Apropos of Nothing v.5

I also love reading the summaries of our members....wonderful idea Pixy!

Mom (PNWMountaingirl) gave you a bit of mine, but this is my addition....

I live on 5 acres with my husband of 13 years, Don. Our only children are our well loved dogs and cats. Mom mentioned we are best friends, and that is very much the truth. In the early 90's, we made a mission (Mom and I) of finding an area in the country where we could have the ideal living situation....far enough away for privacy, but close enough to care for the other's world if they are away. It was a long search, but well worth it as not only did we find lots for ourseslves, but an adjacent 5 acres for my Brother and his family, as well as another 5 acre lot that we developed for my Grandmother. Don and I have carved our own little paradise out of an undeveloped chunk of forest, and we just love it. I have two greenhouses to play in in the winter, and Don has a shop (ie Man Cave) that makes anyone who visits us drool. I have created all of the gardens myself, working with the lands natural beauty to enhance them, and am solely responsible for their maintenance. DH takes very good care of me when it comes to the house and vehicles, but the yard is my domain. I also work full time running our family owned autobody repair shop in Federal Way, where I have worked since the mid eighties. All of my hobbies with the exception of reading and playing on the computer involve enjoying the outdoors in some form or another. I love motorsports of all kinds whether it be riding my Harley on the street, Seadoo on the lake, Quad in the sand, or snowmobile or dirtbike in the mountins.... if it goes fast and gets me somewhere interesting, I'm all for it! I also enjoy fishing, hunting, hiking, exploring.... anything that allows me to enjoy the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Oh yeah... and I tend to ramble a bit!

Bonehead! Great to see you here! :D Dang, your yard is gorgeous! That's kinda sorta how I want our front yard to wind up eventually. I've got a loooong ways to go. hehe.

Pony, glad to hear your hand is getting better.
Bonehead, Welcome! Love your yard.
Katy59, Love your yard. also.
Rarejem and PNW, Good to read your posts again.
Everyone: Merry Christmas to all!

I am so behind on everything. Here is our tree, as of right now. It has been in this sorry state for a few days.

Bet that will be a beauty when decorated.

Welcome bonehead, Your garden is very pretty.

My helper friend came over today and we spent 4 hours in the attic putting shelves together and cleaning stuff. My daughter got 8 shelf units from Ikea for me and we got three of them together and one corner straightened. How I have a bunch of boxes to recycle. She took a few bags to Goodwill and some magazines to the nurseing home for me. Great day.

Willow, your African Violets are so pretty.
Here are some of mine. Poor little neglected babies.

Here's another bunch but no blooms on these.

Bonehead, your herb labyrinth looks great! I would love to see more of your garden.

Pony, take care of that hand, sounds like it got pretty bad there for a while.

Kathy, the photo of your place is lovely too.

I want to know who is going to do a virtual tour next, hint, hint. I need several of these in sequence to keep me going through the dreary winter.

My brief intro: Been with my DH for 20 years, though officially married for 12. We have an acre and a half to garden in, starting out as pretty much a blank slate except for a few ancient fruit trees which amazingly do provide enough apples to make plenty of cider every fall. The veggie garden was our first priority, but once I got it going I launched into some ornamental gardening ( a completely new gardening arena for me) around the house. It has been an adventure and a learning experience to learn what works and what doesn't, and believe me I have discovered plenty of doesn't work along with the delightful surprises that do work out in my gardening endeavors. We have one son in high school who is into music, percussion to be exact, so we have built a studio outbuilding where he has all his equipment. I teach first grade, and that keeps me plenty busy this time of year. My Dh does water system maintenance and takes care of a Community owned property which contains a health care center, food bank, thrift store, and radio station.

