In Loving Memory of Boo

We lost our beloved Boo to feline leukemia last night.

It took him so quickly, even the vet was surprised.

He was a loving and gentle soul. We'll miss him

Morning Visitors

When I started out onto the deck with my morning coffee, I was surprised to see these two bucks standing only a few feet away. Glad I had the camera with me. :)



What a neat way to start the day.
I hope you have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Paintings

Here are two of a few paintings I'm considering entering in the art show this weekend.

Seaside Sunset


This one is called "Autumn's Church"

Been Busy

Summer is almost upon us and I've been busy cleaning, planning meals for the week, enjoying friends and family on Face Book, and working on a painting I hoped to enter in the art show this weekend. My eyes have gotten so bad I can't hardly see to put detail in the painting. It's not looking at all like I hope it would so I'm not sure if I'll enter it, but instead enter some I've already finished. We'll see.

As I was hosing off the deck and front porch, little did I know I was also bathing another litter of kittens. Yes, that's right, another litter has arrived but this time it's Molly. She's the litter mate to Boo and Sammy and is the one who has very slowly warmed up to us. She's getting braver so hopefully we can catch her and get her to the vet to be spayed before the next litter arrives.

Anyway, Ray gathered up the wet kittens and as we dried off each one with a towel, we placed them in a box with towels and put the box back under the porch where Molly could find them.


The strawberries are doing well.

We've already had several desserts from them and there's more on the way.

Growing Things

The long rainy season has made for a lush spring. Instead of a week, as some seed packets suggest, I've witnessed seed bursting open and leaves popping up within a few days. It was evident with the sunflowers...and also the zuchinni.


We're planning to till up a large garden spot at dad's house this year. He can't do it anymore, but watching it grow and harvesting things here and there will be something he'll enjoy. If the rain would hold off long enough to till it, we can get started on it.

The peonies are pretty this year.


The Sweet Williams have also done well.


Wild roses are climbing trees out back...


and the blackberry briars laden with blooms, promise a huge harvest in the coming weeks.


Peety and the other cats take turns chattering at birds from the bedroom window on lazy afternoons...


while Bennie peeks around the tomatoes.


It's going to be fun watching the plants grow and picking the goodies once they ripen. We've already picked enough strawberries for two desserts and there's plenty more ripening on the vines.

The peach tree will be bearing in a year or so.

I chose the Elberta variety as it was granny's favorite. I remember her canning a bushel of them she'd bought at a farmer's market one summer. I thought it would be neat being able to pick them off the tree in your own back yard. They're so sweet and fragrant too. Peach ice cream will certainly be on the menu once they do get here.

Decisions

Thursday, the animal control officer came and picked up Penny and her kittens. They're settled into their new home on a farm a few miles away. I miss her but she needed someone who could get her spayed. We simply didn't have the money right now. The other animals seem calmer with them gone too.

Friday I planted a few seeds around the yard, transplanted some hostas and planted marigolds and tomatoes. Later that night I was in agony. My arms felt like they were literally burning off my shoulders. Ray got me some ibuprofen along with some other medication to help me. It was devastating to learn that something as simple as using a garden spade would cause that much pain, but with fibromyalgia, the simplest exertion can be debilitating. I never want to suffer like that again, but at least I have a few things planted.

Caught this pretty fellow in the woods out back.

Freebie

Gooseberry Patch has some cute little recipe cards you can download and use for sharing your favorite recipes. You can find them here... recipe cards

God Help Us

Well the neighbor's cat, we call Penny, brought us two rain-soaked and muddy kittens onto the deck last night. Two are tortoise shell females and there's another red tabby there now. We're not sure what sex it is yet. The last two red tabbies she had were males.

We've had quite a bit of rain over the past two weeks or so. Wherever she had them this time obviously flooded them out.

Ray and I looked at one another first in horror and then all we could do was laugh. What can we do? We did what we could and that was put a soft blanket and warm towels in a box and the box in a cage with a comforter over top of it. We placed two of the kittens in the box and didn't see the third kitten until this morning when Ray went out to check on them. Penny waited until we went inside for the night before she went after kitten number three. Mom and the kittens now have a warm bed and shelter from the chill.

We called the animal control officer and he said there's a lady he knows with a large farm who will take the kittens and Penny too. He'll be here for them in the morning.

I'll miss Penny but the neighbor no longer wants her and we've got enough of our own to feed. It's time for some tough decisions.