Missy Turns 13

Happy Birthday Missy
I got busy yesterday and neglected to wish my old girl a happy birthday. Missy turned 13 tuesday. When my friend, Judy E, gave her to me, Kim got home from work, spotted the new kitten and asked "What the hell is that?". Yep, rocket scientist, isn't he. But she took on a special job when I had to undergo chemo and lost my hair. She started sleeping curled around my head to keep me warm. It was years before she gave that up, only doing it in winter now.This year she seems to have developed arthritis. This past winter she was in pain quite a bit, but hasn't had much of a problem with the coming of warm weather.I thought the picture of Tigger, Missy, and Lucy all together catching sunrays, was especially cute. That is my fuzz crew.Also in her old age, she is getting mellow. Kim has called her Hell Cat for a few years now. You could be petting her and suddenly, without warning, she would turn on you and slash. She was especially bad with Kim at that. Now she seeks out pettings and purrs a lot more.I think a lot of her bad attitude has to do with two things......her birth defect (a tail that curls back on itself that she has a bad habit of catching on things), and her being raised with the two boys. Boys being boys, they liked to tease her sometimes. But they love the old cat and she loves them, in spite of it all. I have a picture over 10 years old, of Chris napping in the middle of the living room floor with Missy snuggled up to his leg with her legs wrapped around him.Happy Birthday my dear buddy

Floor Done

I finally got the last of the floor tiles down in the sewing room last night. So the hard physical part is done, now comes the difficult mental task of weeding out and organizing what I have. I have been trying to get real serious with myself on just what I really will do something with and what I only have a vague idea or might get to in a hundred years.
More pics will be posted as the room comes together.

What I did on my summer vacation

So......the sewing room desperately needed reorganizing. With the hospitalization last summer for drug induced hepititis, I felt horrible for over 6 months before, then for over 6 months afterword. This means too tired to do anything, and no creative sparks. The sewing room got messier and messier. On top of that...a couple of new dogs in my life over the past year or two decided that the sewing room was a good place to pee and poop. The carpet was a mess no matter how many times I steam cleaned it. Also, nobody likes a sewing room with carpet in it. You can't roll your chair, and it is a doozy if you drop a pin.
Clearing stuff out has been a huge chore. I would pull out a batch of stuff, rip up the carpet and padding, then lay a couple of rows of tile and arrange things on the new tiled area and start over on the next area to tile. The tile I am using is made of flip flop material, slightly textured, that interlocks together like a jigsaw puzzle. I have only one small section in front of the door to do yet. First I have to empty and move a large pie safe. As you can see in the top picture, the dining room is piled. In fact, it is more piled than in that picture right now. This has gone on for two weeks and looks like it will be at least another week before I get a grip on it. Especially since I am exhausted and sore. It has also been too hot to move. The last couple of days have been under 100 degrees and wonderful!
I just got a call from my satelite provider. Seems they think we shouldn't be receiving our local stations. I need to find out who to call to defy them to come to my house and tell me how to get local tv stations without a satelite. Not just challenge them.....defy them! Otherwise, I will sit here in bad weather totally clueless as to if I need to watch for tornadoes or hail, or damaging winds. No other way of knowing out here.
I have more to update on, but have run out of time. Also, with my slow dialup, it takes forever to upload a couple of pictures....if it will at all. So, more pics coming.

Biker Chicks and Harley Babes

Last weekend, Gramps had some beautiful blonds on his bike. What a lucky guy!!
We got to keep the grandgirls for 4days and 3 nights. Autumn wasn't too sure of the whole thing after the first ride, but she happily jumped on for the next two rides. Hannah took to the bike like a duck to water. That one is fearless.....which may not be such a good thing.
The girls also went nuts over the Bean. I happened to get a good picture of Hannah holding Bean. Bean isn't used to that much attention and was quite nervous. Poor dog had been abused as a puppy, so it is slow going getting her used to regular doggy life around here. Recently she has started to play with me and play with the soft doggy toys. I caught her last week upside down wrestling a big teddy bear.
Anyway, back to the grands. We had a really good weekend. They are easier to manage now that they are older. On Sunday afternoon, Gramps took them to the Caverns. They loved it but were hot and tired by the time they got back. When they pulled in, I had a bathtub full of warm water, bubbles, and a flashing duck floating around. They were in a good mood when they finished their bath.
Today Kim took off to our nieces nursing school graduation. I stayed home because I was too worn out from 4 days of non-stop girls. Did I mention that I lost 5lbs while they were here? Kim should be back saturday, then take off for a job on sunday.
Meanwhile.....I am dragging out fabric and machine to get some upholstry projects done. The sooner I get them done, the sooner I can start trying to sort out the rat's nest of a sewing room.

