title of blog

Honey, I'm Home's Morning Mantra ~~ Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "Oh NO, She's up!"

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Watch Out For The Mouse...the one on your desk, that is

Herbs before the heat roasted them
Jaunt through the back yard to the fence

Man alive, guess what just happened. I was writing a long blog, believe it or not, and all of a sudden my hand hits the top of the mouse and I was back over on Curtis's site. I sat here with my mouth open and not even breathing, then tried the back button. No dice. Tried EVERY button and no dice. Daggone it, I was on my 8th paragraph and typing my fingers off and then lost it all. Now my brain has forgotten what all the topics were.

I remember the first one: I was saying how perfectly THRILLED I was to see that Toodie, Curtis, and Beth had found me and that Sue had meandered over from Toodie's, too! Oh, wow, Lisa found me, too --that's so good and this has made me so happy. Actually starts a little fire under my behind to not become m.i.a. again. And Beth, thank you for your words, sweetie. I know you get it. Moving on is the key word, it's just hard to do. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, it's the thing of being the last of a family. Gosh, it's such a final type feeling and really, I don't like it. But hey, it's sure better than last year at this time when Mom first became so sick and it was such a shock to all of us. So yes, I guess I have moved on to a certain extent since the crying isn't all day every day as it was before. Better days will be ahead.

The heat here is still either at or making records. To open the door to reach for the mail takes your breath away. No one is out and about now. Darn shame, too, since I have 11 bottles of wine just waving their little wine bottle necks and calling out for what else: Happy Hour. Here's the great part of a "moving on" thing that's happened here. MY porch has become the gathering spot for all the neighbors. It's so funny -- we've had a bunch of power failures because of the heat and storms, but once the lights are out, the neighbors from all the way down the street are right here. The last outage had 22 neighbors on my porch, some with wine, some with harder, some with just water, but everyone talking up a storm (pardon the pun) and having the best time. They stayed until 1 in the morning! It's not just outages that brings them around, although that's when it's in droves, it's regular days, too. The phone rings and it's like each neighbor calls the next and tries to round up a happy hour...and it ends up here. I love it :D.
I have the most caring, fun, and wonderful neighbors anyone could ever hope for and each day give very verbal thanks for that. Without them, I don't think I would have done very well for this past year. And do you know what? That includes Bob (Mom's Bob). He's only 8 houses down and he's here with all the rest, too! Super good, yessirree.

Back to the heat for a minute. Flowers and baby bushes all dead now, but it's that way for everyone. Boy, everyone sure poured a lot of money into plants this year. Well, there's always next year. What I feel terrible for is the wildlife. It started 30 yrs ago with one small family of chipmuncks in a stump in my backyard. Babies came, then more babies.....then they took over the world. The thing was, they recognized Mom and they recognized me, so they made a permanent home in the stump. Generation after generation in that old stump. Well, I found out what they all did when they couldn't come up to ground level over the winter due to the 2 ft of snow and ice. They burrowed from the stump to the garage and then did what every living thing does when they can't get out and socialize -- they mate. Now my backyard has well over 100 chipmunck holes and will probably sink in the next decade or 2. I don't care. I love the muncks. They see me come out onto the back porch with a little dried corn and seeds and some water in a dish and they run right over. What a trip to watch them stuff their little mouths til they are twice their size and run back to their burrow to store their goodies; then back for more. I put up birdfeeders, too, and had a slew of goldfinches and bluebirds, along with the regular house finches, cardinals, wrens, etc. It's been so much fun but I'm going broke on seeds -- one kind for colorful birds and one kind for regular and larger birds. Funny that the squirrels don't differentiate at all. Gluttons, all of them. So what did I do? Put out corn for them, too, in a different container. Worked great til the plate was empty and then they went back to stealing all the rest.

I went outside a couple weeks ago and found some fluffy feathers. Oh no. Then I saw even more. Had to be a cat. The next morning, I got up extra early and checked the window. There it was, a black and white cat just waiting at one of the munck's holes. All of a sudden I saw him go into a crouching postion and I never moved so fast in my life: I was down the steps, through the house, out the back door, and bellowing like a wild woman and chasing that cat all the way to the back of the yard and over the fence. Not too shabby, right? That's what I thought, too, until I realized I had nothing on. I stood in the bushes until I got the nerve to make a break for it and flew back to the house at record speed and trying to cover every part of me at the same time. I think I made it intact. At least, IF anyone saw that, they were polite enough never to mention it. Damn cat.
The next day, there was a yellow cat. But this time I was dressed and chased that one away, too, but I got so worried about the muncks and the birds that I took down the feeders for the time being. So far it's worked: no birds, no cats. But this weather, ugh; I put out water in different places and hope it helps. But the seed and the rest will have to wait.

