Potted Cats

What is it with cats and flower pots?

White Kitty taking a little nap

I looked in the greenhouse, and what did I see?

Bear in a pot!

My big flower pots are growing kitties!

sharing on Alphabe-Thursday for the letter P

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Opera and Orange Marmalade sitting in a tree....

First, I saw Marmalade in the tree...

which isn't that unusual since he loves hanging over the tree limbs... 

Then I looked up and up and up some more

and there was Opera waaay high in the tree.

Tushie shot!! Just can't help myself :)

So, whacho wanna do now, Marmie?

I dunno, Opera, whacho wanna do?

(Intelligent cat conversation)

I wanna get down 'cause I saw those hoomans put our supper out!

Yum! I'm heading for the supper bowl too!

Made it! Hurry up, Marmie!

Made it too, Opera!

But I'll have to rethink this jumping thing...

Of course both Opera and Marmalade met up at the supper bowl. They know what's good for them!

>^.^<

I thought you might be interested in how Opera and Marmalade got their names...

Marmalade is really Orange Marmalade and Marmie for short. Not a really he-man name for a boy kitty but that's what he looked like when he was a little tyke. Turned out he's a bit of the scaredy cat and apparently thinks he's safe in the trees... thus we are constantly spotting his tail and tushie hanging over a limb!

Opera has her own story -- she has a twin sister named Phantom! They each have the "Phantom of the Opera" mask on one side of their face. Phantom has more white on her chest and back (therefore, she is Phantom) and Opera has more black and brown on her back reminiscent of The Phantom's cloak if you squint your eyes and hold your mouth just right!

Phantom on the left and Opera on the right!

I'm so glad I got this shot -- they are just too cute sitting together!

~sharing on:
AlphabeThursday for the letter O
Share Your Cup Thursday

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Very Tiny and Very Tall Babies

The Very Tiny

Somekitty in the backyard had some sweet tiny kittens.....

Born April 12

Just three, thank goodness! But Mouse's middle looked like she had swallowed a soccer ball so three really surprised me. From what I can see, they are solid colors -- one grey, one golden and one black. 

Mama Mouse

She made a little nest behind a board that was leaning against the shed. Another surprise -- I would have thought it would be under the shed which is their go to place when confronted by us humans. Yet, maybe that was the reason she chose another place -- too much activity under the shed!

Aren't they the cutest?

The Very Tall

Katie, one of the giraffes at the Dallas Zoo had her calf on Friday, April 10. After 15 months. Fifteen months! Can you imagine? But I guess it takes a while to grow a 6 foot tall baby! It's a girl -- a petite 5 feet, 10 inches and 139 pounds! No name yet -- the zookeepers have chosen three and fans can vote on them. 

Giraffe photos courteous of Dallas Zoo

This was a collaboration between the Dallas Zoo and Animal Planet. Animal Planet set eight different cameras in the special maternity pen where Katie was, and the birth was broadcast live! Oh what an amazing birth!

There are twelve giraffes at the zoo and just about all of them were hanging over the fences checking out the new babe! Apparently, they are very curious animals! 

The cameras are still rolling, so if you'd like to take a look, check out the live cam here. Sometimes you'll see an empty pen when Katie and and babe are with the vets, so be patient! If you'd like to see the birth scroll down a bit and click where it says "Watch the video highlights" in green (or links from across the top of the page).

sharing on
~ AlphabeThursday for the letter V
~ Saturday's Critters
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A New Roof for Mr. Shed

The shed in our backyard is a handy storage space but not a very lovely-to-look-at building (sorry, Mr. Shed, but I can only tell it like it is...) It's not one of those that you can buy from the home building stores, but one that was made by the gentleman who owned our house before us.

And, during a stormy time at the end of last year, a large tree branch broke and fell on Mr. Shed causing damage and breaking his poor roof.

Fortunately, it was only his outside edge (ie overhang) that was broken.

Well, since Mr. Shed sorely needed a new roof, (or as he calls it -- a new Sunday suit) we called our handy friend, Perry, and he agreed to fix Mr. Shed's Sunday suit. Perry is hubby's closest friend and is also very handy and seems to be able to fix just about anything! And, fortunately for us, he doesn't mind being called upon.

Perry

We put a tarp up there since it was still raining and it would be a few days before Perry could do the work. But as it turned out, the break was only on the overhang and the inside didn't get wet at all. And the sun came out!!

Since hubby isn't very comfortable walking around on roofs, he was designated the official tool-hander and old shingles picker-upper. Which made me happy because I'm really not comfortable with his walking around on roofs :D

I'm not even much comfortable with him climbing a ladder!

Dennis, the tool-hander

Perry is so clever... he got these nifty Husky bags

I didn't even know they existed!

Dennis showing how tough that bag is....

Hard at work, but almost done...

Yay! All done!!

Perry conquers the roof!

A new Sunday suit for Mr. Shed!

He is very happy :)

sharing at

~ AlphabeThursday for the letter R

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You Cannot Escape, Oh Evil Vine

Oh, evil poison ivy vine, you cannot defeat me, nor can you escape MY noxious poison. Muahahaha!

Last week I wrote about the Dreadful, Despicable and Downright Disagreeable poison ivy vine that liked me so much that it left an itchy gift behind. So this week there is an update...

I gave in and got a prescription from the doctor to relieve the itching -- and I can see a definite improvement! When it wears off though, I'm scratching worse than a dog with fleas. (I would said "cat with fleas" but Oliver might take offense at that -- even though we are careful that he doesn't have the dreaded fleas) Anyway, I'm getting off track here (easily accomplished if you are me).

So, I went online for instruction on how to get rid of it in a safe manner... not wanting to use a commercial product that would harm the outside kitties or the ground cover for that matter. I found this recipe and IT'S WORKING!!

