The Ark?

I know I mentioned in previous posts that I was looking for specs to build an ark. The rain (finally) subsided but the creatures keep on coming.

As I was sitting here typing, there's a sound, lo and behold there was a doe outside my open window. She was approximately 5 feet from me. I debated on grabbing the camera knowing her sharp hearing would hear the camera click. I took my chances anyway and I was correct. She leapt across the road and onto my dad's property. He told me yesterday there is a very young fawn in the wooded area behind their house and I have a sneaky suspicion the doe is the mama. I didn't get a picture. Hopefully I will get one the next time she crosses here.

It's been a trying day around here. I was knitting and decided I needed another skein of yarn from the stash room. I headed to the hallway. There was a rope laying in the middle of the hall. Wait...........rope? I had just cleaned and I know for a fact there was no rope. Maybe a strand of yarn. Oh my gosh........it MOVED! It's a..a...a... SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE SNAKES!!!!!!

I froze. I couldn't think. I grabbed the phone. I couldn't dial. I couldn't function. I had to think. Had to think. Cell phone. That's it. I pushed a button and called my BFF. Now by this time I'm hyperventilating and shaking so bad I almost dropped the phone. She sent her hubby out. I then called my dad and he called my BIL. Within 5 minutes 4 men were on the scene. (much like the fire dept a few posts ago). Just as the BIL pulled in thie driveway that slithering reptile went under the attic doorway. The men came armed with a back scratcher (don't ask, I have no idea what that was going to do), hoe and flashlights.
They asked questions. What color? How big? (Okay, I got that one. It started out as 1 foot by the time I was freaking out, it grew to 2 feet!), Where did it go? Did it look poisionous? Okay, men. Let's get something straight. I didn't take my knitting tape measure and size it up and I certainly didn't take a photo shoot.
I called the husband (who was at work 2 hours away) and his response? "heh heh heh......what do you expect me to do about it from here?" (after my response to him, I'm not so sure he has any hearing left)I heard later that the "guys" at the office thought this was funny.

The attic way has needed cleaned out for some time and guess what? It's getting cleaned tonite much to the DH's dismay. I have purchased ALL of the boxes of moth balls in this town and now my house smells like my great-grandmother's closet used to smell. I don't care. I want that snake OUT!
There's a beach towel lodged at the bottom of the doorway to keep him prisoner.

I gave the husband an ultimatum. Me or the snake. Mr. Smarty Pants (who thinks he's a comedian) thought for a moment, then chuckled and said, "I guess I'll keep you."

Too much sun and the snakes seek water. Too much rain and they seek dry land. Apparently there's no pleasing the slithering beasts.

Silver & Gold

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary.

Many years ago I was a single mom raising 2 little boys aged 2 and 7 yrs old. I refused to date at the time. I was working and keeping those boys in line (lol). My cousin and her husband decided I needed a date so they fixed a blind date. I refused. Determined, they set up another date for us to meet at a car race. The day of the date, I cancelled again. Another month passed and by this time my aunt was in on the conspiracy. So I agreed. They took us to a local pizza shop and then to the movies. He was smitten (so he says) and I was cautious.
Time moved on and we continued to date. Life was busy and we found time to "tie the knot."

The DH took on the responsibility of two little boys who were abandoned by their "real" father and he jumped right into parenthood. He hung in there with football practice, swim meets, camping, fishing, church activities. He understood little boys and their antics. Rocks thrown to see who could throw the farthest only to accidently break a car window. Tools that the boys were not to touch mysteriously disappeared, only to be found in the yard when the snow melted. Toasters, drills etc were torn apart to "see how they worked" (the eldest son was responsible for that little antic). Sometimes the DH just shook his head, smiled and said, "boys will be boys."

Twenty-three years ago on this very day (our anniversary) our first daughter was born. Life had it's ups and downs (as every married couple). He worked a day job and took on side jobs in the evenings to make ends meet. Our last baby was born 17 yrs ago.
We endured financial hardship and a boat load of medical issues; Asthma, mono, flu, ear infections, sports injuries, surgeries etc. Juggling school activities, finances, work, kid issues etc were a challenge but we muddled through it.
Times were tough and we would overcome one obstacle only to face more.

We have been very blessed.

Although none of the children read this blog, I hope they know how very proud we are of them and their accomplishments. Each one of them has been blessed with a gift/talent and they are loved unconditionally. This also applies to the "new" family members.

As I reflect over the past 25 years I wonder how time flew by so quickly. We've learned a few things in the past 25 yrs.
Life is too short and the clock is ticking. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Laughter really is the best medicine.

