Saturday Morning Wrestling, starring Miss Halle B Berry Black Cat (age 7, weight 12 lbs), and Miss Rockin R Hope Floats (Mini Aussie, age 1.5 years, weight 16 lbs).

So last month, I wrote about coincidences.....today I was sitting here, not really focused on anything, and going back and forth from Facebook to a game I'm playing, when up popped my blog on my screen, with the last post that I'd written.....

No I didn't 'click' on my blog, and it isn't bookmarked in a way such that I can accidentally 'click' on it.....it seems to be just another gentle reminder of where I need to be focused....

Today have been taking more pictures again, of the hummers at my feeder, and of Saturday morning wrestling (it is a combination of Friday night fights, and Saturday morning cartoons.   I will include the illustrations......complete with the blur of motion.....

Not sure if having a cat as an alpha dog is a good thing for any of us......

Mysteries

I have believed for a long time that my dad is now a beautiful male cardinal.  One often visits at the most unexpected times, and in the most unexpected ways.   My dad loved taking pictures of cardinals, so it seems likely that would be how he might visit.

Today I was getting ready to comment on a friends Facebook post.  She had recently returned from an amazing trip and was afraid that she'd lost the SD card with the pictures from the trip.  She finished the post by talking about how happy she was to have found the card, and that it was the 'little things' that led to happiness.

I started to write that I grew up with a photographer father, and that now I enjoy taking pictures myself, so to me it wouldn't be a 'little thing'.  As I was writing,  I realized that I could hear a cardinal chirping loudly.  I looked out my picture window and there he was flitting from tomato cage ring to ring and hovering as well.

I thought how wonderful, (and typical) that this happened when I was thinking of him and photography, and how typical that I didn't have my camera nearby, and if he was trying to tell me something.

I then looked to my mantle where I have a candle burning in honor of a much loved baby who is transitioning from this world to the next, and had the strongest feeling that he was saying....little wolf will be with me, he will be all right, and is surrounded by love.

And then the bird was gone.  It is difficult for a bird to be calmly flying and flitting on my front porch, as I have roll up blinds mostly rolled down, to protect the porch and house from the strong east sun that we get, since there is nothing blocking it.

How amazing to me to have the visit today as I was writing about my father, and also thinking about little wolf......although, some of you who may read this will think, truly she's off her rocker (I just love these old sayings, may start posting one a week), and others will know precisely what I am talking about.

My mother used to say, there is no meaning in such things, they are merely coincidences, and said it more as she entered the last years of her life.  I used to reply, maybe so, but by believing that there is meaning in them, it makes my world so much more interesting, and such moments precious.

Thanks dad, for dropping in....



Post Script:   I decided that I wanted a picture of the mantle to go with the story, snapped one and then realized what was there.   Everything on my mantle is just as it was,  no arranging done.  It includes the large framed 'print' of the cardinal, a wooden cardinal, which is actually placed on top of my Spirit Song music folder, the candle, and a clock made from a slab of stone that my dad found on one of his many working trips, and which he had made into a clock for me for the last birthday that we shared with him on this earth.

Hope

I've written before about Hope and her little cat friends that visit her in the backyard.  One cat seems to belong to my back fence neighbor, and is her most frequent playmate.

Last summer there were 2 feral kittens that joined in the fun.  One in particular hung out with the neighbor's cat.   Somehow all of the kittens (there were 4) have disappeared.   I can only hope that they found homes, or were 'rescued'.

The apparent father of the kittens, is the first cat that I saw after closing on my home.  He is such a wonderful character of a tom cat, and I refer to him as "Poppa".   He will let me get fairly close, but is not at all wanting to be friends.

He doesn't seem to dislike anyone, except the neighbors cat, for lack of his real name, 'Fluffy'.  Fluffy appears to be neutered, so am not sure why Poppa doesn't like him.

The other night Halle was pawing at the windows which she does when any foreign cat (she has no cat friends!) is in the yard.  Hope starting whining to go out, so I let her.   She immediately went into full blown protection mode, barking fiercely at something at the back fence.  I wasn't too sure what it was, figured it was a creature of some kind, maybe a river rat or a possum.

The next day Poppa walked by our front porch, and Hope rushed the front door barking hysterically in the same way she had outside the night before.   Fluffy will also hang out around our front porch and when he does, Hope whines to go out and visit.

