MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My beloved Laptop has finally given up a valiant fight and has released his hard-drive to go on to better place. I have been comforted by Tyrannosaurus Desktop, but he is old and painfully slow. Don't tell him I told you that. He's an old darling, but I find myself wanting to poke out my own eye while I wait long, tortuous minutes for what Laptop would deliver in nano-seconds.  I just left a reply on a friend's blog, and it was honestly a twelve minute task.

So instead of going to the sites of all my wonderful cyber buddies, I hope you'll understand - it could actually be a matter of saving my eyesight - if I pass along my heartfelt Christmas wishes to you all in one fell swoop.

I wish everyone a lovely, peaceful, fun- and awe-filled Christmas season.

God bless us everyone!!

 

My Hometown

I couldn't wait to get out of this town once I graduated from high school, and now I can't help but get all nostalgic -guess it's just another sign that I'm getting old...

"She's Come Undone"

I just finished "She's Come Undone", by Wally Lamb. I loved this book. I have to admit that when I see a book that has the "Oprah's Book Club" icon plastered on the cover, I resist reading it, always vigilant to avoid sipping the Oprah Kool-Aid. However, this is an older book that I found in the library with the original cover - no Oprah seal of approval adorning it.

The book is about a very troubled girl, growing up in a very troubled family, in a troubled world. She goes through more crap in her life than imaginable. It did become a little more than necessary to make it work but, the book offered so much that it was worth wading through all the trauma. She develops several defense mechanisms, one of which is an entertainingly acidic tongue and biting sarcasm. I marveled at the male author's ability to get into the female psyche, and I could truly identify with this character - not that my life had the trauma and drama that she endured, but so many of her thoughts rang a bell with me.

So, in spite of Oprah's okie dokie, I loved this author's first book.  I'm glad I found Wally Lamb's writing, and I'm already reading another. So far so good.

Save the Endorphins

I just returned from a vigorous walk around one of my favorite walking trails. There's something about being outside on a beautiful fall day, pumping arms and hauling hiney around a beautiful park path, that seems to make me feel like I could kick the world's tail, if indeed the world's tail needed to be kicked. I feel like I could do anything, take on any task and still have energy to share with everyone I meet. I guess I'd better be careful what decisions I make while in this state of euphoria. I do love those endorphins!

As a follow up to my last blog post, I have no juicy jury stories to impart. I got excused after two days! They had all the jurors they needed for the week and I had not been selected. For once, I had no insecurities about being rejected! Also, there is a light beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel at work and I believe I will be doing only one job soon. The stars must be aligning in my favor once again.

...or that may just be the endorphins talking.

Old Job, New Job, and Jury Duty to boot

For the past two weeks I've been working to finish up projects from my old job as well as training for my new job. Then right dab in the middle of all this, Tulsa County thinks I should show up for jury duty next week.

Not complaining, just explaining why I haven't been to visit all my favorite bloggers lately. I've been leaving early in the morning and coming home late in the evening, with time to feed my kitties and myself, get ready for bed, grab some zzzz's, rinse and repeat.

I really believe the county sits back, watching citizens, seeking the exact worst time to hit them with a jury duty summons. Mission accomplished.  But, then again maybe I'll have some juicy jury stories to report... one can only hope.

Speak, Casper, Speak... Good Boy!

Yesterday the Heating/Air Conditioner repair guy came to our house. Mom said he was here to do preventive maintenance on the furnace to make sure we have heat this winter. But, I'm pretty sure he was here to see me.
I met him at the door and he was quite taken by my floof. He petted me and talked to me. Then he asked Mom, "Are cats easier to take care of than dogs?" Now that's a strange question! But, he seemed sincere. He said he had a Yorkie, but he had never had a cat. What?! Never had a cat?!
He said his dog had so much personality. Mom assured him that we have loads of personality! and that cats are low maintenance compared to dogs. Our mom loves all animals, so she wasn't saying this out of a bias for us felines. It's just the way it is.
He said dogs could be trained to do lots of things. Mom agreed, dogs could be trained, but cats came into the world already knowing everything they need to know!

Way to tell it like it is, Mom. I think Angel and I have done well training you!

A New Job!

