Thursday, June 2, 2011

Turtles By My Toes

Who was it who said, "I'm back!!!"? I think it was Jack Nicholson in that horror film, whatzitsname..Anyway, good, bad or indifferent, I AM BACK!!

My blog will henceforth be known as LIZARD IN MY SHOE, TURTLE BY MY TOE. And this is why...first, I have been a busy little mama..planning a wedding, work hours increased, trying to read through a six volume series of books, trying to get enough sleep on which to function with any sort of accomplishment. Lotsa, lotsa stuff going on. But in the mornings, at the crack of dawn, I relax outside with a cup of coffee, a few slices of tomato and a bunch of wild turtles.

It started with a drought, a deep long, thirsty, earth cracking, grass killing drought. We noticed a box turtle lopping along, looking for a drink. We got out the hose, held it up to his beak and lo and behold, he drank. A lot. After a couple of days a second turtle showed up and we helped him quench his thirst, too. Then I, forever the mama to the world, decided they were hungry. i started with chunk of cantelope. He cautiously eyed it but hunger won out and he stretched his neck and took a bite of it from my fingers. That was the last of the melon so I switched to tomatoes; the little guy was in ecstasy. He mauwed that mater.

Okay, now here's the thing...he must have been able to communicate to his turtle homeboys because I now have four wild turtles crawling up my patio and to my green wicker rocker where I sit, tomato slices in a dish on my lap. They take turns stretching necks and eating out of my hand. Proof?? Photos, of course!







And last, my grass is not faring well but my plants are loving it!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

I'm in my private garden

Oh, you all are such wonderful and loyal friends. Trust me, I'm not gone for good. I'm simply taking time to revamp in my only little emotional garden.
I'll know I'm ready to 're-appear' when I begin to pick the flowers there..shouldnt be long..Ive begun to smell them already.

Thank you, my loves.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Our Week's Weather; or why I live in the South.

Feb 16, 2011
Dothan Weather Forecast (AL)




Clear


Humidity: 93%
Wind Speed: 3mph E
Barometer: 1027 mb
Dewpoint: 43°F
Heat Index: 45°F
Wind Chill: 43°F
Sunrise: 5:19 am MST
Sunset: 4:31 pm MST
Moon: Full Moon


Long Term Forecast


WEDNESDAY High: 70°F
Low: 45°F PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 70. PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING. EAST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHEAST IN THE AFTERNOON. OVERNIGHT: MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS 43 TO 46. AREAS OF FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT. SOUTHEAST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH.


THURSDAY High: 74°F
Low: 46°F MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 74. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING. SOUTH WINDS AROUND 10 MPH. OVERNIGHT: MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 46. SOUTH WINDS AROUND 5 MPH.


FRIDAY High: 76°F
Low: 49°F MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 76. SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. OVERNIGHT: PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 49.


SATURDAY High: 76°F
Low: 50°F PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 76. OVERNIGHT: PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 50.


SUNDAY High: 74°F
Low: 52°F PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 74. OVERNIGHT: PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 52.


MONDAY High: 76°F
Low: 56°F PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS 74 TO 77. OVERNIGHT: MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS. LOWS AROUND 56.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

JOIE DE VIVRE (or how beej is about to get her groove back.)

I need to get my act together. I've fallen into a rut of work, cooking, laundry, sleep and a few other basic life doings. I'm losing my joie de vivre and I don't like that one bit.

First a bit of bad news...we've lost our male lizard. He passed away earlier this week. I'd like to think that he died of a broken heart after his companion, Lucky, died not too long ago. But that idea might come from the romantic in me.

Now, the good news; my daughter Shannon is engaged to be married. it 'happened' a week ago today. I glanced out my window just in time to see her boyfriend, Clint, hold her hands as he went down on one knee. I saw him slip a ring on her finger and then lift her up into his arms and twirl her.

The happy couple:





Friday, January 21, 2011

XOXO

Guys, I got all the emails and read all the posts here (Stagg and Candy, I love you and will be writing to you this weekend.))I have recently recovered from walking pnuemonia and I know life is heading toward an even keel when I've begun to start thinking about topics for this blog again!

