Merry Christmas!

Just stopping by to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope your day is filled with joy, peace, love, and delicious food!

All has been well with me, Hubby, and the three cats. I hope to get back to blogging in the new year.

Running of the bulls Virginia style.......

Around 4,000 people gathered yesterday at a motorsport park in a neighboring county to participate in Virginia's version of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Participants paid $60.00 each to experience the thrill of being chased by twelve 800 pound bulls. About 8,000 people came to watch the event. Two people were hurt with concussion-like symptoms and one was taken to a nearby hospital. The event ended with a food fight between the runners and spectators that used 45,000 tomatoes. I bet that was one big mess!

Years ago when my Dad raised cattle, I was chased by bulls several times. It wasn't fun or exciting - it was very frightening. I had no desire to repeat the experience or to even watch other people, so I did not attend.

Would you run with the bulls? If you would like to try it, the promoters plan to have events in 10 more cities.

A cool and wet Sunday ......

It's been cool with a misty rain falling all day. Hubby has been relaxing on the sofa with Molly Ann, watching the Nascar race. After doing a bit of housework, I settled down with a good book. This weather feels more like October than August to me. We went to a JJ Grey and Mofro concert at Pocahontas State Park Thursday night. It was an outside concert and I got chilled even though I was wearing a light jacket.

My hummingbirds are still swarming around the feeders. I tried taking pictures, but I am a terrible photographer and they move so quick. I also have lots of butterflies. They are a little more cooperative with having their pictures taken.

Schools in our county start tomorrow. I remember being so excited when it was time to go back to school. I would be anxious to see friends that I hadn't seen all summer and catch up on all the gossip. I loved fresh new books, notebooks, and other school supplies. Were you happy or sad to see school start when you were a kid?

Shredding ........

My house has an attic that is accessed through a hole in the ceiling in the hall. You have to climb up a step ladder and pull yourself up into the attic. Since I've gotten older and suffer from arthritis, it's difficult for me to go up there. Like most attics, it is full of all sorts of junk. My house is small and I have limited storage, so over the years I've put lots of boxes up there.

I've talked Hubby into climbing the ladder and taking down a few boxes at a time. I then go through them and either throw away or donate what I don't want to keep. My goal is to completely clean everything out of the attic. Last week he brought down boxes and boxes of cancelled checks. I had about 35 years of checks. So, this week I have been shredding and shredding and shredding .... I finally finished yesterday afternoon. Boy, am I glad that is done!

When I haven't been shredding, I've been filling the hummingbird feeders. There must be thirty or more that swarm to my feeders. I'm filling them at least three times a day now.

We're still eating tomatoes and green peppers from my garden. The squash and cucumbers are gone - eaten by squash bugs. I got one watermelon before something pecked holes in the rest of them. I'm thinking about planting fall crops now.

Hope you have a nice weekend!

Lazy .....

Hope everyone is having a good week. It's still hot and humid here in Central Virginia - too hot to do anything that requires lots of physical activity. I've been relaxing, reading and eating. I've gained a couple of pounds - probably from those Drumstick ice cream cones I've been eating every afternoon. (Sigh) I guess I'll have to cut back on them.

I finished reading J. K. Rowling's book "The Cuckoo's Calling". It was well written and had good character development. I did find it to be a bit slow moving at times. The main characters are very likable and I would like to see them in more books. If you like detective stories you will probably enjoy this book. I'm currently reading the second book of the Joe Grey series by Shirley Rousseau Murphy - "Cat Under Fire". These are mysteries with talking cats as the main characters. They are entertaining will appeal to mystery and cat lovers. I'm also reading "At Home: A Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson. I've enjoyed several of his books.

Summer is going by too fast! Seems all the stores are full of back to school items. I wouldn't be surprised to see Christmas items before long. They do tend to rush the seasons.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the cats ...

Maggie May (Miss Prissy)

Mazie Grace (The Huntress)

Mollie Ann (My Baby Girl)

Feels like a sauna ........

It's HOT and it's HUMID! With the sun shining and temperatures up to the triple digits, this feels like typical mid July weather.

Hubby has been trying to get the grass cut. He couldn't get started until almost 3PM because the grass was wet from the high humidity. If we had a hay baler, we could probably get a couple of bales off the back yard.

I'm getting loads of cherry tomatoes and more than enough regular tomatoes from the garden. I also have lots of green peppers that need to be picked. I've been eating tomato sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with fresh salads.

The squash and cucumber plants have grown out of my garden squares and are winding across the yard. They continue to bloom profusely, but for some reason are not forming squash or cucumber plants.

