Studio Progress

The room is being built on again. Today, two walls went up.

The south and west walls are up. The west wall has two windows facing out to cedar bush covered pastureland...hopefully that won't be cleared anytime soon.

Blogger is not cooperating with pictures this evening, so I will try again tomorrow. For now...that is me, sweeping up after the days work.

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...

Luv crossed the Rainbow Bridge to be with Ruby on December 11, 2006

Losing a part of the family

This is my dear late mother in law and her precious dog, Luv. Luv was named for the lady that Ruby got Luv and I got my dog, Mouse from. We lost Ruby in 2003, and since Luv and Mouse were sisters, Luv came to live with us.
Luv has enjoyed a rich, full life. She is very intelligent and very loving. About a month ago, she started losing weight and her breath was awful. Since Jack's breath was nasty too, I took them both to the vet to have their teeth cleaned and Luv checked. The vet drew blood and we got the results a few days later. Luv was in Chronic Kidney Failure. We put her on a special diet and medication, thinking she could pull out of it since she was still a healthy weight and very active. The fantasy lasted another week, then she lost more weight and started turning her nose up at the food.
Now she is nothing but skin and bones. Yesterday she quit eating and drinking completely. I can't put her to sleep yet until Kim comes home to help me. So today I went in and picked up a couple of feeding syringes and some liquid diet from the vet. Every couple of hours, when she is alert and walking around, I feed her some from the syringe. She spends most of her time on a pad next to me on the computer. I couldn't believe it when this morning, she and Jack took a walk up the road and back. If I can keep some nourishment in her, she may be able to do that again tomorrow. But I somehow doubt it. Her kidneys no longer function apparently, and she is being slowly poisoned to death. The smell is almost more than I can handle when I feed her.
Since Kim is coming home tomorrow, I can handle her dying peacefully in her sleep tonight. Otherwise, we will take her in together on monday. My prayer is for a quiet passing this weekend. My heart is broken as it is.....it would be easier not to have to take her into town.
I have to go blow into a few tissues now and go check on her.

Things I forgot to tell

Lets see.....Kim is getting over his cold that he came down with the night he got home. We figured it was from fatigue.
We finally got Betty Lou out and took her for a nice long ride. We barreled down Bond Road and back home. After we got back, I decided that, while I still had my boots on, I would take a hike across the pasture. Mostly I wanted to see if I could get a better look at the house being built behind us. I can see the roof and chimney from a couple of places at my house, but I couldn't see if from the fenceline at the far end of the pasture....too many trees (cedar bushes) and too far down the slope.
As I headed back to the house, Jack took off after a cottontail...slowing down just enough to get through the fence. Dufus missed out on the Jackrabbit I flushed out in front of me. Then getting almost home, I just happened to stop and look around me. I didn't remember anything being on top of that old telephone post......so pulled out the binoculars Kim let me use and got a closer look. Not more than 20 feet from me was a healthy Barn Owl!! And he was looking at me! I said hello, and took afew steps in his direction that caused him to take off in flight. Did you know they have ragged wing edges that keeps their flight silent? Since he flew to a tall tree closer to the house, I was able to point him out to Kim. I looked him up in my bird book and found they lay their eggs in Jan or Feb. Also, they are fearless.....even attacking skunks and possums, thus known as Flying Tigers. I think Jack needs to stick close to home and watch his back.....the cats too. Tigger looks like a Coon in the dark anyway....wonder if he has had run ins with the owl?
Edit!!! My mistake, it was a Great Horned Owl....and a big one at that!
Today my legs hurt. Walk/jogging a mile a day for the past couple of days, then the hike in the pasture with my Wolverine steel toed boots on really did a number on my muscles. I don't know right now if I will go for a mile this afternoon or not.
I think that is all for now.....except for the picture.

That is me at Camp Crochet, with the felted purse I won. The double chin you see is the very reason I am trying to exercise a mile a day. So far, I have quit smoking, gained 10lbs, and am sore all over. Yeah, real encouraging. But hey, I managed to get the hair to behave that day. It's not a curly mop sticking out all over.

