Clutterbugs

Why MegaBloks are scattered all over the family room:

Psssst it's not Maggie's fault

Ghost of Fathers Day Past

A greeting from the heart:

Whirlwind afternoon

Crisis du jour:

In the path of a tornado!

No warning siren, and boy was it fast! One minute the Bradford Pear tree was there, then when I looked again it was in pieces on the ground. Very little structure damage in our neighborhood, but the place is a mess of broken trees, some torn up by the roots.

Thankfully, my brave little ginkgo is standing strong and healthier than ever. It's barely taller than me now, and at ginkgo speed may even reach six feet in several years.

Maggie's first tornado


Tags: · "Olive Branch" · "Mississippi" · "tornado" · "Olive Branch tornado"

Here kitty·kitty·kitty

You know those jokes about the little old lady who has ten cats? Well, there's ten cats around here and I'm evidently that lady. Thankfully, we're only fostering Mama's five kittens, most of which are expected to adopt out to permanent homes. My 16-year-old cat — who hates all other felines — is adjusting to life with Lori's three younger cats, two of which are part-Bengal. Her other cat is the strong, silent type who knows how to throw his weight around but wouldn't dream of actually harming anyone.

Otep's favorite spot atop the fridge

Mojo's found the softest blanket in the house

Brother is the self-appointed Keeper Of The Stairs

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Good thing I'm a Cat Person, ain't it?

Plan B

Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof.

Julie Moir Messervy

Last summer's edible tomato has encouraged me to grow another tasty treat this season. Before I broke my hand, I'd expected to try tomatoes again. The upside-down planter, though, is a "get dirty" contraption that my cast prevented me from using. Instead, I started off a dozen or so watermelon seeds in a starter tray, then transplanted the five surviving seedlings to a front spot on the west side of the house, where they'll get lots of hot afternoon sun. I hope they're as good as the seed package looked.

And four months later:

CarlaCarlaCarlaCarla · 10/10/2009
Unsuccessful, but not fruitless

Clown face

Maggie's first Koolaid mustache:

Day Dream

Never take Ecstasy, beer, Bacardi, weed, Pepto Bismol, Vivarin, Tums, Tagamet HB, Xanax, and Valium in the same day. It makes it difficult to sleep at night.

Eminem

Another narcotic-induced dream

Okay, so there we were flying down the street, minding our own business, when we came upon a group of Men At Work repairing a leak in a roadside creek. The leak had created all sorts of problems with the purity of the water, so that if the Men At Work came in contact with it something terrible would happen to them. Not immediately, but over time, like they would eventually get a disfiguring and painful skin disease. In spite of this danger, getting into the water to repair the creek was the only way to properly fix it, so two men were up to their chests in it. Since they were both considered unimportant to Society though, their safety was sacrificed for the comfort of more important people.

Nevertheless, we ended up flying through the next creek that we came to. This was a foolish and unnecessary risk, but I wasn't given a choice in the matter. Naturally, I hoped the water in the second creek hadn't been infected with Impure Water Disease. And wouldn't you know it, the one time that my feet touched the muddy creek bed, they each fell on broken glass! Although I couldn't see the glass through the dark water, I could tell that it was thick amber glass from a carelessly discarded beer bottle.

Once back on dry land, I realized that the soles of my feet had matching lacerations, but not much bleeding. I treated them both with rubbing alcohol to help avoid infection and speed healing, but was unsure if I'd be able to at least hobble around or be unable to walk at all.

---

As soon as my fractured hand healed, I ended up injuring my knee while carrying an armful of kittens around the yard. Last week's surgery to repair a torn meniscus left me with two small incisions on either side of my knee and a promise from the orthopedic surgeon that I'll develop arthritis in that joint one day. Yay meeeeeee!

Sitting pretty

Funner than a new toy

All this food consumption means that Maggie's quickly outgrowing her things, and she's ready to graduate to a larger car seat. After comparison shopping, Lori ended up purchasing the least expensive seat available. She wisely chose one that will grow with Maggie, and eventually morph into a booster seat. It even has its own cup holder! Maggie has evidently learned that anything pink with flowers belongs to her, and she's getting used to it indoors before taking it out for its first ride.

Lori's purchase inspired me to buy one for my own car, the same model but in Basic Blah Black to match my upholstery.

I also invested ten bucks in a big stuffed frog to sit beside me in the passenger seat when Maggie and I are out and about, which prevents her forgetful Gramma Tea from leaving her behind in the back seat.

Smackaroni Night

No matter what's on the menu, Maggie prefers to dig in and feed herself. What some might label as messy, I prefer to call independent:

A trick learned from my mother:
When preparing macaroni and cheese, add a drop or two of yellow mustard before adding the cheese. It gives just the right touch of flavor.

oops

Okay, I got sick and tired of wearing this cast. And even though my orthopedic surgeon instructed me to wear it for six weeks until the end of May, I felt as though I'd already had it attached to my arm for six months. So I second guessed him and counted the weeks since surgery on my Palm Pilot and discovered that the surgeon was wrong, I was only three days short of six weeks since my surgery date!

Co-pay after co-pay after co-pay had encouraged me to choose DIY cast removal techniques, which went smoothly. I'd expected some surgical scarring and sensitive, icky skin. As the afternoon and evening wore on, though, the pain in my hand went from bad to worse. Concerned that losing a few days of cast wear had been a bad idea, I nervously re-counted the weeks on my calendar ... and then realized that it should be worn six weeks from the date it was originally applied, not from the surgery date. Ugh, it's only been four weeks.

