Back

Yes, there's been another hiatus in the blogosphere for me. I have a new (and, I'm sorry to say, sad) perspective on that. For me, blogging has always been sporadic. It began, and still remains, primarily a venue for me to share pictures with family & friends and sometimes just to muse "out loud" about the wacky things that rattle around in my noggin. I realize that for people used to blogs with a regular posting schedule this method can be disturbing. But life happens. So be it.

A few weeks ago I was presented with yet another example of how fleeting this life is and how suddenly and unexpectedly it can end....an example in an unfamiliar format:  One of the blogs that I had been following was "Class A Greyhounds - RVing with the Big Dogs" written by Hazel Bluhm. I had discovered her blog through another blogger I follow and enjoyed reading about her travels and exchanging comments on each others' blogs. She even sent me a small gift in the mail one day....a pen that had her blog name on it. She was one of those bloggers who posted very regularly and would always pop in and comment when I posted something new. And then, suddenly, there was nothing. This wouldn't be unusual for me, but was quite startling for her blog. Sadly, it was weeks before I discovered through another blogger that Hazel had passed away. There's a nice tribute to her here: RVing: The USA is our BIG BACKYARD

So, on that note: go love on your family...including your furbabies!....

And I'll be back soon with new pix of some trips I've been on....just don't expect the schedule to be regular!

Random Musings

Well, lately it's been hectic working on computer updates and other assorted, random life events. So here's a hodgepodge of stuff to show you what's going on.

Xander gets comfy supervising the hook-up of the newly refurbished audio-video receiver (he's a very good supervisor!):

 We recently ordered personalized memorial stones to place at the graves of our dearly departed pets...they're actually made out of resin. We were very pleased with the company's service. Here are my two boys in the back yard. The lighting was off but I'll show you pix from the front memorial garden soon. My sweet BIL & SIL found the hound glass stone...

 Our new welcome mat:

 Our new bench:

 Gwyn. Baking her brains out in the hot sand...she loves it!

Multi-tasking

I have to multi-task in my job. A lot. So much so that I frequently can't get things done for getting interrupted to do fifteen other things. Not sure if my job has caused my ADD or my ADD has led to my job :D

One of my favorite pictures on facebook lately:

I am trying to keep my blog updated...but am also trying to get my Etsy store going...an any number of other projects which I'll fill you in on at the appropriate time...so bear with me as my posting is sporadic...and random in nature!

Randomness

So, like many other places, coastal NC has been experiencing wacky weather this winter.
It's been rather like a rollercoaster...35 degree changes in 24 hours have not been unheard of. Today's another snow day...even though my area is mostly getting ice once again. I did leave the house this morning before it got too bad to take Gwyn to visit our vet friend and took Spike along for the ride since this is the vet friend we adopted him from. They had a pretty good time but were exhausted by the time we got home:

Fortunately, LoML was willing to serve as a bed. Good thing he knows his proper role as assistant cat staff!

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And, again, what's the deal with naming snow systems now? Apparently this is the second year we've done it! Here are this year's names:

We're currently experiencing Pax. Really people?! Pax?!?! You do know that means "peace," right?!? 'Coz right now, with just ice and wind...it's not looking that peaceful! Maybe they meant it's peaceful if you stay in with blankets and kittehs and goggies...yeah, that must be it!
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Lest Polly stop following my blog, here's some peace for you:

Cool Stuff

While I posted pix of two of these on the side bar, I thought I'd explain a bit about each...and show you another cool thing. First my new magnet on the car:

It's a good way to remind me about my attitude (which can use frequent adjusting!). I may be barking less these days, but I've been guilty of a bit of growling. Hmmmm.

The next is a gift I managed to surprise LoML with at Christmas. I found it at Mum Fest, a local craft-type street fair held each October in New Bern, NC. The top of it is solar so that it does actually light up at night.