Have a good one, Y'all

Missed a Birthday

November 20th was the birthday of my little Princess, Lucy. She was a birthday gift to me from my dear friend, Judy. I had seen her among a batch of kittens Judy was raising and absolutely fell in love. Lucy is a delicate, silky, long haired calico. But don't let the delicate fool you. She has a temper and is an ace hunter. Tigger drives her nuts and she hisses at him when he is in sight. She did teach him how to hunt though.

The baby picture is one Judy took before I got Lucy. The close up is last winter, when she was wearing her winter coat. I would get a shot of her today, but she is nowhere in sight. Lucy likes long naps in my sewing chair or a sunbeam, hunting birds at the feeder.....picture posted, I plant flowers in the tub and put seeds in that black container on the post for the birds. Lucy likes to nap in the tub on the plants, or hide until a likely prey is in the container getting seeds and can't see her. She also brings in rabbits. One of her favorite things to do is bury her nose up in the palm of my hand when I am scratching her ears. She also likes to wait until I am snuggled down in bed on cold nights, then she will lie on top of me and get me pinned in securely. She also has this weird habit of calling me from across the yard or pasture. I will be outside and hear a distant meowing......search around until I spot her coming across the pasture. Even when we have spotted each other, she will meow at me until she is right up to me.

So....Happy Birthday my little sweet Princess......now you are 8.

In other news, Kim got home from Wyoming wednesday afternoon. We had Thanksgiving lunch with just the 4 of us.....Kim, Matt, Aaron (his dad), and me. I heated up the smoked, sliced turkey breast, spooned in a container of ready to eat dressing, opened a couple of cans of turkey gravy, heated up frozen glazed carrots and roasted sweet potatoes......you seeing a pattern here? The only thing from scratch was the mashed potatoes and the zucchini. I hate cooking, so Thanksgiving makes my kitchen a torture chamber. Everyone made pigs of themselves anyway and pronounced it good. My thanks to JennyO for the turkey, Schwan's for the carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and to all the other companies who's wrappers are now in the garbage can.

We also give thanks that A&M beat the pants off UT. Amen

Projects

First project to show is especially to my sister. She gave me a kit to make a Melon Purse and I want to show her that I finished it and made a little purse for my cell phone to match. There is the before picture, and two shots of after it went through the wash. Also, the cool buttons I found to put on them. On the purse is a pewter Celtic swirl looking button....and my Crochet Guild pin. On the phone purse is an antique rhinestone button. I have taken this purse out numerous times.



Next, we have the free London Fog coat I got. A friend was closing her thrift shop and I spotted this coat on the freebie rack. I had it dry cleaned and it looks brand new. You can't tell from the picture, but it is a yummy hunter green wool. I got some yarn in my goodie bag at Camp Crochet that is a fur yarn in hunter green, rose, and cream. I am not much for fur yarns, but this stuff was a delight to work with and the resulting knitted scarf is perfect for the coat. Now...if it will just turn off cold enought to wear them.

Next, even though I don't care for fur yarns, I couldn't resist the furry flip flops I have been seeing, so had to make myself a pair. So...there...I have exposed my icky feet to the world. At least the legs were shaved!
After I did these flip flops and fell in love...wear them all the time....I got Autumn and Hannah a pair of flip flops and going to make them some. I need to find out Brooklyn's shoe size...she may like fancy shoes by next summer.
Well, that's the show for now. It took forever to get pictures loaded today, so I will post more another day.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A Day on the Rez

Back to the story of Kim's and my anniversary trip....