To the hubby,
Happy Anniversary! God willing, I will be wishing you the same for the next 25 years:).

p.s. I've had an announcement that has been kept underwraps. Our eldest son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first child. Little Madeleine will be making her appearance into the world sometime in August. And so begins the next chapter.

Oh Happy Day

It sprinkled here yesterday but by afternoon it was gorgeous. Blue sky and the big yellow ball in the sky. We were perplexed at first as we weren't sure if the sky was falling but we finally discovered it was the sun! LOL
Our eldest daughter was born on our wedding anniversary 23 yrs ago and we celebrated her birthday a bit early by combining it with Father's Day. Barbequed chicken and homemade mac/cheese was the menu choice by the daughter. Fruit, corn, green beans, shrimp and of course, cake completed the picnic.


My dad on the left and the DH on the right. My dad recieved Father's Day wishes from myself and my two sisters. So 3 out of 4 is good.
The DH also received phone calls from 3 of our 4 kids. The eldest son and both daughters called to wish him a happy Father's Day. It made his day. YAY!!!!






We purchased paint for the bathroom a month ago. The DH decided to paint it yesterday. Don't even ask why. This man has an uncanny knack for picking holidays to tackle major jobs. Like the one year when he decided to strip our wooden kitchen cabinets 5 days prior to the Thanksgiving feast which was to be hosted in our home!
Or the year I was traveling with my teddy bear business and he decided to paint the entire inside of the house one weekend. With 2 dogs, 3 kids and laundry. Blew his wee mind. Welcome to my world:).
He grumbled about the paint color and I must admit it looked a bit like puke green. But after it was on the walls and dried it seem to improve. I rather like it now.
It was a good day!

p.s. The youngest DD called and chattered like a magpie. That kid will be talking for weeks when she returns:).

Entertaining

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the dads out there. I will be posting our day's events tomorrow. I know it's a day late but our indoor picnic will be this evening. I'd post a picture of the outdoors but it's the same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that.......you get the picture.
We had a clearing yesterday for a few hours. Then we had an afternoon umbrella shower and of course we were not under the umbrella. The thunder clouds rolled in and it rained all evening into the night. Today, it is windy, cool and appears as if the dark clouds could break loose any moment with more liquid sunshine. To all those who need rain I'll be sending buckets of the stuff your way:).
There's water in the basement and the roof is still leaking. The DH wants to fix the roof leak but it must dry first. The wet dry vac stands ready at all times. Getting downright depressing around here. Meanwhile DD called last night at midnite. She forgot about the time change. She's having the time of her life camping and enjoying the beauty of her dry surroundings. I understand there are tons of pictures for us to sort through when she arrives home in a week.




Okay, to all those who think Mr. Bettis gets a bum rap with his shenanagins.
Miss Aurora carries skeins of yarn around the house and hides them. I caught her having a nice romp with a ball of yarn.










I tried to grab it but she hung onto it with all of her claws. Not good when one's hand is in the midst of cat claws and yarn.












Hugging her yarn for dear life.

Yes, we're desperate for any indoor entertainment these days.









You thought I would leave Mr. Bettis out didn't you? Not-on-your-life. He wanted outside at 6 am (on a Sunday morning?). He was barking his fool head off and when I looked outside guess who has returned. Mr. (or Mrs.) Rabbit. If Mr. B thinks I'm getting up every morning at 6 am (as he did last year)so he can bark at the rabbit he needs to get another thought in his head.

Sloggy Mood

Well guess what we woke up to this morning. Rain. Still. The cricks (yes, I said cricks :) are a risin'. Everything is wet. Much too wet. Humidity is moving in, oh yippee! and I think I saw a duck with an umbrella. LOL I don't have an exact count but I think we've only had a handful of sunny rainless days since April. Ridiculous!
The pool is overflowing and the ground is saturated. Not good for the farmers and certainly not good for my mood these days.
The economy continues to spiral farther down into a black hole and the fuel prices are rising with the water gauge around here. I don't have a problem living within my means (as the American people were so told ......eyeroll) but what the heck is one to do with the continuing rising food and fuel costs? There are only so many meals one can fix with hot dogs, hamburger and eggs. Fuel? I have one question, where is all the slobbering media attention on this as it was last year? gggrrrrr.........Okay I'm off the soapbox for now but darn it's frustrating and makes me grumpy!


The flowers are blooming but the vegetables are water logged. So much for saving money and planting food. Wonder what I could cook with flowers:).










