Felix's New Friends

Felix Makes Some Unlikely Friends

Felix has been busy charming everyone around here. Of course he started out having won me and the kids over. But take a look at some of his other friends.

Felix's new friend Willis
(only unlikely because Felix doesn't mind her - Willis loves cats.
Seems Felix may love dogs.)

Felix's New Friend Bryan
(if you know Bryan - you know this is very unlikely)

Felix's new friends Cosmo and Mehlman
(the terrified fish in the background - need I say more?
I think Felix dipped his paws in a time or two before he decided to grab a few winks)

Boogie Fever - Tiger Style

Boogie Fever - Tiger Style

The energy at Clemson this past weekend was electric to say the least. ESPN Game Day was there, and the Orange flowed as heavy as ever.

During the morning hours, the children and Dads went to Bowman Field, the site of the ESPN stage and of all of the college organizations' and fraternity Homecoming floats. While there, apparently the electric mood struck the boys and the dancing began!
And hamming it up for the camera became the order of the morning.
Back at tailgate, the girls got in on the action. They were a bit more methodical about their madness. They were dancing to the stadium chant song that you can hear at many college football games these days.At one point during the girls' dancing, a former Rally Cat (Clemson Dance/Pep Squad member) stopped by to give the girls a quick dance move combination. They did think they were hot stuff.
It was certainly a good time had by all! Especially since the Tigers won! And now they are ranked number 10. We'll see how they do tonite.

C-L-E-M-S-O-N, T-I-G-E-Rrrrrr-S
Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight, Fight, Fight!
GO TIGERS!

Fire Season Has Begun

Fire Season Has Officially Arrived

Though most of us wait until the first chilly night to start our fires, some of us get started in September. Making fires that truly are to be envied.

And like most fire bugs, admiring your work is the best part of building the fire.

And building a fire takes proper tools. You of course need the debris to burn in the first place. Other tools may not be as obvious.

A "Beer Stand" is very helpful in fire burning situations. It's the tool you need to fuel your body.











Your Loyal Subjects are also great tools to have around. They can be counted on to do all of the little tasks like gathering pine straw to fuel the fire.










And sometimes during fire season, you will have "Dead Soldiers". Once they have passed on they really aren't good tools anymore. But you know that they gave it their all at the beginning of the fight.

Clemson is Naturally Fresh!

GO T I G E R S!

Naturally Fresh is one of the sponsors of Clemson Athletics. The last game we went to (Louisiana Tech) a blinged out John Deere Gator came by with the cutest little man on it. It was the "Naturally Fresh Flagship". The cute man claims to be the oldest tailgater (he graduated before Legare).

Anyway, his job on game days is to drive around the tailgating spots spreading good cheer and to see if anyone needs any Naturally Fresh products for their tailgate: little tubs of blue cheese dressing, honey mustard, ketchup, ranch, etc., etc.
Apparently he has done this for several seasons but only around the concrete parking lots on the other side of the stadium. He had decided to branch out a little bit and come to visit us who tailgate with shade under the trees. Wonder if he'll be back this weekend while we're there for the Georgia Tech game?

GO T I G E R S!

Soccer Goalie

My Soccer Goalie!

Here is my soccer goalie! So far her team is undefeated (two games left to play), and my little goalie has even scored a few points herself. They rotate the girls through each position, but goalie and defense seem to be her favorite places to play.
Here's a picture of the team. It is made up of every girl from her class at school.

The Tide is High

The footbridge between the Walpole's yard and ours....























The Walpole's dock when we thought the tide was about to crest.


















The Walpole's dock after it really had crested.

Sue, this is for you!

Enjoy!!

Since Sue thinks it's funny that I like my wildlife photos, I've decided to post some more for her. Of course, this picking means I love you! That said.....

The Alligator

This is the alligator that lives in our small irrigation pond. He's a little longer than my leg, and not any bigger around. I haven't seen him since it's gotten a bit colder. I'm sure we'll see him sunning himself soon.

The Geese

Periodically we have a flock (or flocks) or geese that take a break from their migration to rest in our field. They do it with yearly regularity. This time, I had my camera to catch a few shots. They didn't seem to mind me stopping to take some snaps of them.

As a matter of fact, some of them actually took a pose for me.

So, Sue, I hope you enjoyed these "Wildlife Photos". I'll have more coming for you soon!

Cool Bird

COOL BIRD

We've had a lot of birds hanging out on the posts of the dock (still being refurbished). You know, seagulls and the sort. But I thought this one was the pretty cool. I think this is a Night Heron.
He is, however, really large. In all of the drawings or photos I've seen of them they don't look like they get this big. He must be an old guy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYAN!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!
WE LOVE YOU!!

I hope you have a fantastic birthday! I have known you for 20 of your 38 - SCARY!!
Make everyone treat you nicely at work today.

