pull the ramp back up, to make sure it never slips off the top step. As the ground at the base of the ramp got pressed down by this constant shifting, it's been less able to hold the ramp in place and the slipping has gotten worse. Today we bought small metal stakes with a bend on the end (shaped like an upside-down "L") and hammered them into the ground at the base of the ramp. I think that will hold the ramp in place pretty well.

Home Depot had a fair amount of Christmas lights on half-price. Well it was pretty picked over, but not as bad as Target, which had almost nothing left. We looked at some cool LED icicles that change color, but decided against them. I had already bought a bunch of LED string lights to replace the lights on our outdoor tree, and we don't like to spend too much on lights each year. And it would have taken a lot of icicles -- maybe all they had -- to fill the space we'd want them. Maybe we'll get them next year. Or maybe next year they'll have something new and even cooler.

I'm very happy about the introduction of LED Christmas lights. They use so much less electricity than the regular incandescent kind, and they last longer too. I wish I could have found some for Undersea Mah Jongg, for which powering the lights has been an ongoing issue. Unfortunately the kind I wanted -- white or blue garland -- were already gone by the time they went on sale. Maybe next year!