Shutter Love Tuesday! 7/27/10

"And he's OUT!"

Today's Shutter Love Tuesday theme is "Sports".  Here is my middle child getting the out at first.  If you'd like to play along (or just check out some great shots) go the the Trendy Treehouse and link up!

Thanks for stopping by.

Sassy Sunday 7/25/10

Happy Sunday!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm glad you're here!

I'm especially glad because I'm really, really getting tired of those puppies!  I know I'm not doing any of the work.  But they annoy me just the same.  And growling doesn't seem to be getting the point across.  They still keep putting their noses in my butt, they think my ears are for chewing, and they think all my stuff is theirs!  Can you help me find them a home? They are actually pretty cute. :)

Did you know that according to the ASPCA,  5 out of every 10 dogs and 7 out of every 10 cats in shelters are euthanized simply because there is no room for them and no one adopts them?  That's what was going to happen to Bonnie and Clyde.  They'd been in Animal Control for their 5 days (I don't know how they got there).  They were scheduled to be put down.  The humane society was full.  Apparently all the other rescues around were full.  And Hope Rescues didn't have room for them either.  We were literally their last hope of survival (it was already after noon and their time was up at 1:00 p.m.).  So Barb went and got them and here they are annoying the crap out of me! (Growl, growl, grumble, grumble).  Luckily, they get their second set of shots this week.  Then they can go home.  (as soon as they get a home, that is.)

So.  Can you help me out?

Thanks for listening to my whining.  I'm off to watch TV with my boys.  No one watches TV with kids better than I do!

Happy Sunday

Sassy

Shutter Love Tuesday! 7/20/10

This week's theme on Shutter Love Tuesdays is "Faces". You can find the link and all the other great faces at the Trendy Treehouse. 
We've got two foster puppies that we've been confining mostly to our hearth room Chili wants in to play with them. We do let her in sometimes, but she gets them so riled up!

Let me in!

Thanks for stopping by!

Memoir Monday 7/19/2010

"The Castle"

I'm playing along with Travis today.  If you'd like to play too, give him a shout and he'll link you up!

In my previous post I made mention of our previous next-door neighbors (actually, the whole post is about them).

This post is about them too. :)

Before we moved in to our new home in 1998, I needed someone to check my mailbox for the checks I'd just ordered from the bank.  The next door neighbors seemed the logical choice, so I rang the doorbell.  Two really nice, elderly people came to the door and introduced themselves as Charles and Eleanor.  They happily agreed to keep an eye out for our checks and said they looked forward to us moving in.

I thought to myself: "These people, as nice as they seem, are going to hate me for moving in next door with a loud, obnoxious 2-yr-old (my only kid at the time).

Was I ever wrong.  These two people, who are now 95 and 97 years old, turned out to be the most wonderful neighbors ever in the world.  They treated us like family.  The showed my son where the cookie jar was and invited him to help himself whenever he came over (which was almost every day).  They told us to call them Uncle Charlie and Aunt Eleanor.  It was like having my favorite grandparents living next door.  I adored them then and I still do now.

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Eleanor bought a Fisher-Price castle for one of their grandchildren sometime in the mid-1980's.  (see photo above).  This castle has been the favorite attraction for all 3 of my children, plus countless other children visiting the home of Charlie and Eleanor.  The above photo was taken the other day.  My two younger boys, even though they are 7 and 9, still want to play with the castle when they go to Charlie and Eleanor's house.  

Maybe this is not such a great "memoir".  But any castle I now see brings Eleanor and Charlie to my mind along with countless memories of my time living next door to them as well as memories we've made since moving away.  I hope that is true for the rest of my life.  

Happy Monday. :) 

Uncle Charlie, Aunt Eleanor and the Quail

Hello Everyone.  Thanks for stopping by.  Today we had a wonderful visit with some friends of ours.  Uncle Charlie, as he is affectionately known, is 97 years old.  His wife, Aunt Eleanor, is 95.  We had the good fortune to live next door to them for four years when my oldest child was 2-6 and my second child was a baby.  It was like having grandparents next door and I really miss living next to them.