Happy Birthday!

Mr. Lizard

Mr. LizardThis is my little lizard friend who always hangs out on the flagpole. Though he has never told me his name, he seems to like coming around and hanging out. I can only assume that this is the same lizard in all of the pictures because of the size of this guy and his love of the same spot. If all other animals are territorial, I don't know why lizards shouldn't be as well.

I was able to catch Mr. Lizard during a molt. He was rubbing all up and down the pole trying to get his old skin off. Looks like he may have tangled with a bird or a cat at some point between these pictures...he's got a really nasty looking wound on his side. It hasn't seemed to slow him down though. And if it's not the same lizard, this guy's wound may be a battle scar over who got to sit on the flagpole.

Soda "Pop", Literally!

SODA "POP"

Sometimes when you put a beer or soda in the freezer to cool it down you forget about it. And when this happens, sometimes the tab is what gives from the pressure of the frozen drink inside. This causes some of the beverage to spew out at the tab - leaving a mess for you to clean in spot where the can is.

Sometimes the WHOLE can will split instead. When this happens it causes a sound that makes you afraid that someone is shooting at your house. And the mess to clean is ALL OVER the freezer.
Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. This can is in the empty ice bin. Luckily that's where it was when it "popped", or the mess in the freezer would have been much worse.

Olde Oak Tree

I should have called this blog " 'Round the Olde Oak Tree ".
Bryan took this picture in the yard, standing on the boat.

(Don't forget to "click" the picture to enlarge it)

"Children" are so Predictable

"Children" are so Predictable
Just a taste of the fun that the "Children" had at Juila's and Legare's
birthday party with the water guns.

The Quick Draw McGraws

You've heard of Charlie's Angels....these are Legare's Angels.

Spring or Fall?

Is Mother Nature developing Alzheimers?

These are just a few of the things currently blooming around my house.
Don't tell Mother Nature, she may decide to take them away.
I was one week too late to get the picture of the blooming wisteria.

A Cute Pic of Felix

Can You Find the
"Hidden Mickey" ?

I'm up - AGAIN!

Bryan is home from Colorado - Yeah!! And hopefully sleeping. He said he didn't sleep well while he was there and was starting to feel like a zombie.

I - on the other hand - have been sleeping very well lately! I was even sleeping remarkable well tonight until Legare came down at 12:30 to wake me to say he was scared. He came, pillow in hand, totally expecting to get in the bed with us.

Well with Bryan being so tired and it only being 12:30, he quickly got banished back to his room. I turned his light back on for him.

He's 6 - but doesn't like having his light off. Bryan says we are going to ruin him - something about his confidence and the light and the light needing to be off.

I'm all for the light being on. If it keeps him happy when he's up because of his bladder, and I get to remain asleep - I would just as well like it to remain on. Of course I'm going to go on the web to see if I can find anything out about this light/confidence relationship because I certainly don't want to be the cause of poor self confidence. I kind of feel like this is maybe just Bryan's way of flexing his Alpha Dog muscle. But maybe there is something to it - who knows.

I really hope that Mr. Sandman visits me again soon. I would love to be asleep right now; unfortunatly, I don't have a tired feeling anymore. I was tossing and turning which is why I'm doing this now.

I am currently listening to Julia talk in her sleep. I am in the den, but I can hear an occasional outburst from her from all the way upstairs.

Sounds like she's either having a great time or really telling someone how it's going to be. I was a sleep talker too - so I know exactly where she gets it from. What I don't know is how these outbursts don't wake Legare back up. But maybe that's what really had him scared in the first place.

I always say that it's no wonder that children are afraid of the "things in their closets" because after they go to sleep us Mom's are always up there pulling clothes out for the morning, hanging clothes up, etc., etc. And they hear this in their sleep and subconsciously turn it into "things in their closet". Makes sense to me anyway.

And for some reason, my blogger spell check isn't working, so please bear with any misspellings. This is the best I can do at 2:13 am. Good night, dream of bed bugs tonight.

Some Random Thoughts

Some Random Thoughts

My Good and Bad parts of my day/week.

Bad Parts:
+my children bickering in the car on our enless trips to and from town
+knowing that my husband is leaving town on Sunday for a few days
+my good friend Evy had to get a mole (melanoma) removed from her ankle 4 weeks ago and the wound is not healing. She has been asked to keep off of her feet since the beginning. It is really starting to drain her. We talked about it today, and though I'm glad that the mole is gone, I'm really worried about her spirits.
+ My hand/wrist/thumb are hurting again. It feels like my bones are binding up when I do things like snap, rotate my wrist to brush my teeth, etc. I'm wearing the wrist thing again. It definitely helps.

WOW. . . . . . . . . . . .

