Fall...Where are you?

Now all I am doing is waiting...

Waiting for Fall...

Will it ever come?

Papa's desk all readied for fall

Living room
If Fall won't come to east Texas, then I will make it come to my home


My scarecrows

Coffee table arrangement

Kitchen table center piece

Of course I have to change out the table runner and it will look better.
Mmmm...I can imagine Fall is on its way.

I smell cinnamon and apples.

Don't let me down Fall...

Please come soon.

Baby Squirrel

Hubs comes in yesterday evening and says "Look what I found." I never know what to expect when he says that! "I say take that thing outside!" Hubs says "but I found him on the ground and he is weak and hot." I say "take him back to his mother. She will take care of him."

All this transpires, while I am on the elliptical and trying to get my time of torture over with.
With the squirrel wrapped in one of my best dish towels, he is searching the Internet on how to care for squirrels. You can't feed baby squirrels just anything because they are mostly vegans. Scalded milk or canned evaporated milk mixed with equal parts of water. When he is older he can eat nuts and veggies.

Yes, I know he is cute, but I don't want to have a pet squirrel. We have two cats and two dogs and that is all we need is a pet squirrel. So hubs ask me to find the dropper and I have to look every where until I find it. He feeds the little guy some water, places him in a plastic box that he raided from the closet with a heating pad and of course my best dish towel. He looks like he is dying to me and I don't want to be a part of seeing it die.
So after a few hours, he feeds him canned milk warmed to just the perfect temperature. He is getting better by the moment. He slept in our bedroom last night. I said " Maybe you should put the laundry basket over his bed?"

What is it about a man that makes him feel like he is twelve again? Hubs said " I have always wanted to raise a squirrel." So much to my surprise the little guy is doing well as far as I could tell by peeking in the laundry basket holes. He needs to be fed four times a day. I am guessing that Hubs will come home and feed this little guy at lunch time.

UPDATE ON THE SQUIRREL

The little squirrel is sleeping and eating so far. Hubs is now watching for any signs of injury or bruising in his diaphram. We hope he will not have any brain injury. I may have sounded like I thought this was funny, but believe me we do take this serious. We have contacted a rehabber and she has sent us all the information on what to do for this little squirrel. The next 24-48 hours are critical to it's survival. So far she is doing well. Sleeping a lot, eating and today he climbed up Hubs arm.

Thank you all for your comments and support. Also, I noticed that to read all of the comments you must scroll all the way down to the bottom.

LATEST UPDATE AS OF 8:45 p.m. 9/18/10

We found out the source we were using was not an official rehabber. I have taken her site down and will tell you about the correct site. Her name is Sara Rowe at scrag@aol.com

Hubs spent the afternoon searching for the correct food. We are now using Esbilac powder for puppies with whipping cream added to it as well. The little squirrel really ate it up. He escaped from his box covered with the laundry this afternoon. We have now place his box inside a pet carrier and the heating pad to keep him warm.

It has been an upsetting day full of research. My friend Michelle was responsible for getting the correct information to us. I want to say thank you, Michelle.

Happy Birthday Bryan!

This young man is Bryan, Ali's older brother
He is fifteen today!

Bryan in a cave.

Bryan getting his cross bow




Bryan being the nice big brother that he is to Ali at my house.



He is fifteen today and while he is a little camera shy, I wanted to brag on him.



He is a smart young man with a good head on his shoulders. I love him as if he were my own grandson. He and his older brother are from Cj's first marriage, but that does not matter to me.
They were 2 and 4 years old when our son married their mommie.

Later on they had Ali.

He is very creative.

He likes to build things.
This is a Phoenix and a dragon.

He loves science.

He likes to skate board.

He likes to do just about everything.

He is charming and really a good son.

Especially... a good big brother to Ali.



She adores him.

Can't you tell?

I love you Bryan and thank you for being the young man that you are.


I wouldn't change a hair on your head.

Carmen and my cats

See why I love this dog?

Carmen is dog tired.

She is not use to country living.

She is a city dog.

Stinkey is my cat. She is a great cat.

She has the sweetest face.
She ask for very little unlike Bruno who is so very vocal.

