He Slacks

Nibbler

He came back last night. Of course, we knew that. Once you find a treat, you usually come back.
If you remember from yesterday, he drug a bag of cat food off down the hill behind the house. I tried to clean up some of it, but it is cat food after all, and other animals will clean it up for me.

He came back to eat it last night and I sat and watched him... from a safe distance, of course. I bet you didn't know that bear eat really slow. I was really surprised. It took him FOREVER to munch on this cat food. Almost dainty like.
Heh..who knew.
I actually got tired of watching him eat. I would have photos for you, but it was too dark.

Since I had cleaned up the rest of his previous mess, there wasn't much else around for him, so he left soon after.

What's the point of this post? Not sure.

But now you know that bear eat really slow and dainty.
Betcha can't say you knew that before you read this :)
*(ok..maybe some of you know, but I bet a lot didn't :P)

Nature

"Heaven is under our feet as well as above our heads."
~Henry David Thoreau

It Starts Again......

And so it starts...
Last two nights bear have been here. I didn't see him the first night, but of course he left me his mess. He ate my birdfeeders :(. Who knows how much I've spent on birdfeeders.

So, last night...
Do any of you remember the rubbermaid container I had last year? Kept all my seed and feed in? Last year he put a couple of teeth marks in it trying to drag it off the porch. I tried moving it different places to no avail.

Well..this year the hubs decides he's going to bolt it to the deck and put a lock on it. I'm leery of course, but I let him do what he wants.
Last night around 2am I hear the ruckus. I turn on the lights just in time to see his furry butt take off of the deck. The rubbermaid container, pictured above, is in pieces. But.. you'll be happy to know that the bottom of the container is still bolted to the deck, and the lock is still locked :)

He also took a bag of cat food down the hill, which you can tell if you follow the trail of cat food. I think I'll pass.

Of course I didn't sleep well the rest of the night, because every little noise I heard I thought he was back.
It's wierd...I'm used to them, I expect them, and I know most likely they can't get into the house, but at the beginning of every bear season I'm extremely nervous.

Oh well... at least the neat part is I'll have more bear photos soon :)


**this is similar to what the container looked like, just not as tall**

Caption Me

It's Friday....

...put your feet up.

Oh..and kiss a cat :)

Believe

Bloom

Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until
they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Day

My washing machine is broken ~ it won't spin, it won't drain. I tried to call for repair, but no one wants to drive as far out as we live. Okay.
I read troubleshooting, but most of it involves moving the washer. This washer is just as tall as I am, and weighs a whole lot more. I did what I could I on my own. Still doesn't work. Yay.

My Internet Exporer hasn't worked right in months ~ it stalls. I also tried troubleshooting with this, to no avail. I finally today sat on the phone with Dell for an hour repairing it. Actually they were very nice and quick to answer. I had to reinstall the operating system, and of course I was biting my nails hoping all would work. It did.

One of my satellite boxes died ~ not sure what happened here, but it wouldn't show up on the tv, and when it did it was scrambled. I called DISH and they came out and replaced the box. Fixed.

~I got my plans set for the next trip to Seattle. My sis will meet me there and drive back to Montana with me. ~ tickets purchased, place to stay.
~I finally listed all camera equipment/serial numbers, etc.. for insurance purposes. ~ Ok, this was easy, but I procrastinated forever.
~I lost the directions for the remote on my camera. ~found it online, then asked a friend, finally got it working again.
~My horses need shoes. ~ Farrier came out, took care of that for me.

Oh and I hit my stereo with the vacuum handle and it fell to the floor, cracking it. ~ This is okay because I wanted a new one anyway :)

Last but not least, Moose brought me half a chipmunk today. It was a gift and I should have been excited. ~ I wasn't.

40 Years Ago Today.........

Happy Birthday, Marianna!!

Caption Me

The Hunter

Dreams

I've had the same dream three nights in a row now.
Well not the same dream, but the same type of dream. Same theme.
Same person, same idea... different scenario.

Of course, I looked it up.

It really amazes me sometimes when the interpretation is right on...

:: Recurring dreams are quite common and are often triggered by a certain life situation or a problem that keeps coming back again and again. These dreams may recur daily, once a week, or once a month, but whatever the frequency, there is little variation in the dream content itself. It usually points to a personal weakness, fear, or your inability to cope with something in your life - past or present.

:: The repetitive patterns in your dream can reveal some of the most valuable information on yourself. It may point to a conflict, situation or matter in your waking life that remains unresolved or unsettled. Or some urgent underlying message in your unconscious is demanding to be understood.

