Walkin in the nature........

Well......I took my walk right after supper tonight and took the camera with me. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. First picture (to the left) is of the ONLY rose that survived that last hard freeze we had at the beginning of April :( This particular one is a real deep red and is called "Mr. Lincoln" We got it and a yellow one (Twenty first Century) with a gift certificate from some friends when my dad died. So I'm sad that the yellow one did not survive. [nor did our pink one, red/white one, or the coral one] We did plant 2 new ones out back this spring. A couple friends gave me 2 rose bushes when grandma passed away in March. I always take pictures of all of our flowers..........so hope you don't get sick of flower pics!! LOL



As I jaunt on down the road, minding my own business, walking brisk and jamming out to my headphones.......I am getting SWOOPED by some hacked off red-wing blackbird. I guess the dumb thing must have a nest or something but for the love of God, man, I was just walking down the road. I don't know how many times the stupid thing nose-dived me. I even had my arms up and crouched down a time or two...I was just hoping not to get pecked too death (or crapped on...lol) But I survived. Stupid bird.......................

Next, it was on down the road......the multi-floral roses (pain in the @$$) are starting to bloom. I think they are pretty in the sense that they add "character and color" to a hum-drum ol' fence line!!!! Am hates them and they really don't serve much of a purpose other than being a nuisance in a pasture, fence row or anywhere else that they are......however, who can tell me that this little pink blossom is not pretty in some kind of way. Well? Who? I decided I should have picked a better one as there is a "bite" off of that far right petal. Some toxic bug probably - or it could have been that killer red-wing black bird. Maybe the bird pecked that part off! LOL


I believe that this last picture simply speaks for itself.
Isn't it amazing to see the creations on Earth? From wild flowers that we did not plant to a swooping "killer" bird......to this.....the beauty of the sky above.
They say that a picture speaks louder than words.......
This one speaks more than that I thought. It was a view on my walk that I could not pass up a good shot of.

Have a good rest of the week. Tomorrow is Friday!!!!!!

Good night...................and sleepy good!!! :)

MC Celebration Schedule

Here is a link to today's local paper. It is the schedule of events of the upcoming weekend.
If any of you are interested....."maybe just maybe" something will look interesting to ya!! :)
I plan on "cruising" thru the car show and the parade as well.

Melody - sure wish YOU could come back this weekend.....and Ina said she cried all the way home - she misses you guys!!!!

http://www.monroecity.net/special_section/16/

The Budweiser Clydesdales? In Monroe????? Are you SERIOUS???!!!!!

Well.....they are here!!! The real live Bud Clydesdales!!! What on earth for you ask??? Well, this weekend, June 1-3, is the Sesquicentenial celebration of Monroe City. {that's 150 years for those of you who have no idea what that means!! LOL} Anyhow, Golden Eagle Distributors of Hannibal arranged to get the horses here for the occasion. It takes a mighty pretty penny for that I'm thinkin and a pretty special occasion. My friend Dee, who works at GED, told me 2 weeks ago that for the horse's tent alone, was $16,000!! Yes....that says sixteen THOUSAND!!! Whew!!! They are pretty dang special! I have attached pictures of the tent, the semi and a couple of the horses. I didn't take much....but I'll have more this weekend I'm sure. There is supposed to be a parade Saturday......I think that will be neat - to see them pulling "the wagon".

Take note of the tent picture.....Mom and I found it funny that they are parked - like 5 or 6 Budweiser Clydesdales semi's.....in one of the church parking lots!! LOL

Enjoy - oh, and also.......The picture of Gracie.............I found her there this morning when I got out of the shower! She's adapting VERY well VERY soon. hehe

P.S. Mom was not here for the horses...haha.......we had been in Columbia for a dr. appt!!!!

Good night and have a good remaining week!!!!