Yard is blooming

I thought spring would never come this year. But things are looking up. The bluebonnets are sparse due to the drought. I have only about 5 plants in the backyard and only a sad sprinkling of them in the front lane, which is usually busting with them.
My Clematis is back this year. The past two years, it only gets about a foot tall, puts out one bloom, and either dies back or just sits there the rest of the season. Well, it is now a little over a foot tall and the one bloom is out. This is a bigger one that the previous years, so maybe good things will happen with it this year.



















I have a lilac surprise. The blooms so far this year have been tiny and stunted. This morning I happened to look up at the right time and spotted this. Can you see it? It is a set of full sized blooms!!! And the smell....ahhhhh!
When you walk out into the backyard, the breeze blowing from the west brings a heady scent of flowers. It took me a little bit of time to figure out what was smelling so delicious. The Dianthus around the satellite pole are in full bloom. These are a very pretty pink. I just bought a couple more pots of them to fill in the other side.....only in red.
Other things are coming on that I will put up pictures of as they make a showing. My native iris are starting to bud out and I have a Stargazer lily with 3 or 4 buds on it.

What an Awful Mess!!!

This morning, around 11 or so, my father in law came over with the mail he had gotten in town and asked if I noticed the fire. I hadn't. The UPS man later told me it was a fire in the mud pit of a drilling rig across the interstate. I thought I would post some pictures of the mess for Kim.


There were many booms and whoomps all afternoon. It would seem to die down, then I would hear a boom or whoom, look up, and see new black or white plumes. The local fire department is monitoring it to make sure nothing gets out of hand. Around 3, it seemed to die down. Then about 4pm......a big blast sound, and this....

My camera is a disappointment on long range shots. You may not be able to pick it out, but the rig is just to the left of the plume. Also, I didn't catch it just right, but when I took the last shot, there were flames shooting high enough in the air that I could see it from a mile away and over trees and hills.
As I finish up this post at 5:25, the black smoke is still going. If it burns after dark, I will be able to see the flames.

Windy March

I took two pictures of the linens on the line. It was so windy that day, that the other picture showed them horizontal to the clothesline. This picture just seems to embody spring.
Kim and his dad put up this clothesline for me last month. I told him about where I wanted it. This is not it. If you look closely, you can see a small pine tree about in the middle of the line. Is my husband a rocket scientist, or what? I don't think he even noticed the tree, much less thought it might live, and maybe might get full size, rendering the clothesline and all the work that went into it, useless. Oh well....I will enjoy it while I can. I will NOT move the tree!

Latest Doings at Foxdraw

Spring is trying to come out here. The purple plum tree is blooming it's little head off and things are leafing out all over.
Due to the drought, I have one lone bluebonnet. I have even put up a picture of what most of the thin stand of bluebonnet plants look like right now. By now, they are usually quite big and have buds all over them. But this year the few that came up are still very small. There are places in the Hill Country that are whining about drought, but have huge stands of bluebonnets. It irks me to hear that since they don't know what drought is apparently.
I have also posted a picture of my new rose bed. The three bushes that I planted in it have been in barrels the past few years and needed to spread their roots or they would die. In the corner is the Belinda's Dream. The middle climber is a Lavender Lady (or Lassie, can't remember). The one on the right is Reine Des Violettes (I probably misspelled that).
We have had a rig drilling up at the service road. This picture is of it from my front porch. It moved the other day....a few hundred yards to the left. At least the wind isn't out of the north now or it would be noisey here.
My mom is having knee replacement surgery friday, so I will be at her house all next week. All my projects are put on hold once again. Probably by the time I can get back to them, it will be time for Kim to come home. Why do I even make plans?
By the way, Kim is in Siberia again. It isn't spring there. He has sent me pictures of snow on the ground. If I get a chance this week, I will post a picture he took from his motel room. Maybe this time I will get something from Russia besides shampoo and paper money. Hoping for some kind of textile and my friend a set of stacking dolls. We'll see.

