Cats, Kittens, Barns, and Memories

These are the stray kittens that I have been feeding. In this picture they are all eating like little pigs. Here I had mixed a can of Friskies with some Kitten Chow. That one in the top that is just now coming to eat was the meanest of all. (not really mean, just more wild). The first time I caught it, it bit me several times. Then later it bit me again on the finger. That time I think it was an accident as I had Friskies on my finger and it just tried to take a bit. Anyway, no harm done and a few drops of blood lost.

First off the little yellow one and one of the black and white ones disappeared. I figured maybe someone had come along and picked them up. The mother moved them across the road to another barn, so I fed the remaining 4 over there. Then she moved them back again. Then 3 more disappeared leaving only one. It was there for about 3 days and then it too disappeared. I have looked everywhere for them. They knew me and always came bouncing out when I called them. They were not afraid and they knew my voice. I have held and petted them to make them friendly. I thought strong about bringing that yellow/black/white colored one home with me, but I didn't. Now I wish I had. I have been all around the house, the shed where they were born, the big barn across the road, and all the other old outbuildings. It makes me sad that they are gone and I don't know what happened to them. The gentleman that owns the farm was there today and I took a picture of him. He's very nice. I stood there and talked to him for about 30 minutes at least. He said he would go look for those kittens but he was barefoot. He hates to wear shoes. We talked about the old days.

I told him how much I enjoyed going in the barn across the road since it reminded me so much of when I was a kid and the barn at home. It has stalls down the side, hay in the loft, and lots of other nocks and crannies. It's really a big barn! He has 2 tractors in different sections of it and one has a bushhog on it. There are a couple of huge areas where cattle used to come to get shelter and feed in long troughs and an old bathtub which they drank from. The smells, which I know most folks wouldn't appreciate, I do. Just brings back so many memories. I'm going to take my neighbor with me sometime and I'll climb up to the hayloft and have her take some pictures. So stay tuned. You know you do not want to miss that.

Ramblings Again

This past week my neighbor and I went to Lee's Ford Marina and ate at the Harbour Restaurant. It's a very pretty place. They are allowed to sell booze now so they have remodeled and added a bar and it's really snazzy. The best part is you can eat inside or outside and get a great look at the marina and the lake. They have some big houseboats there. The waitress told us that last year there was a yacht there that was a $4 million dollar one. Imagine that! I'd like to have toured that one, or better yet stayed on it for a couple of weeks. Ha! Fat chance of that. Gee, I wondered who owned it???

My food was not very good. Way too much salt on my burger. I should have sent it back, but I wasn't very hungry. Last time I ate there I got penne pasta with Alfredo sauce and shrimp. Now that was so yummy! This time I got a burger and chips. I even took a picture.

Next time I'll send it back if they get too happy with the salt shaker.

We stopped to look at townhouses they are building on the edge of the hill overlooking the lake very near there. I wanted to see the view from the back. They have already sold two of them. The asking price is $349,000. They have a basement and then 2 stories with 2 decks out back. Here is a picture taken from the second level deck.

Nice view! That is a bridge with some traffic, but not like an interstate or anything, so probably not too bad noise wise.

Strolling.........

Strolling around the yard today these are a couple of the things I saw. This is one of my neighbors dogs jumping up on the fence. They are boxers and they are really pretty. This one has his ears flopped back in this picture. Looks like he's saying "Hello." They have the prettiest coats and they run like deer playing over there. I like to watch them. It was too hot today for much running though.

Then I came upon this thing. This makes the 4th snake skin I have come across, 3 in my yard and one in the neighbor's yard. Nice of them to leave their skin behind, but it makes me wonder where they went to after that????

