Keeping Fish .. part 3

 Keeping Fish .. part 3

The photos tell all. For some reason, all of a sudden, the fish have become Penelope's fascination. 

Keeping Fish part 2

Keeping Fish part 1

This past summer I created a whiskey barrel garden/water feature in our garden. I purchased 10 $0.14 cent fish. I have three of the gang of 10 from this summer in a fish bowl waiting for Spring when they can go back out and live in the big pond aka the whiskey barrel.

Click here to see the whiskey barrel. 

Can these three fish make it until Spring?

To be continued..

It is a Hard Candy Christmas

When boys decorate cookies.. do you see the skeletons drawn on the cookies?

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Medley.

Terri asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun!

1.  Wednesday, December 19, 2018, is National Hard Candy Day! So the first question today is to ask if you enjoy hard candy, especially the kind we usually see during this festive time of year?  What is your favorite?  Which hard candy brings up the best memories for you if any?

I have not had any festive hard candy in years. It just is not something we seem to buy for ourselves and no one gifts it to us. Ha!

Peppermint hard candy is my favorite.

I do not have any hard candy memories. I do have a memory about a Hard Candy Song.

I remember hearing this song as a young girl, not really understanding the lyrics at all. This is about candy? Ha. Ha.  As the years have rolled by I now completely understand what Dolly is sharing with us.

 2.  Holiday shopping!  Are you finished? If you could spend an entire day in just one store, which one would it be and why?

 I am finished shopping. I do have wrapping left to do.

Woodman's Market is where I'd spend the day. 

Check out Woodman's 

I love this grocery store.  It is a large grocery. What I enjoy most about Woodman's is it highlights Wisconsin products and farms.

 

3.  What holiday dessert describes you and why?

Peppermint Ice Cream

 I hope the people who know me or come in contact with me come away feeling happy, refreshed and ready to give it our all to make this world a better place.

 4.  What is your least favorite holiday side dish?

Deviled Eggs

Yuck!

5.  Now be real!! There is one on almost every tree. What is the ugliest tree ornament you have ever seen?

I do not think I have one.

My husband on the other hand hates my dear sweet girl.

 I rescued her from going in the trash.

  His favorite ornament.

 

 6.  Tell us something random about your week!!

Penelope is counting the days down to Christmas! 

Welcome Penelope

Welcome Penelope

 Meet our new kitten.

Penelope has stolen our hearts.

 Of course she has a story to go along with moving in with our family.

During my week on my Meals on Wheels route, while stopping into the kitchen to pick up the meals, one of the cooks mentioned she found a kitten on the side of the road. She said it was Siamese and just the sweetest thing. She asked if I knew of anyone who would like a Siamese.

She showed me a few photos of her and I knew right away who would love to have her, me.

Jane brought her to our home and showed us the wounds she had. We all felt she must have been hit by a car. My dad helped us clean her wounds. She would purr when we cleaned her wounds and put her medicine in her ears. She had mites in her ears. They were so gross!!  

She slowly began to heal. She began to eat more and more. 

She got stronger and stronger.

Then one day, we knew she would be okay. We all gave a cheer.

She loves her pet (fake) mice, cozy rugs and sitting on your lap.

 

Ups and Downs .... Life goes on .... Joy List Monday

 Joy List Monday

a weekly ritual

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties

 and graces that make life magical 

and to set aside time for gratitude each day

It has been a week of Ups and Downs for our family this past week.

Friday was a sad day for me, I was in a funk all day. I really was struggling to shake it.

We lost our two year old cat, Catsby. He struggled with seizures his entire short life.

We loved him and he loved us. He did share his love in a big way.

We all miss him.

Our dear friend, Deb lost her dad this week. We attended the visitation and prayer service on Thursday evening. Sunday we had dinner with Deb and another friend. We enjoyed sharing stories about Deb's childhood and her memories with her dad.

Taking time to remember the little beauties of life.