Last of the game

It took forever and a few tries this morning, but I finally got the last of the pictures from the weekend the kids came.
Also, yesterday Kim went with his dad for Dad's test results. The bone marrow test and CT scan looked great. He has a mild case of chronic leukemia. This is not the deadly kind. Neither does he require medication. He just has to have a check up every 6 months to check on his bloodwork. There is no way to express in just a few words just what a relief this is to all of us. We thank God for these results and thank everyone who sent up prayers for Dad.

More Weekend Pics

Okay, it took a while, but I got more pictures up from the weekend. Check out Casey's pitching form! You go girl!!!
Also, the amazing Brooklyn. Hmmm....the girl has a future in the circus!!! Or maybe the next Harry Potter?
More pics to come, they just take so long to load up, and no guarantee that they will load....so taking a bit at a time.
Today Kim went with his dad for the doctor appt. We find out the results of Dad's bone marrow test and CT scan.

The Baseball game

I somehow got three pictures to upload, by putting one up after the other two had loaded. Interesting...
First is of Matt pitching...with Chris next to him. Then, of course, there is Casey at Bat. I will try some more later, but just took my sleeping meds and they are kicking in. That makes it hard to type correctly.
Got a good one of Casey pitching....but it will wait till tomorrow.

Sorry...one pic

Blogger is not allowing me to put pics up tonight. That's about right. I take the time to sit down and put up with the tremendously long download time, and I keep getting an error message. I only got one pic up. I think it is my slow dial up and screwball ISP combination.
So all you get to see tonight is the pile I had in my lap sunday afternoon. I used to get piles of cats in my lap, but since the little dogs moved in, they take over my lap. Notice the Chaweenie is curled on top of Jack. Of course, Brooklyn thinks it is all great. She has learned how to say doggy and Hi. She went around all day saying those two words.
Maybe tomorrow I can upload pics of the ballgame....such as it was. Wonder if Sparky can move her mouse yet?

Don't get your panties in a wad

I promise I will put up some pics this evening. Right now the old man and I are riding the Harley in to town to the pharmacy. If I can stay awake this afternoon and don't lose my mind, there will be pictures posted that involve scaring an old man, golf balls in the pasture, and magic bats.
And it also depends on if Tigger keeps his furry self off my mouse. What is it with cats and mice, even if the mice are electronic???

Catching up with the week

Whew.....things finally slowed down and I am feeling human again. Life has been hopping since friday. I will put up pictures later, but right now too much to catch up on to download pics.

