back at it

sorry it's been so long. been kinda busy. wedding and all. and then i got sick. yuck! and am still recovering, but i've also been working on getting more photos online and so i'm going to let you all now enjoy them.

so back in early august, my music man and i went to crosbyton again. you might remember when we went last year and we met bob. what a nice donkey. this year, the owner of the farm, my mother-in-law's cousin was sure to ask if i was bringing my camera because she had some interesting chickens. chickens? what might make chickens interesting? i was wondering the same thing. so now i'm going to share those chickens with you. you see, they had no feathers on their necks. none. they were kinda weird looking, but kinda cool all at the same time. so you decide...cool? interesting? just plain funky?












oh and of course, i couldn't leave without taking a photo of bob. this is his girlfriend (wife?) in the photo with him. isn't he just so sweet???

a tale

this is a story about a dog, a cat and a third four-legged creature. i'm not sure what to call it, but i'm sure you'll form your own opinion once you read this post and i'd love to hear that opinion.

a few weeks back, we had the back door open as we were making dinner because it was a beautiful evening and this way the animals can easily go out or in depending on their mood. we don't have a screen door on this door, but will someday. i put a new rug down in front of the sink admired it briefly and then left the room briefly. when i returned, my music man said to me, "i'm not sure i want to tell you what i just saw." now, i thought that the dog peed on my new rug which wouldn't be the end of the world except for the fact that she hasn't peed in the house for like a year. sorry, back to the story....

but tell me he did. evidently our precious laila was playing with something over by the OPEN door. when she lost her grip on it, it ran straight for the stove and dove under. all that was seen was a tail and some legs. eeek!! a mouse? well. ok. let me get back to the story. so we tip-toe around the stove for a few days, then sorta forget about it. then remember, you know how it goes. then one day, fina is sitting on that new rug (which she NEVER does) and is staring under the stove. hmmmm. then she gets up and starts smelling under the fridge. hmmmm. we're guessing she might have seen our visitor. ok. this is good. this is what a cat does. so i make a deal with her. if she catches the thing, kills it and DOESN'T leave it dead on our pillows, i will feed her wet food for a week. i think she understands.

again, we kinda forget about our visitor. and then 4.30 one morning we are awakened by a squeaking coming down the hallway. my music man jumps up on the bed, turns on the light. and sure enough, there's fina with the visitor in her mouth. ok, decision time, does he pick her up and put them both outside all the while taking the risk that fina will keep the thing in her mouth? no time to think because fina drops it. the visitor runs into the bathroom (the one without a toilet -- that's a story for another time) and fina runs after it. remember folks, it's 4.30 IN THE MORNING! my music man grabs the bucket and the plunger and tries to catch the thing. it runs out, into the bedroom, then into the closet. at this point, i say, lock the cat and the visitor in the closet, shove a towel under the door and let them have it out. we'll deal with it in the morning. but no, my hero goes in there after it. catches it and throws it outside. we're back in bed by 4.45.

phew that was a close one.

but now the question is, was it a mouse? was it a rat? was it a field mouse. this sucker was not one of those cute tiny mice you see at the pet store. this was a fat sucker. without a tail (we think fina may have gotten that in the scuffle). i guess we'll never know.

PS - camping photos

what, no post?

ok, so i've been slacking. i've had various ideas of things to post but have dismissed them, but then go back to them.

one of the things i've been thinking about posting (and i guess i'm now going to talk about it) is the fact that a bird family has decided to make a nest in a bucket we keep on our patio. it's up on a high shelf -- well out of the way of laila, but it's kind of strange to think that we now share the patio with a bird family (or soon-to-be family). we, well, I was thinking we should evict them, but that's not very friendly, and so we're keeping them. or rather, letting them stay. so we'll see if we have a baby soon.

we're planting herbs and seeds. i'm planting seeds of thyme because i couldn't find a plant of it. i think that will be a gift to everyone i know, because one little packet of seeds has the potential to make hundreds of plants. we'll see how that goes.

