Furball of a different kind

Who knew that a furball as small as a squirrel could cause so much chaos in a house? Oh wait I did! Usually the chaos that the squirrels cause is under my carport, because they love to chew on car wiring and last year it cost us money to fix that little issue. This week has brought one that seems to think it is fun to sit on the brick wall for the back patio. Not just anywhere on the brick wall mind you, but right where the wall meets the back of the house. Right outside one of the living room windows. Can you say dogs and cats freaking out trying to get at the little invader? The more the animals in the house freak out, the more comfortable this guy gets! It sits there looking back in at them and touches the glass as if to tease them even more. Mia, Angel, Eclipse I'm not so worried about, but Trinity...well she weighs 65 plus pounds and we the speed and force she is hitting the window I'm more than just a little worried. This squirrel is just annoying now and will hopefully find a better place to spend the hot Arizona afternoons soon!

Last week I mentioned the lovebirds and thought about adding them to the Feline & Furball Friday mix this week, but instead gave them their own day yesterday which you can click on and check out Mango and Honey. Lots of fun trying to get pictures of the birds and will try to get more during their next "free from cage" flight time this weekend.

Friday means that it is time to head of to visit Steven and Pickle for all of the felines and furballs from the week. I will be back on later to add the link to the post, and don't forget if you want to play along all you have to do is post your own and leave link in comments. I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful weekend.

Feline and Furball Friday

Thursday for the Lovebirds

Mango

Honey

I thought about putting the pictures of the lovebirds with my Feline and Furball Friday post, but figured they really needed a day of their own. So they are getting Thursday this week because they filled with birdie attitude and demand their own day. Besides I have a furball picture of a different kind for tomorrow already.
Let's talk about the lovebirds Mango and Honey. They came to live here Mother's Day weekend, and if there is a better gift for me, I sure don't know what it is. In the last couple of weeks since they came home I have learned the likes and dislikes of yet another pair of animals in this house. I also have learned in the last week that Mango is the photo "ham" of the two. Which is good because it falls in line with the rest of the pairs of animals, there can be only one photo "ham". I'm not sure that is an actual written rule for the house but it is how is seems to work out. Eclipse is the one for the cats, Trinity is the one for the dogs, Mango is the one for the birds.
Mango also loves music being played in the house, but not just any music mind you, it must be country music! To start with anything else will lead to a huge birdie fit being thrown. Which means you will see Mango flapping his wings wildly, flying/bouncing off the walls of the cage, and hear him screeching as loud as his little birdie lungs will allow him to. His personal favorite way to start his day off is with listening to Carrie Underwood, which gets him dancing around the cage. Honey on the other hand seems to like all kinds of music and just tends to sit and watch Mango and his fit throwing. Honey likes the fresh fruits and veggies that I cut up and put in for them, but Mango prefers to throw them all into the bottom, which tends to lead to some pretty funny antics with Honey. Like picking things up to ping Mango in the head with. Good thing they don't have any cast iron pans in there! They both seem to not like how I place things in their cage, and get to work rearranging things as soon as they possibly can. Mango has the most funny things that I have seen in the last couple of weeks. He like talking back to the television, he has learned that if he goes down into the bottom of the cage and knocks on the plastic that it gets Trinity all fired up. Which he then peaks his head up to watch as she barks and sniffs around for the source of the knocking. They both have learned that it drives Trinity insane when they sit and throw food out at her. If they start screeching loudly Mom will return to the living room to see just what is going on, that the cats like to come up and sit by the cage watching them, tons of other things.
Both Mango and Honey have learned that even though they don't like the little leashes for their legs, they love having their flight out of the cage time. Mango spends more time actually flying. Honey on the other hand is sure that she is going to figure a way to get that stupid thing off. The dogs and the cats would just like for Mom to trust them and let them be out while the free flight time is going on. Because you know...they would never do anything bad, they just really want to play and show the birds all the best spots to hang out at...like in their mouths!
Okay, that is everything about the lovebirds. I have to end now though because both of them are loudly letting me know that they want fresh water and that their extra treat bowl is near empty because of all of the throwing of food that has gone on here since yesterday morning when I filled it last. I hope that everyone is having a great week, and see you tomorrow for Feline & Furball Friday.

Summer Vacation Forecast

Oh the fun of it being summer vacation time is in full swing here. As of tomorrow the girls have been done for one week, and already I have a forecast for this summer. Fair to partly crabby, with occasional out bursts of ripping each other's heads off. Every year we have the "settle in" to new routine with each other that happens, but wow this year is a loud "settle in" period. I have broken up more fights in the last week than I did for the entire school year! I'm sure that it is all going to level back out and there will be peace in this house again, but when is the biggest question that I have right now. There is one person in this house that I feel most sorry for though...Daddy. Watching him trying to get though the long holiday weekend and being the only male in this house...that is one strong dude there. Just the fact that he could survive that he couldn't even get into our own bathroom because of girls that have taken it over is amazing!