For the past three years I have worked on a project for a major oil company in Bartlesville, Ok. The project is set to close by the end of this month. But, fortunately for me, the timing has worked in my favor, and I have been hired as a "permanent" (a relative term) employee for the same company.

I'll have to figure out what to do about the 65 mile - one way - commute from my home in Tulsa to Bartlesville.

I now have a decision to make about moving.

Moving Pros - simplify my life!, save lots of money on gas and wear and tear on the car, give me back 2.5 hours a day to do something besides drive, better for the enviornment, it's a nice community, winters won't be as scary if I don't have to drive so far in snow

Cons - I love Tulsa!, my best friend will be farther away, it puts me an additional hour from my kids and grandkids, smaller community with fewer places to go and things to do, I'll have to sell my house -- packing, moving.. arrrgghhh.

Oh well, these things will work out, too. Just like the job itself did. 

I'm very pleased that I don't have to go on any more interviews!! and I won't have to try to make ends meet on unemployment!

Life really is good.

An Important Message from Ellen About Bullying

Alive and Well

I know I've neglected my blog lately. I've had some shifting of priorities.
Remember those high school days, when you started dating that oh-so-cute football player and life completely revolved around him? You obsessed over him when you weren't together, and the rest of the world disappeared when you were? Then suddenly, one day, you realized you hadn't seen your girlfriends in ages.
Unfortunately that's the way I've been with my relationship with Laptop. I would sit down to spend an hour with my oh-so-cute Laptop, maybe share a few insights with him and receive the sweet nectar of his feedback - such a great give-and-take relationship. Then I would look at the watch my sweetie wears religiously on the right side of his screen, and realize four or five hours had flown by -- and once again my other friends, (you know, like reading a real book, walking, puttering in the flowerbeds, playing with my kitties, knitting, straightening up around the house, and, although not really a best friend, an important temporary companion -- looking for a new job), had all been neglected.
Laptop and I have not broken up; we have been 'taking a break'. I am quite certain he and I will always be great friends; we totally run into each other all the time, like when I pay bills and do that job search thing, or check to see if I have any money in the bank, and lots of other little things. He's always there for me for those tasks, but I am just no longer able to spend those hours upon hours staring into his mesmerizing eyes.

It's not you, Laptop. It's me. I have some issues to work out.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Sometimes you just have to be confident and outrageous enough to be happy even when you're surrounded by stone-faced blockheads.

Tulsa Memory Walk

Today was a perfect day for the Tulsa Memory Walk, held to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. From a participant point of view, it went off without a hitch. I'm sure the organizers could argue that point, but these people really did a great job. The volunteers were friendly and helpful, and exhibitors provided pertinent information. There were bagels, donuts, coffee, fruit and, of course, lots of water available, as well as hydration stations for the dogs that participated, and music to keep everyone entertained until the walk actually began. When it was time to make the three mile trek, a local high school drum corps led the way. Toward the end of the walk, some Tulsa Firefighters were on hand to spray water on laughing, squealing kiddos of all ages. It was a fun, well organized event, and best of all, a lot of money was raised for a great cause.

In an earlier post, I told you about my friend whose mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. This is my friend with her sweet little boy. He enjoyed pointing out all the puppies he saw along the way.

It was a great Saturday morning walk.

Happy Birthday, Tuesday Weld

Today Tuesday Weld turned 67! She was an actress way back in the day, you young whippersnappers who never heard of her. You know back when an actress may have had lots of issues to deal with, but we didn't have papparzi to show us in excruciating detail their every misstep. The worst thing I ever knew about her was that she did little to alleviate my teenage girl insecurities. Happy B'day Tuesday Weld.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper Reflects

It's no secret that I have lots of floof, and sometimes some of it has to leave my body to make room for fresh floof. It's called shedding. I can't help it; it's what I do. My mom says she could knit a whole herd of cats from the furballs I leave laying around the house. Puhleeeze, what an exaggerator.
But then, the other night, I went to take a peek at the outside world. As I reached the glass door, I couldn't believe my eyes, there was a beautiful white cat looking right back at me!! Could Mom have really... no, no, no way. But there he was looking right into my eyes. He looked kinda' see-throughy, not quite as solid as me, but otherwise just like me,  you know, gorgeous.
I don't have the explanation yet, but I'm pretty sure my mom hasn't been knitting a whole lot lately, but then again... No, I'm sure that wasn't it, because Mom wouldn't make that beautiful kitty stay on the other side of the door where the scary outside world is.

