The Golden Gate Bridge is 75 Years Old

I heard on the news today, (Sunday) that The Golden Gate Bridge is 75 years old today. 

That's the same age as my mother, but she will be 76 in a week.  Mom and I made a great trip to San Francisco 5 years ago.  


















While we were there, we rented a convertible Mustang and drove Hwy 1 to Monterrey. It was one of those trips I will always remember. 
 
http://life.time.com/culture/golden-gate-bridge-75-years/#1
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/05/25/75-year-old-golden-gate-bridge-a-berkeley-perspective/

Along Came A Spider

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia

First my camera is more on the hobbyist level, so not a perfect picture that a perfect spider with a perfect web truly deserves.  But my garden needed a garden spider, so thanks Spidee for coming.

Play Like A Kid

Who would play headbutting with a goat?  My son-in-law, Trinity would.  Actually, Billy Shakespeare was having a great time with this.

And Now there Are 4!

It's been 9 days since I found the little black kitten on my door step.  I had a school board meeting at 4:30 that afternoon and asked the other board members if anyone wanted a bottle fed kitten. 




One board member, Steve, spoke up quickly and said he did. 


 So all I have to do is take care of it for a few weeks and he has a new home!  I call him Panther.


I remained on the lookout for the rest of the litter.  I've never known a cat to have just one kitten.  I was worried that maybe something had happened to the others, so that was why Panther was on my step.

Thursday, I was in the garage-barn when I saw the feral momma cat run out.  I started looking around in the area where she came from and there in a tall box were 3 more kittens.

Cirus, Shameka, Tiffany Lynn Mittens

See what looks like I just left trash in the garage-barn turned out to be a kitten cradle.  You have to know how I irritate my dear husband by not promptly throwing things away; even empty boxes.

 One little female, with the white paws and a white wishbone mark across her nose, didn't have either of her eyes opened yet.  So I believe they are 8-12 days old.  The others, each,  had one eye open.

Daddy Gus and Momma Blackie

 Another mystery was solve too.  Who's the daddy?  Well I researched and read that a litter of kittens can have more than one sire, but we have good evidence that my husband's outside cat, Gus was not "fixed" before he reproduced at least one offspring.

See the grey one with the white nose--Gus Jr.  Chase named him Cirus

There's a neighborhood cat that has markings like this one.  Could he be a daddy?

Anyway, I now have 3 more kittens to find homes for.  The grandkids are trying to keep Cirus, the grey kitten.  Their mom wants Mittens, the black and white one.  I named her Tiffany Lynn Mittens, but my daughter doesn't like that name.  She wants it to just be named Mittens.

My house cat, Cloud, is not happy about the kittens.

Well, we are having fun with them.  But I've found that bottle feeding 4 little kittens leaves very little time for anything else.

Surprise On My Doorstep

Tuesday was a hectic day or is that just everyday?  Anyway I had an 11:30 budget meeting and was going to have to take my 20 month old granddaughter with me.  But I was going to be smart this time and take plenty of snacks for her.  This meant I had to go to the grocery store before the meeting.  So Grampa agreed to keep Kennedy while I made a quick trip for snacks. 

I took this picture afterwards.  I think my foot actually got closer to it.

 As I rushed out the door I almost stepped on a black kitten that had just one eye opened.

Blackie, Gus's new friend.

It wasn't a total shock that we had kittens, just that one was on the steps.  Way back in October, when we came back home from vacation Don's cat, Gus, had found a girlfriend to keep him company.

He taught us a lesson to go away and leave him for 10 days.
She was actually a kitten, but one could tell by their relationship that the kitten was a girl.  It took several months for Don to decide to catch Gus and Blackie and take them to the vet to be "fixed."  Well, Don was successful catching Gus.  Gus too had been feral when he arrived, but Don very patiently worked to tamed him. But we have never been able to get near Blackie.  In fact my son-in-law, who is too quick for his own good, did grab her one day and she took a big bite out of his hand.  Anyway Gus got "fixed."  But about 3 weeks ago I notice how big Blackie was.  So I started leaving the garage door cracked just in case she was pregnant, she could have the kittens in a safe place.  Then about 2 weeks ago, I noticed how slender she was.  So I knew it was only a matter of time before kittens showed up.