The fact that she is discriminating between these two cats is just amazing and funny at the same time to me.

My theory is that she knows that Poppa is mean to her BFF Fluffy (or BFF #2 with Halle, #1), and so she's taking up for Fluffy.

Isn't friendship wonderful?

And the answer is......

   










Halle is THRILLED!

Is Miss Hope a Canine Good Citizen??

So after starting the blog with the intent to keep it up, and after getting "Hope" and thinking I would have so much fodder for the blog, I find that I have done a miserable job of posting.

Hope is finishing her first dog obedience class (Beginners) and has done quite well.   Tomorrow they are having an AKC Canine Good Citizen test, which was originally supposed to be next Saturday after her test for her class which is this coming Monday.  But there was a scheduling conflict, and now her CGC test is tomorrow.

I'm glad, actually, because it will be a good pretest for her 'real' test on Monday.  The CGC is a preliminary step for becoming certified as a therapy dog.  She will need to complete one more obedience class (Novice 1) and if she does that and has passed the CGC, she can get a little vest and start making visits.

There are many opportunities in Ttown for therapy dogs.  They have a new program using them to provide support to children who are testifying in court, plus there are the more typical visits to hospitals, and nursing homes.

I was particularly touched to read that there were 14 therapy dogs walking through the crowd at a memorial vigil after a recent mass murder in California.

One of the funnier things about Hope, is that she has little kitty friends who visit her.  There are now 3 of them.  Two are feral siblings, who were born last summer, and one is a cat that seems to belong to the neighbor behind me.

Two of them actively play with her, the silver long haired (neighbor's) tabby, and the grey tabby.   The brown tabby is a little more shy, but she has decided that it is OK to hang out, and let me take her picture from close range today.

However, Halle is not amused at the trespassers, and alienators of Hope's affections.

 Hope just wonders where and when it was made clear that her herding skills were to be honed by practicing the herding of cats.......

Tenting Tonight......Godspeed the 45th......

So the lyrics that have been on my mind for awhile now, come from an 1864 song, that I learned in music class in elementary school (thanks Carnegie Elementary)........It is perhaps amazing that on the eve of my 60th birthday,  I remember so well the lyrics from this song.  At the time I learned it, the Vietnam War had not started, we were at 'peace', yet the lyrics and sentiment stayed with me.   In fifth grade we made pillows with symbols on them for Camp Fire Girls.  I still have mine, the one symbol that has remained in place, and which I know well the meaning, is a dove of peace.   Again, we were not at war at this point in this country; war protesting had not become 'trendy', and then as now my heart breaks for those touched by war.  Those who bravely, and not so bravely answer the call, the loved ones left behind, the 'collateral damage' along the way.....but the lyrics of this song written so long ago, say it better than I....

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground....

"We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground,

Give us a song to cheer

Our weary hearts, a song of home,

And friends we love so dear.

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts that are looking for the right

To see the dawn of peace.

Tenting tonight, tenting tonight, tenting on the old camp ground

We've been tenting tonight on the old camp ground,

Thinking of days gone by,

Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand

And the tear that said "Goodbye!"

We are tired of war on the old camp ground,

Many are dead and gone,

Of the brave and true who've left their homes,

Others been wounded long.

We've been fighting today on the old camp ground,

Many are lying near;

Some are dead and some are dying,

Many are in tears.

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts that are looking for the right

To see the dawn of peace

Dying tonight, dying tonight, dying on the old camp ground"

Let us send up prayers for safety of our Thunderbirds, the Oklahoma 45th,  and all in harms way, and comfort for those left behind......How can anyone tolerate the loss of 7 of our own since deployment the end of June, or in truth in the past 3 weeks?

Chain saw massacre part deux

I realize that many of you have been waiting breathlessly for the next installment of the great chainsaw adventure......so the Ryobi one+ items came and hmmm not to quote one of my heros, but not enough power.....so all of them went back....and I became determined to fix my corded chainsaw without the proper size wrench (wrenches we don't need no stinkin wrenches), or hex key....(the hex key wasn't returned to me by someone who borrowed the chainsaw)....anyhoo.....I fixed it.....got the chain back on and tight (also without benefit of the 'manual'.....)....Yay.....I always wondered when my dad and granddad's mechanical skill genes would show up.....proving once again...it's never to late to turn out like your parent(s).....!!!!