Truffle Results

Oh my! Now I can see why Jamie Dawn is a truffle lover! I had never had these before and the testing was great fun!! You see me trying one and then licking my fingers and then the lovely chocolate ring around my mouth when I got finished!! They were all soooo good, but I think my favorites were the lighter chocolate. I did find them at Walmart and I got the variety bag. There wasn't a bad truffle in the whole bag. Even the white chocolate ones were yummy. Now I wonder if JD has started a new habit for me? I recommend that you all try them ASAP!

Let's All Try Truffles

Jamie Dawn is always talking about truffles and how they are so good. I don't think I've ever had any. She told me that they can be purchased at Walmart or Walgreen's and they are the brand of Lindt. So I am going to check them out and see if they are as good as she says. I'll let you know the results. You all may want to get some as well and let me know what you think.

I think if they ever had a truffle eating contest she should be entered! After eating so many like that she might get sick of them forever though. That would not be a good thing.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all the Father's out there. May your day be very, very special indeed.

Toothaches and Harold

I have been blog slacking lately. Seems there are more things these days to occupy my time.
My husband had a toothache Wednesday night. This becomes a major problem when the only way to get him to a dentist is by ambulance. I called his dentist and he talked with me. He said that if I could get him there on a stretcher he would work on him. The VA nurse came out and she said that they could take him to Lexington to the VA Clinic and work on his tooth there but it'd take about 3 days to arrange. The dentist is on vacation today and next week. We have an appointment on the 27th and the dentist gave us a prescription for antibiotics and pain meds if he needs them in the meantime. If you have ever had a toothache you know what a pain it is. Nothing helps but getting it fixed! His tooth quit hurting and so now we are being careful by having him only eat soft foods. Now if only I can arrange things with the ambulance service. I tried all day to get them yesterday. All I got was "I'm either away from my desk or on the phone. Please leave a message and I'll call you back ASAP." I left 2 messages with no call back yet.

I got this via e-mail and thought it was so cute and worth sharing!

I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Harold the computer guy, to come over. Harold clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem. He gave me a bill for a minimum service call.
As he was walking away, I called after him, "So, what was wrong?" He replied, "It was an ID ten T error." I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, "An, ID ten T error? What's that .. in case I need to fix it again?" Harold grinned.... "Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?" "No," I replied.
"Write it down," he said, "and I think you'll figure it out."

So I wrote down . I D 1 0 T

I used to like Harold.

RED, RED, RED Chevy

This is my brother in law's car, a 1936 Chevy Coupe. He has really done so much work on this car. Pretty though isn't it?

Strange to look inside it with the dash and that steering column and not see all the things that we have in our cars today.

He'll sell it to you if you have about $25,000 you want to get rid of.

STICKS

In my last post I wrote about my Dad and how he loved to whittle on red cedar. Here are some pictures of his sticks. That pointy one that you could pick your teeth with! He would whittle them down to where they were so sharp like that! Then we found these ones below after he passed away. No doubt he had in mind to make something. The 3 of them was all there was.


This one had a little knot there so he poked it out and made it look like a bird of some sort.
In the last picture you see where he drew a picture. He was no artist for certain. I'd say the animal was probably what he called a "gillywhomper."

Daddy

This is my Dad. He was sitting in his back yard whittling on a cedar stick. He loved to whittle and could make shavings that would curl up so nicely. In the house he would get an old piece of newspaper and lay it down and whittle and let the shavings fall on the paper for quick clean up. He whittled all kinds of things. He made a few walking sticks with marbles in them. He liked to whittle pieces out with sharp points on them. They could easily be used for weapons! Then he would whittle some pieces out real sharp like a knife blade. He called them "liver splitters." They were sharp enough to split a liver that's for certain!

