This & That

I love Adirondack chairs, and I discovered I really like them in their temporary location on my so-called lawn by one of the flowerbeds. But once the deck is finished being stained, the chairs will be returned to their former spot. By the way, I could not have picked a worse time to have the deck stained--pollen season. Yellow pollen all over the place. Live and learn.

Would you believe that my printer decided to work again all on its own? I did not unplug anything. I did not touch the printer at all. I just turned it on one last time (or so I thought) and tried to print something. And it prints just fine now. Perhaps it just needed a rest. Or did Ponzo fix it when I was out of the room? The same thing happened with my computer keyboard, which decided to take a vacation for a few weeks. I wonder.

Godot Needs Reassurance

Every once in a while, Godot runs outside. I am convinced that the main reason he does this is because he wants me to coax him back inside the house. He appears to need reassurance that he is still my number one cat. After all, he was the one and only cat for two whole years. Anyway, Godot returns inside the house when he is good and ready--after I have spent a sufficient amount of time calling his name.

Valerian Plant's Doing Okay

It appears that the valerian plant which Quentin ate for his salad is doing okay. That is, now that the plant is outside and far away from Quentin.

Vampire Eyes

If Mikey were to appear in a vampire movie, she would not need to wear special red contact lenses. Her eyes glow red naturally at night.

Why I Do Not Mow My Lawn

There are many reasons why I do not mow my lawn. First of all, I live in the woods, which is really no place for a lawn. It would have been better if the previous owner had not chopped down so many trees in order to attempt to make this property look like a little piece of suburbia in the woods. But that was then, not now, since I have allowed nature to reclaim much of the land.

The parts of my property which are still considered lawn are not really lawn in the usual sense of the word. I have interesting plants such as those in the photo cropping up unexpectedly here and there, along with the usual dandelions. (As you can see, I have not finished raking my leaves--and it is almost May.) If it were not for the wildflowers (and dandelions), I really would not have much of a green lawn.

As for my lawn mower, I have not touched it in years. I am serious. I weed whack my grass and wild plants, one little section at a time. It seems a shame to cut down wildflowers in their prime. In short, I do not have a true grass lawn, only something that passes for a traditional lawn from a distance--a great distance.

Fallen Red Tulip

When I first moved here, I planted dozens of assorted tulips. And I mean many dozens, because I went overboard with the planting of different tulip bulbs. I was unaware that deer find tulip flowers tasty. So the next year, I switched to daffodils. By the way, this fallen red tulip, a victim of yesterday's heavy rain, happens to be a descendant, so to speak, of one of the few original tulip survivors.

A Way

Love will find a way.

--Proverb

New Meal Schedule

Yesterday I decided to change the cats' meal schedule. That is, instead of filling their bowls in the morning with enough dry food to last all day, the cats will now be fed two separate meals daily. The only cats not affected by this change are Ponzo and Mikey, who will continue to get their food bowls filled every morning.

Mark Twain could not wait for dinner yesterday. He decided to go in search of Mikey's food, since he is well aware that she eats outside because that is her preference. So he darted out the door and made a beeline for "the cats' underground railroad passageway." I could not lift him out of there because Mark Twain is quite a large cat, so I had to wait for him to reappear from underneath the deck. I suspect that was his way of protesting.

I did make some new homemade catfood. The only ones who really like it are Locksley and Karma, while Mark Twain finds the food edible. But as for the new meal schedule, not even one cat is happy about it.

Poisonous Vine?

I was recently told that the vine covering the back of my garage is poisonous. Could it be poison sumac? It resembles the vines which cover some of the trees in the woods; the leaves of those vines turn red in the autumn. Whatever this plant is, I need to have it removed from the garage as well as from my poor trees. Unfortunately, I have no idea how one should go about killing a poisonous vine. Would cutting the vine be sufficient? Or must something be done to the roots? Poison or not, the vines have got to be removed.

Experience

Experience is the mother of wisdom.

--Proverb

No Pleasure

No pleasure without pain.

--Proverb

Peopled Solitude

"Who hears music,

feels his solitude peopled at once."

--Robert Browning

Crocs Save Toe

Less than twenty-four hours ago, I felt a sharp pain in my right foot as I walked across my lawn. And when I write about my lawn, I am referring to the dandelions, wild flowers, dirt, and some scattered patches of grass which pass for a lawn. Anyway, I was surprised that I had stubbed my big toe because I did not see anything on the ground which would have made me stumble. A little searching on my part produced the culprit. I had completely forgotten about the tree stump which had nearly disintegrated into the ground, since I had covered the remnants of the stump with dirt, and it had blended nicely into the ground--that is, until now. Apparently, the winter weather had removed some of the soil, exposing a piece of the decaying tree stump, which is barely visible, by the way. I mean I still have to search for it.

If everything happens for a reason, then perhaps the reason was for me to publish this photo of Ginny, which I took in March 2008, when she was my feral cat girlfriend, who had come over for a visit. You see, yesterday, as well as two years ago, I was wearing my teal Crocs and the same purple slacks. Had I been wearing sandals, I am convinced that I probably would have ended up in the emergency room; therefore, I believe my old Crocs saved my toe. As for the pain, it was bearable, but whatever one is supposed to do after stubbing a toe, this one did not do.

