Tuesday, March 31, 2009

This and that....

I love this picture...I love both versions, though I think in this instance I like the color version the best because you can almost feel the air just by the colors.

I have tried forever to capture the major power lines and how they seem to go on forever. I usually try it with ones bigger than these...but you still get the feel, however so slight. If I could get them the way I wanted them, the photo would be called Silent Sentinels but until then I will just call them power lines. (All these really need to be enlarged...it never fails to amaze me how enlarging pictures improves them.)


Of course these are from the strip pits...which leads me to ask if you have ever noticed the search box at the top of the page on our blogs...at least those on Blogger. I don't even want to admit how long it was before I noticed it or actually used it. You can type in what you are looking for in a blog, and if it is mentioned in that blog, it will bring up the entries that mention it.

Anyway, I am almost ashamed to suggest this, but try searching for strip pits on my blog and see how many times I have used that term just in the short time since I restarted this blog.

Changing subjects again, there are a lot of us that love to watch the birds...and I wanted to mention the Xcel Energy Bird Cams....for several years now, I have watched eagles, owls, kestrels, osprey, and falcons raise their young. So just click on that link if you are at all interested...I think you will enjoy it.

Well, we finally decided to put in a water softener...for some reason I have been sort of resistant to it. But we really needed one, so we got one last week and Roger got things ready, and put it in yesterday and today. Of course it isn't near as big as the one below...where he worked before had three of the one below plus had a big salt brine tank on the outside of the building. If I remember correctly they could crawl inside these things to work on them. Can you imagine that? I will ask him in the morn and post whether I am correct or not in the comment section.
Anyway, along with the water softener, we are also going to put in a new dishwasher. My old one has not been usable for ages. So I have spent hours and hours researching which one to get. Trying to read all the reviews I could find, and also checking consumer reports. It will come in on Friday...and Roger will put it in.

Maybe with that decision made, I will get back to regular routine for a couple of days at least. I am also in the mood to sew and would like to start a couple different projects. So wish me luck...

Sunday, March 29, 2009

We had a visitor

This photo was not taken yesterday, but I still want to show it. Roger's birthday is later in the week, but we celebrated yesterday. Lorelei spent the entire afternoon here with her mommy and daddy. I really should have taken pictures, but I was so busy just enjoying her that I didn't. She slept a big lot of the time...but when she wasn't she was all eyes. Looking and looking at everything.

The cats did not pay any attention to her, but our old dog was instantly smitten with her. I have had several part collie and one full blooded collie, and I just think that is the nature of them.

It is good we celebrated yesterday...it was rainy yesterday, but today it has turned cold and rainy. And we have even seen snow flurries this morn. I know that flurries are all that are predicted and for that I am thankful. I am now ready for spring to come and stay. I can't wait till I can sit out in the swing with Lorelei, or take her for a stroll around the block.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Camera Critters....

I thought I would share a couple more shots from the strip pits for Camera Crittters. I have more of pheasants taken another night--they were fighting. You can see them HERE.
And I have been trying and trying to capture a red-winged blackbird and not having much luck with a sharp picture. This one was the best of that night's attempts.
For more Camera Critters, click here.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Beautiful sunset

I just checked the date on these photographs and they were taken Monday...the top one is what I seen as I was getting ready to get on the highway after leaving the strip pit area. And the bottom one was taken while there.
The sun in it reminds me of Lorelei...she is sure a bright spot in our life. We spent the day there yesterday and are going down tonight. Sarah told Jeremy we were coming to have the evening meal with them, but we are going to babysit and them go out to eat. She wants it to be a little surprise for him.

Lorelei is growing like a weed...and just so bright-eyed. If she is awake, her hands and arms are moving. And she is raising her head up. I don't think it will be long till she can turn herself over.

They are coming here tomorrow...Roger's birthday is the 31, so we are celebrating this weekend while every is off work. So I have things to prepare....will visit everyone when I get spare minutes.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

For Lorelei

If you are here for Sepia Scenes, scroll on down.

Done! I finished it, and it has been washed and dried.
It is not really anything to brag about, but I am proud of it.
Almost everything was done on the machine...except I did applique the body of the duck by hand.
When Sarah was little, I was making a quilt for Rachel that was inspired by a book called The Fuzzy Duckling. Rachel never liked quilts...and to this day she uses them in a way all her own.
Sarah, on the other hand, liked being covered from the beginning. And when I got that quilt done, she took charge of it. And it had to go with her wherever she went. I am not joking. We just did not leave the house without it. If we did, we would be coming back.