I quickly tossed the kitten to it's grampa and told him not to give it back to them mom. I don't want it to grow up wild, because then we will have to trap it and take it to the animal shelter. 

Of course the grandkids help.

So now I am bottle feeding Panther and know that where there is one kitten, there are another 3 or 4.  


The other question is who's the daddy?

Maurice Sendak Died Today

I was watching the Colbert Report and Steven said that children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died today at 83 from complications after a stroke.  I have given several children a copy of Where the Wild Things Are.  The last one was my nephew, Max.  I first bought it for my son in 1990.  I've always loved it.


Colbert showed an interview he had with Sendak and the author said he thought his best 2 books were Outside Over There and Higglety Pigglety Pop!: Or There Must Be More to Life.  I have never read either of these.

The first one reminded me of my granddaughter, Kennedy.  She is always grabbing my hand and "pulling" me outside. 

 

 

 

He said the book Higglety Pigglety Pop!: Or There Must Be More to Life was written about his dog just after it died.

So I went to good ole amazon.com and bought hardback copies of both. And while I was there, I bought a box set of 3 other ones that Amazon recommended.  Oh well, reading books to grandkids is a great use of time and buying them really can add up.  But I love books and I don't see myself buying a Kindle or such.

 

 

OMG

Oh Mister Goat can now jump on the hood of my truck.  I know he has been thinking about it for about a week.  But today he did it before I could stop him.  He may have just limited his freedom.  Billy Shakespeare is almost 8 months old and is truly the best pet I have.  Whenever I'm outside he is out roaming around.  Usually he likes to stay down by the girls' pen, but he also wants to follow me around.

I bought 4 bales of alfalfa Friday, so I was unloading them. 









 Billy Shakespeare made some of the bales lighter.


By the way, I can't believe I'm having to pay $17.50 a bale for alfalfa.  The fellow at the feed store told me they are compressing them into very tight bales and shipping them to China.  So if they have found the Chinese market, will the price ever go down here?


Anyway, when I wasn't looking, B.S. decided today was the day for him to jump on the hood of my truck.  He may have just lost his "Best Pet" status.

Grandparents Day With Connor

I've been such a bad blogger.  So much is going on which gives me a lot of material to blog about, but no time to actually write a post.  Anyway, I'm going to catch up on my writing and reading other blogs.


Last Friday was Grandparents Day for the Kindergarten classes.  I wasn't quite aware of all the expectations.  I understood there was a performance by the Kindergarteners, but then the Grandparent was suppose to check out the grandchild and spend the day with him.  Well, Connor was a guy with a plan with included lunch of his choice and a movie.

2 grandmothers, great grandmother and grandfather

My Mom was in town, so she went to the program.












Connor's other set of grandparents came also.  So he had quite a group of fans. 

 The program had a Cowboy theme; which was just up Connor's alley.  He is always trying to ride my little goats when I'm not watching.

Don't know what the pout is about.

Afterward the program, it was off to the Frozen Frog.  Yes, we had yogurt with a large array of toppings for lunch.  I have to admit that's my favorite lunch too.




Then just Connor and I went to see the movie Chimpanzee. On the way to the theater Connor expressed his excitement about going to see Chimpanzee.  He said, "My heart has been hurting to see this movie ever since they said it was coming to the theater."  Like a good grandmother, I did not laugh.  I just said, "I know.  I've wanted to see it too.

He might have had candy, popcorn and coke for dinner.

