I hope to be around more soon, but life has been extremely hectic of late.  Anyway, I wanted to share my Mother's Day and record it on my blog.  Dazey and I are on the same wave length as far as bragging about our kids.   It's a mother's right, isn't it?  lol

I didn't see either of my wonderful offspring yesterday, but they both know their presence isn't required, just appreciated.  I'm not into guilt and score keeping, as my mother always was. 

Ginger has the most wonderful sense of humor and it's part of what makes her so beautiful to me.  She sent me this card that sounds exactly like something she would say:

And she sent me this beautiful arrangement:

And I got a phone call too.  Thank you, Ginger.  You're not only a wonderful daughter, but a great mother yourself.

Kevin isn't prone to send flowers or cards, but always calls and spends an hour or two visiting over the phone.  So, we had a great time for at least an hour and a half talking about the good ole days, how things are going, and life in general.  Well, maybe just a little gossip thrown in here and there, lol.  He knows that "Mom" will always love him and be his best advocate.  I'm so proud of the man he has become.

But the best gifts of all are the "I love you, Mom's" I hear from them both.  I'll say it again.....I'm so blessed. 

I hope everybody had a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope to get the time to catch up on everybody soon. 

Pup

I continue to be struck by the beauty of Spring and I'm sure my co-worker got really tired of me yesterday as we made the 10 hour round trip to the city and back with my constant ooooo's and ahhhh's at the scenery around us.  It was cloudy and threatening rain at times, sunshine peeking through at times.  I longed for the time to stop and a camera at hand.  I got a lot of "uh huh's" and "yeah's" from the passenger seat as I made comments about what a beautiful country we live in and the effect of the streaming rays of sun on the lush green of hardwood and pine timber spread for miles across endless hills and valleys around us. 

I don't remember ever being so very in tune with the beauty of nature before.  Is it because of the long draught we had and the beauty of this land finally emerging again?  I dunno.  I looked around me this morning and was gazing out to the back of our property and was struck again with awe.  I love green!  Here's a shot from the top step outside the screened patio:

That gray spot in the bottom of the picture is Peanut taking a nap next to the new fence and Junior wrapped around him doing the same.  Like I said, Peanut may be a pest, but Junior still loves the little guy.  lol

My flower bed is growing so fast and I love walking past it to come in from a long day, or just go out once in a while to enjoy the brilliant red flowers.

I must have an old soul because my favorite things are old and have wonderful memories.  I looked around the house this afternoon and realized that I surround myself with the old things that I love and I would be lost without them.  I'll share a few:

I spent a lot of my childhood sleeping in a wonderful old bed that was in the front bedroom of my grandparents house.  I remember falling to sleep next to a big open window in that beautiful old bed with the night breeze blowing across me and waking to smell the morning through that window and hear the birds singing, especially the mocking birds.  My grandmother knew I loved the furniture in the front bedroom, so she left it to me and it's now in one of our guest bedrooms.

One of my favorite things, I found behind one of her old pictures that was framed.  It was the original picture that comes in a new frame.  The frame was so old that you can kind of date it by the picture it contained.  It's Barbara Stanwick.

So how old do you think the frame is?  I've never really tried to find out.  There was also a set of figurines in her living room that I always adored, so she left those to me too.  They are now in my dining room in the china hutch that she also left to me.

To the left is a carved wooden vase that I got in Jamaica.  I love the bright colors.  I also got this cat, carved out of silkwood in Jamaica:

And the tulips and rose that I also got in Jamaica that are totally carved from wood, stems, leaves and all:

I spent one wonderful week full of memories there with my Dad.  He worked as a job superintendant when the power plant in Kingston, Jamaica was expanded and was there for ten months.  We travelled the Island and had a great time.  I'll post some of the pictures I took sometime.

And another of my very favorite things is the encyclopedia set and stand from my grandparents from my Dad's side of the family.  The books were printed in the 20's and it's interesting to read the "facts" from that era.  I tried to look up the gestation period for a cat once, and everywhere I looked, it would have a refernce to another section, over and over til it had me going around in circles, yet gaining no knowledge.  See, such subjects were kind of taboo back then, I discovered.  So, I looked up the word "sex" and it said, "See 'Mental Conflict'".  lol.  Anyway, here it is:

What makes this stand of ancient encyclopedias extra special to me is not only that it's old and belonged to my grandparents, but I also have the picture taken of my Dad when he was very young sitting on the same stand.  Daddy is now 75 years old.  Here he is at age three, sitting on the encyclopedia stand:

Believe it or not, I've never really considered myself particulary sentimental.  And I don't collect everything or lots of one thing.  Most possessions don't mean that much to me.  But there have been a few that have meant a LOT to me and I'm fortunate to own them now.  They are the pieces that I loved as a child and will love until I die. 

And the memories continue to materialize as I grow older.  I have many things since Ice came along that I would never part with.  One example is the Kincaid print he gave me for Christmas three years ago.

So, am I a "Material Girl"?  Naw.......Just sappy and sentimental about a few things that are connected to the ones I love and some that I've lost and miss a lot.  Everyone knows how that is, right? 

So, what's in your home that you can't part with?  What is it that brings on a flood of sentiment, nostalgia, or ambiance from the past?  I hope you'll share yours too.

Thanks for letting me share mine.

pup

Lordy, this ole gal is tired!  Whoever said that "busy" is a good thing needs to be strung up in the nearest tree, I think. Well, maybe that's a little severe...but....

I gotta get up bright and early and head for the City and back tomorrow for a two hour meeting.  Makes a lotta sense to drive ten hours for a two hour meeting, right?  Then I gotta get up Monday morning and head right back for a ONE hour meeting.  Mandatory. 

My son may come for the weekend with his one year old twin boys, so I'll be "busy" some more, I'm sure.  I love em, tho.  And I'll have lots of kodak moments to take advantage of, not to mention time with my beautiful babies and my son.

Ice's folks and his son will be coming back with me from the City on Tuesday to stay for a few days, so we'll be "busy" some more, lol.  But I have a wonderful mother-in-law that keeps the house all neat and clean while she's here.  Bless her, bless her, bless her!!!!

The day after they get here, I'll be going to the hospital overnight for some tests, but will be home to head for work the next morning.  Like I said......"busy"!  The next week, I'm back on the road to the City again.  Then two weeks after that, it's a family reunion in Texas and on to the City AGAIN for a conference.

Sometimes I wish I had a pilot's license, ya know? lol  Or maybe be able to twitch my nose and be there.  Dream on, Pup......dream on.

On a positive note, as of yesterday, all the dogs have been to the vet and have their yearly shots.  Whew!  I opted to take them two at a time, so it took a while, lol.  No more vet visits til Sugar's nine week shots.  Two whole weeks, woooo hooo!

Back on the serious, we had a tornado today right downtown that tore off roofs, blew out windows and downed some huge trees on top of cars, churches and houses.  It could have been a lot worse, but it was bad enough from my vantage point, which was right in the middle of it.  All around my office was damage, but we didn't have any, thank goodness.  And nobody was hurt that I know of.  It was just a tiny cloud that I noticed earlier and it seemed to just blow up out of nowhere and reek havoc.  I've never seen anything build so fast and furious.  It rained so hard in just a few minutes that the street out front was a raging river and there was so much water at the back of the building that it was pouring in under the door.  What a mess!  But like I said, it could have been much worse.  It was apparently a small tornado.  There was no weather bulletin or sirens going off.  It happened too fast. 

I rushed home to check on the dogs and the house, but it didn't appear that we got anything more than a lot of rain in this area.  The dogs were all inside the kennel, warm, dry and safe.  I drove past damage and even a roof in the middle of main street on the way home.  Our local PSO office was partially destroyed also.  I guess I'll learn the rest of it tomorrow when the paper comes out.

