A Post From Stormy

Helloooo, anyone out there?  It's me, Stormy.  Man, has it been hot lately.

We got some rain Saturday.  Mom had planned to grill some steaks for Brett's birthday, but she had to cook them under the broiler.  I'm sure they were good, but I wouldn't know.  She didn't share even a tiny morsel with me.

I think she was still mad at me for getting on the counter and snuggling up next to a big pan of veggies she was getting ready to roast.  She was afraid a cat hair might have gotten into them, or I might have licked them, so she had to rewash everything.  I don't like veggies, so I didn't touch a thing.  Yuck.  I'd rather have the good stuff.  Like ice cream. 

I don't know why she made me get down and I heard her tell Dad that she was too busy to think about getting a picture.  She always has that camera handy just in case I do something cute.  To tell the truth, I think she was just mad because she forgot to take a picture of all those veggies.  

Mom was in the kitchen a lot that day and I just wanted to keep her company.  Everyone else was watching tv and I'm just like my mom and don't care much for tv.  She made some banana and zucchini bread and also Strawberry Fluff.  Yum,  Yum.  It sure smelled good.  I wanted a taste of the Fluff stuff, because I love ice cream and thought it might taste like it, but do you think she let me have some?  Nooooo.  She told me I needed to go on a diet.  I didn't tell her what she needed to do, I'm nicer than she is.

I even did my cute little trick for the family while they were playing cards.  I jump up on the table and walk around several times and give a little love to everyone.   I've decided that I like Brett, too, so I don't ignore him anymore.  He's a good guy and, besides, it was his birthday.  I hope you have a nice day 'cause I certainly plan to.  I have a few naps to take and some treats to eat if I meow often enough.  Hope your day is filled with fun things, too.

Happy Monday to you!
xo Stormy

A Rare Critter

While driving down a street the other day, something white and fluffy caught my eye.  I wasn't going very fast, so I quickly pulled over and grabbed my camera.  At first I thought I must be seeing things!

No, I wasn't seeing things!  It was a white tailed squirrel that I saw.  Now these may be a common sighting in your area, but we haven't talked to  anyone that's seen such a squirrel around here.

I had to look him up online.  Okay, I googled "white tailed squirrel".   While not unheard of, he seems to be a pretty rare guy.  

I wonder if he is more rare than the all white squirrel that I've heard about?

Well, there you have it...my unusual sighting.  I wanted to wait until today to share my photos with you so I could join Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

*My son has a birthday this weekend!  Happy Birthday, Brett!  

Happy Saturday to you!
xo Cheryl

My Friday Randoms

My flower gardens are looking so pretty and we've had a lot of nice compliments.  I went to Home Depot Wednesday and found a couple of Knockout Roses to replace the 2 that appear to be dying.  They still had quite a few left and the best part was that they were on sale. 

  This squirrel cracks me up because she appears to be sitting on the sidewalk. 

My hubby, who is now on the hot weather schedule and goes to work at 6 a.m. and comes home at 2:30 p.m., came home yesterday and found a deer in the garden happily munching away on the green beans.  The rascal had eaten most of the tops out of 3 nice rows.  

   
My daughter had to have a tooth pulled yesterday.  Ouch!   And it was a tooth that had a root canal done on it several years ago.  I drove her to the dentist and decided to check out the river while I was waiting.  The Missouri River is still quite full, as you can see here.   

No, this isn't a two-headed kitty you see here and it is not the rare sighting I'm going to show you tomorrow.  I have to say that, cute as they are, I wish they were rare sightings!  Their mom brings them to us for a day or two, then takes them elsewhere, then back again.  Sigh.  They are feral and we can't catch them to get them to the animal shelter.

   
I love roosters and hens and had to buy this tole-painted picture when I spotted it at a flea market for pennies.  I know it's around 30 years old because I have a bread box that I bought back then when tole painting was all the rage and it has the same hen painted on it with the artist's name in the lower right corner.  I'm still in the planning stages for a gallery wall in my kitchen and I hope I'll be able to fit this in with my hodgepodge of stuff!  

I'm linking to Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5.  I'm so happy she is hosting this party since I've been missing the other one we used to have.  I know this will be a great party, too, so join in the fun!   And, thanks, Tanya!   

Happy Friday to you!  
xo Cheryl 

Good Fences

I spotted this old picket fence while driving down a street looking for a flea market.  The flea market turned out to be closed but it wasn't a completely wasted trip.  I spotted something very rare that I've never seen before (nor has anyone else that we've asked) on my way home.  I will show you what I saw in Saturday's post.   Sorry, I can't help myself...I love to tease!   