Lol, it is now almost 5pm and I am telling you the truth when I say the phone just rang. Yep, it's the first neighbor and she said, "Hey, want to do Happy Hour?" You betcha. See you soon!



11 comments:

  1. Oh man I'm dying over here. I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard (yeah I do and you had something to do with that time too) but I think you should probably be on the lookout fo r the yellow cat but that first one...he will never be back after that scare. lol lol. I'm glad I wasn't there because I would have had to go the hospital from laughing and lack of oxygen. That cracked me up. I can just see the look on your face when you realized you weren't dressed. Bwahahahahah. You're too much Sis but don't ever stop being what you are. I love it.

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  2. I am laughing right along with Curtis, imagining you chasing the cat.
    The heat here has been unbearable too and it has rained almost every day. Each summer is different, last year not enough rain, this year too much. :-)
    Hugs,
    Beth

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  3. Not long ago I ran out to the deck to shew away a huge raccoon clapping my hands and I realized I was out there in my t-shirt and underpants! It was wee morning hours and nobody around but then maybe a satellite picked me up on their monitor eh? It's sounds like you have great neighbors and chipmunks. My plants died too from drowning in their containers and oh my gosh the money spent on all of that. I am jist so tickled to see another post. I sure missed you girlfriend. Have a great night and no running out the house...LOL!!!

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  4. hi, remember me, we were friends on live spaces think you were my daughter amanda's friend there too - guess much has changed in your life, quite a bit in mine too. missed you and hope we can be friends on here - I need to get my space sorted and I am very sad about windows live spaces but I will keep that one open too, for as long as possible. thank you for the laugh - the cat story had me in stitches too. god bless - nita

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  5. Hey Jenny!!!! So happy to see you again, and thanks for finding me. Your blog here looks great and I think you'll find it SO much easier than where you were.

    So, you were naked as a jaybird and chasin' a cat. Girl, you haven't changed one iota, and I love it!!!

    Your home is beautiful, and I understand your moments of sadness over the loss of your beautiful mom. It takes a long time, Jenny,(not that it goes away) but I'm so happy you have great neighbors, sounds wonderful that you're surrounded by nice people and Bob too.

    Take care, and I'll be back! ((hugs))

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  6. Hey Jenny - my reader says you have a new post up, but I 'CAIN't' find it. Hope you're having a wonderful day, girl. :)

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  7. Oh, gosh. I went to Sally's and explained but I should make a note here, too. What happened was I tried to do a picture a different way and also tried to add a music player. They all added, that's for sure, but as a blog and not as a permanent addition. So it took me forever to figure that out and to realize all I had to do was delete the "blog". Done. But, it showed on people's dashboard readers that I'd posted something new. Forgive me, folks, lol. :D

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  8. Hello JennyD, Wish I could come by and join you on your porch. Sounds like such a pleasant way to spend an evening. Especially during a storm or when the power is out. You can come bye and talk all you want at my place. I too sometimes can just rattle on at comments. Take Care Carrie

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  9. Your porch sounds like the place to be! Wish I lived closer---I'd be there too. As much as we love this internet thing, there is nothing like talking to real people, face to face. Our society seems to be shying away from that concept, doesn't it?!! Glad you guys know how to keep in touch with each other. Enjoy!

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  10. Oh my, the neighbourhood streaker?...Just want to introduce myself...I'm travelling around Blog-land and your title of 'Honey I'm home'..caught my attention, and there you were 'streaking' after a cat!!
    It was lovely to read your words and to experience a slice of your life...thank you for sharing..

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  11. Jenny I hope you dont go MIA again with out a see ya , so long or Im just need a break... I sure missed you and its great to be back in your fold once again. I always wondered if you got sick or just sick of blogging. I know I do .
    Your yard sounds wonderful with all the little critters ..and yes sounds like honey Im home.
    I thought you had some cats but maybe Im mistaken.
    Sorry to hear about your Mom. Very stressful thing to go through. Glad you stopped by .
    Sorry to hear that everything is not doing well as in shrubs. We had a drought last summer so I do know what your saying. We made it though once again. This year the rains have come and eveything is growing. Sometimes I sit outside in aww looking at the hedge and my trees just reaching for the sun or the rain when it comes. I love the rain and I too sit out in it but not long. Have a beautiful beautiful day. And I love the posts lined up along the deck . Very pretty.
    Well I better get to work. Wanted to touch base with you first thing.

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