The robins are back. Tweet, tweet they sing in the morning. 

It is a lovely sound to hear the birds of Spring.

 Taking time to read a good book, with a warm cup of tea.

Trying a new recipe and having all the family like it.

And ....

 

 

Ha Ha!

A great article a friend shared with me

a good read 

And to celebrate the robins coming back to Northern Wisconsin, let us have a Spring Giveaway!

 5 post cards ... perfect to send a Thinking of You Spring greeting to a friend

Dark Chocolate Mints and tea ... perfect to share with a friend

Fun green napkins ... to make your table pretty while you enjoy your tea and chocolate

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment.

If you are not able to leave a comment on my blog, please e mail me, you will be entered in the giveaway. The winner will be chosen on Thursday evening and announced on Friday, March 31st On the Road Friday post.

Happy Monday, my friends!

 

It is the Luck of the Irish ~ It is the Hodgepodge

It is Wednesday! It is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

1. What do you think about luck?

I will say, "that was lucky" or be silly and do a silly thing with my dice in a game for "luck"

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

~source~

2. Not counting your own backyard, what's a favorite green space in your town, city, or state?

My parents farm.

3. How do you make your life more complex than it needs to be?

 
  Worry about things that I have no control over.

4. I read here the three places you should visit with friends. They are-New York City, Hawaii, and Amsterdam (rent a bike, walk along the canal, visit one of their world class museums). I felt the need to expound on that one. Moving on...Of the three places listed which would you most like to visit with friends? What's one place not on the list you think should be visited with friends?

I would pick New York City.

Lake Superior...a picnic on the South Shores of Lake Superior.

5. What's the last live performance you saw? On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best) how would you rate it?

For my birthday we went to The Nutcracker. I would give it a 9! It was well done.

 6. March 14th is National Potato Chip Day. Are you a fan? Your favorite flavor? Besides potato, what's your favorite chip type of snack?

I like the Kettle Baked Potato Chips. I am a big fan of baked potato chips. 

We do not have chips in our house everyday. They are a treat for us. If they have a sale at the market for if we are planning a fun picnic.

I like the Sea Salt flavor.

I like Cool Ranch Doritos. I like to make a taco salad with Cool Ranch Doritos.

7.What rule is most important in your home?

If we accidentally make a mess we clean it up.

 8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

Our new little kitten, Catsby, had a seizure on Saturday night.

We rescued Catsby from a sad situation in October of 2015.

Our boys have fallen in love with him. The seizure was scary to witness. After he seemed to forget who, where and everything about our loving home. 

Monday he was still not doing very well.

Tuesday he began to be himself again.

 

Funny on Monday

Funny on Monday

This is our cat Max in the shower.

Have a great week!

 

Catsby

 

 Welcome Catsby!

Thursday we adopted Catsby. 

Catsby had been abandoned by some people living in a rental home, along with his two sisters.

He was loved by three young girls who lived in the rental home, sadly with parents who did not care about them. The parents did not care for the little girls and Social Services had to step in.

The three little kittens ended up left behind.

A neighbor went in to the home, which was in awful condition for anyone to live and rescued the abandoned kittens.

 

We adopted the male of the little trio. And we named him Catsby.

He is all love. 

I think about his little life and how he helped three lonely little girls get through lonely, awful days and nights. I will be praying for the girls future.

 

The other members of our house seem to be fine with Catsby.

Molly our Boston Terrier, well, as you can see, as long as you do not disturb her beauty sleep no problem.

Max is looking in. Catsby is sleeping on a chair looking out the patio door. 

I am not sure what Max's facial expression is telling us. 

Max is six years old, he has been very good about having a kitten in the house.

Welcome Catsby

more adventures to come...

 

I am glad you are home...

My suitcase after returning from Chicago.

"A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not."

 Ernest Hemingway

 

Sunflower Seeds

Each year I try to dry our sunflower seeds for the birds.

 I lay them out and get them all nice in the sun.