This property appears to be abandoned, judging from the look of the house you can barely see in the first photo.  What really caught my eye was that wonderful old tree.  Can't you just picture kids climbing and sitting on that big limb back in the day?      

Linking with Theresa's Good Fences at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Music, Books and Flowers

♫ In the summertime, when all the leaves and trees are green and the redbirds sing.... ♫ 

Do you have a favorite summertime song?  I love music and there are many I love listening to that make me think of fun summer days.  Anything by the Beach Boys and Nat King Cole's Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer is on my list, also the instrumental Theme from A Summer Place.  There are a lot of great summer songs and I don't know that I can choose a favorite.  How about you?

My poor hubby had to work quite a bit over the weekend.  He was "on call" and was called out several times including Sunday night.  He missed supper.  I fixed myself a chef salad and ate that and then settled down with a good book.  I'm still reading a Gladys Taber book about her cat, Amber, and it is very entertaining.  I finished The Book of Stillmeadow by her and I think it may be my favorite of all her books.

 
We had another inch of rain Sunday night and the flowers are loving it.  My zinnias are now blooming, the few I have.  The sunflowers are growing, but I think the pesky deer are beginning to invade the garden.  I noticed a few had been munched on.  I have some Deer Off I need to use and see if that will deter them.  A couple of my knockout roses appear to be dying and I can't figure out what has happened to them.  If there were a dog still in the neighborhood, I'd think that might be the cause.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.....!!   I was driving down the street yesterday evening and saw something that made me do a double take and pull the car over to the curb and whip out my camera.  I really couldn't believe my eyes!  Later, I talked to my son and told him about my find and he thought I was joking.  I told him that I would email him the proof that it wasn't a joke.  He was as astonished as I was.  My daughter was with me and saw it, too.  I'm trying to save this for a Saturday meme, but I don't know that I can wait that long.  So, I'm going to keep you guessing just a few more days, okay?  Sorry.  I have to do it.

Happy Tuesday to you!
xo  Cheryl  

Summer Fun And Friday Randoms

Tomorrow is the first day of summer, sez the calendar.

We've been having nice summery days for a few weeks now.  

Yesterday, BG and I were in the yard working.  He was mowing

and I was pulling weeds in the garden when a sudden 

rain shower opened up and poured on our heads.

Laughing, I ran hurried to the house and, for a brief moment, 

I felt like a kid again.  BG was grinning as he tried to catch 

me on the lawn tractor, but I had a head start.  What 

summertime activity that you did as a youngster do you wish

you could do again?  Or perhaps you still walk through 

the rain puddles or ride carousels or bicycles? 

I planted about 4 rows of zinnias and only part of 2 rows came up.

They haven't bloomed yet so the photo above is from last year.

I saved seeds from my last crop and none of them came up.

 For some indoor summer fun, I'm still loving playing around in Photoscape.  I really like the Watercolor Pencil edit. 

My dream free editing site would combine elements of 

Photoscape with PicMonkey.

 

I water my flowers in the evening since I'm usually not an 

early morning person.  I put some plant food around the

 flowers the other day and loosened the soil a bit and gave 

them a good talking to.  lol!  Tell me I'm not the only one

that talks to flowers!  So far, most of the flowers

are thriving.  Now that the hot weather has arrived, it will 

be a challenge to keep them healthy.  Some varieties do better 

than others on my concrete patio.

My little fur-girl is part of the reason I'm not an early 

morning person.  Stormy likes to sleep snuggled up next to me and

while it's nice to have that warm, furry little body close in

the winter time, it's not so much fun in the summer.  

Last night she came to bed and climbed up on my pillow and laid

down at the top of my head with her paws draped over my head.

I could feel and hear her purring and I got tickled.

 I was trying not to laugh and at the same time hoping that she 

didn't hear something strange and dig her claws into my head

to propel herself off the bed to go investigate.  She has never

slept there before and I don't think I'll let her make that a habit!

I have been distracted countless times since I began this 

post today.  I think I'm finally finished and ready to hit the

Publish button.  Have a good weekend!  And...

Happy Friday to you!

xo Cheryl  

A Fence And Gate

I don't know how many times I've driven past this farm and never noticed the gate until just recently.   

The lighting wasn't the best that day, but the traffic was very light so I had time to zoom in a bit on the second shot.  I looked for the horses as I drove on down the road and didn't see even one.  Better luck next time!

Linking with Theresa's Good Fences at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Tuesday Musings

Is it just me or does blogging slow down a bit in the summer?  Road tripping, gardening and reading are keeping me busy these days.  We've also celebrated an anniversary and Father's Day.  Our son's birthday is later this month. 

