Happy Halloween!

LASER'S ACTIVATED

BE PREPARED! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM TINA, THE SHEPHERD, BELLA & THE MRREOWS, AND ALL THE WOOLY UNITS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS... 



WE HOPE THAT WHERE EVER YOU ARE, THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A SAFE DAY WITH NO TRICKS, AND GET ALL THE TREATS THAT YOU WANT!!

Hood ornament or road pancake???

You know how sometimes you let a cat (or a child, for that matter) do something that you know is intrinsically dangerous, but it's "cute" or funny so you sort of "allow" it to happen again and again???

Well, this is Bella, climbing up to the roof of my car.  She loves being up high - she is the ultimate snoopervisor and being up high allows her to check on all nature of things.

The Shepherd generally gets home just a little bit before I do (I work until 6:00) - He feeds the wooly units and works around the yard until I come home.

As I would drive through the drive way, if he was out by his truck, I'd stop, roll down my window, and turn off my car to visit and see how his day had gone.

Before you could Blink, Miss Snoopy would be up on the roof of my car, checking things out.

Then after our visit, I'd start the car back up and drive to my parking spot.  Guess who would come along for the ride - - -   ???

She is actually quite good at it - balances up on the middle of the roof and goes for the ride down the driveway - like a Parade Princess - she's just missing the tiara...  and that wave...

Then she sits up there and makes sure I get everything I need out of the car, etc. etc.

Well, last week while I was off work, "working" on the church stuff, I had run to town to do some errands (should have made a list) - I stopped and visited my friend "Jack" (in the Box) for lunch and headed home.  I got to our driveway and realized that I had not gone over to pick up the patch for the minister's stole that I was making.


So, I parked, turned the car off, sat there listening to the radio while I finished my sandwich.

Sandwich finished, I started the car back up, and proceeded to leave.  I got to the gate and paused to let a neighbor go by before I pulled out.  But to my surprise, he pulled off the road in front of my car and stopped!

Oh, he's going to visit a minute, I thought - I rolled down my window - "Hi Rick", I said as he got out of his truck.


"Did you know you have a passenger?" he asked.  as he walked over to my door - I'm, like, very puzzled..."HuH?"

"The cat on the roof of your car" - he said - "did you know it is up there?  Is it yours? Shall I get it off?"

"Oh, YES!" I said. 

Oh, my gosh - unbeknownst to me, that darn Bella had gotten up on the car while I was finishing my lunch, and like always, she thought she was just going for a little ride down the driveway...


Normally, I would have stopped to close the gate, and would have seen her up there.  But because I was just going to be gone for a few minutes, I had decided to not bother.  Who knows what would have happened, had the neighbor not stopped.  I'm sure it would have ruined my day (and hers) had she tried to jump off as I sped of down the road to finish my errands. 

What's the big deal???

So thanks, Neighbor Rick, for "saving the day" and keeping Bella from certain harm.

The next time, I'll check up there before I take off. 

a Whirlwind of activity

I had three days off last week & I used them to get ready for our church's Covenanting Ceremony on Sunday evening for our new minister.  (She is already installed part time at another church in the Portland area, so the District would not let us "Install" her as our minister).

So we called it a Covenanting Ceremony.  Well, six of one, half dozen of the other -

But the Saturday before that I had a Spinner Guild meeting to go to.  I had 12 skeins of yarn that needed to be wound into balls, so instead of taking my wheel, I took my umbrella swift  and my  Yarn Ball Winder and my big basket FULL of skeins of yarn.


 




It literally took me the whole three hours to get them all done.

Then when I got home, I had lots of snoopervision getting everything out of the trunk.

We have to really watch Bella - as you can see from the picture above, she disappears into the darkness.  

But she is VERY good at snoopervision - everything that comes out of the car has to have the official BSOA - The Bella Stamp Of Approval! 

Anyhow - getting back to last week and my three days off - I was in charge of putting together the program for Sunday night (from our Minister's Order of Service) and I was also making a new "pew card" Order of Service for regular Sunday services.  Then there was the matter of the "congregational gift" - traditionally a cleric's stole

- which I figured - How hard could it be? 