I just downloaded "The Cuckoo's Calling" to my Kindle. It was written by J. K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. I'll be spending my evening reading.

Finally, a new chair .........

I've been looking for new chairs for my living room for several months. I looked everywhere and could not find what I was looking for - a small, comfortable chair. We went looking again yesterday and I ended up getting the La-Z-Boy chair shown above. It is bigger in scale than I wanted, but it is very comfortable. I just got tired of looking and settled for what I could find. I'm sure it will grow on me, and I'm sure I will have some nice naps while lounging in it. It's hard to find furniture that works in small houses. That's Mollie Ann grooming her feet.

We're still having hot and very humid weather. It's like living in a sauna. We're suppose to get more rain Thursday. This has been the wettest summer I can remember.

A relaxing Saturday .......

Today has been full of sunshine and relaxing activities. Hubby finished trimming the grass this morning while I went off to do a little shopping. When I got home, we went in the pool. I spent a couple of hours just floating around, watching the clouds. The water temperature was perfect and there was a slight breeze blowing. Pure summer joy!

After supper, Hubby settled down to watch the Nascar race. I got my iPod and Kindle and have been reading while listening to Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gina Sicilia.

Hope you are having as nice a Saturday as I am.

Happy 4th of July!!! ....

Rain, rain, and more rain ..........

Seems like it has rained almost every day lately. We had 7 inches of rain in June and have had 2 more inches so far in July. That is very unusual for us. We are usually in a dry spell at this time of the year. So far this year we've had 26 inches compared to 14 inches at this time last year.

All this rain is making everything grow like crazy. The garden has thrived and the grass grows faster than Hubby is able to cut it. The pool keeps running over where other years we've had to add water. I shouldn't complain. Today we've had short periods of sun, followed by rain showers, followed by sun, then more rain.



Maggie insists on being outside. If it starts raining hard she will sit under the table on the deck. If it isn't raining that hard, she sits in the rain. Her fur is so thick and long, it doesn't allow the water to soak through. Mollie and Mazie don't like water and will insist on staying inside.

The weather report calls for less chance of rain tomorrow. Maybe we'll be able to cook out for the 4th of July. Hope everyone has a great holiday!

It's been awhile ..........

I don't know if anyone is still out there or not since I haven't been around for several months. I have no excuse for my absence other than procrastination, laziness, and sloth. However, while very quiet I have been faithfully reading your blogs.

Life has been quiet here in my corner of the world. Hubby has been busy trying to keep the grass cut. The cats are all well and as spoiled as ever. I've spent more time than I should reading. And we've all done a lot of relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Isn't that what retirement is for?

We've had much more rain than usual this year, so my garden is thriving. We are eating zucchini, green peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and radishes from the garden. I got a few cherry tomatoes today and the regular tomatoes will be ripening soon. I can hardly wait for that first juicy tomato sandwich.

This is the square of cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini.



This square has tomatoes in the front with cherry tomatoes and then green peppers in the back.



The tomatoes really look good and are getting large. Can't wait ...



I planted one watermelon plant and had no idea it would live. Maybe with continued rain, I will get a watermelon this year.



Will try to write again soon ...

Camouflage ........

Mazie Grace's current favorite place to snooze. She blends in with the throw.

Chairs .....

I have two swivel rockers with a matching ottoman in my living room that I got years ago. The set is beginning to show wear, as it has survived two large dogs and countless cats. The fabric on the arms is worn and there are picks from the cats on the back of one of the chairs.

Hubby and I decided to go out shopping for new chairs this morning. First we went to Farmville to Green Front Furniture.   If you check their site, you will see that they occupy 12 different warehouses, equivalent in size to 12 football fields. You would think I would be able to find something that I liked. But no ... everything was either too big, too gaudy, the wrong color, or uncomfortable. I think there was just too much to look at and it was cold in those old warehouses. So we left and went to a couple of chain stores and a mom and pop store and still couldn't find anything.

If the set I have was better quality, I would get it reupholstered. I'm just afraid if I put much money in it, it would fall apart the next day.

So it looks like for the time being, I will keep my old chairs. They are comfortable and I don't have to worry too much about messing them up. Just don't look at them too closely.

A quiet New Year Day ......

This has been a quiet New Year's Day for us. It was cold and damp outside, so we stayed in all day. Even the cats refused to go out. I watched the Rose Parade this morning. The floats were so beautiful and original. I couldn't help thinking about the hours of work that went into each one. Amazing ...

We didn't have black-eye peas and collard greens to bring us luck. I didn't even think about them until after we'd eaten leftover spaghetti for supper.

