Category Archives: Pets I love

I’m Here

Oh, I just want to have some time to upload some pictures and get some things written down here. I have been sewing my fingers to the nubbins and baking and decorating and taking the dogs walks and trying to throw some feed and water at the chooks as I pass by. My hens haven’t had a lot of my time lately. When I go out in their yard they all surround me and you should hear the clucking, tsking, and garbled talking. I actually thought I heard a word come out of one of their beaks the other day. I looked at her and said, “Penninah, what did you say?” and she just kept clucking up a storm. I heard a bird last summer as it was swooping down and I felt like I was Snow White and the bird said something to me. It was really weird. I am sure you are thinking I am weird, but I know what I heard.

Anyway, I cannot believe Christmas is just four days away. Is it earlier this year? Seems there was no time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I want to grasp the meaning of the season and keep it close for a while. I watched the Mormon Tabernacle choir’s Christmas special the other day and it was amazing and really was filled with the true Christmas spirit. On the same channel there was a story about Handel and how he came to write the Messiah. I have never heard the entire thing. I have sung in a choir that sang the Halleluhah chorus and have heard it many times, but there is so much more to Handel’s Messiah. It is the story of the Christ and why he came to earth and died for us all. Handel gave proceeds from some of his concerts to pay the debts of those in debtor’s prison. He paid the debts he did not owe for them who owed and could not pay. Sounds exactly like what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid our sin debt so that when we die, we won’t have to pay it. We all have sinned. Not one of us gets out of this life without sinning. A tiny babe comes into the world wanting only what it wants. Unless it is shown the proper path, it will continue a lifetime of sin because of its sinful nature. That is how we all are born. But Jesus paid our sin debt. That is why we sing Halleluhah to Him.

Speaking of animals and birds talking, when I was a little girl I heard a story about how the animals talk at midnight on Christmas Eve. I always wanted to go out to the barn and hear if our cows, pigs or dogs were talking to one another. What if I go out to the chicken coop this Christmas Eve and peek in on the girls and maybe I will hear a conversation that is going on like this….” Well, did you see the egg Ada laid today. What a show off. She thinks she’s better than all the rest of us because her eggs are larger than ours.” Another hen will answer, “Now, Jemimah, it’s Christmas and we should love one another and just try harder to lay bigger eggs ourselves.” In which Abigail will pitch in, ” Would you ladies please stop your talking? I’m trying to roost over here.” Phoebe will laugh and say, “Hey, it’s the only night of the year we can speak. Too bad there isn’t any humans out here to hear us.” I will be giggling softly to myself as I listen to them, thinking I need to teach them some grammar. Then suddenly Freedom, being the watcher and protector of them all screeches, “Zip your beaks, ladies, we have company!” and suddenly all becomes quiet in the chicken coop. Anyway, that is what I imagine I would hear. Then I would walk back to the house and suddenly my dogs would start singing Christmas carols to me. Now that would be a fun Christmas Eve!

My next post will have pictures and I still have that story about Christmas when I was a little girl. Hope you are getting things wrapped and baked and visiting with family and friends, but save a little time to give to the babe who was born two thousand years ago just for us. Bye.

Talking Turkey

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Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. It started out early with a 5K walk put on for a senior project by one of the high school students in our town. It was a cold, but beautiful morning. The runners and walkers met in one of the parks we have here.

The park has a covered bridge. The original bridge that was here was set on fire several years ago by vandals and the city had to find one to replace it. I like the new bridge even better. It looked so pretty in its Fall setting.

The river was running swiftly that morning. This river floods the park about every year or so.

I went here to get my number and my shirt. Registration included bringing at least five cans of food for Love Chapel, an organization that helps needy people. They gathered over four thousand cans of food that day. How great is that?

I am beginning to get a collection of 5K shirts. I hope I can walk in a few more next year.

Our son arrived from Cincinnati with a friend and her son. My son was not a happy camper about the run. But because he’s the one who talked me into doing it, he was compelled to run it. Yes, he would run it. I would walk it. I don’t run if I don’t have to.

There were around four hundred people participating in all ages and sizes and clothing choices.

Shawna and her son walked with me. We were bundled up against the cold. I think I had about four layers on, but my legs still got cold.

Some people really got into the theme of the race by dressing the part. This man looked like he was riding a turkey.