So you're thinking I'll go to the orthopedist Monday morning, shell out another insurance co-pay and then admit to the whole gruesome story, right? Not so fast. After a night to sleep on it, the pain and swelling have subsided. And in the meantime, it's as good an excuse as any to rest my hand and enjoy the weekend.

No more kitten drama!

Crisis du jour:

Whatever's preying on these kittens at night doesn't intend to stop.

Another sleep-deprived night in which unknown assailants harassed Kitty and her litter of kittens has inspired me to lock the babies up overnight in pet taxis. We are, after all, officially fostering them until they're adopted through a local animal rescue organization, and I feel responsible for their safety. With four cats already in the house (mine plus Lori's three), bringing them indoors isn't an option.

Frankly, I think these kittens need a full night's rest after playing so hard during the day. Now that they've discovered life beyond the back porch, their favorite hangout is an overgrown spirea shrub where they hide and plan surprise attacks on one another. I don't expect a single one of my abused cannas to bloom this summer, and that little wheelbarrow with the flowers "spilling out" of it is a complete disaster.

What a mess!

* Update on the injured kitten:

After studying animal care on the Internet, Sarah has been applying warm compresses to the kitten's wound each night, which opens it up painlessly and allows more pus to drain (lovely!). Since she and the kitten have really bonded, Sarah's named it Madison has decided to keep this one instead of her first choice.

Besides, she learned from the vet that Ella is a little boy. And not just any little boy. After all the growlies over a dead vole that Mama Kitty drug up on the porch, he's evidently the alpha male of the litter. I left him alone until he stopped batting it around and began chewing it up. Sure, the dishes and food and bedding and kennels on the porch are a mess, but I draw the line at bloody guts all over the place.

A meanie in our midst

Crisis du jour:

An injured kitten

Upon returning home late Sunday, I learned that one of the Siamese-look twins had suffered some injuries the previous night. Sarah found the kitten curled up on the ground Sunday morning, soaking wet with rain and shivering from shock. Since Lori worked at Cat-n-Cow during high school, she shaved the hair from a skin laceration on the kitten's side, then treated it with antiseptic.

Today's visit to the vet revealed a smaller puncture wound parallel to the one that Lori discovered -- an obvious cat or snake bite. After lots of pus was drained from the area, we returned home with an antibiotic.

Happy Mothers Day

Spending Mothers Day weekend in LA with my parents was even more relaxing and fun than I'd expected it to be. Since Mother's foot is in a cast, Daddy led us on a Saturday driving tour of the area that included all sorts of sights I'd previously only seen in photos. I hollered, "I've seen this before! I know this spot! This is (fill in the blank)!" so much that it must have seemed like I was trying to be the tour guide. We stopped briefly for a closer look at Sheldon Castle, an unusual historic home in Fairhope.

Naturally, I was treated to authentic Gulf Coast seafood at a place frequented by the locals. My parents are evidently so local that they both ordered chicken instead of fish. That evening, we settled in to watch Smokey and the Bandit on DVD. Oddly enough, Mother and Daddy had never seen it. Hard to believe it was made thirty years ago. And yes, it's still a fun movie.

Looky what I got for Mothers Day Four colorful varieties, hand planted with love

She's a keeper

Our back-porch kittens are currently six weeks old, and they're cute as buttons. Sarah has introduced them to solid food and litter trained them, and plans are in the works to give four of the five away to good homes.

For all her hard work, Sarah's being allowed to keep one favorite. She's chosen a female and named it Ella — perhaps after my Aunt Ella?

The feeling is mutual

Curious youngsters in separate worlds:

HBW

bokeh (boke-uh)

A Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image

At first glance, bokeh seems like a clever way to avoid distracting attention from a photo's subject, but it's as important to the overall appearance of a picture much like the "empty spaces" in a flower garden enhance the plants it surrounds. I recently discovered that there's even a flickr group dedicated to Happy Bokeh Wednesday.

Exercise with Maggie

This series of 15-second videos demonstrate Lori's version of the world's strongest redneck:

Curls for toned biceps

Flip ... because it's fun

Small successes

I don't blame you if you find it foolish of me to brag about this, but this morning marks the first day my bed has been made since breaking my hand three weeks ago. (And yes, of course the linens have been washed, it just hasn't been made up.) Like opening the Sprite bottle, changing my granddaughter's diaper, and carefully shifting gears with my right hand, it's another reminder that I'm gaining mobility and that things will eventually return to normal.

Realizing that this injury is simple compared to so many others that my orthopedic surgeon treats, I've repeated this phrase a gazillion times since breaking my hand:

I complained because I had no shoes,
until I met a man who had no feet.

Those covers didn't stay perfectly in place for long. As soon as Maggie and I were able to get Lori to go run errands, she and I played on the neatly made bed til it was all messed up again.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

See the 15-second video on YouTube

Good as new

This afternoon's doctor visit revealed that my hand is healing nicely. I came home wearing a cast that will provide better mobility that the clumsy splint I've worn for the past month.

Okay, it's been only two weeks, but it seems more like a month.

Stick to yer ribs

Hey Grandmaw, what's for supper? A big pile of meatballs, served over wide egg noodles. They sat so heavy on the belly that no one dared go back for seconds.

Maggie woofed one down in record time: