1837

On the way to Green Valley the other day, we took a slightly different route, and passed by this church. We were totally surprised. We have passed so close to it all these years, but had never taken that particular road...it is a real little beauty. And that date of 1837 caught both our eyes.
Truth be told, it is not far from Saint Marys-of-the-Woods College...but other than that, I don't know if there are two dozen houses there.
Just look at the windows...I would love to be there some night when the windows are lit from within.
This is the best I could do with in just passing by...Roger did stop but I didn't get out. To have gotten any farther away, I would have been in some one's yard....
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Tomorrow I am going to be at Sarah's watching the toot while her mom goes to Indianapolis for the home inspection of the house they are planning to buy. I just hope I can get a good night's they sleep tonight. It is highly unlikely unless some of the cats go outside before I head to bed. Just a few minutes ago, the boys came in. Mama Cat and Puss Puss came in earlier...so probably about the time I go to bed, one will start something.

You just about have to wonder about my sanity...why put up with them. They are worth it all, though. All except Mama Cat provides us with comic relief at some time or other every day. And she sort of provides us with wonder in that she has come so far since coming here to live.

Mama Cat was born at a federal prison. After hearing about her, my oldest daughter wanted her. She was just a doll baby....I had not seen her and was still recovering from losing my first Cougar or she would have ended up here. Anyway, Mama was just the perfect little kitty...but the guy my daughter was married to did not like cats, and his boys were not good with animals. By the time she lived there just a short while, no one could pet her except my daughter. She had forgotten Roger by then, and neither he nor I could pet her without her hissing and trying to bite.

It has been almost 3 years ago now that she came, and you would never ever guess her background. Lorelei can step all over her and half the time she doesn't move. And so far I have never seen Mama get mad at Lo...if she doesn't want to be wallered around by Lo she just gets up and leaves.

Sometimes Roger or I can hardly walk for her rubbing against our ankles and running in between out feet as we walk....she occasionally comes and gets in bed with us. But usually she just likes to be near us...though every now and then she will come get on our chair arm for petting.

As for Mama Cat's mama, Roger and the guys he worked with all pitched in and got her spayed...so in the end it is a fairly happy ending. The other three cats I have are from Mama Cat's one and only litter...another one went to a friend of Roger's and I am not sure what happened with it. And the other one went to one of their co-workers and I think it rules the roost at that house.

Over in Illinois

I was running down a good sunset when I passed this place. I put on the brakes, took a couple minutes and shot these images.
I really would like to know the history of this place...it has been empty a long time, by the looks of it. It kind of makes one sick at heart...it looks like it was well built.
There is still a grain bin that looks like it might possibly still being used. Other than that, the weeds seem to be taking over.
I even wondered had it been on fire on the backside, or is it full of asbestos...I don't think there is a single window left in it.

A couple beauties

This is from yesterday....Lorelei wanted in her crib. Then she would stick her feet or hands out and Sarah would grab them...and Lorelei would laugh so hard. She just screams with laughter and she still laughs so hard she has tears in her eyes at times. It is the simple things she thinks funny...like making faces at her....or if I jump like shes frightened me....

Later after we had eaten lunch...Lorelei was out of her high chair running around while we sat and talked. Well, she had on a little outfit and the bottoms kept falling down. She stopped all of a sudden and pulled them all the way down and stepped out of them...then she sat down and tried to pull of her top. Sarah had to help her with that, and then she ran through with such joy.
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I have been very on and off with my blogging the past week or two. Well, after being away from bogging for two or three or four days, I came back to find I had missed this post by Betsy....it was almost like a visit home. In fact it made me pretty homesick...

I visit several blogs and even if I am away for two or three days, the ones I comment on regular, I always go back and see what I have missed, though I might not always comment on those missed. So, I leave Betsy's blog and go over to Carletta's Round the Bend blog...and that first glance lead me to this post that I had missed. Carletta talked about the cow bell in the photo, and that made me even more homesick...and led me to thinking about home.

We at one time had a milk cow, a jersey named Patsy. She always had a cowbell on....though why I am not sure. Patsy was almost always at the gate waiting when it was time for milking. And if she wasn't there, we just had to call for her to come..

Anyway, she always wore the cowbell...but every now and then it lost the clapper--you know the thing that clangs against the bell to make the noise. So, whenever we noticed it was missing, the bell would be taken off her and brought to the house to fix. I don't remember if she bawled when we left with it, but I do know that when it was fixed, all we had to do was take it to the pasture and ring the bell and she came flying...at least for a cow she was moving fast.

This is also the cow that was best friends with our horse, Old Bob...she bawled if we took him out of the pasture, and again if we brought him back, she would come to him. I think they were almost always in the close vicinity of each other, and you would see her 'washing' him...I never seen any other cow do that...so I always took it as a sign of her affection for him. Some might think that is childhood fantasy, but I still think it to this day.