There were several different turkey hats.

Even cooked turkey hats!

Here we are completing the walk. I think we were the last ones as everyone else was running. See that boy behind us? He probably walked four miles as he meandered all over while we walked the trail.

Then we went home. Dogs were played with. We ate a huge meal. I have not been hungry all day today.

We played Dizzios. I lost as usual. I keep telling my one grandson that one day I will beat him. He is really good at this game.

I love these two. They made David and me turkey pictures. They are so cute.

When I looked around our table, I knew exactly what I was thankful for. Family and friends. What would the world be like without them? And love. That’s what it’s all about. Bye.

Excitement at the Coop and a Frazzled Hen

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If you have read my blog for very long, you know I have chickens. I love my chickens. Their names are Dorcas, Beatrice, Phoebe, Freedom, Penninah, Jemima, Abigail and Ada. I take very good care of my girls. They are a little spoiled. If I open the back door, they come running to the garden gate to wait for their treats. Treats being leftover salad, pumpkins, sunflower seeds, bread(they go wacko over bread), or anything leftover from meals that the dogs won’t eat.

I check them once or twice a day to be sure they have water and feed in the feeder. Every night David goes on chicken patrol to be sure all the hens are on their roost. They are usually in their house before the sun is completely set. But tonight, one of them was missing. Abigail, the Silver Laced Wyndotte. The most beautiful chicken I have. Where was she?

David took a flashlight and began looking for her. In every tree, over the neighbor’s fence(if she had escaped the yard we might never find her), all over the yard. I put on a coat and got a flashlight and began to look too. I looked behind and under and on top of everything in the yard and garden. I rechecked the chicken coop to be sure we hadn’t missed her. I couldn’t believe how awful I felt that Abigail might be lost to us forever. This makes me think of a story in the Bible about Jesus looking for the lost sheep. That lost sheep was so important to Him he left the others to go and find it. That is what I was doing with that lost chicken. Then, I said a little prayer. I said, “Dear God, please help us find Abigail. She won’t survive the night outdoors.” Then I looked some more and then I looked behind a piece of lumber in the chicken coop and there she was. She had flown between the shed and the fence and gotten wedged in and couldn’t get out. Her wing was caught in the fencing. She must have been there for quite a while and put up quite a struggle because she looked frazzled and almost dead. In fact, I thought she was dead for a second. My heart dropped. Then David touched her and she clucked. He had to pull her out and if a chicken could scream, she sounded like it. She was tramatized I could tell.

David placed her on the roost in the coop. She was breathing so hard and was all fluffed up and her head hung down. Poor girl. Chickens have a way of beating another chicken when it’s down and Freedom hopped up on the roost and started picking on Abigail. I brushed her off the roost and told her she better leave Abigail alone.

This is the first time I thought I had lost one of my hens and I realized I am entirely too attached to them. My dad never mourned a dead chicken. If one got eaten by a pig he’d just say, ” The pigs got another chicken,” and take a big bite out of the chicken leg he was eating. If he found one dead in the chicken yard he would throw it over the fence to the pigs.

Speaking of chickens, I have been cooking one all day to make broth to make chicken and dumplings for Thanksgiving. I didn’t know this particular chicken so I don’t feel bad about eating it.

Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving and give thanks to the One who provides all we need. Bye.

Bees and Honey

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I am going to include another Hoosier Girl story from my past, but before I do I would like to show a few pictures of the goings on at our house.

I still commune with my chooks although they haven’t been getting as much attention lately as I have had many things to do. See Penninah and Jemima at my feet? They stand there and chatter to me looking to see if I have brought any treats. All I had in my pocket this day was a dog biscuit so I gave it to them.

Of course when one hen gets something, they all gather to get their own treats.

I am Queen over all I survey and these are my subjects! Ha. You should be here to hear the clucking and talking they do when I am around. I don’t know if they are happy to see me or wish I would get out of there so they can go about their business.

This is Ada, the Australorp. Isn’t she beautiful? You can’t see in the picture, but she has the most beautiful teal feathers among the black ones. She has started to squat, as chickens who are getting ready to lay will do. I think she may have already begun to lay as I am finding some very small eggs in the nests.