3 cups vinegar (regular white vinegar)
1/2 cup table salt
1 Tbsp Dawn dishwashing detergent (the use of Dawn and not another brand is recommended -- Dawn has special stick-to-it-ness powers -- and use regular blue Dawn)

Pour the vinegar into a spray bottle, add the salt, and mix until dissolved.
Then add the Dawn

"Stream" spray on the leaves and straight onto the stem at ground level. Be careful and don't spray anything you want to keep -- this stuff works!

Proof:

Before at the fence

After at the fence

Before at the shed

After at the shed

 The "after" shots were taken after two treatments. Pretty good, huh? We tried it on a couple of weeds and the sticker vine that is creeping onto our back fence -- works there too!

Maybe I should spray it on my itchies..... hmmmm, maybe not!!  No, definitely not!!

But, Mr. Evil Vine....

I WIN!

heh heh heh

~ sharing the soon to be extinct poison ivy on Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter E

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Dreadful, Despicable and Downright Disagreeable

Sometime in the first few days of June, I took it upon myself to clear out some vines that were taking over a portion of our backyard fence. I had just bought a pair of garden loppers and was anxious to try them out on the various vines and limbs that were beginning to irritate me.

So, whack whack whack, off with the vine on the fence! Snip snip snip on some small tree limbs hanging where they shouldn't be. Stuff it all into a trash can to be hauled away by the garbage guys.

I didn't work long, probably about 15 minutes -- I am not a gardener and don't enjoy that sort of thing (although, I secretly wish I did... 'cause looking at the gorgeous flowers grown by fellow bloggers make me want to see if my black thumb would turn green...) Anyway, I went inside and considered that enough yard work for the day.

Fast forward a few days -- I wake up with a couple of raised red bumps that I thought were bug bites of some kind.... then the next morning there were more and I was getting creeped out. Off go the sheets! No bugs in sight. I vacuum around the baseboards and tell hubby I want him to spray.

Next day, more bumps. And the next. They're getting bigger. I'm freaking out! I had been using Cortizone 10 that I had on hand but needed more so when we went to Target for a few things, I showed the pharmacist the bumps and asked about something to use on them for itching. She asked if I had been working in the yard recently, because it looked like poison ivy!

Smack me upside the head! I hadn't thought of poison ivy -- only being bombarded by some creepy crawly! I was actually relieved that it was only poison ivy....

"Leaves of three, let them be"

Poison ivy even has its own special poetry

Only poison ivy....  HA!!  I'm about a week and a half into this now, and believe me, you don't want this horrible stuff. The cortizone keeps the itchiness down but there are a few places that seem to itch all the time and when the stuff wears off.... OMG!!!  Sometimes I phantom scratch.... hubby calls it "air scratching" LOL!

It's growing up the tree

I turned to my pal Mr. Google and found out all manner of things I didn't want to know... I confirmed that the vine was, in fact, poison ivy. I won't show you pics of my arms and legs lest you run away screaming in fear and disgust but suffice it to say that I did see photos of other arms and legs that looked just like mine -- and lots than were worse -- I'm the one running away in fear and disgust now!!

Way up the tree

all the way up that tree...

I swear I have never seen this stuff on the fence before now 

so apparently it's pretty fast growing.

I also learned that the urushiol oil from poison ivy (the stuff that causes the breakout) stays potent, essentially FOREVER unless deactivated!! You not only have to wash it off your body, you have to wash your clothes and garden tools too. An allergic reaction is possible for a year or more if the clothes were never washed. Can you imagine?!

"Side leaflets like mittens will itch like the dickens"

(Another little poison ivy rhyme)

Do you see the mittens?

I started thinking back and knew which shorts I had on (yeah, I know -- shorts and gardening don't mix, but it was on an impulse) and I hadn't washed them but had worn them again. Hubby calls them my "uniform" since I typically wear them a few times before washing. (Oh, quit it, you know you do the same thing...) I'm thinking, well the rash on one of my legs right at shorts level was spreading -- could this possibly be because of the shorts??

So I started washing -- hot water, hot dryer. I've washed those shorts and my gardening gloves four times now. I've also washed the sheets, just in case, although it can't be spread by anything except direct contact with the vine. So my shorts can be a carrier of the oil, but not my sheets. But I still feel better washing them. I even washed every t-shirt I own as an added precaution!
Hot hot water.

Yikes! I found some by the shed....

But I also found a homemade concoction made of Dawn dish washing liquid, vinegar and Epson salts that's supposed to get rid of it without the harsh chemicals of the store-bought stuff.

We'll see what happens, if it ever stops raining...

And we won't even speak about how much I'm itching.... and itching.... and still itching....

And so I will leave you with something much less itchy and awful...
.

Do you remember this little ditty? From The Coasters, recorded in 1959.

Measles make you bumpy
And mumps'll make you lumpy
And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch

A common cold'll fool ya
And whooping cough can cool ya
But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch

~ sharing this despicable plant over at AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter D

Don't get too close to your monitor, or you may be next!!

♥♥

Blue Jay Steals Cat Food!

I noticed a blue jay swooping around the yard and he landed on the outside kitties food bowl and helped himself!

I grabbed my camera but, naturally, he zoomed off before I could get a shot. I guess he had eaten enough kibble! I was able to get a few sketchy shots of him as he flew from bowl to lawn mower to tree to more tree to back fence....

I would gladly pay him in worms and kitty food if he'd make use of that lawnmower on the grass!

Hiding in the tree...

He was fun to watch as he kinda leaped, kinda flew from branch to branch!

Flew to the back fence and then took off

Patio says she was not very thrilled to share her food....

but wouldn't mind sharing a meal with Mr. Blue Jay...

if you know what I mean.... 

sharing over at Blue Monday


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