Wishes....

If wishes were horse, beggars would ride...or so they say. Well, we spotted this caterpillar yesterday and I told Roger I was tempted to get a jar or something to put him in, but since I didn't know what he was...didn't know what to feed him, I didn't. And the fact is, I am not sure he was even hungry....he seemed to be on a hunt.
Finally late yesterday evening I googled 'bright green caterpillar', seen a photo that matched this one right away, and it led me to finding that it is a Polyphemus Moth...take a look at what he becomes. So I have been wishing I had captured it; but in ways I am glad I didn't cause I think it was on the hunt to find a place to spin its cocoon...so I might have really interfered with its life cycle.

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Now, for something I cannot quite believe myself. I don't suppose any of you have noticed that I have not mentioned Mama Squirrel in quite a while. I have not seen her in at least two months....I really had given up on her still being alive. Or maybe not totally, because I sure have been looking for her....even if she had been in the cottonwoods across the street she is hard to see in them.

But with us being outside and talking almost everyday, it has been very odd for her to not come. Used to be I would set outside to talk on the phone, or just Roger and I sitting out back and we would look up and there she would be. So with him being outside working on the old garage almost every day, it was really starting to hit home that this time she was really gone.

Lo and behold, this afternoon a buddy of Roger's was over and we were sitting on the front porch talking, and I glanced towards the street and there ran a squirrel...I yelled, "Mama Squirrel, is that you?" never really expecting a reaction. It put on the brakes, stopped, and I think I yelled 'Mama' again and it gave me that look...

I ran inside to get nuts, and Roger kept talking to her...I came outside, all the time thinking it doesn't even look like her...it can't be her...but as I got closer I could see that it was her...I walked right up to her and bent down and gave her a nut, and then told her to come on and I went to the back...she followed along behind and I put her 'lunch' on Roger's trailer...and I got her a bowl of water. She used to all the time drink from Shelby's water dish out back so I though she might appreciate some fresh water.

Every time I think about it, I just cannot believe it was her...she is SO skinny...I have never seen her so little. She was/is almost skin and bones. I know summers have really bothered her the past two summers, but she never looked near like this.

But back to me yelling at her, Roger's friend is a new friend and has never seen her and even though I think we told him about her, I don't think it sunk in...most of Roger's buddies have either seen her or at least seen her pictures. But today when I yelled, I felt like his friend about jumped out of his skin....then proceeded to think we were both probably a little bit crazy. Now he didn't say anything, but I just got that feeling..till he seen her and her reaction.

And you know, I told Roger we should have known it was her...what other squirrel stops and looks at us when we yell 'Mama Squirrel!'

And I do wish I had a picture of her, but if you compared it to the others, you wouldn't believe it was her anyway.

Warning ahead

We went for a little drive yesterday...actually wanted to go down this road that we have passed numerous times in over the years and always wondered what was down it. Well, there wasn't anything real special about the road, but at last we know. And that road led us down other roads...and one we started down warned of a height restriction ahead. We wondered what in the world was ahead...and came down around a little bend and here was what awaited us. I will have another view on Time Stand Still...

This is interesting to me by itself...but I went to Mike and D's Life in the Hoosier State and Beyond post of something I have passed at least a hundred times, and probably more. Another railroad trestle. It is one I have always meant to take a photo of, but just never been there at the right time with my camera.
But what got me was the date of it...it is the same date as this one. Enlarge the picture and look at how the numbers are made and then go look at her post. It makes me wonder if they were made by the same people. We even came to another trestle/bridge or what ever you want to call it similar to the one above, with the same date, but I did not take a photo of it.

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It is taking some time to get used to not seeing Lorelei two or three times a week. She is liking the new house--seems to have settled in really nice. One day when Sarah was trying to get her settled for her nap, she had to have her Elmo, her bee pillow which is a big fuzzy yellow pillow about 15 inches square, with markings like a bee and her cow. Now her cow is just a hard plastic cow and this is not the first time she has had to have it to go to sleep....

She is also really enjoying getting to see her daddy every day...

She ended up sick at the end of last week...one doctor said it was a double ear infection...and gave her an antibiotic. The next day she had a rash, which they were afraid was an allergic reaction so they took her to another doctor, who said that he thought it was a heat rash from such high temperatures, and said that if it was an allergic reaction it would be more splotchy. He also said her ears looked fine, but her throat was red and that it might have been strep but the antibiotic the other doctor had prescribed would take care of it.

Then yesterday she fell and hit her head on the TV stand and got a goose egg..I have picture but not going to show it. It makes me hurt just to look at it. So, it has been somewhat of a rough start over there...but things will settle down.

Treasured clutter

We went for a little drive today, passing this house during our travels. There is just so much on this porch and in the yard it is hard to see it all. I wondered to myself if it was all treasures, or if it was just stuff. I have not doubt that at least at one time it was all treasures, and may still be.

I also got to thinking about old houses down home...a lot of women had flowers on the front porch. Back when I was a child it was not uncommon to have a 'shelf' spanning the space between two support posts of the porch. The only ones I ever saw were just boards...no paint or stain of any sort. And potted plants and flowers were set on the board.

I have not seen a house like this in years and years. And this in turn led me to thinking about other things that have come and gone. Remember when plant stands similar to the one shown here was the thing to have. Almost everyone I knew, and granted I didn't know that many people, but I think every neighbor we had at one time had one of these.

Another thing that everyone seemed to buy during the early years of our marriage was the hall tree. Granted, people still buy them but not near as much.

Oh, and remember when ashtrays and ashtray stands were a common gift...no home was without ashtrays. Even if you did not smoke, you almost always had people coming that did. I still do have a couple of ashtrays, but my friends that do smoke usually smoke outside because they know smoke really bothers us.

Then there were all the gadgets for the kitchen...I cannot even remember all the different things that came out. I think there was one for making grilled cheese. Then there was this 'thing' to do hot dogs on. The hot dogs were more or less electrocuted. I know there were others, but I am having trouble remembering them. Those were the two things that were given to me...other than them I cannot remember any of the others. I just know at one time I thought it was possible to buy a gadget geared to every job.