On our last day in Ruidoso, we took a trip to the Apache Reservation. They have the Inn of the Mountain Gods there, with a casino. I had never been to a casino before, so was totally dazzled by the whole Resort. The entrance to the resort is accented by the most impressive bigger than life sculptures of the mountain gods (I presume). The lobby was huge and at one end was a wall of glass that looked out on the golf course, lake, and the beautiful Sierra Blanca mountain. In that area was a split staircase, leading down to the exit doors and a restaurant. In the middle of that split was a fountain that was shaped like an Apache basket.
Kim took me into the casino and we did a tour of the room, with him showing me the tables and slots. He pulled out a fifty, which is his gambling limit, and showed me how it was done. We went from machine to machine with the paper token it gives you, until the 50 was gone. I pulled a twenty from my wallet and started playing with it. After it was gone, I decided I wanted to play some more and hit the ATM machine. Kim left with my purse to sit in the lobby and wait for me. I played 40 more dollars and won 30. When I was through with that, I decided that I wasn't impressed with gambling and cashed out. I went to the gift shop and bought a tshirt and a pair of riding goggles for Kim. That's the whole part and parcel of my gambling experience. I could take it or leave it, and really know of better ways to spend my money. But it was fun trying it for the first time.
Monday morning we loaded up, locked up the cabin, and took the south route home. We went past the resort and through the reservation to the Cloudcroft turnoff. We ended up kicking ourselves for not taking that route on the bike. It was exquisitely beautiful with the mountains and pines. Bits of fog hung on in places and it was drizzling most of the way. On the way out of the mountains, we stopped at a couple of roadside stands where I bought apples, apple and cherry ciders, and a jar of mountain honey.
We got to Artesia just in time for lunch, which we shared with Kim's old friend, Tim. Great little mexican food place called La Fonda. On our way up to Ruidoso, we spent thursday night in Hobbs visiting with Tim and his wife, Susan. We had a great time catching up with them. Kim and Tim went to high school together, then lived together for a while after graduating. Kim and I were witnesses at Tim and Susan's wedding. We all lost touch a couple of decades ago, so it was wonderful to meet up with them again. We were going to have lunch with both of them on the way back, but Tim called and said he was out on a job, so we met him in Artesia.
To catch everyone up.....Kim has been gone on jobs for about 3 weeks now. He headed to West Virginia for some jobs, then Pennsylvania for one, then the past week in Wyoming. We are counting on him being home for Thanksgiving.

My New Room

I have something very special happening in my life right now. My sweetheart is having a room built just for me and my stuff. I will soon have a room to put all my sewing machines, fabric, yarn and various other things that go with it. I can put my treadle machine in there, the machine and cabinet that was his mothers', my gigantic trunks, and all the other antique furniture.
A friend of mine and her husband are the builders, so they let me help as much as I want to. I am their weekend job. Last weekend they poured the footings. This weekend the floor joists and flooring went in. Now we wait until an extra worker can be freed up on a job so my walls can go up.
The room will be 28 feet wide and 12 feet deep. I didn't think that was very big until the floor went on and I stood up there. Also standing up there, I realized that I prefered the window going on the north side instead of the south side.....better view.
I am so stoked over this. I need to get busy and plan out the room arrangement before I am left standing in the finished room, wondering where to put cabinets and such.

More mountains

Okay, more scenes from New Mexico. Can you see the three does? That was taken out the back door of the cabin. There were over half a dozen of them. I know....I get the same thing happening at my house, difference is...these are Mule Deer...bigger build and bigger ears. And bigger racks as you can see from the next picture. There were 4 bucks that had moved in at the vacant cabin down the road. They were quite content laying around chewing cud. Then the next day, they had to leave. Someone across the street had come for the weekend and their Terrier wasn't going to allow the squatters on the block.

Saturday morning, Kim and I got out the Harley and took her for a mountain ride. We headed north and found the end of the range where we stopped at a rest area. I took pictures of the fantastic view from there. The first one is of the Capitan Range,my map says that is Carrizo Peak. The second one is my favorite. Just pointing the camera a little to the west of the range and you see for must be over a hundred miles. The view is for so far that you can't even tell the land from the sky. When I checked the map later, I figured out that just to the southwest...just out of camera range to the left of me, is the north end of the White Sands Missile Range. I stood there for quite a while just soaking in the astounding view.

The last picture is from that same rest stop, looking south to Sierra Blanca. That is the mountain that holds Ski Apache, I believe. I don't ski, so ignorant in that area. Later I will post a picture of that same mountain, only from the lobby of the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

We went on down that mountain and back up the other side, stopping at Capitan for lunch, then on back south, to Ruidoso. Kim was in the mood for a nap and I was in the mood to explore the shops. He took me in, dropped me off, and I spent the next three hours shopping while he rested. I found lots of goodies to buy, but the best was the tooled leather backpack purse. I have wanted one, but never could find one to my taste. This pack is classy enough to take everywhere and will work fabulously when we ride Betty Lou.

