Introducing Vera!

Vera has a great story and is proof Gene truly loves me. Gene went on vacation with his friend to visit a friend who lived down in the Carolina's. I took advantage of a week home alone to bring in a new cat. I figured nothing would go wrong, Gene wouldn't notice right away if at all.

I got Vera from a no-kill shelter I used to volunteer with, she was an indoor/most outdoor cat. Her outdoor colony had dwindled down to just her, a new colony came in and she was pushed out. I said this is a no-brainer. I have a yard, live in the country and have space in the house I can absolutely take her in. Worse case she would be mainly an outdoor cat, only coming in when the weather was bad. Vera had other thoughts on that.

Needless to say, Gene come home early from vacation, I was out with the girls for a girls night. He called to ask why the bathroom door was closed, I played stupid and said I didn't know. He continues...whose cat is in the bathroom, I know what a closed bathroom door means. Still playing stupid - well it must be our cat in the bathroom the door was closed accidentally. He's no fool...he knew without a doubt it's a new cat. He said we would discuss this later when I got home. That discussion has never been finished, Vera still lives happily under our roof and has never set foot outside again. Way to help me out, as I tried to plead my case that she'd be outside more than inside.

She continued to make her presence in the house known, in not the best ways. First she choose her human, how shocking it wasn't me but Gene. Which is fine, but she literally spends every waking moment in close proximity to her human bestie. To the point if he is downstairs for to long she comes down to look for him and stares him down till he goes back to his computer, right where she feels is the only place he belongs. It's baffling because he was NOT thrilled about her being here.

Some of that comes from her behavior right from day 1. She chewed (and still does occasionally) his computer speaker cord. The computer and all its other parts are completely off limits and to mess with them is a certain death wish. It got to the point I said to her, Listen if you want to stay you HAVE to stop chewing his computer cords! He's gonna kick you out if you keep this up. Maybe she got it, maybe she didn't. She still chews cords, but now it's for the air purifiers, humidifiers, the dustbuster. You know things that don't have anything to do with Gene.

She's become so comfortable around him and his space that she spends a good bit of time with her belly out . She has a mean/gruff side. She usually reserves that for me when I pet her to long. With Gene she's all sweet and doles out the cutest little nibbles. As another senior cat she has her own health issues. Chronic Bronchitis - really such a pain! She gets sick at least once a year for at least a month if not longer. So we treat with a steroid and have been floating the idea of using an inhaler daily for her. But she's really not fond of the Chamber that the inhaler meds go in, so we are trying to push that as far down the treatment line as possible. Fortunately a 2 week supply of meds is only $14, and no visit needed if she gets her annual check up regularly!

Til our Tails cross again!

Mel

Spring Fever

With the arrival of spring I get ants in my pants to be outside, working in the flower beds, enjoying the fresh air and warmer weather. Most of us truly enjoy the change of seasons, especially going from cold to warm. I love the cold, I love the warm, but by far much prefer the cold.

Last year I spent a lot less time outside in the warmer months which absolutely sucked. This year I want to spend more time outside. I had a schedule change that frees up a bit more of my time so I'm hopeful I'll be able to add more outdoor time. As I write this, I have the windows open slightly and the front door open. It's still chilly out, the sun is out but its cloudy. My early spring flowers are blooming, and I can see where I need to add some early spring plants in the rest of my yard.

Gardening is a never ending task. Whether it's planting new plants, moving plants that have flourished and need more space or just pulling the never ending weeds - there's always some work to be done in the garden, I have about 7 areas that are flower gardens, each of them definitely need attention and more plants. It gets expensive to continually be buying plants so I buy a few each year. Hitting up the clearance and crossing my fingers that they will come back next year. I know each year I buy stuff clearance or not that doesn't make it to the next year.

This last year we took down 3 trees, a bush and moved some perennial plants. We also moved our pond to a place that would hopefully make it easier to maintain. Fingers crossed that turns out to be true. I want to get some fish in the pond (another thing that I have struggled with keeping alive!) It's not in an area where it won't collect all the leaves in the fall.

Gene and I both envision our back yard as an oasis. His vision is a little different. His includes a hot tub, mine includes a great patio area for barb-b-queing, swing benches around the fire pit, a sitting area by the back she and plenty of hammocks to lounge in.

One day both of our visions will connect and we will have an oasis in the back yard!

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel

Road Trip, Solar Eclipse & Family

I planned to get this posted immediately following the eclipse..but life happened.

I'm sure you've heard the saying "You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family". We all have a person in our family who we wished wasn't or that we could exchange them. (Let's hope it's not us! ) However, I won the lottery with my family. Aunts, Uncles and cousins - I got the best of them! I am very lucky to have such an amazing family. We all really enjoy getting together - whether for game night at Grandma's, reunions, just to hang, or a fun trip! We may not be the picture perfect Hallmark Family, but we are pretty darn close!

My cousin Sam planned an excellent Solar Eclipse weekend. We drove to Buffalo NY, where she had reserved a house for us all to stay in, made dinner reservations, provided a list of local attractions, and some places to view the eclipse. The rest of us contributed to the house costs, snacks, lunch/breakfast items and games!

The weather for the weekend was very iffy and left us all wondering if there would be clear enough skies to see the eclipse. Sunday we all went to various places: Niagara Falls, NASA, Botanical Gardens, Buffalo Naval Park and the casino. The entire time we were at the Naval Park I kept saying boy it really smells like cotton candy - but yet there was no where selling fresh cotton candy. When we walked to the place we were having lunch, across the way was a General Mills plant - making cereal.

Monday morning we decided to stake out a spot for the eclipse at Delaware Park in Buffalo. Which was right next to the zoo (walking distance), had a golf course, swing sets and a basketball court. We got there at 11 and had plenty of time to kill before the eclipse started. So we headed over to the Zoo. I now want to get a Sand Cat and a Red Panda.

We headed back to the park to see the eclipse and eat our lunch. Words just cannot explain how amazing it was. Seeing the eclipse, the full darkness, and going back to daylight in a matter of minutes. Gave me goosebumps and the chills! I have a billion pictures of it - even they don't truly capture the full eclipse. While I wanted to see the eclipse, I didn't think I would truly enjoy it as much as I did. Now I'm anxious for the next eclipse that will take us to another state.

Gene and I drove from Annville - only a little over 5 hours. Anyone that knows us, knows that we do not listen to the same type of music or are able to tolerate each others music for a long drive. We listened to a great audio book by Tom Segura - I'd like to play Alone Please. I highly recommend it, made even better by Tom Segura reading it himself. The ride home, I ended up taking a route that was more country backroads and less traffic. To say I have a lead foot is an understatement. So as Gene is snoring away in the passenger seat, I'm listening to music and cruising along., oblivious to the small town & low speed limit. I see a cop sitting in a parking lot, look down and realize. I'm speeding by a LOT. I pulled over before he had his lights on, tell Gene I'm getting pulled over for speeding. The officer, while being cute, also had a bit of an attitude. He flat out said, I'm not trying to be that person, but I'm sure the speed limit signs in PA look the same as the ones in NY. (I'm dying at this point...Yep...they are, and I probably cruise past them in PA too.) So I agreed and was like I was just in the zone and realized when I drove past I was over the speed limit. He goes back to run my license - I say to Gene, I'm sorry - this ticket is going to be super expensive and could be that I get a suspended license. I was doing double the speed limit. He comes back and says, no ticket, no written warning, no points on my license - please slow down, watch out in the next town and the rest of my way home as the police are out in strong force due to the high amount of travelers for the Eclipse.

Where did you watch the eclipse from? Drop me a line or comment on this post!