I waited all week to see if any of you Crazy Cat Ladies out there (you know who you are :)
were going to profile this story...
'My Strange Addiction'
15 years ago Lisa began eating her cat's hair as a way to feel closer to her pets.
Every day she consumes the equivalent of 3 quarter-sized hairballs, which she gathers from around her apartment, including off the floor and the back of her sofa, but says "the best ones are right off the cat."
Happy Belated Year of the Dragon!
(Yes, technically it's a Pegasus, either way let's just pretend it turned out great...)
While I'm enjoying our month long look at tree art, my silly side must be indulged. All work and no play makes Jane a dull gal. Here's some hilarious pics of the crazy spots cats get themselves into (& seemingly enjoy) !
It's a balmy -28C here. Sounds frightfully cold (& it is) but if you're dressed for it and the sun is shining (& it is :) it's really not that bad! I was thinking that this morning as I ran errands, and I'm loving our snow-packed roads as opposed to the treacherous ice we've been tippy-toeing across the past few weeks.
Above is my first give-away(s). I've been keeping my eye open for something for quite some time now and this cute little book jumped out at me this morning, the price was right and I bought two. Twice as nice. They fit in with the whole New-Year's-resolution-losing-weight theme that I'm seeing on so many blogs. Even if you don't have any extra-weight you're trying to lose, it's an adorable read. Cats are infinitely amusing. My only stipulation for this draw is that you are a follower of mine - so if you've been hesitating.... now's your opportunity. I'll announce the winners next Friday. I appreciate people wanting to protect their privacy on the internet, I myself have used a box number when giving out an address for a giveaway - you could also send it to a friends place of work (in another city) - whatever works for you - ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies! So leave me a comment and good luck to everyone!
A few pics I just snapped :)
We're not quite up to our necks yet...!
* Also, if all goes as planned, I will be sharing pics of Peter Pan on Friday's post... stay tuned...
If it's Tuesday... then this must be Jane's Jewels!
Greetings and I hope your past week was a good one. Above is a metal sign I hung in my garden shed office the other day. It gives me a chuckle each time I look up. Some highlights from my week include our fantastic weather (the weekend and first part of this week have been a write-off though), finally completing a long over-due garden project, digging out a new flower bed, many thanks to my dh* and giving my house a much-needed big cleaning over the weekend (well, it was raining anyways). *dear husband
This was Wednesday afternoon, looking down from my deck; my completed project, sigh :) This seemingly simple creation was three years in the making, due of course to me dragging my feet! When we first made this area (six years ago) these blocks had a different finish and there were also small rocks in between and around the perimeter. Also, the center area had an extra four blocks in it. The rocks were a bad choice - you couldn't walk across without knocking them onto the patio blocks... grrr... and then the weeds and grass eventually made their way through the garden cloth. After digging out the rocks and removing the garden cloth, I applied a new finish. (Flexstone)
(Expand to see finish)
A conduit pipe for the electrical cord and sod completed the job. The fountain (a gift for our 25th anniversary two years ago - thanks again Mom :) was previously located in another part of the yard. To me, this area now gives my garden the over-all serene feel I was hoping for.
Here is another angle yesterday. The vines are hops, they completely enclose our covered deck as well.
The other day I planted a Virginia Creeper at the back of my yard against the fence, which I expect will engulf the fence in time. I hope that wasn't a mistake! - if anyone has experience with this vine, please let me know anything I might find useful. I've made peace with the hops (we've had our battles), and in retrospect I would have chosen a different vine, but I guess that's all a part of the joy of gardening, isn't it?!
Greetings Gardeners!
I also hung this slightly creepy wooden Watcher.
Not something I'd want in the house, but fun for the office :)
Here she is mid-howl!
We fear what we don't know, and our puppy Emma is no exception. On Thursday she had a fit over an empty plastic bottle we'd tossed on the floor. Instead of playing with it, she barked non-stop for 15 minutes - no exaggeration. However, Friday she barked for only 10 minutes and then something clicked: she got her nerve up and attacked, lol!! Too funny!
I'm relieved to see that she isn't the only animal
with an irrational fear of everyday objects...!
This went viral last week.