Well, I'm off to look for that outdoor kitty.
Have a happy rest of the week! I know we will.
Hugs and purrs,
~Casper~
Here Kitty, Kitty.

Simon's Cat in The Box

Simon's cat looks like Casper and acts like Angel. No wonder we love Simon's cat!

There's a New Buffalo in Town

There's a new buffalo in Bartlesville. Isn't he pretty? On one side he's painted in oranges and the other is done in pinks. I've posted pictures I took of some of the other bison, but I neglected to tell you these unique works of art are part of a fundraising project for Mary Martha Outreach, a non-profit organization in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They supply aid, both materials and services, to those in the community with a need. Kind, caring people and fun buffalo art; you've got to love it.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel Digs Brushes

My mom thinks she’s pretty clever, and I guess she is, but she can’t outmaneuver me. She put all her makeup brushes in one drawer, and every morning when she puts on her face, she opens the drawer, takes out the one she needs and quickly closes the drawer again. I love to steal her brushes and run away as fast as I can, taking them to a good hiding place before she can get them away from me. She says I must be part ferret, whatever the heck that is. If a ferret is a gorgeous, intelligent girl of the feline persuasion, then yep, that’s me.

She always says, “I don’t know why you want my brushes.” Well, I don’t know why either, but because I’m a cat, I don’t analyze it, I just go with it.

The other morning, I sensed the presence of a brush in another drawer, not the hidey hole she picked out for all the others. Now let me tell you what, I went after it!

You can see my digging style, determination and go-after-what-you-want-at-all-costs attitude in the pictures mom snapped. She thought I was rummaging around in the drawer only to discover all the brushes were gone. Ha! The joke was on her. This little bitty old brush was way at the back of that drawer, and I GOT IT! In your face! Oops, sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean the in your face part.

I got that little sucker and ran like a Rottweiler was on my tail. Casper was having a good laugh watching the show. Mom took the bait and came after me. After I had my fun, I let her take the little brush back to its new hidey hole.

We’ll meet again, little brush… we’ll meet again.

A Touch of Whimsy in Bartlesville

Three water towers in Bartlesville are labeled in Old English lettering as Hot, Warm and Cold. When we were kids, traveling through Bartlesville on our way to Tulsa, we always looked for the towers, so they've been marked this way for a long time, and I still get a kick out of seeing them. I finally stopped to get a picture.

An Amazing Performance

A friend shared this, and it made me feel so good I just wanted to share it with you, too.

Saying Goodbye to a Fine Young Man

The world lost a great husband and father, and all around nice young man this last weekend. Harold was the husband of my sister and brother-in-law's niece. This picture isn't very clear but it is typical of Harold and how he adored his three little girls, and how they adored him. He was only 31 years old. No symptoms, no notice, just stolen away in an instant by an aneurysm.

I always want to have an answer for why something happens, and since that isn't going to happen here, I at least wanted to find something good, some semblance of a bright side. It was very hard to find a bright side here.

It took a while to find it, but it is definitely there. Family, friends, their church and an entire community have embraced his sweet family. They have received food, money, assistance of all kinds, and genuine love. These acts of kindness are not one-time happenings. These are the kind of people that will surround and  watch over Missy and her precious girls for as long as they need.

Rest in peace, Harold. You will be sorely missed. This world needs more nice guys like you.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper on Climbing Mountains

Our Aunt Barb and Uncle John came all the way from Georgia and are visiting us for just a short bit. Yay! But, like the last few times they visited it's because of a very sad occasion, but we won't talk about that right now, because it makes my mom's eyes leak.

We love it when our aunt and uncle, Mom's sister and brother-in-law (or is it bother-in-law?) visit. Our mom and Aunt Barb don't look a whole lot alike, but their voices sound alike. So it's like having two of mom here, when we're just lounging around and not really looking at them, but just hearing them talk.

Now when Jeanie, the other sister, gets with the two of them, it sounds like three moms. You should hear them laugh--and they do a lot of that when they get together--you couldn't tell one from the other. It's laugh, laugh, laugh, snort, "oh, shoot", laugh, laugh. Sometimes they cross their legs when they laugh real hard, and that makes them laugh even harder. I sure don't get that. But, you know what I say about humans--that's right--Peculiar, with a capital P.

Mom has been boasting quite a bit lately about her walking, counting her steps and all that. I agree it's pretty impressive that she can walk and all, being that she does ALL of those steps in that awkward upright position using only two legs. But counting every step? Come on now, isn't that a tad much? (yep, Peculiar) Now she's even saying that next time she goes to see Aunt Barb and Uncle John, for a not-sad occasion, she will be ready to climb Stone Mountain again. Our mom, a mountain climber? I had visions of her scaling snow covered rocky mountainsides, having to stay in base camps fighting the snow and wind, and taking days to pick and pull her way to the top of a mountain, and that scared me.

But, then I did my research, and that so-called "mountain" out there in Georgia is just one great big hill made of granite. It's real pretty and there's lots to do around it, but believe me, I'm no longer scared about her "climbing" it. It looks more like a stroll on a hillside. I think that will be okay.

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday, and remember to cuddle your cats and hug your other loved ones real tight.

Purrs and hugs,
=^..^=  Casper

World Cat Day

Today is 2010 World Cat Day!
We greet all our fellow felines as we celebrate being CATS! It is a most pawsome thing to be, at least for all of us that are fortunate enough to have humans who appreciate and love us, as it should be.

Today, in addition to celebrating our catness, we are also sending out purrs for all the cats in the world that do not have the wonderful lives they deserve, and for all the special kitties in shelters that would love to come live in good forever homes. We are purring extra loud and fervently for all of them.

We also offer up purrs of gratitude for all the cat lovers in the world. We're grateful for those who love and care for their pets, the ones who adopt, special people that volunteer in shelters and those in the blogosphere that spread the word that cats are special companions and bring much joy into this world!

Cats Rock! Every day should be CAT DAY!

=^..^=
Casper and Angel

Bubbling Over

A prankster put bubble bath in the Bartlesville Community Center fountain. Not a real original idea, but the results turned out to be. The following video shows some large chunks of bubbles floating down the street. It looks pretty weird.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel gets Perspective

The last few days have been Bad News, Good News days. Sunday morning Mom left to make the 2 ½ hour trip to go see our big brother, Russell, our sister-in-law, Karissa, and The Grandsons. Casper and I had just settled in for a nice quiet Snoozin’ Sunday. Wait… was that the garage door I heard? What’s going on?

Mom walked back into the house. She said her car sounded funny. She made a swishy sound as she described it to Russell over the phone. She was right – that did sound funny. She was sad that she wasn’t going to see ‘the kids and grandkids’, as she calls them. But, she would see them soon. Car broken and no visit with the fam – bad news. Then came the call, the fam was coming here instead – good news! Good news as far as she was concerned anyway. But, there went our plans of sleeping the whole dang day away. There is NO sleeping when those rowdy boys are here!
About three hours later, they’re heeere; off to mom’s bedroom we went.

It’s kind of like a small tornado, without the rain, blowing through the house when the boys are here. Mom says they are sweet and energetic, I say they are a horde of locusts come to destroy our entire way of life.

 

Anyway, they came, they created their mayhem and path of destruction, and then they went back home. We survived, once again! Definitely time to sleep! We slept long and hard.
Next day, mom got her car to the service department. It was, as Russell had predicted, the alternator – bad news. But, the repair was covered by her extended warranty – good news. They had to order the part and it would take a couple of days to get it – bad news -- she would have to rent a car. It too was covered by her warranty – good news.
Life is just one big old balancing act, like having our plans crushed by having the wrecking crew visit (bad news… for sleepy cats anyway) led to some awesome snoozing time (great news). Plus, having them visit makes Mom happy and we love Mom, so I guess it really is good news.
It’s all a matter of perspective.

Hugs and Purrs
=^..^= Angel

2010 Tulsa Memory Walk

Okay, it's time for me to do something good, for someone besides me, with all this walking I've been doing. I believe I am prepared for the 2010 Tulsa Memory Walk on August 28th. The objective is to raise awareness and money for The Alzheimer's Association,  a health organization funding Alzheimer care, support and research.

