AN EARLY CHRISTMAS

SUB TITLE: SPOILED ROTTEN CATS LIVE HERE.

As the song on the radio right this minute is saying, the weather outside is frightful… But then, it is not as bad as it was yesterday. We made it up to 47 today! That is still lower than it should be for this time of year. And next week, they say we will be in the teens at night. TEENS! WOW! We have had years when it barely went down into the 20s and then that happened only 4 or 5 times all winter. Anyway, all this is leading up to Spook and Punkin, my outside kitties. They HATE it in the house – believe me, we have tried it and there was no peace until they got back out, even in temps in the single digits. So… I do the next best thing. I make sure they have plenty of warm places to sleep, even a warm spot to eat.

Their warm nest last year worked out so well, I bought another one, since often Spook sleeps inside the nest and Punkin stands guard on the green house. They can and DO sleep in there together, but, for some reason, Punk often likes to be on the greenhouse.

While I was at it, I did the cats AND myself a favor, I bought a heated water dish. Now you might ask yourself how is that a favor to me? It means I don’t have to go out and break the ice in the morning. That has become a major job these days as I am having a little trouble getting in and out of the house in the morning. I can get their food to them, sometimes just placing it on the greenhouse, but cracking the water out of the dish and refilling it in the bitter cold when I can barely walk, well, it is a bit hard. And last year, it often froze back solid in a few hours. Now before you call me a wimp, let me say, people with Lymes have a lot of trouble with cold temperatures. It quadruples the pain, and the morning pain is the worst, as many of you sadly know.

Also, I have been severely criticized by a neighbor or 2 for “not taking care of my cats” because they are outside in all that bad weather. Heated kitty beds are not cheap, but they are wonderful. See the grey double plug in the big yellow extension cord box? That is a thermostat that controls the bed in the area under it. If the temp drops below 40, the bed turns on. Also, note the wires wrapped around the cords. That is so an animal cannot bite thru or even into the wire. They think of everything, don’t they?

On the right, you can see half of a timer (dark green, semicircle), dusk/dawn or totally on or off, or by the number of hours – that controls the light in the greenhouse that keeps it at 45 or above.

The new kitty bed is in a clear plastic box so they can see everything at least until they get used to it. I guess it is their sunroom for now! The bed is currently on as I need to waterproof the area where the thermostat will plug in. The bungee cords will keep it from blowing in the winds we are supposed to get on Sunday (rain turning to snow.) I will level it out later. It just got too cold putting it all together today.   

Even the possum has a warm room. The back wall of her nest has a vented opening to the furnace room. The furnace is about 2 feet from where she sleeps. They did not have a sign that said Spoiled Rotten Possum Sleeps Here. Guess that is a good thing.

Next project, a heated birdbath. Next year.

A CELEBRATION OF GIFTS

 

I don’t usually make a big deal of my birthdays – and this year, it seems my brain was about a month behind schedule and I managed to forget a couple VERY IMPORTANT birthdays (note: head hanging in shame) for which I will be apologizing for at least a year… BUT I mention this year’s birthday, not because there was a RADICAL number change (not yet) but because the celebration was unusual for me. I don’t do the party thing very often. Almost never at my house where parking can get tricky… and my parties are always non-alcohol events (no buzz dust or smoke, either) and so I pick my companions carefully. I am fortunate to have some wonderful friends. You can visit the Frog and PenguINN’s blog to see what we had to eat! (http://thefrogandpenguinn.blogspot.com/2010/09/birthday-time.html) And I might mention, in passing, due to the hatred being spewed forth by certain individuals in the “news” – my guests represented Catholics, Methodists, Buddhists, Muslims, a couple agnostics, even a Baptist, and all the races were represented except Chinese or Japanese. (They tell me Oriental is not PC anymore.)

My friends also know, not all gifts come in boxes wrapped in paper, and even though I did get a number of them, in spite of stating, I thought quite firmly, “NO GIFTS!” the point of this posting is to share some of the OTHER gifts. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know I consider a beautiful sunset a gift, or a butterfly… or coming over and plowing my garden for me, or building me a Stand Uppity Garden… Those are all great gifts! A friend came by with his weed whacker and cut the grass and weeds out in front of my house that the town has decided to no longer cut. There is a drainage ditch in  the middle of this, so mowing is not an option.  They have trimmed alongside the roads for years, but the new mayor decided it is VDOT’s job. Is this a mess or what? VDOT cuts along side the roads once, maybe twice a year. So the town looks like crap now because the mayor apparently does not take pride in how the town looks, just in being Right. “It’s NOT our job!”