Giving the Goats Some Attention

Nothing was happening with just having Billy Shakespeare in a separate pen and every few days moving Dottie Belle into the pen with him.  He spends a good part of his day crying when he is alone.  So I gave up and 8 days ago moved him into the pen with the 3 girls.  I just wonder how many kids to expect the end of September.  Actually, I'm thinking I will move him and Dottie Belle back to his pen in a few days.  I do want to have some idea, if I find that I have a pregnant goat, when to expect delivery.  But for now I don't see any signs of any goat love.


Today was the day for worming the goats and giving them their tetanus shots.  We weighed each one and then used the great milking stand I got for Christmas to administer the worming medicine and shot.

Honey Bunny

Honey Bunny- 15 months old weighed 53 lbs.

One can easily tell that Honey Bunny is not a bottle baby.  You will not find any silly poses of her.  She is a very dignified animal. 


 Well as for the 3 bottle baby goats, I have all kinds of silly pictures and videos of them

Dottie Belle

Dottie Belle - 
14 months old weighed 46 lbs.

BS is begging to get in the girls' pen.

 Billy Shakespeare -
8 months old weighed 36 lbs.

Gypsy - 13 months old weighed 30 lbs.

Billy Shakespeare is still very much a pet.  He is really the only one who was happy with all the attention.  So he got brushed and his hooves trimmed.

Buggie Pays a Visit

The collage Connor included in Buggie's scrapbook.

My grandson's, Connor, Kindergarten class is known as Mrs. Harrison's Ladybugs. The children take turns taking their mascot, Buggie, home.  They are to take Buggie everywhere they go and write in the scrapbook about his visit.  First, Connor took Buggie to church.  They went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.  And then they came over to Grammy's and Grampa's to visit with the goats.

The Ducks Have To Go!

Well, I've lasted almost a month with 2 ducklings in a crate in the house, but not another day.  









For the last 3 Springs, I have had 3 - 4 chicks in a crate in the house for about 6 weeks and was very glad when I could move them out.  

But this year I went all out and got 5 chicks and 2 ducklings. All of them were in one crate for a week and I  realized that the ducks were growing a lot faster and hogging all the water.  Also ducks are very messy.  I felt so sorry for the chicks, that I borrowed a crate from my neighbor and moved the ducks. 
 
 But the Donald and Daisy are getting smellier and throwing the straw and shavings all over the place. And they want to have water in which  they can splash.  MESSY.

So yesterday I decided the 2 hens, Gracie and Stayed At Home must go into the coop with the others.  Now there will be 6 hens with one large rooster in that coop.  That's really too many, but I let the hens out as soon as I get up everyday, so they spend the day running the yard until dark.


I spent most of yesterday clean up the coop and spread new sand for the ducks.

Dottie Belle checking out the new bigger tub.

 I bought a bigger tub for the goats and put their tub in the coop for the ducks. 










 I had a meeting last night, so it was dark when I got home. 


 I went to see if all the chicken went into one coop and found that Gracie and Stayed At Home were sleeping on top of the coop.  I grabbed them and kind of tossed them into the coop with the others as they were screaming as loudly as they could and the rooster came charging after me.


Then today, I needed to train the hens to lay in a new place since the ducks now claimed the nests in that coop.  I set up a nesting box under the old coop where all the hens now live and even put one of yesterday's eggs in it.  

But after several hours of  running free, none had laid in the new box and in fact the egg I put in there was broken.  

Gracie was determined to lay her egg in the coop.

Gracie flew up in my arms because she so badly wanted in her coop to lay. So I opened the outside door of the hutch and closed the door to the run where the ducklings were.  She laid her egg there and jumped out.  That was a good idea.

  Stayed At Home laid her egg in the "garage barn."  So I set up a nesting box using a crate and straw in there.  

Little Ace laid her egg in some tall Monkey Grass.  So I got 3 out of a possible 6 eggs today. 


Maybe that was all the eggs laid.  

Omelet, number one hen,  spent most of the day circling the coop. She was not very nice to any hen that came close to her. She spent a couple nights a week in the coop when she didn't want to be in the other coop with Big Foot. 

Hopefully, the girls will get used to the new set up.