::You must be willing to look within yourself and confront whatever you may find no matter how difficult it my be.

::You must be able to look at the dream from an objective point of view. Try to get past the emotional and reactive elements of the dream and get down to the symbolic images. Many times dreams are masked by elements that are disturbing preventing you to delve any deeper. This is a defense mechanism that your unconscious may be putting up.

Yep, that's it.
Makes no sense to you probably, but makes perfect sense to me.
And, I'm halfway there :)

Scary, I tell ya.

No News is Good News....Right?

I've been left the week without a vehicle. Usually not a biggie to me, but it seems lately I've been hit with the antsy bug and all I want to do is get out. And, as Leesa's Law goes, as soon as I don't have a vehicle, the weather is gorgeous. :)

We do have a property for sale several acres over that has an awesome pond, much bigger than mine that has a fountain and a lot of wildlife around.
I might see if I can go investigate over there if the weather is as nice tomorrow. Lucky for me I know the realtor :)
It's for sale for about 1.2 million if any of you are interested ;)

No sign of bear yet, even though I expect them anyday. The property is mostly ready, but I'm sure they'll surprise me as usual. The morning geese are back...nature's alarm clock. If I can catch them on video for you I will.

Not much else to tell around here. It's been pretty quiet.
It is nice to hear the frogs again at night :)
I could do without the geese wake-up call though. I purposely got rid of all clocks and alarm clocks for just that reason.

I guess I could wake up to worse though.

Demanding

"Hand over the carrots."

Terry's Idea

Leesamark

So today I'm making cards for my Cafe Press store. Any suggestions for cards? Requests?

Cheeeeeeese :)

Marble grins for the camera.

Theme: Dreamscape

SpiderBoy

I thought of Stacie when I saw this :)

This is my nephew, SpiderBoy.

Floating By

Scavenger Hunt : Rare

I know you've all seen this photo already, but it seemed to fit the theme "Rare" perfectly :)

King of The Forest

Let's Blow Bubbles

The Cow Says....

Lying in the grass. It's very peaceful, have you tried it?
I've done this the last couple of days, just lying there with the camera. Of course I get visited by many cats probably wondering what I'm doing.

From where I lie you can only hear nature. Well, the occasional private plane flies over. Sometimes I can hear a 4wheeler on another road, or a neighbors dog bark. But mainly I hear water and birds, or the wind through the pine trees. It's a cool sound. When I first moved here I kept thinking a big truck was coming down the driveway. But no, it was rustling wind.

I learned a lot of new noises moving here.
Did you know the Stellars can mimic other noises? They're really good at sounding like cats. I swear the first month I lived here I kept thinking there was a cat stuck in a tree somewhere, and I would walk around worried, inspecting all the trees. Heh.. tricksters.

I learned the sound of a baby fawn crying. But.. there's also a bird that can sound the same. I was told that if you hear a fawn crying, it usually means there's an enemy trying to hurt it. So, of course when I hear that noise, I investigate. Only to find I'm chasing a bird. Tricked...again..

Elks bugling is a wild sound.
Coyotes howling is beautiful, but a bit scary.
The bear will do this low huffy type growl if you irritate them. Yes, I have experience in irritating the bear. Mainly because I don't want them looking in the windows. Makes be a bit nervous sometimes.
The deer make this almost blowing-nose type sound when they feel threatened, or when they're warning the other deer.

The pileated woodpecker makes this almost laughing-woman type sound. Another one that surprised me at first.
Oh and then there's the red-winged blackbird. A beautiful sound, especially through your windows first thing in the morning :)

Okay.. I don't know where I was going with this. I really was just going to show you Tweet sitting in the grass.
Instead, you got a lesson in nature sounds :)

Lucky you :)

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Next Day...

Critter's fine. You'd never know it happened.
He's back to harassing other cats and being lazy.

It's not so much what happened, as it is that I didn't notice he was missing. I do have quite a few, I know, but he's one of those cats that's pretty much always in view.. kind of like Trout. You can't miss Trout.

It's a nice day, the sun is out, and I'm outta here. I hear the big city callin' my name.

Something must be waiting for me to photograph it, right?

Just Kick Me

You won't believe what I did. I feel horrible :(

As you know, two days ago I went on the big spring-cleaning binge. For two days, or at least 1 1/2 days, I cleaned this house. Along with some personal issues, it has been pretty distracting. Well, long story short, I've been pretty distracted all around.

