Like Mother Like Daughter(s)...

All of my children have been to the beach and ocean since they were little. I gave them a taste of the salt air and waters whenever I could. It is ingrained in me and now them. My mother took me many times to Asbury Park, NJ even as I was a baby! She had her best girlfriend to stay with because that wonderful "aunt" had a place in Ocean Grove.

And so it goes... The grandchildren love the ocean and beach as well.

Recently two of my "girls" had a short visit to celebrate their birthdays in May. They told me it was very windy and cold but enjoyed it just the same.

These two ladies are similar in their tastes for pets. Like me! Their pets are family members. Like mine! Their children have many pets as well.

This is SNOW! Bengal breed.

You've already met Charlie and this is "Lexi."

"Massimo"

Both ladies are excellent cooks and bakers too. BRAG! BRAG! I'm very proud of them.

Poor Puppy

Again!

His first surgery was in January, 2009 for an aural hematoma and it went well, though left him with a tippy ear - for character!

Only holding him still - no hurt!

 After Surgery

All Better

A couple of years ago we noticed a marble sized lump on his side. Vet said it was a fatty tumor and to not worry until it was much larger. The time came to worry.......

Surgery was scheduled to be performed and had to be postponed due to my shoulder accident, so today was THE DAY.

In case you don't know about fatty tumors in pets, please read here to learn more:

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/skin/c_multi_lipoma#.UBrouxwndG4

We brought him home two and 1/2 hours after the surgery because he simply cannot be caged and kept at the vet's for the recovery period. After the first surgery, he woke up and tried to claw his way out of the cage, tearing his paws and toenails.

Well, We avoided this today.

He'll be just fine. Love this little old man (age almost 12) and hope to have him around a while longer.

Revitalization Has Begun

Click on pictures for larger view

Example of Hope

Last August my nephew's home in NJ was flooded. As the water was subsiding and before the cleanup was hardly begun, September brought another flooding! The photos here don't really show the full impact, but today there is hope, even as total repairs are still being completed and cleanup is not finished.

You see, the firemen came and saved his "girls." Their coop and yard were at the back of the home and they were almost lost.

These photos of yesterday were kept only as reminders of the devastation that so many have endured when the weather ruled. Today there is light at the end of the tunnel and - RENEWAL! The girls are laying!

Example of Interior

Example of Front Yard

Example of Back Yard

Example of Hen Yard and Coop

Example of Front Yard Street

Example of Compassion

Example of Front Yard - Strike Two

Onward to the NEW YEAR!

Snow (Bengal)

It was quiet here on Christmas day. Middle daughter (the only offspring who lives nearby) went to NJ to be with her two sisters and brother and their families. That's a good thing. We have NO desire to travel over the holidays. We will go to her place tomorrow to share foods and stuff. Each of our brood called and that was enough!

Our eldest daughter just sent pictures of their Christmas day together. I love her cat, SNOW, even though he gets into everything! He goes into the tree, breaks balls, knocks stuff off all counters, windowsills, and even the table! They love him. He's a Bengal and also goes into the showers with anyone and loves water! She has to take him for a walk, on leash of course, every day! He is loud mouthed and very curious and active. As he ages, he is also becoming very loving and expressive!

Their doggies are wonderful pets as well. Each one is a character. All the children grew up with many many dogs, cats and kittens, horses, birds, mice, Guinea pigs, and numerous wild critters and it's no wonder they have several as members of their adult families. After all, where would we be without our pets?

Guiseppe (Boxer)

Pasquale (Boston Terrier)

And so, several family lifestyles will perpetuate and all families will experience ups and downs as is normal. Life enters into a new year with new challenges and accomplishments.

Calling All Birds

Yesterday I had a couple of birds arrive at my home today and they are hanging out with "Wylie." They whisper in his ear that they came from Hawaii and like it here very much. I hope they will stay for a long while! I've already named them "Coco" and "Nut." I'm so grateful for friends who sent birds to me all the way from Hawaii!

Today Hawaii says, "I'm glad they arrived! They might be a bit chilly! 8-)"

Mainland replies, "Nah! They are toasty by the fireplace. They love it here! I have to get them some seed though. They don't care for cornmeal or oatmeal. (We need the bread and can't share.)"