So when she was pregnant I wanted to make a quilt for her baby. I could not make up my mind what. I started one thing, but just couldn't come to some decisions about things. So it sat, and still sits down in the basement. Then the idea for making her a fuzzy duckling quilt hit and I knew that was what I wanted to do.

I thought I could just go and put my hands on my old pattern. So I didn't start right away. I forget what was going on, but I have to have peace of mind to start a project. Once I get going if it is not complicated, it can become an escape from troubled thoughts. Just not at the beginning.

Then, when I did decide to start, I could not find our old book. I could not find my original pattern. You would be amazed at the treasures I have to do with quilting and sewing. It is a chore to go through everything. So, couldn't think what I was going to do.

Then I remembered mom wanting my pattern. I have a box of her stuff upstairs. I went and got it to look through it, and I found the body to the duck. I had found my original butterfly down where I thought the whole pattern was. I could draw the legs, eyes, and beak again. My original one did not have a barn, but I added one to this. The original was just made of random fabrics I had here and had a flannel backing. And it was tied.

I would show you pictures of it, and maybe I will take a picture of what is left of it if I can remember tomorrow when I go to Sarah's. All that is left is rags.

This one is is probably more well made, has better fabrics, but so much smaller than the other one. It is machine quilted, and does not have the flannel back. However, it is made with love.

Sepia scenes


To see more Sepia Scenes, or to join click on Lorelei (the badge) at the top. To see this in B&W, go here.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

From Parke County

The other day I was reading THIS post from Abraham Lincoln's Blog...he is talking about people asking him where he finds his inspiration for his blog. He says he can step out his door and find inspiration.
Sometimes I step out my door and can find something I want to take a picture. If not there, I can in the more liberal sense of the term. I have been driving the backroads of Parke and Vermillion Counties for years now, and still find new things. They are essentially in my backyard...I don't have to take a trip to see a famous place to find something that grabs my attention.
This is one we seen Sunday...I don't think I have ever been down the road this was on. And I look at those rocks and wonder how long they have been there and where did they came from. And just how were they moved? Was this used as a cellar, or was it a storm shelter or what.
There was an old house there that was laying there in a pile...it had just fell in upon itself. Another untold story. You know someone, somewhere would be sad that it no longer stood there.

Thinking of spring


We had to run to Walmart for a couple of things this morning...one of which was lime. To put on the garden spot. Another item was something from the pharmacy which was waiting for us. We were going to pay for it up front, and as we were walking away, I ask Roger if he checked to make sure it was the right item...or maybe I should say right style of item. (Lancets--there are several 'styles' I guess you would call them, and all are not made the same) He looked and it was not...so he took it back and while we waited for them to get the correct ones, we went back to the gardening section.
We did come home with the above...but I could have spent so much more. I could go wild for flowers and gardening things. They also had Kennebec seed potatoes...also had Yukon Gold. But just hearing the name or seeing Kennebec takes me back to childhood. I don't know that we always planted them...but I think we did sometimes. I guess I just liked the sound of the name because it has stuck all these years. (Or maybe we didn't plant them at all...one of my brothers can surely tell me.) I don't recall the name of any others at all.

And the thoughts of hickory cane corn and cornfield beans brings such a happy vision to my mind. I don't know who of you have heard of either one so I will explain a little bit. Hickory cane corn is a very tall corn...I am 5'3" tall and it towers above me. The ears of corn are long and seems to me kind of slender. Maybe they just seemed slender...but for sure the kernels of corn are much wider and flatter than any other we ever grew. And maybe it comes in yellow, but we always grew white.

But the corn is not the object. We grew it so we could plant cornfield beans with it! I suppose they are similar to pole beans, but it was an actual variety. I don't know if they exist any more--I have never seen them in Indiana. The beans were long and oh so beautiful. And so much fun to pick. No bending over...but I don't even think that was the total pleasure of them. They were just a pleasure to pick, and to eat. I suppose it is an exaggeration to say they hung like grapes, but yet that is how I felt about them. We could pick a bushel in no time at all.

I think it is something deep within my soul, maybe back to caveman days, but I love to pick things. And my favorite things to pick above all else are blackberries, cornfield beans, and apples.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Not so hot beaver pictures....

