Hooray! Hooray! (the 1st of May)?

hehehe

Good Morning to everyone on this muddy rainy day here!

.

.

But nice that my new grass is getting the moisture it SO needs to take root and thrive.

.

.

.

Yes, Mr. Greg Olson came and fixed my back yard yesterday!

And I was SO happy to have it done.

.

Perhaps now, n one will be killing themselves come Mothers Day... And we won't be having to have the dirt blowing at us either! hehehe We will be cooking out in the backyard... My little firepit needs to be fired up for the summer! I shall invite everyone too! (There, you ARE invited; ALL of you)! hehehe

Last fall, and at points during the winter too, I had trimmed a lot of bushes to within an inch of their lives. Thinking I had finally dissuaded a Double Mock Orange Blosssom bush from growing out of the rocks, I found out that I was very mistaken about that thought process...

.

.

(Must be like trying to kill a willow tree)! hehehe

.

.

.

One of my kids had a garden of their own 2 years ago... And so I had tried to incorperate a few bulbs out there... Those bulbs will be transplanted after they are done blooming, but it was the perfect opportunity for Roberta to be teaching Gabriel to take time and smell the daffodils!

It was very very windy that day and those flowers just kept on moving...

...And the poor little kid couldn't touch them either...

.

.

In the end, he did get his face up REAL close... and BLEW on them!

Too funny!

.

.

.

I'd better keep this shorter for today... (But before I close, Punk would like me to say how happy she was that Izzy B said hello)!

.

...So happy!!!

"ARF!"

.

CLICK HERE to read Miss Izzy B's Blog!

.

Have a grand Tuesday all! And I shall try to enjoy the rains!

XOXO
Anne

Silence? (The Sound of)... 4/30/07

Good Morning...

...Yes, I do realize that many are participating in the "One Day Blog Silence" in honor of the 32 Virginia Tech Students/Teachers who were outrageously murdered during their day. And by a person who should not have even been free in society.

I believe that silence accomplishes little.

I believe that more needs to be said, (AND DONE), about this; and many other atrocities. Silence, for the most part, only breeds ignorance. There are too many questions surrounding this massacre that have not been answered to satisfaction.

Do I know the answers? I certainly do not. (I do not even know the many questions that need to/MUST be asked).

Do I believe that such a thing will happen again? Sadly I do.

Have I prayed that all mentally/emotionally confused individuals can somehow seek help or intervention? I have.

Do I believe that people who are prescribed medications to 'help' them should take these meds? Absolutely.

Personally I know of at least one person who discontinued their own depression meds JUST BECAUSE IT INTERFERED WITH HER ABILITY TO GO OUT AND DRINK! ??? (How intelligent/bizarre is that)?!?! Again, sad but true...

Pray NOT for the souls that have made it into Heaven...

Pray for the souls of those among us still that have the potential for apathy within their own hearts and souls.

...May God Bless us Everyone...

And on to my blog...

We had an 85 degree day yesterday! Almost too hot... (or maybe just too fast to become that hot; not giving a body time to gradually adjust)... I pulled many weeds and turned over much soil and sod to prepare it for a few seeds. I transplanted a few things that did not agree with my plans. And NO, I am surely not a landscaper, (nor anything even close), but I do love a zillion flowers around me too.

Casey came out after mass; once again in intense pain. Jenny Mella was home from college for the weekend, and stopped to visit with Casey...

.

.

Casey and Jenny...

CaseyAnne in my old leather jacket, (and showing off her brand new chaps)...

Jenny Mella just being a wonderful friend!

.

.

.

Berta, (and of course Master Gabriel), also came out to visit... Berta had brought along her beautician things to cut Caseys hair. She always does such a grand job with this...

Gabriel wanted to be outside... and played happily with his firetruck for a long time...

.

.

So very cute!

.

.

And yes, he kept his shoes on because Grandma has not yet sprayed the picker bushes that are poking their heads up out of the lawn. Damned thistles anyway...

.

.

Now why do I think that dandelions are so pretty, and yet I hate the thistles? ~They are BOTH noxious weeds...

(But maybe because when I step on a dandelion it doesn't hurt)? hehehe

.

.

.

Berta! Enjoying the sunshine too!

