Today is Jun 12,2022.....

It has been a very long time but I wanted to leave this here. We lost our May kitty today. I don't know what happened but she slipped away in the night. She was only 9 yo. Such a special little girl. I am going to miss you so much.

Well Remember When I said I wanted a New Kitten.....

Yes I really wanted a kitten in spring.Even dreamed about 2 little kittens one names Lily and the other May.Apparently I whined so much that hubby found me a brother and sister set and we picked them up the first weekend of June.Life has not been the same since then.LOL They were very cute babies that re now changing rapidly into beautiful grown ups that are still very kitty dumb.They are 23 weeks old now and next week go to the vet to be fixed.Anyway back to the zoo...... One day in late July hubby was coming home.Pulled into the drive way and caught a look under a car parked across the street and thought one of our kittens had got out and maybe I didn't notice. Ot popped this incredible tiny little creature crying at the top of her lungs.Where she came from we have no idea but she was bound determined that he was not going to ignore her.He walked back to the house with her following him.She was so small she couldn't make it up the steps and just cried and cried.He came in all huffy and told me she was out there.So out I went and found this very tiny little kitten way too young to be on her own.I took her out back and put her with the cats outdoors but knew she was too young to be out there without a Mom watching after her.I put her up with the food and water and she ate and ate.I got a look into her mouth and knew she wasn't very old.I came in did some talking, told him how few teeth she had, told him I didn't know if she'd survive if a raccoon came after her and then sent him up for kitten replacement milk. According to what I read online she was maybe 3 weeks old judging by how many teeth she had.She is now a goring 10 week old kitten who is very devoted to the guy who saved her. :) It's very cute how she follows him around and just waits for him to say anything to her. So here are a few photos of our zoo May, May and Murphy, Murphy and last but not least Lily

Spring!

It has ben beautiful here the past 4 days.Almost to the point of being too warm.It's hard to have it 40F one week and then the next it is 77º-80ºf.Have my fruit bushes budding and the veggies in the basement growing stronger by the day waiting until the chance of frost has passed and soon to go into the ground.I love this time of year.************ *********I really want a new kitten but hubby keeps saying no.My Cooper is going to be 10yo soon and I am starting to be afraid I will be without a kitty someday.I still have all of my girls outside.One of the Mom's is still with us and 4 of the kittens that were born but none of them are all that young either.Even though I still call them the "kittens" they were born in 2001 and are now 12 years old and the one Mom is 13.Not a bad age for outdoor cats but they have always had good care and were all fixed young so they don't roam much.I keep hoping one will just show up he can't turn down a kitten that just appears.

Wow long time since I've visited.Lots has happened and not all good. :( Let's see last May nearly on my anniversary I kept having a pain in my shoulder that wouldn't go away.It was more an annoyance than a pain, just achy and I couldn't get comfortable.After 3 days of no sleep I filly did what hubby suggested and went to the ER thinking they could just give me a cortisone shot and I'd be on my way....well did not work out that way.Thanks tot he nurse on duty who demanded they check my enzyme levels the informed me that I had had a heart attack.WHAT? I am not that old.... WHAT? I was admitted in to the hospital at about 6am and after seeing a whirlwind of doctors one after another I was taken in for a heart cath at 4pm that same day.They found 3 blockages one at 100% that caused the heart attack and 2 others in the 90%+ range.They kept me over the weekend and on Monday morning I went back in for a second cath so they could take care of the other 2 blockages.4 stents and 5 days later I was released feeling worse than when I arrived at the ER.I couldn't even bend to tie my shoe for days and days. My sweet hubby took a month off of work and did everything around here for us.I was not allowed to even leave the house for 5 days and to tell the truth I don't think I could've in those days even if I'd wanted to.It took everything I had just to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time.I am so happy to be back to my old self because hubby can grill like crazy but in the kitchen he has issues with waiting for things to be done so it is nice not to eat crunchy potatoes and overly rare meat.:( I understand why people die of heart attacks.They are not like anything I have been told.I expected them to be really painful more so than this was.My advice is that if something hurts in your upper body and it does not go away better safe than sorry go have it checked out.Your life could depend on it.

Happy Independance day!

"We the People of the United States,in order to form a more perfect Union,establish Justice,insure domestic Tranquility,provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,do ordain and establish this Constitution for The UNited States of America"

Scary Storm last Night!

