A Trip to the Sticks with LizzyBean and Jocebeane Yields NEW PUPPY; Fun in the Country!

As fans of the Whippy Curly Tails know, their mom (known to us as Jocebeane) has been looking for a canine addition to their largely feline family. Jocebeane has followed many leads over the last few weeks, but nothing has worked out. Friday, Jocebeane and I took a day trip out to the country to visit a little puppy she heard about -- a little guy, last to go, of a litter born to a country gal dog who her owners mistakenly let out whilst in heat. The mom dog is said to be a boxer/mastiff (???) mix and the dad dog is an Australian Shepherd. Apparently all the other pups looked like the dad dog except this one. What attracted Jocebeane at first was the report that the puppy has been raised in a home with cats and considers cats his playmates. The owner wanted to place the puppy in a good home, and in compensation wanted only enough to spay the mom dog, Maya.
There was no stopping us: Jocebeane picked me up first thing in the AM and off we headed for parts unknown to a sleepy little burg neither one of us had ever heard of!

After about an hour's drive, we pull in and see puppy's yard and neighboring horses:

Here's where puppy lives:

Then we meet the cutest puppy ever:


Who could resist that face? Not us! We knew this was the RIGHT puppy for Jocebeane and the Whippy Curly Tail cats!
But first, we needed to load up on some puppy supplies including a carrier, get some cash, and stop at the really great fruit and vegetable stand we spied in town. So off we went after making arrangements to come pick up puppy later that afternoon.

This is looking from the old downtown toward the fruit stand -- we filled Jocebeane's designer crossover with cantaloupes, summer squash, tomatoes, okra, peaches, and the hugest seeded watermelon there!

After a detour to a neighboring town for pet supplies, we headed back toward puppy's house and decided to hit a little antique & collectibles shop, browse, and meet some locals:

This is Tipsy, a rescue cat who lives at the shop we visited! Tipsy rode 12 miles in the fender of an old truck before she was discovered and subsequently adopted.

Tipsy takes her handle from the shop name:

I purchased a lovely little cat painting!


Well, we had to get back to pick up the sweet little pooch. He doesn't like the sun and heat so he ran under Jocebeane's car! Come on, little guy, let's go:

Say bye to mom dog Maya and auntie Jasmine:

Here I am as we leave puppy's old neighborhood and head back to the big city!


And here is little puppy, an excellent traveler:

When we arrived back in the city, Jocebeane wanted to run to her house to do some "set up" before she brought puppy home. Puppy came to our house for a while since Sammy was off at playcamp for the afternoon and Alice is a sweet auntie. Here he is enjoying one of Sammy's chews:

Overwhelmed by the day's events, puppy collapses for a much needed nap!

Dog Days & Mad "dish" LizzyBean

It is So HOT here - what is a dog to do except fling herself on the sofa under the ceiling fans?!


Meanwhile, here I am..........

Trip to Yellowstone

In June, BB and I went on a fabulous trip to Yellowstone National Park in WY. Nana and Daddy Bill planned our whole adventure & we had a fantastic time! (It was a great opportunity to use my new fancy camera. I got some pretty good shots, but I still have lots more learning and practice to go.) We saw tons of wildlife, breathtaking views, and amazing geothermal sites. We were lucky enough to see a grizzly bear rather close up (from the safety of our car, of course!). This was the highlight of BB's trip -- she really wanted to see a grizzly. At first she was worried that she would miss seeing buffalo, but as Nana explained, she could hardly avoid the buffalo. It is true; they were everywhere! It was wonderful to see the big herds in the valleys, the way they must have looked before the west was settled.



I was very keen to see white pelicans, but we didn't see any until the last day as we were leaving. The picture above on the blog banner is one I got quite close to -- it was feeding in the shallows where the Yellowstone River feeds into Yellowstone Lake. We also saw many elk, Canadian geese, ground squirrels, and even a bull snake!






We saw the grizzly bear at dusk in the Hayen valley where it had come out of the woods. The picture is a bit dark and grainy due to the time of day and the fact that I had it on full zoom. I felt so lucky to get a picture!