Ice took me for Chinese food tonight and since I skipped lunch, I ate like a pig!  So I'm so full that I can barely move still.  Sure was good, tho.  They have the best pepper shrimp in the world, plus a lot of other yummy stuff on their buffet.

Well, that's all the news and I wanted to let you guys know that I won't have as much time, which isn't much as it is, for blogging for a while.  I'll sure be here every time I get a chance, tho. 

Catch ya later, gators!

pup

There I go....wishin my life away.  Besides, if it were Friday, I would only be getting home about now from driving to the city and back the same day for a two hour meeting.  So, I guess I'll settle for Tuesday and wish for Saturday.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

I did manage to finish a major project at work today.  I checked on the dogs at lunch and Sugar was begging so sweetly for me to pick her up, that I just hauled her to the office with me for the afternoon.  She spent the afternoon snoozing on me, one of my co-workers, or on my desk.  She was a tired little girl, lol.  But then, of course, she came alive on the trip home and literally tried to chew my chin off.  Needless to say, I was driving a tad irratically and luckily didn't get stopped. 

Came home to cook supper, give monthly worm pills and two baths.  Whew!  I got Prissy and Peanut bathed, since they have check-ups tomorrow.  They weren't as dirty as I thought, but at least I don't have to take them to the Vet stinkin.  I really needed to give Jr. a bath, but the ole back only holds up for wrestling two at a time.  lol

It's like having a bunch of kids.  They're all unique and all a pain in the butt!  But I love em anyway, doggone it.  Jr. and Buster have gotten tired of Peanut and are rather cranky with him.  Poor little guy just wants to play and they're both grumpy old men these days.  So I've been isolating him in the outer yard and playing with him every chance I get.  He loves to chase balls and bring them back, put them down just out of my reach, then push them to me with his nose.  It's adorable!

He has also gone back to being really attached to Junior, so if I let Junior in the house for a while, I have to let Peanut in too or listen to the most pitiful howling.  So I feel sorry for the little guy and let him in too.  But he's a little scavenger and his favorite thing is digging socks out of the hamper and hauling them out in the yard.  I walked into the living room last night and saw a string of socks and even a pair of pants in the floor all the way to the doggy door.  So I start looking for Peanut!  I was about to go ouside, when he came marching out of the bedroom with yet another sock in his mouth and looking rather pleased with himself. 

He had this look on his face like, "look what I found!" and it was so cute that I couldn't get mad at him.  So, out he had to go and of course Junior too.  This didn't make Junior too happy, but I keep telling him that he was an overgrown puppy at one time and it's his turn to put up with one, lol.  He just rolls his eyes and turns his backside to me. 

I retrieved socks all the way back into the house.  And it occurred to me......in a couple of weeks, Sugar will be in with the bigger dogs and Peanut is going to start getting a run for his money.  And paybacks galore.  That should please Junior to no end, don't ya think?

What a hodge podge of personalities we have.  Buster is "The Man" and runs the show around here, for sure.  We were going to breed Sally this time with Peanut and had Buster enclosed in the house and smaller fenced area.  That lasted about four hours and when I came home for lunch that day, Buster had dug under the fence and was actively guarding and doin a little hanky panky with Sally.  And I'm sure Peanut didn't get a chance to get anywhere near her.  So I gave up and took Peanut out of the "hanky panky enclosure".  Next time I'll try putting two fences between them.  If he digs under both, then some serious fence reinforcement will be in order.

The word used most when we are talking about Sally is.......neurotic.  She's a weird dog, for sure.  She digs all the time and we're constantly filling in holes.   She also digs the dog food out of the feeder and scatters it all over the floor of the kennel.  She's the one that barks incessantly when someone different comes around.  The rest of them will bark for a bit, then eventually quiet down.  Not Sally!  The guys that built the fence actually came to the door and asked me to put her up.  She was driving them crazy.  Well, join the club!  lol

LaQuinta is actually Sally's neice, but nothing like her.  She's quiet and very very sweet.  Junior inherited her big sweet brown eyes that I just can't resist.  Junior....my gentle giant.

