“You had me at meow.”
“Home is where the meow is.”
“Live, laugh, meow.”
“No meowing around.”
“You’ve cat to be kitten me.”
“More meow.”
“Just one cat short of crazy.”
“Puurfect just the way you are.”
Quotes by Kristen of Dream Dash Journal.
For the Love of a Cat
Filed under Amazing Animals
3-D Butterfly Tattoos!
I have come to really like some tattoos. I’ve seen some I really envy lately in our own small town. I stopped a young woman at Walmart the last time we were there because she had a tattoo that ran all the way down the outside of one of her legs that looked terrific. She seemed pleased that I told her how great I thought it looked.
The newest style I’m really impressed with is a 3-D butterfly. Some are so well done the butterfly seems to be ready to fly away. I think they are wonderful.
I like colorful tattoos the best, but I’m also impressed when men have a whole ‘sleeve’ of tattoos on one arm.
I wish I were younger with nice, tight skin so I could get one of these 3-D butterflies.
Amazing.
Filed under Tattoos!
Wednesday 6-12-2024
We got up early (for us) this morning, did not pass “GO,” and went directly to the local clinic for me to get a follow up blood test to see if my new thyroid hormone dosage is correct now. (I had my thyroid radiated/killed several years ago due to Grave’s Disease, so my thyroid dosage is important, and the level was too low.) I’m actually hoping that my doctor will decide to raise the dosage again, based on my energy level and some other things. I should know in a couple of days.
We always reward ourselves after we have blood work done by enjoying a delicious breakfast at our favorite local restaurant, The Dari. I felt very pampered (and full!) when we finished. :0)
We’re home for the rest of the day. I’m going to try to get the weeds in my flower plants under control today. I’ll also check to see if we have any ripe tomatoes to harvest. Yesterday my husband fixed a break in a hose connected to our irrigation system. I’ll test the system to see if it’s working or needs more soon, since the daily rains SEEM to have stopped.
We just had our quarterly pest spray on the 21st, but we had to catch a LIVE scorpion off the ceiling in our foyer last night. oooooh. I just called our company and asked what could be done. They are sending our guy out again for a respray at no charge on Friday afternoon. You can’t ask for better service than that.
I wish you a very enjoyable day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Poohism
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Poohisms
Wood Sculpture
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Thoughts on a Tuesday 6-11-2024
Things will hopefully be quiet around here today. We have some errands, but I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time in the yard weeding the flower planters today. We’re having a nice day, with sunshine, and the high temperature today only in the mid 80’s and kinder level of humidity. We have the doors open now, with a nice breeze coming through. :0)
___________
We had a demonstration yesterday of how we are, indeed, older than dirt. We went to meet our new insurance agent. We took a CD with information we needed added to one of our policies. Our agent was a nice man with a very appealing smile and good manner. When we gave him the CD, he looked flustered for a minute and then said he had no way to read what was on the CD. Technology has once again bypassed us. We have some thumb drives, but none large enough to handle all the data we have on a DVD of info and pics about house items in our safe deposit box. Thankfully, my SIL sent me a URL to data storage options, so we’ll research that and decide what we need to do.
Meanwhile, we came home, gathered the little bit of information we needed to give the new agent and emailed it to him. At least we were able to do that.
We realize that we’re no spring chickens, but it’s a bit demoralizing to be hit with how very OLD we’re getting when stuff like this hits us right in the nose…
Filed under aging, Challenges, Changes
Wonderful Watercolor
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Tomatoes and Elephant Ears
Since it’s not supposed to rain today (Yippeeeeee!) I’m planning to finish the weed whacking I started yesterday plus do some serious weeding. It’s only supposed to get into the high 80s today with lower humidity, so it should be MUCH better than it was yesterday where the heat index was 100+.
The tomato plants don’t look ‘neat,’ but they are full of green tomatoes. I fertilized them yesterday, so hopefully they will stay happy.
We have a break in our hose setup for the irrigation system, and I’m hoping my husband will try to fix the break we know about soon, now that the lawn is mowed.
