Cat – Snippets and Tidbits

I thought I was going to bed last night until I looked out the window. I grabbed my camera off the hutch where I’d left it earlier in the day and turned to let the dogs out for the last time before bed. The moonlight on the snow was amazing! True, I’m sure my photos won’t do the beauty justice, but I enjoyed snapping a few photos. I’ve included a few from earlier today during a pretty hefty snowstorm (Thor) as well.

P1030416 — I love the quiet when it snows.

P1030418 — Sammy loves being out in the snow. He bounces around like the happy camper he is.

P1030419 — Even when it’s REALLY coming down!!

P1030423 — Pip was happy just to watch him play.

P1030451 — Gorgeous moon shot off my front porch.

P1030457 — The light just called me to come outside, even though it was 5 degrees.

P1030446 — Sam wasn’t too sure about his shadow.

P1030456 — No special settings or lenses or even any retouching. It was just this clear and bright last night around 11:30 pm.

P1030429 — I liked the way the front light made the snow sparkle.

P1030447 — I think this is my favorite pine in my yard. :0)

P1030426 — Slightly more noise going on here because I took these last two photos from inside my house, through the window.

P1030441 — Out my back window. Note the shadows in the lower right hand corner from my roof line in the moonlight. It was awesome!

Mostly Moonlight

Musings and Mutterings

My Hero, again.

Posted on March 25, 2014March 25, 2014 by Sharon

Last night I awoke to what sounded like fluid dripping on the floor. My first thought was that my bedroom door was closed and one of my cats just couldn’t “hold it” anymore.

I flicked on the light to see Scout, my bat hero, sitting on the floor and Sally stretched out on my bed. Assuming it was Scout who was the culprit, I opened my bedroom door and asked him to leave. He slowly stood up, looked over at the baseboard heater and stalked out.

I closed the door and went over to inspect the floor, which was dry. Hmmm… and then I saw something brownish under the baseboard. Thinking it was probably a leaf that he’d been playing with, I swiped my toe over the brown thing.

Which started to squeak and chatter.
O.M.G. NO!

I raced to get my glasses and a flashlight and sure enough, wedged there under my baseboard heater was another BAT. EEK!

Scout followed me back into my room and looked at me with a smug “Told you so!” look.

Back out to the kitchen, still in a sleepy daze, I started looking around for another container. The coffee can wasn’t available, so I found a bowl. Hey, I was a bit freaked out and not quite awake. And this bat was in my BEDROOM.

I paced back and forth until I couldn’t take it anymore and woke up the Hubby. Bless him, he got a container with a lid and pried my little enemy from where it was stuck under the baseboard heater and removed it from the house. Then went back to bed. I swear, not much flusters that man. (Love you, honey!)

I can’t say I slept much after that. I did some bat research, dozed and woke up a few times after dreaming something was under my covers. The whole time, Scout was right there with me, so I felt a bit better.

It’s going to be a long day. Pass the caffeine.

Musings and Mutterings

My Furry Children

Posted on January 22, 2014January 23, 2014 by Sharon

Hello blog! Long time, no write. Without being overly obvious, I sure have done a sucky job keeping up with this lately.

And there is just SO MUCH to talk about. Which might be a good thing, because I can’t really bitch that there isn’t anything to talk about, eh?

First off, let’s harken back to July, when I adopted two small kittens. They aren’t so small anymore. Sally looks like a normal sized cat, but Scout? Well, he’s gonna be a big fellow.

These two are the SWEETEST cats on the planet. Scout actually asks you to pick him up and WANTS you to kiss him. Sally just wants to be touched or touching you. I’ve been so blessed with cuddly, loving kitties.

After I got these two, I decided I should just go ahead and replace all my grown human children with furry children.

And so… I’ve added my last furry family member for a bit. Meet Sam!

Sam is a 13 week old… well… we aren’t really sure what Sam is, other than canine. He’s a bit of a mix, looking like he might be Shepherd and Lab, or something. The only thing we can tell is he’s going to be big. He was 20 lbs at his first vet appointment. He also has some interesting brindle markings. It doesn’t matter, he’s just the best boy ever. He’s almost housebroken (… alllllmost) and we couldn’t have gotten a sweeter boy if we’d ordered one specially made for us. He’s smart and cute and we are both madly in love with him.

