Flowers and Feathered Friends

My momma and her friend Bob sent these flowers to my hubby and myself today. There's a really cool tulip on the side that doesn't show up well in the photos because it's mostly white. The large pink rose in the front actually smells like a rose too. Amazing.






This is a wren nest on one of our walk way over hang supports. Wrens will make a nest in all kinds of things. We found one once in a shirt pocket out in our tractor shed. And once when we left a plastic Christmas wreath hanging on our back door too long (OK, way too long) a wren made a nest in it. That one didn't end well. A snake crawled up the door and got the babies.) I've also read that wren males make several nests and then entice the female to look them over trying to win her from the other possible suitors. If she likes the nest, she'll pick the male who made it. Click on the picture of the nest and you can see the baby bird peaking out. I love all the beautiful, colorful birds, but I think wrens are my favorite. They just make me smile.

Final Elly Update

We just found Elly's body in a ditch with high grass by our house. We had looked there no less than 6 times, but just couldn't see her until we almost walked on top of her. My hubby and I found her together. I saw buzzards circling across the highway when I came home from the store. That's what made us look more closely in the high grass and low places. We hadn't done it before because there are just so many of them. Now, of course, I have so many regrets about not doing it sooner.

Dispirited

My hubby, our white German Shepherd dog Barkley and I are all showing signs that we're starting to get dispirited about Elly. We've been hopeful, even though we've been brutally honest with each other about the possibilities of what could have happened to her. As each hour passes, hope diminishes. We're becoming more sad, grumpy and restless. It's not really fun at our house today.



Elly had her red collar on when she went missing. She did not have on tags. Of course, I know better than this and that should not have been the case. She does have a micro-chip. I've called the AKC Companion Animal Recovery folks (her chip is registered with them) and the Home Again folks (they made the chip and she's registered with them again now too). They notify vets and pet related businesses within a 25 mile radius and a 50 mile radius, I do believe.


Today, I took fliers to several gas stations, restaurants and one trucker stopped on the side of the road. They were all very kind. One lady at a gas station more than 7 miles from our house said she had seen a large, black dog walking on the side of the highway just a little while ago. I got the direction the dog was headed in and took off. I didn't see hide nor hair of Elly.


Driving around to these different places gave me ideas for other places to go. Of course tomorrow I'll take fliers to the local vets, groomers, the Walmart across the lake and any businesses that were closed today or that I flat out missed. I also realized that some unscrupulous person could have purposely snatched our dog with the purpose of trying to sell her in Canton at the First Monday Trade's Day, which just happens to be next weekend. I think it actually starts on Thursday, but I'll double check to be sure. I also realized that I could put fliers on the cars in the church parking lots next Sunday. I would have done it today if I'd had enough of them with me or time to get more. I'll be calling to put ads in the newspapers also, tomorrow.


If you're reading this and you think of any other places I can try, please leave a comment.

MISSING!!!

As I sit here on this rainy Saturday morning, eating cold pizza for breakfast, our Elly dog has been missing for more than 29 hours. My hubby let the dogs out to potty yesterday morning and Elly did not return with Barkley. Hubby later found a hole in the fence.

Elly will leave the yard, but she is a homebody and has always returned very quickly. She doesn't like to be outside for long stretches of time if it's hot or raining. She likes to lay down after her drink of water and cool off. I guess it's all of that thick, black hair.

She has a slight limp in her right back leg at the moment. It started when I was in CA and was much worse then. I think it started on the weekend (when our vet is closed) and by Monday had started to improve, so hubby decided not to take her in to have it checked out. I keep thinking that she and Barkley ran around enough to aggravate that leg and she was limping more. Then she was probably either hit by a car on the highway or someone stopped and picked her up because she looked injured. We have driven up and down the highway, about 7 miles in each direction and don't see her. The problem is that there is a lot of tall grass this time of year because of the wildflowers growing. Most of it won't be mowed until the flowers have gone to seed.

Elly being hit by a car is the worse case scenario, but if we could find her body, we'd at least know what happened. The other possibility, someone picking her up -- at that time of morning, the only people I can think of driving down the highway would be going to work, travelers or truckers. I can't imagine anyone being able to take her to work. If she was picked up by someone traveling or a trucker, then Lord only knows where she is by now.

I've called the Humane Societies around here and a neighbor who rides horses and asked him to keep an eye out for her. We'll call the newspapers and put an ad in and we'll put up fliers. At this point, all we can do really, is hope. I've got a headache from worry and I'm so sad I can't even believe it. She's a loud, bossy thing, but sweet as can be. I love her and miss her. Hug your pets today and give them a little treat.

photo week 3 of 39 -- Candlelight

When I started this, I looked over all of the themes and visualized what I might be able to photograph if the theme came up at certain times of the year. So far, the luck of the draw has not worked to my benefit. Maybe that will work to get my creativity flowing more at some point.