This is bulb #1 of my new elephant ear plants. The bulbs were huge, so I planted the three of them in three different planters, hoping to get the elephant ears all around the yard. This is the largest one so far.
The second bulb is in a tall planter beside the front porch. As you can see, we have small leaves unfurling!
This is bulb # 3, in a planter to the east side of the civilized part of our yard. It’s the smallest, but it looks like it will make it.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky
We were extremely lucky that this was merely scary, rather than resulting in real damage. I’m HOPING it got my husband’s attention and it results in him making SURE the water hose is working before he burns trash again.
You can’t see in this picture, but the flames were active all along the side of the shop and then down the hill. (This is also where the NEW working hose wouldn’t reach. We had to stomp the flames and I grabbed Amber’s water jugs from the shop to douse the flames before we could get the spray attachment on the new hose.
It’s on my list to weed whack the remaining greenery from around the trash barrel ASAP.
Filed under Challenges
Window of Opportunity
Yesterday it rained about 9am (after raining overnight) so our plans to mow and weed whack had to be delayed – hopefully to be done today before we’re due for more rain this afternoon into the evening. It’s still too wet to mow or weed whack, but there are other things that can be done.
I’ve just come in from checking on our tomato plants. I had to prop up some plants, wire some others, harvested some ripe tomatoes, watered with fertilizer, and then sprayed the plants with EIGHT, since there were tiny grasshoppers on some of them. Hopefully the spray will have a chance to work before the rain today.
Here is today’s harvest. I had to throw one tomato away because the grasshoppers had gotten to it, but I’m pleased I could bring these in.
Guess what will be part of our dinner tonight! :0)
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Sweet Felted Wool Animals
Felted Animals – article by Kevin Chai, Feltify.com
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, Felted Wool Art
Too Much Excitement
Yesterday my husband yelled at me. “Linda. I have a problem!” I went running all over the house, trying to FIND him, upstairs, all around the first floor, then down in the basement, then yelled out the front door, then out the back door. Finally I went outside onto the driveway pad and saw him kneeling down out by the shop. The grass was on fire!!!!
He was trying to get it out, but the hose we have out there wasn’t working. He was trying to hook up another one. Part of the fire was right beside the shop. He had been burning trash. One of the pieces of trash came out of the barrel, fell down onto the ground, and WOOOSH! He finally got the hose hooked up and I used my thumb to spray it everywhere there were flames as much as possible. The flow wouldn’t reach the farthest flames, so he went out and stomped them while I ran to the shop to get some water jugs we keep for Amber in the shop. We used those to dampen things down. I went and got the sprayer attachment off the hose that wasn’t working and we got it on the replacement hose and I sprayed everything down again.
We are both okay and, other than the burned out grass, no damage.
He is NOW agreeing to check to make sure the water hose and sprayer are working BEFORE he tries to burn trash again. He also agreed to try to let me know where he IS the next time he yells for help. He did NOT agree to let me know when he decides to burn trash. ARRRRGH! I can’t rest for 5 seconds without him deciding to DO something.
Filed under Challenges
Disdainful Detente
Jet likes the old woven bread basket I put on the countertop beside my computer. She jumps up on me, walks over my keyboard, and either settles down to sleep in the basket, or goes the other way to simply sprawl in the corner between my part of the L-shaped office counter or my husband’s.
Jet, and Amber, our 95 pound yellow lab are not babies. We adopted Jet recently. The only thing we know about her is that she is about 14 months old and had a litter of kittens. Amber is now 7 years old.
So they each have a history and have taken the better part of a month to achieve disdainful detente in the house. They can both be in the same room now without hissing or spitting (unless Jet is startled for some reason). I even found them yesterday both sleeping in the doorway on the tiles by the back door to the porch! I tried to get a picture, but Jet tends to jump up and follow me around, so I need to learn to sneak around a bit.
The cat door latch has saved my sanity. This ingenious piece of heavy plastic goes over the door knob on one end and has a screw-in metal piece in the selected hole on the other end, allowing Jet to go in and out freely, giving her access to her food, water, and kitty litter (plus a safe space if needed) while keeping Amber out. This is working really well. I still close the door completely any time Amber – or we – are eating, and at night.
