Wisconsin, May 2016

MOOOooooOOOooooOoooOOOOoooooooo..........!

Another trip to Wisconsin has come and gone.  As much as I hate traveling and leaving home for more than a few days, it was overall a good and fun trip.

We started off by going straight to Ladysmith to spend the first night with his sister JudyBug and her hubby Al.  It is always so fun to visit with them. Plus she always gives us jugs of locally made home-grown real 100% natural maple syrup that she gets from a friend of hers.  Yum.  Her only fault is that she is always trying to fatten us up with tons of food.  Plus, as I mentioned last year, her house is "Tick Central", but it was SO cold when we got there, so we didn't spend any time outdoors anyway.  It even started snowing on Saturday morning!  Weird.  I was glad that I packed some warmer clothes. 

Here is a picture of an Oriole that comes around to nibble on the oranges that she puts out in her yard:

On Saturday we headed south to Marshfield.  I was anxious to see how my mom was doing because I knew that she had been in and out of the hospital recently.  When we got to Marshfield, no one was answering her phone, and knowing she had been in the hospital we thought maybe something happened and perhaps she was in the hospital again.  So we called the hospital to find out if she was admitted, and it turned out she was, so we started off with visiting her first.  Well, we had to because we couldn't get into our guest room without the key.

We didn't know for sure how long she would be cooped up in there, so on Sunday we went to church without her, and luckily our rental car gave us the freedom to go where we wanted, so we were able to meet up with old friends and family members in between visits with my mom at the hospital.

On Monday she was able to go home, but she was pretty weak, so we just took her home so she could get some rest.  While she was resting, me and Chuck went shopping for a new couch for her.  I've been wanting to get her a new one for a long time, and this was our opportunity to do it.  She was pleasantly surprised, and we were all glad to see that old uncomfortable "bucket couch" go away.

Every day she was making tiny improvements, but she was still tired and weak most of the time, took lots of naps throughout the day, and we wanted her to get all the rest she needed, so throughout the week, Chuck and I did what we wanted/needed to do and visited my mom in between everything else.  We were SO BUSY.

On Tuesday afternoon, we went up north to Phillips to visit my brother Chuck:

He owns 100 acres of land and took us for a ride on his 4-wheeler.

This is where my niece Rachel sits and waits when she is deer hunting:

On Wednesday we went to Plover to visit Chuck's sister Karen.  On the way, we HAD TO stop here:

Just look at all that yummy cheese:

and all that yummy "squeaky cheese"

Chuck's sister Karen lives only a mile away from the nursing home where his mom is, so we spent the afternoon with her.

When we got there we found her sitting outside with a few other patients.

Of course Chuck's mom didn't have a clue who we were, but holy cow! she talked non-stop for the whole three hours that we were there!  And Chuck knew just what to say to keep her going!  It was a very interesting conversation, to say the least!

I am so glad we got to spend that time with her because it was fun to see her in good spirits and laughing. 

After awhile though, her topics of conversation were turning negative, which was making her ornery and more animated, so that was our clue that it was probably time for us to go.

So we spent the rest of the day visiting with Karen and headed back to Marshfield in the evening.

Every day when we did our running around and visiting people, I always wanted to get back to Marshfield early enough to see my mom before she went to bed, but most of the time we always got back a little too late cuz my mom goes to bed so early.

I was starting to feel bad that I hardly got to see my mom, but I knew that she just needed time to recover before I could have a good long visit with her anyway.

In the meantime, we were getting a lot of our other obligations taken care of, so it was working out good.

On Thursday, me and Chuck wanted to start our "mini vacation" road trip along the Mississippi River.  So after we made sure that my mom was gonna be okay, we headed out west.

The first town we stopped in was Stockholm because a guy that Chuck works with insisted that we go there to a certain pie place and try their pie.  So we did.

I liked that their pies are totally hand-made from scratch.

I had the triple berry pie (rhubarb, raspberry, strawberry) and it tasted very good!

After we ate our pie we went to a little museum across the street.  It was very small but had lots of old antique stuff to look at, plus a few locally made items to sell.

I wanted to purchase a ceramic sugar bowl, but there was absolutely no one manning the place.  There was only a sign that directed us to the building next door if we wanted to purchase anything.

So we took the sugar bowl to the building next door, and we walked in, and the first thing we saw was this big ol' tom cat gnawing on a baby rabbit which was still twitching (poor thing!).

The guy who owned the shop apparently didn't know about it until we walked in cuz he was in a different room.  But he took care of it right away and apologized - he said the cat brings his dinner into the store all the time.

Anyhoo, now that we've paid for our sugar bowl, we went for a walk in this little park next to the river, and found this spit that spans halfway across.

Here is something really neat that I've never seen before:  public bicycles that you can use whenever you want:

So when we were done at the park, we each grabbed a bike and pedaled back towards the car.  It felt really weird to just take a bike like that - I felt like I was stealing it!

They had bike racks like this in different parts of the town; you just drop it off at any bike rack. 

Between unmanned stores and public bikes, this town is really laid back!!

But we were there before the tourist season started, so I suppose things are very different now.

Our next stop was Pepin.  If you know who Laura Ingalls Wilder is, then Pepin should sound familiar to you.  It is where she was born and it is the setting of "the big woods" in her first book.

They built a replica of the cabin on the spot where they think the original one stood.

As you can see, there is no longer any "big woods".  It was really cool to be standing on the same ground where she spent her early childhood, but at the same time, I wasn't too thrilled about the surroundings of the cabin.   They say that this replica cabin might be as much as 200 feet off the original spot,  but they KNOW that this is the very land property that she was born on.  And based on her writings,  they think they did an accurate job with the cabin.  Really? Maybe on the inside, who can know for sure? But on the outside ---with all the cleared land, and the neatly mowed grass, and those fancy plants in front of the cabin, it's too modern looking to give me that nostalgic feeling of authenticity.  But yet, it was still pretty cool to stand there and try to imagine the Ingalls family living in that very spot.  Even though I felt half-disappointed, it was worth stopping for.

Then we went to the museum:

They had a lot of old antique stuff in there from the same time era as Laura Ingalls Wilder, but not much of it was actually linked to her personally.

But here is a quilt that belonged to her:

Here is a doily that belonged to Rose.

And here is another quilt that belonged to either Laura or Rose:

They also had some other items that belonged to Laura's first teacher.

Well, I am taking too long with this road trip, so I'm going to skip a lot of stuff and move on.  But I suppose I should at least show you a picture of the Mississippi River.

It's not the greatest picture, but it's the best I could do.  We stopped in a town called Alma, where you can climb to the top of a big bluff and look down on the river.  I imagined that long ago, that bluff was probably a popular scouting spot for the Indians.

After awhile all these little old historical towns started looking the same, and it was fun to see all these historical places, but we were running out of time.  So after stopping in several towns and shopping in some old historical shops, we parted from the river and headed east again.....cuz we had other things to do, like visit a cemetery, visit my sister, and run a half-marathon.

On our way east, we stopped in the town of Viroqua to take a walk, just because we liked the look of the town.  It had a kind of small town homey feel.

While we were there, Chuck made a new friend:

So we headed to Cashton to hunt for some of Chuck's buried ancestors with the name Brueggen.

When we got close to it, we happened to end up behind this truck and Chuck wondered if it was owned by his distant relatives:

Wow, that's really weird..........

At the cemetery, we found lots of Brueggens:

While I was taking a picture of one of the tombstones, an old lady and her son noticed that I was taking a photo of someone she knew.  After talking with her, we learned that she was Chuck's mom's cousin.  I told her that we were looking for the grave of Martin Brueggen, and she said, "Martin was my grandfather." Wow, what a coincidence!  

  She also said that the driver of that oil truck we saw was her nephew.

So yes, Chuck was right about about that truck we saw.

That was really weird.

BTW, we never did find Martin's grave.  The old lady pointed us over in yon direction and said he was out there "somewhere".  We combed it over twice and never found him.  Bummer.

We did find lots of others we were looking for, so the trip to the cemetery was very productive.

Okay, now we're off to Mauston to visit my sister Laura:

She fed us a scrumptious dinner and we had a very nice visit. I was glad I got to have some time with her cuz she is one of my siblings that I don't usually get to see.

