Week 94, 10-8-2017

Thoughts and Quotes: Life is just full of surprises.  Me

Last week I said that no one missed my blog post, and I was wrong. Several of you told me that indeed I was missed. But here's the surprising part - I missed you. Even though you can't reply, I feel as if I'm sitting down and having a chat with you. I missed our little visits, so here I am (a day late), but I'll drop by each week, even though I might not have a lot to say for now. Soon I'll be back blabbing away full steam again; so much so that you'll want to tell me "enough already".

Nephew Will broke his ankle and has been off work, so he, Brother Bill (his dad), and I have spent several days together. I don't see much of them anymore, so I treasure our times together. I always have fun with these two, even if they beat me when we play Chickenfoot.

I've also done some reading.

I didn't really like the Baldacci book, and now that I've made a commitment to rid myself of one item per day, today's item will be the unread Baldacci book in my garage stash.

Five Days in Summer started out as a thriller which kept me turning pages, but ended up a little too much on the "sick" side to suit me. The serial killer was really sick.

Show of Evil is the sequel to Primal Fear, which was made into a movie starring Richard Gere. It's enough different from other murder thrillers to hold my interest, so I'll keep the third book in the series and read it soon.

Handbags and Homicide by Dorothy Howell is a different matter entirely. Don't let the lack of stars on Amazon fool you. If you like Kinsey Milhone of Sue Grafton's ABC murders, you'll love Haley Randolph. She's addicted to designer handbags, a little on the flaky side, and very gutsy. I bought this book at a thrift store on a whim, and it happened to be the first of a series. I've discovered that neither Christian nor Greene County libraries have book two in their collections, so I've ordered it in from our library consortium.

And while we're on the subject of cozy mysteries, I want to share a wonderful website I found which is just full of information and even has the authors listed in alphabetical order and also lists their books in series order. Click HERE.

Thank Yous: To Linda for the beautiful teacups for the library teas.

 And the teabag rests that I get to keep since the tea is served in teapots at the library.

To Carrie and Annie, my mother-daughter blog buddies for all these wonderful surprises I found in my latest CARE package.

For autumn decorating

And for cardmaking

There was even a squeek toy and laser pen for the kitties. Stormy has plucked all the feathers from the squeeky toy - my little destruction derby kitty - and loves chasing the red light around the room.  Pepper didn't show much interest, but we'll get to that later.

And to Brother Bill, the champion napkin ring finder for these pretty little blue flowered ones (ceramic).

And the ones with the gorgeous seashells, also cermaic, which I'll use on the redo of the Sailing, sailing.....theme dinner.

The theme dinner items are still sitting on the cabinet, collecting dust.

And at the other end of the cabinet, the December Holly Tea items still wait patiently.

The Pepper and Pals Report: A lot going on here. First of all, Pepper had a bout with diarrhea this week, so maybe he'll show more interest in the toys now that he's feeling better.

He and Stormy are becoming good buddies. Pepper still chases Stormy, but now it's playing and not trying to herd her back to the patio. They even use the same potty boxes and eat together. I've had a challenge this week, keeping them in separate spaces, because I was lacing Pepper's food with diarrhea medicine.

Stormy loves being a lap kitty, but can't decide whether she wants to be a house kitty or a feral kitty. She followed me out to the outdoor patio last week and wouldn't come back in. She was gone for two days and two nights and then I heard her crying from the top of the fence. I tried everything to help her down, but she'd move away from me and then finally just walked all the way around the fence to the gate and came down on the diagonal boards as if that's what she planned all along. What a brat!

And now she's out prowling again. She slipped out last night and wouldn't come back in, and still hasn't shown up today and it's almost noon.

She still sleeps in her carrier in the screened in patio, but spends a lot of time in the house. I want her to get really friendly with Pepper because I can't leave her in the cold patio this winter, looking through the sliding door at Pepper inside all cozy and warm.

To recap the kitty situation: Stormy is the only remaining member of the Weather family. Mother Misty and Brother Sunny have since moved on.

Pepper was a feral kitty, living in my neighbor's back yard, until he was injured and became a house kitty after spending a month in the hospital. His sister is Midnight, here with her daughter BJ. We thought BJ was a male, so named her Butch, Jr because she looked like Joey's kitty Butchie. Now BJ is short for Betty Jean.

BJ had a litter of five, of which only one is still around. I named her Veronica, after Veronica Lake with her hair over her eye. Photos HERE.

And here's a photo of Veronica kitty I took the other evening.

And here she is, looking directly at the camera, with two of her siblings. Out of the litter of five, she's the only one remaining. So sad. I don't know what happens to them, and probably don't want to know. That's why I'm trying so hard to trap them and have them spayed.

And Hercules, of course, the neighbor kitty who is like The Man Who Came To Dinner. He belongs to a neighbor the next street over, and when he ended up in the trap, I got his owner's permission and had him neutered.

Midnight is Pepper's sister, BJ is Midnight's daughter, and Veronica is BJ's daughter. I fed them only dry food all weekend and set the trap with wet food this morning. I looked out and saw Midnight in the trap. I was so excited as I've been trying to trap her for months. When I got closer, I realized she was eating food, but the door wasn't down. Of course, she ran out when she saw me, but later I found Veronica trapped inside. I really didn't want her trapped until November, but while I had her, I took her in and Dr. Hardy says that she looks old enough. One down and two to go. I caught BJ once, but it just happened the vet was closed that afternoon and I had to let her out. She's very wary of the trap now. And Midnight is just plain smart. 

Now for the clean up crew. The janitor continues to do an excellent job of cleaning up.

But his boss has become a problem.

He brought two of his family members to dinner last night, so now I'll feed the kitties earlier and bring the leftovers inside before dark. I don't need squabbles over food when the result could be a smelly backyard. I find it strange that I have possums, skunks and raccoons, and they never compete with each other nor do they bother the kitties and visa versa. However, they do have fights with their own kind. 

The Holidays are Coming: Bill and Will and I had dinner at Cracker Barrel and they always have the most interesting and/or beautiful decorations for the holidays. They're all decked out for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

And remember Joey's beautiful winter room?

I think we need to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch soon, because they probably have something she wants.

Until next time -

STAY SAFE

DRINK PLENTY OF WATER

HANG YOUR AUTUMN WREATH

BUY A PUMPKIN OR TWO

AND A MUM

AN APPLE A DAY

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE