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!

Clara

Clara - sister to Jasper. She's not as much of an expense as her brother, she is just as much work though! Little known fact, Clara's full name is Clarabella. Clara comes with her own set of issues, most of them are just things we deal with and work with how she prefers to live. Early on we were told, she won't live past 3 years old. Obviously, she made it well past three as she is now in her teens. She had some neurological issues as a kitten, she still has them but they are less apparent. The obvious part of her neurological issue was her head shake/bob. She used to do it all the time, now it's just when she is overly stressed or confused. Much like Jasper, she has found her place that she will be the least disturbed by any of the other cats.

I love her dearly, of course she loves me just as much! Her favorite way of showing her love is to clean me. She gives the best cat facials, including the ears! I'm never quite ready for the ear to be cleaned - moving my head away just makes her try harder to clean, so I give in and let it happen.

As much as she likes to clean me, she is slacking on her own cleaning. She is constantly shedding, has matted hair around her rear end. The love/hate relationship to being brushed makes it hard for anyone to help her with shedding and clumping but we do our best! Brushing her you need quick reflexes to pull back when she's had her fill.

She is a 1st floor cat these days, rarely making it upstairs for any reason. Her preferred area is downstairs sticking to the living room and dining room, occasionally she will head to the kitchen or sunporch. The back of the couche is her fav place to hang most days, and my book club chair is her second go to spot. Although she will seek me out if I'm actually sitting downstairs and claim my lap if she can get to it before another cat.

Every so often she loses herself and will sit staring at a wall crying. Who knows why she does that, but we just talk to her and she snaps out of it. She's not a fan of litter of any sort, or any type of litter box. She is also very afraid of her own poop. She does her business and then takes off like you lit a firecracker under her bottom. Her wacky issues with the litter boxes have created so much extra work -lots of reusable puppy pads and throw away puppy pads that have to be changed 1-4 times a day.

I am constantly saying to myself, it's a pain, sometimes I hate the amount of time or work I put in for the issues, but ultimately I took her in, my responsibility to her is to not give up on her. She is defenseless, and because she has issues most people would never take her in. She's fortunate to have landed in my house and I'll take the best care of her till her time comes to cross the rainbow bridge. Pets are a lifetime commitment, the only time you should give up on them is when your time has come to cross the rainbow bridge.

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel