Real Quick Post

It's not a real fix but just a band-aid. I stuffed the hole that Lil'Buddy was coming through in the kitchen with aluminum foil and then I taped over the aluminum foil with duct tape...good ol'duct tape. I didn't want to just tape over the hole in fear that Lil'Buddy would get stuck to it and not be able to escape...Ewwww that would not be good ...besides not being humane. So any way, the band-aid is working for the time being and Lil'Buddy is being cute down in the basement! I'll keep you posted!
Posted this update in case enquiring minds want to know.

Right before our little evening 'visitor' (that is what themousedepot.com affectionately calls them) moved on up, I was walking through Lowe's in search of braided wood trim for the tops of my cabinets. For the past 17 years I inherited with the house a trim that was spindled on the top of my cabinets. I never really liked it...it was ok but not the European look I go for. So since I hadn't done much decorating for a long time (which is really not me..don't know what I've been doing but it wasn't decor related)I decided I could (~in my inexpensive~make~ something~out~of~something~else~but~keep~the~old way) attach the braid wood trim over the spindles. I painted it black. (KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong of course repainted over what I had painted because I missed a couple teenny weeennny spots for heaven's sake)and he cut them to size. He helped me put them up ~I thought I could do it myself while he was out but they kept flipping around and I almost fell into the sink a couple times~so he could see 'bein' a woman and all' I might need some manly man help. Got that accomplished with happiness! Then while I had been at Lowe's I saw a valance for the kitchen window on sale for about $11 still in the package but the package looked like it had been run over by a two wheeler truck, so they put it on sale. A darling toile 2 layered valance no worse for wear. Now this might not sound so astonishing but I have never had a valance at a window before..I don't like draperies and I am the kind that makes up my window coverings or enhancements from place mats to napkins and tablecloths at the windows. So for me to buy a ready-made meant~to~hang~in~a~window was a first for me. For many years I had my copper pots hanging in this window from iron rods. Even though it is ready-made I had to use my creativity to hang it...I didn't want a conventional rod so I hung a plate rack and suspended an iron rod from it and ruched on the fabric to that. Ah this made me happy since it wasn't conventional. Well, KennyRLAblahblahblah....came home and said "I don't think I like that..I miss the copper pots and the kitchen looks darker." "Well! I exclaimed, "I looove it~it makes me happy!" I was so proud that I didn't back down and he just grinned and I want to think has grown to like it or maybe to tolerate it. I had those pots up there for years and years...he has to admit it was time for a change in that kitchen. So every time I go into the kitchen I feel happy..all because of a conventional curtain and some braided wood trim! I think that is why Lil'Buddy decided to take up residence in the happy place!

OK, OK

I think I may have to borrow some of Betsy's (My Five Men blog) cats! As you know mine are gone now and some one cute has decided to move on up the stairs. And he is soo cute and I named him which is a real no no but you know how I am with animals (rodents in particular) Yes, Lil'Buddy has decided that he is king of the hill now and had been making his presence, though not physical presence, known of a morning when I am getting ready for work. Well, the other night I was on the phone to my sister and we talked till about 12:30am and I decided to go into the kitchen. The lights were burning bright and there 'him' was, dark gray with velvety ears, bright black button eyes and the tiniest feets I ever saw! He was only about 2inches long. I can't help it, people, he is darned cute..looks just like a toy, honestly. I just want to scoop him up and put him in a cage with a wheel to run around in. My son was appalled. He said, "Mom! you can't keep him as a pet!" I just looked at him. He said "I know how you are! Mom they can eat your wiring and burn your house literally down and besides they are a health hazard!" Ok ok, but I'm not killing him. I will find a humane trap and take him where he can be cute somewhere else. So now I am looking at themousedepot.com for one...the testimonials are great. And I know what you are thinking..you better get several cause there is never just one mouse. OK OK OK. Now if he was a bug I would place death traps everywhere! I am petrified of bugs.
Shhhh~know what?~I am getting tired of mouseproofing the kitchen every night before I go to bed. I'm ordering right now. Ok, Ok, he'll just have to be cute somewhere else.
Photo borrowed from Guzer

What Have I Been Doing???