I have a friend, a  beautiful young lady, whose once vivacious mother was diagnosed with Early On-set Alzheimer's a few years ago. Her mother is only in her mid-fifties and already attends an elder-care day facility because she can't care for herself while her husband goes to work all day. My friend picks up her little boy from his daycare center after work each day and then goes to gather her mom from her day care facility and delivers her back home. Her mother enjoys the people and activities at the center, but it won't be much longer before she will need 24/7 care. The family has begun the search for a long-term care facility.

Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking disease, a most insidious thief. There is no cure yet, nor known causes, for this disease. Much research is still needed.

A few weeks ago, I was moved to tears as I watched a segment on CBS Sunday Morning, called Jan's Story. It's the story of a lovely woman with early on-set Alzheimer's, beautifully and intimately told by her devoted husband. Click here if you would like to see it.  I couldn't help but think of my friend and her mother as I watched.

So many of us have been impacted by this disease, in one way or another, and I hope and pray it will be eradicated one day soon.

Angel Hits the Sauce

Well actually, she just batted it around a little.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper gives Mom a Break

I guess I’ve dished on Mom a little too much lately. There was even talk about me losing some computer privileges. Now I can’t let that happen, so I’ll lay off Mom for a couple days and she’ll forget all that nonsense about taking away my computer time.

Sooo…let me tell you a few things about Angel.

Believe me, she’s no angel. Do you know that Mom hasn’t been able to put toilet paper on the paper roller thingies since Angel came to live with us, when she was just a few weeks old. If you come to our house and have to use the facilities, just remember the paper is in the cabinet right over your head. The reason? Angel goes after that stuff as if she's on a mission from God to destroy every last square of the stuff. Mom has come home and found piles of the shredded white stuff all over the house. I think it’s pretty funny, but I guess it really isn’t the ‘green’ thing to do.

Now I do have to laugh my tail off whenever Angel pulls this stunt. Every morning, before leaving for work, Mom checks to make sure she knows where each of us is, so she doesn't leave someone closed up in a closet or something. It happens. Anyway, about once every month or so, Angel will hide real good, and before you know it Mom is going all over this house, looking in everything, under every bed, everywhere. I'm talking she absolutely cannot find Angel, and she's beginning to get a little shrill, "Angel, I have to get to work. Where the heck are you? Kittykittykitty." You know when humans do that high pitched kitty kitty call where they're almost rolling there r's, even though there are no r's? They don't know it but the only reason we come at all when they do that is to get them to stop doing that. But, I digress. Angel has been known to hold out for as long as 10 minutes; that's like an hour in cat time. Then she'll sneak up behind Mom and casually rub her leg, all like, 'were you looking for me?' Oh man, I'm about to roll on the floor by this time. Mom just pets her and says, "You scared me. I'll see you tonight."

Oh yeah, another thing. One time when Mom came home from taking Angel to the cat doctor, she had her hand all wrapped up in a big white bandage and she even had to take antibiotics. Can you believe it? Angel was real scared at the vet's, and she bit Mom! I get the whole freaking out thing – have you seen how they take our temperature? Shudder. But, she bit her! Not like when I give her a warning nip because she's brushing a knot out of my fur, and it smarts. No, she punctured her hand with that fang like tooth! I thought, oh boy this is it! She’s going to be in real big trouble now. But, oh no, mom took her out of her carrier and said ‘it’s okay sweetie, you were scared, you didn’t mean to.’ Well, okay, but what about that TP shredded all over the place? You can’t say she didn’t mean to do that!

This is just the tip of the iceberg with Angel. She’s pretty ornery. Mom goes on about how sweet she is, and really she is most of the time – because she’s sweet when she’s asleep.

So it appears I wasted all those years being the nice, polite guy when I could have been getting away with all kinds of mischief. Who knew? Oh well, too late to change now, and besides, now I feel it’s my duty to mentor the wayward little girl. It’s a tough job, but, if not me, then who?

Happy rest of the week!
Purrs and hugs,
~Casper~

You say Tomato, I say Tomater -- Fried Green Tomatoes

Here are a few things that fried green tomatoes make me think of:
# 1. The movie, of course. A very good movie, one of the few I’ve watched several times. I love Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes. Towanda!!

