I was having trouble seeing to cross stitch on linen.  I got some 3.25 readers but it was still too difficult.  The aida cloth is much easier to work on than the linen.  I think the issue is not just my eyes but also the gray threads against the beige fabric.  But if I get enough light on it, I can now see it.

This is the pattern I'm using for a cross stitch of my cat that just passed away of old age.  It looks just like him.

Just so you know, the darkest area is the cat's nose.  You can see how the lightest gray kind of blends in with the fabric which is actually a beige color.

I also repaired some holes in the back of a favorite shirt for my sweetheart.

The front of the shirt has a fish in these colors so I added one to the back to cover the holes.  The fins are a bit wonky but it was too small to applique it any better,

Look What the Cat Drug In....Literally!

My female cat Buttercup is a wonderful huntress.  She brings me her treasures of mice and rats with no heads, snakes, lizards and the occasional bird.  Today she found these...

You can click on the photo to see it larger.  Those are 2 baby wild bunnies, their eyes are not open yet.  I found the nest with no more bunnies so I took the nesting material.  They are cozy, warm & protected in their new nest.  Its inside the cat carrier in my room.  

Feeding them a couple times a day will be easier than trying to keep Buttercup and other neighborhood cats away from them.  I tried that 2 years ago when I set up a chicken wire fence around the nest to keep the cat out during the day and kept the cat in at night and the fencing open so bunny mama could feed them babies.

One died and the rest disappeared until Buttercup brought me one back again.  Unfortunately it also died as Buttercup had played too hard with it.  

So I am trying to be the bunny mama and letting the cat be a cat but not able to get to the babies.  I went to Tractor Supply and picked up some goat milk in a can to feed them.  I've watched some videos and it seems they will do ok if they are not injured.  So wish me luck so I can release them back into the wild when they are bigger.

Thanksgiving is Coming Soon

Coming home this morning from a trip to the next town over we passed 4 wild turkeys like this one, just meandering on the side of the road.  

Sadly we had no hunting license or firearm so I guess we will have to visit the local grocery store to pick up one for our holiday table.

It was pretty cool to see 4 of them all together though, beautiful birds!

Spring & Summer & Bunny Updates

I've finished the last flower for Spring and the border for Summer as well as a tiny area in the corner.

More background that you really can't see until it is all done, that's pale blue and off white with bits of green.

There really are 4 bunnies in there, eyes are open and they sometimes come out of the nest now.  It's getting harder to keep them safe, the neighbor's cat is showing some interest and I can't keep him locked up at night as he's not my cat.  So far so good though.

One More Flower & Bunny Foo Foos

First of all, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I almost have the Spring cross-stitch square done, just one more flower to go.  I tried but was too tired to finish it last night.

Here's why I was tired:

Those are baby bunnies!  Aren't they adorable?  Right now they are the size of a mouse.  My cat found the nest in our backyard and thought they made great playthings.  They are currently caged off with chicken wire which I have to remove at night so the mama bunny can feed them.  Based on photos I've looked at they appear to be about 2 weeks old and won't be able to be on their own until about 6 weeks.

Kind of puts a crimp in my garden plans because the nest is where I wanted to put in a raised bed.  I planned for four 10" tall beds along the fence line and even if I skip over this area, what happens when the melons and tomatoes start growing?  Are the bunnies going to eat the plants up?  Geez, sometimes Mother Nature just does not want to co-operate.  

I do have tiny sprouts up on 2 okra and 1 tiger melon however.  Last year seed starting was a dismal failure except for some jalapenos.  So I'm hopeful this year will be better. 

Who Needs A Zoo?

We went for a drive to a neighboring town today and some of the sights we saw were...

...sheep and burros along with several types of cattle, goats and horses.

Of course there were dogs.

Sadly some demised animals such as skunks and raccoon.

But we also saw...

4 buffalo.

Some zebras sharing a pasture with...

...gazelles.

I saw some llamas too.

In past drives I have seen deer, turkeys, a roadrunner, miniature ponies, alpacas, lots of cats, turtles crossing the road, squirrels, opossum, armadillo and hawks of several kinds.

In our yard there have been albino hawks, a rattlesnake on my welcome mat (definitely not welcome), birds of myriad species, spiders of various kinds, butterflies galore, hummingbird moths, bees, wasps, true geckos (not the Geico kind which are really anole lizards) worm snakes, garden snakes, a plethora of bugs I don't know, field mice and though I haven't seen one yet, I've been told scorpians too.

With all this, who needs to go to the zoo?

Albino Hawk Visit

(source)

Imagine seeing one of these flying wild just over your head.

The wingspan was probably about 4 feet.  2 days ago it flew over our house and dipped into the front yard then chose to sit in the cedar tree across the road.  A bit later it repeated the flight in reverse.  An awesome sight.

It's a red-tailed hawk, very common here in Texas and one species that is prone to albinism.  Our visitor was blindingly white and just magnificent.  I hope he visits again.

Baby Girl

This is Baby Girl.  At least that's what I call her now that she has decided to live here.  The next door neighbor that she supposedly belongs to named her Buttercup but it doesn't fit her at all.  This is her preferred way to drink water and she will let you know very loudly when she wants it turned on.

That's the sink in my bath and I have plans to paint it.  I read a review of an epoxy paint that was good and has held up to everyday use for several years.  I'm thinking nice clean white will be an excellent choice.  As you can see I am changing out the gold towel bars for silver to match everything else.  The guy that built this bedroom/bath used whatever he could get for free or cheap.  It functions but there is only so much ugly I can handle and the variegated light blue sculptured carpet with all its stains is my limit. (Only because I can't afford to replace it.)

She's done drinking now, I can turn the dribble of water off.

And A Rabbit Came to Visit...

I went out to water the tomatoes and peppers this evening and I had a little visitor.

I didn't have my camera so I found this image on the internet that was the closest to what he looked like.  He had more black than this bunny does, more spots where this one is white.  If he were mine I would have named him Domino.

I think he may be an escaped rabbit as he was totally unafraid of me and meandered around snacking on whatever he found tasty.  We were out there with me talking to him about 15-20 minutes, all while I was watering with the hose sprayer.  I told him he could come munch on my radish greens as I don't believe I am going to get any radishes since they bolted with the weird cold hot cold hot weather we have had.  He didn't seem interested so maybe he doesn't like radishes.

This is the sort of rabbit I'm used to seeing, varying shades of grey and brown.

Maybe he'll come back again when I have my camera.

By the way, I live in the suburbs but I routinely have raccoons and possums come to visit...they like the cat food I put out for the outdoor cats.  The person that mows for me said I had a few baby garter snakes in the back too.   I occasionally hear an owl at night and sometimes see a hawk.  Snakes, owls and hawks are good for keeping down the mice.  The property behind me is a pasture for some cows, a couple of horses and some chickens with their resident rooster.  On property behind the houses across the street I sometimes hear sheep so they may have kids in the FFA.  There's folks down the road that have horses too.  Sometimes I have to remind myself the freeway is less than a mile away.

Linking up to

HERE

Garden Shots

The weather has been just glorious the past 2 days.  A real Texas style Autumn.  Down to 60 at night and up to 80 during the day.  I've been able to open the windows and not run the a/c.  So nice to have fresh air in the house!

Here's a few photos of what's still blooming in the garden.

A few Mexican petunias, somewhat faded this evening as the flowers only last a day, and a happy black eyed susan vine flower.

The turk's cap got pushed out by the plethora of bee balm I had earlier this summer, those are the dried heads you see, but the red caps have popped out in a couple of spots.

The firecracker plant did very well this year!  Purple hybrid lantana peeking in the background.

I can't remember what these are called but they do well every year no matter the weather.  I have a nice sized bed of it.

Native lantana, not many blooms left and the birds have eaten most of the berries.  If the weather stays mild it may bloom again before winter comes.  This has sprawled everywhere and needs a good cutting back again.

Shamrocks with some sleepy nodding heads since it is nearly dusk.

The purple shamrock never does as well as the green and the heat takes its toll but it springs up every year to try again.

Miss Moochie was busy snacking and couldn't be bothered to face me.

I guess the snack was pretty tasty!

These red wasps have built their nest between the rafters over the porch but have not bothered me as I go in and out, so I have left them alone so far.  If they get ugly that will change.  I have a nest of yellow jackets under the porch so I think I will be getting a trap for them since they are so aggressive. No trouble so far, but I don't want any either.