Apropos of nothing, here is a question for all the cat lovers and knowers: When we lost Crookshanks, that left Cleo (spayed female) outside in the garage on her own. She is lonely and is grieving Crookshanks, I think. They were brought home at the same time, as kittens, although they were not from the same litter. I do not want another cat to keep her company out in the garage. I'd rather she came in to be with us.
Admiral, our indoor cat (neutered male), has staked out his territory inside the house. He tried to be friendly with Cleo when we first got him, but she wouldn't have anything to do with him, shunning him openly and also trying to attack him. She has always been a bit spiteful, not at all friendly really. Now he tries to approach her, although I know that the 'I'm being friendly' appearance he is putting on is just that: an appearance. I think he challenges her under the guise of friendship, if you get my drift. But I think that he would make friends if she would.
Now, she actively seeks attention from us, which we give willingly, and acts very lovey. She knows which side of the bread the butter is on, that's for sure. I have brought her inside on a few occasions, but she senses it is Admiral's territory and hides under the daybed in the office until I open the door for her to go out. She used to come indoors before we had Admiral, and even lately, but before we lost Crookshanks, she would sometimes turn up on Andrew's bed somehow. (Not good, since he is allergic to her, too)
I'd like to allow her to come in the house more, although I am not ever going to be able to have her indoors all the time due to the allergies. Still, I am keeping her brushed every day, which she is now liking (and she wouldn't tolerate it before), so that helps keep the dander down.
Should I just keep bringing her in and keeping Admiral in the other room? She doesn't mind the dogs, she is used to them and they to her. Franny was like a mother to her.
She wants a lot of attention just now and after we pet her, a nice long pet mind you, when we turn to walk away she swats at us and scolds like she isn't finished with the petting activity!

Cleo is a grey cat in the Russian Blue type. Admiral is a tabby cat.

Advice from cat experts and veterinarians is appreciated.

I'd keep bringing her in as much as possible. Hopefully she and Admiral will chill out and make peace with each other.

Pony, so glad your hand is healing.

Bonehead, welcome, and love your garden pic.

Amazing the relationships our furbabies develop.

We are in the midst of a snowstorm. Glad I don't need anything from the store. Supposedly we are in the band of 8-14". when they come up from the south we usually get DUMPED on. I guess that should have been posted in the weather thread. ^_^

Melissa if you would allow another wife to move in with you I am sure the two cats will get along. They need their space and will define that on their own. Let them do it and let her adjust to the changes in her life after her loss.
Welcome Bonehead love the layout of the first photo.
Kathy an actual picture. Love it! Keep them coming.
Please note my computer battery is almost dead and I am days from home see you after christmas. Merry Christmas!

Welcome, Bonehead. Love the beginnings of your herb garden...

Lynn, I couldn't help noticing the angel wing begonia in the lower right hand corner of your pic. It brought back such memories for me. I had, for years, an angel wing begonia that came from a cutting from my mother's plant, which was a cutting from my grandmother's plant. My GM passed away when I was 8 yrs. old and I always felt a sense of continuity with her through that plant.....broke my heart when I had to leave that plant with my sister in MN when I moved up here. I had it, or multiple cuttings from it, since 1970 and moved it from WI to PA to TX to NY to IL over the course of 30 yrs........... on the move from WI tto PA it sat on the back floor of our car and my then 2 yr old son systematically pulled the leaves he could reach off the main stem so that was all that remained on arrival.... I cut the stem into 12 cuttings, rooted them and gave 10 of them away to neighbors in PA. I like to think they still exist and have been passed on to the next generation there!

Kathy, it will be great to see more of your world? It suddenly occurs that your posts seldom do have pictures with them...............

Welcome bonehead - I admit I have trouble calling anyone "bonehead" - please tell us how you came upon that name! Love the herb garden photo. I am one of those that rarely post photos because I am a terrible photographer and I never remember to take photos.

Pony I'm so glad you went to the doc to take care of that hand. Baby it for a while!

Kathy, beautiful pic of your garden. It looks very peaceful.

Ah, cats. It sounds like maybe Cleo is transferring the affection for Crookshanks to you - do cats do that? Maybe the Admiral will concede a bit of territory once Cleo is around more often.

Melissa - I would recommend bringing her in. Cats have their own agendas & schedules - time will allow a more comfortable transition. Territory is important, and as Steve said, they will define the parameters.
I've had over 40 cats in my life (in grouplets, not all at once!) and learned not to react to their hysteria unless it became volatile.
Another thing to consider is that Cleo may have had a stronger bond to Crookshanks than previously thought. As an example, when my 21 year old Red tabby passed, my female manx gave up her will to live - stopped eating & refused water/liquids. She joined him 1 week later to the day. She was not ill, nor had any pre-existing medical conditions. I offer this not to cause alarm, but to underscore the strength of relationships between animals. Cleo will grieve, and will comprehend the love/security you surround her with.

