Duker-day...And Laura Ingalls Wilder

Duke here...

I had a not so good day here Thursday.

Apparently it is frowned upon, in this family, to cross one's underground fence (in the back of the property, people, not in the front!) and tree a raccoon. And then get so wrapped up in the situation as to not be able to listen when your dad is very sternly calling you away.

And...

Apparently it is frowned upon, in this family, to eat out of the kitty litter box (especially if they're still upset about the raccoon thing). I don't know how they find out. They always say, "Duke! You have gray gravel on your nose!" What does gray gravel have to do with anything?

Sheesh.

Anyhow, now my mom tells me that I'm taking a blog break in April. She said that it had nothing to do with Thursday's incident, but I'm not so sure. She says that she's doing the April A to Z Challenge. What the heck is that? She says that she's writing about Laura Ingalls Wilder. Well, I've heard that name around here. A lot. As long as I've been alive. If my mom and dad go away and it doesn't have anything to do with their work then it has to do with Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now she's going to take away my blogging privileges so she can write about her.

Sheesh.

I guess I should accept it. I mean I'm not going anywhere and Laura Ingalls Wilder isn't going anywhere. My mom keeps talking about going away this summer to LauraPalooza. She gets pretty excited sometimes too. My mom spends a lot of time on some website that is all about Laura Ingalls Wilder...some days too much time for my liking. I think it's time for me to see what all the hype is about.

My mom told me that there's mention of a dog named Shep
at the very end of this book, so I'll keep reading.

 My mom told me that there's a read-along of this very book over at Beyond Little House (that place where she spends a lot of time). I thought maybe I could cover a chapter, but my mom said that they're all taken. Darn. This book is pretty good!

Poetry on Wednesday

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place

And on the cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

                                     ~Lord Byron

Poetically yours,

Monday Musings...Eggs

I still have my five chickens. And they're laying four or five eggs a day. They're great girls...most of the time.

That's a dandy egg, isn't it?
Wait! What the heck?!

I have a slacker out there! Someone laid a miniature egg yesterday!
Do you think there's a miniature yolk if we crack it open?

Have a marvelous week!

Simple Sunday

Isn't he a cutie?

Happy Sunday to YOU!

Duker-day...And Dogs of the Family

Duke here...

It's been a boring week. Not much to report on so I thought I'd share pictures that I found on my mom's computer. They are the dogs that were part of this family before me. I think I'm the best, but they were probably pretty nice too.

That's my sister and Ruby. Ruby lived in Michigan then moved to Florida with the grandparents.
She didn't like it in Florida so she moved back to Michigan
and lived with my mom and dad and Jamie (Jon wasn't even born yet).
I hear she was a pretty good dog.

Otis. He came into the family as a puppy.
He didn't like the house, wouldn't come up the two steps from the office
to the house until he was an old dog. He hated thunder and fireworks too.
He lived till he was 12.

Bear. He was part of the family when I was born.
He loved me (sometimes a little too enthusiastically).
He had no tail, but he could wag his stump pretty darn fast.
A sad thing happened to Bear.
I don't want to talk about it.

Sosha. She's here now. I was here first.
She's nice, but she can be bossy.
I just let her have her way, it's easier.
I hear she listens better than I do. Whatever.

Me.
Ain't I cute?

Poetry on Wednesday

There are different versions of the following poem (nursery rhyme, actually), but this is the one I would sing to my son when he was a little guy...

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling my son John

Wishing my son, Jon, the happiest of birthdays!
It's a lucky thing you were a boy -
Gigi (my mom) wanted us to name you Spring
if you were a girl!

 Finding it hard to believe that it's been 23 years since I gave birth to the baby of the family!

Monday Musings

Here's what's going on in my neck of the woods...

We were at our convention last week (Michigan Ground Water Association). A very busy time, but a good kind of busy, ya know? And I always love getting together with friends that I only get to see a few times a year. We've discovered that it's easier to stay an extra night (when we can afford to) because it's a busy couple of days and we're just plain tired! So, we headed home Wednesday and made a couple of stops. One was business related and the other was to an area that had several antique shops. We didn't buy much, did more browsing.

Jim's portion of the living room re-model is done. My portion (choosing what goes back in the living room) is not. It is a goal for this week.

The weather here has been just beautiful. It's still March though and anything can happen. I'm not putting away all of our winter gear quite yet!

It seems we go to more funerals lately. Today's was one of Jim's aunts. She was the last living sibling of his dad's. She was a quiet, gentle woman and lived a good full life.

I have to apologize if I haven't left a comment on your blog lately. It's been hectic. Sometimes I'm only able to do a quick read-through with no time to leave a thought. Hopefully, I'll have a bit more time now.

I'm working on updating my blog. Please excuse any glitches for the next couple of days.

Guess what! I've decided to do the April A to Z Challenge. I have a theme in mind and I need to get working on it. You'll see the button go up in my sidebar real soon.

My son and his girlfriend went on vacation last week. Doesn't matter how old your kids get to be, you still worry. I didn't want to tell him to check in with me (via texting) every so often, but I was hoping he would. I was happy to get the following picture with a short message telling me they'd just gotten to Santa Monica (at which point I said a prayer of thanksgiving) -

It sounds like they had a wonderful time.
No matter the fact that I will worry (that's a given),
I'm really happy when they have an opportunity and the
means to be able to do such things!

Simple Sunday

I love the little cape she's wearing!

Happy Sunday to you!

Duker-day...My week

Duke here. Since my mom hasn't been back to talk about her week, I'll tell you about mine.

Sunday - My mom and dad left. Their car was full of stuff for this convention, plus they had two suitcases, a cooler, computer bag, brief cases. I was really worried about just how long they'd be gone.

