Queen Anne's Lace and Lilacs

On My Mind

 

This post has nothing to do with dear Molly.  I just like looking at her (she makes me smile).  Thought you might, too.  Go ahead and click on the picture to see her better.  This  particular photo was taken in between storms one day.  She pushed one of the deck chairs, that we'd moved across the deck hoping to avoid this situation, up to the table so that she could sit on the table.  Molly doesn't seem to have taken the hint.  The chairs have since been removed. (Note to Pioneer Woman:  Molly's feet smell like Fritos, too!)

I've had several things on my mind today.  Firstly, Bethany turns 17 next week.  This is so depressing for me.  On top of the fact that she's nearly all grown up, there is no time for a party until March.  There are basketball games and practices every day of every week, except for most Sundays.  However, she has a number of Mormon friends who cannot attend parties on Sundays.  So.  My whole thinking about this birthday is depressing.

Secondly, I went to work on my Farmville farm this morning.  I originally started a farm at Farm Town, because some of my friends had farms there.  One day, Brett asked me to start a farm at Farmville, so that we could be neighbors.  I tried to convince him to use Farm Town, but all of his friends were at Farmville.  So, I started a second farm so that he could have another neighbor.  (You may not know this, but you get to do more things at these farms the more neighbors you have)  For months, I've been tending to two farms and making Tim do the same.  Several weeks ago, Brett decided to take a break from his farm.  I caught up to him, pointwise, and quickly left him in the dust.  Today, when I went to my farm, I discovered he had removed his farm from Farmville.  In so doing, he has removed one of my neighbors, of which I have very few.  Thank you, Brett.

These kids.  Man, when they want a favor from you, they want it RIGHT NOW.  But when you want something from them, nope, they can't bother.

Thirdly, I had listened to Obama's (pathetic) speech at West Point last night with even more concern than I normally would have.  One of the kids' Houston cousins leaves for Iraq next week.  Until now, I haven't known anyone over there.  At least, I haven't been aware of anyone I've known being there.  I've been thinking about him, Aaron, quite a bit these last few days.  Of course, his parents and brother have also been on my mind, especially his mom.  

Lastly, Brett called late last night to say that one of the guys he works with, Lawrence Schumacher, died last night in a motorcycle accident.  Lawrence was only 24, not much older than Brett.  I don't know anything about Lawrence or his family situation.  My heart aches for them.

Please keep Aaron in your prayers, as well as Lawrence's family and friends. 

Tim's Big Party

  

(Click photos for a larger view) We celebrated the cake portion of Tim's birthday after Evan came home for Spring Break.  We purchased a carrot cake, which was actually quite good.  I normally am opposed to store-bought cakes, but this one was very tasty.  From Sam's, in case you're wondering.  Normally, I make Tim my prize-winning Coconut Cream Cake, but he found this one instead.  He loves Sam's. 

We opted for one candle representing each decade, and then one for each of the extra six years.  Last year, by the time all of the candles were lit, the first ones had melted down to the cake.  It was fun, however, to see all of the smoke.  Oh, well.  Little sacrifices.

We also enjoyed Molly's being in attendance.  She has lost a bit of her puppy hyperactivity and can be included in most things now.  She's so cute!!!!  Every dog owner should have at least one Basset.

Let the Sleeping Dog Lie

This video has been making the rounds.  In case you haven't seen it - or would love to watch it again - here you go:

Good Golly, Miss Molly!

I am happy to introduce to you our new baby, my birthday present, Miss Molly.  She turned eight weeks old yesterday.  She was born in Arkansas, and joined us last Friday.  These photos were taken those first few hours with her.

Molly (or, Mollie, if you're Bethany) is a Basset Hound.  She has been getting to know all of us, as well as all of our menagerie.  Even Little Girl (our black and white cat) has been playing with Molly, and Little Girl detests dogs.  Duchess, the Schnauzer, seems to be afraid of Molly, which is pretty funny - Duchess towers over Molly.  Mac, our Scottie, well, he's a typical guy.  He went over to check the situation out when we first introduced them, and pretty much has left the baby to all of the women folk since then. 

Bethany and Tim adore Molly.  Brett wonders why in the world we have another dog.  Evan has been curious to see the photos.  Oh!  Tim wonders why in the world we having another dog, too.  The point is...she is too stinkin' cute and adorable!!  And I am intentionally not thinking about all of the messes.  I just wish puppies wore diapers.  I never minded diapers.

