Christmas and an F2 in Clarksdale, MS

A week ago St. Paul's Methodist Church had an outside nativity with multiple scenes. Two hundred and seventy people drove through. I volunteered for a 30 minute slot and was assigned the position of the Announcing Angel. Oh, Goody, I hadn't been an angel since I was a child in Sunday School. My blog will not upload my pics. Imagine me in my down-filled winter coat and boots. The girls pulled a white cotton gown over my head, wrapped a gold scarf around my neck, attached tall wings with gold trimming and a halo. With outstretched arms, I looked up and smiled. It was a lovely experience. I wanted to keep the halo but they said I had to earn it.

Saturday, the 21st, was the shortest day of the year and the scariest! As they say in the South, You better hope you're prayed up. Mother Nature reminded us who was in charge when She sent an F2 tornado that had worked its way north leaving a fatality at Rena Lara, MS. The west and northwest sides of Clarksdale have the msot damage. Animals are good barometers. Ours were unconcerned. I took that as a positive. High winds raked our shingles up but the house stayed put and so did the pansies. A neighbor's tree fell in our backyard - minor, and the power was off about 12 hours.

There is widespread damage which includes huge uprooted trees at the cemetery behind our house and light poles leaning toward the road to Stovall. Coahoma County High School has roof and water damage. Our street was littered with branches and pecans - the silver lining. We're grateful it wasn't an F3, 4, or 5. Our hearts go out to all affected.

My wish for all is: Peace in your soul, love in your heart and Plenty.

Merry Christmas and may the New Year be your best ever!

Love,
Maeann

2013 Red Convertible Travel Series

Our Animal Kingdom: Madchen, Schatzie & Buckshot

Madchen (long A) and Schatzie paired for life.

Although not related, both are rescue cats from different years. 

They groom each other and snuggle to sleep.
At night, they take turns going out.

Buckshot

the unwanted addition
third wheel
different species

All he wants to do is play with them.

They want no part of it.

He says, "With my blanket in tow, I could go anywhere."

He gets excited when neighbor dogs

show up in our yard

and he doesn't like to have to "sit"

to be hooked to his long leash

 

He liked his blanky so much,

he nibbled it all gone

We found his "colon sweep"
 recycled in the yard.
He's just fine.

2013 Red Convertible Travel Series

An Arizona baby gift

I met a young woman from Arizona whose mother bought her a pet when she was born. I expected a cat or a dog. No, it was a little lime green iguana - probably from the neighborhood. Sleeping with it made her very happy, she said.
Indoor Iguanas need a hot rock to lay on. They put  theirs in the window with a heat lamp for his daily dose of heat. (If you've ever been in AZ, you KNOW it gets extremely hot. "Just let him out!" I say, but that's not how they do it.)
It could have taken on campoflauge colors at times, but it didn't feel threatened.
Their happy arrangement lasted for the first eight years of her life, and he had grown to five feet long.

2012 Red Convertible Travel Series

Where my blogging time went!

This is Buckshot, the little Feist squirrel dog that adopted us last Thanksgiving at the tender age of ten weeks. I was shocked when JB announced he was coming home with us. It was the equivalent of finding a baby in a basket on our doorstep. I knew his care would land on me. It did. I dug deep in my mothering experience to meet his needs.


He created his bed and made himself at home. JB took him to the camp the first night and let him sleep with him. Buckshot believes its his rightful place today.

JB says he's never seen a dog so loving. When I first looked into Buckshot's big brown eyes, I saw a blank canvas. He had no preconceived ideas about the world. It was up to us to program him. I put love in. He puts love out.
Cats Schatzie and Madchen were not happy with the arrangement. No one asked them if they wanted "a brother". They didn't and still don't. While I cleaned house, he decorated his crate by shredding puppy papers he snatched from a kitchen chair. I think Madchen egged him on telling him, "Mom will love it."

He is now nine months old. His sharp, into everything teeth are an issue. Nothing is sacred. The vet says it could last a year. Ugh. He shredded a small doll full of plastic bee bees. I'm still finding them.

I am learning how to walk him on his leash and where not to walk. The local ants were not pleased to meet me, and I have the welts to prove it. And that's where my blogging time has gone.

2012 Red Convertible Travel Series