April 17, 2008

Two years ago, Ginny gave birth to five kittens inside a litterbox in my computer room. The five kittens, in order of birth, were as follows: Oprah, Darcy, Emma, Charlotte and, last but not least, Quentin, who was a big surprise for me. Quentin was born sometime before midnight, long after I'd witnessed the others coming into this world; that night, I found myself recounting the number of heads, since I was coming up with five instead of four. By the way, they were the largest newborn kittens I had ever seen--especially Oprah, the tortoiseshell.

Families

"All happy families are alike,

but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

--Leo Tolstoy

Appetite for Grief

"There are people who have an appetite for grief;

pleasure is not strong enough,

and they crave pain."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Afraid

"We're afraid of truth, afraid of fortune,

afraid of death, and afraid of each other."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blurry Photos of Pileated Woodpeckers

Not Responding

My Kodak EasyShare software program is not responding. That's nothing new. Usually Ponzo and I have a lot of patience, and so we wait and wait and wait...snooze time--but we are done waiting today. If we wait any longer, I am afraid that either Ponzo or I shall have a fit, the kind of fit with which I have threatened our printer with in the past--you see, in my fantasies I've pictured picking it up and smashing it against the floor. Anyway, the awful printer stopped working a couple of days ago. Neither Ponzo nor I are in any way responsible for the printer's unexpected demise. However, I can honestly say that I did not shed a single tear for it. As far as printers go, I hated it from day one; it had come as part of my computer package bundle, and in my opinion, it was not worth the price of the expensive ink cartridges. I cannot even imagine any printer (except for its siblings, so to speak) on the face of the planet being worse than the one we had the displeasure of sharing our home with the past few years. It shall give me great pleasure to throw the printer into the dumpster.

Ginny, Two Years Ago

These photos were taken approximately two years ago, when I still entertained the misguided notion that Ginny might like to have her kittens in the bathroom. To this day, the bathroom is Ginny's least favorite room in the house.

Clarification

It has been brought to my attention by my assistant, Ponzo, that there needs to be some clarification regarding my posts about insomnia and coffee. That is, why does someone with insomnia drink so much coffee? One might think that if I simply stop drinking coffee, then my insomnia would be cured. Then one would be wrong. Making a long story short, I have a sleep disorder(s). Drinking coffee does not necessarily keep me awake. For example, I drank lots of coffee yesterday, fell asleep early, and had a pretty good night's sleep (for me, anyway). I'm on a sleep roller coaster ride--sometimes I can't keep my eyes open, no matter how much coffee I drink, while other times I'll have insomnia for days. I shall now make myself another cup of delicious coconut-flavored coffee.

Coffee

I am probably addicted to coffee, since I drink it every single day. The one day I didn't drink any coffee until very late in the evening, I got a headache which disappeared after I drank some coffee. Coincidence? I think not. Regardless, I really like the taste of coffee, especially coconut and blueberry flavored coffee. Thanks to my friends who introduced me to those particular flavors. Oh, I'm forgetting pumpkin as a flavor. It's a shame that some flavors are seasonal. Anyway, I even have three different coffee makers: cappuccino, k-cup, and drip carafe-style. I have been known to use all three just for myself during the same day. And I've also been known to make ice cream coffee drinks. Yes, I am definitely a coffee addict. By the way, for those coffee lovers who buy k-cups, I noticed Costco now sells a few varieties of k-cups in large boxes.

Driving Aunt Toma

I happen to like the title Driving Miss Daisy. It would be nice if I could have somebody drive me around sometimes--like when I need to get some sleep, perhaps. I am serious. Driving makes me sleepy. Anyway, I do not recall the exact number of relatively sleepless nights (averaging three hours' sleep) I have had this month. I remember that I slept only three hours this past Saturday night. However, including a sleepy nod or two during Easter brunch, I did doze throughout the day on Sunday. But Sunday night through Wednesday, I have had no more than three hours' sleep each day. I did not nap. I did not doze. Nothing. (If only I could take cat naps!) I got up at 4:15 am yesterday, because I got tired of tossing and turning in bed. And so I baked my Hawaiian Russian sweet bread, as my family calls it--without measuring all of the ingredients because I was too tired. I digress. It would be different if I had energy coupled with insomnia. No such luck, I'm afraid. I am exhausted. So last night, I took some prescription medication which is advertised on television all the time (and their commercials make me want to scream about the potential side effects--again, I digress), and I slept for about six hours until my talking phone woke me up. By the way, I had thought about calling this post Toll Free Call, since that was the end of my night's sleep. I do hope this post makes sense, since my brain is not fully awake--and I do not expect it to be sharp, but I am a better tired today than yesterday, if that makes any sense, because I think I'll be getting more sleep. Anyway, I know I must have snored throughout last night, because I woke up with a sore throat, which took three or four hours to disappear completely. Nonetheless, I did sleep for more than three hours! In conclusion, I have side effects from the medication, but I feel so much better after six hours' sleep. I don't know what I'll be doing today, but I do know what I won't be doing--driving. I am not even going to take the car out of the garage to take a photo of Rebel behind the wheel, which would be appropriate for the title of this post. Cats napping, instead. I am sleepy, which is why it is time for another cup of coffee.