The good news is now that the long weekend has passed, and we are near to the first full week being done, things should start to settle down and get into summer routine. I'm trying to come up with some small/cheap things for us to do during the week for the summer break. Little bug has her next appointment in Tucson with Dr. OCD next Monday, so we are going to make a whole day of it up there. I'm thinking a trip to one of the malls to do some looking for good deals on clothes. Yes, I'm already thinking about starting back to school shopping here. I have three girls that need to be shopped for, and there is no way that I'm waiting till mid July to get it done when they go back the 5th of August. Heck Sweetpea's art supplies alone can break the bank! I know there are a couple of movies coming out that I was thinking about taking them to see, and we are hoping to see some base pool hours here soon. There is also the issue of getting Binky Sue's senior portraits done. I'm giving myself the month of June to see if I can get them myself, or it will be the hunt to find out who is the best of the three here in town. One of those three we already know there is no way we are going to.

Well, my time of sitting here being lazy is just about over. There are dogs in the house that expect the routine of school year to continue regardless of whether there is school or not. I hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend and that this week is a good one for all.

Memorial Day

Purple Heart

by Roger Robicheau

Each Purple Heart shall always be

A part of freedom’s history

Hold deep inside a fervent pride

For all who gave, the brave who died

They showed their best for liberty

They stood for us with certainty

Their wound of war, their Purple Heart

Each dared to care and do their part

Some bore a wound which took their life

While others lived past war’s honed knife

True patriots, they faced their call

To keep our nation strong for all

Deep scars of war are carried by

Those who return, and those who cry

Pray for the brave, their loved ones too

Thank God for heroes - all of you

I'm hoping that everyone has a good and safe Memorial day.

Big 5 Tag

My sis-in-law Mom of 5 Gents tagged me with the Big 5 Tag. Since I'm just sitting here doing a lot of nothing really I figured I would go ahead and do it.

What were you doing five years ago?

1. Packing out of house at Offut AFB in Nebraska
2. Painting house at Offut AFB in Nebraska
3. Cleaning house at Offut AFB in Nebraska
4. Clearing house at Offut AFB in Nebraska
5. Leaving Nebraska and taking the longest camping route to new duty station at Fort Gordon in Georgia.

What are five things to do on your list today?

1. Sewing and washing satin backgrounds
2. Laundry (to bad I haven't gotten any other than number one done)
3. Clean kitchen
4. Lay around and have lazy day
5. Perfect on earlier attempts to have lazy day (as of right now I feel that I am at the top of my game in the being lazy department!)

What five snacks do you enjoy?

1. Cheddar popcorn
2. Fresh bread
3. Bananas
4. Carrot cake
5. Oreo cookies

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Pay off all debt
2. Put money away for all my girls for schooling, weddings, other future things for them
3. Buy house and land for my very own
4. Invest
5. Give money to causes and charities that I strongly believe in

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Impulse shopping (Things for my girls get me all the time...oh and my animals)
2. Putting off things medical for myself
3. Letting the little stress things get to me
   
4. Smoking...but I keep trying to quit
5. Today being lazy is a really bad habit for me (one that I'm thinking I really like here)

What are five jobs that you have had?

1. Mother, Mommy, Mom, Ma (excellent job, great benefits, pay isn't real high up there though, oh and not one that I would recommend for anyone who can not do at least 15 things at the same time.)
2. Administrative assistant for insurance agent
3. Manager pizza shop
4. Retail
5. Telemarketer (didn't last long in this one...I just couldn't do it!)

What five people do you want to tag?

5. Anyone who would like to play along too!
   

Well, there you go my answers for the Big 5 Tag. If you want to play to feel free and leave comment. I hope that everyone is having a great Saturday!

Wacky Weather in the Desert

Yesterday was a very interesting weather day. Interesting enough that I almost wondered if we had moved to a different state while I was sleeping. May in Arizona for the last 4 years that we have lived here has not been a month that we the ability to do the following or have the following happen:

• Have windows wide open for fresh air and not have inside the house go over 90
• Have multiple days of cloud cover
  
• Have measurable rain amount
• Need to break out jackets
• See snow on the Huachuca Mountains

We have had all of these things here in the last couple of days though, and yesterday was the biggest day for most of them. Funny to go from record highs at the start of the week to record lows (for time of year) at the end of the week. Pretty much the whole state of Arizona has seen weather in the last two days that just doesn't happen at this time of year here. Pretty much what all weather forecasters agree on is that since 1947 Arizona has not seen weather like this in the month of May.