This is a photo of my father as a small boy with his mother's father (my great grandfather Williams). I had hoped to take "candlelight" in a church near Christmas, since that was not the case, I made my own shrine type setting for this favorite photo of these two important men in my life.

My Great-granpa Williams passed when I was 5 or 6, can't remember for sure. I do remember him coming to visit once when my sister and I were very small and I have a photo of him visiting when we were even smaller. There are only two memories I really have of him, other than just knowing that he was kind and loving. He drank his coffee out of a saucer. I asked about that at some point later and was told that it was because he was used to boiling his coffee and it cooled quicker in the saucer so that he could drink it. The other memory is of Granpa Williams saying that he needed to take his teeth out and put them in a glass so that he wouldn't bite us in his sleep! He must have had to share the bed with my younger sister and I. Bless his heart. I can't imagine he got much sleep, since I just tried two nights of that with my own granddaughters in the last week or so. Funny memory.

Next week's photo theme is "harvest".

Busy Week

I can't believe how many times I've been to Dallas this week or how busy I've been since I've returned home from CA. The good thing about being out and about so much is that the weather has been great and the bluebonnets have been even thicker, seemingly daily. I've put the radio on and sang along in all of my toneless glory. Fortunately, I traveled alone and no innocent persons were hurt by my singing. Believe me, that has not always been the case. Just ask my friends, if you happen to meet them at some point. They'll tell you.

I had my hair trimmed on Monday. I had hoped that it would be long enough after the trim, to cut and donate to Locks of Love. It wasn't. Looks like I have to grow it at least three more inches in order to have it long enough for me not to end up looking like a plucked bowling ball after the cut.

I've had blood work done and been to doctors for a check up. I've been to the dentist for an extremely overdue cleaning, only to find out that I need 5 crowns! I apparently grind or clench my teeth in my sleep you see, and after years of it, there is hell to pay as I have cracked all these teeth that need to be crowned. Somehow, it doesn't make me feel like a queen. There is also a little day surgery coming up next week, so I had some pre-op stuff to take care of. Thankfully, that's all taken care of and I can get back to taking care of the house. I feel like a little spring cleaning before it gets hot. Maybe I'll get some of it done in the next week or so.

Sweet Smell of Spring in Texas

I don't live in a particularly pretty part of Texas. I don't think it's ugly, mind you, just not something to write home about. Or write you about -- normally -- that is. It's home and it's where I live. Now, Texas as a whole, I think it can hold it's own against just about any state, but that's native pride talking. And our land and home, when it's all cleaned up and company ready, shines like a new penny and is as pretty as a speckled pup! But that is definitely not the same as the area in which I live. Despite the fact that it's not spectacularly beautiful, it has a certain charm and I like it.














I was driving into Kaufman to have some blood work done when I spotted this field of bluebonnets in Kemp. I'm sure that field wasn't filled with bluebonnets when I left for CA two weeks ago. I did a little colorful wordplay under my breath because I remembered my camera and also remembered that I had not remembered to change the low batteries. I made a u-turn anyway and went back to see if I could take a few pictures. At the very least, I'd enjoy seeing them for myself.













I didn't remember that bluebonnets had such a nice scent! Oh my! The sun felt so nice. The temperature was perfect. At that time of morning, it was in the low 70's. There was this sweet, soft breeze in the air. Part bluebonnets and part "clean" from all the recent rain washing a lot of the pollens away. It was truly a gift to be there. Wish you had been with me.

Home again, home again

I enjoyed every minute with my grandkids. I loved being with the family. It had been so long since I'd seen them all! I got lots of hugs and kisses. My grandson, JT had a new name for me almost daily. "My my-momma" or Gramma were the most used. CL started calling me some pet name that started with an M that I can't recall at the moment. I've got a call in to her to get it, so I can document it and not forget it again. CV just stuck with Gramma.  *The "M" name was Muriel.

We had a lot of fun! One of the things we did was buy and work on "Wreck this Journal" by Keri Smith. I saw it mentioned on a blog. Unfortunately, I don't remember which one it was. If I find it again, I'll post it. We all loved wrecking this book! It's really mine, so they loaned me crayons and gave me little ideas, which I suggested they use most of on their own since they also requested their own copy! So, I told them I'd get each of them one by the time they come see me in July.

All of that being said, I was extremely glad to get back to Texas. I missed the bluebonnets and my own bed!

The theme for next week....

...was picked by my granddaughter CL. It is "candlelight".

Cookery