Silliness...

Schnauzers in attack mode thinking they have a cat trapped under the stove... they don't. And, yes, that is a hole in the floor but it's not near big enough for a cat... to come in or go out.

SueSue still not convinced that damn cat isn't under the stove... right here, mom... even after I moved the stove so she could see that it was not back there.

I was reading some of the blogs I visit and had just commented when SueSue wants to play she usually starts with bringing me a ball.  If I don't stop and play she will bring something else and drop on my foot... usually the mean kitty that she likes to play tug with and about that time I felt mean kitty being dropped on my foot. Had to take a picture and share.  I didn't move my feet because I was afraid the ball would roll off the pillow.

If that is all that it takes to inspire me to post something I need to be posting more often.  (Laughing at my own self because it takes so little to entertain me sometimes.)

Want To Get A Project Done?

Start it less than a week before Thanksgiving when a whole mess of family is coming to your home to share the blessings in their life and a lot of food. I took off last Wednesday and headed south for a visit and to get away from the stress of all that has been going on around here.

This is what the fireplace looked like when I got to Ft. Worth Wednesday evening. In less that 2 hours (we had to go stuff our faces first) Diane, my sis-in-law started doing this:

Give her a hammer and chisel and she is the demolition princess.

Hearth is done for…

I had to bust my hump to keep up with her. Of course I did have to stop and take photos along to record the process for posterity (and a break).

Round and round she goes… and the surround is down.

Cleaning up the excess mortar…

Blowing off the smoke after putting the hurt on the mortar.

Miss Molly is overseeing the job to be sure there is no corner cutting. This was the end of evening one except for the sweeping up and washing down.

Day 2: Sheetrock is cut and installed. This job fell to my brother and me.

The tiles are cut first so Ben and I can run right through mortaring them and getting them up, so we could sit in the floor and get the surround tiled without having to get up and down. He’s been down in his back and I’ve just been down.

Here it is… taped and spaced to make sure it stays in place while it sits up overnight. Thus ends Day two.

Ben had to work on Saturday so it fell to Diane and me to do the grouting and clean-up and I was so whipped out I forgot to take photos but I’ll get baby Bro to send me photos so you can see the finished project.

Molly giving it the critical eye and her blessing for a job well done.

Yeah, some work was involved but it was exactly what I needed to do to get myself leveled out. When I can lose myself in a project I don’t dwell on the things that are not right in my life and when I’m worked to ‘rode hard and put up wet’ I sleep great and everything looks better in the morning.

This is the way that I get my perspective back and start getting healed from a horribly inconsiderate fracas. Now I can start planning to start over next month.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and even with what all has gone down in my house I still have so much to be thankful for in my life. I’ve got my furbabies, I have wonderful sibs and I’m not afraid to start over again.

The Thunder Rolls…

And the lightning strikes…(love Garth Brooks)

And where do the schnauzers go?

Up on the foot of Carol’s chair.

  Chloe is plastered against her leg.  If the storm gets real loud, like hail on the roof, she starts trembling like a leaf.  We found that if we cover her up with a blankie she settles down quicker.

SueSue, if it gets loud, gets down and looks at me and says “Are you going to go to bed now so I can cuddle? I’m too scared!” And you know what I do… take the computer to the bed and cuddle her.

Pretty soon Chloe gets down from Carol’s footrest and comes and jumps in the bed and I’m a schnauzer sandwich…

God, I love these pups.

A Farmer I’m Not…

I have been experimenting with garden stuff that likes the red dirt.  I’m finding out that potatoes like our dirt, squash seem to love it, bush beans, not so much, pole beans, yep, and black eyed peas love it.  Okra does good and tomatoes, well, the jury is still out on them.

Cucumbers, I know if we find the right breed they’ll grow and I need to plant another batch of radishes because the first ones are all gone and they were good.  I should have planted them two weeks ago, but see the title of this post. At least I’m learning a thing or two…

I tried cabbage and broccoli.  Here’s those results:

Gorgeous head  

not so much so. almost broccoli but not quite.

I thought at first I was feeding the rabbits with my broccoli, but then saw Colorado potato bugs on my potatoes and realized they were getting my cabbage and broccoli and the squash besides the potatoes.

Then came the squash bugs.  So now I’ll have to say I’m not an organic farmer or even an organic gardener because I went to the farm store and got the baddest chemicals I could to combat them.  I became the g.i. Jane of gardening.  I will fight for my few morsels of food.  I figure I can wash my food pretty good and I don’t like sharing with bugs. 

The rabbits… well, they provide exercise for the girls.  They have fun chasing them and the rabbits think it’s fun, too, since they know the girls can’t catch them.  They will tease them and then take off, schnauzers hot on the trail and low to the ground.  Then when they get too far ahead the rabbits will stop… hop a hop or two back towards the girls to make sure they don’t lose interest and, once again the chase is on.

It takes so little to entertain this Gardner that is not a farmer but working on being a gardener and a better Gardner.

You, Too, Can Learn To Dance...

Last spring I house sat for one of my nieces and her hubs when they went to Germany on a business/pleasure trip for a week.

When you have chickens and turkeys you don't get to leave home for more than a day unless you have some one you can call to come tend them and Laura knew just who to call.

Naturally, I said "You bet!" I went over a couple of times and went through the feeding and watering with her and then came the big day. I took them to the airport, went back home, picked up my girls and we went house-sitting and bird watching.


One of the best parts of the day was in the morning when we, me and the schnauzers, would go open the chicken house and let them out for the day.

I checked the feed and water, filled what was needing filling and then go get a bucket of scratch and throw it out for the chickens all around the yard. They loved seeing me and that bucket.

They weren't so crazy about the schnauzers, but they put up with them just so they could get the scratch. Chloe and SueSue tried real hard to check out the chickens, but the chickens and roosters were having no inclination to make friends, at least not with the dogs.

And the truth be told, Chloe was wanting her some chicken on the hoof. Suess didn't care so much about catching them, she wanted to play chase, but my little old lady wanted to kill them.

I have no idea where she got that. She has always minded me. I mean, I've called her off a squirrel before, but when I first found out about her chicken and duck chasing propensity was three years ago when we were visiting another niece.

Launa and I were walking around checking out her chickens and a pet goose and I am here to tell you my Chloe was off and running close to the ground after that goose. SueSue said, "Oh, that looks like fun, let's play chase!!" I was able to get Suess's attention, but Chloe was focused on G.O.O.S.E. I did manage to keep goose murder from happening, but feathers were flying.

But I digress...

After the goose experience, I had to help my sweet Chloe to understand that when mom says no, mom means NO, and we, the dogs and me, could go out around the chickens and roosters and I could take some photos and tend to my chores without worrying about chicken murders.

And although I was unable to teach the girls to herd the chickens back to the coop at night, we got through the week, we all had a lot of fun and spent quality time wandering all over outdoors, taking photos and caring for the chickens and the turkeys.


And what, you might ask, does this post have to do with dancing?

If you've never been in a chicken yard, throw a bunch of marbles or little rocks in a confined area, take off your shoes and try to tippy-toe through all of them without stepping on any of them.

Maybe then you'll get the drift of what I'm talking about, especially if you relate the marbles or rocks to chicken or turkey shit. You'll find you can dance just trying to keep your balance without steppin' in it and getting it all over your shoes.

I like to call it "The Poo-Poo Dance."

Turkeys will be featured next week, as is appropriate for Thanksgiving week.

Thank you and good night.