I'll be taking many more photos, and posting them, as time goes by.  I would have posted these days ago, but I'm having trouble getting a lot of computer time - you know, I have to edit every blessed photo to some degree.  That always takes a bit of time.

I guess I should go grab Molly Moo from Bethany and take her outside for a little while.

Whole Lotta Nature Goin' On

I had everything planned for this posting, when everything - i.e., Vista - went to pot (do people still say that?).  I'm not going to get into how ridiculously horrid Vista is, just avoid using it if at all possible!  So, although there's been a damper put on my original happy mood, I'm going to pretend that all of that never happened, and just get on with it.

The photos, above, are the treetops viewed from my deck (click photo for a larger view).  I photographed the view from left to right.  This line of trees extends through the yards up and down our street.  This spring, we welcomed about 10 new squirrel babies to our backyard.  The babies have been out and about for a few weeks now.  They are always entertaining, and they drive our dogs absolutely crazy.

This past weekend, I don't know what these kids had eaten, but for two days, all of the squirrel babies ran, scurried, chased each other, and fought through all of these treetops, the neighbors' treetops, across the rooftops, and on the ground.  It was a bit like a circus.  The acrobatics were fantastic!  And the fighting and tumbling through the trees and in the yard was quite a spectacle.  I just grabbed a big glass of iced tea and sat and watched them - and shushed the dogs, who were clearly outraged and offended by the whole scene.  Which led to groups of baby squirrels stopping to scold the dogs.  Cute!!

Yesterday morning, as I had my coffee out on the deck, I was struck by the total silence.  Only occasionally did a bird chirp.  It was so strange.  Then it occurred to me that there were no squirrels.  How unusual - there is always at least one squirrel foraging about.  I spent a fair amount of time outside yesterday, and I did not see one single squirrel.  I guess they were enjoying long naps after playing so hard on the two hottest days of the year (100 degrees).

(The bird activity level picked up, as it always does.  At one point, a hawk flew down through the trees at great speed.  I was like, "Whoa, dude, you're going to clip something!"  He made a crash landing in the oleanders.  Interesting!) 

The squirrels have not been the only nature happening  at our house lately.   Tim found a red racer snake and a  gecko in the freshly painted pool.   I could handle that - far enough from the house.  But then I found a centipede/millipede in the bathroom.  It was about three inches long - plenty long enough for me to scream for help.  And then there  was the old "cat playing with a snake in the kitchen" scenario.  Silly Sylvie, just playing with a snake.  In the house.  Luckily, I didn't see that! 

A couple of years ago, I was in a knitting phase.  I was sitting at my desk in the kitchen, working on my computer, when a piece of dark yarn on the floor caught my eye.  I reached down to pick it up, and it started to move.  I was up on my chair in half a second, yelling for someone to come and get that thing, that snake.  Which was similar to my reaction the time I saw a scorpion, which I thought was a crumpled piece of paper, in the living room.  And the first time I saw a centipede/millipede (the long black one) in the living room.  Don't even get me started on all of the black widows around here (don't get Brett started on any of the spiders around here...and in his room).

I don't ask for much (well, I do, but that's not for this discussion).  I enjoy cute animals and pretty insects.  The frogs with the nightly pool parties - until we drained the pool,  and they disappeared - fun, fun, fun!  The raccoon family that eats the dog food - too cute.  The turkeys that wander through the yard, make crash landings on the roofs, and chase people down the road - hilarious.  Even the skunk family that ate the dog food last year - cute, yet seriously, don't come back.  I'll even put up with the unattractive, biting, or stinging critters, as long as they keep their distance - and stay outside.    That's important to me - bugs and wild animals not entering the house.  But to all of the butterflies, ladybugs, praying mantises, and walking sticks:  Welcome!  Come on in!

Hmmm....Just thinking.  I need to keep my camera handier - I don't have pictures of a single encounter with any of these creatures.  Oooh, except for the huge beetle (click photo for a larger view).

Three in a Row

The only time the dogs are all calm at the same time is when they hear someone enter the house.  They line up at the back door, and wait to see who it is.  I've been trying to teach whoever is being greeted by the dogs to make them sit and be calm.  So far, Bethany's the only one I've been able to get to cooperate - at least for this photo session.  I keep telling everyone that, according to The Dog Whisperer, a hyper dog is not a happy dog.   I'm finding that training people is possibly more difficult than training dogs.  Click photo for a larger view.

