Throwback Thursday - Repeat

 

From May 5, 1016:

When The Brother lived in Harriman, New York, a small town in the foothills of the Catskills, Ma, Dad, and I took a trip to visit. The Brother took us to see the United States Military Academy at West Point. We walked around the beautiful campus. Got to see a bridal party posing for pictures at the chapel.

Here's a picture I took of Dad with his four year old grandson in front of the decapitated statue of General George Patton.

After leaving West Point, I couldn't find my beloved, Bollé, aviator sun glasses. It wasn't until several years later while going through photographs, I found where I had left them.

Whatcha Doin?

 

I'm waiting for the skid (dumpster/tip) to arrive. So we can clean out the garage and basement.

Whatcha doin?

T Stands For Morning Tea in the Sunroom

 

Morning tea in the sun room?

Not unless you like it iced. The windchill is making the temperature feel 10 degrees colder. The temperature may get up into the high 30s. Brrrr. Still too cold. Better to have tea in bed this morning.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.

Canned Pet Food

 

Are you having problems finding the brand of canned cat  or dog food you feed your pet? I haven't had an issue yet of finding the brand of canned food the kittens have been eating (Royal Canin) but next month they will be transitioning to adult cat food. 

The kittens are supposed to be on a wet food only diet according to the vet, but demand feeding wasn't working as well as leaving kibble out during the day and wet food at morning and evening meal time.

At the grocery store, Target, and even PetSmart, I've noticed empty shelves of some popular brands of cat food: Fancy Feast, Purina One. Are you just feeding your cat or dog just kibble? Did you switch to a less popular brand of canned food? Are you mixing water in the kibble? Inquiring minds want to know.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mild start on the Vernal Equinox, and look the tree on the left of the weather station bloomed.

Setting moon shines brightly over the Dawn Patrol as she returns from putting out the trash and recycle barrels for pick up.

Himself planted some seeds and now has tall, green things growing.

The Alpine bells are coming up

Crocus

The Boneses catching some rays

The Watchers

First time out in the sun room. Quill wants me to take a close up

Wally and Calli enjoying the sun room.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Mornings at the Library

 When I was 5 years old, I was forced to take dancing lessons while the Brother was forced to take accordion lessons. I hated dancing class. The Knights of Columbus Hall where the classes were given had no heat or it wasn't turned on. I hated wearing the pink beginner tights. I liked clacking around in the tap shoes, but Ma wouldn't let me practice inside the house on the wood floors. I spent most of my time in class being miserable and crying. Eventually, I was taken out of class.

While the Brother still had to endure accordion lessons, Dad took me to the library. He would leave me upstairs in the children's library where I could look at the books and choose to take some books home with my own library card. As I got older, I would go downstairs to the adult library and wander among the stacks enjoying the scent of the books before going to find Dad in the reference area consulting the law books and catching up on his work.

So for the next several weeks, a list of my favorite books, some I have read as a child, others as an adult and some  I have read more than once.

This week, Watership Down by Richard Adams. From Goodreads: Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

If you haven't read this book, you can find it at your public library or favorite bookstore.

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week

1. Skyped with Nan while cleaning the sun room

2. Between St. Patrick's corned beef and Friday fish fry leftovers, there was no need to cook on Saturday

3. Spring finally arrived! Which means, 92 days until the Summer Solstice!

4. Enjoyed a back issue of Calligraphy Crush, a digital magazine.

5. We enjoyed watching the movie, Harvey. It never gets old

How was your week?

Purebred Heinz 57

I was waiting for something to dry and/or was procrastinating while reading an article about The 20 Best Cat Breeds for Getting Along With Dogs. No, we're not getting a dog. It was just an article I saw and I was more interested in looking at the pictures of the beautiful cats. When all of a sudden I scrolled through the article and saw

photo taken from the 20 Best Cat Breeds article

this guy! He's fluffier, but he looks like

Quill!

The purebred is called a Turkish Van (pronounced Von) and is characterized by a white body with color only on the head and tail.  From Wikipedia, "Breed standards allow for one or more body spots as long as there is no more  than 20% colour and the cat does not give the appearance of a bicolour. A few random spots are acceptable, but they should not detract from the pattern. The rest of the cat is white. Although red tabby and white is the classic van colour, the color on a Van's head and tail can be one of the following: red, cream, black, blue, red tabby, cream tabby, brown tabby, blue tabby, tortoiseshell, dilute tortoiseshell (also known as blue-cream), brown-patched tabby, blue-patched tabby,"

Though on his adoption papers, Quill is listed as orange and white, his coloring is more rust or ruddy and his patches look a bit like tabby markings. He has patches on the left side of his body and only one small patch on his right flank.

He also has the ringed tail that is characteristic of the Van. 

Their coat is describes as silky as there is no undercoat. Quill's fur feels like cashmere or rabbit fur. Some of the characteristics of the Turkish Van they are affectionate, but don't like to be held. They are energetic and like to play. They are big cats with males weighing 10 - 20 lbs. Quill has been growing, and he looks like he'll be a big boy.

They also like water and sometimes called the "swimming cats". There was a caution about not leaving them unsupervised as they will play in the bathroom. You may recall shortly after we got the kitties, Quill got into the bathroom, turned the tap on in the sink, the sink overflowed, flooded the bathroom, and the water seeped into the basement. If we are not home, we close the bathroom door.