YIKES! From a beautiful 84ºf day filled with blue skies and puffy clouds to whatever hit last night.We were sitting here on the computers enjoying the A/C and I heard the wind just whip up from nothing to what sounded like gail force winds.I told hubby he needed to take his headphones off and listen and just as he did the tornado sirens began to wail at the fire station that is about 2 miles away.I honestly have never heard them before outside of the weekly tests they do on Wednsday mornings during the spring.We just kind of looked at each other and began dashing around grabbing things we knew we needed.We decided last night that we are not ready for a real need to get to the basement and that perhaps during this time of year some things should already be stashed down there atleast until July when the season will be pretty much over.By the time we had everything we thought we needed together the sirens had stopped.It was a major wake up call though.Try imagining having 5 mintues to grab whatever you think you need for the rest of your life because the rest may be miles away once the wind stops.....

25 Years Ago Today....

I married my best friend in the world. I first met him when I was 8 yo and he helped me put on my ice skates that I was having trouble with. We laugh now that G*d kept throwing us together every few years growing up that we should've know something was planned. He also gave me my first kiss at 14yo when we were both hanging out at the same place. My friends wanted to go somewhere else and his Dad would not allow him to leave with 3 girls. I came back later and looked for him but he was gone. :( When I was 18 we met again and dated for about 2 years. I was madly in love and he wasn't ready to give up his freedom. So after listening to him proclaim how he was glad he was single I met someone else and left town. He says now that he really didn't mean it and that I broke his heart when I left.Four years later I returned home and after my Mom telling me I should gie him a call I did. We haven't been a part since. So happy 25th anniversary to the love of my life.

Spring?

I'm beginning to look like a weather person? LOL Anyway 2 weeks ago it turned 70ºf and everyone thought winter was over.Very cruel trick was played on us when one morning we woke to new sNOw and another week of cold temps.I'm almost afraid to believe it is the end of this very long winter....

My niece graduated college a semester early.Not only is she beautiful she's pretty smart too.I'm not biaed at all am I?I think she is a little sad though as his is the end of her cheerleading unless she wanted to go pro.She is still working as one wth a company that throws cheerleading clinics across the country.She's 22 yo and being flown all over the country for 4 days at a time to teach Jr High High School and university cheerleaders new routines.Then there is my youngest niece who will soon turn 15 and was already invited to her first prom.Did I mention I come from a long line of females who were/are drop dead gorgeous.Yikes her Daddy has already got the shotgun ready. One cousin's daughter just cheered at the ProBowl 1/2 time show and another is competing for Miss Utah.

I'm thinking of doing the big family reunion this year in West Virginia.Back to the little town my Grandma is from,each year for the past probably 40 years has had the whole family back.My Mother has 59 first cousins so you can imagine how many of us there are.If you've ever saw the movie "Next of Kin" it reminds me of how my family is. I think we've entended into nearly every state and a few other countires but all of us are called back to that little town in WV that isn't even on maps anymore....Guardian.

Fall.....

It seems like forever since I've stopped in.Not many of my old blog friends still around anymore so unless I plan to talk to myself....

Lets see I am offically old now after my birthday in September.Took weeks to finally say the words out loud and then just yesterday in a phone survey they asked if I were under or over....YIKES I've moved age groups.HOLY cr@p I didn't realize that.Now I'm bummed out again. :(

Crops came and went.Am busy harvesting saffron the past few weeks.Every day I go out and have 10 more flowers to pick.Will have lots of saffron to use this year. :) Today I noticed that the air is truly smelling like fall.*sigh* winter will be closing in soon. Time marches on and on.

We are all just a little freaked out in the family.In just one week my niece turned 22 and my nephew decided to move out of his parent's home now that he is full time employed and almost 19.Gosh I remember the day he was born wasn't that just last year....?

Duck Duct Tape Festival

The miracle tape in the world is made in Avon Ohio. That's right Duck's duct tape is made there. This weekend is their festival. The above photo is one of the prom outfits from this year's contest. Check the link for more and an opportunity to vote for your favorite.

What creativity!

June Already?

Yikes guess it has been a while since I posted? I just can't believe it is June already. Honeysuckle here is heavy in the air and in the mornings it smells like heaven must. Strawberries are now at nearly a quart a day so I have to get busy and get the dehyrator going. Looks like we are also going to get a fair sized Raspberry harvest this year and then shortly after that some of my blueberry plants looks like I am goijng to get more than just a handful, this year. You can't imagine how happy that makes me. Now if my kiwi plants will only cooperate this year? So far this is their 3rd year and no fruit yet. I added 3 more female plants this year so I know they won't have any fruit but the other female should. I'm starting to wonder if they may have identified one as a male when it wasn't? If they don't fruit this year I think I'll buy another male and see if that makes a difference? Happy June everyone!

Spring?

