BRRRRRRRRR!

And you thought it was cold where you live. This was on the TODAY show this morning,. a lighthouse in Cleveland Ohio was sprayed with lake waves and then frozen in ice. WHooo I sure would hate to have to deice that porch!

Coupeville Christmas Parade

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I sat for an hour in 28F weather waiting for the parade. It was small and full of those things that you would expect to see in a small town, the dog club, the sherriffs possee, the tracktor pulling a flat bed full of boys and girls, the middle school band, and the firetrucks with santa. After the parade every one gathered on the corner of the old highway and main st and sang carols while they lit the city park. It was very nice, and got me right into the spirit, so I stopped ion the local red apple store and got some cookie stuff and listened to some old fart tell how hokey and stupid it was. We dont have a Macy's parade for sure, but for our little historical town, I thought we did guite well. I sent him on his way OUT of down to someplace he might like better. We dont need any more grumps in this town! Especially this time of the year.

BRRRRRRRRR..........

We now have about an inch of white stuff on the ground. Now mind you, we were expected to get really cold this week, but only locations from Tacoma SOUTH were expecting snow! HRMMMMM They missed again.

I LOVE snow. I love to lay on my stomach and peer out the bedroom window and watch it snow, and watch the birds scratch through it to get to the seeds on the platform feeder. I Love to watch the snow stack up on the backs of the squirrels that are sitting on the feeeder. Nothing keeps the critters from having breakfast.

I am supposed to have taken the TURKEY up to Lynden to my son's house so that they can start it thawing and have it in the oven when we get there on THURSDAY, however, the roads are not conducive to driving 75 miles up and back in a few hours. I thought now how can I get them a turkey? SAFEWAY!!! I bought a gift card, stuck it in the mail, and it should get there tomorrow so they can go 5 miles into Lynden and buy what they need. AND, if the roads are still un drivable, I dont have to worry. They can go ahead and have their own dinner, and Bob and I can go down to the community potluck, and not sweat the drive!

The weather is predicted to warm up by Thursday, but it is cold enough right now, to keep the ground pretty cold for a week or so. Is this La Nina really going to be the worst in 75 years? KEWL!!! I am ready. Plenty of wood, plenty of books, plenty of food, plenty of pet food, and I suppose I should fill the water jugs in case the power goes out and the pump generator (community well) quits working. I am ready! Actually I am looking forward to it.

Yeah, I know! I AM Nuts!!! Must be the Girl Scout in me. BE PREPARED!!

Chilly November.

BRRRRRRR!! As predicted, La Nina has made our November weather colder and wetter than normal. But it also was unpredictable, in that we just had a very windy few days with one storm system after another coming in off the Pacific and slamming into us.

We had two days of winds over 61 MPH, and trees down, power lines down, lights off, and WET! The rain hit first, pounding down like hail stones, but it was only rain. Then the winds hit. I was driving home in the worst of it, and just as I left Oak Harbor, the lights went out. It is odd driving in the dark, when you know there are homes and businesses out there in the void. As I left city limits, and headed on down the island, the wind buffeted the car around like a toy. It was blowing me into the oncoming lane. Thank Goodness I was driving slow enough to correct with out flipping the car. There was a car right behind me that was tailgating like he was getting ready to pass, when I whipped into the other lane, and the wind hit him too. He backed way off, slowed down and behaved himself the rest of the way.

As I got into Coupeville, all of the lights there were on. So I drove through the only stoplight in town, and headed on down island. I was approaching a very narrow part of the highway, and there were trees right up to the fog lines on both sides of the road, so I slowed way down, expecting a tree to be down across the road. I rounded a curve and right there was every emergency vehicle in the town of Coupeville, all cleaning up the mess of branches and trees right where I knew they would be. I was waved on through, over the branches, and around the trees, and then on down the road. I was all hunkered down, with my head down below the steering wheel, thinking that if a tree did hit me, maybe I could duck down and be safe.