Making herself at home

Cats Cats Cats.....what on earth would I do with out them??????????? :)

Well.....Gracie has slept inside over night for 2 nights now. She's adapting to the inside life quite well. In fact, last night, while we were watching tv, reading the news papers, etc....... she took it upon herself to sit in the recliner with Molly! LOL Keep in mind that Molly is now acting like Nala - NOT liking any other cats!! She simply hisses at her and lets it be known that this is her house and that she does not appreciate a smarty little kitten trying to take the run of the homestead! LOL Anyhow, they did manage to share the chair for awhile.....until Gracie "rolled over" and bumped into Molly. That was it, man...she bellowed out an evil hiss and took off. As you can see in this picture - Gracie could care less.....Molly, however, does seem to be a bit perterbed!!!!!! :)



She does sleep with me......yes on the bed....get over it.......and she has woken up the past 2 mornings around 5 or so (which is normal time around here anyhow) Instead of just jumping down off the bed, however, she tends to walk around on me, purring, touching my face w/ her paw, NIPPING any skin she can find and/or licking. I flicked her on the nose/mouth countless times today and told her NOOOOOOO. It did no good, but perhaps she'll learn. Maybe not, but we'll see!


I did buy her a pet bed today. (Yesss I did) Nala had one when she was little...infact, Nala went thru TWO of those things!! I just knew that little Graie would love it. HAAAH what a joke! She hates it and jumps out just as soon as I put her in it. Ambrose, of course, just giggles!!!! I finally got her to stay in it this afternoon. It was trickery though. She was already asleep (as she napped for nearly THREE hours this afternoon). She just stretched and drifted back off! (amazing how similar baby animals act compared to babies!!!)


She really was saw'n logs in this photo to the left!!!! I couldn't resist taking her picture!!!!! Right now, she's sleeping in the magazine basket! I swear - sleep is all the little creature does!!!!
Any one want a kitty? Still have PLENNNTY of them to go around! Dan & Becky Buckman did manage to take ONE (and only one Dan said) off our hands. They took the little grey/white one. Well, he's really not little - he's the biggest one of them all and was from the very start as well! He's a good eater, friendly and just a nice kitty. I'm glad that is the one they picked out. He'll make a nice pet for them. I tried our latest "selling technique" on them....with another failed

outcome. That technique is.......take more than one and we'll supply you with a month of feed. Now for those of you who know us very well....you'll know who's suggestion that is!!! (and it was not mine!!)

Well...that's all in the cat world. I do truly miss my Nala-girl................but this little kitten has at least taken away the empty spot that I still have.

Have a good week.......................................

Summer has begun.....

Well.....here is a close up picture of some of my violas. I have had to cut down the size - so the entire picture isn't this but you get the idea!!! We actually planted them last year as annuals and I'll be darned if they didn't come up on their own this spring. MY flower bed has ALL come up on it's own to tell you the truth! It's mostly these and PETUNIAS! And I mean TONS of petunias!! Now I've had them come back a few at a time but I'm talking an entire bed full of them!!!!!! Once they grow bigger and get all bloomed out I'll be sure to take pictures of that too. They're probably mostly purple. I'm thinking that the entire bed is some kind of purple. LOL

Am and I took off for St. Louis yesterday (Friday) I was "disturbed" that it rained on us almost the entire way there. We got about 10 miles from home and it started...................GRRRRRR. Gas was $3.19 when we left Monroe City. As you can see here, it was cheaper in STL. One would think that the urban areas would have the higher prices. Oh well....I don't understand the whole thing anyhow...so whatever.

We went to the Cathedral Basillica of St. Louis and I must tell you, Catholic or non-Catholic, it was purely BEAUTIFUL. All of the pictures on the ceilings, walls and everywhere you look are mosaic and some of the most detailed and intriquite work I've ever seen. WOW.

This is a baptismal. (I guess that is what it is called......I am not up to speed on all of the Catholic terms. Being married into such a large Catholic family, you would certainly think that I knew more terminology but I don't) You can see the words "Baptisma......something" etched into the sides. I'm sure a lot of the language written on things is Latin. Regardless I just can't go into detail on the beauty that this place displayed. They do have mass there. Ambrose has also decided that "sometime" when we're in STL again, that he wants to go to mass. That's fine. It would be rather interesting to see the difference. Downstairs in the "museum" area, there was a special "chair" that was made specifically for Pope John Paul II when he made his appearance in St. Louis in 1997. There is also a place (and I have NOOO idea what it's called) where 3 former "Cardinals" and 1 former "Arch Bishop" are "buried"?? (Not sure if buried is the right word. Am called it their interment................????????? I just know that it was gated shut and their names/dates were inscribed into the concrete.

We went downtown after that. We had tickets for the game. Supper was like at 4:00 lol at our usual place "Charlie Gitto's Pasta House" downtown. I was a good girl.......I stuck with salad and I don't know that it was all that many points. Probably more than I think but I gave it 10 just to be safe. We got to the stadium early when the gates opened and since it had rained all day, there was no batting practice. But there were a couple of players signing things. Here is Ryan Franklin. He's one of the pitchers they have brought up.