I debated on even showing these of the beaver...it was getting so late that I could not focus against the dark water. I have more pictures and none of them are good, so just chose these two.
The one below has been played with in photoshop elements...it does not eliminate the out of focus-ness of it, but you can see it a bit clearer.

And these two are some of the deer we seen out there. I wish we could get closer but they are off and running when we start getting even remotely close. Roger wonders if they have been poached, but I wonder if it is just cause because they are not used to vehicles.
We will be out there an hour or two and at the most see one or two other vehicles.
As usual, it ended with a beautiful sunset.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

And the fight is on!

We spent the yesterday day with Sarah and Lorelei, and got to see Jeremy when he came home from work. This is Lorelei and I, taken late with a cell phone....she loves sleeping on me like this. We almost took a nap together earlier in the day... I was so worn out when we came home that I barely got on the computer. And I just couldn't even make a decision about what to post on here, so didn't do anything.
Please enlarge these for better viewing!
Today we did a little bit of yard work, and had leftover for our evening meal. I got to checking prices of water softeners and dishwashers on here....while trying to keep an eye on the sun. When I thought it late enough, we headed out to the strip pits. On the way we saw deer and turkey, no place to pull over to take any photos. But we no more than got started at the strip pits when I spotted these two ring-necked pheasants.
These are for sure not the most in-focus shots, yet they are better than I hoped for. I was sooo excited at getting to witness this. It is a miracle I got anything at all.
I have never witnessed a fight before.....
and so consider myself blessed to finally see it for myself.
These are in the sequence they were shot...I did get a couple more but they are not good, and by then they noticed me. They took off shortly after this shot. We did see one more pheasant before we came home but it was too late, and I couldn't get close enough anyway.

Other than these, we saw several beaver, all in the water....had one hit the water with his tail when he seen me. At the other strip pit we used to fish at, I seen them regularly, but that has probably been at least 10 years ago.

And we saw lots and lots of deer there! None are very good shots but will try to post one or two in the coming days. Only seen one owl and one Northern Harrier, both very late and both were flying. So no shots at all of them.

Friday, March 20, 2009

If I were participating....

If I were participating in Sky Watch Friday, these are the photos I would use.
I have been busy with other things, and will be gone tomorrow, so I won't have time to visit others....so just going to post for my regular visitors.
These were taken the other evening on our way home from our little drive.

I have been busy but not accomplishing much. I do have the little quilt for Lorelei almost finished. But it should have been finished long ago--it is small. It really hasn't taken a lot of time once I started working on it. I have just a tiny bit more quilting to do, but am putting the binding on before I finish it. I don't think I have ever put the binding on before something is completely quilted...but there is a first time for everything.

It sure has been fun to sew a little bit...I have plans for more things I want to sew. I just hope I can get some uninterrupted time to work on the projects. I used to come home from work and sew just for a few minutes and I would accomplish a lot over time...now, it seems like if I get distracted, I get out of the mood to do anything.

And Mama Squirrel has been visiting quite a bit....I almost got a picture of her looking through the back storm door with Bubbie on the inside watching her. Soon as she sees me she gets active and heads to the fence post or picnic table....however, I can't get out the door that quick with all the cats, and she was back and met me on the steps one time. She ran around and around my feet on the way to the picnic table. I keep expecting her to get brave one of these days and climb up my pant legs.

I really think she might have babies, but I don't know which of our neighbor's trees they are in. I sort of thought it was early, but she was fairly 'big' and all of a sudden she is back skinny and well, there are other signs.

The cats have sure complicated things with her....I will think I have them all in the house, and suddenly she will take off. If I look around, I will spot one of them. And Puss Puss chased her up the tree the other day...from our yard over into our neighbors yard. Mama Squirrel ran up the tree, then came back down like she was going to run back to me.

I grabbed a chair and climbed on it and hopped over the fence to grab the cat, walked around the fence to the front, and threw her in the house through the front door, and about the time I got back around back, here came Mama Squirrel to meet me. She is just so hungry...really eats a lot.

I have heard or read somewhere that spring time is a hard time of year for animals. There isn't much left, plus a lot of people stop putting out food cause they think it is spring and that it will be easier for the animals. Not sure if this is completely true....but it does sound likely. Especially for the animals that needs seed/fruits.

Well, it is 2:02 according to my watch...I won't be on here much tomorrow....going to go see Lorelei. I will try to catch up with everyone tomorrow night.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Handsome!