Our previous sweet cat, Abby, liked to be outdoors. She was very happy with a cat cube on top of the woodpile in the garage for sleeping. We fed her out there, too, plus had a water dish. We have a cat door in the overhead garage door, so she could go in and out of the garage as she wished. We let her in the house and she stayed with us inside as long as she wanted, but was ready to go out at night and much of the day. My husband would like us to ease Jet into this, as well. I’m happy with things as they are. Since I’m the one doing all the extra work on this, I’m HOPING that I can be the one doing the deciding…
Jet initially was really unhappy when I turned on the hair dryer in her bathroom several days ago. Today she actually came in and started rubbing against my legs as I used the dryer. She is definitely adapting. :0)
Detente is a beautiful thing.
Filed under Challenges, Family
Another Dream Place
I would love to walk and dream here. We can be there vicariously, though, just by sharing this image, closing our eyes, and…
Filed under Dreams
Excellent Embroidery
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Saturday 6-8-2024
My husband got the generator to work yesterday manually, but there still seems to be a problem on communication between the generator and the house on starting automatically. The electric company is sending someone out Monday to take a look at things. Hopefully, the tech and my husband can figure out what needs to be done.
Today the heat index is supposed to be 104 here. UGH. I need to do weed whacking all around the yard, so will need to do MANY short sessions.
I’m also doing several loads of laundry today, so maybe I’ll climb in with the last load – :0)
I hope you have a wonderful Saturday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Sarah Rogers Art
Filed under animal paintings, Sarah Rogers Art
Power Problems
All of a sudden yesterday our power went off. It wasn’t storming. The sun was shining. No power. Our generator is wired to come on automatically when the public power goes off, but it DIDN’T. (It runs everything in the house EXCEPT heat and A/C.)
5 hours later (the public power was back on) but we couldn’t get the generator to work. We went to town, bought a solenoid and installed it. The generator still didn’t work.
This morning we bought another battery. We will wait until after lunch – when the generator is in the shade – to work on it again. Fingers crossed the new battery solves the problem. If not, I’m not sure what comes next.
Filed under Challenges
Is This OUR Driveway?
We have had to wait so long to have our driveway repaired that we got USED to bumping up and down, trying to drive around the worst spots, etc. We also got USED to the greenery almost forming a tunnel overhead, scraping the sides of the truck as we went up or down. The driveway was getting narrower by the day. We finally saved up the money to get the repair done, and then couldn’t find anyone to DO it! :0(
“Big Joe” and “Little Joe” Comer work together in Greenwood and the surrounding area and have for years. Our friend Bud Nelson recommended them and they did a fine job, even having to work around Mother Nature, who was constantly bringing not only rain, but severe weather. We now have a really good base of the chat the city uses on the streets.
When we got that done, Little Joe told us about a man who works with them, Johnny, who calls himself “The Tree Man,” who could help us with all the greenery that was trying to bury us. He came, gave us an estimate, and was here the next morning working. He brought another man the second day (yesterday) and they finished.
I can’t believe this is OUR driveway. It looks so civilized! You simply drive down or up without bumping or being jostled from side to side. There is nothing scraping the truck on the sides or on the top. HOOORAY!
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
Quick Note 6-7-2024
Just a quick note to let you know it’ll be quite a bit later before I post much today. Our power went out yesterday, but our generator did NOT come on as it always does. We spent 5 hours working on things, trying to figure it out. We then went to town, bought a new solenoid (a switch type thingie that goes between the motor and the battery), but that didn’t solve things. We are taking the battery in this morning to get a new one. Fingers crossed that that is the last part to getting it to work again.
My husband was SURE we replaced that battery less than a year ago. He couldn’t find it in the computer log he keeps. We couldn’t find a receipt for it in the files, either. After a lot of looking and bad words, he FINALLY found a listing in the log that said the battery had been in there since 2019. Then he told me he was getting dingy and losing his self-confidence. I ‘calmly’ pointed out that he wasn’t getting older by himself, that I was there right along with him, and that we needed to work together to devise strategies for keeping track of things. I pointed out that when I drove him to get the solenoid (a very unusual thing for him to ask) I had to CONCENTRATE to remember where the place was. That seemed to help. Will write more when we either get things working again or take a break.