Beautiful Abigail, the Silver Laced Wyndotte. She is gorgeous and I think she knows it. She is the biggest hen now. David says she looks like a nice roaster and I just say, “Not going to happen.” I don’t think she is laying yet.

Here is a normal size egg next to a new layer egg. In time the hen will lay bigger eggs, but she’s just a beginner. Their eggs still taste good. I have noticed the yolks are almost orange now. I have fed them the last of the marigolds and I think that is why.

Molly Marshmallow continues to grow. She is a very active little puppy. She drags up all kinds of things onto our back deck. She brought a huge board with a nail in it the other day and I was afraid she was deconstructing one of our buildings, but David said it was just a piece of wood she had found behind the shed. Nothing would surprise me with this dog.

She is so sweet and wants attention all the time. Still working on that nipping. See those teeth? They are like little razors and have drawn blood. Belle, in the background, has felt those teeth a few times and Molly gets a good nip back sending her whining.

When the weather starts to get cooler, I have the urge to bake. This is pineapple upside down biscuit. It is delicious. If you were here, I would give you a piece.

I cannot keep these in the house and it is not because I eat them. David is hooked on these and eats them all. I don’t really like them because I think they taste like paraffin. He has gone through three bags, but I’m not saying anything.

Now for my story. Remember, these are stories from my childhood and it is how I remember them. My brothers and sister may remember things differently, but this is my story and I’m sticking to it.

Bees and Honey

By Kate Pentecost Craig

Katie woke up to a long, warm Summer day ahead of her. She stretched in bed and lay quietly for a few minutes listening to the noises of the awakening house. Mommy had been up for hours. She always got up at 5 o’clock to read her Bible and drink her morning cup of coffee in peace before all the children came running down the stairs. Katie always wanted to be able to get up that early too, but Mommy discouraged her from doing so.

Now Katie got out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. She took the stair steps two at a time and jumped off the last two steps. “Good morning,” Mommy said to her, “What do you want for breakfast?” Katie had been fixing her own breakfast since she started school. It was almost always the same, tea and toast spread with peanut butter or tea and cinnamon toast. Sometimes she would have a glass of chocolate milk. While she was eating, Daddy came in from the barn. After washing his hands and sitting down at his place at the head of the table, Mommy poured him a cup of coffee and placed half a grapefruit in front of him and two slices of toast. Daddy almost always had the same breakfast too!

“What are you going to do today, Snicklefritz?”(Daddy’s pet name for Katie) Daddy asked.

“Play!” said Katie as she jumped off her chair and ran out the kitchen door. Once outside the whole big world waited to be explored. Katie began to run out to the the side yard when she saw a strange sight on the clothesline. A big black mass of moving objects hung suspended on Mommy’s clothesline. Bees were flying around this mass. Katie ran laughing right into the swarming bees. Back and forth she ran flailing her arms and hitting the flying insects. Not one stung her. She then ran into the house yelling, “Come look and see what is on the clothesline.”

Mommy and Daddy came out the back door while Katie made a dash toward the roiling mass again, but Daddy called her to get back to him. “Those are swarming bees,” said Daddy. “There must be a queen bee in there. They were too busy swarming to bother stinging you, but you are a very lucky little girl.” Katie wanted so much to run among the bees again, but she was not allowed. Her brothers came out to look at the swarm. It was a very strange sight to see so many bees piled on top of each other. In the center of the mass somewhere was the queen bee.

Daddy went back inside to call a man he knew who kept beehives and sold honey. soon the man arrived to collect the bees. He put on a big hat with a mesh face protector. He wore long sleeves and gloves. He had one of his wooden hives with him. Carefully he put the mass of been into the hive and closed the lid. “Your little girl was very lucky the bees were swarming,” said the man. “She could have been very badly stung.” Katie hung her head, but inside her mind she was thinking about how much fun it had been to run through all those bees!

Several weeks later the man came back to their house bringing a gift. He had jars of fresh honey, some of them with the comb in them. Katie stuck her fingers into one of the jars and pulled out a piece of the honeycomb. The sweet golden honey dripped from it. She stuck it in her mouth and chewed the delicious sweet comb. When she had sucked all the honey from it, she threw the comb away. She was glad the bees had chosen their yard in which to swarm and she was glad to have some of their sweet honey to eat all summer long on her toast and ice cream.