Friday: I had an appointment with my Internalist. I checked in at 10:30 and had a nice chat with a gentleman named Daniel while I waited. After he went in for his appt, I knitted on some fingerless mitts until I was called in at noon. Yes, and hour and half is a long wait, but Tamara takes time with her patients, so I don't mind the wait. After all.....she and I took an hour ourselves. We had a good talk about thyroid medications. Taking the new Ambien CR has been a godsend for me. I have actually logged 8 hours most nights, so am feeling less pain now. But I get up feeling rested, then the energy drains out of me. I have gotten to where I don't have to take naps, but the lack of energy sometimes drives me to one. Add that to the fact that I am getting nowhere fast on our town fitness challenge. This morning I registered yet another big goose-egg in the loss catagory. So, doc agreed to experiment. She wanted to try a synthetic, but I told her about reading that they don't work for all people and I would rather try Armour thyroid. So I left the office at 1pm with a script for 60mg.
I spent the rest of the afternoon running around the city getting shopping done. About 3pm, I realized I hadn't eaten since that morning and was getting very hungry. Hunger for me is not good. It almost always preceeds a low blood sugar episode. I whipped into Weinersnitzle and got a pepsi and a mustard dog with cheese. That tided me over until I headed home in the evening. When I got into town I stopped and got a Dude at the DQ, knowing I would be too busy once I got home to eat anything. Friday.....good for a least a 2 lb gain.
Saturday I ran into town in the morning to get the thyroid script filled. I made it in before 10am and the interstate was already shut down. I had to melt ice off the back window of the Explorer where it faces north...and scrape ice off my rear view mirror. The cold front had come in friday, but by saturday it had gotten bone chilling cold and the misty rain was freezing on the ground. Oddly enough, they had one westbound lane open on the interstate. It stayed closed until sunday morning late. We had a lot of big trucks going through town for a day and half.
Saturday evening I spent over an hour going through everything in my closet, trying to find something to wear to Diana and Eddie's wedding. Finally settled on a flannel skirt and a new tensel and cotton sweater I had gotten friday. The wedding was sweet and intimate. My heart sister is now Mrs. Arteaga....but still Dr. Green. I know at least twice in the past year I have told her she didn't have to change her professional name. I am glad she finally got that much settled.
After the ceremony at the church, I ran home to change into party gear, then back to town for the reception and party. It has been a few years since I got to visit with Di's family, so it was great catching up with them. They are a musical family, so they had a nice stage set up and played for their guests. Di's brother played fiddle and guitar, his fiance played guitar, Di sang, her new hubby Eddie played drums, her dad played guitar, as did her son. Most of the guests had a good time dancing. I don't know how to country dance, so I just enjoyed the show. Before it all started, Di and I were visiting at the goodies table and we dug into wedding cake. Di got a huge hunk of icing and urged me to get as big a slice as I wanted. She has always been such an enabler! I had to leave at 10pm due to fatigue setting in and I could feel my shoulders tightening up. Saturday's total had to be at least another pound or two gained.
Sunday morning I could barely get out of bed. I had taken a painkiller when I went to bed, but of course, it had worn off and I was paying for two days of solid going. It took a while before I didn't moan with every movement. It was still cloudy and cold, but at least no rain. I spent the day knitting on a purse....love cables!....and catching up on my email. That evening I fixed bbq roast leftovers with mashed red potatoes and mixed vegetables. This morning I weigh 4 lbs more than check in last week. I am a fitness challenge failure.
The evening was topped off when Mimi and the Bean (sounds like Binky and the Brain, but not as smart) came in smelling to high heavens. Well, Beanie came in stinking and got a bath while Kim hunted skunk. Mimi had to get a bath when she snuck in later. She knew what she was in for and didn't want any part of it. I won though. So everyone went to bed smelling sweet.
Well that is it for now. My connection wants to crater on me so I will try to save this before I lose the whole post.

At a crossroads

I tried on the Picovoli top I have been knitting and don't know what to do with it. I just got through decreasing for the waist shaping and don't know whether to just rip it all back and redo it on smaller needles, or work with what I have and just add a few more inches and finish off. From trying it on, I do know I don't need to do the increases the pattern calls for.

New Wheels and the Blues

I found the coolest tricycle for Brooklyn. It is purple, pink and yellow, and has a dashboard that makes sounds. By this summer, maybe she will be old enough to learn to ride it round and round the carport.

Here is the cool dashboard. It makes all sorts of neat sounds. Now I need to pick up a big girl bicycle for when the older grands visit....hopefully this summer.


Meanwhile, I realized I have the blues big time lately. Not only is there a lot of depressing things going on lately, but I also get depressed when doctor visits time comes. Gyno wasn't so bad last week, but now I have to go to my internalist this week, then next week on the rounds of mammo and useless bone density test.
I drag around here drained of energy. It's like it just pumps right out of my body. I have so much to do and so much that I want to do. Just no get up and do.
Not going well on the diet. No energy to exercise....and pain when I do. No, not soreness from using muscles.....pain. Pain is not condusive to exercise. So the only way to lose weight is by liquid diet. Keeping blood sugar levels up on diet drinks is not easy. I don't enjoy a hungry belly all the time. Food has gotten down to a minimum intake and nothing happens. I want to quit smoking, but that seems to be the only thing that goes in my mouth that doesn't cause weight gain. It would be all a different story if I could get my doctors to pay attention. But that is not likely to happen in my lifetime....unless, of course, it lands me in the hospital again.
It was about 20 degrees when I got up this morning. It was only up in the mid 40's yesterday, but supposed to be around 60 today. I don't know what the deal is, but I have been sneezing a lot lately. Even woke up sneezing the other day. Since pollens have gone down due to rain in the area last week, I am baffled about the sneezing. The drainage and coughing from it, marches on. Since buying a bottle of Creomulsion the other day, I am not waking up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable coughing.
The only productive thing I have done recently is knit. I can sit at the computer, or in my comfy chair, or at the sunroom table and do that. So have been getting quite a bit done. I just have too many projects going. I switch back and forth on them according to my mood, so none get finished.

