A Little Sad, A Little Funny And A Giveaway!

At one time we had a house full of family pets. We had a dog, two cats, three hermit crabs and dozens of fish. Now we have none. I wasn't terribly attached to the fish or the crabs, but it was difficult to lose Molly, our 17 year old dog, when she died six years ago. Shelley, our 16 year old calico cat, was hard, too, when we lost her 3 years ago. Most recently, our 21 year old cat Chester curled up, went to sleep and never woke up. I still think I hear him plodding up and down the stairs at night. I miss him.  I miss all of them.

We don't want to get any more pets. Not right now, anyway.  Luckily, we have a yard full of wildlife to enjoy.

• In a shrub near the back porch we have Momma, the mother robin. The four tiny blue eggs in her nest just finished hatching yesterday. She gets upset if we get too close, but we can sneak a peak in the nest when she leaves to find a meal.
• In the overhang of the porch roof, a mother black bird is also raising a family. They're not in a spot where we can see them, but we can hear the babies chirping for their mother when she leaves. 
• A sweet little hummingbird has decided to make our Honeysuckle her favorite hangout. After sipping on a few flowers she likes to kick back on the interior branches of the shrub. She doesn't seem to mind company, we're able to get within a few feet from her perch without spooking her. 
• My favorite of all is the baby bunny we've named Dandelion. He lives under the wood pile on the side of the garage. At least a dozen times a day he ventures out to eat and explore. His favorite food seems to be dandelions (hence, his name).

We've also had purple finches and gold finches on the feeder, adult rabbits chasing each other through the hedges and a pair of pizza eating raccoons who raid our garbage cans.

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Today was old fashioned school day for my daughter's fifth grade class.  The kids dress like Laura and Albert Ingalls and they hold class in the one room school house we have in town.  To make it as authentic as possible, the teacher has the students do their work on slates.  They also get to try using quill pens and ink to practice Victorian style penmanship.  When my daughter came home from school, she still had the feather with her.  She told me she hadn't been able to write very well with it.  "It takes practice," I said.  "Is this what you used when you were in school or did they have regular pens by then?" she asked me. 

Do I really look that old?  I'm 43 not 143!

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We've had a lot of rain over the past few weeks which has caused our perennials to grow like crazy.  A few days ago, I had to adjust the plant that grows up a post in our backyard.  Later, I was telling my husband about it, but I couldn't think of the name of the plant.  It's a climbing plant that develops large purple flowers and I'll bet some of you already know what I'm talking about, but I just couldn't come up with the name Clematis.  A few hours later, it popped into my head, or at least I thought it did.  "Chlamydia!  That's the name of the plant in the yard," I said. 

I hate when I confuse the names of plants with the names of venereal diseases.

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I have a fabulous giveaway to announce, but you'll have to wait a little longer.  Trust me, it's a great one!  Come back tomorrow for details!

Willoughby