Hope you have a wonderful day. And don’t get stung by any bees! Bye.

Requiem for a Maple Tree

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When we first moved to this house, there were several large, leafy trees in our yard. A huge old elm tree was in the front yard where our younger son built a tree house. There was another medium size maple that our daughter liked to climb. In the back yard was a big maple tree and a tall tulip poplar. In our side yard was a medium size maple tree. There were also several red bud trees. So many that every year I pull up dozens of new red buds. Through the thirty-seven years we have lived here, the maple has tripled in height and has taken over the whole side yard. When I wash dishes, I like to look at that tree where birds nest. In the Autumn it is especially beautiful with is bright orange-red leaves.

Through the years we have had to cut down most of the large trees because of safety or because we wanted a garden and the lawn was too shady. This Autumn the old maple in the side yard is going to be cut down. I hate to see trees cut down. It takes so many years for a tree to get so big and I know with any tree we plant now, I won’t see it grow into its full majesty. But this particular tree has become a hazard to our house. We have cut it back several times from the house, but now it poses a danger because it is losing branches and David is afraid one good storm and we would have the tree on our house. I talked to a tree man this week. In two or three weeks they will come with their saws and they will cut down the beautiful maple and I will feel sadness in my heart.

We have always planted two or three trees to replace any tree we have cut down. We try to plant trees that won’t get so big and become a danger to the house. I will plant two or three trees in our side yard next Spring. I want trees that will be bright and colorful in the Fall. I am thinking Japanese Maples because they don’t get too tall and come in many colors. I want trees that I don’t have to rake bushels of leaves every Autumn.

Maples are so beautiful, but cause a lot of work.

I am taking lots of pictures because the Maple is especially beautiful this year. Maybe it knows this is its last grand showing.

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair.

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer(1914)

Here is what meets me every time I go outside.

Oh, the excitement when anyone comes out to feed them, play with them or walk them. I don’t walk Bonnie anymore as she can’t go very far and besides, I can’t get her past the cars because she loves car rides.

If they aren’t peeking in the back door they are doing this…

Total relaxation. Molly is getting big. She gained ten pounds in the last month. She will weigh eighty to one hundred pounds when she is grown. She is learning to walk well with me although we are still working on the nipping at the heels.

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful Autumn weather and all the beautiful trees. Bye.

Finishing Up and Starting Again

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I have pledged to myself that I am going to finish some quilts I have begun. I have a box full of them. It’s fun to pick out new fabrics and piece a brand new quilt and I could do that every month, but there comes a time when one needs to finish what one has started. So….

This week I completed a Christmas quilt I started last year. These sheep were as crazy to make as they are to herd. Every single one of these sheep is sewn together wrong except for one. Every one. And it’s not the sheep that is facing a different direction than the rest as that is suppose to be the wayward sheep. It’s the only one sewn correctly. I am sure if you look closely you will notice one big mistake I made on one. I didn’t notice it until I had it half quilted. Anyway, as a friend of mine use to tell me, “you won’t see it on a galloping horse.” Now I have to find the horse. I didn’t follow the pattern maker’s design completely. There was suppose to be a shepherd in this quilt, but I didn’t like how it looked so I made an extra sheep and this block.

I like the way it turned out. One project completed. Check.

I finished two other quilts that I cannot show because of the season coming up. Two more projects completed. Check.

I made a skirt from some fabric I have had for quite some time. You can wear it this way.

Or this way. Almost like having two different skirts. We went over to Nashville with some friends the other day and I got a couple of tops that go with this skirt. We have been to Nashville twice in two weeks and not one time did I remember to take pictures with my camera. There was so much to photograph there but I was too busy looking.

I put together this outfit and like it a lot. Another project completed. Check.

David and I took one morning and sealed the siding on our porch wall. We make a good team and finished it within a couple of hours. Now the wall should not turn grey.

Project completed. Check.

I made a couple of brooches. I have ideas for several more.

Years ago, we needed a coffee table and there was a company where you could order furniture unfinished and not put together. You built the furniture yourself and put your own finish on it. So, I ordered this butler’s table and David put it together and I stained it a rich, deep brown. It has served its purpose for many years. The leaves on the table go up and down and most little boys and girls liked to lift the leaves up and down over and over. Toy cars have been run on this table. It’s been hammered, pounded and naturally distressed over the years. David says you pay big money to get distressed furniture and we got ours for free!