It was pretty dicey driving the rest of the way home, and there were several more trees down and power lines hanging. I made it the 20 miles home, and pulled into my driveway just in time for the latest gust of wind to take out the power in my neighborhood. I grabbed the flashlight, left my headlights on, and went on in the house, put every thing down, then closed and locked the car, and the front door.

In Our part of the country, you learn to live with emergency supplies as part of the decorations in your livingroom. Hanging from the ceiling right over one of the end tables, was a Coleman Gas lantern, so I grabbed, it, the matches and the flashlight and headed for the bedroom. I lit the lamp, and crawled under the covers, and read a book.

The next morning, When I woke up, the lights were back on, so I put the lantern back on the hook, and brought in two loads of wood, and waited for the next round. It hit the next day, with winds just as bad, but no power outages, and I stayed home.

Tonight we are waiting for the temperature to fall below freezing and stay there for a few days. Snow is predicted in some places, but we hardly ever get it. My Son called last night, to tell me that in Lynden where he lives, about 5 miles from the Canadian border, that the wind was blowing really hard and the snow was blowing sideways. The news/weather man had just showed his town under blizzard conditions!

Novembers here are usually like most of you have Octobers. Chilly, but not extreme, and our cold weather waits until January or February. Tonight I am laying here under the blankets, looking out at the woods at an almost full bright moon showing through the branches of the alders. It is still, and crisp, and the temps are falling. right now the thermometer in my window is registering 35 degree F. so I know it must be about 30. The weather teasers on the TV just said that the temperatures are plummeting, and low land snow is expected tonight. We shall see.
I need to get a turkey up to Tim's house some time really soon, so that they can enjoy their first Thanksgiving as a family. They are safe, and for the moment, warm, and the baby is fine, and they will all remember this.

Phyllis and I grew up here and look forward to the excitement that stormy weather brings us. We have all the right emergency equipment on hand, and can survive for several weeks. It is just another thing to keep boredom at bay. WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!

A touch of the Season

little bit of natural history.......
Amazing.............


Penguins
Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go ?

Wonder no more ! ! !


It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.
The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.
The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:

"Freeze a jolly good fellow"

"Freeze a jolly good fellow."


"Then they kick him in the ice hole." !!!


You really didn't believe that I know anything about penguins, did you!

Freedom!

I just love this picture of Owen. We put this hat on his head and it looks like he is saying''WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!



My wonderful daughter,OBE, came home this weekend, and among otherthings, managed to finish hooking up my home internet,and got my laptop,working on line, while I lay on mu tummy all snug in my bed! I have been wanting to get this done for years, and now I am aable to. WHOO-HOO! Donna, you rock!

I went up to see Owen and of course his wonderful family too, this weekend. Donna went up with me, and we spoiled Owen rotten. He is the happiest baby I have seen in ages. He has gained 6 0z in three weeks, and already smiles at his Mimi! hard to tell he smiles though from these pictures!

I Took him up his first pumpkin, and it was three times as big as he was. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of him with it. I held him on my lap and tickled his tummy and he grinned! I think I am going to enjoy this granda bit!

My Boys

edt/nz said that he liked to read about my cats. Alright then. The Big monster is Schroeder, he is two and a half, and still growing. He must weigh close to 20 lbs! He is also the Biggest sissy-boy you can imagine. When anyone or anything makes a noise that he does not recognize he growls and runs under my bed. He has completely torn the gauze off of the bottom of the box springs, and used to crawl up there and hide. I turned the be3d over a few months ago, and finished cutting the gauze off, and then vaccuumed all the cat hair up. What a mess. He is a Lover though. He will get right in my face when I am laying on my stomach in bed reading a book. He curls up right on the book and then purrs and head butts me. Such a love, such a WUSS!!