We had temperatures here in the 40's, gusting winds, rain, hail, ice, snow. Snow!!! In May!! Today we are supposed to see a return to warmer temperatures here but still going to be below our normal for this time of year, but by the start of the week we are supposed to be right back up where we usually are. It has been nice to have the cooler temps, and I enjoyed getting in the car to get out to get pictures of snow on the Huachuca Mountains one more time, but summer vacation is here and it is supposed to be hot.


If you want to check out some video from other areas in Arizona click Arizona New Phoenix which will show you some footage about the Flagstaff,and Payson areas. I hope that everyone has a great Saturday!

Missed and unexpected feline pictures

The picture of Eclipse in the chicken flavor Ramen soup box is good, but the picture that got away would have been better. Oh if I just could have been faster getting the camera! If you can imagine Eclipse hiding in the box defending it from her puppy sister Mia. My thoughts while they were playing their game was "Just what is the power of an empty box that fascinates so very much?" This picture is good though because since Eclipse is cleaning herself it made everyone here think she had just eaten all of the chicken ramen.
Angel was the surprise picture for this week though. While doing some test shots of the blue satin background with Little bug, Angel jumped in to sit and pose too. Little bug was so happy to wrap her arms around her and I was shooting about as fast as the Olympus E-500 would let me. Angel may not like posing by herself, but she sure seemed to enjoy posing with the background and the big lights. It isn't the first time that Angel has joined a portrait shoot with the girls, but it was the first time that one of the girls listened to me when I told them just to let her pose herself and see if she would sit there. Little bug and I were thrilled that they turned out so well.

Well, it is Feline and Furball Friday time again. Steve is out of town so not sure if there will be a post on his site today, but don't let that stop you from playing along if you want. Post your own and leave a link in comments.

Also I hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday weekend.

Update: Head over to Steve's for Feline & Furball Friday

Schools Out

Last day of school has come. All girls are very happy that come tomorrow morning the sleeping in can begin. There were cheers of happiness and a quick figuring out of just how many days of summer there will be. By the way there are 72 days of summer vacation this year. I'm just glad that finals were survived and that for a while their stress will be down. Only other thing I can think of to say now is let the lazy days of summer get started!

What does a Mom do?

Well, this Mom bakes a chocolate, chocolate chip cake when she sees two of her three girls being beaten up by the finals of the last days of school. It is actually for all three of them, but I'm pretty sure that Binky Sue and Sweetpea are going to find the most comfort from this comfort food tomorrow afternoon. Only two more days for them to get through for this school year.
Binky Sue showing how she can multi task...study and talk on her phone to Soccer Boy who is also studying for finals.
Poor Sweetpea is just worn out. Sleep is the only thing she wants to talk about tonight.
Little bug on the other hand is enjoy this last week of school. Today was reward day for her and tomorrow is the "Blow Out", so she isn't spending all that much time stuck in classes right now.

So tomorrow to celebrate having only one day of school left they will have a cake waiting for them to sit and curl up on the couch and watch some television and chill for a little bit before having to start the last round of studying.
I hope that everyone is having a great week.

Sibling Sunday...If you don't stop

I have tons of pictures just like this one of Sweetpea. I'm pretty sure she was thinking about telling me "If you don't stop with that camera I'm going to hit you!" Well, maybe not but her face looks like that might be what was going through her mind. I have managed to be really obnoxious with the camera today. I have been barked at by dogs, chirped at by birds, meowed at by cats, and more than a couple dirty looks from Sweetpea. Little bug was more than willing to sit and pose with backgrounds for me this afternoon though. Binky Sue...I wouldn't even bother asking right now because her stress level is through the roof with studying for final that get started tomorrow.

The final 4 days of school are here. Come Thursday summer vacation starts, and I'm thinking that come Friday I will be lucky if I see any of the girls much before noon. They have all commented on the fact that they just can not wait to be able to sleep in. Of course this all hinges on the older two surviving the stress of finals this week. I've been in Mom mode saying all the things that Mom's do. You know things like:
"You will do great!"
"Don't worry so much about it, I'm sure you are ready for this."
"Please stop ripping people's heads off of their bodies just because you are so stressed!"
"Can we at least pretend like we like our siblings, and that it isn't their fault that you have to study for that huge freaking (insert any test name here) final!!!"

The last and my personal favorite has yet to come into play though. The one where I look at them and have to tell them if they rip my head off one more time I'm going to show them just where they got their ability to do it from. Oh the joys of finals and the end of the school year. I'm just hoping that come next Sunday I still have all three girls with some sanity still intact.