Gosh! Have I been lost in blogland's vacant mind swirl or what? Suddenly my blog friends, family members and even KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong have been asking and nudging me to post on my blog again.
Weird Spring...Hot as Hades summer...brain was numb and soggy from cold and rain and now it feels like a soupy sauna-ed plop of protoplasm...How About That Description???!!!
I actually like heat but when it feels like it is raining inside my body and then overflowing and running out of my forehead and eyelids I think I am tempted to call out~Enough!
My squirrels don't seem to be complaining much although I do see them draped across the limbs of the pear and crab apple trees...and the cute thing about them is that they gather around me for their peanuts and then go up into the trees closest to my swing where I nap and they lie down too..watching to see how long all of us can be restful. Once in a while Luke Danger (the orange fluffy love boy cat from next door) comes meandering in and causes one of the furry darlings to sound the alarm...she gets worked up and then works up the others until I finally have to say...'alright, it is time to stop barking ( have you ever heard a squirrel bark?)and every body needs to take a nap!' Know what? They did just what I told them to do...they are so obedient..I am a great mother to this nature bound habitat! Squirrel Whisperer! That's me!
As you have previously read we are now a catless household...missing those two 'sisters' very much but one advantage is no more cleaning poop from the litter pan. So for a while I was silently reveling in that one less chore..no more poop. However, now that the final housebound cat is gone, a tiny mouse has decided to move into the kitchen and I find myself having to spray and wipe up little 'tidbits'(nice way to put it~however I don't say that so nicely to myself at 5:30am) So no matter how I try to get around it...poop happens.
Hopefully summer will get a little more exciting as it heats up even more!

What Have I Been Reading

I don't watch TV...all the news I need is on the computer when I sign in in the morning..but I do love to read..biographies are my favorite..but anything that is historical and for the most part true.
My dear niece thoughtfully bought me a Laura Ingalls Wilder book~The Long Winter~
She bought it for me 2 years ago and I finally began reading it on one of the hottest days we have had so far this spring...ha ha it cooled me off I must say~I don't think I could have survived the winter Laura describes with such a joyful, let's-make-do-with-what-we-have-and-be-thankful-even-if-we-don't-have attitude! Was she being truthful in her recounting of her life? I like to think so.
It is difficult for us to look back at their way of life and understand it fully because, lets face it...we were not brought up that way. Some of us had more and some of us had less, but I would venture to say that since most of us, if not all that are reading these blogs, have computers. We have not had to sacrifice as much as our ancestors did. Frankly their lives and the living of it make me feel spoiled~I whine about going to the grocery store, or fuss when the furnace isn't heating me enough. How would I like to burn straw because the wood is gone to keep warm?...keep a whole family warm for 8 months and eat nothing but brown bread and if I was lucky little seed potatoes? (I love brown bread and potatoes but that is beside the point) I wouldn't like it in this day and age, certainly. I glance into my pantry and see canned goods..none that I have 'put up'. I made zucchini pickles once..that was my first and only claim of preservation..it was fun and rewarding but I haven't done it since. I do make most of my food from scratch but I certainly don't grind my own wheat to make flour.
So my point of all this is that when I am feeling down and out, I gather up all my pioneer women's diaries and read voraciously and that gives me strength, solace and appreciation that I am where I am today~spoiled but oh so appreciative of what they endured for me to live easier.

Finally Summer..

Finally it is summery feeling...hoping the bad things stop happening and am looking forward to being outside like we were today and yesterday...working on this little tiny yard that is more work than 40 acres...we need a mule!
Finally got some flowers to make it look like summer.
Finally have seen a few squirrels early in the morning and later in the evening...too hot!
Finally hoping to see fewer bad strong storms.
Finally hoping I can get somewhat of a tan so my skin won't be in shock!

Lookin' For A Better Rest of June

ManCave Fun!

just realized I haven't blogged since May 20th! Gee, what has been goin' on?
Well, lots of things actually...think there has been a couple of "bad moon risings" lately!
KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong took 10 days off at the end of May for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, as you might recall..he had Man Cave Week which started off fine..but then his sweet little 140 year old kitty decided that it was going to be her last week of her nine lives and showed definite signs of getting ready to go to Kitty Heaven. She pined away for him every day and night till I finally had to put a call into "the cave" wherever that was and tell him that no matter what..come flood or tornado or speeding race cars...you have to come home now for your kitty.
Well, he knows that I have a keen sixth sense so he left the cave and the other men and drove home through hail stones and swirling tornadoes literally to be home with her. She was so happy to see him..even if she couldn't walk a straight line without falling over. The next day he had to make the decision...glad I didn't have to.. this time.
We, then, went to visit his cousin in southern Indiana that I have written about...the singer and Elvis impersonator..to give his morale a boost since he had to have emergency abdominal surgery right after he sang for us and the senior citizens in French Lick, Indiana. All that in May.
June started out quiet until we got the call that our best friend was in the hospital having surgery on his broken leg...seems that he put too much pressure in the tires on a two-wheel dolly and when he picked it up to put it in his shed...bam it exploded at the metal wheel hit him in the shin and broke his leg...of course he said he left his cell phone on the kitchen counter...had to crawl backward in the 90+ degree heat to the house to call his daughter and 911. One thing we learned from that bad accident...carry your house phone or cell phone with you outside when you are just doing mundane errands..even if you go down to the basement...you never know when the bad moon is going to be rising!