Another friend came by and saw how the culvert under my driveway was blocked… again, a problem for VDOT. But, being a practical man, he also knows the serious cutback in VDOT jobs and knows it may be another year before VDOT gets the job done, if then. So, he asked if I had a shovel, and in 5 minutes cleaned a load of mess out of the pipe. Before it was weed-whacked, you couldn’t even find the pipe!  OH, see the autumn leaves? 

Still another friend volunteered to come by and cut back the branches on the redbud  and a birch tree where the small branches and leaves were hitting the roof. Check out the pile of branches!  It is over my head again!

One gift was a work of art for my refrigerator… though I can’t decide which side to show, so I change it periodically. This artist is 3 1/2.

And then there are those friends with a sense of humor that is more wicked than even I could imagine… Imagine coming out of a restaurant with a friend and finding a parking ticket under your wiper!

It’s the time of year when critters tend to wander – guess it is the cool crisp mornings we had… can’t be much else, my boys have been “fixed” – heck, they don’t even spray around the yard. Anyway, they disappeared for a day and a half. I walked up and down the road, called and called… nobody in sight, not even at mealtime. So it was a “sight for sore eyes” as my grandma used to say, to see 2 little boys out in the back yard on the morning of my birthday. What a gift! Hmmm, they hate strangers and loud noises, so maybe they took refuge in my neighbor’s garage when Mike came with his chain saw????? Maybe they got locked in?

Mother Nature gives me a gift each year – every year, right on my birthday, the first fall camellia blooms. It has not failed since it started to bloom 20 years ago, though I wondered about this year with the drought. But! There it was! Right on schedule! Am I honored or what?

What can I say? Can there be any better gifts than these? 

AWARDS, GRATITUDE, AND GIFTS

AWARDS, GRATITUDE, AND GIFTS

First and foremost, let me thank Connie at W. Va. Fur and Root for the award. It is with humility and gratitude that I receive this gift! However, I have no idea how to post it – I assume that is what I am supposed to do – or even how to get it. I am technologically very challenged, you see. I have been given awards before and even changed my whole blog layout from one I really liked to this one in order to be able to post awards and lists of people, blogs I follow and other things… I have even paid for a couple very expensive phone calls to bloggers trying to walk me thru the process. We came to the conclusion – my computer – or my connection – just will not do this. I have a very slow dial up connection. VERY SLOW. Watching a 3 minute youtube might take an hour to load. There are some videos that just simply will not download. I am on the Planning Commission – when I get sent a copy of the zoning ordinance, for example, and I click open – I can go out and cut the grass, go buy groceries, and the screen is still blank when I come back in. I have to beg someone else to print a copy for me. Very humiliating.

So, for those of you who appreciate my little blog – I do thank you. It makes it all worth while. The purpose of the blog is to share a little joy, a little beauty, a smile with anyone who wants to look. I try not to push any political agenda other than Peace or any religious agenda other than Love and Compassion for all – even for those who hate my guts because I do not believe exactly the way they do – or who criticize me because I do not attend their church.
I try to dwell on the things in life that bring peace, not sorrow. I strive to keep in mind how good it is to be able to have the simple things, to be able to DO the simplest of things. I have friends who, when they know I am struggling (I have Lymes Disease) ask me if I’ve got my socks on. That is our measurement for how well I am doing, because one day I only managed to get one sock on – and carried the other around in my pocket incase someone came by – I would have let them help me put it on. But I got everything else on! I was up, on my feet, even though my feet numbered 6 that day, 2 of them with wheels. (Don’tcha love walkers with wheels and seats? And if you have never had to use one, there is your bit of gratitude for the day!) My philosophy is to always look for the bright spot and not dwell in the shadows – unless the sun is too hot and it is 90 degrees!
Today, I dressed myself and managed to do the dishes, feed the cats. The walker is parked somewhere, the cane is still beside my bed, one is in the car… wheelchair is in the barn. It is a good day! A little while ago I heard from my good blogger friend, Philip, in Ontario, that it is snowing at his place. (Tossing Pebbles in the Stream) Now, I have a love/hate relationship with snow. I think it is beautiful, magical… but I live in the South – not the DEEP South, but in Virginia, and on the coast. Snow is rare. OK, maybe not rare, ummm, well, we can go for several years with no snow at all, or we can get a serious snow storm and a couple feet! But, that is rare! As I read his letter, I looked out the window and then at the thermometer – the sun is shining, it is in the low 60s. Heaven must be about this temperature.
It made it up to the lower 70s yesterday. I went out to take a look at the awesome flowers blooming in the yard. We had an “almost frost” here a couple days ago. An “almost frost” means my neighbors got frost, but my trees kept my place safe. That means my neighbors can now use the term Indian Summer, since one has to have a frost, supposedly a killing frost, before one can accurately use that term. One little open area did get a touch of frost, I guess… this mini rose looks a tad bruised around the edges. Wow, in reality, this little rose as about the size of a 50 cent piece. The red mums look faded, but the yellow ones are still bright and cheerful. The true frost reporter is the impatiens. They are still nice as is the Strobilanthes. The fall camellias are really turning on. It is one reason why I stay here. I can’t imagine not having camellias pretty much all winter. This is Ice Angel. The bees are busy getting their last bit of pollen before the cold temps knock them out again. The daisies by Buddha were filled with busy bees and butterflies. See the fall azalea? This azalea is next to the Beauty Berry Bush. The Adirondacks are still out, I will have a sit in one of them later – might even eat lunch out there. While everyone else had frost yesterday, I had a heavy dew. Pretty isn’t it? Even weeds can be pretty in the frost. This one was pretty just with the sunlight and dew. In case you think I am making too much of the sunlight – we had a solid 6 days of rain last week and over the week-end, temps in the 50s to barely 60, and over 3 inches of rain. The sun is very welcome! One other result of all the rain, however, is a plethora of mushrooms. I found this little family while cleaning out my ground level birdbath. Note the violets are in bloom again! The stone is from my back yard in the Poconos. We have no stones here - they are all imports!
So, my gratitude list and my gifts to be shared today are all these pictures and more, the fact that I was able to get outside and take these pictures, that I have a yard considered by many to be an uncontrolled jungle, by others a place of beauty in all seasons. I might mention my gratitude for an amazing camera that helps me to take these great shots – well, those that are great… and the friend that ignored my request for no Christmas presents last year and gave me this Nikon. She said it was embarrassing to watch me drool every time the Nikon commercial came on, and the whimpering broke her heart…