Tomorrow I will take you to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, where I tasted gambling and was unimpressed, then on the ride out of the mountains to the south on our way home.

I got a call from Kim about an hour ago. He is packing up in Pennsylvania, heading to Rock Springs, Wyoming today. That is going to be a long drive. We are both hoping they let him come home for Thanksgiving, and especially his Dad's hip replacement surgery on the 28th. At least he wasn't the crew that went to China or Argentina.

Poke Me, I'm Done

I should be....been slow cooking at 90 degrees for two days. Geesh...it's freaking November! Where is my cool weather? Apparently it's still in storage, like my winter clothes. The only wardrobe change I have made is to dig to the bottom of my drawer for a sweatshirt.
So, since it is so hot here, I think it is time to pull out the 30th Anniversary pictures. We were in the mountains, 8000 feet up, where the air is cool and trees grow, and apparently the air is so thin that you run out of breath after climbing two flights of stairs! I thought I was having an asthma attack the first night.....and I don't have asthma!

This first picture (geez I hope they turn out in the order I am loading them), we are heading west out of Roswell. Just before I took this picture, I was really getting concerned that I was not seeing mountains. I knew they had to be there eventually. Then, rising up from the scrub desert floor.....a mountain! I believe this is the El Capitan mountain range. And for those who want to know those things.....we were south of the famous crash site.

And it looks like blogger is going to flip my sequence...so bear with me. The house you see is the "cabin" we rented. Oddly enough, the owners live in the neighboring town from us. There is Kim at the top of the stairs. The cabin was a full three bedroom, two and half bath, full kitchen, living room with wood burning fireplace, and hot tub on the back deck. It was a wonderful weekend in the high mountains, listening to echo's and watching deer. A front went through while we were there which made for some divine misty rains. The rain made it seem so magical.

I will leave you today with a picture of one of the mule deer does out the back door, and a view off the side of the road on the mountain we were on. The vista's were breathtaking. Next set of pictures will be from the ride we took on Betty Lou to the north end of the mountains, then the reservation as we left.

I am feeling about 10 degrees cooler already, just from looking at the pictures

More inspiration from Camp Crochet

Since I don't know the ins and outs of blogger yet, the pictures and captions will probably be hit or miss. I have no control over which picture ends up in what order once my entry uploads. So, here goes. Margaret Hubert was our guest teacher at Camp. She has written numerous books and patterns for knit and crochet. What she taught us that weekend was Freeform crochet. We worked on a handbag, but the examples she brought to show us were breathtaking. The first two pictures (hopefully) are of the mesh jacket with fringey accents. This was a big hit! She wore it to lunch and I noticed the ladies at a table behind her were fascinated with it.

The other breathtaking garment she showed was the long black vest. This one was of mostly black and gold yarns and threads. On this one, she included knitted pieces also. Below is a picture of the back, which shows the butterfly at the top of it. The other two pictures are of her demonstrating a stitch, and of her in another red jacket, different from the first one that caused such a stir.



I wish I knew hot to hotlink, I would include a clickable address to her website. For now you will have to cut and paste www.margarethubertoriginals.com

