Meow!

Thought I would feature our indoor cats, Ching and K.C., since  I heard that today is National Cat Day. They are twelve and thirteen years old, with distinct habits and personalities.

K.C. is shy and soft-spoken. She has learned to "High five!" with me.  Almost every morning I find a toy she has brought from another room and left in or near my shoe as a present.

 

Ching is our socialite, curious if we have visitors, very vocal (as would be expected being Siamese), notices right away if something new shows up, and loves to jump up to our shoulders and snuggle.

It wouldn't be the same without them around!

Some Questions, Some Answers

Who..... has continued to check in on my blog, even though I have been very lax about posting?  I don't really know, but hope that not everyone has given up on me!

What..... have I been doing all summer?  Well, there's been VBS, cat-sitting, serving free monthly meals with our church project, celebrating birthdays, taking a vacation with B, and trying to get the computer room/office in order, but probably nothing that really justifies my extended absence here.

When..... will I post again?  I would promise a post every week, or every few days, or... but I don't want to make any promises I can't won't keep.  ; )

Where..... did we go this summer?  Hmmm... that sounds like a post (or two) of its own.  I'll just give you this hint for now--it was farther north than Kansas!  (No fair giving it away in comments if you already know.)

Why..... don't I post some pictures?  I don't know.  Maybe I will!

Hey, western Kansas friend, R--this photo of our yuccas in bloom is for you!

Spud, our visitor for half the summer.

T (my brother) and Mom when we celebrated her birthday.

This is just a quilt I saw during our vacation.

See you next post!

Some September/October Stuff

Seven sweet kittens--do you see all of them?

A.'s prize-winning horseshoe pitching form.

Dahlia and cosmos by the barn.

T and M at her new place

T's first kitty, Spud. Only 5-6 months old here, I think he's going to be a Big cat!

We enjoy having friends over to fly kites. This looks much better if enlarged.
This is what's at the other end of those lines!

Our swing tree in October

Summer Summary-July

Fourth of July picnic

Annual quilt auction at the church camp where T worked this summer.

Two mama cats and seven kittens--who cares whose is whose?

B, M, and I went 650 feet straight down to tour
the underground salt museum at Hutchinson!
In addition to mining salt, it's used as a storage vault for old records from all kinds of businesses, as well as old films, and even props and costumes from movies.
If I remember correctly, it's a constant 68º there.

meow M E O W Update

That distinctive Siamese voice is back!

When the vet called Monday, she said it could be that Ching had tonsillitis, so we made an appointment for her to take a look Tuesday morning and probably prescribe some antibiotic. Ching must have heard the plans, because she then proceeded to start to sound a little better, enough that by Tuesday morning, after some debate, we canceled the appointment. By this evening, you can hardly tell that her voice was ever gone!

Quiet as a.......Siamese Cat?

This is Ching, our almost 8 year old Siamese cat.

True to her breed, she's always been a talker. People who don't know her or her relatives sometimes think she sounds grumpy or even angry. But really, she's usually only trying to have a conversation. It's just that her accent and volume are not like the squeaky mews they're used to hearing from other cats.
Monday morning when Ching greeted me I had to laugh. Her normal tone was noticeably absent. Yep--laryngitis! (I was thinking she overdid telling us all about it while we played ping-pong the evening before.) This has happened before, and she's usually back to her full vocal range in a few days. Well, here it is Friday, and still no voice.Otherwise she's acting normally, but something is obviously not right. I did finally phone the vet, but she was out of the office till Monday. Hopefully by the time she gets back to me, Ching will be trying to add her two cents to the call as usual.
Meanwhile, it just doesn't sound right around here.

Hodge Podge

Stopped by for a brief visit with Uncle Neil on the way out to pick up T's stuff from college.

The liquid we saw in this truck made some interesting waves and splashes, especially as it slowed and turned.

This cross-eyed buffalo made me smile!

By the time we could mow the grass, it seemed like it could have been baled! And it was cold that day!

The roses were blooming nicely.

Hooray for ripe strawberries! We just don't have enough in our garden.

We do have plenty of cauliflower.

One of four scaredy-cat kittens!

One of these things is not like the others,.....

.....One of these things just doesn't belong!

Ching was curious when I was trying to get a group photo of my teddy bears.

Some of you will recognize the bear at the front and center--that's Fuzzy of course. He's my original and most loved teddy bear. Grandmother gave him to me when I was young, and he went through good times and bad with me. He even went to college with me. That was a traumatic experience for him, as he was kidnapped!
From my dorm room.
By one of my best friends.
To whom I confided every detail of the ransom notes, because I thought my roommates were the culprits!
Grrr! :-)

She and her boyfriend (later husband) concocted the notes from words and letters that were torn and cut from newspapers and magazines.

I had to leave a pan of brownies at a certain tree at the lake as ransom.
They did return the pan.
I don't remember now if they at least left a brownie for me, or if it was just crumbs.
I think it was just crumbs, and probably a note saying Fuzzy would be returned.
He was.
To my dorm mailbox.
With his legs tied together, and his arms tied behind his back with an athletic shoelace.
AND
with a piece of athletic tape over his mouth!
Fortunately he was unharmed!

One or two years later we (Fuzzy and I) roomed with this friend.
All was well until the evening of the October open house.
I returned to the room, boyfriend was visiting, and there was Fuzzy...
in a pillowcase
hanging from the curtain rod
disguised as a Halloween ghost!

The other bears in the first photo have entered my life sometime since I got married.
Some were gifts,
some might have belonged to my girls,
some are memories of relatives, friends, or trips,
and some I bought because they had such appealing faces.
But Fuzzy is still my favorite!

"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy,
was he?"