The little Yellow cat is Wills, officially named Wilson, because there is a pattern on the top of his head that looks like the volleyball on CASTAWAY! He talks. He talks, and purrs at the same time, he follows me everywhere, and meows constantly. He is also the biggest brute you have ever met! He beats up Schroeder, he terrorizes Sadie, he climbs my leg. He is getting calmer now, but when he was a baby he ruled the roost. He came from my son's home where he was used to three full grown St Bernards. He looks at Sadie and I know he is thinking. PHHHH...You have no idea what a dog is! He hides around corner and jumps and tackles Sadie as she comes around the door. He tackles Schroeder, and Rocky my Brother's dog that I take care of during the day. Nothing phases him. He is fearless. He is also taking the place of Loki. HE sleeps right beside me and purrs all night long. All I have to do is reach out in the night and there is a little yellow head under my hand, just waiting to comfort me.

I am looking for a female, but I will take my time, and when it is right, she will appear, and then I will have another fur baby to love!

Owen Wesley Pierce

I do not have any grandchildren...or I didnt until Tim married Mistie in July, and she came with her 17 year old daughter. AND a Great-Grandson-to-be!



My Son is over the moon with this little doll! As I am! As we ALL are!



Proud Momma and Daddy with little Owen. DId I say Little? oops! 9lbs.3 Oz! and 21" long.



So this little fellow is the first baby in our family, and Tim is the proudest grand father I have ever seen. You would think it was HIS baby! He is already planning fishing trips, and spoiling him rotten. Nana is so excited also, and I am ecstatic! I have not been around a baby in 39 years! so Even though I am kinda down the totem pole in ranking, I am a very proud Mimi! I held him for over 30 minutes, and then he pooped, so back to Dad he went! Hey this is fun!

CHICAGO!

The Show that opens our 48th season is CHICAGO! The Bob Fosse, Ebb,musical that takes place in Chi-town during the 1920's! The dancing in this show is fantastic, the harmony great, and the story very dark. Foxy ROxie Hart is accused of murdering her lover, and sleazy Billy Flynn the money-mad lawyer concocts a story to get her off. DOes He do It? Does Velma Kelly get off for murdering her husband and sister for doing the Banana Split? Does Amos Hart take pity on his Pregnant wife?

Tickets are on sale now at The Whidbey Playhouse 360-679-2237 Reserved seating only.









All Photos by ME!!!

EARTHQUAKE!

THIS IS TO ASK ABOUT MY FRIENDS IN NEW ZEALAND.... edt are you and yours OK? I dont know how to get ahold of you other than this. Keewee, is your daughter safe? Please let me know. I am thinking of you all.

A Heartfelt Loss...

Every so often in one's life someone, or something will come into it that can have a profound effect on you for years to come. Such was my cat Loki. He was a beautiful creme colored longhaired tabby of questionable parentage. His Mother was found in a dumpster behind Heidi's Restaurant in Fallon, Nevada. She was only a few days old so a good samaritan took her home and nursed her to good health. I met Mrs. Cathay in the vet's office just before I had my last love Rudy put to sleep with severe kidney failure. We were talking in the waiting room about our ginger colored cats. Mine on his way out, hers only just starting her life, but already pregnant by a wandering tom. Queen Heidi (her name)was in to be checked, and if she wasnt pregnant she was going to be spayed. Alas, she was, so her mommie decided to let her have the litter and THEN get her fixed, I did not know at the time that Rudy would die that day. Mrs. Cathay was joking and said if she has a long haired orange one like Yours, I will give him to you! I said no, Rudy was enough. She left without taking my name or address. It was my turn and I went in to have another water trteatment for Rudy, but the Vet said, no, he has had enough, He needs to just go. I bawled my eyes out, had the deed done, and left. I sat in the car in front of the vet's office all dressed for work, crying uncontrollably. I had lost the best friend I ever had. I called my secretary and told her what had happened, and took two days off work.

2 months later I get a call in my office, and Mrs. Cathay said, I have something for you. But he is too little yet, and she put his little mouth up to the phone and pinched his tail. My heart melted, but I said no....no more kitties! Oh yes she said I will bring him to your office when he has his eyes open.