I decided it was time to redo the table so I am painting it a cream color and will distress it a little or will have some children over to do it for me.

I’m putting several coats of paint on it. When I am finished with it, it’s going in my girly room.

A friend brought me this pile of luscious fabric. I am so blessed. I will use this for sure.

Miss Molly Marshmallow is growing so fast. She runs with the big dogs and doesn’t want to be separated from them. She cries when I take Belle her walk even after I have already taken her on a walk. She is doing really well on the leash. Sometimes I let her walk herself and she will carry the leash in her mouth and walk along beside me.

The chickens are molting right now and I won’t show you a picture of them because it would embarrass them. One of them is completely bare on her backside, poor girl. She stays in the chicken house and acts ashamed of her looks, but David said he noticed today that her feathers are finally coming back in. The egg laying has been pretty sparse right now as the hens conserve their energy to grow their new feathers for the winter. I still get two or three dozen eggs a week. The younger hens should start laying soon.

Fall is moving right along. Soon it will be Thanksgiving,(when I am walking a 5K that morning before dinner) then Christmas and then we will be right back to Spring again. The seasons are running together now. I love each one and especially love the cooler weather we are having right now. Hope you are having a wonderful Autumn. Bye.

Oh, Frabjous Days!

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The halcyon, golden days of Autumn are upon us. Summer ends tonight. It seems like a dream that happened long ago. So much happened and yet, I felt we should have done more. Picnics, walks, auctions(not one) were in our plans. I did the walking. Two 5ks under my belt. Now that the weather is cooler, I know I will walk more. Especially since I have another dog to walk.

Speaking of dogs….

Molly Marshmallow is growing by leaps and bounds. She doesn’t nip at our heels as much anymore and has learned to sit for her treats and has been on a one mile walk with me. She is learning to behave on the leash. That said, she has managed to do some damage.

Let’s just say Molly tripped me up a bit and I fell on the steps and got bruised. It looks worse than it is. I was just glad I didn’t land on her when I fell.

Miss Belle has been doing a good job training Molly not to bite. Let’s just say Molly has yipped a few times after nipping Belle on the nose. Belle would have been a good mother.

Getting several of these butternut squashes from the garden. Since I don’t eat them very often, I will store them and cut them up for the chickens this winter.

We’ve picked nine of these from the garden and there are another nine or ten still ripening.

It was nice to be able to decorate our porch with our own pumpkins this year. The best year I have ever had for them. Usually, if I am lucky, I will get one good one to grow. It’s all that chicken poop, I’m telling you.

Tis’ the season to burn candles. Our house smells like this right now. Delicious. Makes you think I’ve been baking all day.

I’ve made twelve of these mini loaves in the past two weeks. It’s pumpkin bread and it’s addictive. I will not be making it again for a while. I cannot walk that much.

Into each life some rain must fall and we had to bite the bullet and buy a new furnace this week. Our old one was eighteen years old and would have cost half the cost of a new furnace to repair. Funny, when we replaced our first old furnace eighteen years ago, it had been in our basement since the 1950’s. Now we are told a furnace’s lifespan is about fourteen years. They sure don’t make them like they use to.

I managed to fit in a porch party before it got too cold. Our Sunday school class came for a candlelight dinner of lasagna, homemade garlic rolls, salad and angel food cake with Cool Whip and strawberries. A good time was had by all I think.

This gal brought some of the best salad dressing I have ever eaten. She gets it in Georgia. Her husband, the fellow on the right, plays softball in Florida every year and they go down there often and she found the dressing in a store on the way. I am going to ask her to buy me a case of it the next time she goes!

I love fixing food for people. Everyone cleaned their plates.

These are friends and he is our Sunday school teacher. Last time I had everyone over, I fixed fried chicken. He went in the hospital the next day with a heart attack. I felt so bad, but I think it was going to happen anyway. I haven’t heard anything bad yet since this meal, so I think he survived my cooking once again.

I have been going through some old National Geographics that we have had for years dating back to the seventies. I quit taking it years ago, but after looking through them, I think I want to subscribe again. Anyway, I had been looking for one particular one for years that had an article about Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. So funny, but when I brought a few in from our shed where they were stored, the very first one I picked up was the one I had been looking for. Eureka!