Then we headed over to Holmsberg to spend the night cuz Chuck was signed up to run a half-marathon  (13 miles) in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve early the next morning.

 It was a nice day, so after the runners started running, I walked on one of the trails there, and then just sat around waiting for the runners to start coming in.  Here Chuck is finally crossing the finish line.  He was really pooped.

They had the runners divided up into categories.  For the male runners in the 40-49 year age group, he came in 3rd place, and he won this wooden medallion. 

That's not bad for a first-time half-marathon runner!!  

Okay, there were only 4 runners in that particular category, but we don't talk about that.

We are still proud of him for even doing it.  Over all, out of all the runners (I forget the number now) Chuck came in the first half of them, so he did pretty good.

So now I was ready to head back to Marshfield cuz I've been away from my sick mom for three days and I felt the urgent need to get back and see how she was doing.

She was fine.  Doing a little better each day, but still weak and tired all the time.

On Sunday she was able to go to church with us, but had to go home and lay down as soon as it was over.  So we took her home, and my sister Judith came into town so we could spend the afternoon together and take my mom to the park.  Unfortunately, she didn't know that we had another obligation that day.  

  So, as much as I hated to leave her, I had to leave her.

We were expected to attend Chuck's family reunion at his sister Joyce's house in Neillsville, and there was no way I could get out of it.

Here is Joyce's fat cat, Cali.

She is SOOOO fluffy!!

We had a good time there.  Everybody just goofing around.

Jim, Chuck, Dean, Karen, Judy, Joyce

After that was done, we of course get back to Marshfield right AFTER my mom went to bed.  So in the evenings whenever that happened, which was practically every evening, me and Chuck would go for a walk around the neighborhood and up and down Main Street before the sun went down.  I always enjoyed this because it was so retro.

Here in Alaska we don't have those old cracked sidewalks under the shade of the trees with all those "helicopters" lying on the ground.  I really miss that!

Plus we really enjoyed looking at all the old houses, and of course Chuck was interested in all the ones that had a real estate sign stuck into the ground.

Anyhoo, it was just kind of a nice relaxing way to end the day before retiring in the guest room.

Monday was our last full day in Wisconsin, and it was also the first day that we had no plans.  So I committed us to finally spend a whole day with my mom.  By that time she was feeling much better and was able to do more.

We wanted to take her to the park, but knew it wouldn't last very long without a wheelchair cuz she still couldn't walk very far without getting dizzy and tired, so first we went to WalGreen's and bought her a walker.

This was money well spent cuz she really liked it a lot.  

And the nice thing about it is that she can sit down on it while me and Chuck are standing around watching the bears goofing around.

What I wanted to see the most was the bears because these two bear cubs came from Alaska, so I felt a more personal connection to them.

The Marshfield Zoo built really nice extravagant living quarters for them.  They are not just in a small cage pacing back and forth; they have a lot of space with trees and water, and even a bridge to go from one part of the cage to the other.  I'd say they are pretty spoiled and living in the ritz!

Anyhoo, after a little while, I could see that my mom was starting to wear out, so we took her out for some ice cream.  And then she still felt good enough to be out a little longer, so we took her to the mall.  It was just good to see her finally able to get by longer without having to lay down and rest.  But she did eventually say she needed to lay down, so we took her home.  

On Tuesday morning we had to pack up and leave, but I took this last picture of my parents sitting on their new couch. They covered it with a quilt to protect it, which I think looks better anyway.  (Yes, my mom hand-sewed that quilt - that is what she does.)

So that was our trip.

It took me awhile to post this because I have been SO busy since I got back home.  Every time I wanted to update my blog, there was always something standing in the way.

We put up the greenhouse and I got all my veggies transplanted outside, then planted all the seeds that didn't get started indoors.  It took several days to get everything planted, and every time I thought I was done digging in the dirt, there was always something else to plant.  This weekend we are gonna be planting some raspberry bushes yet, and then I should be finally done planting!  

Then there's the task of keeping everything watered and pulling weeds, but it's so exciting to see the fruits of my labor when they come in!!

This has been a really long post, so I am ready to stop for now.

And now I will be back to posting boring routine stuff.(yawn!)

Kitty Weather

We've been having some sunny warm temps outside, and it's funny how the cats always crave to go outside and take advantage of that, as much as we do.