So I will just bring her in and let them work it out as much as possible. Steve, I would be happy to share my home with another wife if she did all the housework and cooking. I draw the line at sharing my husband. Nope. Not happening. I'm afraid my Leo claws would become sharp from use.

I concur about the depth of the bond between the cats. They did grow up together and slept together in their heated bed. I believe their bond was deep. Poor little Cleo. I do feel sorry for her.

The origin of Bonehead: WAY back when the Internet was an infant, we subscribed to our first dial-up connection. When asked for a user name, we mistakenly thought this was a password of some type and decided on 'bonehead; because we all were pretty clueless about the cyberworld and thought we could all remember it (4 in the household). We soon found out this was our new cyber identity and over the years I've grown rather fond of it. And, truthfully, everyone is a bonehead at one time or another...may as well embrace it.

Re cats: I have two barn cats who eat on the same window ledge but otherwise have absolutely nothing to do with one another, and actively swipe at each other on a daily basis. They've had this relationship for 8-9 years...

Re pics: I admit to taking more pictures of my gardens than my grandchild, and will happily share them with you. Here's my front garden.

Got that right about everyone being a bonehead once in awhile. I get usernames and my name and passwords mixed up also.

You certainly have a lot of talent for gardening. Your beds are beautiful.

I have two user names and two passwords - if one doesn't work the other will. I only have to remember two.

"Bonehead" describes me most of my waking hours.

Haven't read the last few posts yet, but wanted to post here to direct some to Mom's new thread about Christmas Tree... Have been having a really hard time (sounds like we're not the only ones) getting into the holiday spirit, but today was different. Go over and share your holiday trees and traditions....lets try to bring the spirit of the holiday alive!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1063880/

Omigosh, I'll never catch up with you all from the last week, but I have to rush around decorating all of a sudden. JACK IS COMING OUT ON CHRISTMAS DAY & STAYING THRU NEW YEAR'S!!!

So now there are parties & such to be held out here on the coast rather than just in Portland. I'm so pleased -- he left less than 3 weeks ago, smitten little boy he must be ...

sk, Happy for you. Happy Holidays.

Sometimes nature provides us with the nicest treats -- here's a crabapple giving me a pretty Christmas show on an otherwise dreary day.

That's the prettiest color around this time of year, imo. Bonehead, welcome to the PNW forum. Glad to have you here!

That is a pretty picture of the crabapples

Pretty crabapples!
It will be a romantic Christmas at the Summerkid's place!

Apropos of nothing, but speaking of romance, my son (age 17) went on his first real date tonight. He was so adorable! I've never seen this kid plan anything in his life, so we were amazed at his ability to plan a date. He took her ice skating at the Seattle Center, then to walk around downtown Seattle and see the lights and store windows, then to a small Italian restaurant that took him hours to decide on. He actually, on his own, researched the prices at the restaurant to make sure it was not so expensive that she would be uncomfortable, but expensive enough that she would be impressed. Then he made sure he had more than enough money to pay for everything. He's never had a girlfriend before so we're proud he is doing it right. They were going to go see a musical theatre production too, but we convinced him that he should go on a second date for that one. I think she is taking him to the play as a Christmas gift because they are both in the spring musical at school and he doesn't remember ever seeing a live musical theatre production. (That doesn't mean he has never attended one, only that he doesn't remember it. Must be because he went with the family. LOL! ) Man, he is sprung! So here he is getting ready to leave. Mom had to take a photo.

Ohhhhhhhh, Pixxxxxxx, he looks just like you, only taller. CCCCuuuuuutttttttiiiiiiiieeeeeee.

Awesome! Good for him to plan like that.

Have I mentioned that I'm soooo excited about going to Texas for Christmas? Our youngest moved there during the summer. Trying to get everything organized here for mom's fill-in caretakers. She seems to be more tired though and sighs alot when I come into the room. Is she trying to tell me something?