Please enlarge for better viewing.
In our rambling yesterday, we were going right slow along the road when I spotted this rooster and another one in a fenced-in area of someone's yard. I couldn't resist a shot of him. Isn't he the handsome one? I don't know what it is, but I like chickens, and think roosters are just so handsome. Not cute, but handsome or beautiful. And colorful! Black, white, red, orange, etc or a combination. One I seen at the fair was this deep, deep auburn red.

They also bring back good memories. When Roger and I moved to Tennessee when we were young, my best friend/sister-in-law's dad gave us our own chickens. We kept them in a pen for a while, then let them have the run of the place. We always slept a little late on the weekends, and there was always this one little white hen that would go strolling by our bedroom window singing. I have no other word for it.

Also at the little place we rented, there were these little snakes about a foot long....one chicken would catch one and then all the other chickens would try to catch that chicken because they wanted to kill the snake. Roger thought it hilarious. There would go the chicken with the snake and a whole line of other chickens chasing her.

Of course, the thing we still laugh about is the rooster. One time Roger and one of my brothers were out in the front yard after work one evening practicing with their bows and arrows. Not sure how to explain it, but our little house set right against a big ridge...hill, or some might even call it a mountain. So they had bales of hay to have their target on, but if the arrow went through the bales of hay, there was the hillside right there to catch it.

Well, up the side of it were some younger trees...I cannot remember what kind. But they were not huge...and after we let the chickens run free, they started roosting in those trees. Well, while Roger and Robert were shooting their bows and arrows, the chickens were trying to get situated in the trees. It was that time of day where it is just a few minutes before dark takes over.

I didn't see this, nor hear the beginnings of it, but I heard the end Cock-a Doodle-Doooo and I heard Roger and Robert laughing so ran outside to see what was going on. The hens had all settled in those trees, and the rooster was trying to get situated and Roger said you could hear him flopping all around up there and disturbing the others, making them squawk. And in a second or two, he came falling out of the tree, rolled down the hill, and jumped up and crowed!

Roger still laughs about this, and it is funnier still to hear and see him tell it. I told Neal about it one night and he said he woke up that night after going to bed and started laughing about it. i am sitting here smiling just remembering it...and if Roger came and went through his routine about it, I would be laughing out loud.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

From today

Today Bubbie came home from the vet...he had to go in yesterday to have the pin taken out of his leg. He was still too groggy to come home yesterday evening, so I went and got him first thing this morning. He was just soooo happy to get home.

This morn Roger and a buddy of his that retired at the same time decided to go get breakfast...and after they ate, Roger took him to show him a few of our favorite fishing holes.
They didn't get home till after lunch, and soon as his buddy left, we headed to this place south of Linton, Indiana called Goose Pond. It is a Fish and Wild Life Area. It was a big area, but we really didn't see much. We saw a few mallards, some geese, and these birds....I hope Mary or Leedra or someone can tell me what they are. I am too tired to look them up. These two photos are cropped sections of the same photo.
From this area we went to the Greene-Sullivan State Forrest. I must say that while we were a little disappointed in Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, the Greene-Sullivan State Forrest was very nice surprise. It is an old, old strip pit area. and lots and lots of strip pits, and a couple or three reservoirs that we seen. Excellent places to go fishing.

We actually fished a little bit at two or three of them...but apparently we were there at the wrong time of day or something. I caught one little bluegill, and Roger only got a couple or three hits. I can't wait to go back when it gets a little bit warmer.

I need to post this and see about getting settled in for bed. It feels so good to be home...even though I love going to places like that, I am always glad to be back in my own home in my own chair.

Update: Thanks go out to Deb of Notes from the Cloud Messenger for telling me that these are American coots.

Not here yet

I am trying to be patient and wait for spring, in the meantime I thought I would post this dogwood blossom again. Dogwoods are probably my favorite flowering tree...though I really love them all.

This is in my front yard, lucky to be alive. I don't know what happened but it got injured when it was young. Almost killed in fact. The bark was missing at least half-way around and probably a width of 8-10 inches up and down the little trunk of the tree. I left it alone, not really believing it would heal itself but it did.

However, the blooming was changed. It was a pink dogwood when I bought it, and though it had only bloomed a few times when it got injured, they were always pink...at least when it was in full bloom. After the injury, the first year or two it bloomed, the flowers were much more white with just a touch of pink. Slowly, it has come back to basically a pink dogwood again. Yet there are usually a few blooms with a touch of white to them. I guess in time it the white will disappear.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Special days...