.

.

They had to leave so Berta could get into town and pick up a headlamp for her Escort. (Could they make these things any harder to change now)? One has to practically disassemble the entire front end to change the stupid bulb! Makes no sense.

Casey and I took a little walk around to check on the flowers progress too. More and more opening up yesterday, and fun for the dogs too... Not so bad as the sun is going down... But we did watch a bee (wasp) make its way inbetween the siding by the bathroom and the brackets that hold it. UGH. Guess I have a bee problem too! Don't know how very brave I am to be going up into the attic over the back entrance to be killing them either... (Methinks I will be finding out very soon though)! eekie... It makes my skin go goose~bumply to even think of it right now...

.

.

.

Casey used that old board so as not to be walking around looking like a 'question mark'...

She goes in tomorrow for her xray to make sure her stent has passed. Now this is going to sound bad, but in a way I am hoping that it has not; because then THAT might account for all of her pain that comes and goes? Maybe? An extra little prayer then?

On that note, I had better close for today and get busy... Maybe they will finally come to fix my lawn today? I hope!

And I also hope that you all have a wonderful Monday, whether you have chosen to be silent... or not.

XOXO
Anne

PS...

...If any of you were wondering about those tulips I had shown in yesterdays blog?

Here is what happened to them overnight!

.

Ahhhhh... Spring!

.

.

Hit Counter

Procrastination~

Good Sunday Morning to All!

I thought maybe I had to babysit yesterday... So when Mary called in the morning, I wanted to surprise her by bringing Master Gabriel down to Appleton to visit too. A good thing I didn't get her hopes up because he never came. Roberta had to work, and her regular sitter must have taken him...

And so, Miss Punk and I headed down to Appleton... Along with Marys birthday present. (Yes, her birthday was February 9th; and no we haven't seen each other for that long of a time). So it was either FINALLY bring her present to her; (or mark the darned thing and sell it in my rummage sale)! hehehe

Yes, I had BIG plans for 'finding' my back room yesterday. And I had even BIGGER plans of mowing back to the woods and through the campsite... (Neither of which appealed to me after I found out that Mary had the day off)! How bad is that!?! But wanted to see her too... So my lawn and my back room will keep til later today perhaps... My back room you ask??? A place to put so many things til they get marked and put outside. (And these are the nights that I really pray that my house doesn't burn down or something; because I would HATE to have all these people be seeing that room as it is right now)! Don't even try to tell me that you don't have a "junk room"...

So I loaded up The Punk and off we went. Buddy, who is also Punks sibling (brother), was waiting in the door for us. (I swear these two pups even remembered each other the way they played together)!

.

.

.

A "recovering" Buddy... Do you remember that story???

Buddy is the one who got into SO MUCH TROUBLE last September. CLICK HERE for THAT awful story! He has since healed, and recovered so very well.

.

.

.

Miss Punk, and Brother Buddy at Marys...

.

.

.

.

Yesterday they ran and ran and ran... (And finally pooped themselves out enough to catch a picture of them that wasn't blurred)! Later, Mary and I had sat on her porch and talked for a bit before I'd left. These two kept a very close eye on us both.

.

.

Punk watching me; Buddy watching Mary...

.

.

.

Punkin and I were home by three, and after putting my feet up for a few minutes or so, it was back outside to get Miss Milly a bit of exercise too...

.

.

A couple of Sand Cranes scared up by the dogs in the cornfield...

And what noise they make; (Spring is in the air for them too)!

.

.

.

Then high time for Miss Milly to get brushed again...

I don't know where it all comes from, one would think she would be naked after removing this all from her coat... (& this is just one of three piles)...

.

.

.

Speaking of Springtime...

.

.

A few daffodils are showing their faces...

.

.

Do you remember the snowstorm after my tulips had poked out of the ground?

.

.

My poor frozen tulips...

.

.

.

Hardly any worse for the storm... And soon to be blooming!

.

.

.

Ah... I do love the Springtime! And I must be getting busy for today too... All those plans of getting so much done yesterday were put on the back burner, but just for yesterday too. It is supposed to be 79 degrees today, and sunny too... More~so windy though; when I mow lawns when it is so windy it is much like being sandblasted by the grass! hehehe

The topmost picture is at Kellis... Punk and I had stopped in last night after brushing Milly. The branch down is from lightning last year. We walked through her pasture too. Tim has dug a moat around their pond. Kellis new electric fence doesn't even permit the horses to get that close to the pond though.