Beanie always looked like she was saying "that's not fair!" whenever we let Bossy out, but made her stay inside, so we bought a leash for her.  We don't trust her yet to not run off if we just let her roam free, but I suppose she will earn our trust eventually.  

So we introduced her to our back yard for the first time, attached to a leash, and she was very interested in everything.

Aren't I beautiful?

...including my flower bed.

Bossy was more interested in inspecting my veggie garden beds.  I have no idea what she expected to find in there.  Maybe she was just showing off her freedom from a leash.

While the kitties were enjoying the outdoors, I got busy finally weeding out my flower bed.

Those dang chives are so invasive!!  I had to get a spade and dig them out.  It took a long time (hours!) to get them out all, and I had no idea until later that I was earning a "badge of honor" on the palm of my hand in the form of peeled-off skin.  It still hurts and is not very pretty, so I won't gross you out with a picture.  Just use your imagination.

Meanwhile, we had this pile of dirt delivered to our house.

And so we were stuck with the job of shoveling all that dirt into these four beds.

Chuck is a hard worker, but even he needs a break every now and then.

I was busy with weeding and unchiving (de-chiving?) my flower bed, but I went to help Chuck when I was done.  I was actually very glad to do the work with him because I needed the exercise and was glad to get some.

While Chuck was "sleeping on the job",  I noticed that Bossy was very distracted with something.

You have too look closely to see it, but Bossy was creeping up on a robin.

Of course the bird saw her coming.  Doesn't Bossy realize that black and white does not camouflage very well in green grass?  She would make a terrible soldier.

Anyway, it was entertaining to watch her.

Back to work!

So we got those beds filled up, and now we got this much dirt left.  But we have a plan for it.

Someone from Chuck's work said that she would give us some raspberry bushes.

Mmmmm...........yummy.

But where are we gonna put them?

We walked around the yard and discussed this, and for awhile we disagreed.

Chuck wanted to put them here, in this "hole" against the fence.

I was "mad" at him for chopping down that patch of "weeds" because it was a thick patch of fireweed and looks so pretty when they're all in full bloom.   Plus, that is where I like to throw my rhubarb scraps. He said "don't worry, they will grow back again....."

Question:  If the raspberry bushes are lined up along that fence, and if we let the fireweed patch grow again, the raspberries will be hidden, and I'll have to get behind all that fireweed to get to the raspberries. Where is the logic in that?  

To me, it made more sense to put them here, on the left side of the strawberry mound:

But he didn't want them there because, I really don't know why.  He was struggling with the choice of putting beds there, or building a mound, and he said he didn't want a mound in his grass.....but isn't that what the strawberry mound is?

I don't know, I just couldn't understand what his problem was with that.

Maybe I need another man to explain Chuck's manly way of thinking to me.

So we took a walk around the back yard and made a different decision to put them here, on the east side of the yard:

So Chuck is building two more beds to put on that side of the yard, and that's where the rest of that dirt pile will go.

However, I have since then made a different final decision to put the raspberry beds here:

on the west side of the yard, because I read on the internet that fruiting plants do better in morning sun than later sun.  So, since they are "permanent" plants, I made up my mind to put them in the very last bed that is furthest away. And they will be along the fence, which will be helpful if we find out later that they need to be staked up.

And thankfully, Chuck never said a single word in protest.

So the two beds that he is currently building will still go on the west side, but I am going to experiment with "cool weather" vegetables in those, like broccoli and brussels sprouts.  So now that I have beds on both spectrums of my yard (one side getting morning sun and the other side getting evening sun), plus a greenhouse, and beds in the middle of my yard, I can experiment to see what veggies do best in what beds.  

Whew!

Here is my newest garden decor:

I have wanted a bird bath for a long time, and they had these at Lowe's, so I asked Chuck if I could have one.  I always hate asking him for stuff, but if I don't ask for it, he'll never get me one.

"Ask and ye shall receive", right?

I would love to have my yard turned into a full-fledged bird haven with lots of birdhouses and bird baths, but for some reason, Chuck doesn't like to spend a lot of money of that kind of stuff, even though I try to explain to him that lots of birds would help in having a hardier garden. I suppose I will never get my back yard to look like the cover of a "Home & Gardens" magazine, but one can wish.

