I Never Left

We never left home. I really don't know what to say...I just hope that most of my dear friends have pets...cause the reason we never left was Buddy. Problem number 1. As some of you know back in December he was diagnosed with a collapsed trachea.And most of the time he is just fine. But he started coughing...and to be perfectly honest with you, I couldn't leave him.My brother Mark and his wife Julie were coming to stay..they have done it before and they do a great job, but this was different. I just would have been too worried. Problem number 2 was our destination. We had decided on Lake Tahoe...but a huge storm is due to blow in the day we were due to leave and to make it home it would mean driving on Interstate 5...known as The Grapevine in California and it is no fun. It runs up and down the center of the state and it is a very dangerous road even in good weather....so now I am laying awake at 3 in the morning wondering what would happen to Buddy and Whiskey and Dande and Pixie and Mumbie, not to mention my hummingbirds, doves,goldfinches,Tony the blue jay and all the other assorted critters that depend on me. What if we crashed...oh, I have to tell you I was making myself crazy. So we skipped the trip. We'll wait for another time.It just didn't feel right. I did not want to go. So instead, I went to the yarn shop here in downtown San Luis and am taking a knitting class. I am so excited about it. The lady, Anne got me started yesterday afternoon, but the class is tomorrow at 10. It is for making a pair of pretty fingerless gloves. You use 4 needles, number 2, very tiny... Anne got me going ...and I think I am getting it. Buddy is fine, it was just a scare,but I couldn't leave him behind. There was no way. So we're home, knitting, waiting for rain and holding Buddy close.
I am gonna say it.....I really did miss all of you and our visits and am I glad to be HOME.

Outside Looking In

There she is. My homeless kitty. I named her Pixie cause she used to hide in and around my garden like a Garden Pixie.I have 2 others. All abandoned by people who moved. And it makes me sad. How can you adopt a pet..and then leave it behind . How could you sleep at night? I never stop thinking about my pets..Buddy and my kittys. They mean the world to me.

Pixie has been here since Labor Day of 2008. For one year she hissed at me everytime I went to feed her. I know she had to have been abused. After about one year..of feeding her every day..twice a day...slowly..she let me pet her. And now we are pretty good buddies. She is such a sweet little cat.We have been making it through the storms pretty well.I have kept the shed door open for her with a bed in it and feed her morning and night. The others still come too. But Pixie looked so cute there this afternoon. The picture is through the screen door.

The other thing that got my attention today was that heroic dog rescue down in L.A.

I very rarely watch t.v. in the day, but turned it on to see if I could get a weather report..and then I saw it. The Rescue Attempt...I just happened to be flipping by and saw it on Fox News. I stopped and stood right in front of the t.v. My heart in my throat. It didn't look good. And then some beloved L.A. firefighter was dropped from a helicopter into a raging river.....to save a dog. Some people were emailing in coments questioning if L.A. firefighters had better things to do. I think not.

Wild West and Our Last Meal

This is a picture I just snapped while looking out the window at the hailstorm this morning.The camera was in my hand..and I said to myself....snap a picure! The pathways are rivers.My poor fruit trees that we just planted. When I wanted to get them in before the rain...I had no idea it was going to be a deluge.....the
garden is in the front of Farmhouse.... all those raised beds are ponds...it used to be an herb and flower garden... those bare white fences are where I grow sweet peas...last year in the spring you saw no fence..just sweet peas...when you walked in the gate on a warm day it smelled like bubble gum....I always wonder if I should put in something not so seasonal cause the fence is bare in winter...but I still love my sweet pea fences.I wonder what will be left after the water drains? I'm not complaining. I know...I don't dare complain...this is nothing....

I promise...this is the last chapter in the Mushroom saga. There it is. We had it last night...and it was worth the wait.Oh yeah, and that's boxed dried pasta. I overcooked the fresh pasta.Forgot how fast that cooks. That will teach me.