And then this:

This is an extreme close-up...it's a glass necklace sent to me for Christmas by my very dear friend...it's been around my neck every day since I got it and I treasure it!

Miscellaneous Natterings

Random pix and observations...
Not trick photography...Spike is almost as big as Willow.

Quick! Turn your head - she grabbed her camera!

It's a great box!

These are part of my childhood Christmases. Mom still gets them out and sets them up every year :D Rudolph turned 50 this year and Santa is a spry 49. Not sure if the Christmas tree would feel complete without them.

Mom & Dad's big boy, Trouble. For those not up-to-speed, he spent the first few weeks of life under and around our deck. His mom belonged to our next-door neighbor.

Mom & Dad's other cat. She has multiple names...depending on who you ask! Her main name is Princess. She looks sweet here, doesn't she? She was originally fostered by the same wonderful vet friend who rescued Xander and Spike! They share a lot of personality traits :D

This coffee mug was one of our Christmas presents. The Jean Dale is a fishing vessel that was owned and worked by LoML's grandfather. After he passed away the family donated the boat to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum where it was restored and placed on display.

This picture is typical of recent events in our household. If you look closely, you'll see a black boot string on the floor in between Xander's tail and his back foot. He's obsessed with strings. That's all he wants to play with these days. We have multiple strings throughout the house. If somebody's not actively playing string with him, Xander will flop down on or beside a string and try to psych someone into playing. As I type this, he's fallen asleep on top of one.

Before Polly starts fussing too much, allow me to return to the star of the blog:

No matter what the kitties are doing, Gwyn's generally nearby, keeping an eye on them.

Random Stuff

I'm sure many of you (my four or five readers) are as wacky-busy as I am this time of year...sorry to neglect my posting...not much time today, but I share with you a few random things...this is a sign I saw in a local business:

Truth

 This was the two white ones waiting for Gwyn and LoML to return from their walk...

Taken through the (dirty) glass of the french doors...this is what happens when Gwyn's zoomies are a bit crazy in the back yard...not sure this is how the collar is supposed to end up!

Mom will you put the camera down, let me in and fix my collar?!?

Chopper Part II

So, about a week ago I shared some pix of a guy working on the power lines from a helicopter. The pictures I took then were taken with my cell phone...while I was moving....let's not discuss that anymore! One day last week I was pulling into my office and realized they were working at the end of the street. Fortunately I had my "good" camera with me (trusty Nikon). I parked, called upstairs to tell them I was close by but not walking in yet, and walked the four or so blocks to the end of the street...and took these pix:

Above: note the cars passing over the draw-bridge...and the reflection of the clouds in the water. Below: those are seagulls flying by...bet they wonder about that *big* bird!

This just fascinates me!

More soon!

Mystic Two-by-Fours

I've taken some creative license with the phrase (borrowed from a friend)....but it's meant to be an expression of the principle that sometimes you are given the messages you need to receive in a somewhat abrupt and loud fashion...leaving little room to doubt from whence they come. (By the way, I'm having to type this one-handed as Smoochie, aka The Orange Menace, is curled up in my lap and on my left arm; also, if anyone is worried about staying warm this winter might I recommend a cat?)

Here are the quotes that drew my attention this week:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. -- Calvin Coolidge

 "Here's a thing I think," she said, then paused as if to make sure that she found the most apt words. "Sometimes in life a thing happens, sometimes it's a person, and you know that what happens next and for some time, maybe for minutes or hours, will not be common, will not be just life moving on how it usually does. You know that those minutes or hours will be a gift of clarity; that the truth of the world will reveal itself if you care to look. Day after day, everything we see that seems real is only apparition, a ghost reality that we have conjured up in our self-delusion. Then the clarifying thing happens, and what you need to do, what you must do, is not question it, not demand more revelation than what is given, be quiet in the face of it, quiet and grateful that it has been given to you to see this, to be for even a short time aware of the extraordinary layered depths and profound beauty of the world to which we mostly blind ourselves." -- an excerpt from  Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz

My own version of "Where's Waldo"...where's Spike?