Filed under Challenges
Marvelous Metalwork
Filed under metal art
Thursday Thoughts 6-6-2024
Johnny “The Tree Man” came yesterday and worked really hard on trying to get the greenery in our driveway under control. He is back this morning with a friend to help him finish. I’m glad they are starting now (8:30) because my weather sources are saying the high will be 93 this afternoon. UGH. I’m hoping they’ll be home, with a cold drink and their feet up by then. I’ll try to get some pics to share later.
I also talked to him about his availability in the winter when we have evergreens sag down in the driveway from both sides, making it impossible for us to get out. (It took my husband and me 4 days one winter after an ice storm to chain saw our way down to the street.) I also talked to him about recreating the ‘fire break’ we had done between the civilized part of our back yard and the heavier wooded area below years ago. It has grown back now. He said he would be willing to do either or both. HOOORAAAAY! :0) Now we just have to save our pennies…
Johnny was talking to his friend about our yard art. Johnny particularly likes the way I painted the propane tank to look like a watermelon.
He asked his friend to take a picture of it. :0) Willie, his friend, particularly like our Guard Dog.
My good long-time friend, Linda, is having a birthday at the end of this month. I make a point now to visit with her at the retirement place when I get my massage there each month, since we don’t do Lunch Bunch anymore. I ordered the turtle above to take to her when I go. It’s solar powered, and she LOVES turtles, so hopefully, she’ll like this. I should get it by the end of next week.
The tomato plants are looking healthy.
First harvest of ripe tomatoes this morning!!!!!
AND – even though it’s obvious that this bed needs weeding, you can see that the elephant ear plant in this planter is starting to unfurl its first leaves. There are two other plants in two other planters also doing well, but not this far along.
Have a great day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
D-Day Anniversary – Thursday 6-6-2024
“With a small window of opportunity in the weather, Eisenhower decided to go—D-Day would be June 6, 1944. Paratroopers began landing after midnight, followed by a massive naval and aerial bombardment at 6:30 a.m. American forces faced severe resistance at Omaha and Utah Beaches.”
“The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, ended the debate over American intervention in both the Pacific and European theaters of World War II. The day after the attack, Congress declared war on Imperial Japan with only a single dissenting vote.”
Filed under holidays
Ephraim Pottery 2
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Ephraim Pottery
Dog Drawings – AWWW
A dog wags its tail with its heart.
— Martin Buxbaum
Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well.
— Bonnie Wilcox
When life grows cold, a dog will warm your soul.
— Angie Weiland-Crosby
He who feeds a hungry animal feeds his own soul.
—Charlie Chaplin
Filed under drawings
Wednesday 6-5-2024
The man came yesterday just before dinner to look at our driveway. The greenery on both sides of it is trying to merge into a tunnel above, as well as scrape the paint off our vehicles as we try to go down and up.
We used to cut the greenery back ourselves. I drove the truck with my husband in the truck bed with the loppers. I would drive with the windows open so I could hear him yell, “Stop!” He would then lop off the worst offenders and try to pitch them off the side of the driveway as best he could. We went up one side and down the other several times each growing season. Now I don’t even want to THINK about him trying to stand, balance, reach up and lop off troublesome branches and then try to heave them. (He has just started an over-the-counter med that is supposed to help with his balance. He ordered this since he has noticed a problem trying to walk.)
The ‘Tree Man’ as he calls himself, is in his low 60’s, quite healthy looking, and extremely nice. He works a lot with the men who just repaired our driveway surface, and was recommended by them. We talked about what was needed, he gave me a price, and he said he would be here about 9am today, if Mother Nature was cooperative. He said is is fast, and does good work.
My husband has a haircut scheduled for this morning. I’m hoping he can get out and then back up again when he needs to. I’ll talk to Johnny before he starts, if possible.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
creativeartworksblog 