Hmm...maybe it will hotlink after all....we shall see when it uploads.
I bought two of her books from her, having her autograph them. Then I found the one on Freeform when my sister and I hit the Hobby Lobby in Austin. It has been fun going through my knit and crochet magazines, finding her designs. Margaret was an absolute delight to be around.....for a New Yorker....LOL and all us Texans loved her accent.
It took me about 45 minutes to upload these pictures. That means that you will have to wait for the pictures of lunch and the Fashion Show on the last day. I didn't get any uploaded yesterday because I took two dogs in for a teeth cleaning. Their breath was getting more than I could handle being in the same room with. Luv and Jack are more pleasant to be around now, but after discussing the problem with my vet, we agreed that the smell and weight loss may be due to the store in my town not carrying Iams crunchy dog food anymore, so the dogs have been eating Beneful crunchies the past month or so. Their little systems can't take anything but pure food now. So, I will be making a shopping trip to the city friday....picking up a big sack of dog food and other things I can't get in my town.
Oh, and it turned off cool today. A cold front blew in last night, forcing me to bring in plants and cover up what I couldn't bring in. There was a frost warning out a little over 50 miles north of me, but I don't think we got below 40 degrees last night. If we did, it was a momentary touch. It has been wonderfully cool today. The air was cool enough that Jack couldn't keep his head out the window on the way into town. I have thoroughly enjoyed it...as I should...because it will warm up again to the upper 70's in a few days. If we hold our mouths right, we may get some rain this weekend. Catch ya later with more Camp pics, plus a few pictures of Kim's and my 30th anniversary trip to the mountains. This will be followed by my latest projects.
Until then.....Doggy Supper Time!

Camp Crochet

Only four pictures from Camp Crochet this time. It took me an hour just to get these to download. Of course, me being the great photographer that I am......I present my sister's butt, a fuzzy weird look on Sheryl's face, and most of the butts in Freeform class. The cover of Life magazine is my next artistic assignment, can't you tell?
I have got to try using the camera that Kim gave me that he used to use. Mine will not take good shots. Most of the ones I took in Austin are fuzzy. I will try to upload the few that weren't fuzzy in the next couple of days.....as blogger and my slow dial up allow.
Camp in Austin was an absolute blast! I have always done my crafts in a vacuum. Most of the time, my sister was the only one to share with. I have spent 16 years in an isolated area with one friend that does all the needlework that I do. When my sister sent info about a whole weekend full of fellow crocheters....sharing, learning....I jumped at the chance. It was so worth the three hour drive there, the creep on the highway after dark on the way home, and the week it took me to recover. I am still trying to remember names and so wish I could live closer to them all.
Saturday was spent mostly in a class taught by Margaret Hubert. For a New Yorker, she is a wonderful person and so much fun to be around. Deb and I learned a whole new technique that we can hardly wait to do projects in. It has me digging in my stash, looking for yarns to combine.
One of the best parts of the whole weekend was the Sunday lunch. We had a fashion show, then the drawing for prizes. To my total astonishment, I won a beautiful purse made by one of the most talented members. It was felted grapes and leaves and had won a blue ribbon at the State Fair for the maker. Cher had named it "Vino". The beautiful purse made it's first outing Sunday when I took it to church.
I am already looking forward to next year. More pictures later.....and a couple of projects I have done recently.

Alright Already

So it's been a couple of months since I posted...but I am here now. A lot has been going on around here. First off, the house had to be rearranged to accomodate Matt moving back home. You remember him....the Boomerang Boy. Kim had to put his office in the living room, and I had to put the contents of the closet next door. I had spent all summer sorting through my sewing room, so now I can't find anything.

The last weekend of September, we went to San Antonio, where Chris and Casey had a surprise for us. Above you will see pictures of the Steve Miller Band concert we went to. We hadn't been to one in about 25 years and it was a blast. Jonny Lang was the opening act...that's him on the big screen. The big screens were fascinating. That was something new to us. Jonny was excellent and I bought his CD when we got home.

The other picture is of Steve on the right and two other members of the band. I didn't get a good picture of the harmonica player. He had been with Steve 30 years and was a master of the instrument. We were totally impressed.

Oh, and I bought the tshirt.

Tomorrow I will post pictures from our 30th anniversary trip to Ruidoso. After that will be pictures of Camp Crochet that I attended with my sister. I will eventually get everyone caught up on the latest around here.

How I spent my summer

I spent the summer outside this year. The heat wave was really fun. I can't figure out how I could have gained weight when I poured buckets of sweat out my pores.
I started my stop smoking campaign on June 3rd. Hypnosis lasted about 8 hours, but it did help me cut consumption drastically. It also helped to ban smoking in the house. There were many times I put off going for a smoke just because it was over 100 degrees in the shade.
One bright spot to the sweatlodge time, was watching the house swallows build a nest on the carport and hatch babies. There were 4 babies....all mouth for quite a while. I watched them grow, exercise their wings on the curve of the purling, their first test flights, then as they learned to swoop, swirl, and cartwheel in the air.
I would put up more pictures of them, but blogger won't do it. So will have to add them in another post. I used to be able to put up a picture, write about it, then put up another. It ain't happening now. So, on to another post so I can add pictures.