3 weeks later this lady walks into my office with a basket on her arm with the cutest little orange kitten you ever saw. standing right beside her was her 8 year old son, staring daggers at me and saying his name is Tiger and he is my favorite. His Mom very gently told him that he knew they could not keep any of the kittens, and that he was mine since the day he was born. I started crying again. THey left and in another month in walks Mrs. Cathay with her son, and two kittens. one for me and one for my personnel clerk. Her son knew he had to say goodbye to them but he sure did not want to. I think it did him good to know that I had lost my cat and that I would love him very much and take good care of him. He slept on my desk right on top of my budget and my reports until Lunch hour when I took him into the vet to get his first check up.



Loki was so tiny, and my other two cats were big, so I put him in the bathroom, with a box and a litter pan and food and went back to work. When I came home later, both cats and the dog were staring under the door at the kitten. It was then I discovered he was so little that he could crawl right under the door. SO I put books down in front of the door to keep him safe while I was gone. While I was home, he had free run of the house.

I had a black Cocker Spaniel named Mariah who had not been fixed, and never had a litter of puppies, well she adopted Loki, nursed him and even produced milk for him. He grew big and strong. one night I woke up hearing something purring on Rudy's pillow, and looked, it was Loki, he had gotten out of the bathroom found his way into the bedroom crawled up on my big bed and curled up right next to my head. There he slept the rest of his life.



Loki liked to sleep on his back, and he had the prettiest tummy to rub. He had really lite colored fur there, and it was rabbit soft. Loki was no skinny kittie either, a stout Norwegian, big in every respect. He liked to play with his toys, and had 20 little toy mice that he would regularly lose under the furniture. Every week when I vaccuumed, I would collect the mice and put them back into the glass bowl under the coffee table. He would methodically one by one pull them out, throw them up in the air, toss them over his head, bat them across the room and lose then once again under the sofa. THen he would go back and get another one and start all over.

Loki loved sleeping in front of the fireplace. He and Ethel would hog the rug in front and just splay out on their backs and soak up the warmth. About 5 years ago,I heard Loki in the night caklling out with his mouth full of "mouse" and got up to investigate, I surely did not want anything alive or dead in my bed. He had a crocheted fish in him mouth and he carried it everywhere, Talking the whole time.
He would deposit it at night right next to my head, and then go find another toy. I would eventually wake up with 8-10 crocheted "catches" all lined up on my bed and Loki laying on his pillow batting me awake with his paws. Wake up Momma, wake up! then he would get more agressive at it, start licking my face and purring loudly while batting my face. I knew then that it was most definately time to get up and get him breakfast. He understood the difference between words, He knew his name, and would come when called, (cats dont usually do that) He knew what hungry was and would jump off the bed and puuurrrrow to lead me into the kitchen.







Loki wormed his way into my heart and filled the spot that was left by Rudy all those years ago. He loved me, I knew it, and I loved him and he knew it. Two weeks ago he was fine for breakfast, and fine while waking me up, but an hour later he was dead of an acute reaction to some kind of allergy. THe vet was stymied! His lungs had filled with fluid in that hour and he basically drowned. I was devasted and still am. It is so very hard to lose a pet that you have loved for 10 years. I have lost three this year, two were expected to go as they were 17 and 18 years old, but Loki was still healthy and only 10. It hits you harder when you are not expecting it.

I have a new orange kitten now, named Wills and I had him before Loki left, so now Wills is going to have to pick up the slack and become the lover that Loki was. Schroeder is still here, and is a lover too, but he likes to be left alone. Loki was always beside me. I think Wills will be too. He was trained by the best.

Porch Critters?

Ever since I bought this house 18 years ago, there have been feral cats under the porch, or in the culvert, starving, ragged and looking for food. Sucker that I am, I put left overs out ton the porch and by morning they have all disappearred. Usually it is a big black, badly matted cat, or a gray one with shaggy fur. SOmetimes it is a litter of kittens getting shown the ropes by their mother. Whatever, the food has always been gone.