I loved the beautiful landscapes: mountains, rivers, waterfalls --
The picture below was taken overlooking the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone:

Tower Falls:


View from area near Mammoth Hot Springs:


We visited some of the crazy thermal water basins! This is overlooking the fountain geyser in the middle basin :


Of course we saw Old Faithful:

My very favorite thing was the hot spring pools. I have never seen anything like them! This is Emerald Pool:


The water is a little greener than it looks in the picture. My best picture is of Prismatic Pool:

The red on the outskirts is from bacteria that live in hot water! I missed seeing Morning Glory Pool, which is the most famous, but I have pictures from a portfolio dating from the 1930s, courtesy of my Mom. The top is Morning Glory Pool and the one beneath is Emerald Pool:


I generally don't favor long posts, but have indulged in one here. If you got this far, thank you for looking at my photos! It was such a wonderful trip!

A New Way to Trap Pantry Moths

I think we have all experienced the annoyance of a pantry moth infestation -- the larva infiltrate your home via grain items like rice, flour, cereal, birdseed. Then suddenly they are everywhere, flying about, getting into everything. But more than a few have met a bad end at my Mom's house: the grease crock:




It reminds me of insects caught in amber:


Coming soon.....Trip to Yellowstone! And visits round to all our blog friends. Sorry for the long absence...we've missed everyone.

A Few Words From Alice

LizzyBean: Alice has asked to make a post today, so I am turning it over to her. To all our friends, we are sorry that we are behind on our visits and will be round to comment soon! We always think about our blog friends, even when we are busy with other things



Alice: I'm not sure anyone really considered my feelings when bringing Sammy to live with us. Sure, it seems like I get more treats now, and Mom says I am now more confident around other dogs, but let me say that Sammy is really an annoying little (BIG) brother. First of all, he chews everything up. BB and Jocebean brought some new neat stuffies home for us last weekend; Sammy took them over (he doesn't share very well!):




Within 15 minutes:


It took him a little longer to destroy the fish, and Mom found some, ahem (this is so embarrassing!) "ingested evidence" shall we say, in the yard this morning. What a dope!

All Sammy wants to do is chase the stupid tennis ball around. You'd think he'd get bored, but no. He drops the ball in front of Mom or Dad and just stares until someone throws it. If he tries to play with me, I tell him to get lost.

Thankfully Mom won't let Sammy bring the tennis balls inside anymore -- he was absolutely destroying the place. So rough and oafish!

Last, but certainly not least, Sammy enjoys getting dirty. REALLY dirty. Consider this incident: the sprinkler system next door isn't working properly and is filling up some old post holes on our side of the fence with water. Sammy not only kept putting his ball in the water so he could bob for it, he started digging in it and sticking his WHOLE SNOUT in it. Disgusting!



I think he may have been trying to be like our friend Tommy at the Poupounette! Check out the mud stockings. Mom had to hose him off, and he thought it was a big game; figures! No one knows what I suffer!

At least I still have my place on the sofa, and Sammy is not allowed up there. Ha!

Happy Earth Day & A New Camera; Plus, A Gold Kitty Update

Happy Earth Day! BB composed this excellent picture at school in honor of the day; bigify and see if you can read what the animals are saying to each other!

I am lucky enough to share a birthday (4/15) with some good friends from other blogs: Siena and her Mom at Cat with a Garden and Maggie May and Ferris at The Creek Cats. My mom came over to celebrate last weekend, and she brought me the most wonderful gift from she and my Dad -- a snazzy camera with a telephoto lens!

I am very excited, and needless to say, can't wait to get it out and start snapping pictures with it!

Since New Years, I have been trying to declutter my house (you all say the evidence of my badly cluttered rooms....). I've yet to really tackle the enclosed porch, though it is next on my list. GK moves his operation from our bedroom to the porch in the spring, but in all the clutter, he had to improvise this year:



GK is so resourceful!

A Plague of Pollen

The two big red oaks in our front yard drop loads of pollen in the spring, but this year seems worse for some reason. It has been dropping from the trees like snow, blanketing our roof and yard. It also blows around, so hanging out in the backyard is pretty unpleasant! It has been forming clumps and blowing around the streets like tumbleweeds! Sammy barked at one yesterday.




It is also covering the pool:

It is usually all down by April 15th. Then it's time to pick it up and wash the green dust off of everything. I'm ready for this to go away so I can do some work on my garden. Although Sammy, my garden helper, keeps digging up my pots so I don't know how successful I will be!