"Procrastination?" Yeah, I did it SO well... (yesterday)! We SO had a magical and 'wonder~filled' day!!! I sure hope your day was just as grand!

...Needless to say, my Punkster is STILL fast asleep this morning!!!

XOXO
Anne

Hmmmm... (You DO have a "junk room", don't you)?!?!

Free Web Site Counters

Kara, Lily; and A Question for you too...

I received the above Yaya Sisters picture from Miss Kelli yesterday... Almost fell off my chair laughing at it too...

Good Morning All!

I hope you are all embarking on a wonderful weekend! Complete with sunshine inside and out!

It is sunny here too, with just a few leftover clouds from the last few days worth of rain. Steady and nice. A good soaking. I don't know how warm it will be getting, but was nice enough when The Punkster was let out earlier... (even though my furnace is running as I write)...

Speaking of the furnace... (funny how the furnace reminds me of my backyard)... But they did not come to repair, resod or reseed yet. Guess they do not work in the rain. Alan did tell me that... So perhaps today? I do not know if they work on the weekend either... Oh well, it is one of those things that bother me, but certainly not THAT important to my health or welfare; so will not give it another thought... (for now anyway)!

.

.

This picture was taken exactly one year ago today.

A picture of lovely Kara with her newfound best friend!

.

.

.

.

And I remember when she had first called in response to the advertisement I had put in the Press Gazette. My first reaction being 'no way'... She had no vet references, save for her parents. She was in the process of moving to a new apartment in Minnesota, etc etc etc... (And WOW, had it been anyone else, sounding less sincere, they would NOT have even been given directions to my home).

But there was something so special about Miss Kara, and something about that phone call stayed with me.

Kara had stated that she lived alone. That she worked at the Mayo Clinic. Her new apartment would not be ready til June or July. Yet our conversation was just so sweet.

She said if she could come that she would bring her mother along too. Fair enough... I couldn't break her heart... But she would like to have the runt, if possible.

(I remember thinking, "There is NO obvious runt!")...

.

.

.

Or was I not seeing clearly? They were all the same size!

.

.

No. Not my imagination... They were all the same size...

.

.

.

I even looked closer... Nope. No runts!

.

.

.

.

By the time Kara and her mother had arrived from Lena, the pups were all done with their breakfasts and were playing together on the lawn. There was one that seemed a bit samller, but surely not by much. This pup even sought Kara out... She picked it up and it was love at first sight. I took that picture, along with three others, because all the pups were also very close in appearance. I photographed her with the pups belly, her back paws and her front paws. (At this age, the pups paws had not yet turned completely black)...

Out of this love for that little up, and many phone calls since, Kara is the only 'puppy parent' who has stayed in touch; (save for the obvious of my sister, Mary and her BuddyPup).

Kara named her little one "Lily"! And together they have lived through it all! From a skin sensitivity from her new carpeting, to a yeast infection; through the "Terrible Twos" (and the danged 'Teens' too)!

I shall ask her for a new updated picture of Miss Lily the next time she calls, and you will see the missing link between Miss Punk and her Mama Milly! Lily seems to still be the smallest of the bunch... (I think even less than 60 pounds if I remember correctly). She does call every now and then, just to make my day!

I wonder why I ever had any doubts!

.

Anyway, I saw a question on one of my groups this morning, and tried to help the lady out...

How do you completely eradicate "ground bees" so that your children can safely play outside?

We had run into this here last year... and the year before... and... And... AND... I usually just use the product called Sevin. But if any of you would have any more answers for her please just leave them in the comments for her. (I did give her the link to my 360).

Have a grand weekend ALL!

XOXO
Anne

It's ME, Punkin, Here Again!

My biggest "ARF!!!" to all of you...

...(and we all know what THAT means)!

I thought I would sneak on here while 'she' is out moving the BIG BLUE SCARY THING to the end of the driveway; (where I am not supposed to go...EVER).