Before the game, I noticed that there were people hovering around the bullpen area so I jaunted down there. I thought Am knew where I was going and I do wish he'd came down. THAT was sooo neat. I got to watch Anthony Reyes (the starting pitcher) warm up. Also, Dave Duncan (pitching coach) was there and my man, Yadier Molina (catcher). Josh Kinney and Jeff Murphy were in there as well. *Josh Kinney is a relief pitcher and FYI, he attended and played baseball at Quincy University! Th Cardinals lost the game but it was a pretty good game. Albert Pujols hit a home run and shortly after that Jimmy Edmonds hit one also. We lost 5-4. But that's ok.....still had a great time and despite the sprinkes!!!!!

*I snuck this one of Dave Duncan (pitching coach) when it was pretty much time to do the National Anthem.

We had a great time. Today we ate breakfast at Denny's (ohhh myyyyyyy) and then shopped for a couple of hours at Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters. We got home around 4:00 this afternoon and that's all she wrote.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ * FrEe KiTtEnS * ~

for the love of God!!! In my own comment section (a reply to Susie)....I mention that I had no idea where Patches had her kitties and that Squeak only has one. WELL.....I beg to differ now! Found Patches' litter this afternoon. They are NOT in the garage and Rudy is the one who pretty much pointed them out to me. They are outside (as I assumed) across the driveway under a tin thing. All I know is if she tries to move them to where the others are...and Rudy sees this transpire - they're dead meat. Anyhow.....from the best of my vision of moving that heavy thing....I saw 3. 2 were black and white and one was like her - a very colorful and pretty calico!!!!! Now....on Squeak's kitten(s). I found her and ONE yellow kitty in the rafters of the garage the other night........well, today she was nursing TWO!!! LOL Am didn't want me to get too friendly with them and to just leave them up there. Maybe they'll become wild. One of the others, however, from the first litter, was dead this morning. It doesn't surprise me. The poor little thing was having problems with it's eyes matting shut. I am not sure how many evenings I had brought it inside and tried to get it's eyes open with a warm washcloth. It also had a very snotty nose on a constant basis. It was one of the 3 that has/had no desire to eat the kitten chow. It must have been sicker than I realized. Ohhhh welllll at this point........................with the headcount now - kittens alone, there's still 14 kittens!!!!!!!!! And Princess still has to have hers. Gaaahhhhhhhhhhh

Happy Mother's Day

First of all......Happy Mother's Day weekend! Not only to my own mother (I love you mom) but also to all of my "mom" readers!!!!!! The weather is promising to be WONDERFUL!!!
Ambrose and I are going "North" and we're taking mom out to eat at the bestest place of all!! Hotel Nauvoo!! So much for watching what I eat!! lol Oh well - it's only for one day. Speaking of eating and weight..... I passed my 20# goal when I weighed in on Tuesday night!!! Yayyyy! As of Tuesday, I have lost 21.6 pounds since my first weigh in on January 9th. SO, that is an average of 5.4 pounds a month!!! Not too shabby I must say!! My new goal is a small one - 12 pounds -because I do need (and want) to take off more but felt that it may be easier to work at it in smaller increments! So anyhow, I was so very happy!!!!! I still am not sure what my ultimate goal will be. I'll wait a while. Once I meet that, I can become a "life time member" and if I maintain my weight and not go over 2 pounds heavier than that goal weight...all the meetings would be free!!! That would be good!

Let's see........what else was I going to post? Hmmmm I'm not remembering right off the bat so it evidently was not THAT earth shattering!

The kitties are now at "free roam" in the garage. The little escape artists broke out of their pen area yesterday! lol So Am let them out and rigged up something so they can't get thru the gates at the doors. We only have the garage gated up so that the dog can't get to them. My fear will be for Gracie to get out....and Rudy get ahold of her. Then what. She's too little and 'dumb' to come in the house full time just yet. Plus, Marble hasn't started weaning them. They are 6 weeks old today and just the cutest things!!!! They are loud!! You should hear them all.......9 kittens.....and 5 adult cats.....when I take TWO PLATES (yes...now 2) of softened kitten chow to the babies. I talk to them in a high pitch voice and they all... "sing" as I call it!! It's kinda commical. Six of them will eat food now....but the other 3 still have no interest. I'm sure they will in time. And will probably become the biggest eaters. Not sure how they can be bigger than Gracie (she's the biggest hog), Sassy and the grey one.