The tail is described as bushy. Quill's tail is pencil thin, but that may be due to the Turkish Van is slow to mature taking 3 to 5 years to reach full maturity. A couple of months ago, something spooked both kitties, and they blew their fur up to uber puffy. Quill's tail blew out like a bottle brush!

The Turkish Van is not a lap cat. Quill doesn't like to be picked up and cuddled though occasionally he'll want to be held as he gets a little jealous because Calli loves to be held and cuddled. Quill is happier lying next to which makes him a great companion when watching television in the bedroom.

So while most of Quill's heritage is plain old, DSH (Domestic Short Hair), it's cool to note that he might have a bit of Turkish Van.

Whatcha Doin?

I'm trying to get our 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆(ducks in a row) assembling photographs, trying to get a copy of the police report to submit a claim to the insurance company because

on March 9, 2022 with an inch of snow on the ground, our mailbox and planter were brutally murdered. Horribly decapitated! 

We're not sure of the time of the accident as we didn't hear anything though the Young One said around 2:30 AM she thought she heard a thunk and the sound of a soda can being crushed.

The morning after when I called the police, the dispatcher told me a report had been filled out (but needed the lieutenant to sign off on it). There was a witness and the police caught the driver.

Someone walked around

Part of a bumper or fender, and a hubcap got left in the ditch

The poor telephone pole took a hit again.

Looking back from the telephone pole, you can see the skid mark across the entire front yard, some 300 feet.

A piece of running lights and tire tracks to the phone pole

A bite taken out of the bottom of the phone pole.

Someone walked around. The driver? Police? We didn't see any flashing blue lights.

Side-view mirror behind the granite post

Start of the skid to the phone pole.

The mangled remains of the mailbox bracket to the left of the granite post

We're also waiting for the contractor to come out to assess the damage. To see if the mailbox/planter can be repaired with a new bracket or if there is damage to the post and the stone has to be replaced.

Later that day, the witness stopped by to tell us what he had seen. He was driving and saw the accident. He called the police and followed the car two miles to the grocery store parking lot. He said the guy's muffler was dragging and sparks were flying. The police caught up with the driver at the grocery store, the driver was cited, and the car was towed.

Whatch doin?

T Stands for Irish Soda Bread

For St. Patrick's Day, I baked some Irish soda bread. It's not a typical Irish soda bread, but a sweet, quick bread. I found the recipe a few years ago and it became a hit. The recipe makes two loaves studded with raisins, golden raisins, and caraway seeds, and a good thing, too, because the bread disappears quickly.

It's perfect for an afternoon cuppa, dessert, and especially good for breakfast.

Hey! Where's my cake?

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.

Happy Mail

 

St. Patrick's Day mail, and I can always count on Nan to send me a card. My name written in Uncial (Celtic) and the envelope coordinated with a purple flower with green background stamp.

Nan finds the cutest cards. Happy animals friends dance a jig:

May your songs

Be merry

and 

your Smiles 

Be bright.

May your laughs

be many

land

Your heart

Be Light.

Thank you, Nan. I had the luck of the Irish when I met you at the workshop so many years ago.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Hobbit door decorated for Spring. Happy Vernal Equinox

Welcome Baseball Season.

Early morning sunrise

Lots of daffodils

I wonder if the hydrangea survived the move and the Winter.

Crocus 1 and

Crocus 2

An unusually warm day. A good day to put out the Zensical gewgaws

Beggar and the rain gauge

Fog and rain

some buds on the honeysuckle vine.

Things growing outside and Himself has things growing inside.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Mornings at the Library

 

When I was 5 years old, I was forced to take dancing lessons while the Brother was forced to take accordion lessons. I hated dancing class. The Knights of Columbus Hall where the classes were given had no heat or it wasn't turned on. I hated wearing the pink beginner tights. I liked clacking around in the tap shoes, but Ma wouldn't let me practice inside the house on the wood floors. I spent most of my time in class being miserable and crying. Eventually, I was taken out of class.

While the Brother still had to endure accordion lessons, Dad took me to the library. He would leave me upstairs in the children's library where I could look at the books and choose to take some books home with my own library card. As I got older, I would go downstairs to the adult library and wander among the stacks enjoying the scent of the books before going to find Dad in the reference area consulting the law books and catching up on his work.

So for the next several weeks, a list of my favorite books, some I have read as a child, others as an adult and some  I have read more than once.

This week, The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. The four novel series is a fantasy-romance that follows Bella Swan and her romance with vampire, Edward Cullen.

If you haven't read these book, you can find them at your library or favorite bookstore.

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1.  A dusting of snow, but bright sunshine melted everything. I didn't have to sweep the walk , stairs, or the car. 

2. Pi Day. Frozen chicken pot pies and Razzleberry pie courtesy of Marie Callender. Technically no cooking

3. Since we both had Zoom meetings just after the dinner hour, Himself suggested take-out so  we wouldn't have to rush to cook a meal and eat it before the meeting. No cooking!

4. Mailed my Graceful Envelope entry. The postmaster happily hand cancelled the 4 stamps.

5. On March 17, I saw the first robin of Spring! The pic is from last year (Mar. 27, 2021) as I scared the robin away when I went to take his picture 

How was your week?