SO!  this is my last post now for awhile.  We are leaving for WI soon, so hopefully when I get back (in a couple weeks), I will have something fun and interesting to share.

I only hope that Beanie behaves while we're gone.  She is getting comfortable with stalking Bossy now, and Bossy doesn't like it.....

"I'm naughty!"

My Elixir

I feel kinda silly blogging about this because it's boring, but sometimes I just get desperate to write about something, ANYTHING just to stay connected to my many wonderful fans out there.  Ah'em.

So what's been happening here is the flu bug.  Seems kind of weird to have the flu going around this time of year, but apparently it's really making its rounds these days, attacking anyone who gets in its path.  Like aliens coming from outer space to invade and take over the earth.   

But I am like the Gingerbread Man.  It can chase me, but it has a been really long time since it has caught me.  That's because I arm myself with a flu repellant.  (kinda like "bug dope")

If I were a traveling salesman living in the 1800s peddling my wares, I would definitely be stocked up with this concoction:

"The secret formula elixir to cure all kinds of ailments".

Except it really is no secret.  You can pretty easily find this, or something similar to it, with a click of a button on the internet.  I found it on the "Dr. Axe" website.

I started drinking this 3 or 4 years ago when I was having my stomach issues.  It is really excellent for settling any acid issues like GERD or acid reflux.  (Any gastro doctor who disagrees is ignorant and misinformed, and would much rather get you dependent on drugs that only make your condition worse.)

Anyhoo, I took this tonic every day for awhile for my stomach issues, and whenever I went off it,  I noticed that I felt better in general when I went back on it again.  I can't be specific in this explanation.  All I know is that I feel better in my general well-being when I am taking it.

I also began to notice that whenever those alien flu bugs from outer space came to invade, everyone around me got sick.  But I wasn't even touched.  I thought this was interesting, so I kept taking the tonic, kind of as a continual test trial and waited for the next invasion to observe how/if I would be affected. I escaped every time.

My poor poor poor hubby came home early one day last week, complaining of chills, sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, and fatigue.  He said it was going around at work and pretty much everyone at work either had it, or has it.   Chuck spent his whole entire weekend in misery, huddled under a blanket, sucking on throat lozenges, coughing, blowing his nose, and sleeping.  He was never professionally diagnosed, but I think it's a no-brainer that it was the flu.  As you all know, the flu bug is VERY contagious.  If you get in the same room as that person, you might as well count on getting sick yourself.  Being that I'm his loving, caring, doting wife who had to take care of him, I couldn't avoid him like the plague, so of course I took the necessary risks and put myself in that sacrificial danger zone.  The whole time I was thinking, if I am the average person (and I am), I should definitely be getting sick any time now.  Every morning when I woke up, I opened my eyes and moved around a bit, just to test how I feel.  Nothing.  So I could then start my day as usual. Hooray!

Now, I will be honest and admit:  On Sunday when I was in church, I started to feel a headache coming on.  And this wasn't the usual kind of headache that I get from hormones or too much sugar or whatever.  This felt like the kind of headache you get right before getting sick.  So I thought, "Hm.........maybe it's my turn to get sick now".

But the headache only lasted for a few hours, and then went away as fast as it came.  That very same night, I felt as normal and good as ever. SO, if I was destined to be victimized by the alien flu bug from outer space, I guess that was as bad as it was gonna get for me. (C'mon you buggers, is that all ya got?  Bring it on!) And yet, my poor poor poor hubby is still trying to recover  (stuffy nose and coughing, and even still now a week later complains of having chill spells.  Sheesh, this thing is not giving up on him.  I imagine it wants to knock him out cold so it can abduct him onto their space ship and do experiments on him).

My guess is, I owe it all to my personal elixir.  I hate to brag and boast about the power of this stuff because I will be embarrassed if I ever have to eat my words, and I'm sure that day will probably come.  But I tell you, I have not had a cold or the flu (in it's fullest form), in over three years, even while everyone else around me is suffering big time.  And I DO NOT EVER EVER EVER get the flu shot.  If I am right about this stuff, it beats the flu shot HANDS DOWN!!  Cuz even people who get the flu shot still get the flu!!!!  I keep telling Chuck he needs to drink my tonic, but he never listens to me.  Too bad there isn't a verse in the Bible that says "Husbands, listen to your wives, for they know what's good for you."  It would fit in very nicely anywhere in Ephesians 5.

