Look at that!

What a sight, late at night, coming through the gate into the backyard. Now I think she's lovely and interesting. John on the other hand, was not so amused at nearly walking into Ms. Spider but he did grab his camera for a few fast shots. Now at one point, the spider jumped and John jumped too. It was a small matter of a stick.. how was I to know she'd object so? I really didn't flick her off or poke her hard. Just doing my bit to help him get a more exciting shot. Let me tell you, that boy can jump! (but the spider jumps better I must say.) How frazzled was he you ask? Well the next morning I went out to walk the dog and was shocked to see his car door standing wide open! I was so sure he'd been robbed. I ran back in the house and woke him up. It was not a good start to his day I'm thinking, based on his initial response. However, it turned out that he'd left the car door open all night! Everything was still there, surprisingly enough considering it was right by the street. Whew! I told him that spider meet-up really blew his mind. He says it wasn't so. It was the decaf coffee. Hmmm?

I don't care John. I still blame it on the spider trying to get a close up of YOU.


(wondering what he will say in *his* blog)

Ohhhh this has got to go.. NOW!!

Oh this has got to go go go! Is this cute or what? She stays here long and I will just Cry when she leaves! Have already put an add on Freecycle and told a neighbor about here. Mix female terrier about 2 yrs old, totally darling, sweet, good with the cats, she's a doll!!

Isn't she cute?

How could someone take this little doll to the pound? I said Oh no! I'll find her a home! But it better be fast because she is a bit addicting.

Temptations

We all have our small weaknesses right? Mine is bread. Everything about bread is wonderful.
The feel of the dough as I knead it, the smell of it cooking (when my nose is working anyway) and of course, the finished product. If it weren't for fresh bread I might even be losing weight!





Hot bread, butter (the real deal!) and local honey makes a treat that my mouth just waters for.









Round is easy but I have a rectangular cloche that has been crying out for use. Finding a cloth cradle for French bread at a thrift shop, making it mine took no thought at all. Now we know, the next loaf won't be a round one!



Check out Breadtopia, Farmgirl Fare (a year in bread) and No Knead bread so you can start
baking too!

Realizations

according to my son, http://blog.johnkotrla.com/2008/05/01/a-startling-realization/, I have this thing about birkies. I don't know why he'd blame me for his birkie fixation.

Look - there's obviously room there for another pair (the dog ate one pair) and more sneakers.. wait, there is another pair of sneakers somewhere. And I think there's a pair of birkie's missing... oh yeah, they are on my feet.

Eat your greens!

Every time I make a salad, here comes Beeky. It won't do for me to give her a piece of lettuce. Oh no. She must help herself to the piece of her choosing, off my plate. A few nibbles and she's done, I can have the rest. At least she's neat, doesn't nose around in the whole thing trying to choose, she's fast to pick one piece at the edge and sticks with that. Some folks at those food bars in eating establishments could take a few cues from her!

my old friend

my old friend is in the hospital, has been now since the end of February. Well there was an almost two week stint in the Skilled Nursing Facility of said hospital but.. pretty much seems all the same to me. She is so dear to me. This is a hard time for both of us in very different ways. Since she went in to the hospital my good friend's mom and one relative have died. It's been a tough spring. It doesn't seem like it has been nearly 24 years since I met this old lady. She has been more a part of my life than I realized prior to her illness. Hospital staff wonder at my being there, at taking the part I do and can't seem to understand how close you can grow to someone who is not family. She was there for me when my husband died. I was there for her when her husband died. There's never a week that has passed that if I am not on vacation, I wasn't at her house at least twice and maybe five times. It is an odd thing in life, how you make a casual aquaintance (I bought a goat from her) and somehow it develops into a lasting relationship that deeply impacts both lives. You never know it seems, who it will be or why. I would not have thought this lady would be such a part of my life 20 something years ago. Such an age difference, and we did not really do anything together past the goats. Just sat, drank coffee, talked. And that was enough.

---

My friend died a few days after her 85th birthday. Bye second mom.. I loved you.

Thinking

Is this a good thing? Or do the claws need to come out?

Take this!

No fear! Says Fela Kitty. Shoot me? Just watch these teeth!

Where's the water?

Tell you what, you cannot say we are not optimistic. Don't you just know though that the guys who put this sign up laughed and laughed?

A walk in the park

We went caching in the San Angelo State Park New Year's weekend. Suza loved the hike but it wore her out (me too!) so once home she curled up in her chair and snoozed soundly.


.............................
After chasing around town to vets, groomers etc, we found plenty of ads for other lost dogs but not the two we picked up earlier. Finally located a rescue group that still had room - so many fill up at this time of year. So all ends well, from my point of view at least!

Fela's Poinsettia

Fela loved this poinsettia for the whole 12 hours it was here. She'd stick her nose into the middle of the plant and inhale deeply. Then drool. I'd have expected her to chew on it, but nope!

More dogs!

Dogs dogs dogs! We went out to the state park to ride bikes and found dogs running loose on the highway near the gate of the park. Of course we had to pick them up! One is a Westie we think, the other a cocker, maybe mix. Both are nice, young, and need grooming

Fritti's gone

It was tough but yesterday Fritti Cat was put to sleep. He could not get well from what should have been a simple upper respiratory ailment. The FIV was showing its ugly head and since there is no good end to this, we decided to say goodbye now.

See ya at the bridge Fritti baby!

Cats and elbees

or litterboxes (LB you see).. so many of them with so many cats! Litter gets pulled out onto the floor, as every cat owner knows. The boxes built into a cabinet have long appealed to me but getting someone to make one seems to be beyond my ability. Then recently I saw a cat box at the store that looked interesting but the price tag! It was right at 32 dollars. The design appeared easy enough to copy. I picked up an 18 gal storage container and some outdoor carpeting. Cut a hole in the top and glued on the carpet (to help catch litter). Voila! A new box! Large and deep, the cats took right to it. While there is some litter on the floor still, it is a tiny amount indeed. This is so successful and economical that I'm changing over all the boxes to this design. Here is Fela (the tabby stray who was unnamed yet in her last photo) checking out the new box.

Goodbye Misty

Misty dog was put to sleep today. She was 12 years old and failing, but at the last something else came along. It was fast, just in the last couple of days I noticed her stomach was getting rather large, then she did not eat last night. Without an autopsy we don't really know exactly what the problem was but the vet was certain he felt a mass and she definitely had internal bleeding. So a peaceful good bye was the best gift we could give her. We will miss her. Misty was a good dog.

Wild flowers!

More flowers. Just because I enjoy looking at them so much.

Geocaching

yes, I have to immortalize this one. At least I did not find any cats, LOL. If you don't know what geocaching is, look it up on the 'net!

Yep, another one

This one actually was picked up before Fritti.. and still does not have a name! Neither is she spayed yet, or tested, or...
well anyway, she's not ready to be adopted out. We are enjoying her antics. Some oaf dumped her on a country
highway miles from anywhere. If I had not been out geocaching... (which come to think of it is what I was doing when I found Fritti.)

There's been a few others but we placed those so fast they won't get their pictures in the blog.

Fritti, the newest rescue. The name comes from Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams.
Fritti was the thinnest cat I have ever picked up. For the first two weeks he was just thrilled to be in the outdoor cat cage. Food! Shelter! Food! Safety! Food!

Fritti has been neutered and has his shots now. We hope to find him a forever home soon.

July's flowers

We've had such a lovely wet summer. Highly unusual yet much appreciated. The rose garden looks nice and the monarchs are everywhere. At this time of year I am more accustomed to seeing plants wilted or dying. The only drawback is the high humidity is getting to me!