(Famous last words...)  I had a pattern from our choir stoles - - then we decided to make it in velveteen -

Oh, My - measure three times before you cut once - I was so nervous - (when I told the lady at Joanne's Fabrics that I had the project because I had a sewing machine - she said that she would think about getting rid of that sewing machine... ha ha ---) 

We arranged with a local embroidery company to make the chalice patch (bottom right hand corner of the picture) & I set out to put it together.  The patch had to be hand sewn onto the velveteen, which took longer than I though it would, and if I were to do it again, I realized that I should have put some interfacing on the back - because it lacked - ah, - substance, I guess - but as you can see, Rev. Marcia was very happy with it, and as I told her, if she got nervous, she could just stroke it, kind of like a little kid's 'softie'

Saturday, I also made a couple of things for the reception - Sorry I didn't take pictures of them  - but I made some home-made cheese crackers (yum - and easy, I will make these again) and a cream cheese torte  - (my recipe is easy - you basically whip together 1# of room temp. butter & 1# of light cream cheese.  Line a bowl with plastic wrap or cheese cloth (so you can plate it for serving) then I layer it up with what ever I have - this time I made an olive salad with feta cheese for top & bottom layer and smoked salmon for the middle, but I have used pesto, roasted red peppers and artichokes, any number of yummy things.    Let it chill for a couple of hours to set, but it's best served at room temperature) Serve it with crostini bread or crackers - Left overs are very good on pasta too...

All that said - our Sunday was busy (because we had church in the morning too) and ran late into the evening for the ceremony and reception.  Luckily I had planned for Monday off as well because I was one tired puppy and there was still last week's laundry to do!!. 

So, I'm back - I have some new yarn and some crocheted "finished objects" to show you - and a story about "Bella, the hood ornament" and all the new sleeping spots around the house. 

Later -

.

Where've we been?

and she missed our birfday too! 

Looking back & Random thoughts -

 It's been a busy time here - trying to catch up on everything I let slide before the Artisan Faire, and getting my church newsletter done.  And unlike "someone I know" , I'm not good at all about stashing my camera in my pocket to get interesting shots of the Mreowws & Bella & the sheepies - so you get a re--hash of some of my favorite pictures from our vacation SEVEN years ago when we went to see the Sequoias in California,  and some Random Thoughts I've had recently.  

Resurrection lilies - I've never been able to get them to grow in our yard - but they are so pretty.  They come up in the spring with all kinds of foliage, that dies down and then in the fall, up pops these beautiful flowers.

A friend of mine's mom passed away a couple of weeks ago and the service was last Saturday.  I learned a long time ago, that even though I may not want to go to a funeral/memorial service, I'm not going for the deceased, but to show my respect to the living. And that has never failed me.

This service, heavily Christian, didn't do much for me - but after giving it MUCH thought over the past week, I realized it was exactly what her family needed to hear.

Random Thought -   In the wake of Hurricane Issac, I was stunned to find out, that over 200,000 people are still living in tent cities from the aftermath of the January 12 2010 earthquake in Haiti. That's over two and a half years ago!!! 

What are we thinking?  In an era of millionaire ball players and TV programs featuring toddlers in tiaras it just seems wrong. 





The Stardust Motel - No, we didn't stay there, but it was on the street where we stopped to get fuel - I don't even remember the town (although, now, I could probably google it and do street view to find what city).  Every once in a while, I just think about how life used to be so simple, and how staying at The Stardust Motel would have been the Cat's Pajamas -


"Sometimes I wonder why I spend

The lonely nights

Dreaming of a song.

The melody haunts my reverie

And I am once again with you.

When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.

But that was long ago, and now my consolation

Is in the stardust of a song.

Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of loves refrain".

From “Stardust” by Hubbel, Golden & Carmichael

 

 It deeply saddened me to hear that the Washington State Dept. of Wildlife decided to kill the Wedge wolf pack

I imagine if the wolves were killing our sheep, I would feel differently, but it didn't seem to me like they (the  DoW or the rancher) tried very hard to secure those cows, or to retrain the wolves. 

A similar thing is happening down in the rural areas around Seattle.  People are sure that mountain lions are killing their dogs and other pets.  Well, don't let the darn things run loose - keep them inside at night. At lease in this case, since there hasn't been an actual sighting, the DoW is holding judgement - 

A friend once told me that this picture looked like we had this tree loaded up onto the back of the pick-up - ready to take it home.

Let me assure you, that if he could have, he would have...

Next week is the Mrreow's "assigned" birthday - 10-10-10.  As barn cats no one "registered" their date of birth - and when we got them, I was just told that they were "born in October"  - so, I decided that 10-10-10 was a very lucky day, don't you think?  .

Their feral beginnings still show heavily from time to time.   Unlike other kitties I've been owned by, loud sounds (pans clanking in the kitchen, etc.) or unexpected movements from The Shepherd seem to throw them into a tizzy & zip, out the cat door.  But pretty soon they come sheepishly back into the house - with an aire about them of "Do de doot doot do - I didn't see nuthin, did you?"  Funny kitties.

Hope you have a great week!