Isn't this a gorgeous shot? Unfortunately, it marks NASA's last space shuttle for at least three years, possibly five or more. Atlantis and four astronauts roared into orbit on Friday and it was noted that the crowds (and resulting emotions) were on a scale not seen since the Apollo moon shots. In response, Former NASA Chief Michael Griffin had the following comment:
"The regret in retiring the shuttle is not that we're retiring a 30-year-old system. That's to be expected," Griffin says. "The regret is that we're not moving on to something that can do more for us. We're not moving on to anything. … I was in favor of retiring the shuttle if that was the price of building a system that could take us back to the moon and beyond. I'm not in favor of retiring the shuttle and replacing it with nothing. … That is what is going to happen."
I agree. It's pretty disappointing.
Shouldn't we be halfway to this by now?
Or at least here?
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth lol, here's something not quite 'out of this world', but stunning nonetheless :) In fact, this short video is perhaps the most amazing thing I've seen in a very long time. Robins built a nest in a hanging basket and the next four weeks were filmed... Let me know your favorite part, mine was dedicated Mom sticking to her post, even in the pouring rain.
That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed this meander through my week...
As my profile states, Jane's Jewels is a "cornucopia of my interests" lol!!
Have a great day!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
This foxy kitty barks (yes barks) until he is caught,
then gets back on script and meows like all good cats are expected to...
He seems uneasy at having been unmasked!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
"Sweet May hath come to love us, Flowers, trees, their blossoms don; And through the blue heavens above us The very clouds move on." - Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs
A bit belated, but I finally turned the page...!
We are having a lovely May so far. I haven't had an opportunity to give everything in my yard a real good once over, but from what I can see, it looks like everyone survived our wicked winter. My vines are up over 1.5 feet and the delphiniums are already 6 inches. The only downfall of the season for me is that the creepy crawlies are now out and about.... so I thought I'd share this interesting story I stumbled across yesterday:
This is pretty scary!
Almost 50 million years ago, ants the size of hummingbirds roamed what is now Wyoming, a new fossil discovery reveals. These giant bugs may have crossed an Arctic land bridge between Europe and North America during a particularly warm period in Earth's history.
At about 2 inches (5 cm) long, the specimen is a "monstrously big ant," said Bruce Archibald, a paleoentomologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who reported the discovery today (May 3) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Though fossils of loose giant ant wings have been found before in the United States, this is the first known full-body specimen.
One living ant species, Dorylus wilverthi, has queens that reach the size of this ancient ant, though Titanomyrma was big all over while D. wilverthi gets its size from an abnormally swollen abdomen, Archibald said.
Archibald dubbed the new ant Titanomyrma lubei -- "titan" for its size, "myrma" for the Greek, "myrmex," or ant, and "lubei" for the fossil collector who discovered the specimen, Louis Lube. The burning question, however, was how giant ants ended up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Also, you may have seen the story about a cat who was dubbed the world's loudest purrer (is that a word?!) The other day ABC news reported that Smokey is now officially the Guinness World Record holder. I love the profile below.
I caught the entertaining story below about a kleptomaniac cat when one of his owners was interviewed on David Letterman last week and then stumbled across it today on AOL News under their 'Weird' section:
A kleptomaniac cat has given back his stolen loot in a reverse neighborhood garage sale.
The owners of Dusty, a Siamese cat, displayed hundreds of items on tables in front of their Northern California home with hopes that the owners would claim their goods, ABC7-TV reported.
Neighbors were invited to browse through the belongings and take what was theirs. And all the while, Dusty monitored the event as if he were making a mental note of which possessions were retrieved.
"He just sat there and was watching this whole thing from under one of the bushes," owner Jean Chu told AOL News. "He's just a total character."
The items included balls, towels, car wash mitts, gloves, shirts, bathing suits and other miscellaneous clothing. Chu estimates that Dusty -- who has been dubbed "Klepto Kitty" -- has stolen more than 500 items over the years.
BILOXI, Miss. -Five years after wandering away in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, a gray and white cat named Scrub has been reunited with his Mississippi family.
The Humane Society of South Mississippi says Scrub was identified by an implanted microchip. The 7-year-old cat was brought to the shelter by a Gulfport woman who'd fed him as a stray the past couple of months but worried about his safety during a cold snap.
Scrub's owner, Jennifer Noble, tells The Sun Herald newspaper that she was skeptical at first when she received a call from the shelter. But by the end of the first night back, Scrub had snuggled in bed with one of her boys.
The woman who'd been feeding him lives about 15 miles away. Noble says Scrub is in excellent condition.