The face of a liar

Apparently, doctors have a special insight. They walk into a room with me and automatically peg me as a liar. It is rare for a doctor to actually believe what I say. This has resulted in 3 hospitalizations in the past 12 years. They don't believe me until I end up in the hospital with the problem. This also resulted in me being turned down for more life insurance. I will be sending off for the written decision in order to appeal it. But in the meantime, I will be taking the letter in to show the doctor that ignored me over the last problem which wound up with me in the hospital for drug induced hep.
Why the rant? Well, I always get depressed when it comes time for yearly checkups. Will I be bold enough to tell them I am fine? Then when they remark about it.....tell them that they wouldn't believe me anyway, so why bring anything up? What would happen then? Since they will be looking at a face they have pegged as a liar....why tell them anything. Maybe I really am a life insurance risk. Maybe one of the doctors the company contacted told them that I am a liar and bad risk.
The doctors have such creative ways of calling me a liar also. Do they get the monthly newsletter "New, creative ways to call your patient a liar".
One thing I have learned......honey, if you ain't textbook, then you are a liar.
End of rant for today. Maybe more later after I see the first of two docs for the month.

My little world

This is what is on my computer screen these days. If you don't know who he is, then you are very old...LOL

It is a bit cool this morning, so the dogs are seeking warm spots, preferably with sun beams. Here are the three terriers vieing for the same sunbeam. They had already kicked a cat out in order to take this spot over. These are the three high energy dogs that live at my house. Only the one in the middle is actually mine. The other two don't know they aren't mine.

And here is Jack in his favorite nap spot....well, favorite if he isn't snuggled in bed with me. He has a habit of getting up there and digging before he lays down. Don't know the reasoning behind the digging. Most dogs would turn around three times.
This picture reminds me that I really.....REALLY....have to get this chair recovered this spring.

I just discovered that I need to give Mouse a bath today. I am hoping it will warm up a bit this afternoon so she won't get a chill. She has a matting of something nasty on her back. It is right behind her shoulder blades where she can't reach. I tried to snip it off a bit, but it seems to be attached to her skin and there is raw skin under it. I can't figure out what is going on, but poured some peroxide over it to see if I can get it to loosen up a bit to scrub off later. That poor dog has more problems. Her nose is just now healing up good. It looked like something had stung her on the nose and a big blistery sore was there for a couple of weeks.
On top of that, it's time to start the vaccination rounds again. I never even got around to the cats and one cat is in pain. I need to take her in to see what is going on. She is 12 and I am afraid to find out what is causing her pain. Now, if I could just get the youngest son to support himself so I could take care of the animals around here........hint, hint.
BBQ brisket is in the oven for Superbowl noshing. So far all I have planned is mashed potatoes to go with it. Guess I will probably have salad and rolls to round it out. Ugh.....weigh-in is tuesday and I have already gained 3 lbs from eating supper out last night. Got to figure out how to give up food. Already barely eat enough to keep an anorexic alive and I never lose weight. Don't give me the song and dance about not eating enough. I gain if I eat regular meals, no matter how fat and calorie free it is. Such is the life when your doctors think you are a liar.

Nap Boy...aka Bedhog

Taking a nap around my house intails a lot of bodies. First thing is getting Mr. Tigger to shove over and make a spot for me. I thought you might enjoy seeing how he naps. I also tend to have Missy vieing for the pillow with me, and Jack always wants under the covers. Jack's main problem is that he acts like a cat. Soon as we get settled in, he starts bathing...just like a durn cat. There is no making him stop either. Not until he has those feet clean.
I just checked...the bed is empty.....gotta go while I can.......

Almost up to snuff

Well my ISP got my mail going again. Things still aren't right. I have a hard time getting websites to load up. I went ahead and opened up a gmail account. I may end up liking the format. But juno is so easy to handle.
My son tortured me some more this morning. This is one of the pictures he sent me. I will have to figure out which is my favorite and make it my desktop background. Mr. Tyler beats an ocean scene any day of the week.