Sunday night - My sister was here with us so it wouldn't be too lonely all the time and she feeds us and she's here at night. It's just not the same without mom and dad. We all went to bad and the smoke detector downstairs started telling us that it's battery was low. Apparently it's true what they say about changing the batteries in your smoke detectors when the time changes. It doesn't just beep, it talks and I didn't like it. I spent the night under Jamie's desk. She wasn't as bothered by it and waited till morning to change the battery.

Monday - When my mom isn't here, Sosha and I have to spend the day outside while Jamie is at work. What used to be our doghouse is now the henhouse. We're not thrilled with that. It rained all day. There are plenty of places to go here (sheds, shops, and even dog beds on the covered front porch), but we're dogs and we got wet. At least we got to go in the house and dry off when Jamie came home from work. Mom and Dad still didn't come home. At least it didn't storm until night time.

Tuesday - Another day outside and another day without Mom and Dad. This is not fun. Even watching the chickens is getting to be boring.

Wednesday - I'm really worried about where Mom and Dad are. They said they'd be back in a few days and it feels like weeks have gone by. Jamie is home sick and Sosha and I stay outside all day. We don't want to be in the house with a sicky anyhow. Yuck.
The whole day goes by and then...Mom and Dad's car pulls in the driveway. I was so happy that I don't think my tail could have wagged much faster!
Those suitcases got unpacked and I hope I don't see my mom packing those up for a long time.
Can you believe Sosha and I got in trouble? My mom took care of the chickens and collected eggs, then had to run over to Jon's house to check on things and take care of his cats. Instead of taking the eggs back in the house (like she should have), she set them in a box in the garage. Sosha saw her do it. And Mom thought we had the willpower to leave those eggs along? She was not happy when she came back and all the eggs were gone. It was almost worth it. They were good.

Thursday - Mom was home almost all day! Yay! She was busy doing something she calls "catching up". She only left to take care of Jon's cats again. It felt like things were just right again.

Friday - Mom and Dad left early in the morning again. They were driving Jon's car and she promised they'd be back in a couple of hours. Sosha and I didn't know what to think!
A few hours later, Jon's car pulled in the driveway. And Jon and Brittany were in it! Mom and Dad picked them up from the airport. They had gone to someplace called California for something called a vacation. We don't see them every day, but it feels good to have them close by again.
Mom and Dad brought Sosha and I each a piece of sausage. When they go to breakfast, they always bring us a treat. And it was good!

Saturday - I think things are back to "normal". Whatever that is.

The snow is all gone here. Wonder if it'll be back...

Simple Sunday

Jim found this at an antique store and picked it up for me.
I was only a Girl Scout for a year, but I was a leader for nine years.
I am the proud mother of a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient.
I wonder if this little Girl Scout went for her Gold?
Happy 100th Birthday - Girl Scouts of America!

Duker-day...And The Suitcases

It's Saturday! Duke here with some thoughts...

I hate suitcases. They usually mean I'm being left behind.

I've been seeing a lot of suitcases this week. One was my brother's and I saw it and another one (I think it belongs to the cute girl that's really nice to us - Brittany) in his trunk. They don't live here, but they're still my people. My dad and my sister got into the car with them and went away. I was relieved because my mom didn't go and my dad and sister came back later. My mom was worried last night so I think my brother and his girlfriend went away somewhere on a plane (I see those fly over our house a lot). Mom calls it a vacation and says they'll be back.

But there are still suitcases sitting in my mom and dad's room. And my mom looks like she's getting clothes out to put in them. I'm worried, very worried. I've heard my mom and dad talk about a convention lately. When I hear them talk like that, they go away for a few days.

I can only hope it's not true...

Poetry on Wednesday

This really isn't poetry and I just took it off of Hartwick Pines Logging Museum's facebook status, but I got nothing for today and I loved this quote. It's appropriate and, even though we're having a weird sapping season (after a nearly non-existent winter), it is what's going on here...

The 19th century naturalist John Burroughs said it best about this time of year: "A sap-run is the sweet good-by to winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and the frost."
--from his book "Signs and Seasons," 1886.

Simple Sunday

This came with no info.
What are your thoughts?

Happy Sunday!

Duker-day...And The Basement

Duke here...

There was something going on here last week. I don't know what it was all about, except a couple of things.
Sosha and I were not allowed past the kitchen.
We had to stay outside most of the day (I will not speak of why my dad saw us (Sosha and me) in the van of the guy who kept coming over with machines and stinky stuff).
We had to sleep downstairs (luckily so did Mom and Dad).

At least they put our beds down there, but it just wasn't the same. I was so happy when my dad brought my bed back upstairs and put it where it belongs (at the foot of Mom and Dad's bed).

Here's my bed in the basement. Bad picture. My mom wasn't feeling well.

Sosha's bed was right next to mine. She kept trying to steal mine all the time.
Like I would fit on hers! Pffft...

We'll just pick up...

where we left off!

Although the floor refinishing turned out wonderfully, the basement dwelling did not. The very minute that the floor guy finished the job, collected what was owed him, and walked out of the door last Wednesday, I went back down into the basement and was ill. Sick. Not well.

I had a stomach "thing" for a couple of days, but something else also. Something that has just hung on and on. I think it's a bit of a sinus infection and a lot of the fumes. Even though I couldn't smell the fumes, they were there. I've been feverish off and on and just plain weak and feeling as if my head is full of fluff.

But never mind that! I'm feeling a little bit better every day and getting back into the swing of things. And we are slowly putting our living room back together. Yay!

Here's a little something that I'm excited about. It looks much prettier in person!

We searched and searched for a light fixture that would:
a) go with our idea for the room
b) was affordable
We never considered a ceiling fan till we saw this one.
We have no air conditioning, so a ceiling fan seems like a great idea.
And we loved the look of this one.
Plus, we could afford it!

More to come...