Scardey Cat at Heart

This weekend my husband and I were working out in the yard. Well, actually I was sitting on the porch putting my shoes on when he motioned for me to look up. A squirrel was positioned half way down a tree out front, watching us with interest. I chuckled and continued tying my shoes. I looked up and saw that he was headed up the sidewalk right at me. With a determined look on his face he jumped and landed on the landing to my side  (inches from me!) and scurried up the side of the house. He scared me to death! For a split second it looked (and felt) like he was going to take me smooth down and from the laughter coming from my husband, he thought so too. Later that night the dogs were in a complete uproar about something. First of all, although they may think they are big bad dogs, they are really terrified of the dark. Even though we live in the middle of town, we have a lot of cridders that come out at night. When I called the dogs in, my mastiff came immediately. She tucked her tail when she came in as if to say... "It wasn't me that started it." She had no desire to be out there with the cridders. My bulldog on the other hand, had something cornered under the cedar trees and would not back down. Finally I grabbed my shoes and flashlight to see if I could find out what all the commotion was. We have a... well we call it a moat, but it's really an old rock drainage culvert that runs beside our

house (moat sounds more intriguing). The cridders use the moat as a pathway to the creek that runs down the highway. It's really a pretty cool place, and kids have been playing in for years. The big cedar trees that line our back yard form a canopy over it making it a mysterious place to play. I fumbled my way through the trees to the edge of the moat and what to my wondering eyes did appear??? I huge skunk! Had it been on the same level as us, we would have been toe to toe.

I quickly stepped back and pleaded for Riley to come with me. No such luck. You've heard of a dog with a bone, try a bulldog with a skunk. I ran in the house, grabbed the leash and my husband (who really sees no urgency in anything). I personally did not want to walk up to the fence to get the leash on her, so we pleaded some more. Finally she ran over to us long enough for me to lasso her with the leash. When we got in the house she collapsed in a heap under the table. I told her, although I'm not sure she understood, that she may have feel like a big bad bulldog with a fence between her and the skunk, but had the skunk not been certain she couldn't get to him, she wouldn't have thought she was so tough. I've been guilty of thinking I'm more of a force to be reckoned with than I am. I tend to tuck my tail under when life throws me something that goes bump in the night...or when, let's say a rabid squirrel tries to take me down.  I try to put up a good front like Riley did with the skunk but most of the time I'm just a big scardey cat at heart.

The Power of Love

We enjoyed a beautiful, although hot weekend. My son and his two best friends opened a seasonal flower shop (The Plant Stand). We went to see how things were going and of course to pick up some flowers for the front flower bed. They were busy little bees buzzing around taking care of customers and their plants. It was quite heartwarming to see them doing what they've always said they wanted to do.... Have a business together. My son gestured to his shorts, tee shirt, and flip flops and said... "This is my working attire." with a big grin. Indeed, the boy has never had a desire to hold a job that required him to wear shoes. I'll admit that I'm as green thumbless as a person can be. There is a large brick planter I acquired when I began working where I now work. When I started there was a huge tree (of sorts), and some fern things planted in it. They weren't thriving, but they were alive (were being the key word there). After everything was dead and gone I could work guilt free because I had nothing struggling to survive in my area... Until.... The other day a co-worker noted.... "Oh, you planted plants!" Hmm, no I really

No shoes, no problem

didn't, but heaven help the person who did. Why would someone do that do me? The culprit was found and will be severely punished by being the one responsible for the, well whatever is required to keep them alive. That being said, I had to buy plants from my son. A few years ago for Mother's Day he brought me a trunk full of flowers and built a flower bed. The fact that I diligently watered, fed, and maintained the flowers through the season, speaks volumes about the power of a Mother's love. I'm hoping the fact that I bought the plants from him will give me the same determination to keep these alive as well. I did find that shopping for plants for a sunny flower bed is much more enjoyable than the actual planting of said plants in the Oklahoma hot weather. I guess it's like a lot of things in life... The thinking of doing it is more fun than the actual work of doing it. But love conquers all things and I'm hoping that includes my greenless thumb condition.

My Very Own Snow Globe

Okay, so don't laugh out loud to my face but I love big Snookie hair. I'll admit, she may take it to the extreme, but there is just something about a big ole bump that I like. My hair dresser has to keep me tamed down or I would go wild! A friend told me about the most amazing product that puts the pow in your bump that will make it jump right on up there. It's called Powder Play. It's a white powder that comes in a little red plastic bottle. The powder reminds me of cornstarch. You just sprinkle the powder in your hair and it gives your hair wings:-) For real! Last week I was re-fixing my hair at lunch, because

sometimes I do that. I was going to sprinkle a little pow in it. The bad thing about the bottle is you can't tell when you are almost out, so I took the sprinkle cap off to see how much I had left. I put the sprinkle cap back on... Well I thought I did. When I went to sprinkle my powder I heard a big thump as the cap and all of the contents of the bottle sat piled on my head like I giant snow capped mountain. There was powder all over my floor, all over my dresser and all over me. My cat (who looks like he has had a heavy dose of powder sprinkled on him) just looked at me trying to figure out what the heck I was

doing. Needless to say, my hair had plenty of POW that afternoon. When I patted my bump, a puff of white powder shot up in the air and it looked like my head was smokin (I'm seriously not even kidding or exaggerating). A side benefit was every time I shook my head, little white flakes fell on my desk so it was like living in my very own snow globe.... And everyone knows how much I like snow!!!