If you take one little sip of this stuff, you will most likely put it down and say "THIS STUFF IS NASTY!", and that is why most people (like my poor suffering hubby) would rather get sick than drink this nasty stuff.  I, for one, HATE being sick, so learning to tolerate this stuff was well worth it. Yes, you do have to learn to tolerate it, I won't lie to ya.

But at the same time, imagine yourself being the ONLY one in a crowd that's NOT SICK.

Am I starting to sound like a 19th Century peddler?

Lucky for both you and me, I'm not trying to sell you anything.

Okay, so here is the not-so-secret formula recipe for this amazing "cold and flu bug dope" (repellent).

Water

A splash of apple cider vinegar

A dash of cinnamon

A dash of cayenne pepper

A little bit of ginger syrup

Fresh squeezed lemon juice

You can skip the water and just drink it straight in one swallow, but if you drink this undiluted you probably won't like the burn on your throat.  Some people might prefer to get it over with (like ripping off a Band-Aid), but to minimize damage to your throat lining and the erosion of the enamel on your teeth, I would highly recommend diluting it.  Now, let me explain the way I make it.  First, I take a 6-8 oz. mug and fill it up with water.  I heat it up in the microwave for 1 minute.  (I used to drink this stuff cold, but I found that I prefer it warm.)  Then I throw in the rest of the ingredients.

(do not literally throw them - you know what I mean)

Dr. Axe does not include the ginger syrup.  That was my own idea after I discovered its existence.  I add about a 1/2 tsp of ginger syrup, just enough to make it more palatable but not enough to make it taste like a sugar drink.   I used to use honey or salt, and that is okay too, but the ginger flavor in the syrup helps with the flavor and I like it that way.  Sometimes, when I remember to do it,  I stir in some minced ginger, but I often forget this step. Yes, this stuff tastes pretty nasty, even the way I make it, but medicine is supposed to taste bad, right? -- Keeps you from overdosing on it.

And besides, if you keep at it like me, you will eventually find that you like it.  I have gotten to the point where I actually sometimes crave it.  

Plug your nose, if that helps ya get it down the hatch.

C'mon, you wanna stay healthy, don't ya?

All righty then, next:   the cinnamon also helps with flavor AND it's really good for you in a number of ways that I can't remember right off the top of my head.  You will just have to trust me on this one.

I'm not sure what role the cayenne pepper plays in all this, but here is my guess:  I've read on numerous websites that cayenne pepper is really good for fighting viruses and infections, (some people actually keep some in their medicine cabinet!) and is also supposed to help thicken the protective mucus membrane in your stomach lining, which would be very good for me. (I've read that ulcers were cured with the use of cayenne pepper.)  I can't vouch for how true that is, but in my experience it hasn't hurt anything yet that I've noticed.  The reason it's supposed to be good at fighting viruses and infections is because it's hot and spicy -  do you ever feel hot and flushed after eating something spicy?  It gets the blood flowing, and circulating blood is what helps heal those troubled spots.  

The lemon juice is really good for the flavor.  I used to use the bottled lemon juice, but after slicing a fresh lemon and squeezing the juice out of it, it really does make a difference in the flavor of this nasty tasting tonic.  I cut a lemon into 6 slices and squeeze one slice of juice into it, but you can put in whatever amount tastes good to you.  The lemon is also alkalizing, which helps neutralize your stomach acid and also helps flush out your liver.  

The apple cider vinegar is probably the most important ingredient, but I think all the ingredients somehow work together as a team.  You can probably use regular apple cider vinegar, but I really think that the unfiltered kind with the "mother" is best.  Look for the kind that looks like it has murky gunk floating around in it.  It looks gross, but that's the kind of bacteria that your body can benefit from.

After you get it all together, you can do what I do.  After fishing the lemon seeds out of your cup (if there are any), take your fresh cup of warm tonic to your computer and read the news while you sip and enjoy, like a morning cup o' joe.

And now you know what my morning routine is.