I so enjoyed reading about Lewis Carroll or Charles Dodgson which is who he preferred to be called.

He remained a bachelor all his life finding himself more comfortable around children than adults. He made up whimsical stories and nonsense poetry for them I have always loved his poem Jabberwocky. The tongue twisting lines were fun for me to read as a child. He made up words, frabjous being one of them meaning wonderful, elegant, superb or delicious.

Alice in Alice in Wonderland was based on this little girl who was Dodgson’s neighbor, Alice Pleasance Liddell.

I will leave you with Autumn garden scenes.

Hope you are having a frabjous day. Bye.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

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We had another super moon the other night. The Harvest moon. David took my camera and a tripod to the porch and took some amazing pictures. I really did not know that the moon was so colorful.

Gorgeous. Magnificent. Shiny. Bright.

It began to change colors. Pink. Who would have thought?

Wait a minute. Now it’s becoming a darker pink. Almost red.

Golden. Or cheese. I’m not sure.

This is not Mars. It is our moon. Beautiful, huh?

It’s beautiful, no matter what color it is.

Speaking of beauty. These beauties have been showing up in our garden. David and I sit out on our porch swing and watch them flit from flower to flower.

The flower compliments the butterfly or vice versa. Is this a Monarch or a Viceroy? Anyone know?

Bees are a buzzin’ on the flowers.

They really like the orange zinnias.

Now just for some cuteness. I never get tired of seeing this.

Bonnie and Molly. Molly uses Bonnie like a jungle gym.

Bonnie is voicing her objection to the biting of her head.

“I just love you to pieces, Bonnie.”

“Don’t you think I’m adorable? ”

“You just think you’re adorable,” says Belle.

Molly has the prettiest eyes.

I just love her. Bye.

End of Summer Daze

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Before God takes His big paintbrush and paints the scenery with golds, reds, oranges and yellows, I am basking in the last few days of Summer, enjoying the cooler mornings and the sunny days. Enjoying the burst of color in my garden as the flowers seem to know that soon the frost will come and they will be gone. The bees and butterflies seem extra busy gathering nectar. The hummingbirds feast at the feeders preparing for their long flight south. I always feel a little sad when they leave.

We have tried to pack in as much as we could this Summer, from a trip to Chicago, a trip to Cincinnati and short trips antiquing. We got our new puppy and two new chickens. We connected with family and friends we don’t see very often. It’s been a good Summer, but I do look forward to cooler days.

My little Sunday school class had a party to celebrate the year and the children who will go up to a new class. We had cupcakes and cheese puffs and balloons.

This little girl will go into the kindergarten class. I’m going to miss her.

I’ve had this little boy in our class since he was tiny. He is now a big kindergartner. I’ll miss him too.

This little boy is so funny and will be staying with us for another year.

This little girl always has the cutest clothes on. I have taught her since she was two. She’ll be with us another year and I am glad.

As I took pictures of the class the children kept showing me things to photograph.

This is suppose to be a cheese puff butterfly!

I bought some more fabric. Surprise, surprise!

It’s all going in a new quilt I am piecing. I am tending toward pastels and pinks lately. Years ago I would never have chosen these colors. David says I have had different phases in my fabric buying from dark Confederate colors, to polka dots, to pastels. I guess quilting is kind of like painting when you choose colors. It is very hard for me to work on a dark quilt right now. I need bright, happy colors.

I couldn’t resist this fabric and I am going to make an apron from it.

We got out the kiddie pool for Molly. She loved it. I think she is going to like water more than our other dogs. She tries to drink out of the hose while I am filling her bowl. Now I have three dogs at the back door begging for treats. Molly sits as soon as I come out because she knows she gets a treat when she sits. She doesn’t always get one, though.

Molly is growing so fast. She is almost twice the size she was when we got her. I think she will be bigger than Belle. They play really well together now and Belle hardly ever growls at her anymore. I think there is going to be a challenge on who is the alpha dog with those two.

I finished all my sister-in-law’s books and got this book from the church library. I like Max Lucado as he writes in such an easy manner and explains the Bible in terms anyone can understand. Do I want to be like Jesus? I try every day. I fail sometimes and other days I do better, but my goal is to try to be more like Him every day.