 Almost ready!

  I am thinking,"Oh the birds will be so happy this winter, and so will I, watching the birds eat the seeds."

 I am so happy!

The next day I head in to check on my seeds and a mouse, chipmunk or squirrel has found my sunflowers in the sun.

And I ask myself...what are those darn cats doing?

 Living the life of a cat, of course.

 ♥

Have a great weekend my friends!

Carla

Hello Robin

 I was busy working in the yard barn and looked up to see we had a new neighbor.

"Hello Robin"

 We continued to monitor her success and we all got very excited when her eggs hatched.

And when I say we all got excited! I mean all!

Little B's thoughts "Fledglings....I am waiting to catch you"

We only had to rescue one.

Thankfully they made, we think?

 O Robin, robin, singing in the rain, 

While black clouds lower 

Above you bower!

Nora Perry

 

Feeding the Birds

I know it is hard to see because of the reflection. If you look up at the pine tree, you can see our cat Little B. He is busy watching me.  Little B is inside, I am outside. The reflection in the window made it hard for me to capture the photo of Little B watching me. What am I doing? I was busy feeding the birds.

This little  chickadee waited patiently while I filled the feeder.

Yum, a fresh snack!

"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields...

It covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt;

and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep darlings, till the summer comes again."

Lewis Carroll

 

Chick a dee dee dee dee Fe be ~~ the song of the Chickadee

Do you feed the birds?

Boo to You and Black Cat Cookies

Hello,

Here are a few fun ideas to help make Halloween special.

 Last night, the boys received a Halloween basket full of treats from a friend. Inside she had candy, a pencil, an apple and this fun witches hat.

 All made out of paper, with Hershey kisses inside.

 Here is a photo of the back side of the hat.

 Today, we made Black Cat Cookies.

Black Cat Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla

3 cups of flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Candy corn

Red cinnamon candies

Combine sugar and butter in large bowl; beat at medium speed until well mixed. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.

Combine all remaining ingredients except candies in medium bowl. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a ball flatten to 1/2 inch. Wrap each half in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours).

Heat oven to 350 ° Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one - half at a time, to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with 3 inch round cookie cutters.

Place on to ungreased cookie sheets.

Using fingers, pinch up ears at top of each circle.

Place 2 pieces candy corn onto cookies for eyes and 1 red cinnamon candy for nose. Press tines of for on each side of cookie below eyes to form whiskers.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set. Let cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, remove to cool.

 

 Mewo!

Trick or Treat!

Funny on Sunday

The boys...trying to teach little B American History.

How do you like to sleep?

How do you like to sleep?

On your side?

On your back?

On your tummy?

 Little B, he likes to sleep on his back, paws on his chest and usually has his tail out.

Max, he likes to sleep curled up in a ball.

 I honestly do not know what to say!

Cute?

Silly Cat!

I just have to rub that tummy.

Have a great Wednesday!

The Brick Brothers

A plug for a new blog I am following

The Brick Brothers, a blog created by my two boys

The Brick Brothers 

Click the above link to read my adventure with Sam, Little B and a ????

 Sam and Little B

Thank you for reading and taking time to hop over to the boys blog.

XX OO 

The life of two cats

The life of our two cats.

The gray cat is a kitten...but you would not know it, he is just as big as Max. Max our orange cat is 3 years old. Needless to say he was not happy we brought a kitten into his life last October.

As this photo shows, the two have become best of friends. 

One of our favorite things to do is to find where and how they are sleeping. We chuckle each time we find them. 

Today they are cozy on Atticus' bed, looks like they are sleeping with a stuffed snake or using it as a pillow.

How about you, do your pets sleep in fun places?   

I really like my bed

Our new kitten, Little B.

He could sleep on the cozy kitty bed we made for him. But he thought up of a better place.

Did you make this house just for me?

The boys laughed and laughed. Of all places to curl up. Little B you are so funny.

Do your pets sleep in funny places?