He had so many red cedar sticks. He had some in his smokehouse tied up in the rafters and he had some under the floor of the house. After he passed away we went through his sticks and some of them had funny writing on them. One had a little poem on it about Bush and Quayle written back when they were in office. My brother has that particular stick. One had animal pictures drawn on it (Dad was no artist) and by one animal it had something written and I tried and tried to figure out what it said. My brother looked at it and it didn't take him long to figure it out. It said "Gilly whomper." My Dad was always talking about a gilly whomper, just a word he made up!! We found some of the sharp sided ones with "liver splitter" on them, and some he had done some figuring on and written his name and address, etc. It was so neat to go through all those oodles (and I do mean OODLES) of sticks to see what might be found written on them. I still have some of his sticks. He always wanted to make sure he never ran out of red cedar for whittling. He had enough stashed away for 2-3 lifetimes.

This is Dad in his overalls (all he ever wore) that he washed with Clorox in the water and they got faded out. He called them his "cloudy" britches!!

My Dad always had a great sense of humor and he just loved life. You can see in this picture where he cut some off the bib off his overalls since they must have been too tight when he bent over or something. He had several that he had cut out like that. You can also see in the corner by the fridge the broom turned upside down and some sticks for whittling! He always laughed and said also that if someone come in the door you didn't like you could whomp them over the head with one of the handy sticks there!

We used to work in the fields and chop the weeds out of the tobacco and the garden stuff. It was a hot job. But he made it more fun by making up little silly songs and poems about the neighbors and different things that usually kept me laughing. It helped the time to go by quicker too.

He used to say this riddle; Jump up on Hiphop, hollor for Bumberry, to come run Tom Tigamaterry out of the World of Wigglemaworry.

Translated he said that meant; Jump up on the log, holler for the dog, to come run the groundhog, out of the cornfield!

Yep, Daddy loved life and he loved to laugh. We have had many a good laugh together and I can just see him now laughing so hard.

Grooming American Pie Bye Bye

Catchy title huh??

I think I know a good occupation for someone to get into. The dog grooming business. I wanted to get my dog groomed and never could get them to answer the phone where I usually take him. I left a message but they never called back. So I went over there to make one in person. She said they are booked until mid July. I told her I had left a message but no one had called me back. She said that they are not good at returning calls. They board animals and that place is always packed. They even have 2 fat raccoons in there that they have had since they were babies. One of them is the biggest raccoon I have ever seen. I can't imagine what he weighs! She got a permit to keep them. The last time I was over there she had a baby goat running around including the several dogs and cats that roam at will. They are good groomers though. But mid July! That's like trying to get a doctor's appointment.

Since my dog's hair is getting pretty long I told her I'd try to find someone else. I called another one that I've had him to several times but no answer for a few days, so I don't know what has happened to her. She had some health issues before, so that might be it. I called a couple more places and it was going to be about a month. Finally I got one that had had a cancellation and I got that spot. It will be on June 12th.

I can cut his hair and I have before but it's hard. They have a table they stand them on while they sit down and the dog has a noose around its neck and can't really move. I don't have that equipment. I hate to take him because he starts shaking like a leaf in a windstorm and gives me that begging look to not leave him. It is so hard to do but necessary. Then when I go back to get him he is so happy to see me... and he's all neatly groomed too.

It's obviously a business that will keep you pretty busy. Maybe it's slower in the winter as I would think more people would want their dogs hair cut during the hot weather.

On one of the houseboats down below they are having a concert tonight. Right now they are singing, "American Pie." I have heard all of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cashs' songs I think so far. It's no trouble to sit here and hear them loud and clear. When I go in the other room to bed I think I won't hear them though. I sure hope not. He isn't a bad singer but I think I've had enough music already. Oh, I just heard someone holler at them so now they have quieted down.
So I guess this is the "the night, the music, died..... bye, bye Miss American Pie...."

Southerness

I got this through an e-mail and thought it post worthy!!

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.
Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, ... as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white , granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin! Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near"and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road"can be 1 mile or 20. Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we are "in line," ... we talk to everybody!
Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
In the South, y'all is singular.... all y'all is plural.
Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk. And a true Southerner knows you do not scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" ... and go your own way.
To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff... bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language! And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for along time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could." Bless your hearts... y'all have a blessed day.