Update from the mainland: Coco and Nut are looking for their friends, the Partridges, but there are no pear trees here. The French hens are hiding somewhere, the calling birds are too cold to call, and the geese and swans have all gone south. Poor turtle doves only have Wylie (and tasty seeds!).

Back for a Bit .....

Well, as can probably be expected, I've not been in the mood to write anything. I've been obsessive/compulsive about making computer generated movies and slide shows, using my personal photos. I don't have a movie camera so are all taken with my regular snap camera; (wish I had a zoom lens). It takes a great deal of persistence to learn how to do this and complete them so they are pleasing and interesting - at least to me - and hope others can have fun too.

I'm a slow learner when I teach myself, so bear with me. Some of the movies really mean something to me, such as the Hawaiian wedding of my girlfriend's daughter. She eloped unexpectedly 25 years ago and it is a successful and productive marriage. The couple liked my work and that brought us all enjoyment. The Yummy show used photos she sent me from HI and she didn't realize she had taken so many to show us "mainlanders."

The flying whirlygigs are an important part of living here because they are my imaginary friends. Everyone needs those. "Alvin" is the special one.

I DO love bugs, beans, and other such things. So........

My other obsessive actions this month seem always to involve my love of music. Today I uploaded many Leon Redbone renditions of old songs that I especially like. I just float away on his wavelength! It's hard to control my wants and "needs."

The weather here has been muggy and miserable so I have stayed indoors - with my friend, iMac.

By the way, James celebrated the 4th with a new outfit and then went fishing with another.

Oh, and....we just might have pink ducks and geese and also black flamingoes next year here at the lake. We have had company on the lake's floating log.

Try to have a good time with the 8 new movies here. I did!

Thinking Back...

NATURE RULES!!!!!!!!

Something you didn't know about me - I have raised and returned to their own habitat, baby squirrels, baby rabbits, baby raccoons, baby groundhogs, baby possums, baby crows, baby owls and more. In fact, the baby squirrels and baby rabbits were put in a clothes basket with my momma cat and she nursed and groomed them along with her own kittens. When they became too playful in the house, I set them free. The squirrels took a long time to adjust to the wild and came, precariously, from the tree to the house on the clothesline, begging for fig newtons

(their favorite cookie).

I once looked after oriole peeps in a hanging basket that I pinned on the clothesline, too. It had fallen from a tree when they were very young and I found it on the ground. I would reel it out to the tree and the mother would feed them. I would reel it in to the house so I could see how they were doing. One day they weren't there. I don't know if they flew or were eaten by hawks. The basket was empty except for many little white mites!

I learned early on that if I let the small kittens outdoors the hawks would swoop one up - drop it to kill it - swoop down, get it and fly away. I saw this happen! At first, I thought the kittens had wandered into the woods and got themselves lost, but I could never hear their cries nor find them. It was very upsetting to me.

I killed the crow with "kindness!" Jester was doing nicely in a large homemade cage. We had a vacation planned to go to the seashore for the weekend and I put a whole ear of field corn in the cage to last him until we returned. Well......when we came home, he was dead, clutching the perch, with the empty corn cob laying nearby. His crop was huge. We figured he pigged out! Of course he didn't have enough grit in his crop to grind up that much hard corn in one sitting! Lesson learned.

The raccoons were kept in the horse trailer. I bottle fed them. They were very noisy and loving. When the male became a bit aggressive, I set them free. Did you know that they don't actually wash their food? I always had a dishpan of fresh water for them and they would dunk their kibbles before eating. It became apparent that they don't have enough saliva-production to eat.

The owls were in auto accidents. Stunned and a bit brain damaged, they were fed bits of hamburger meat until well. It was my brother who found them lying on the road.

If you wonder how I obtained all of these babies, be assured they were all orphans to begin with! That's another story.

Six years ago, when Ed was recuperating from his heart surgery in May and June, I watched, from my kitchen window in the cabin, a robin build her nest in the carport. I soon saw 4 little eggs. Then, I saw 4 little heads peeking up with mouths opened wide. I saw Momma bird feed those 4 little barenaked babies. I watched their fuzz turn to feathers. One day I saw a big crow take the last one away in his ugly bill. Boy did that make me angry! Too late for any of them to be saved. I know we shouldn't interfere with nature, but DARN!