On our lower level we have a sofabed. I always open it up and have it ready for the petsitter when I go out of town. I hadn't even touched it since being back from Seattle.
During my cleaning frenzy, I cleaned the bed and closed it up. That was the morning before last.

Tonight, I'm lying in bed watching TV and I hear a couple of cats arguing. This is normal, but 99% of the time it involves Critter. He can be quite the instigator. It was at that moment, that I realized I haven't seen him recently. Like not even today, recently.

I literally shot out of bed. I turned on the lights and started calling his name. Luckily, sigh, he answered back and I started following his cry.

He was stuck under the sofabed. I shut my cat in the sofabed :(
Two days he was in there and I didn't even realize it.
Ugh. I'm sick.
He's okay.. he's not hurt. He's hungry and thirsty though.

If you know me at all, you know that just kills me.

Just kick me while I'm down :(

**as I reread this, it does sound worse than it was. He was under the sofa when the bed was closed. He was not smushed under, or actually rolled up in the bed. He was just closed up in a very small space between the bed and the wall. Doesn't make me feel much better, but I wanted to clarify he wasn't rolled up into the bed**

Strength

A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful, beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence. ~Pam Brown

Women, poets, and especially artists, like cats; delicate natures only can realize their sensitive systems.
- Helen M. Winslow

SleepyTime

Sleepy. Just like the photo.
I went to sleep before 11pm last night, which as you know is SO not like me. I woke up at 9am...again, not normal. This morning, I'm still tired. I could easily go right back to bed but I'm fighting it.
I don't think I'm sick or getting sick, or I don't sense any symptoms anyway. I guess we'll see.

The weather is so-so. It's grey but it's not raining.
Maybe I'll go lay on the porch with the camera.

Hope I don't fall to sleep out there :)

Ahhh.....

After spring-cleaning my house all day yesterday and some this morning. After dishpan hands, dust-filled nose, and sore calves from the many trips up and down the stairs...

This is what I'm doing today :)



What are you doing today?

Classy

Cats in 50mm

"If a cat spoke, it would say things like, 'Hey, I don't see the problem here'." ~ Roy Blount,Jr.

Spring Cleaning

Not much really to talk about lately. Spring has officially arrived around here.



There are critters everywhere. Many ducks visiting the pond, the swallows are back, along with the grosbeaks, redwinged blackbirds, and crossbills.



I woke this morning to this very strange knocking. I lied in bed for a bit listening, half awake, trying to figure out what it was. I knew there was no one at my door because for one thing, Taylor didn't react and second, no one in my driveway.



I finally got up, got dressed and went out to investigate. I found a big ol' Flicker beating on the side of the house. Oh yay.
I had to scare him away many times before he finally got the hint.



I spent the majority of my day cleaning. Spring cleaning really. It was gorgeous here and that is usually inspiring. I opened all the doors and windows (which of course Trout found a way to escape, heh). I cleaned windows and dusted the hidden areas, and de-cluttered. I'm quite impressed, even though I really only got one level done.



I now wish with the weather, I had spent more time outside, but if that cleaning urge comes, I have to take it then. It's not exactly my favorite thing to do :)



I do have ONE daffodil that bloomed. My first flower of the season. The strawberry beds are bright green and there are about a million pine cones in the yard. I was thinking I'd pay a neighbor kid to come pick them up. What do you think? A nickel a pine cone? I'm thinking as many as there are, I will still be shelling out a few bucks.

Better thee than me, I say :)

Caption Me

"Hey Baybeee.... How YOU doin'? ;)"

Take A Listen

I'm likin' this song...



Song by Lucinda Williams

Makes Ya Smile

Scavenger Hunt : Steps

Subway escalator, Washington D.C

They're Back :)

Uncooperative

I'm having one of those days...

The weather has been uncooperative.
So has the ladder.
So has the internet or my computer, can't figure out which.
The bird bath broke.
My camera battery wouldn't charge.
The washing machine shakes like an earthquake.
And..
I sunk in the mud in my fuzzy slippers this morning :(

It's about 3pm.. can I go back to bed?

A Hairy Situation

So, I can't decide.
I really really want to cut my hair. Which I know I'll do eventually. But, I'd also like to donate it to Locks of Love.

But without going Britney, I'd have to grow it about 4 more inches. So, do I endure all this hair and 4 more inches for a while? Or ,just go for it and cut it all off?

I know.. I really do have have tough decisions to make, don't I?

My brain is tired now :P