 And, lest I leave you thinking I'm being too serious, or metaphysical, or just downright weird (which, admittedly, I am), I leave you with this:

In fact, although it isn't profound, there are worse mottoes to live by than "We might as well eat." Say your neighbor's secret meth lab blows up, destroying your house along with his. We might as well eat. The secretary of defense announces from Sweden that he is having a sex-change operation, is in love with the prime minister of Russia, and has given his lover our nuclear launch codes. We might as well eat. -- an excerpt from  Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/calvincool414555.html#EsxMfMyYQ0VS5xPw.99

Courtesy Car

A few weeks ago my vehicle had to be in the shop for several days (long story, but the local dealership got it all straightened out)...while it was there, they gave me a courtesy car. It was the new Buick Verano. Mind you, I already drive a Buick that has awesome features, but I confess this one had even newer bells & whistles that I had fun playing with. The video screen information center was wild and could even show me the extended weather forecast and what was playing at the local movie theatres with the touch of a couple of buttons!

But I'm easily amused, and probably what tickled me the most was the "switchblade" key:

On an unrelated note: I mentioned Tim McGraw's latest release the other day. Here are the lyrics to my favorite of the new songs:

Number 37405

Oh, he listens to the countdown, every Sunday morning
From a cold solitary prison cell
And the music from his radio is like freedom down a dirt toad
Makes that eight by ten a brighter hill
Before he started doing all the hard time that he's doing
He was singing in them honky-tonks and dives
He dreamed of being somebody, now he's number 37405
Well she used to come and see him, every other weekend
And bring him all the news from way back home
It's been two birthdays since he's kissed her,
Five seconds since he's missed her
Now the perfume on those letters ain't that strong
He's got too much time to think about the night he had too much to drink
And all his buddies, they begged him not to drive
Mr. Life of the Party, he's now number 37405
Old judge on the bench said, "Son, your crime's got consequences."
It's what he told him, fifteen years ago
He took a life and that's a fact, he'd give his own to give it back
Today's the day he finally gets parole
He turns in them prison clothes, and stands there at the forkin' road
And mama prays and waits while he decides
And the angels close their eyes...
Listens to the birds sing on a perfect autumn morning
Just down the road, rings an old church bell

Just reading the lyrics doesn't completely get you there...but still....he does some really nice things with the music....I was really blown away the first time I listened to it and got to the line "and the angels close their eyes..." - the music drifts into some nice harmonics...and then after the last line you hear the church bell and the song sort of winds down a bit...very touching.

Ain't No Sunshine..

..when she's gone. I mentioned at least once that the 'rents (parents) rescued Buster, an English Pointer earlier this year. He's doing fabulously...has put on weight, gotten healthier, and is spoiled rotten--as he was meant to be. And he is most definitely a momma's boy! The 'rents were off visiting my bro' & his family and I was left on critter duty. One of Buster's routines includes catching a bit of winter sunshine mid-morning. His pen doesn't get winter sun and most every day Mom takes him out for a while and chains him out in another part of the yard that gets sun. He does well on a line and will follow the sun until it moves off and then bark for Mom to put him back into his pen, where he can also go in & out of his garage and dog house. (His training of Mom is coming along nicely.) Unfortunately for him, it seemed as if every day that I wasn't working was a rainy day! I've learned that this now retired hunting dog doesn't like to walk in the rain either :D Sounds like another retired hound I know! I think I did a decent job and Buster really likes me...but I'm a poor substitute for Mom! I'm sure he was ecstatic upon her return last night.

Singing for his supper (He suspects I don't know I'm supposed to feed him without him telling me!)

Watcher #1

Watcher #2

I may not have been spending 30 minutes a day walking with Gwyn so far this month, but have been with Buster (not to mention Solana). Now that Mom's back, I'll transfer that time back to my own spoiled rotten hound.