~Wild Pet Satisfaction~

I think I have Ollie out of my system now. Haven't seen him around since he slipped out the front door. He might be at someone else's house. And since I've relinquished my desire to start over with a new cat, I will enjoy my wonderful back yard pets that I don't lose any sleep over...they just bring me enjoyment and I don't worry about them being out in the cold of the night. They are the self sufficient ones and I guess I'm into the self sufficient, non-huggable pets. Here's what I get to see when I spend time in my sunroom on these dreary cold, "thesnowisalmostmeltedtillthenextstormcomes" days! Hurry Spring!

Cemetery Research

If you have a love of genealogy like I have, cemeteries are not spooky places, unless you love to be spooked and then you can crawl around in one on Halloween and tell yourself ghost stories. They are very interesting and you can learn so much from them. Take a road trip, add a couple of friends and bring home a tombstone--legally~make a tombstone rubbing. You will need: rubbing wax or jumbo crayons like they use at the home improvement center for marking lumber, masking tape or a partner, scissors and nonfusible, medium to heavy-weight interfacing fabric(Pellon is one brand name) This works better than large sheets of butcher paper or white shelf paper, according to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack who wrote~Your Guide to Cemetery Research~Excellent reference book! My son bought this book for me and it goes with me whenever I go for a cemetery walk. I'm itching to go back on the road to visit several cemeteries of my relatives that I haven't had a chance to see yet. Hope to find lots of art and symbols and we can't forget the epitaphs...those are always so interestingly written. It's been said that they decorated headstones with artwork because many of our ancestors couldn't read or write but they could understand the meaning of the symbols. And don't forget the cemetery keepers. They can help you find who you are looking for quickly and they have access to many records. I will spend a little time from now till Spring Break honing my skills in symbol reading and then go on a cemetery jaunt. I love history and the cemeteries are full of history. Want to come along? We'll take a picnic!

Display vs Prep Space

I cook every day and mostly from scratch...my kitchen is very small and I have many pretty things on my counter..I try to clear them off to have prep space...but you know, these collections (I think one of something could possibly be a collection~you never know when you'll find more) are too pretty not to have them on there to gaze at while preparing a meal..Are you like that? I manage though...I like to be cozy.

Evening Refreshment

My treasures of "inspirations" on the little writing desk in my bedroom. Always have inspirations to reference close to you for a mid evening "refreshment".

....And Then Night Fell with Ollie

Here is the continuation of the Ollie saga. He did pretty well in the evening between the times of 6pm when he arrived and 10:30pm when Mike got home. Miss Indy hissed and growled every time he moved but he knew not to get in her way. Mike knew something was up my sleeve when I greeted him at the door. Then he looked down. There was Ollie. He looked at me and said, "Kim, What did you do?" I told him. He said "Well, (sigh) Indy and I will have to stay in the Ultra Media Lounge (that's what we call our library/computer room) and Ollie will have to stay with you in the bedroom. I don't want Miss Indy getting all upset and keeling over after all she is 126 yrs old"...(funny he said that, because I had gone down to the laundry area in the basement to retrieve some clothes and when I came back up Miss Indy was lying on her side with eyes kind of glazed..sort of like we found Kitton) and I thought "Oh my Gosh! the excitement killed her!" She was alright and Ollie was also lying on his side.) So I took the little pan into the bedroom along with food and water and put him in the bedroom with me. He cried and cried and tried to get out the door and jumped from bed to dresser to the tall dresser, laid in the clean cat litter again and finally napped for a little while on the long dresser. Then he was up again and jumping and I was also jumping up out of the bed throwing the covers back coarsely whispering "Get down!!" I didn't get any sleep and then I had to go to the bathroom and out he popped with me and pushed the Ultra Lounge door open! Next came Indy's low growl and Mike's voice "Kiiimmmm"! I grabbed him up and back to the bedroom we went. He kept crying and turning somersaults trying to get the door open and finally laid down beside me and slept for 15 minutes. The whole shabang started back over again and by then it was 4:30am..Ugh..he then decides he has to use the cat pan for something other than napping and playing..how pleasant was that ~you can imagine. I told him what a good boy he was and then I looked and he had scratched all the litter onto the floor in a pile. Auuggghhh. It was light by then. That's it!! I said to myself and I cleared it up and went to take the bag out to the trash and Ollie went with it~ No, I didn't throw him out, he ran out and disappeared. I am exhausted and have decided that I'm not cut out for this as much as I thought I might be. I am spoiled by little ole ancient Miss Indy and my beloved Au'Kitton! I'll just enjoy the squirrels outside in the back yard! I still have to go to the grocery but then I'm taking a biggg nap!

Ollie's Secret

Genealogy

Snowy cold weekends.....bake a cake and study your family genealogy...the old time pictures and family wills and documents are amazingly plentiful on the internet now. In pursuit of tracing my maternal grandfather's family and not thinking anyone was still alive, I found my grandfather's uncle's granddaughter, Polly. She and I together have pursued and linked with other relatives that we didn't know existed and have identified many, but not all, photos I inherited. We did receive photos of chairs that, before now, an unknown cousin possesses that our great great great grandpa made way back when. We've discovered that we have all heard the same stories through the years and also discovered that we all know the same story...without further elaboration...much to our dismay. Who was the grandma who was a Native American who smoked a corn cob pipe? We've all heard about her but she is yet unidentified. What we did find out was a history written by one of us "cousins" back in the 1960's. Elaborately written as to help us picture what life was like for our great great great grandparents as if she was actually there in the same time and place. We found wills from the 1700s and read about Indian raids and scalping of a female relative. I found that same true story in a book called Follow the River by James Alexander Thom. Fascinated me so much I wrote the author who lives about an hour away from me...we correspond regularly.
Every one has a history, just like Mr. Rogers used to say...and it is on line and is the best reading and research you will have the pleasure doing while you eat cake and coze in for the remaining throes of winter weather.