Yesterday was sort of a special day for me...in more ways than one. I got to looking at this little pamphlet that Roger picked up about Indiana's recreational areas and wanted to take a drive to see one of them...but we didn't. And I was so glad we didn't.

First of all Kay came over; she has not been over for more than a minute in a very long time. I have not known the reason....and still don't for sure though I do have a pretty good idea. Which is not mine to tell. Anyway, she and her 5 year old cousin, and her younger brother came over and visited for quite a while. Played outside, got blankets from home and laid out in the yard pretending they were sunbathing, had snacks. Just as if they had never be absent. So that was all good.

I was sitting outside talking to them, and looked up and here came three people down the sidewalk. It was another couple of 'our kids' that used to spend a LOT of time here. It was Travis and Kenny, and Travis's girlfriend. I don't remember her name...but she was a cute girl. They are both grown up and have been out of high school for a couple years I think.

Kenny first started coming over here when he was about 3-4 years old. His grandma lives down the street, and how he got started coming to play with the girls is more than I know. My youngest, Sarah, is probably at least 4 years older than him older. Anyway, when the girls were young, and I worked, I always came home early enough to be here when they got home...some of the time here Kenny would come. He would come in and sit down to watch TV and wait for them and lots of time would go to sleep. I will have to dig out pictures if I can find them....

Fast-forward a couple years and his cousins' parents were going through a divorce...so they were all staying down at his grandmas. Even Kenny and his family, but I don't remember why she was down there. Their house was a full house!

So then Kenny started bringing Travis down, and before long, Travis's younger brother Dustin. Only Dustin was so quiet he literally wouldn't say a word for the longest time. They literally spent hours and hours here...and the thing of it was they were the best kids ever. They were never picky about food...ate whatever I fixed. I might should not admit this, but I am not always that at ease with kids. I never once wanted to send those kids home, and only had to a couple times because we all had to leave. (Kenny's younger sister was a different story--when she and her little female cousins came in, it was like a whirlwind coming through and I couldn't wait for them to come home.)

That went on for several months...by then my girls were up older and stayed home part of the time when I worked and usually those kids stayed with them. Their family's kind of got their life straightened out, and Travis's mom moved to Terre Haute, and Kenny's moved not too far from here. In other words, he was still at his Grandma's fairly often. And for a while, when they came to visit her, the boys would still come down.

Then they grew older, and of course had their school friends, had their own life. And we just got a wave from them. And maybe they would stop every now and then...but that was okay so long as they were happy.

Then year before last after was out of high school, he stopped and visited for quite a while with us, and after that he joined the army....and is still serving. Yesterday was the first time we had seen him since that one good visit. He has served in Iraq and is now back stateside. I can not remember when he said his enlistment is up, but he wants to go to college and become a teacher. Physical education, of course. If you knew how athletic he was, you would know that that fits.

We had not seen Travis for a good visit since he was young...he is working for UPS....the way I understood him he is still considered part time, but hopes to make full time in the future. He had played football all during high school...I didn't ask why he wasn't going to college. He was always a smart kid and should have went.

They told us Dustin had also joined the army and is in basic training now. I would love to have seen him also...can't wait to tell our girls about their visit. Of course I showed them pictures of Lorelei.

Well, it is time I started thinking about getting ready to take Bubbie to get his pin out...just had to tell about what a good day yesterday was.

Oh, and on top of seeing the boys, I got Rachel's curtains finished.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Today's doings..

The following photos were all taken today...I hope you will take the time to enlarge them. The barn for its beauty....
and its colorful appeal....
And these of the house. Another of those houses that would have volumes to tell if we could only hear.
What really impresses me on some of the old houses is some of the artistic work that has gone into making them beautiful. Just look at the porch and then this window...one has to wonder what tools were available to do the work. Or are they new enough till someone just went and got them and put them in place. I don't really think that was the case, but even if it was, it still took time and effort to get them in place.
I am not sure how good this next photo is...I had to use photoshop to make it at all viewable. (Every now and then for no apparent reason I will have a photo turn out so dark that it has to be messed with...all these others are straight out of the camera. And they are all at the same stop along the road.)
First of all the top window pane has little panes of colored glass all around the edge...I don't know if you would call it stained glass or not. But it is still something you don't see very often on every day homes. And notice this window has the same work above it as the other one...but then glance on farther up at the peak part of the house...I guess that is what you would call it. The part with the clamshell work...I don't have any idea how that is done. But look all along the bottom of it...more artistic work. Not sure if this is classified as gingerbread trim or not...