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend, and that this week is good for everyone! Especially for anyone having to study and take finals or their parents.

Saturday Sunset

Just simple for tonight, a beautiful colored sunset tonight. Shooting right at the sunset ended up being very bright orange in color so turned just a little to the east and caught the great colors with the clouds.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend.

Eclipse and Mia for Feline and Furball Friday

I knew early this week that I had better get pictures of whatever animal was willing to sit for it. Eclipse and Mia were it for this week! Trinity and Angel are far to busy to sit still this week since my Mother's Day gift came in the house last Saturday. The lovebirds Mango and Honey are doing well adjusting to the house. When Trinity barks at them they have taken to chirping very loudly back at her. When Angel comes close to their cage they chirp loudly to let me know and then head to the opposite side so she cant get to close. Mia and Eclipse are just fascinated with watching the birds. I missed some really great pictures of the two of them sitting side by side watching the birds the other day, but hopefully I will have the chance again here soon.

Since it is Friday it means that it is time to head on over to visit Steve and Pickle and all of the wonderful felines, and furballs for this week. Remember if you want to play along all you have to do is post your own and leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Feline & Furball Friday

Mindless week

I have been trying since Sunday to come up with an entry. Here it is Thursday and I still have nothing! I'm just glad that tomorrow is Feline and Furball Friday, and hopefully sometime over the weekend I will be inspired and have more posts for next week. Right now though I think my brain may be looking a lot like the picture.

I hope that everyone has been having a good week, and that the coming weekend brings good things to all.

Simply Saturday

Today has been a very simple, perfect Saturday here. Homemade pizza for dinner, and a very yummy fresh fruit dessert pizza to go with it. Some sports on television, and Binky Sue's boyfriend being so sure that we love him very much. Pizza and sports?? What is better than that? At least that is Soccer Boy's question. Oh and below is my Lovebirds, Mango and Honey. Yes they are new, yes I think they are just oh so very sweet and beautiful, and yes they are part of what has made this such a perfect day for me. I just love them so very much! Hubby thinks that the mini zoo should be near complete now that we have fur, fin, and feathers all living under the same roof. I think it is perfect!
Anyway, I hope that everyone had great Saturday's and that all of the Mom's that read here have a terrific Mother's Day tomorrow.

Half awake, half asleep

Good week for getting pictures of all of the felines and furball's in this house. It has also been a very good week for me to have to keep telling all the siblings to "Stop it!" Stop fighting, stop teasing, stop yelling at each other, and yes I am talking about the animal siblings. They seem to be having a difficult week with each other here. Every possibility of fight combination has happened here, including the three against one. It also seems that more that 15 minutes of quiet and peace with them all is just way to much to ask for, so I stopped asking for it Wednesday. It is a major toss up as to just who has been the worst, so I think calling it a four way tie is probably the best. I hate to think about causing yet another fight because I call one the biggest winner.


It is time for the Feline and Furball Friday again. Time for everyone to come out and play and show off the four legged animals that we love oh so very much. I will post a link over to Steve and Pickle later today once the post is up. Remember all you have to do to play along is post your own and leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a terrific weekend!

Update: Link over to Steve and Pickle
Feline & Furball Friday

Art Anyone?

This year I'm running out of room for all of Sweetpea's art projects that are coming home. 3-D art is not the easiest to find space for. This one though I just really have no idea where to keep it at. In the last week since it came in the door it has been several different place. Why does this one have to keep moving? Well, the animals seem to be afraid of it and also seem to want to attack this one. I'm just hoping I can find a safe place for it here soon. This one is my Mother's day gift and even if it makes me laugh because of a comment made by Sweetpea's science teacher about it, I still want to find a place for it in the house. As for the science teachers comment...I really just don't see it looking like a molested chicken.

I hope that everyone had a great Thursday, and YAY tomorrow is Friday!!

Finding things out and about

My search for desert blooms didn't go so great today. I was hoping to find the prickly pear cactus blooms but no such luck today. I know that we are in the right time of year for them, and I also know that there are some that have already bloomed. I just would have to walk up in the front yard of someone else's house and stand there to take up close pictures of them...I think I will just keep on the search for some in more public areas so that I don't have to try and explain why I'm standing just so many feet away from a bedroom window of someone's house.
Getting pictures of the deer took me a little bit. I had to drive down to the opposite end of the look out area and then slowly make my way back down to where they were eating. Worth the time spent moving slowly though since I ended up getting within maybe 40 feet of them to take pictures without them running off. Their coats looked pretty rough, but then again a lot of the deer in the area usually have pretty rough looking coats. These were fatter and healthier looking than a lot that I have seen in the last couple of years, so maybe because of the monsoon last year they have had better feeding areas.
The only blooms I could find today were weeds. I couldn't even get a bee flying around this one to add to the picture. Like I said, I'm just going to have to keep the search going.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a great Wednesday, and that tomorrow is another terrific day.