Hope that doesn't mean we will have bad luck.

Have you made your New Year's Resolutions? I used to make a long list every year and then would feel so bad when I broke them in the first week. Now instead of making resolutions, I just try a little harder to do the things that are most important to me. I'm very good at wasting time - especially with the help of books, the computer, and TV.

I've been checking the news on and off today to see if the House has done anything about the "fiscal cliff" mess. I think it is a shame that our government is so bipartisan that they are willing to wreck our economy just to make a point. They all act like spoiled little kids. Okay, that is all I'm going to say since I could go on all night and you probably don't want to read my opinions.

I'm sending wishes to all for a prosperous and happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year !!!!

Sending everyone wishes for a Happy New Year! May your New Year be filled with love, happiness, and peace.

Hubby and I will celebrate at home. He will probably be asleep by the time the ball falls in Times Square. I will watch it on TV - if I can stay awake that long.

I'm hoping I can do a better job of blogging in the New Year. If I made New Year's resolutions that would be at the top of my list. Since I quit making resolutions years ago, I'll just promise to try.

Merry Christmas!

Sending wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

A new Norfolk Island Pine .....

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only two and a half weeks away. I was just getting used to the idea of fall. Luckily, I don't do that much for the Holidays so I'm not stressing out over everything that hasn't been done. I put up a few outside decorations earlier in the week and will probably decorate inside (except for the tree) this weekend. I usually wait until the middle of the month to put up the tree since it tends to be in the way.



I did get a small Norfolk Island Pine to take the place of the giant I gave away. It's only about a foot tall, so I should be able to move it around easily. I wonder how many years it will be before it becomes too large for the house.

We've finally gotten most of the leaves up. I think one more day of raking should be it until time for spring clean-up. We have gotten extremely dry. We only had 1/10 inch of rain in the whole month of November. So far this month we've had less than 1/10 inch. I have some daffodil bulbs that need to be planted, but the ground is so hard I can't dig the holes to plant them. Will it be OK to plant them later?

The clothes basket is overflowing, so I'd better get some in the washer. Housework is never done.

Goodbye my lovely tree ......

I received the Norfolk Island Pine in the above picture years ago. The bank purchased one for each employee's desk as decoration for Christmas. When I got it, it was less than a foot tall. I brought mine home, watered it once a week and moved it to bigger pots as it grew. I would take it out to the deck in the spring and bring it back inside in the fall.



When it became too large for the house, I would move it inside the garage for the winter. Hubby would complain every spring and fall when he had to haul the heavy tree and pot through the back door. Last year it was a real struggle getting it inside and it was almost too tall for the garage. I measured it this fall and it was close to 10 feet tall.

I knew it had outgrown our garage as well as the house. I hated to leave it outside and have the cold temperatures of winter kill it. I decided to put it on Freecycle and offer it for free to someone who had room to winter it inside. A kind lady in town came by the other day to pick it up. I will miss my tree and I wish it well.

Perhaps I'll purchase a small one this Christmas and start the process again.

What the Kitties have been up to .....

Maggie May has been keeping me company while I'm on the computer. She loves to mess with the touch screen and make me fuss. After awhile that gets boring, so she settles in for a nice nap.



Mazie Grace has been spending much more time inside since the weather has gotten cooler. She gets her hunting done, then comes inside and settles in front of the TV for a long nap. She pushes those silly decorations Mom put up out of her way.



Little Mollie Ann loves to curl up on anything soft and take long naps. She's a sound sleeper and it's hard to wake her up once she's asleep. (She snores loudly too.)

As you can see, the kitties have not been very busy, in fact they have been quite lazy. They must take after me.

Sandy was kind to us ......

We were very lucky and had no damage from Hurricane Sandy. There was heavy rain to the east of us, snow to the west of us, and rain and wind to the north of us. We got two inches of rain over two days and had moderate winds that just blew leaves off the trees. My heart goes out to all those who lost property and electricity during the storm. I was prepared with fresh batteries in the lanterns and plenty of food that didn't require cooking, but our lights didn't even flicker. I'm truly lucky to live in a region that does not flood and seldom has snow. I will keep those less fortunate in my thoughts and will donate what I can to the Red Cross.

The kale in my garden square is growing and will be big enough to pick soon. I love kale, so I'm looking forward to a big pot of greens. The last several nights have been in the lower 40s and upper 30s. I don't like it when I have to keep my windows closed and bundle up to go outside. The kitties have been staying inside more since it has gotten cooler. They've decided they want to snuggle.

My phone has been ringing all day long with political calls. I will be so glad when the election is over!