I think we can safely assume that this house was well loved by someone. Don't you just wish you knew the real story and didn't need to imagine it?

You know what prompted today's travels? I think I mentioned I had to do some work on my daughter's curtains...well, in the early afternoon, I was all set to start on them when I realized I did not have the right color thread. I ask Roger if he wanted to go to Walmart with me...he needed two or three things out there so he did. I took my camera along, and after picking up what we needed, I had more plans...you might say I had an ulterior motive for asking Roger if he wanted to go.

Not too far from here is a very small town...it has one gas station and one or two tiny restaurants, plus a little place that has a drive through or you walk up and order and sit at picnic tables...and they have cheesecake ice cream. I had been craving it...so we went on up there we went. And of course I took my camera...I am getting more and more till I don't leave home without it.

Now from there, Roger wanted to go back where we went last week to this one covered bridge to see how high the water was...he is ready to start wading and fishing. But Sugar Creek was way out of the banks so that put a halt to those plans...

But it did lead us on a little drive and that was fun.

Did I get the curtains done? No, but I have a good start on them. Should get them finished tomorrow if nothing else happens. But for now, good night.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Camera critters

Below is Cheep-Cheep! I have posted them before, but thought they were worthy of publishing again for Camera Critters. I saw Carletta's post of robins here and it reminded me of him.
I don't know if Cheep-Cheep was a boy or a girl....he fell out of nest of a neighbor during a summer storm and knowing our girls as they did, they brought him to us. He was not near this far along.
We raised him on night crawlers. A very expensive proposition. I cannot remember how many times he ate a day. We had him in a homemade cage in our backyard, and soon as we walked out the door, if he was hungry there was all these little cheeping noises he made. So that is where his name came from.

And now this is something I sort of wish I had a picture of and sort of glad I don't...he could eat one and one half night crawlers, but if we gave him two, the second one came crawling back up and out! It was gross and funny all at the same time. (I have a weak stomach--it don't take much to get to me.)

The girls would run water in a bowl and he would take baths...just such a sweet little critter. We had vacation scheduled, and had a kid taking care of him. When we came back, someone had left the cage open and he had escaped....we knew it was close to time and always hoped he made it own his own. He had been free and up in the trees by our house before, but always came to be fed. So maybe he did survive...for years, every robin we seen in the yard we wondered if it was him.

If you want to join camera critters, click on the badge at the top of this post.

Jumbled thoughts....

I been sitting here fiddling with the layout on here...didn't really change anything except the picture across the top and a couple colors. Just in the mood to try something different. It is too late to change the whole thing around. I finally settled on a picture to post...an old barn. It is one from last Sunday.
I spent the day in Terre Haute with my oldest daughter...we went shopping. she wanted to get material for me to lengthen a pair of her curtains. We went to Hobby Lobby and found material just exactly the right shade of brown, and almost the same type of fabric. So I now have something else I need to sew. And once I start, I will enjoy it.

I do worry about getting things right. She won't be as picky about the way it turns out as I will. And I will be more of a perfectionist with it being someone else's than if it were my own. It really shouldn't take too long. I still have got back to quilting on the baby's quilt...maybe I will also work on that tomorrow.

Sarah brought Lorelei up for a little visit yesterday....she is a doll. Shelby, our old collie-mix dog was totally thrilled with her. The cats just sort of looked and ignored her. I made spaghetti and garlic bread for the rest of us, and sent some home with her for Jeremy.

I probably make my garlic bread a little different to most people....oh, I don't make the actual bread itself. But I buy a loaf of Italian bread, and I usually buy it pre-sliced. I butter it, then sprinkle it with garlic salt, and fry it on top of the stove till it is toasty brown. It is just better than baked in the oven for me.

And sometimes we will get a loaf of Italian bread and slice it as thin as we possibly can with an electric knife, which is about a quarter of an inch thick or less. Butter those slices, sprinkle with garlic salt and fry. It is almost like eating potato chips...no one can eat just one.

It is late, late. I got to get to bed...the cats are all sound asleep. Oh, I do take Bubbie to the vet to get his pin out Monday. So keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.