 
Speaking of birthdays, my sweet aunt celebrated her 88th birthday last week by going out to lunch with the Red Hat ladies.  I stopped by her house later that afternoon to give her a little gift.  When I walked through the back door into the kitchen, there was her dear hubby making her a birthday cake!  He is 87.  How sweet is that?  They are amazing and an inspiration to me!

While road-tripping the other day, I couldn't resist stopping here and the hanging basket in the first photo called out to me..."take me home"!  I didn't stop to consider that I already had 2 of the same flower.  They are so pretty, I just had to have another one.
 

I've been doing more reading of books than blogs lately.  I am reading The Book of Stillmeadow at the moment.  I just ordered 3 more of Gladys Taber's books including one of her cookbooks.

When the news gets to be too troublesome, as it seems to be more frequently these days, I find myself longing for a simpler, more peaceful and stable world and Mrs. Taber's books help to take my mind off these troubling times.  She mentions the war and worries of her day and dispenses home truths in her friendly way in most of her books, but reading her words and stories about cooking, gardening, pets, and nature makes you feel that all is still right with the world after all and most people are still kind and good.

Strawberries and ice cream are on the menu for dessert tonight.  We're having a late supper, a sandwich and dessert.  Then I'm settling back in my recliner with either my laptop or a book.  Hmmm.  Wonder which it will be?  Have a good evening and Happy Tuesday to you!  xo Cheryl   
 

Of Fences And An Anniversary

This fence was spotted while motoring down the highway yesterday.  I was glad to see the shadows cast by the fence because that meant the sun was shining after a few days of nothing but cloudy skies!  I'm sharing this fence on Theresa's Good Fences.  Be sure to check out all the neat fences at this fun party! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 

I apologize for being slow to visit your blogs.  Our phones were out in the neighborhood most of the day yesterday, which means I didn't have an internet connection.  I will also be gone part of today to celebrate a special occasion.  This just happens to be our anniversary today! 

Here we are engaged on the left and several months later, on

the right, getting ready to leave on our honeymoon.  Check out 

BG's sideburns and my teased hair-do!  And, oh, to

be a size 10 again! 

Here we are 43 years later still having fun...thinning hair, wrinkles and all...in Branson.  I'm behind the camera this time.  BG was people-watching on the left at Silver Dollar City and, later that night, I am sitting in front of my laptop in the hotel room while BG is watching TV.  Romantic, huh?  lol!  

 This was our favorite song 43 years ago and it still is today.

♥♥♥ Happy Anniversary to my 6 foot 2 with eyes of blue! ♥♥♥

And a happy Thursday to you!

xo Cheryl

Tuesday's This and That

My very first coneflower has bloomed!  I'm so excited to see they survived the harsh winter and the plants are healthy and loaded with buds.

 
The Stella's are blooming now, too.  The flowers are really loving the rains we've been getting.  As is the grass, which is making the yard mowing a never-ending job, it needs mowing as I speak.  See in the photo above how tall the grass in the pasture is?  It needs mowing and the hay baled.  We wait on our neighbor to do that when he has time. 

I won't complain about the yard work after the long, cold winter we had.  Too much.  Not after I find some knee pads to wear so I can easily kneel on the ground to pull weeds without my knees aching so much.  I need to get my pitiful looking zinnia and sunflower garden weeded.  Soon as I find something for my knees.     

Yesterday was one of those days that seemed like a good day to read.  I picked up a Gladys Taber book and read a few chapters.  Her books are akin to eating comfort food for me and they immediately transport me back in time to a simpler way of life. I love the word pictures she paints of her life at Stillmeadow and her love for nature and animals.  Her writing is much like talking to an old friend about birds, the weather, gardening, pets, cooking and living the simple life.  Do you have a book that you love to read that transports you into a place of peace and comfort?  I'll leave you with a quote of hers that I like.
  
“Perhaps, after all, our best thoughts come when we are alone. It is good to listen, not to voices but to the wind blowing, to the brook running cool over polished stones, to bees drowsy with the weight of pollen. If we attend to the music of the earth, we reach serenity. And then, in some unexplained way, we share it with others.”  ~Gladys Taber

Happy Tuesday to you!
xo Cheryl

Friday Randoms

It's Friday!  The favorite day of the week for many.  It is the last day of the work week and a nice weekend is ahead.  

What is your favorite day of the week?  I wonder if anyone ever chooses Monday for their favorite.  :)

Mine?  Every day I wake up and can get up and eat my breakfast and still hear the birds sing and see the beauty of nature out my window is a beautiful day and a favorite day.  Truly.  