Chaucer's Troubles

This is Chaucer, he's about 11 or 12 years old now.  This is how he looked about a month ago.  He's lost several pounds and that's not good for a cat.  

So today we went to the vet.  Chaucer had a 103 temperature, a little high.  He got an antibiotic shot and a treatment for ear mites.

The vet ruled out diabetes because he's not drinking much or peeing much.  He ruled out hyperthyroid because he's not eating much or puking.  His best guess is the same as mine, Chaucer's kidneys may be shutting down.  

I've watched 2 cats go through that.  It means I would have to have him put to sleep soon as there's no cure I could ever afford.  Kidney dialysis for a cat is just not in the cards.

Of course, the antibiotic may kick whatever is wrong and he'll be ok again.  He's acted a bit perkier the last day and a half and lapped up a half cup of turkey broth at lunch.  He went to work with me today and was an office cat since the vet appointment was this evening.   He was certainly glad to get home and empty his bladder, he wouldn't use the box I fixed for him in my office.

So we will wait and see what happens.  If nothing else he will be a bit more comfortable without ear mites.  And my wallet is $101 lighter.  Ah, well, the things we do for our kids, fur covered or otherwise.

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There's a Reason They Call it Bee Balm!

This is the bed I put in about 3 years ago.  It is roughly 7 feet long and 2 feet wide.  I planted a lot of different things in it, plants I got on sale or things I transplanted.  The bee balm has taken over 3/4 of it this year and I keep snipping flower heads to dry to make salve and tincture.  Discovered I really did not like the taste of the tea, too medicinal for me even with a little fruit juice added.

Click the photos to enlarge them and you can see why it is called bee balm!  I had to share my gathering with the bees yesterday evening.

Bees won't bother you if you go gently and quietly and slowly.

I caught two in this photo.  The one near the top left corner is to the right of the big flower.  We had a hollow tree where I used to live and one year I found myself surrounded by hundreds of bees just swirling.  They were swarming.  I just stood still and watched and they soon settled on small tree where they stayed for several days until they made a new home somewhere.

There were a couple of butterflies out there yesterday too but they would not sit still long enough to get their picture taken.

Backyard Neighbors

These are some of my backyard neighbors.  This photo was taken out of the bathroom window which is at the back of my trailer.  No, I don't live in the country, it's very suburban here, 1/2 mile from the freeway and pretty much housing developments surround me.

The long piece of property behind this side of the park I live in was cleared about 6 years ago of underbrush and a fence put up.  Ever since the owners have kept a few cows, a pony and some chickens & a rooster.  The number of cattle vary from year to year.  These neighbors are a lot better than some of the 2 legged ones.

The far one is a cow, the one in the middle is a steer and the one closest to the fence appears to be a young steer, maybe last year's baby.  I assume they raise them for meat but possibly one of the children of the family is active in FFA (Future Farmers of America).  

As you can tell the fence-line is pretty close, about 8 feet from the back of the trailer.  I have a 16' x 80' single wide trailer and about 6' of garden on one side and about 10' of garden on the other.  90% is shade, most is total shade.  Good for keeping the trailer cooler in summer but not so great if you want to grow veggies. I tried for several years but honestly I spent more money than if I'd have bought them in the store.  So for now I don't grow veggies.  I do have some herbs in the front garden that does get all day sun and the rest are flowers that were given to me and volunteers like the 2 elderberries.  I have purchased very little except dirt for the raised beds in the 11 years I have been here.

Chaucer's Perch

This is my desk chair and the adornment it usually has draped on it.

I guess he's comfortable, he's always up there, especially when I'm sitting in the chair.

Too Tired to Even Nap

I feel like Miss Moochie in the picture above this evening.  Too tired to care about anything.  That's Chaucer keeping an eye on things.

Just Hanging Out

This is the small tree just outside my window, the grid is from the screen.  This is not a cat although I have many in the neighborhood.  

This is a squirrel...laying across 3 branches with his tail draped over a 4th branch and his back legs splayed out.  Guess he's just enjoying the day, the shady tree and the breeze.

Hope everyone had a great day today.

Mama's Helper

A new set of glasses I picked up at the thrift store, freshly washed and ready to have their picture taken.

And Mama's helper...Chaucer.

Inspecting the goods and hoping for a little petting.

Reading......

I found this photo on the web and could not resist sharing it.