Prissy?  Well, she's the prima donna of the bunch and thinks she a little above all of the rest.  And she's my baby.  But look out, Pris.  Sugar's gonna definitely give you some competition!  lol

I wonder if their ears are ringing?  Probably not.  They're all smarter than me and gone to bed already.  I'm sure Peanut is huddled up next to Junior and Junior is not protesting at all.  See, I know he has a soft spot for little Peanut.  Who wouldn't? 

That's all the Schnauzer news.  It's a dog's life, for sure here on Schnauzer Lane.

pup

THE DILLARD'S THIEF In San Antonio, Texas.

This is too funny! This could only be true, you can't make this stuff up.

Clutching their Dillard's shopping bags, Ellen and Kay woefully gazed down at a dead cat in the mall parking lot. Obviously a recent hit---no flies, no smell.

What business could that poor kitty have had here?" murmured Ellen.

"Come on, Ellen, let's just go..." But Ellen had already grabbed her shopping bag and was explaining, "I'll just put my things in your bag, and then I'll take the tissue."

She dumped her purchases into Kay's bag and then used the tissue paper to cradle and lower the former feline into her own Dillard's bag and cover it.

They continued the short trek to the car in silence, stashing their goods in the trunk. But it occurred to both of them that if they left Ellen's burial bag in the trunk, warmed by the Texas sunshine while they ate, Kay's Lumina would soon lose that new-car smell.

They decided to leave the bag on top of the trunk, and they headed over to Luby's Cafeteria.

After they cleared the serving line and sat down at a window table, they had a view of Kay's Chevy with the Dillard's bag still on the trunk.

BUT not for long. As they ate, they noticed a black-haired woman in a red gingham shirt stroll by their car, look quickly this way and that, and then hook the Dillard's bag without breaking stride.

She quickly walked out of their line of vision. Kay and Ellen shot each other a wide-eyed look of amazement. It all happened so fast that neither of them could think how to respond. "Can you imagine? " finally sputtered Ellen.

"The nerve of that woman!" Kay sympathized with Ellen, but inwardly a laugh was building as she thought about the grand surprise awaiting the red-gingham thief.

Just when she thought she'd have to giggle into her napkin, she noticed Ellen's eyes freeze in the direction of the serving line. Following her gaze, Kay recognized with a shock the black-haired woman with the Dillard's bag, THE Dillard's bag, hanging from her arm, brazenly pushing her tray toward the cashier.

Helplessly they watched the scene unfold: After clearing the register, the woman settled at a table across from theirs, put the bag on an empty chair and began to eat.

After a few bites of baked whitefish and green beans, she casually lifted the bag into her lap to survey her treasure.

Looking from side to side, but not far enough to notice her rapt audience three tables over, she pulled out the tissue paper and peered into the bag. Her eyes widened, and she began to make a sort of gasping noise.

The noise grew.

The bag slid from her lap as she sank to the floor, wheezing and clutching her upper chest.

The beverage cart attendant quickly recognized a customer in trouble and sent the busboy to call 911, while she administered the Heimlich maneuver.

A crowd quickly gathered that did not include Ellen and Kay, who remained riveted to their chairs for seven whole minutes until the ambulance arrived.

In a matter of minutes the curly-haired woman emerged from the crowd, still gasping, strapped securely on a gurney.

Two well-trained EMS volunteers steered her to the waiting ambulance, while a third scooped up her belongings.

The last they saw of the distressed cat-burglar, she disappeared behind the ambulance doors, the Dillard's bag perched on her stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mom always taught me if it doesn't belong to you don't touch it, guess she didn't have a wise mom like I do. Serves her right, God does take care of those who do bad things!

ARE YOU LAUGHING?