We went up to our grandchildren’s house Saturday. I had promised my younger grandson that when I got a new camera, he could have mine. Well, I got my new camera so we got a new memory card and batteries and a charger for my old one and took the camera to him and the look on his face when we handed it to him was priceless(wish I had taken a picture.) He and I took a short walk and he snapped pictures around the neighborhood. I think he likes his new camera. David thinks he will be a photographer.

Here he is showing his sister his new camera as he snaps her picture.

Love this boy. He’s growing too fast.

This is one of their family cats. He looks like he has a mustache. Very distinguished.

We decided to go up to Pendleton for lunch.

They were having some kind of festival going on and the streets were crowded and parking was at a minimum. By the way, I love that shirt that lady is wearing.

The fragrance of funnel cakes was in the air.

These were the menus at the restaurant we went to.

Loved the ceiling and old looking lights.

Waiting to be seated. I love this grandson’s red hair. I think I need to be a redhead again.

We ate our lunch and then after we were finished we began to walk around when suddenly my stomach felt queasy and we had to leave. I felt so bad that I ruined the day, but David took me home, I took a bath and went straight to bed and I felt queasy for a couple of days. We really have to go back there soon as their antique stores looked really good.

The gardenia one of my sons gave me for Mother’s Day finally bloomed. The plant has grown a lot and I will have to over winter it in my shop. The flower smells wonderful. I don’t know how big these get, but this one has tripled in size since I got it.

I am hooked on silent movies. Crazy, huh? There is something about them that draws me in. I think these are movies my mother or father may have gone to the theater to see when they were young.

This was about World War l. My mother was born just before the first World War. This man was getting a tooth pulled here. The script on screen read:

This was kind of a comedy, love, drama movie. It took place in France where a soldier fell in love with a peasant girl. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I love old Charlie Chaplin movies and they make me laugh much more than most of the so-called comedies now. Nowadays the comedies go for the gross and crass and are not my cup of tea.

Mornings are misty and cool. Happy Autumn. Bye.

Accidents Will Happen

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See that adorable face in my header up there? A face everyone would love? A face that melts your heart? An adorable, little puppy face that just makes you want to squeeze her?

Well, I’m just saying to all of you that have managed to raise a puppy indoors, I applaud you. Molly is caged at night for her safety and David gets her out every morning before he goes to work and then just leaves her in the shop until I wake up. Then first thing after I get out of bed I let her out and she does what she has to do and then she is left out with the big dogs to play.

So far so good. Not many accidents in my shop.

This morning it was pouring rain and David didn’t leave her out which I am glad for, but…….

Let’s just say I slept in a little this morning. Okay, I slept in a lot. I don’t like to get up late because I feel like I have wasted part of the day away in bed, but this morning with the rain pattering on the skylight and feeling all cozy and snug in bed I slept. And I slept. Something I haven’t done in years. Once I woke up and through sleepy eyes I saw that it was nine- thirty. “I have got to get up,” I told myself as my eyes closed again. Then, the next time I looked at the clock it was ten-thirty and I jumped up and ran downstairs to let Molly out of my shop. I was afraid of what I would see when I opened the door. My fears were well founded.

Molly had had a poop and pee party all over my shop. Whether it was from frustration, anxiety or revenge, she sure did a number on my shop floor. I was so glad at that moment that I had cement floors and no rugs in the shop.

I let her out and began the clean up, pouring bleach everywhere and spraying disinfectant. Then I realized I could hardly breathe so I turned on the air conditioner and fan and left the shop for a while. Later I came back and scrubbed the floor with soap and water. I am going to go over it with a wet swiffer in a little while.

Meanwhile, Molly was all, ” I want to play and bite your heels,” something we are trying very hard to train her not to do. She is out with Belle and Bonnie now. I know, I know, this is what you should expect with a puppy, but I really didn’t know a puppy could go so many times in a matter of a few hours. I won’t let it happen again.

Other than that, Molly is such a good addition to our dog family. She is sweet most of the time. Once in a while she turns into the Tasmanian Devil and tries to nip and bite and goes all growly and vicious, but we don’t let her get away with it. She is learning to sit for treats and she loves her treats. She can smell them before she sees them and gets all excited.

I hope your day started better than mine. Bye.

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