I am grateful for all of you who share your lives with me - your flowers, your puppies, your new kittens... This is Lynn's newest family member - (not yet named - any suggestions?)I am grateful for my little companion, Punkin, who accompanies me on my photo shoots (and everything else outside!) I am grateful for all of you who read my blog – for those of you who comment on the blog as well as those of you who email or phone me. You know this blog is a labor of love – (this post took 3 hours) - love to be shared. And I am grateful for those of you who call (or email) when you haven’t seen or heard from me… and especially for those of you who answer your phones when I have fallen and can’t get back up. It is humiliating to have to call someone when you are sprawled out on the ground, but then I am reminded of my gratitude for my telephone service… and my chiropractor who has been putting things back together (and keeping me out of the wheelchair most of the time) for over 20 years. Thank you Susan!
I am so fortunate to have so many caring friends in my life. I would try to name you all – but I would not know which name to start with… Each friend is special in his or her own special way. I am grateful for you all – you are all gifts!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GIFT

ACTUALLY, THE BEST KIND OF GIFT...
AS YOU can see, I have been posting with pictures of things I call “Gifts” – little surprises, butterflies, flowers, little moments that have stopped me in my tracks and made me smile and wonder at the beauty of it all. Well, on Wednesday, I got another gift, and it was a gift of the best kind. A gift that hugs! On my companion blog, http://onley-spots.blogspot.com/ , you can see the entire story. I won’t bore you with the whole thing here. What I will tell you is I got a phone call from our “Station Master” – otherwise known as the President of our tiny corporation “Society for the Preservation of the Onley Train Station” telling me that our local electric co-op was arriving to put in a new pole and hook us up for electricity. We had a volunteer, Tom Gonzalez do the prep work, install the big breaker box and meter box and outside connection wiring. Tom does the wiring for Habitat for Humanity around here… (Isn’t it great that there are so many wonderful people out there? We just have not met them all yet!) Anyway, I digress as usual. So I grabbed my camera, hopped in the van, and drove the half mile to the old train station. The guys were getting their trucks in position, and one guy was already in the bucket ready to go up to prepare the wires on the building for connection. I got off a few shots from the ground, then climbed the steps which another volunteer had fixed and attached to the building (Thanks Pat Morrison, Station Master) and prepared to get a closer shot of the guy clipping the wires. First shot taken, he looked down at me and called me by name! “Hey, how are you?” he asked. So we spoke a few more words to each other as my brain furiously worked to recognize any of the face – and there was not much of that I could see as it was in shadow, he was wearing sunglasses, a hard hat, and I had a feeling that I taught him YEARS ago… I strained to see the name on his jacket, but I could not see it for the bucket and his gear. He reminded me that I had taught him his freshman year in high school and he mentioned another student… my mind went racing back – what was that, 20 years ago? 25? I have lost track of who and when as well as names. I guess that happens if you teach long enough. So when I thought he was not looking, I quietly asked his boss what his name was. Virgil! It was Virgil! I taught only one kid named Virgil, and I will never forget him, but that was a few years ago. Sadly I do not remember any of his art work, but I do remember his personality. Here on the shore, Virgil was what people call “a mess.” Now if you are from away, just hang on tight. Being called “a mess,” especially when accompanied with a smile and a loving tone of voice is a compliment. It denotes someone who has a great sense of humor, is guaranteed to make you smile just by walking in the room, is probably trustworthy, and a lot of fun. He is the kind of kid that is just plain lovable without even trying to be. It is funny how kids expect you to remember them even after 30 years, they’ve grown a beard, lost their hair, gained 100 lbs, have grandchildren… not that that describes Virgil – just sayin’… they expect you to remember them even if they were only in the 2nd grade when you had them. I have no idea if Virgil has any hair or not – he was wearing a hardhat. He does have a beard – and it was a very bright sunny day, I think I was the only one who did not have sunglasses on. I have never gotten the hang of taking a picture thru sunglasses… anyway, Virgil got us all connected. Well, not by himself, of course, he had a delightful crew working with him. Truly, they were a nice bunch of guys. And today, we have electricity! But the best part of all, when he finally had his feet on the ground, I got the BEST hug I have had in a long while. In fact, I got several hugs. Maybe he was as happy to see me as I was to see him!