# 2. The book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, by Fannie Flagg, from which the movie was adapted. Fannie Flagg has a way of making her characters real to us and of bringing her readers into a southerner state of mind.

and # 3. The fried green tomatoes I fixed for a late dinner last night. Oh my goodness, they were goo-ood. I felt quite southern myself. Even now I have the urge to say something like ‘Why shut my mouth.’
There’s a lot to like about summer, and fried green tomatoes is just one of those things.
I’m already craving them again!

In the Interest of Brevity

Here's a micro mini short film starring Casper and Angel, as themselves, just being themselves.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel's Advice

Our mom was very tired last night, and for good reason. She did not go to bed until really late the night before. If I could count, I would be able to count on one paw the number of hours of sleep she got, and that's not good! But, boy oh boy, when she did go to sleep, she slept, and I mean big time. She even purred…real loud. Mom needs to take a lesson from us cats. We take our sleep very seriously.
Humans could learn so much other stuff from us as well, if they would just pay closer attention. First, we do everything we have to, to get our eighteen hours of sleep each day. When we get tired, we find a comfy spot, plop down and get after the snoozing. We eat when we get hungry, we drink when we are thirsty, we scratch around in the litter box when we must, and we let someone clean it up afterward. Life is so simple, really. But humans do like to carry on as though it's all so terribly complex and complicated.
The other thing you'll notice, when you start observing our superior life strategies, is that you just don't see cats going around wringing their paws, worrying about goofy things like humans do.
I started thinking that maybe worry was actually fun. Why else would humans do so much of it? So I found one itty bitty worry to work on…
Our mom always tells Casper and me that she would like to stay home with us, but someone has to go to work to keep us in the Lap of Luxury, and believe me, we like Luxury! So, now she tells us that her work for this one company is about to be over, but she has started looking for her next gig. I started to worry, what if she doesn't go to work? Does that mean the Luxury Lap will go away? And what about our dreams of a big ol' cat tree and a catio? What if she stays home all the time and we have to follow her around the house, and miss out on all that wonderful beauty sleep? Oh my.
Geez, I don't know why humans do this worry thing -- there's absolutely no fun in it! It is definitely not for me! It makes me tired. I'm going to go plop down somewhere and snooze now… Have a happy rest of the week; I know we will.

Master sleeper, Casper, is not worried about anything!

Purrs and hugs,
~~Angel~~
zzz zzz purr purr =^_^=

Note from Mom: As Angel advises--don't worry, Angel and Casper are not at risk of losing their Luxury Lap.  I wouldn't let that happen. :)

Time flies when you have grandkids!

These three handsome young men are my awesome grandsons, Zachary, Dyllan and Johnathan. They own my heart.

Today is Johnathan's 10th birthday.

Happy Happy Birthday, Johnathan! Welcome to the double digits.

I love you sooooo much!

A Stroll in Bartlesville

Bartlesville is the town where I work. It is a really charming place and I enjoy taking a few pictures when I go walking there.

I love libraries. Here's B'ville's.

Price Tower - This is Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper, and as you can imagine, it's quite unique, and an important landmark here.

The Bartlesville Community Center

The Price Tower Buffalo statue. This is one of my favorites.

The OK Mozart Buffalo.

...And that was it for this walk. Don't I have some great things to look at when I'm out grabbing some exercise?

A Bartlesville traffic jam.

Okay- this wasn't taken on my walk. I took this as I  was headed to the highway that takes me home.

Another Walking Story

After work last night I went walking at my standard go-to trail at Haikey Creek Park. The temperature was around 95 with more than 50% humidity, making the heat index hotter-than-hell degrees Fahrenheit. There were several people on the trails, quite a few of them running. I am not a runner but I have to admit I was impressed with their dedication. I’ve said that I wouldn’t run unless a serial killer was chasing me. Even then I would have to stop and gauge what kind of day I was having and how badly I wanted to live. But, maybe someday--

Whenever crossing paths with other walkers or joggers I smile and say ‘hi’ if they make eye contact. Most respond in kind, or even initiate the greeting. I’ve noticed that other women walkers will sometimes start a brief conversation without breaking stride. Here’s one I had Sunday morning:
Me: “Hi.”
Lady carrying a stick: “Hi. I’ve got my stick in case a man pops out of all this underbrush.”
Me: “I have my keys ready to gouge an eye.” Chuckle
Lady carrying stick: “It can get scary back in this area.”
Me: “It sure can.” The last two sentences were hurled over our shoulders as we strode away from each other.