And that is my secret to not getting sick.

(knock on wood)

Or at least, I THINK that's my secret.  What other explanation is there?

I never thought I'd write a complete detail of this because it's not very interesting.  But like I mentioned, I have no other news, so if you are bored with this, all you have to do is get up out of your chair and find something else to entertain you.

Like taking a picture of your cat sitting in a sunny patch in the middle of your living room:

(how exciting is that?)

Beanifer

I know "Beanifer" seems like a weird name for a cat, but I told Kayla that she could pick a name for her.  And that is what she came up with.  Most of the time we just call her "Beanie".

Sometimes I call her "Beaners" or "Mrs. Bean".  It's one of those names that you can have fun with.

Kayla calls her "Beanie Baby" and refers to her as "the Bean" when she's talking about her.

I think Kayla has a new BFF.

The first few days, she spent most of her time hiding, and we spent most of our time looking for her.  She was very good at finding hiding spots and we often gave up looking, knowing she had to be in this house SOMEwhere!   And every time we found her spot, she would find a new one.

Finally we decided to set up living quarters for her in Kayla's room until she got comfortable.  That way if she wanted to hide, we knew she would be in there somewhere, and that was better than searching the whole entire house.  It didn't take too long for her to warm up to Kayla, and before long started hanging around more on top of her bed, and spending less time under the bed.

Then she got spayed on Friday, and that kinda set things back.  But it was good that we had her confined in Kayla's room because that kept Bossy away from her, and gave her a sense of security while she recovered.  Kayla discovered that she likes to be bundled up in a blanket, so she stayed wrapped up like a burrito in a fleece blanket for most of her time.

We were getting concerned because she still wasn't eating and hardly drinking any water at all.  The only thing we could get her to eat was Gerber baby food.

(never thought I would ever buy that stuff again!)

After a couple days of eating that, she finally started nibbling on her normal cat food.  And she is also drinking more water and using her litterbox.  

A couple nights ago, Kayla came downstairs and left her door open to see if Beanie was ready to come out yet, and sure enough, Beanie followed her downstairs and into the kitchen. 

I was sitting on the couch and she came to say "hello" to me, but only for a minute.  I guess she has gotten pretty comfortable with Kayla because she kept watching her, and then went into the kitchen to hang around her feet and rub on her legs.

When Kayla went back upstairs, Beanie followed right behind her, and that was all I saw of her for the rest of the night.

Today she came out again for a little bit longer, and we also finally got her interested in playing, but only for a few seconds.  So far she hasn't been very playful; she's actually kind of a boring cat, but maybe she will play more after she feels more at home.

Anyhoo, it's good to see that she's feeling better.

Other than that, I am getting more seeds started. Today I started my broccoli, zucchini, and sunflowers.

My five pumpkin plants are thriving and growing.

And so are my tomatoes.

And Bossy actually got out of bed and went outside today.

That's big news.

But she doesn't stay out very long unless I'm out there with her.  Pretty soon she is begging to come back inside already.

That's about all that's going on in my corner.

Our Newest Addition

Meet our new kitty!!

We just got her a couple hours ago, so I haven't gotten any decent photos of her yet because she is still too busy exploring her new surroundings.

She is 9 months old, getting spayed later this week.

We still don't have a name picked out for her yet, but that will come in time, after we've had a chance to know her better.

Every Saturday at the Pet Zoo, they have an Adoption Clinic that comes and brings cats that need a new home.  So me and Kayla went there to check it out and this was the first cat that caught my eye because she is so pretty.  Her "foster mom" believes that she is part Siamese and part Himalayan.  She came from an abused home, but she is very friendly, loves to be held, and purrs all the time.

Pictures really don't do her justice.  She is a very beautiful cat.  I tried to get rid of the "red eye" effect so you could see her eyes - they are a very very deep deep blue.

Chuck doesn't know about her yet.  He's been in Milwaukee these past few days and is right now as I'm typing this flying on his way back home.

Bossy is still trying to figure what just happened to her happy home life, but hopefully, in time she will come back out from under the bed.  I just hope this kitty works out for us because I kinda feel like we maybe adopted her on impulse, which I guess is true.

But she really needs a name!!

Anyone got any suggestions?