Right as Rain

Before leaving for California the other day I went to the City and stayed with my son and his friends. I offered to take them out for processed food, since that's what I like to eat. They decided it would be lots of fun to take Mom to eat Sushi. They took me to a really, I would call it cute but maybe it's more trendy part of the City. We had to park a couple of blocks away in front of a business, but it was a beautiful night so the walk was good. When they seated us they brought warm wash cloths to our table. The boys snapped them up and scrubbed their faces while I just stared at them.... "What are you doing?!" my son says... "Here Mom, it's refreshing!" His friend adds... "Oh man! This is the best part." They were like two little boys in a marble store. I literally put my dinner in their hands since I had no idea what to order and

Best of Friends!

because it was so dark in there I couldn't have read the menu if I had wanted to. They debated, considered and then finally ordered. While we waited for our dinner they both tried to teach me to use chopsticks and when the waiter saw they weren't having much luck, came over to assist. Finally seeing that I was chopstick challenged, he put a chopstick training clamp on my chopsticks. I know, pathetic! So the Sushi arrives and I'm committed to being a good sport and keeping an open mind. Come to find out I would need more than an open mind, I would need a very open mouth as they instructed me that I had to put the whole piece in my mouth at once. I may be accused of having a big mouth sometimes, but geeze!!! That's a big chuck of Sushi to cram in, but I manage to get it in as they (seriously) chant for me to get it down. Apparently I did more chewing than necessary as they told me just to swallow. Got it down, kept it down, yay! Next piece was a little different. It had a wang to it, but they said it wasn't a wang it was a twang, but I'm still pretty sure it was a wang. This one, I didn't do so good at, it was weird tasting, and chewing wasn't helping, my throat kinda closed up and didn't want to let it go down, but I finally got it there. Third piece was again different and let's just say it had a life all it's own and I came very close to doing the entire spaghetti scene from Aliens right there in the trendy

little restaurant. I've decided I'm not a Sushi fan. They say it has to grow on you, but I equate something that has to grow on you like a fungus or something and I have no desire to acquire a taste for Sushi. To make matters worse, or at least for a few split seconds seem worse... When we walked out of the restaurant there were three tow trucks backed up down the street hauling cars that were parked in front of businesses off. The sight of that had the Sushi crawling right back up my throat! My suitcase was in the car, and there was a little niggle of panic

when I saw what was going on. My son ran down the street and whew! It was a different business that was having the cars towed. He said, "Don't worry Mom, if it had been us we would have found out where they took your car, we would have climbed the fence and got your luggage and then I would have gone this weekend and picked your car up while you were gone to California. When you got back  everything would be as right as rain." His friend echoed "Right as rain." from the back seat. They are funny boys. We drove by Braum's on the way home so

I could wash my Sushi down with ice cream. Still, I could swear that Sushi was alive and not doing so well when I went to bed that night, but just as my son predicted, everything was as right as rain. Still, I'm not doing Sushi ever again!

Happy Place

My quest for a Persian Cat paid off. I brought one back from San Diego when I visited. We have dubbed the cat "Morph the Cat". Well I say we have dubbed him, the dubbing has yet to be done, but as with all our pets he will be dubbed by my husband in an official dubbing ceremony. I'll have to say that for someone who initially just wanted an ally cat with short hair, he sure has gotten attached to our smushy faced little Morph. Morph think he hung the moon. weird! I wouldn't call my husband a pet person, but he does tolerate my pets very nicely but there is a veiled undercurrent there due to their size. We had a dog for years and years that was totally his and he didn't hesitate to tell you. He really loved Missy and I think he misses having her around. She was a stray and smart as a whip and she adored him from day one. Morph appears to feel the same way. He plays with the all the time (loves the laser light), talks baby talk to him and spoils him with treats. So now I have two dogs, one the size of a miniature horse and one the size of a full grown hog and my husband has a smushy faced Persian who he seems really happy with. The Patterson house is a happy, happy place.

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Never Enough

The hand slipped from mine...

Just a moment in time too late...

Silent the touch which cost me so much...

Was gone in the blink of an eye...

Did I loosen my grip, did I cause the slip... That ended in ruins beneath?

The shadow of night surrounded me tight

Not allowing my eyes to see. The hand that I held, the one I thought failed, was grasping another safe ledge. My fingers grew tired, weary and sore from closing them tightly round theirs. As my grasp gave way a voice I heard say, "Your strength was never enough."