The question mark is because I'm afraid to hope that after this very long winter that it is finally here. Yesterday it hit 78ºf and today is to be over 80ºf. Now I know that this won't last and we will be back to several weeks of wet weather with little sunshine but this is really wonderful having this little taste of what is to come. :)

We have been busy getting our veggie garden started. We start our own from seed so all of the little greenhouses were being set up and planted over the past week. I think we only have 2 more to go. Last count we had over 200 plants. We won't use them all only the best ones the rest can be given to whoever wants them. This year 90% of my plants are heirlooms and some of them are from seeds I saved last year. Mother of the earth I am! LOL

Just as soon as the fallen branch is completely out of our garden spot we can start tilling on the nicer days. One of our neighbors for the second year in a row allowed their tree to fall into our yard and then just left it lay there with no comment about helping take care of it. Oh well it gave hubby a good excuse last year to buy a chain saw. It's just a PITA to have to take care of things that shouldn't be our problem. Hubby says the big part that is on the fence will be left in as big a piece as possible and left on their side of the fence. Hopefully if more of the dead tree falls it will stay in their yard, not much left on this side of the tree.Neighbors *sigh*

I really can't wait until my neighbor's house next door looks like a dollhouse from mine! That is the way it will be once we are able to move out onto our land. If we ever get to do that, with the economy the way it is I'd rather sit tight and see what happens. It isn't eating anything and the taxes since it is undeveloped land aren't too much a year so we'll just wait and watch.

Very Bad Week

Last Saturday we noticed that my oldest male kitty Rudy wasn't feeling very well. He just seemed listless and refused to eat.I kept him hydrated with water and a syringe and fed him leftover chicken and plain yogurt which he ate very little of.Monday we took him to the vet.Rudy has had a bad heart since he was about 3 years old and one of the medications he took for it can cause after years of use kidney failure.They tested him for that and we brought him home.On Tuesday they called with the bad news.We went back that afternoon and had him put down.I feel so bad and I miss him so much.He would've been 10 years old next month.I am heartbroken.He was my kitty,if I was in the chair he was in my lap.If I was in the kitche he was supervising.He was my retriver cat. He'd play until your arm felt like it would fall off.I sure am going to miss my boy.RIP Rudy March 15,2000-February 23,2010

The Blizzard of '10

OK this is starting to get ridiculous! It first sNOwed last Friday, I woke to the sound of it hitting the windows.It finally stopped sometime late Saturday night.We had about 8" of really wet sNOw.Sunday night it dropped to zero and all of that super wet sNOw froze into a solid mass.Moday the sun came out a little but it didn't get warm enough to melt anything.Tuesday morning I woke again to something hitting the windows this time it was sleet.It was 34ºf and it was just warm enough for the mix to fall.We got that for about an hour then it began to sNOw.No kidding the flakes were the size of half dollars.I don't remember ever seeing flakes that big.It did that most of the day and at times you couldn't see because there was so much.It slowed down sometime last night but never as really stopped for more than a few hours.There is probably a foot and a half of sNOw out there with part of it being a solid ice block.I am beginning to hate sNOw.As you can see by the way I'm writting sNOw what I really think of it.How long until spring?

Someone Who Really Needs a Girlfriend!

Merry Christmas!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This one just made me laugh so Merry Christmas everyone!

What Happend to Summer?

Yikes! September snuck in and ran out way too fast. Had another birthday a few days ago and swoosh September is gone. The air has cooled overnight and the leaves are beginning to turn gold and red. It's beginning to feel like we are going to have a very cold hard winter. :(

Tomatoes and peppers came and went. I think we are going to completely strip the plants of fruit tonight before it ends up frosting for the first time. It is about 2 weeks early this year. I was hoping that it would stay warm enough to get the last of everything grown larger and ripe but it doesn't look like that is to be this year.

I bought a bunch of butternut squash and plant to cook that in the next few days and pack pint jars for the freezer. Can't have Thanksgiving come without having nearly fresh for pies. Hubby is already whinning about all of the frozen ripe bananas in the freezer and why I'm not baking with them. HMMM it's only been cool for a week and using the oven in summer kind of defeats the purpose of air conditioning, right? I'll let him whine for another day or two and then make him a few loaves of banana bread. I think he enjoys the crowd around his lunch box everday? LOL

Will It Be Like This Every Year?

I'm beginning to think it will be? It was just like every other morning nearly. End of summer beautiful day. I don't think I'll ever forget the color of the sky that day...who knew it could be so perfect and blue with just the right white puffy cotton ball clouds? For some reason I woke a little earlier than normally I do. I always promise myself I'll get up early everyday but everyday my snooze alarm wins so unless I really have to be somewhere. Had the Today Show on which is truly one of my least favorite shows on TV, it just hasn't been the same since Barbara Walters left and it became not news but 24/7 fluff. Yes I'm old get over it! I still don't know why I had it on? Someone or something must've had my interest peaked or something or that was the channel the TV got turned off on? Something very random and ordinary.