Thursday I was ready to throw stale cornbread to the birds, and a cat caught the corner of my eye as it scurried under the car. I looked again and it was a raccoon! I have never seen one here! But there she was with three babies shoved up the maple tree for protection. She grabbed a piece of cornbread and headed up the tree, then back down, and behind her came the babies, and one by one they picked up a piece of cornbread and followed her off into the woods.







Last night as I let Sadie out about 230 AM, she went ballistic barking at something. I went out on the deck to see what it was, and up the plum tree with her face hiding behind the trunk was Mama.

I have a garden this year, and my onions were doing great until about two weeks ago, when it looked like someone had been laying on them. I blamed the dogs of course because the cats do not get to go outside. and then I noticed that the onions were dissappearing! I can only guess that Mama found a virtual feast in my backyard, and has been feeding her babies pilferred onions! I told her she was to stay out of my garden! ANd I wagged my findger at her to show her I mean it! She just looked at me until I finally got the dogs to come back into the house, then I went into the house, and as I shut the door, I heard plop, plop, plop, plop! as all of them Mama and 3 babies hit the deck heading for the onion patch! I wonder what onion flavored raccoon tastes like.

this and that

Last night was the final show of CINDERELLA, and I finished my job at the playhouse, went down to the Ferry Landing to unwind and watch the Sunday Parade.

THe first boat had already gone by, but there were two more in the passage, so While I was waiting for them to come by, I watched the seagulls and shared a bag of Tim's Potato Chips with them.

There were a multitude of young seagulls, and a few of the adults hanging around. The babies were begging as all babies do, and I noticed that one particular Male Adult was just standing on the picnic table out of the way of the young ones. He would occaisionally hop over to the edge and back. Seagulls generally do not hop but waddle, so I looked closer, and this guy obviously was almost dinner for either a seal a sea Lion or an Orca. He was doing quite well though, and I tossed him a chip where the others did not see.




This is one of the castles I made for the Princess Tea center pieces. THey were a BITCH to make, and Judy and I spent hours trying to figure out the non-verbal directions given. JEEZ!!! They were cute though.

Now on to CHICAGO!

Meet Wilson...

I now have another baby to raise! My son's step-daughter to be, brought home a 7 week old kitten, but Mom said no way, we have a rat, 3 St. Bernards, 2 cats, a Baby on the way and a wedding to plan! So guess who got Wilson? He is a little SHIT!! I have to remember to wear long pants, because he will climb anything he can sink his claws into...including bare legs! (No Joanie, I am NOT gonna show you the scratches!!)

He is now 9 weeks old, has had his first shots, is gaining weight, and is terrorizing poor Schroeder! Sadie and Loki are used to strange things comng n the house, but Schroeder is only 2 and a real wuss!! Wilson found his hiding place under my bed and moved in, and now Schrode does not know where to hide. Poor little thing.

Wilson is a ball of energy looking for somewhere to explode. He also is a real lover when he is ready to go to sleep...He meows like a tiny baby, and kneads my arm until he goes to sleep. AWWWWWWWWW.

Kittens are my most favorite THING!

Kat's DRAWERINGS

Right after AI started Blogging in 2002, I mat Kat...also known as SPECIAL K. Her blog was very advante Garde, but I loved it. She was not afraid to tell it like it was...and in very graphic terms. She even warned MAMASITA not to read on, as it would embarass her mom. As we all got to know her, and follow her through her life, she started using windows PAINT to draw with and illustrate her blog. Below are just a few, and they are PRICELESS. She was so talented. She could write, she could draw, she was so smart. Even her English Teacher from High School ELLEN said that she was a genius with words. Unfortunately, she did not live long enough to realize how talented she was. She died Yesterday at the age of 39, of Lymphoma I believe, and she will be missed GREATLY!!!

FOr those of you who knew her, take a trip down memory lane. FOr those of you who DIDn't know her. you really missed someone special!

...and a few more from Whidbey Playhouse's CINDERELLA

a few more pics from Cinderella

Rehearsal shots

Last night I had to run in and get a few rehearsal shots of Cinderella for the local newspapers. Half of them are in costume, half are not, but you can tell it is gonna be fun!