This BIG BLUE SCARY THING even has eyes on it, it makes lots of noise when she pulls it away too. 'She' says they are 'reflectors' and not eyes; but I am too smart for this... Because these eyes only open up when a car goes by... And they LQQK at it, watch it, and then they go back to sleep. But I think its eyes look at me too. I have always been afraid of this thing...

'She' is still pretty sick, and I try to help her a bit when she gets like this. I even stand right behind her when she gets real sick, and she 'ralphs'. (She squashes me between the little closet doors and her back, but it is not too bad. Worse for herself I think). And then she puts on the real black glasses and I can't see her eyes when she does this. But it must make her feel better.

She slept almost the whole day yesterday. Kinda boring for me; 'cepting when the Little Boy came with his mama~ (And they came before I had even finished sleeping)!

.

.

This little boy likes me so much he even gets down on the floor with me!

.

.

Then the sick Little One came over later in the day too! She is much better now, well mostly, and every now and then can even play with me.

They come around lots, these three... (I think to make sure that 'she' is not mistreating us dogs)! hehehe

My own mama was really mean to me for a while; but lately she has been sorta nicer. I try to be nice to her, but on those days, she just won't have it; and it's like I am not even her kid anymore. (Danged mamas anyway)... 'She' says this happens lots though...

The other day, I got to spend almost the whole day outside!!! 'She' cut the lawn and the little one picked up all the stones. (I think she does this so 'she' won't be shooting them at me or my mama when she cuts the lawns).

Still sometimes I get too close. I don't mean to, but she will holler at me to 'go away'. (Feel the love)!

When the little one was done picking up these little rocks, she brought out a little ball for me to play with.

.

.

.

YAY! Finally Casey wants to play!!!!

.

.

.

.

.

She throws the ball, or gives it a big kick... so I can bring it back to her.

(She really likes this game; so we can do it for a long time too)!

.

.

.

.

I tried to kick it once, but fell down trying...

.

.

.

One time though, when I finally got the ball to bring it back to her, it slapped me in the face!

... And HARD!!! ...

.

.

.

.

... And then it pinched my nose. (Even HARDER)!

.

.

.

This hurt a lot!

.

.

.

The Little One brought me inside to make sure everything was alright with me...

And I suppose I really was alright... (but for some reason, I just couldn't get over the shock of the darned thing BITING ME BACK)!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I think I saw TWO things everywhere I looked, for a LONG while after that..

.

.

.

.

.

.

She said my ball was 'dead', and put it in the BIG BLUE SCARY THING!

(Things that go in here I never see again)... So I was kinda sad about that...

.

.

.

But then to make me feel a better, she takes out the really BIG ball.

.

.

The one that the little boy likes so much...

.

.

.

And we played with this for a long time too.

(I have to hit it with my arms cuz otherwise it doesn't play right with me)...

.

.

.

But she just kept kicking it to me... And it was SO much fun!!!

And since my face was feeling a little better by then, I tried to catch it right..

.

.

.

Yup. You guessed it...

.

.

.

.

.

And she said THAT wasn't right either!

.

.

And so she put this one in the BIG BLUE SCARY THING TOO!

.

.

We took a walk to the woods too. I didn't want to come home because I have acres and acres of 'stumps' to pull out yet.

.

.

Here I am with one of those stumps.

(they come out lots easier now that it is warm outside)...

.

.

.

My mama don't like to do this...

And she ran home, (just to avoid me), through the field...

Course she had her squeak burger with her too, so couldn't be bothered.

.

.

.

.

Uh oh, my 'she' is back inside. Looks all wet too. Guess it is raining just like yesterday. I get so very bored when this happens...

And so I tried to play "doctor" with my monkey. When 'she' woke up from her sleep, she saw what I'd done...

.

.

.

I'll bet this gets put in the BIG BLUE SCARY THING too...

(And just when I finally had gotten it apart)!

.

.

.

.

So there ya have it peoples; just one more blog about my life as a dog!

(I still don't think I am a dog... but saying this makes my 'she' happy, so I guess it's alright then).

Time for me to eat breakfast now.

Miss me, OK? Cuz I can't always get on here when I want to... (Sometimes that lady with the little boy comes and gets on here; and sometimes it's the sick little one too). I have some fierce competition for this machine I tell ya.