THey broke into what ever fluff they were talking about and said a small plan had hit the North tower, it was 8:45 am. No one really freaked or anything as from what they were saying had been hit years ago with another Cessna? Nothing to be concerned about. They were sending a reporter down. Within 7-8 minutes they had someone standing there talking to people who were heading into work in the area. I remember he/she was remarking that the hole it made seemed really large for a small plane? I'm sure it was a complete fluke that the camera just happened to be looking up when United Airlines Flight 175 banked and then slammed into the south tower. I think witin 20 seconds standing here in front of the TV not really believing what I'd seen and wondering if I was still asleep? I've never heard the silence I heard that morning from the studio at Rockerfeller Center. There was one cry of "Oh God" but other than that it was silence. It seemed like I wasn't alone in not believing what I'd just seen. It was 9:03am

It takes exactly two frames of photos of that day to bring that feeling back. I know that morning I spent most of the day just standing in front of the TV in disbelief. It's strange there are many places to sit, it is a living room afterall, but there I stood. I started thinking of the people I knew who lived there in NYC and hoping everyone they knew did not work in that area of the city. I got online to see if any were around and to see if there was anything I could do. I spent about 3 hours with one of my friends who was waiting for her husband and Son to make it home from Manhattan back in the old Yahoo chatrooms the groups used to have.

I helped put together a quilt that went to one of the fireman's family who died that day. That quilt where ever it ended up holds a lot of tears. I don't remember the name of the family it went to but I do remember he came from one of the firehouse's that lost most of their members. I hope it comforted many of his family members on those cold mornings when the silence is too much to cancel out what is going on in your mind.

It's been 8 years this year and I haven't forgotten. To those who carried out that day and still think it was a good idea, FU!

No Title

It's still been pretty rough around here. I just keep stopping and saying to my self that I will never be able to just pick up the phone or drive to anywhere and see her again. I called and talked to her older sister and that helped but still not so much. I still have to tell my Mom which is going to be very hard. For her Tina was around enough that she was the 4th daughter. Yes I know, it was Tina and Christina. I should tell you sometime about how I felt in first grade Sunday school being one of a few girls who weren't Mary Margaret,Mary Kate, Mary Katherine....etc....Any way there has been a lot of soul searching and tears.

I have this wonderful abilty to fool myself that I found a very long time ago. I guess it is a sheild from being abandoned and it seems to work for me. I seem to be able to convice myself that whoever has passed is on a trip or has moved away.I guess if you believe in an afterlife as I do then perhaps it isn't such a stretch?

I hate that she is gone but after hearing what she went through the last few months I'm glad she isn't in pain any longer.With lymphoma the cancer tends to go completely through the body and is not a kind way to go.I've decided already that when I die I will be around 135yo and it will be in my sleep.I refuse to go any other way except for perhaps a quick accident. :)

Very Hard Week

Sunday night I was sitting here at the computer reading the local paper online. When I read the days Obituaries I decided since I hadn't been there in about a week or so I'd better read back a few days and see if any older person I knew died.

Then I found her name. I met her when we both were 12 yo, she was my best friend in the whole world for many years. I was one of her bridemaids and she my witness when hubby and I got married. Somewhere along the line we'd just lost track of each other and I hadn't seen her in a few years. The obituary said she'd been suffering with lymphoma for a few years.

I can't tell you how bad I feel that I let my friend down like this. Time just got away from me and I hadn't realized how long it had been. Now it is too late.

There were always the 3 of us. Where you saw one you saw the other two. Her sister who is 3 years older and the two of us who were the same age. I was always the youngest by several months. We literally skinned our hearts and skinned our knees together. When I left my first husband and couldn't get through to Mom's house because there were teenaged sister's on the phone, I called her to please call Mom with the phone number of where I was staying. I don't think I'm ever going to forgive myself for this.

I miss you. I called her sister and we talked for over an hour. We plan to get together someday soon. I'm sure the minute I see her I'm going to lose it because now there are only two of us. People aren't supposed to die this young.

The Dr said they think it is because of what her first husband worked with and suggested that the kids be tested now and then for the same thing. Where he'd worked paid really well but not well enough for both of them to have died so young. I just can't believe it and it's really going to take some time to get used to this news.

Do me a favor, if there is someone you haven't heard from in a while, sit down and call them today. Tomorrow might be too late.