Well....not sure what is on tap for today. I'm actually in my robe still. I slept in this morning until 7:30!!!! Am went to work at 6 but I slept in. I didnt' sleep the greatest last night and I also had a headache most of the night so I took advantage of no one here and quiet in the morning!! Used to be that 7:30 was getting up EARLY! lol I need to go to town before noon to the bank and I'll probably wash my car - it's filthy. Speaking of cars - gas jumped 14 cents yesterday from 2.95 to 3.09. Lord only knows what it did overnight. Isn't that ridiculous? Sally called me last night and I think she said that gas in Burlington was 3.19. That is just nuts...and it really hacks me off!!

Well...I think I'll go shower up and start my piddling around for the day. Have a great day and again, Happy Mothers Day to all of you ladies!!!!!

Cinco de Mayo Saturday

Well......I guess I have returned. I have, over the course of the past few weeks, attempted to update my blog several times but just didn't get it done. My last post was about the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who was killed in an auto accident. How tragic. On the other side.....it just makes me sooo mad to know the contributing factor of the whole deal. He was 2x over the legal alcohol limit. What a moron. The thing that irritates me the MOST is all of the young kids around the world that idolize and look up to these ball players. It's no wonder there is an increasing drug/alcohol problem in people at a younger age. OK...enough on that.
{by the way....as I write this, StL is getting CREAMED 8 to 0...gaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh} no big surprise there, now is it!


Well I have an update on the kittens. Marble's litter is 5 weeks old today...and they are growing like weeds. I have to tell you that I have decided NOT to bring "Chance" in as the new house cat. He meows all the time!!! He doesn't have "the" personality. Nala, as some of you know, was the kitten/cat from hell and I don't particularly want that again. LOL Anyhow......the black one with wisps of peach/cream on it has turned out to be "the one"! She won my heart over a week ago. She just sat there looking at me with her huge eyes and never peeped out a mew!!!! She then became the first one to the edge of their area when I came in. I do believe she's going to be long hair. She's very very silky soft (more so than the rest) SO....since she seems to be the most quiet and most loveable.....I've chosen her as the indoor kitty. Her name is...........Gracie! (Gracie Mae if you want her whole name lol) I brought her in after lunch today....and she ended up curling up and taking a nap under my chin. She's the sweetest little thing. She purred and purred and then got into that "pawing thing" [kneeding] on my fACE and started licking/biting my chin. grrrr. I just told her NO. Am laughed and said "bite her, kitty". :( We have also rigged up a "pen" if you will for them all out in the garage. They were starting to wander around on the top shelf where they were....so we moved some junk and make a pen for them on the concrete with bedding. We also put Rastas (the black/white momma) in with them. I call it our nursery! I mean, it IS! There are NINE,,,yes nine.....kittens in there!!! OK...enough about cats!!! :)

Spring is here - or is it!? I hate hearing of all the tornadic activity in OK and KS last night and doesn't sound as if it's over yet. Quite a cell still ambushing out there. I wish the sun would come out. It's been dreary/dismal alll week!!!! I was finally able to take my walk last night. First night since Monday. We noticed that the Wrens are back. They came back a couple weeks ago. It's always nice to hear those......at least for awhile. Sometimes it seems as though they never take a break!!!!! Also heard some Mocking Birds and yesterday morning early, I did hear a Cat bird.

Well....today is Cinco de Mayo..........and I'm going to make a new recipe tonight for supper. It's off of the weight watchers website and it's a chicken casserole. I got mad at Am last night for never telling me what he'd like to have for supper. He mentioned that he doesn't care and, 'that's your problem'...meaning it's my problem to figure it out and not his. Wellll well well..guess what? Tonight is Mexican night in celebration of "the 5th of May" {cinco de mayo}and he doesn't like mexican! Guess it's going to be his problem to find something ELSE to eat, huh!??? :) You'd thought he would figure it out...when I showed him the mini-bottle of margaritas I got for later on. Since the chicken is thawing...he just thinks we're having chicken! HAHAHAHAHA

Pictures to come soon.....I'm going to break down and buy a digital camera in the next few weeks!!

Have a good weekend