I Had to Wash Her Mouth Out

No, I am not a mean mom who makes my kids go get me switches or washes their mouths out soap when they say dirty words.

Tisha brought me a grasshopper this afternoon. Cat owners will be familiar with the low rrrwwwrrrwwwrrr growl that means "I, The Hunter, have caught you this prized wild game. Let me in." Cat owner opens the door and domestic cat lets loose an injured yet still living mouse, or in this case grasshopper. One time, another of our little killers brought in a live dove, which promptly molted all over my kitchen. Good times.

This time, she had caught the grasshopper on a plant. Her mouth was full of leaves as well as grasshopper. I waited until she dropped it and let her in. Of course the grasshopper jumped through the door into the house. Yikes, begin chasing grasshopper around the kitchen. This was one of those great big grasshoppers that can jump about twelve feet. After about four leaps, I caught it on the kitchen table.

When I opened the back door to let the hopper go, I noticed the leaves. The foliage was poison ivy. The cat had just spit out a mouthful of poison ivy leaves! Great.

My dad is our vet and I had to make yet another crazy phone call. My questions to my dad have included, but are not limited to; confusion regarding the anatomy of a male bunny, what to do if the dog eats chocolate cake, and what to do with the dove the other cat caught and let go in the kitchen.

So here goes. "Hi it's Deb. I have a weird question. What do I do if the cat had a mouthful of poison ivy?"

Dad, choking back laughter, "Can I call you back?"

Me, "Okay."

Wait a few minutes for my dad to compose himself and call me back. The advise was to wash out her mouth with plain water and come pick up some oral steroids.

Now comes the fun part. Catch the cat, take her to the sink, turn on the water. Cat jumps three feet in the air and disappears under the couch. Retrieve the cat and hold her really tight. She is now growling like something possessed. Pry open her mouth and splash water in. Get injured and cuss a little. Retrieve cat from the dryer. Cat is now howling like a banshee. Take the cat back to the sink, pry open her mouth and put in more water. Let the cat go and tell her, "I am sorry."

This cat can delay the gratification of revenge for a long time. My ankles are toast. I don't know when it is going to happen, but it will when I least expect it. Revenge of the Tisha is swift and painful. Pray for me.

Thanks Nola

Well would you look at that. Nola at Alamo North gave me that nice little bloggy gift. The "You Are My Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" award. I found it just after I posted about the Blotanical awards. Thanks Nola, I love it.

Now my understanding is that all you do is pass it on to five other bloggers with no other strings attached. Again, this is hard because I really like a lot of bloggers. Here are five that always make me smile.

My nephew Jack at Just Jack. He is the cure to sad.

PGL at Perennial Garden Lover Her comments are always sweet.

Flower garden girl at Woody and Herbaceous. I was glad when she returned to our blogging community. Her creations with flowers are beautiful.

Cindy at Rose Haven Cottage A sweet talented girl.

Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings who I consider my blogging mentor.

There are so many more who deserve this. I am still lovin on the rest of y'all too.

Deb.

2008 Blotanical Awards

I spent a little time trying to make my selections for nominees for the 2008 Blotanical Awards. Blotanical is a site that has hundreds of members who blog about gardening. I have put the little award badge over there on my side bar. This is about as political as I will ever get on this blog. Saying that, picking my favorite blogs on Blotanical to nominate is HARD. There are so many gardening blogs I love to read. Then there are a few categories, such as African blogs, that I don't know a thing about. More research is needed. Unfortunately, this post will not likely feed in to Blotanical any time soon because of a technical difficulties. Anyway, if you visit here and are also a Blotanical member, isn't this fun?

What a Mess Part II

This is what the deck looked like after I robbed it of a few plants to dress up the front porch.

Stuff was just strewn all over the place. The potted plants had weeds. How embarrassing.

The umbrella sedge was blown over and showed its' overgrown roots.

This situation took some creative pruning.

Took about thirty minutes to clean up my mess. I had to spray the deck off with the water hose. It was too damp to use the blower. If it is dry tomorrow I will get the blower out and really clean the it off.

The Rain is Here

The rain is here. So I am stuck inside.

I think I will clean up the mom wall. This is where I put papers from school, art work, gardening articles, and apparently a picture of Mamala with her girls. There really should be a better way to keep up with my kids stuff, but I have yet to figure it out. Any suggestions?

That Wasn't Very Smart.

I almost electrocuted myself this evening. Yesterday, I cleaned up a big mess on my front porch. This motivated me to clean up a few more messes. Our deck is a mess and so is the tiny backyard the Monkeys play in. Our vacation, the rains that followed for ten days or so, and the mad dash and craziness that comes with getting three children back to school caused me to neglect it. It needed mowing bad. Really, it could have been baled. We had a small Memorial Day party at Mamala's house this afternoon. The boys and I arrived back home with just a little bit of daylight left. I told the Monkeys to pick up their toys and I went to get the lawnmower. It is a really little bit of lawn. It takes about ten minutes to mow it.

I have two lawnmowers. One is an old fashioned push lawnmower the other is an electric lawnmower. When the grass gets too tall, I have to use the electric machine. So I set up the lawnmower with an orange electric cord and proceeded to mow.

There are all kinds of kid accouterments in that yard; trampoline, swing set, log cabin playhouse, and the dog trough. Yes, Abby needs a dog trough not just a water bowl. This is pretty much a lawn mowing obstacle course.

I started mowing and was trying to get it done. Gustave is supposed to bring us rain tomorrow, so I needed to get it done tonight. I was just about done and it was just about dark when it happened. I ran over the extension cord. Sparks flew. Monkeys fled in a panic. Tailless cats jumped from the deck to the roof. The dog looked at me like I was retarded. I unplugged it and we are all fine.

Moral of the story: Do not mow in the dark. Has anyone else ever endangered their life doing yard work?

Blue Butterfly

Look what bloomed for me today. This is Cleredendrum ugandense or blue butterfly bush. It is not hardy here in zone 8a. This one is grown in a container and overwinters in my greenhouse. The bush is about four feet tall, but I have read that in areas where it is hardy, it can grow to 10 feet. This little flower makes me happy.