Mr. Bettis has limited time outside. He made an area of dirt with his racing and ripping in the yard. All of the rain has now made mud and Mr. B finds this to be quite entertaining. Not so much fun when he zips past me and the towel when he comes in. I give up on mopping the floor. I just wait until bedtime, do a quick mop and wait until the next day to do it all over again. It appears the rain isn't going away anytime soon.






Ms. Aurora (who thinks she's the queen around here) smooshed herself in the window to monitor the birds, squirrels and and any other creatures who have wandered into our water slogged area. We were going to do some much needed yardwork today but......... So I guess we'll work inside.

Enough is Enough!

There's a reason why I don't live in a rain forest. It is raining......again. It is cold with the thermometer reading 60 F. It's June 17th and I'm sitting here in jeans and a sweater, socks on my feet and the windows closed. This is ridiculous!
The animals are coming 2 x 2. I've seen 2 chipmunks, 2 mourning doves, rabbits (okay there's more than 2 of them, no surprise there :) and 2 deer. Obviously our front yard is a new deer crossing. I've seen the deer several times in our front yard and by the time I grab the camera and turn it on, they're gone.
Speaking of the deer. Our eldest DD and her hubby were driving when a deer jumped a guardrail and landed on their car. Thankfully they were not injured. Not so with the deer. Everything under the hood of their car except the engine was totaled along with the passenger door. A few more inches and it would've hit the passenger side of the car (where the daughter was sitting).
Husband called this morning and guess what? He hit a deer on his way to work. Thankfully there was very little damage to the car and he is fine. He told me there was no choice except which one to hit as there were 5 of them on the road. He tried to come to a complete stop but couldn't and bumped one of them.


Yesterday I went to 2 dr appts.
A crime was committed while I was gone.
I returned home to this.
A 10 lb bag of potatoes was shredded and potatoes were everywhere.








One lonely potato that was apparently used during a game of fetch.











Seriously, who could possibly believe it was Gypsy?
To Mr. Bettis's attorney and new consultant,
the potato bag weighs more than she does.
I ask you, How could this little dog possibly do this much damage? Just look at the innocent face. I hereby plead Miss Gypsy to be innocent of the potato crime.






However I do believe I have the guilty culprit in custody.
Notice the toss pillows and the couch cushion on the floor? Miss Gypsy nor Miss Molly can pull the couch cushion off the couch. I have previously witnessed Mr. Bettis kicking the toss cushions off the couch.
The loveseat cover is a shambles and Mr. Bettis is laying asleep on it. He appears to tired from his criminal activity.
I declare Mr. Bettis to be Guilty of the Potato Crime.
I'm looking into a webcam.
...........there's a new leak in the roof and it's still raining!

Up, up & Away

I promised to write the reason why the youngest DD will be away for Father's Day.
She was one of 90 students chosen from 500 across the nation to participate in a two week, all expense paid science/space exhibition. Her group consists of 8 students from across the USA to attend their particular exhibition.
She has been preparing and anticipating this trip for months.
A lot of firsts for this young lady, her first flight, her first time anywhere west of Arkansas/Tenn, her first time away from family.
Here she is, pasting a "have-to" grin for her mother at 5:45 am in the airport. We departed at 3:00am in order to be there two hours in advance. Good thing. We have never been to the airport so it was quite confusing for us. Add in the husband who does not (or better yet, refuses) to "ask" directions and it only gets worse (eyeroll). Her flight was at 7:15 am. We arrived in the terminal at 5:30 am. Thank goodness she had all of the necessary paperwork in hand. Security was a nightmare with very lo-o-ong lines.

We watched and waited for her to get through security. Apparently we missed her going through the line. This Appalachian mama had a meltdown. Husband was very patient and insisted she would call if there was a problem. I knew she turned off her cell phone as she is very adamant about following rules. At 6:40 am my phone rang. She called to say that she could have the phone on before boarding but she would promptly turn it off after she boarded. She barely made it in time for boarding due to the security check lines. Thank goodness we didn't listen to those who advised to only allow an hour at the airport. She would have definitely missed her flight if we followed that advice. My heart skipped a few beats as I watched her plane on take off. She landed safe and sound many hours later and she LOVED it! Unlike her mother who has only flown once and hated every minute of it.

As John Denver sang, ".....mountain mama, take me home, country road." This mountain mama was glad to head home.

I took some stress-free knitting along. Tiger socks in progress. It's my new car knitting project.

UH-OH

The economy is bad but the daughter and her friends have become very resourceful for entertainment. One of their events is a movie night. We and the friends' parents take turns for a movie night at our homes every week.
She was at a friend's home for movie night. At 11:45 pm (her curfew is midnight) she came in the door shaken to the core. She blurted out she hit a deer 1/4 mile from the house. We know that is a known deer crossing .
She handled it well for about 5 minutes. Then the wailing began. She was concerned she killed a life (as she put it). This is the only damage to the car. She's a lucky young driver. Her very first and hopefully only "accident."