Anyhoo, Uncle Charlie has a new hobby.  I say new, but it is actually 2 years old or so.  I think it's great that a 95-yr-old is starting new hobbies!
So Charlie and Eleanor have always loved birds.  Two years ago Charlie had a quail coup built and has been keeping and releasing quail in his back yard.
Today the quail guy came with 20 baby quail for Uncle Charlie.  The plan was to put 5 in the quail coup for a few days and to let the others go in the yard.  The hope is that they will decide to stay.

Charlie, Eleanor, their caregiver, and my son watching quail release.

Quail guy getting the quail out of the carrier.

My middle child holding a baby quail!

Showing Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Charlie the quail up close.

Some of the released quail.  They were happy to hang around and check things out.

After the 15 were released, we sat quietly and watched as they checked out their new surroundings.  They headed for the landscaping up by the house and the bushes in the back yard.  But soon we heard them calling to each other and they started to gain confidence and gather up.  The ones in the coup will be fed for a few days then released with the others.  These birds have lived their whole brief lives as a group, and the quail guy said they don't let other birds join their covey.  By keeping a few in the coup, the hope is that the whole group will stay (they don't want to leave those 5) and set up house-keeping in the area.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Have a great weekend.

Random Tuesday Thoughts 7/13/10

Hi Everyone.  Thanks for stopping by.  I'm playing along with Keely today on RTT.  Check her out!

Meet Bonnie and Clyde.  Bonnie is the black and tan one.  So last Tuesday I was getting my hair done (what gray?) when I got a call from the rescue.  Jackie had just rescued as many dogs as she could but there were these two puppies scheduled to die at 1:00 (it was almost noon).   I couldn't let that happen.  So they are at our house.  They are freakin' adorable!

Puppies are a lot of work.  I called the rescue today and asked (sarcastically, of course) "do you know how much work two puppies can be?"
They don't feel sorry for me.  They have 17 puppies at their house.  And there's no room at the shelter.  That's why they needed a foster home for these two.

A five and a half hour drive takes a lot longer than 5 and a half hours when two of the five people in the car have diarrhea.

We went to a wedding this weekend.  It was the son of hubby's cousin (which makes him his second cousin, I think).  So the kids wanted to know how they were related to the groom.  The best I could do was "kin".

While in Kansas we visited on the the "Seven Wonders of Kansas" as voted on by Kansans and listed in a magazine or something.  It was Chicken Annie's.  Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's are both famous, must-stop chicken houses in Pittsburg, Kansas.  We always went to one of them when visiting Hubby's grandma.  But it's been years since we'd been there.  Not sure the kids were all that impressed, but I was really glad we went.

I'm ready for school to start.

Thanks to all the facebookers who voted for Hope Rescues in the Chase Community Giving challenge.  They were able to pick up one of the $20,000 grants.  But they won't have the money for about 6 weeks.  In the meantime, donations are down over 70% and they have lots of vet bills to pay.  Any fund-raising ideas would be most appreciated.  If you have a good idea, let me know and I'll pass it on.

That's it for me.  If you'd like a puppy, let me know and I'll hook you up!
And go see Keely!

Hello! Thanks for stopping by! Today I thought I'd play along with Supah Mommy and do a Post-it Note Tuesday. Check her out. Then, if you want to play along, just link-up!

Ok.  That's it for me today.  Don't forget to stop by Supah Mommy!

Sassy Sunday 7/4/10

Puppies do the darndest things.  We still have miss Tegan.  She may be getting a home in the next day or so (Someone filled out an application on her yesterday.  We are just waiting to see if they get approved and if their current dog gets along with her).
So, back to the darndest things.  One day last week one of the boys took Tegan out.  When they came back in, the boy just dropped the leash so Tegan was dragging it behind her.  She happened to walk by the kitchen chair and see the end of the leash.  So she started chasing it.  Around and around and around she went.  This went on for like 15 min!  She just kept going.  Barb got a cell phone video of it.  And some pictures too.

Now if you leave the leash on her, she goes right to the kitchen and starts chasing her leash.  It's like she never gets tired of this silly game.  

Here are couple more pictures of Tegan.  Everyone around here thinks she's cute or something.

See her lying down to eat?  That's the craziest thing!  But she is kind of cute sleeping with Chili.  I think Chili will miss her when she's gone.  As for me, I just ignore her anyway.  (or sometimes I growl at her when she gets too close)

Thanks for stopping by this Sunday!  And Happy 4th of July to all Americans!

Yours Truly,

Sassy