Random things

I've been going through picture files today for the last couple of months and to my surprise I found pictures taken in Tombstone from when my sister was here that I had downloaded and never got a chance to even look at. Considering just how many times we have been to Tombstone (this year alone) you would think that I could just leave the camera at home. I so don't think so!! Every time we are there I try to take pictures of things that I haven't done before. After this batch of pictures though I'm not sure just what is left for me to photograph. Oh wait, I'm thinking about shooting picture of just window and door arches next time we go down.
I've done a great job of catching myself up with my photo's the last couple of weeks here, so it must be time for me to get back out and take some more of course. I'm thinking about going in search of some desert blooms. A couple of weeks ago my search resulted in nothing, but today while out driving I saw the first signs of blooms on cactus. So wish me luck for tomorrow and my hunt for some flowers to take pictures of.

I hope that the week is going well for everyone so far, and have a great Wednesday!

Sibling Sunday...Busy days

It has been a fantastic weekend here in Arizona. Wonderful warm weather, lots of busy house work getting done, and a couple really great buys found while out shopping. I'm totally amazed that it is May, oh wait I'm totally amazed that we are nearing the half way point of 2008! The girls will start their final 14 days of school as of tomorrow. Which means that we are in the major stress zone for all of them as teachers lay on the final projects,and exams of the school year. They are not looking forward to the last days of school, but are all very happy that summer vacation is quickly approaching. We will be celebrating the next birthday for the house here in just 10 days, whether or he likes it or not. Since Saturday seems to have become date night for Binky Sue and Soccer boy, we invited them to spend the night in with us next Saturday for some homemade pizza and maybe some movies. Shopping was productive for me since I was able to find several colors of satin on the dollar table to use for backdrops. Oh and some bath stuff for when I finally take time to just sit and relax...thank goodness for long hot soaking in tub.

I'm going to ask everyone who read to keep our friends the Bee family in thoughts and prayers again this month. Last year I asked for the same thing as Little man Bee was due to be born and then underwent major back surgery for the spinabifada. This year Little man will be having surgery on his first birthday to lengthen the heel cord for one of his clubbed feet. Minor stuff really in the whole scheme of surgeries that he will have, but to a Mommy...nothing is that minor when it comes to her babies. So some prayers for peaceful thoughts for Mommy Bee would be wonderful right now. After they get back home from Shriners in Portland it will be tubes in ears for little man bee, but I will put a date up for that one once I know.

Okay, that is all there is for this Sunday. Hope with me that girls can deal with the final days of stress better than most years. I'm really not all that into being the one that takes the wrath of bad mood teens in this house. I hope that everyone has had a great weekend spent with those you love most, and that the coming week is a good one for all of us.

Tired

Since this crud cold seems to be still trying to take me down, I just didn't have the energy needed to chase animals around the house to get a better picture than this one. At least Mia was willing to stop moving (somewhat) and lay down and chew on one of the toy tires.

Feline and Furball Friday time again, so if you want to play along just post your own and leave link in comments. So don't forget to head over to Steve's to check out all of the feline's and furball's. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

http://sometimesphotoblog.com/2008/05/02/feline-furball-friday/

Being done is a great thing

Last night there was a cheer that went up here in my house. It was me throwing my arms up in the air in triumph about being done with the final editing of the wedding photo's. They are sitting safely now on a jump drive waiting for me to drive them over to the other photographer and drop them off. Today was nice not thinking about them or feeling like I was chained to the computer. So to celebrate I'm going to share on of my favorites even if it isn't the best picture. This little girl was my little helper the entire day. Imagine my surprise though when I started editing and realized that she had been behind the wedding dress the entire time I had been doing pictures of it. I didn't even notice her peaking out at me at the time, but it is probably my most favorite of the day though. She was as sweet as she is cute, and no matter where I was, she wasn't all that far behind me. She helped get people posed, she made sure that I got something to eat and that I was drinking enough water. I ask you who could ask for a better little helper? When I was getting packed up to leave for the night she gave me a quick hug and told me that she had a great day with me. So that is why my little helper makes it to the top of my favorite pictures list.

Tomorrow is feline and furball Friday again, and if I'm lucky I will remember to pick up the camera and see just which one of mine I can get a pictures of. I hope that everyone has a great day tomorrow.