Bruno is my side kick
Sometimes I would like to have my own space without a cat in my face. LOL!
Then you add my two dogs

And

They own me...

Sister's cat, Prissy, is in the travel cottage. We went to feed her and visit her this morning.

She was not too happy and she tried to swat my hand. I will give her that because she is so old.

But she does not own me.

Yet?

OK...I have to get off this computer and finish up my house work!

LOL!

Jefferson, Texas

Down town Jefferson

Courtesy of Photobucket

People dress in period style and attend balls.

Courtesy of Photobucket

Courtesy of Photobucket

Jefferson, Texas
http://www.jefferson-texas.com/HomeJeffersonTx/tabid/57/Default.aspx

The Jefferson Museum

courtesy of Photobucket

Yesterday, I spent the day with one of my dearest friends and her family. I am grafted into this group of awesome women by sheer luck and friendship. My friend and I go back about 25 years or so. I met her when I was trying to get into the floral business. Later, she would work for me at my flower shop. I don't know what I would have done with out her all the years. She lives in my former town and we went to the same church before I moved. She does all the cooking for our church.

She is originally from Jefferson, TX. and I live about 45 minutes from there. We met at one of the bistro's downtown for lunch. I know her family and they are all lovely folks. Her mother, sister, aunt, daughter, daughter's boyfriend and her son all met there. It was hours of laughter and lots of memories revisited. They are as close to me as my own family was before they all died.

Jefferson is a small town of less than 3,000 folks, but it swells to 20,000 during Mardi Gras and at Christmas. There is always something going on in this pretty little town. It was a river town and was a passage way for many ships.

Sissy went back to Louisiana. She had an offer to go to the beach in Florida that she could not turn down and then to New Orleans. I am dog and cat sitting her animals until she returns. Carmen is the Doberman that I gave her and Prissy is her Himalayan cat that is older than dirt.

Keep in mind that Carmen does not know she is really a dog. Ha! Ha! Seriously, no one told her. I didn't have the heart to leave her in the travel cottage with the cat, so Carmen is here in our house. She is sleeping in the extra bedroom in the bed. Seriously... she is. Remember, she does not know that she is a dog. She is a princess.

I am off to get my house in order. Lots of different projects to finish up, not to mention the house work. Argh...Y'all have a great day.

Email from a friend

I don't know if any of you received this in an email, but I like what it said. I did not check it out on Snoopes.Com. With so much craziness going on in the World today, it just makes sense. I was naive to think that such an atrocity like Sept. 11Th could ever happen to America, the strongest country in the World. Of course, we had many warning signs of what they are capable of doing. We didn't listen. They still want to hurt us.

I know that evil begets evil, but folks when are we going to stand up and say enough is enough? I am tolerant of other people's views and religions, their rights to the Constitution, equal opportunity for all. I believe in the goodness on man kind, the human spirit and the opportunity for Peace for all. I celebrate our differences, but when someone wants to do harm to me or my country, that is where I draw the line.



Reading and thinking about it is all very well but when will our "leaders" do something. Every day a little more is being demanded by fanatical Muslims and yes, day by day their demands are granted.


This is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is purported to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well known and well respected psychiatrist. Even if it’s not written by him, it just makes a lot of sense.


A German's View on Islam

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. "Very few people were true Nazis," he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride after world war 1, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the "silent majority," is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority was irrelevant.

China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.


And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passivity that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.
2980 Provincial St. Ann Arbor , MI 48104
734-997-0256

Our little granddaughter

This is our granddaughter, ALi. Remember she came to visit us with her Daddy for our youngest son's graduation from the Fire Academy. ALi is a girl after my own heart. She loves baseball, soccer, gymnastics. She reminds me so much of her Daddy. That is her brother, Bryan in the back ground.

Ali is learning how to play the violin.




Ali just got her first American Girl doll. She named her Elizabeth. I am so glad that she loves dolls. For most of her life she loved horses. She can tell you anything about horses.

Ali's bedroom with her horses

Ali and her Daddy. Ali has a pink compound bow. I love that she can go from being a tomboy to riding horses to shooting her bow. These are really good things for a girl to know.

Wiley E. Coyote

I took this picture a few weeks back thinking that he was just passing through and that I would not see him again. I was wrong. He came back through yesterday, I didn't have my camera handy, but Hubs went and got his rifle to shoot him. Close but no enchilada, but it did scare the heck out of him.

With in five minuets the deer were back and eating, but my dogs were scared to death from the loud boom of the rifle especially Hot Dog. Suzie, my lab, is pretty cool.

Hot Dog and Suzie watching the deer.



An orange bird I have never seen before standing it's ground with a hummer.

This is a new doe and single fawn. She is red right now. In front of them is our all but dried out pond, but they still go into it for water. The blue container has water too.


On the dam of our pond.

Coming out of the pond

The numbers game...

Last week Sissy and I went to a health fair and had our blood work drawn and checked for any factors that may cause us a risk for heart attack or stroke, diabetes and a whole bunch of other test run. I have to tell you that my results were not too great. I thought by giving up sugar and Dr.Pepper that would make a huge difference. Who knows maybe it did?



I have this huge problem with doctors and trust issues. While at my therapist I told her about this issue. All the while, knowing that I must make a commitment to get healthy. I have tried all of the statin drugs with disastrous results. Muscle weakness, joint pain and even feeling like I was having a heart attack. I went through ten different medicines and could not tolerate the side effects of any of them.



So I went an alternative way, and hired a trainer, went on Omegas and lost a lot of weight. I did get my numbers down to a happy result. However, when I was treated for the RA, I gained fifty pounds that just does not want to leave my body.



Most of my fear comes from my childhood experiences with my Urologist and all the pain I endured including surgery at six years of age. Followed by years of in and out patient treatment until I was 18 years old. I hope not to offend anyone because I respect your thoughts and opinions, but when I think of doctors, all I can think of is pain. I think that is why I am so open to alternative forms of healing. You know I have done acupuncture and now I am seeing a chiropractor. I see a PA instead of a doctor. The last doctor I trusted moved away about ten years ago. His replacement was just OK.



Do you know how hard it is to explain your family dynamics to a new doctor? Since our move, I have been to one doctor twice and did not connect with her. I liked her PA. I remember when my mother was sick and dying. They had brought in all kinds of specialist and only one doctor told us the truth about our mother's condition. We were told the day before she died that she had lung cancer. I really appreciated that one doctor that told me the truth.



My father-N-law was a wonderful country doctor and I trusted him with my life. He was kind, compassionate and one of the best diagnosticians in the area. He really knew his stuff and constantly stayed updated on the newest information. I miss his expertise so much. I have never found another doctor like him since. I valued his opinion greatly and he told the truth.



So after talking with my therapist, she suggested that I go to her doctor. He was a fireman before going to med school. She knows I like that connection because I do trust firemen and my son is a fireman. I was not sure if my PA would want to handle this and the fact that I did not want to go on more medicines. I don't know if I can work out like I did before to loose the weight and lower my numbers, but I will give it my best.



I saw my mother drop from 125 lbs. to 105 lbs. because the doctor said it would lower her numbers. I saw her take huge amounts of medicines with no results. She did quit smoking about 6 years before she died. She had two heart attacks. The quality of her life was not good and she died at 65 years of age. The day after Christmas she had her second heart attack. The doctor treated this spot on her lung for pneumonia. She actually died from lung cancer and weighed 76 pounds when she died. They went to extraordinary measures to torture her.



So I talked with my chiropractor and he told me to start taking more Omegas for night and to take during the day. I am good with this decision. I trust him. So this is the path I am taking for my numbers. I will keep you updated.

My tiny little winged friends

These tiny little hummngbirds are one of my favorite birds. Their aerial acrobats are swift, and agile and are a mighty force to witness. From where I sit, they are like little micro mini jets. They jockey one another for the best position. Giving chase to defend their spot.

Amazing in flight

If you could just all land on different spots there would be plenty for all of you.

Aerial art at it's best.

They don't mess with these guys. They mean serious business.

These little birds know when the coast is clear.

I will post more pictures as more of these birds stop by to fatten up for their trip south.

Usually in the end of September there are about thirty hummers.
I hope you enjoyed my view today. Thank you for stopping by and visiting.