And for all of my friends out there a BIG "ARF" to ya all!

LOVE, Punk

"ARF!"

.

...you do TOO know what that means...

.

.

...and if'n ya don't, you will just have to read my earlier blogs.

Look in the tag cloud, my other 5 are all there under "Written by Punk".

,

(That's me)!

.

.

Free Website Counters

.

.

"D'Ya Want Fries With That?" Amos' pic added...

hehehe

And a very Good Morning to All;

So busy all the time, and yet at least with that comes a few extra moments of sleep.

This, just received from Little Lisa...

Two Wolves

One evening q wise Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between the two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance,self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.

It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

Grandfather simply replied, "The one you feed."

**** I do want/need to apologize for some very ignorant comments that have been left on my blogs lately; I am trying to stay ahead of them, but cannot always temper the attitude, the content, nor the language that comes with them. The person responsible for this is already on my ignore/delete list, but somehow they do keep getting through no matter. So no matter about that to you, I can only promise to do my best to stay on top of it all.

Suffice it to say that I can be quite tempered myself about harassment etc. And I shall change my blast to reflect this also... Perhaps just to reply, "D'Ya Want Fries With That?"

We have been trying to get all the lawns cut and fixed up; ready for mowing... CaseyAnne went outside yesterday morning and got more gravel off the lawns... A tedious job; but a well~done one too. ("well~done" you say? Hmmm, "d'ya want fries with that")?

.

Me, Deadheading de Dandelions!

.

Oh I strike a few of those little graveled rocks here and there, but there are more important things to worry about not hitting, (like the dogs, the barn or even a tree or two)! hehehe Of which I am happy to report I have hit NONE of the above... (knock on wood)... The worst noise comes from all of the leftover cleaned~off and chopped~up little corncobs in the lawn. (Methinks next year, if the farmer plants corn in these fields and harvests it the same way, I shall tell him that HE will be raking them off the lawns then)...

Roberta called after she had gone home yesterday, and could she come early this morning to blog a bit more? I said of course, and so I must type a bit faster. (Um no, that's not going to work)! I got almost everything mowed; except for the ditches and the trails and the campsite, and these areas I can generally wait on anyway, for a week or so after I first cut.

I know I should not ever call it mowing the lawns...

More accurately put would be calling it "dead~heading~dandelions", "shredding~pine~cones" and "mulching leftover leaves" Only sometimes do my blades hit real grass!

Speaking of real grass, Mr. Olsen said they will be here this morning to fix the ruts in the backyard, unless it is raining. It was raining a bit earlier, but sidewalks and aprons are all dry now. Hoping they still come, as it needs some good fixin' badly.

.

.

.

.

Master Gabriel!

.

.

I babysat for Master Gabriel on Tuesday. He is always such a card; and learns something new every day... Tuesdays lesson was the difference between saying 'clock' and 'cat'.

.

.

.

I have this picture of Amos that Sweet Chris (CMM) had painted for me...

Gabriel LOVES this painting!

(As do I)...

.

.

.

Gabriel pointed at it and said 'clock' ...

Um... nope. I pointed at it and said 'cat' then at the clock and said what IT was. In no time he had differentiated the two; and went home and showed Berta where her clock was!

.

.

.

There was a time to play with Miss Punk...

.

.

.

...a time to blow his nose...

.

.

.

...and a time to say his little prayers too.

.

.

.

A quick walk to the woods Tuesday morning and there was a tree down by the campsite.

.

The same winds that knocked this over MUST have been the same ones responsible for the three shingles I had also found in the yard...

.

.

.

Crap, now there's another project this year is to redo that roof.

(Yes, there are more than three shingles off of it)!

.

.

Miss Punk had so much fun in the woods that she did not want to be coming back to the house with us. (Generally when I take off running, she will follow right at my heels)...

.

.

Roles were a bit reversed somehow, and it was Miss Milly running right behind me as Miss Punk decided if she would come or not!

.

.

.

.

I'd better close for now, Roberta has just called and will be getting here in a few minutes.

I hope everyone is having a grand day!!! (And I shall too; if my back yard gets fixed up).

XOXO
Anne

Fries anyone?

hehehe

Free Hit Counter