Jeff built an igloo and snow fort yesterday for the grandklids. The 2 yr old called and asked if Pop-pop could come out and play in the snow. It was sooooo cute! The 5 yr old didn't want to come from playing. I think he would have slept out there if he was allowed. ^_^

Making some more cookies today. Finally.

Pix, your son is really cute. And what a great guy to make plans instead of saying "Dude - whatever." He sounds pretty grownup. And boy would you be dead meat if he knew you were sharing this story with us! There's nothing cuter than a boy becoming a young man. Lucky girl to have a date with that guy!

Summer - have a fun holiday. :)

Summer....hope your holidays are VERY happy days!

Pixy, wow, a very impressive young man! Hope the date turned out just as he planned. Lucky girl.

Jan, many of the elderly under partial care by off spring that I have known about in the past seem to "not feel good" or even get sick when plans are made that don't include them. I remember one set of friends who would end up not telling that they were going somewhere just to avoid that kind of situation. I know when I have been too busy to have my mom for dinner for a few days, she usually says she is feeling "kind of draggy." Then when I ask her if she is up to coming up to do something like help with cookies, she is just fine again. Have a wonderful trip. Where in Texas will you be? Will the weather be WARM?

Yep, he is a real cutie. And I do think this young woman is lucky to be dating him. They had a great time and he did not come home wounded, always a possibility when ice skates are involved.

Jan, I agree with Sharon. My grandmother used to get sick every single time my mother tried to go have any fun at all. She finally had to let go of the worry that something would 'happen' while she was gone and live her life. My grandmother was well taken care of and had lots of friends where she lived, she just liked my mom to 'be' there.

Pix, I'm glad your son was not wounded by skates, or a deeper wound from a mean girl.

Yes, I know what you mean, Portland. I'm glad, too.

Ditto to what Portland said. Your son sounds like a gem. She was/is a lucky girl.

We are going to The Woodlands. It's about 30 miles north of Houston. It's kinda funny - DS was always very quiet, (like pulling teeth), but now he calls and talks. He even said yesterday that there is a house for sale in the neighborhood that is going for real cheap -foreclosure, needs work. He is hinting for us to move. LOL He's the one that recently had a stress test (29 yr old) and passed out. So far they have come up with vaso-vagal syncope. Mom's RN doesn't think so and thinks he needs to see a neurologist as well and also to wear a Holter monitor for more than the 24 hr. he already wore it. The RN thinks he should have the test where you look into something and they flash lights, etc. to see if it triggers a seizure. What initiated the stress test is that he fainted at work and they said he had a seizure. Never had one before.

Now we know why mom feels extra tired. Her BP was 90/52. Also her lungs crackle. I thought her ankles were a little puffier than usual, too. I mentioned to the RN that maybe it was the emotions of me going away for a bit. She said to just make sure the caregivers have the on-call number and the name of the funeral home that will be used when the time comes. AACCKKK!!! Not what I needed to hear. sigh.

Handsome young man. Lucky girl. He looks like he would be fun.
We posted at the same time Jan. I want to tell you I'm sorry to hear about your mom. My mom went through the sighing also. She was very anemic from the cancer.

This message was edited Dec 21, 2009 11:02 AM

You know - excitement for upcoming trip, but guilt feelings, too. Thanks all for your support.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, be it with friends, family or neighbors!

The tough part is over for this year. Small gifts for the kids, flying to FL to spend time with our only Grandparents. Have a funny feeling that "Santa's" identity will be different next year. So, next year's plans are in the works already... Old Faithful's Lodge at Yellowstone!!

That would be a very nice spot for a Christmas Reunion.

That does sound very inviting!!

Summer, lucky you! Have a wonderful holiday!!!!!

Pixy, your son is a doll! I am sure that he would be mortified to know that your shared his date, but I don't blame you a bit....what a proud Mom you should be right now for raising such a thoughtful young man!

Jan, I really hope you can enjoy your holiday with a minimum of guilt feelings. It sounds like you had enough trepidation without the comments of the RN. I am sure that everything will be OK and Mom will feel much better when you come back home.....

Ladybuggfan, OH what I would give to be able to transport my entire family somewhere sunny like Florida for the holidays! Anywhere with warmth and sunshine..... Enjoy!!!