 
We've had much needed rain this week after some very hot and humid days.  We got around 2 inches or so at our house, but several counties including ours have a flood warning out for area creeks and streams.  Minor flooding is also predicted from the Missouri River.  

I'm hoping that since this will be a cooler weekend, BG and I can get a project or two crossed off our list.  One of those involves BG getting up into the attic.  He's been putting this job off, but hot weather is here and I we want another air vent installed.  Once the wintry weather is over, you think you have all kinds of time to get things done before the temps get too high, but that time is filled with gardening and outside work and before you know it, those other things get pushed back and the heat has arrived.  Tell me we're not the only ones to have this happen to!

The Mallards were seen in Branson last month.  They were in front of the Hilton along the sidewalk as we strolled back to our car from the Landing.  Wish we were there this weekend instead of BG having to crawl up into the attic to work!

If you've been following me awhile, you know how I love nature and all of God's creatures.  I am blessed to have so many cute little critters to watch and photograph in my own backyard and Back 6.  This little guy was a bit too hopeful while chasing his girlfriend.  You never know what you'll notice until you've loaded the photos onto your computer.  I think I need better material more photos, so I'm off to see what I can find this afternoon.  

Happy Friday to you!
xo Cheryl             

Good Fences

It's time for Good Fences and this is a drive-by shot that I recently took.  I've always loved horses from the time I grew up riding them on the farm.  We had several over the years, but my very favorite was a horse named Star.  She looked like the horse on the right with a white spot on her forehead. 

Be sure to pop over to Theresa's at The Run*A*Round Ranch to see many different fences from around the world!

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Hug Your Cat

Hug Your Cat Day is today, June 4.  Let me tell you a little about our menagerie.  Some of my kitties like to be hugged and Stormy is one of them.  She is 5 years old and the smartest kitty we have.  I just know she understands almost everything we say.  If we say "ice cream", she starts licking her lips and looking hopefully at us because she loves the stuff.  She loves to sleep snuggled up to me.  If she sees the suitcase on the bed, she goes into a pout because she doesn't want us to leave.  Stormy gets along well with the others, but doesn't tolerate any nonsense.

Peanut is a rescue kitty like Stormy.  She's 2 years old and the most shy kitty I've ever had.   She's smaller than the others, but is sweet and likes to be nearby.  Every now and then she will jump into my lap.  For such a shy one, she has been known to be pretty adventurous.  Such as the time we walked into the living room and she'd climbed up the drapes and was walking along the drapery rod.  Peanut loves the little twisties you take off the bread wrappers.  She'll watch for one to be laid down on the kitchen counter and then jumps from the island and grabs it and runs off to play.

Sissy is also 2 years old, like Peanut, and has the softest black fur.  She was brought to us by her mother, the neighborhood hooker kitty who thinks this is the TFD Humane Society.   Her brother, Truman, got run over in our busy highway so we brought Sissy inside.  We've talked about finding her another home, but none of us seem to really want to.  She doesn't meow loud enough to hear it.  You'll see her moving her mouth, but no sound usually comes out.  She loves to slip out the door and explore the back yard whenever she gets the chance.  That's a little scary, but she loves it so out there.  We often have to bribe her with treats to get her back inside.

 
Callie is just over a year old and she loves to be in my lap.  When I'm in the recliner with the laptop, she will often leap onto the computer and send my comments or blog post off into cyberspace.  If you ever get any strange comments from me, it's Callie's fault!  I'll put the laptop down and let her sleep awhile.  I really think it's the ear rubs she's after...that and a little attention.  Callie gets along well with all the other kitties and is the only one who doesn't like treats. 

There are a ton of kitty quotes out there, but one of my favorites is this...

Dogs have owners, cats have staff.  ~Author Unknown

Isn't that the truth?  lol!

Happy Wednesday to you!
xoxo  Cheryl    

It's A Knockout!

My Knockout Roses are...I've got to say it...knocking themselves out blooming this year.  I love this flower because it doesn't require a lot of care and adds so much color to the garden.  I have them all around my yard and want to plant a few more.  I've read that some folks snicker at these flowers because to them it's kind of like comparing a Chevy to a Rolls Royce in the rose world, I suppose.  And it's true the Knockout doesn't have much of a scent, but for a beautiful flower that blooms all summer long, and that you can plant and almost forget about, the Knockout is a plant to consider. 

Do you have a busy week planned?  I have several things on my to-do list.  For one, I'm trying to decide if it's too late to plant more zinnia seeds.  The many seeds I planted are barely coming up and if we don't get some much needed rain soon, I won't have near the zinnias I had last year in the garden.        

Happy Monday to you!

xoxo  Cheryl