Thank you all for sticking with me. It's been one hell of a last few months but you can't keep me down for long! :)

xoxo

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Lucky

Yesterday we buried our female lizard. I noticed last week that her spine was protruding and she had stopped eating. I knew, at over eight years of age, that she was failing. I did not want to deal with this and hoped that she was having a simple minor set back. This was not to be the case.

These two lizards were not our first. Our first bearded dragon was stolen from the place we boarded him while we were on vacation. He belonged to our son who was a child at the time. This lizard was a giant of his species and very pretty (as lizards go.)
We came home from a week at Virginia Beach to a phone call telling us that someone had entered their lizard room, took our lizard from his cage, stuffed it under their jacket and run out the door. Of course, we were a devastated.

The store replaced the stolen lizard and John purchased another to keep it company. These two were a mere half inch in length and were adorable. We called them 'our babies.'

We had them sexed and found out we had a male and a female and sure enough, within the next couple of years, she became loaded with eggs. I read up on them and filled a little five gallon tank with dirt, added a bit of water and formed a cave. I placed her in there and she backed into the cave and laid a dozen eggs.

I made an incubator and carefully spooned out each egg and laid it in the incubator, all the while my female lizard protectively watching. (anyone who thinks reptiles do not have maternal instincts is just plain wrong; this little mama was nervous and did not leave her perch from where she watched everything I did with her eggs.

In her lifetime, she laid five 'clutches' of eggs, each between 12 and 14 eggs but somehow I never mastered the proper formula of humidity/temperature etc, and none of the eggs ever hatched.

She had an endearing..at least to me..feature of an underbite. Sometimes she had difficulty holding on to a wiggling cricket and had to be helped getting it into her mouth and down her throat. She was worth the effort it took to help her; I truly loved her.

This breed of lizards is from Australia, gets to be over a foot in length and are known as the felines of the lizard world. They are slow moving, calm, and bond with their owners. She was always interested when we turned on her light in the morning, and watched us with curiosity.

The male seems to be grieving. I hope he doesn't waste away, missing his mate.

I cried when she died, but also I was glad we had her for so long. I know she had a good life and she earned her name..
Lucky.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

The Gift

This is what I've decided: Folks just have too much time on their hands. I came to this conclusion because I am, of late, just way too busy to fret over life's BIG questions or to worry about what other people are doing wrong.

Both of my kids have moved back home, which is fine. I work retail in a little bookstore which is in the tail end of a busy Christmas shopping frenzy. I am busy, way too busy, to do much else other than work, cook, shop for my own family and friends and keep this house running somewhat smoothly.

In all this I think I have stumbled upon a little truism about life; if you spend any serious amount of time fretting over much of anything, then you are not busy enough just living.

I fall into bed each night too exhausted to do as much as open a book to read a bit. And I fall into that bed really early, sometimes before 7pm.

Every now and then, life hands me a little reward, like yesterday. In fact it happened twice to me yesterday. First, our local tv weatherman, Vernon Connor (no relation to me), stopped in the store.




"Hey Beej,"he said. "Watch the 10 o'clock news tonight. I'm going to pull on my ear like Carol Burnett used to do, to give you a little greeting over the air."



Rest assured, I was deep into la-la land by 10pm, but I am confident that while I was asleep, Vernon Connor was tugging at his ear lobe. I missed it but I know thousands of folks witnessed it.

The other little reward truly touched my heart. An elderly gentleman approached me at the store.

"Can you do a favor for me?" he asked. "There's a little lady back in the kids' books section. She's pushing a stroller and has five other little kids with her..."

He reached out his hand and gave me five $20 bills.

"Can you give this to her and tell her Santa says Merry Christmas?"

"Of course I can." and off I went.

She wasn't difficult to find. Pregnant and pushing a stroller, she was surrounded by five other little ones. They were all extraordinarily well behaved. I gave her 'Santa's' message and she protested. I assured her the gentleman had left the store and she meekly took the cash. she was, of course, unbelievably touched.

Of course, she was touched, but so was I. It was a gift for me, too, to witness this.

This is Christmas. This is the spirit that was intended. This is the selfless thought behind the gesture of giving, the gesture of caring, the many gestures of loving.

Yes, I believe there is a Santa after all.


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