GIFTS SHARED

Some of you might remember, a few weeks ago I shared a few pictures with you - things I saw that were a bit out of the ordinary. I have always considered these brief moments of beauty and wonder gifts. The first time I remember using that term was one summer day, my aunt and I were returning to our home in the Poconos from grocery shopping, and I decided to take the old back way home, a seldom traveled road winding over the mountains. It was a slow ride, the road was in bad repair, but we didn't mind. As I came around a curve, there in the middle of the road was a red fox stretched out. I assumed he had been hit, and slowed down to stop and move him off the road, sprinkle him with a little sage and tobacco, bless him on his journey to his next life, when he raised his head and looked at me. By then I had stopped. He got up, walked to the side of the road and cut me a look that said, "Gee, can't a fellow catch a little sun anymore without somebody interrupting him?" He sat in the tall grass and weeds at the side of the road, barely visible as I slowly drove by. Then when he was satisfied I was not coming back, he sat down in the middle of the road again, probably to take the rest of his sun bath! All I could say was - "What a gift!"

Since then, I realize any day I see anything is first the gift of sight which I do not take for granted - and if it is something that is not seen everyday or even very often, I consider it a gift. So, I asked my friends to send me their "gifts." Some folk put their pictures on their blogs, some sent me pix to put on mine. So, I will try to find where I stashed them and share them with you. Probably my favorite is this picture of a black bear sent to me by spaceflighter... the bear resides in Maine, the home of this chippie, another favorite animal of mine. We don't have bears or chippie around here. This sunflower is from my neighbor Dorothy Perrucci (Onley Images) who said it was a real gift because they did not plant it. She also sent this sunset picture. Don't you love sunsets? I think this is Lake Gaston?

Another friend (Julie) has a little family of mushrooms that come up each year in this spot. Another neighbor spotted this fungus on my Buddha stump. The bright red only lasted one day.

Another very special gift is to have these pileated woodpeckers living a few hundred feet from my house. Tho I have seen them recently, this picture is from last winter.

One of the joys of living here on the Shore is spotting one of the wild ponies on Assateague. They are not that rare, but they have to be kept behind fences since the public doesn't seem to understand they are wild and apparently can't read the Please DO NOT FEED the ponies signs. Ponies, like many wild animals, can become moochers, and are not afraid of humans, especially humans with snacks. The sad part of this story is then folks who then come along and think they can pet the ponies because the ponies are coming to their cars and they often get bitten when they do not feed them. The hand comes out... the pony opens his mouth... One year I saw a father try to put his kid on a pony's back while Mom took the picture. The kid got tossed and kicked in the head. Of course, it was the pony's fault - sue the park.

This little fellow kept jumping up at my front door. Sorry the shot isn't better - it was thru the plexiglas.

Send me a gift - I will put it on here!

THE GIFT OF THE DAY

This was my gift for today. As I was cleaning out the cat dishes, I noticed the colors around and behind St Francis, otherwise known as St Fwankie by my little neighbor friend. I hoped I could get the colors to come out, but I think the sun was a bit too bright. I might try again this evening.

YESTERDAY'S GIFT

SOMETIMES LIFE is amazing, isn't it? Every year, for as many years as I can remember, my first fall camellia has opened on my birthday. This year was no exception. I have 2 of these bushes, both are over 10 feet tall. They are probably 20 years old by now... The one in front of my bedroom window opens so it is the first thing I see when I get up on my birthday and open the curtain. Is that cool or what? Kinda Ma Nature saying, "Happy Birthday, old girl!"