Catching Up

I had planned to take a day off from my blogging in celebration of the KU victory (the university canceled classes the next day, and I wanted to feel a part of that!), and it turned out to be a vacation for the rest of the week.  Tim and I have been working on getting a video clip up here, and it's turning out to take forever.  I thought the hardest part would be finding a shot putting song, but that only ended up taking a few minutes.  It's not specifically for that particular sport, but it does quite nicely.  Hopefully, the clip will be ready in a day or two.  And not a week or two.

It wasn't a super busy week, but some amusing things did happen.  Now, I realize that most (or all) of these little gems may fall under the "you had to be there" category.  So if you could just close your eyes and pretend you're there, you might find yourself chuckling audibly.

1)  Tim decided to take Evan's KU hat  (blue, with a yellow 'K' on the front) to work on Monday.  He was so excited to have found something to display his Jayhawk spirit!  He  showed it to everyone who stopped by his cubicle, and then he placed it on the top of his filing cabinet.  One guy stopped by, and while Tim was showing him the hat - and giving the guy his own pre-game analysis, I'm sure - the guy asks, "Why does this say "Cats" on the back?"   Tim looked, was totally confused ("Well, isn't there a Kansas "Cats" team?" - and there is, Kansas State Wildcats - we don't care about them!), and some of the light faded from his eyes.

When he got home from work, he related this incident to me.  I'm like, "Cats.  Huh.  That's not KU."  Neither one of us could figure out what the deal with this hat was.  Finally, Brett came home.  He knew immediately.  The hat was Evan's Klein High School hat.  They're the "Bearkats."  I thought it was hilarious - and a bit embarrassing!  (And, yeah....thanks, Evan, for neglecting to mention it.)

2)  We've got a choir of frogs outside our bedroom window.  When twilight hits, their cacophony begins.  It lasts all night long (I discovered that if you softly yell, "Hey," they stop chirping immediately - this has created hours of entertainment  pleasure for me.  Now, if I could just get the dogs to respond that nicely.). 

So we're out on the deck talking, Tim and me.  Mac and Purl are laying down near us.  Twilight strikes, and the frogs start chiming in.  I said, "Wouldn't you like to go down there and see if you can find those frogs?"  Before Tim could reply, Mac (our Scottie) jumped up on him.  Mac was all smiling and wiggling and looking as if to say, "Yes!  I've been waiting for this!"  (Yes, I know, you had to be there.  Remember...pretending...)

3)  This isn't so funny - just a bit surprising.  A few months ago, Brett stepped on Bethany's hair straightener and broke it.  I had forgotten about it, because the expected fit thrown by Bethany didn't occur.  Months went by, and then Bethany asked if she could get a new hair straightener, since hers was broken.  I said, "Wow, that's pretty good.  Brett broke it so long ago, I forgot all about it."  She said, "What?"  I said, "It's been months since Brett stepped on it."  She said, "Oh, I thought I broke it from using it so much."  A fight with Brett, totally missed. 

Well, thankfully, one of her friends had told her about The World's Greatest Hair Straightener - a "Chi."  Turns out they're quite expensive.  Bethany's work, taking care of numerous cats for several months, paid for her new Chi.  It arrived a few days ago.  I haven't seen her this excited about something for years.  Her eyes shine when she talks about it - and she talks about it with everyone!   She actually takes care of it!  We'll see how long that lasts.

I do have to admit, it is a superior straightener.  I thought the other ones worked just fine.  Nope, no comparison.  The difference with this Chi is totally amazing.  Perfectly straight, shiny, soft hair, and it lasts all day.  So if you're ever in the market, think Chi.

Good news!  We checked on the Pennsylvania branch of the family.  They're doing pretty good.  There have been a couple of additions to the family, so naturally, they're asking for a couple more guns and Bibles.   We're  hoping to get this taken care of before their bitterness and anger become totally unmanageable.  Brother!  Clingy people are so demanding and irritating.

I took pictures of our newly potted flowers on April 1st.  I was noticing, as I made this layout, how they've already changed.  Yes, the squirrels and the dogs have found a number of them to be quite tasty.  Click photo to see a larger view.