Good Advice

"The only thing to do with good advice is

to pass it on;

it is never of any use to oneself."

--Oscar Wilde

Another You

"Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way?

You are trying to make that man another you. One's enough."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photos of Daffodils

Easter Eggs

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

--Proverb

Ginny, Featured Cat of the Month

Two Aprils ago, I brought Ginny (Virginia, although she has never been called that) into the house. Ginny was pregnant at the time, and it appeared that she was looking around my deck for a spot to have her kittens. But we both soon realized that the deck would be an unsuitable place for Ginny to raise her family. Therefore, I decided to bring the feral cat inside the house. I wish I could have videotaped the evening that I lured Ginny into the cat carrier, because Mikey had witnessed everything. Along with her body language, Mikey's facial expression was priceless as Ginny went toward the can of catfood inside the cat carrier. It was apparent that Mikey was thinking, "It's a trap! Don't go into the cat carrier!" Had Ginny seen that Mikey was trying to warn her, I am certain she would not have gone into the carrier. Too late for warnings! I had Ginny inside my house within minutes.

Ginny hated being in the bathroom, where I had her sequestered for a number of days. I do not know what made me think that would be a good place for her to have her kittens. From the very beginning, Ginny knew it had been a bad decision on my part. Fortunately, I came to my senses before the birth of her kittens, and I moved Ginny into the room which now belongs to my assistant, Ponzo.

Ginny, the cat with the beautiful eyeliner eyes, had been my little girlfriend for nearly three years before I moved her inside the house. She was one of the feral kittens that Pegasus had brought into my yard, sometime in 2005, if memory serves me correctly. The kittens were part of a feral cat colony living elsewhere, but they would continue to come into my yard in search of food. Ginny was the friendliest; it took a while but, after a period of time, I was able to pet her. When she grew up, she started to come into my yard, at least two or three times a day, just to see me; I nicknamed her Ginny-Girlfriend.

Mystery of the Easter Bunny Pin

Since it is spring and some of my bright yellow daffodils are in bloom, I am posting this photo instead of one which would be more appropriate for this post. My excuse is that I am too tired to find my camera at the moment. For that, I apologize.

My story begins yesterday morning, when I cannot find the garage door opener which I keep in my house. Naturally, I ransack my house, in addition to searching through all the pockets of the clothing I have worn this week. Nothing comes from my frantic search. So since I have found it to be true that one usually finds a misplaced object in the last place one looks, I look inside my car. But instead of finding my garage door opener when I rummage through my vehicle, I find the handpainted, handcrafted Easter bunny pin, which somebody gave me a couple of years ago. I am taken by surprise, since it is quite the mystery to me how the pin got inside my car. Anyway, I have given a lot of thought to the mysterious appearance of the pin; I suspect that over a year ago, it must have been on its way to Goodwill with a bag of other things, and then I must have changed my mind about giving it away. That is the only logical explanation. As for the garage door opener, I still have not found it. Fortunately, the hunting dog that used to visit my property no longer lives in the neighborhood, apparently; he had been known to steal small things which were lying around in people's yards. Now, if I did accidentally leave the garage door opener on my deck, I do have a suspect--our favorite raccoon visitor. Honestly, I think I just don't remember where I put the darn thing.

Finally, It's Springtime!

First of all, Ponzo and I would like to thank Mark Twain for covering for us last month. We think he did a pretty good job selecting photos of himself for this blog. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm the one who liked all of Mark Twain's selected quotations, because Ponzo disagreed with two or three choices. But that's alright, since I find it practically impossible to get everyone to agree on everything all the time. Again, thank you, Mark Twain.

Finally, it's springtime! The crocuses have been blooming for a while. And some of our daffodils are beginning to bloom now. I have seen my first robin (second day of spring). The bleeding heart plants are growing like weeds. So then, why did a number of my flowerpots crack? Because our weather is deceptive, and we have been having cold spells, especially overnight. My mistake, I never should have taken my flowerpots outdoors so early, especially since I'd so carefully tended them indoors during the winter months. I did, however, manage to bring in the flowerpots containing growing plants. I was especially proud of myself to have brought in the beautiful valerian plant, which had been growing so nicely. Had been growing nicely outdoors, until it turned into Quentin's salad immediately upon being brought indoors, and now there is nothing left of the poor plant. I guess it must have been exceptionally tasty.

I was glad to see all the snow finally melt in March. But now I can see all the piles of raked leaves, which have turned into packed down leafy blobs that are uncooperative with the rake. Of course, there are also leaves which I never got around to raking before the first snowfall. Ugh! Raking leaves anytime of the year is bad enough, but worse in the springtime. I'm not really complaining, since it is good exercise. Yeah, right. I find it much easier to turn land over to nature, since I live surrounded by woods. Besides, I really do like the meadow effect.