I know Donald and Daisy are thrilled with their home.

How to Tell If It's a Boy or a Girl

For a couple of months the family has been waiting to learn if the fifth grandchild will be a boy or a girl.  This will be my son's, Paxton and his wife's, Courtney, first child.  The baby is due September 29, so we had to wait at least until the 15th week of gestation.  


So Saturday Paxton and Courtney had a very unique way of letting us know the baby's gender.

First they gave each of us an egg.

Each egg contained the same clue.

                   Paxton      Courtney  ?A Baby Boy!!!

They have decided to name him Jack Michael.

You Are My Sunshine

 You Are My Sunshine is the Louisiana State song.  It was recorded February 5, 1940 by  Governor Jimmy Davis who served as Governor of Louisiana for 2 terms in the mid 1930s.  In fact I was lucky enough to attend his 100th Birthday party in Baton Rouge in 1999.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNeAxOz2AsE

So that was my first thoughts when a fellow blogger Chubby Chatterbox http://thechubbychatterbox.blogspot.com/2012/04/sunshine-on-rainy-day.html sent me an email saying he had nominated me for the Sunshine Award.  He writes a blog that never fails to be interesting and likely make you laugh quite hard.  It's one of those you look forward to reading each day.

The rules of the Sunshine Blog Award are simple…

#1 Thank the person who nominated you with a link back to their blog.

#2 Answer a few questions about yourself.

Favorite color: Yellow

Favorite animal: Goats, but I'm sure if I could have a pet panda it would be be panda.

Favorite number: 7

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Lemonade

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook.  I have a Twitter account, but never twitter--why do that?

My passion: Family, education, urban farming

Favorite flower:  Star Gazer Lily

Favorite Book:  Atlas Shrugged

Favorite painting: The Voyage of Life paintings by Thomas Cole

Voyage of Childhood

Voyage of Youth

Voyage of Manhood

Voyage of Old Age

And finally, nominate a few other blogs and include links to them:

 Here are my nominees:

#1. Gardening with Juanita  gardeningwithjuanita.blogspot.com

#2. Sprout N Wings  http://sproutnwings.blogspot.com/

 

#3. Debbie's Knowledge Train  http://debbiesknowledgetrain.blogspot.com

#4. Hiawatha House  http://hiawathahouse.blogspot.com             

Feel free to paste this pretty award on your blogs to show that you’re held in high esteem. I hope I get more awards because there are other great bloggers I’d like to nominate.

Easter with the Grands

Wow, it is so much harder to try to get the perfect picture with 4 children.  I took 65 pictures and 7 videos.  One has to have a very broad definition of a good picture.  All 4 children will never look at the camera at the same time.  That's just impossible.  But we have fun trying.

And throw 2 ducklings into the mix.

Let's try Mom, Dad, three children and 2 ducklings.

Caroline and her parents

Now let's try something really hard;getting all 4 grandchildren in one picture. 

Linda, my neighbor, planted rye grass so it was perfect for the Easter Egg Hunt.  Even a couple of friends joined in the hunt.

I Couldn't Pay My Bills Cause the Goats Ate Them

Gypsy and Billy Shakespeare on the front porch

Well maybe I really can still pay my bills.  Actually, I pay most of them on the internet, but I still have them mailed to me.  





But I do have photographic proof that the goats chewed on the mail and scattered the newspapers that were collecting on my front porch. 

I guess I have given up on Dottie Belle getting pregnant.  She has been with Billy Shakespeare for 4 months and no results that I know of.  But of course he was just a baby, 2 months old, when I first put them together.  But this is Gypsy and she is 13 months old and my smallest doe, so I've decided to let her get acquainted with B.S.  I can't say there was any romance the first day.  But they have spend a lot of time deciding who is in charge.

How to Enjoy a Spring Shower?

How to enjoy a spring shower if you are a Rose Bud.

 

How to enjoy a spring shower if you are a Rose.

How to enjoy a spring shower if you are Kennedy Rose.