Daughter will be gone over Father's Day (more about that on a later post). She wanted to give her dad something before she left. So I pulled my resources and she took her dog-sitting money (yes, she dog sits) to buy him a weed eater.
His back is not good and has been worse since the near mishap in the city last week. I can no longer fuss with the weeds with my bum leg so this gift is perfect.
He loved it! He put it together and there's not a weed in sight around here:). Men and their gadgets LOL.




Mr. Bettis & Co receive a steady supply of treats. Because....well... because (shrug). Just ask Chan why they get treats:).
Miss Gypsy (brat) set her treat in the middle of the couch then kept a vigilant watch. It drives Mr. Bettis crazy.

He is such a gentle dog and he will not take the treat unless Gypsy leaves. Notice the difference in size. Since Gypsy and Phoebe, the cat, were keeping watch he laid his head on the couch and stared at the treat. He waited. Miss Brat....er.......Gypsy was not budging.

So what did he do? He went to my knitting nesting corner and got into my knitting! Right in front of my eyes! I couldn't believe it. Caught red-pawed! I wonder what his attorney has to say about this?

Accidental Friendship

I just finished watching the movie Accidental Friendship on the Hallmark channel. Starring Chandra Wilson, Ben Vereen and Kathleen Munroe it is based on a true story.
The obstacles that Yvone (Chandra Wilson) overcame to find life once again is riveting. The story also includes her dogs. They are her family throughout her homeless life which made me realize how important my pets are to me. Let's face it, if you own pets they ARE your family.
And why not?
They're faithful (I say this as Mr. Bettis is laying at my feet.........on the couch).
They don't talk back.
They don't have high expectations
They are always pleased to see you and they hate to see you leave (even if it's only to go to the mailbox)
They love you unconditionally

So, if you own a pet, give them a hug. I'm sure they'll appreciate the attention.

It's What?

It's raining.........again! I am wearing a sweater and jeans today. On June 4th. This is ridiculous! I think I need specs for an Ark.
Thank goodness Mrs. Jenny Wren's house is above the ground. I decided to check on the wee one today. Well guess what?









The camera (known as the birdie sonogram) revealed not one but four wee eggs! It's quadruplets, folks.
The DD and I are ecstatic. If only I could knit for them. How about little birdie sweaters with JW initialed on them? Names? I'll have to come up with names. Any suggestions?
I do have a small concern. She built this nest inside a grocery bag. I wonder how she will get them out of there to fly? And if so, what about Mr. Bettis & Co who may be outside during the flight? No worries on the cats. They're inside creatures although Miss Aurora has been spending quite a bit of time at the kitchen window watching.





I cast on for yet another project. The Caricia shawl. Now let's see I wonder how far I'll get on this one.

Wee Ones

It was 82 degrees yesterday and the sun was shining. A rare sight this year but there it was in all it's shining glory. Where was I? In bed with a severe allergic reaction to new meds. I'm feeling a bit better today and guess what? It's raining! Again! This must be the most rain in the month of May/June that we have had in years.



The other day I was watering the "homemade" garden. I know, you're questioning why I would water the plants when we've had so much rain. But the bags are not open enough in the top to catch the rain. There are tomato plants in these bags. I looked in the bag getting ready to water it when I noticed a mass of twigs, grass etc. I was quietly blaming resident squirrel.









Upon inspection I found a nest. A little Jenny Wren nest.















I took a picture of one lonely wren egg. I hope it survives. I see Mrs. Jenny Wren swooping in and out of the bag so I know she's taking good care of her little one. Now if only, Mr. Bettis would keep his big mouth shut when he sees her going in and out of her home.
That dog doesn't miss a trick around here.









The knitting mojo has returned with a venegence. I'm casting on projects right and left.
I am smitten with Noro. I don't particularly care for the feel of the yarn but.....oh my......the colors. I an absolutely in love with color and this yarn has captured my love of color.
I have been wanting a log cabin Noro afghan and I hit the stash to start one. I will need to haunt online shops for Noro sales. So if you hear of any good sales, please let me know.
I've also started two shawls and now I'm crocheting two preemie hats for Hubby's co-worker who is the proud grandfather of twins. Unfortunately they have come into the world a wee bit early. The little girl weighs in at 2.7 lbs and the little boy is 2.0 lbs at 26 weeks. I know the mother and father will appreciate the wee hats.