Postus Interruptus

Yeah, yeah, I know. I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks, but I have an excuse. I spent the first week of August getting stuff crammed back into the sewing room and getting the pet fur rolls rounded up and corralled. On sunday, the 6th, the grandgirls came for the week. That day, also, Kim took off for OK to test a tool and was gone till thursday night. So I had two high energy little girls all by myself for 5 days. It also worked out that we had them until the next sunday. Autumn and Hannah and I had some really good times, and a few bad incidents. Kim and I both were glad to hand them over to their mother. I did finally tell their mom that I won't keep both of them at the same time again until the youngest grew up a bit. Her 7th birthday is today, but she behaves like a 2 year old much of the time. I have no problem keeping one at a time, but for my physical and mental health....not both for a few years.
I started feeling human again about wednesday, but the thing that usually follows fatigue and stress for me popped up at 10:20 thursday afternoon.....a cold sore. Smearing Zovirax every time I go into the bathroom, so it is staying under control. The spooky part is that it is on the right side of my upper lip. I have always popped mine up on the left side of my upper lip....with scar to prove my point. It is doing so well though, that I felt comfortable going in town this morning to cruise the craft booths at Sutton County Days. I wore my new "tude" shirt and got three compliments before I got 50 foot in the fray. It is the shirt with the duck on the front that says "Shut the duck up".
I will try to put pictures up this next week. Got a few good ones to share.

Grandkid Week

Chris dropped off the girls sunday afternoon. He picked them up last friday, kept them for the weekend, and will come get them this friday for another weekend together before they start back to school.
It was no time at all before the girls constructed a tent out of the whole bedroom. That is Autumn getting one of the blankets just right. Hannah is underneath working.
Just after I took this picture, Jack jumped in the middle of the quilt and caved it all in. Needless to say, he was not the popular dog for a while. Although he couldn't figure out what the fuss was about.....he was just playing.
They camped out in the tent last night, except Hannah crawled on the bed in the middle of the night. Today they are adding to and tweeking the design. Lets see....toys and tv in the room with the tent...what more could you need except food for a good time.

Empty Nest Syndrome?

For the past month, I have been watching a pair of Swallows raise their brood of 4. For a couple of weeks, Mom and Dad sat on the eggs in over 100 degree heat. I have watched the 4 little ones grow up, and twice had to get out the ladder and put one back in the nest. They would creep out along the C Perling and find themselves lost.
This past week, they have started testing their wings. Hanging on to the edge of the perling or nest and flapping as hard as they could. They have gotten adventurous and spread out along the length of the beam their nest is on.
Today, the three oldest babies are testing their long distance flight. Mom and Dad keep close watch on them. I got pictures of them sitting on the back fence, but my computer is ignoring my camera, so have to dig up the driver for it. But they are so cute to watch. Only the last hatchling is left under the patio. It did make a short flight, so will probably be flying by the weekend.
I am going to miss my baby swallows. But I bet the parents start to work on another nest full soon. I hope to keep them around all summer. For the first time in the 15 years I have lived here, I have no wasps. By this time of summer, I have usually used up a couple of cans of Hot Shot on nests. I can't find any.....anywhere! I have checked eaves and outbuildings....nothing! I think I have spotted only a handful of red wasps the whole season. This is wonderful for Kim's deadly allergy. For that reason alone, I hope my swallows take up permanent summer residence at my house.

Happy Birthday Jack and Cheree

Jack is happy cuz it's his 3rd birthday! We don't know exactly when he was born because Chris found him by the side of the road outside Hobbs, New Mexico. But we decided to make his birthday on the 4th of July. This seems appropriate since the other New Mexican I know has her birthday on the 4th.
I would post a picture of Cheree....but I cherish my life.
Happy Birthday Jack and Cheree!!!

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.