and i'm getting ready for easter. i'm going to cook my famous (or not so famous) scalloped potatoes. and i'm not sure what else we'll have. but i'm sure it will be yummy. i hope you all have a wonderful easter and i'll post again soon. promise!

ps -- also keep an eye out for a post of new designs up on faylas follies. it IS spring ya know!

wildlife continues to amaze

we went to crosbyton, tx for a quick overnight to see some of my music man's family. it was fun to meet his aunts and uncles and some cousins, etc. everyone was so nice. my favorite photo that i took is of a donkey. yes, a donkey. we went to a farm and they had donkeys. there were also chickens and cows (even a couple of bulls). we had been having so much rain and the day we were to be in crosbyton, they were calling for sunny skies and 79 degrees when we landed. we were in heaven. and sure enough. it was beautiful.

as a result, when we got home (it had been HOT in austin that day) my plants needed a touch of watering. i started watering, and then my watering can appeared to be backed up. i took of the "rain" spout and looked down the normal one. it seemed that there was a leaf in there, but then i looked again. nope. not a leaf. it was two beady eyes peering back at me -- yep. a toad. so i poked it with a stick a couple of times, moved a smidge, poked it some more. still nothing. filled with water the wrong way (water down the spout), still no movement. could it be dead? possible. but still i didn't quit. i banged the thing on the ground, a post, anything i could find. i filled it with water, emptied it. finally, after banging the spout a bit, i look inside and i see legs sticking out of the spout on the inside. YAY! but wait, there are another set of legs coming out of the spout too. and then BOTH of them start climbing back into the spout. WHAT?! there are TWO in there? how is this possible? and how the heck did they jump high enough to get into the watering can in the first place? so many questions.

my banging and water filling continue. and with some diligence, they both (?!) pop out of the spout into the main reservoir of the watering can. and i dump them out. and they weren't small suckers either. well, i'm glad i found them alive. could you imagine trying to get dead toads out of a metal watering can. i think it would have ended up in the trash.

that's all for me. oh and here's the latest cute photo of laila.

magic rabbits and an update

so we have some magic rabbits in our backyard. well, they're not always there, but when they are there, then we let laila out, they run away and it appears they can run through a chain-link fence. it's truly amazing. and each time we see it we think our eyes are deceiving us. but it's true, they run right through it.

i'm sure they are just so small they can fit through those holes, but can they really?

laila's growing bigger every day. here's a recent photo of her on the bed we bought her for the living room -- which she loves! she also seems to disappear into it. she's learning lots in her doggie class. we're working on 'stay' and 'heel'. and she got fixed last week, so this week has been a recovery time for her. You can also check out more photos of her here.

and if you haven't heard, we've been getting a lot of rain here in texas, today it's finally sunny, but we've had rain almost every day for over a month. here are some interesting facts about all the rain.

slacker

i'm a slacker, i know. things have been insanely crazy these days.

we made it back from our mexico trip just to turn around and head to NC for another wedding. now we're home until july when we go to nj for a week.

so i'm feeling like i can breathe a bit easier and have time to do all the things i have been neglecting -- like my blog, and the kitchen floor ;)

i can fill you in on the mexico trip in another entry -- it was amazing! but i wanted to tell you all about the wildlife i have seen around the house. it's quite amazing actually.

we have seen 2 deer -- on multiple occasions -- on the other side of the back fence. last night, one of them looked straight at me. they are beautiful. we also have a backyard full of toads -- little, big, medium sized. laila's not quite sure what to make of them yet. and i had to stop in the street for a lizard crossing the street. all of this within a block of the house. incredible. for a couple of days we had a bird-feeder in the backyard (then laila got bored and decided to get it down and eat all the birdseed), but when it was up, we had cardinals everywhere. we're trying to figure out where we can hang it high enough so she doesn't get at it.

that's it for now. hope you are all enjoying the early part of the summer!