Wall Art

LoML's been doing lots of work in and around the yard this year. Part of that involved temporarily taking down part of the fence in the back yard while he built his "man shed" (similar to a "man cave"). When it was put back up he put up some white privacy fencing in the rear of the yard. It's perfect for displaying things like the sign he gave me at Christmas:

 

And some original art work...on the left is a surfer that LoML welded from copper. The piece on the right was made by one of our dearest friends.

A Different Perspective

Sometimes it pays to look at the world with a different perspective.

That doesn't mean you can't still have a cat involved! I find that generally, no matter what I'm doing at the table I have "help" :D

FCS

Everyone who has cats, especially kittens, knows that periodically you have outbreaks of FCS - Feral Cat Syndrome. I've explained it before. You know it's happened when all seems normal and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, your feline just takes off, running, meowing, attacking...maybe even attacking mommy-doggy!

And just as suddenly...it's over and your sweet kitty-baby goes back to looking sweet and innocent and has no idea what you're talking about.

Happy Reunion

Last week Mo had to go to our state's vet school for two separate eye surgeries. He's battled eye problems for years; hopefully now he will be able to get this behind him. The girls managed okay while he was gone, but were relieved to see him when he returned home.

Solana is greeting him with what I refer to as the baby mouth. Young horses will do this greeting to older horses as a submissive sign..." please don't beat me up, I'm just a little baby!" Solana still uses this with other horses sometimes. I think it's very cute.

Amazing Rays

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I am blessed to live in a beautiful and amazing place. Saturday I had the opportunity to behold a fabulous sight: hundreds of stingrays frolicking in the water beside the bridge that leads to our island. They were flapping the tips of their wings out of the water...almost appearing like hundreds of small fins. While not initially sure what kind they were, there was a fisherman who had caught one on his small trout rod. He had to fight it about 20 minutes before he was able to land it...enabling me to get some good close ups and (with help from family) determine that at least that particular one was a Cownose Ray

When I first saw them they were encircled by pelicans.

Don't worry, he (she?) wasn't hurt...this was to get the hook out of his back...and to give you an idea of the size of the ray. The ray was released and appeared none the worse for wear...

After the pelicans moved down a little way toward the channel, the loons came in.

I can't resist some flying bird shots...while I tend to call them all gulls, Mom reminded me this is a tern.

 

There are two bridges that lead onto our island. We were one-lane for about seven months while they repaired the smaller of the two. We had about two weeks of two lanes before they started working on the drawbridge:

While it may be inconvenient, it beats having the bridge fall into the water, and allows for some nice photo ops for me!

Oh, Baby!

Climbing Post Kitteh

The Other Watcher

Lest you think Willow never takes her turn as watcher:

Lenten Rose

“This faith transforms the whirlwind of despair into a warm and reviving breeze of hope. The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts:
Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
There was no one there.” 

--Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love

Competition at the Watering Hole

Water can be a scarce resource...sometimes animals that are natural enemies coexist peacefully at the watering hole.

You see who ends up with full control of it, don't you?

What's Up???

Baby Trouble

Remember this?

This is a picture I posted in September 2011. It's Mom & Dad's two cats as they were then...the little one was only about 3 months old so she's obviously bigger now. The bigger one is Trouble...their big guy. But he wasn't always big...in the course of going through old pix for the baby horse nostalgia series I came across some baby pix of Trouble. See, his mom belonged to our next-door neighbor. After she had her kittens, she decided to move them under our deck...as they got bigger they took over the deck:

Pile o' kittens...that's Trouble sprawled on his side :D

Here's Mom exhausted & trying to catch a nap

Little Trouble the adventurer...we called him "Fatty"

Hope you enjoy this moment of nostalgia, Mom!

Lipizzans

In what is perhaps my final (for now?) segment of baby horse nostalgia, I leave you with this tale (that I may or may not have told you before). Periodically  The "World Famous" Lipizzaner Stallions come to the area. If you ever get the chance to see them you should take advantage of it. They're pretty spectacular. And if you don't know, they also use Andalusian stallions in their show.

After one such performance in our area years ago, my mother read a letter to the editor in our local paper. In the letter, the gentleman who wrote it was telling people that we now had an Andalusian breeding stable right here in our county!

After she told me about that letter, I "cold-called" the owners of the stable to see if I could come out and see their horses...

...and that began my journey to being owned by Solana :D

The final note of the story you should know: that letter to the editor was written by the gentleman who had a part interest in Nottea, Solana's dam....the very same gentleman who owns Mo and who owns the barn where Solana now lives so happily!

Remembering Oz & Phil

I was going through old pictures recently (the baby horse nostalgia started it). These are some I wanted to share...Had forgotten there was a time (before our last remodel) the kittehs liked to snooze like this...that's Oz on top and Willow underneath:

Oz always loved to show off the belly!

A fairly typical pose for Oz and Phil:

I got a call yesterday from a friend who had rather unexpectedly lost her boy kitty this week after a brief illness. While she's obviously very sad, we were able to share fond memories of her boy. Once again I was reminded of the fact that while the pain is great when we lose one of our furbabies after what always seems such a brief time, I wouldn't trade the love and joy they bring to my life for anything!!! All we have is today. As Sue says, go hug your hounds...and I will add your kittehs too! (Whether said kittehs want to be hugged or not :D )