As I was typing about Evy - she called and told me that since 3:00 this afternoon, she has talked with a Mom at her daughter's school and one thing led to another and she is at a place right now that specializes is Wound Therapy. This is definitely a GREAT PART of my day. I don't like it when my friends and family are sad.

Good Parts:
+ Julia made a 102 on her spelling test
+Legare has really started understanding the game of soccer
+ We moved Legare's bunk beds again, and I can now get to both sides to change the sheets
+I already purchased Bryan's birthday present. I don't think he reads this blog, but in case he does - I won't share with you what it is. His birthday is not until October 11th. The idea for this just hit me from out of the blue - thank You, God for little messages like that.

BEST PART:
Having nothing to do after school today except Come Home! I think the kids like that one too.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIA!

8! Count them.......1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, EIGHT! What would we have done these past 8 years without you?
We would have been lost without your smiling face.
Before we know it, we'll be turning around and you'll be 18.
We love you!!
And we hope that you have a Great Birthday!

New Member of our Family

Meet Felix!

I happened upon Felix when I was being the dutiful mother of Ella. You know, going to the
SPCA to fill out a missing dog report and to see if she was there. Of course I had to stop and visit the cat room while I was there. Very cute cats. But this one caught my eye because of the breed resemblence to Cahli. She was one of those rare cats that wants to be touched or patted all of the time - not just when she decided, but when you decided too. We used to call her a "slut for the rub" because she would literally do whatever it took for you to pet her. Including putting herself in the way of children; because, hey, children and babies will pay attention to you too.

And since I really wanted another cat with an attitude like that, this guy really caught my eye.


(this is the only picture I could find of Cahli at this point. This was taken after she spent some time stuck in the pluff mud. But I think you can get the feeling for the resemblance.)

So, seeing this "breed" again, I stopped to pet "Martin" (that was the name the pound gave him upon arrival). He instantly insisted I continue petting him. I was hooked. But I left anyway.

So on the way home I called Bryan and jokingly told him that I had adopted a new cat. I couldn't wait to hear the level of frustration in his voice and then get the fun of convincing him that I really hadn't.

To my surprise, there was no frustration. He even said to me, "woman, if you want to get the cat, get it.".

Well that was all I needed to hear!

Only thing was - this was Thursday, I wouldn't be able to get back until Saturday - after Legare's soccer game. There would be no way he would still be there. I told myself that if he wasn't there I was NOT to look at any others for consideration - this would just be my sign that I was not supposed to have a kitten.

But I really wanted the kids to have fun having a baby animal around the house - even though I knew he would really secretly be mine, not theirs (but we'll have to wait and see what Felix has to say about that. So far, so good for me).

So - Monday, I took the children and we went and picked up Felix. Note how he looks like a cow. I kept trying to come up with a name like Holstein, Bo (short for Bovine), or Angus. None of those seemed to work. I even thought it would be funny to dub him Meyer (you know - we already had Oscar here - Meyer would complete the duo). But I didn't really like Meyer for a name.

After talking to Mom, she suggested Felix. Completing the Felix Unger and Oscar Madison pair from the TV show, "The Odd Couple" (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau). I even remember seeing some of these shows as a child. Felix was perfect.

And Felix is living up to the "breed standard" set by Cahli - lots of loving, all the time. Oscar was only upset for about 24 hours. Though I wouldn't call them friends quite yet, Oscar has stopped hissing, even at me, and has gone back to allowing me to pet his tummy. He and Felix are currently even in the same room together.

Check out the Frog

I think these are most of the pictures that were lost the other night when the battery died on the laptop. Hope you enjoy! More to come later.

This is the picture of Julia being thrown at the swim team pool party.













This is Oscar. He is a very sweet boy. Due to his camoflauged coat we have to be carful not to step on him when he's on the hardwood floors.

We also have a new kitty that we adopted on Monday - his name is Felix. He's the other part of this "Odd Couple". Pictures of him on a later post.







A boy and his dog! Willis loves us, but especially Legare!

This picture was taken the night before the people came to build our shed. Legare and Willis were "helping" Bryan get the sight ready.








This is the start of our storage shed. It is really great. I will also post finished pictures of it on a follow-up post. Bryan is currently working on the shelving inside so that we can have proper storage. So far, so good.









This is truly the largest tree frog I have ever seen.

And for those of you who knew me as a child to know my love for frogs - you know that I have seen a lot of toads and frogs in my time.
This guy was LARGE!









This is him with a football ticket for reference on how wide his feet are. This ticket is minus the small stub on the bottom.











Another shot for size reference. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Take your hand and make the "L" with your fingers to see how large this guy was. Go on, make the "L"...I'll wait.......

Did you make it yet? And remember, I have large hands. Impressive tree frog huh?

Glad I took pictures when I did, I haven't seen him back.


We'll be celebrating Julia's 8th birthday on Friday!!

Love you all - more later.