Conversation from yesterday’s walk:
Lady in her 30’s: “Hi.” Panting.
Me: “Hi.” Not panting!-and this was close to the end of my trip. Oh yeah, I rule.
Lady in 30’s: “Omigod, it’s so hot out here.”
Me: “What were we thinking, huh?” Chuckle
Lady: Smiled weakly

I used to think everyone who passed me on the trail was thinking, 'Please don't make me try to remember my CPR training.' When I passed Lady-in-30's, I thought the same thing. I don't think I have that effect on my fellow walkers anymore. Now that's progress!

Whiskers Wednesday -Casper ponders, What’s in a name?

      that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet .

 Our mom is a name-caller. Not bad names. Well, I have heard stories of the names she calls people who do something like tailgate her car, or drive slow until she starts to go around them and then put their foot in it-whatever that all means. At those times we understand she has uttered some names that would make the tiny hairs in our ears curl.

No, I'm not talking about those kind of names. I'm talking about all those cutesy-wutesy, lovey-dovey, ooey-gooey names she has for Angel and me.

Some we may only hear once in awhile. But, there are some recurring ones that we get every single solitary day. We both get the usual Sweetie, Baby, My Lovelies, Pumpkin, Punkapoodle (we don't know either), My Kids, Baby Loves--you get the picture.

But, then there are some that are exclusively mine, such as:

Casper (of course, since that really is my name), Cat Spur, Cass Balou, Casper Bonito, Cassie (she even used that one in front of the cable repair guy once, when I was offering him a chance to pet me, "Get out the man's way, Cassie." How humiliating. To begin with, I'm pretty sure he was there to pet and coo over me and my lovely floof. On top of that, what a sissy name to call an obviously hunky mancat! I did have to snub her awhile for that). Then there's Sushagoodboy, Capalou and Capaloonylou.

Here are a few that Angel gets:
Angel (of course), Baby Girl, Sushagoodgirl, Sushaprettygirl (I see a pattern), Maya Angelou, Prettybabygirl, Angelina, Angelpooh.

The lists could go on and on - and on. Now I'm not really complaining. Sometimes our mom just can't help what comes out of her mouth when she's under the spell of her beloved kitty-witty-witties (another one we hear a lot), and in private we even kind of like it - a little. But, for goodness sakes it's a tad embarrassing when she does it in front of others.

But, we've heard a couple of her names, too. Her sister, our Aunt Barb has been know to call her The Crazy Cat Lady. Her son, our big human brother calls her Mom (of course, since that is her name) and sometimes, Weirdo. Now those are some sweet terms of endearment if you ask me.

We love you, too, Mamaloonalouie!! Yep, you still smell as sweet.
=^..^= 
Purrs and hugs,
from Casper (The Alpha Mancat)

Hummingbird Don't Fly Away

Yesterday afternoon Angel was looking through the storm door and she started making that cat-chatter noise cats make when they see something terribly exciting, usually birds, flying bugs, something like that. If you have cats, you know what I mean. I went to see what was causing this reaction. There was a hummingbird hovering aroud the area where I usually hang their feeder. Only this summer I had been pretty lazy about tending to my bird friends so there was no sweet nectar there. Recently I started feeding the songbirds again, but my poor hummer friends were being neglected.
Once I saw him though, I hurried inside and prepared the two feeders and got them put up as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before he was feasting. 

I think all has been forgiven.

A Day at the Museum

Today I enjoyed a visit to the Philbrook Museum. In 1938 Waite Phillips gave his 72-room mansion and surrounding 23 acres of grounds as an art center for the city of Tulsa. The Italian Renaissance style mansion itself is a beautiful work of art. Add to that the very impressive permanent collection of artworks, special travelling exhibits, and breathtaking gardens, and you have a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Currently the travelling exhibit is "To Live Forever; Egyptian Treasures", from the Brooklyn Museum. It was amazing to actually stand and look at vessels, jewelry and other objects created thousands of years ago.

As a good museum goer, I did not take pictures inside the museum, but I put my little point and shoot camera to work when touring the grounds. Here are a few of those shots.