And don’t forget, we still have Piper!

She looks thrilled, doesn't she? — She looks thrilled, doesn’t she?

Two boys and two girls; just like their human counterparts. My daughter (the Piper equivalent) posted a comment on Facebook that said, “Does anyone else think Mom and Dad have a case of empty nest syndrome?”

Well, maybe I did. But not anymore. I’ve got plenty of activity and lots of love and good energy all around me now. Happy camper, me!

Musings and Mutterings

305 – Around the World in a Casino

Posted on September 5, 2012September 5, 2012 by Sharon

Hubby and I went to a Casino about an hour from where I live. I’d never been there and thought it would be fun to check it out. Heck, I had a few bucks in my pocket, so that should last a good, mmmm, ten minutes, right?
Pretty much for me, however Hubby did much better. If you want to know what I mean, keep reading. If not, skip this next part and catch up later.

We entered Hollywood Casino and took a look around, trying this machine and that. We typically scan them all for a favorite of mine called Hex Breaker, but that seems to be gone now. My other favorite was Luck Fortune, but that one is probably obsolete as well. Seems the newer machines won’t let you play your chosen increments of money anymore. They dictate combinations for you. You used to be able to decide if you’d like to play 1, 2, 3, or more monetary pieces per line. (1 cent, 2 cents etc..) Then you got to assign how many lines you wanted to play. Some machines only had 12 lines or so and others had 99+. This meant you could customize your play to you could round off your winnings to even numbers, or play that last penny on one line.

Now you only have a choice of what predetermined coinage you will play on your choice of predetermined lines. ( 2 cents for 30 lines, 2 cents for 60 lines, etc.) This meant two things. First, your money went quicker and second, you had odd change leftover on your ticket that you couldn’t play! In my world, .36 cents is still good money!!

As we scanned the room, I noticed a few themes in the slots. Tons of wolf and buffalo games, but what stood out to me where the ones that touched on all the areas we’d traveled. First there was Michaelangelo, then there was Moulin Club, then Stonehenge and one called Lady of Spain. Well heck, we’d either been there or seen the site, so why not go with what you know?

So, after making the rounds, I decided I was going to play on the Breakfast at Tiffany’s game because it had a cute orange kitty that reminded me of my old cat Scamper. I sent Hubby off to play the “around the world” games. While I was spinning away, a guy who was in his mid thirties came up and sat next to me. He rubbed my machine to bring me luck and started flirting. FLIRTING! I’d hit the jackpot, but it wasn’t on the slots.

Now a little flirting is ok, and I wasn’t being too responsive because I am easily distracted by shiny, noisy, sparkling, spinning things and a cute kitty, but this guy wasn’t taking the hint. Enter Hubby. You’d think he’d see some guy with is wifey-poo and be just a touch interested, but no. He told me he’d won some and then lost some. I suggested that the next time he won some, he should cash out and bring me the ticket. And off he went! Just like that, with this guy sitting next to me. Fine!

When he’d left, the guy asked me if that was my boyfriend, to which I said, “No, that’s my husband.” I would have thought that would have made *some* impact, but I guess not. Realizing that my game was not as distracting anymore now that I was losing money, I cashed out my ticket much to the chagrin of my admirer. He asked why I was limiting myself. (DUDE – it’s gambling… and self-control!!) When I flippantly said I had to save some pennies to feed the kids, he wanted to guess their ages.

Guess what he came up with…….. 2, 4, 8 and 10. PAHAHAHAHA!!

I looked him square in the eye and said, “Ready? 31, 27, 25 and 23.” You could have scooped his chin off the floor. Truly dumbfounded he sat and calculated for a few minutes and asked me the year I was born. When I told him, he just shook his head and ran his hand through his hair and said the words that were the equivalent of the mega millions for me.

“Man, I thought you were a few years younger than me.” DING DING DING DING DING!

I thanked him for the birthday present and said I had to go find my Hubby.

In the meantime, Hubby had gone off and won on every slot machine on his ‘around the world’ tour and handed me a ticket for almost $100.00. Woo Hoo!!