One Cool Shrimp a Day

This is Lucy! I found her at the parents farm. She came running out of the field and rubbed herself around my legs over and over as to communicate. She was emaciated to say the least. I have seen farm cats much in my life as I was raised around them, but this one was different. She was calling to my spirit and I heard her. I said, "That cat is coming home with me!" I quickly went to the house and got a large piece of Grandma's leftover sirloin steak, possibly Grandpa's lunch. I found an old orange milk crate and a dirty piece of plywood to cover my makeshift kennel.... She let me pick her up and put her in the small quarters. I then put the plywood over the top and fastened my cargo with a bungy cord. I had also put the massive steak in the make-shift hospital kennel of which she devoured. We had a 40 minute drive ahead of us and she laid quietly the entire time. She would look at me and give me a sweet soft meow as to say thank you. I am serious. Most cats scream or howl during car rides. When I found Lucy her coloring was all pale buff. Just like when a person is ill they lose their color, so did she. As time passed and she became healthier so did her color as you see in the pictures. She has beautiful blue eyes. Lucy ate so much her first week with us, in fact so much that when she defecated my teenage daughter and her boyfriend couldn't stop laughing. I said, "What's so funny?" They said, "Lucy just did a human size thingy?" (you know) After that Lucy settled down to normal eating habits. Well not really. If she heard the eggs crack during my cooking process she would run to me and cry for the eggs. She would lap up one egg a day for months. Then she stopped that and cried for cold Shrimp. So for a year now Lucy gets one cold, almost frozen shrimp a day for breakfast. She wont leave me alone until she gets it! Sometimes before I even get my coffee she gets her "fresh from the ocean frozen" large Shrimp. By the way if it isn't a large one she walks away....no thank you, but do get the ones I like please, which I do. I get 40+ large shrimp for $13.79. Its actually cheaper than wet cat food. She also gets dry food. She still yearns for the freedom of the fields but when I let her out on the porch she is a "fraidy cat" and runs back in. Lucy lives here, and somewhere in her mind she still lives out there. She has a clipped ear which says she was a Feral cat. Somehow I don't think so, I rather think someone got her spade as a Feral and put out in the wild all alone where she had trouble making it. By the way the other farm cats were mean to her and wouldn't let her eat. Bully cats...go figure. She is safe now, but not without a few hundred dollars of vet bills. When the 19 year old Christmas kitty died a few months ago, it affected Lucy more than I thought it would. She is finally settling down and forgetting the old man she used to try to play with. It was like a two year old trying to get a 100 year old to play ball! Lucy is a part of the family so whatever happens we take it as it comes. In fact she needs surgery for her teeth. Oh goodie...

"Posh Porches" on a budget

I say you don't have to have a large home with a wrap-around porch or a cascading circular deck to have a comfortable area to read, write, or watch the stars.
In fact my apartment porch is six feet by 13 feet. A previous "carpenter" tenant made the corner plant stand out of solid oak...leftovers from some of his jobs which made it very quaint. He nailed an old horseshoe to the top and I take that as a good luck symbol because why not?
I took some of my inside.....outside.....
I read that online or on HGTV or maybe some makeover TV Show. It is a great idea and saves cash flow for the gas tank these days. I did purchase the double rocker for half price and the two pillows at Target on sale. The cushion is a yellow rug so to deal with rain. I picked up a piece of Blue outdoor carpet at Home Depot on sale and have since put pink peony's in the front flower boxes. I know the style is clean sweep/less is more, but not for me...I like warm and inviting. If I want clean sweep I can go volunteer at the hospital.....
I am still in need of a three story thin white Victorian birdhouse I have a special hook for. I do have the white antique bird cage not visible in the photo.


This is my shabby chic "Georgia Peach" porch from last year. Check out that cool chandelier! I draped pearls from the Christmas ornament box and some crystals from a broken candle holder around its base. I took an old over the commode shelf stand and painted it to match the rest....Peach! Found the table in my Dad's barn being used for a cat food table....so I borrowed it and what do you think? Painted it Peach! I had the Rocking Chair so I just had to paint it Peach too! Notice on the far end is a white tree with white lights in a white pot with white organza hiding the base or branches and of course the orange gazing ball to keep the bad spirits away. Last year I used a grey indoor outdoor carpet. And last but most important are the old world antique looking lace curtains afront the outside window. Those were the "needed touch" that set the atmosphere and won me the contest. It's a yearly contest for the best most creative porches at our complex....prize is $75.00. Fantastic 'cause I spend $150.00 to win that $75.00! The gain is sooo worth the loss.

Little Katy Grew Up and Graduated Today!

This is Katy G... She is a very special person who lived with my family and myself for over two years when she was eight, nine, and ten years old. Then she moved to Florida with friends and now today, May 23rd, 2008 she is Graduating from High School. Isn't she beautiful? Yes! I surely miss Miss KatyG. I hope to get to see her someday again because we will always think of her as part of our family. Always and forever KatyG............

and the best to you and better.............

Love DianeO

Bree's Golden Birthday

This is Briana....isn't she beautiful? Tomorrow is her Golden 17th Birthday and I am so proud of her, not because I am her Nana, but because she is a good person and I am glad she was born.

The Thorny Stem

I work out of my car much of the time so listening to Audio Books has replaced negative politics and talk radio. The last book was a true story by Richard Paul Evans called "Finding Noel." It wasn't negative but God I cried while driving around the city for four hours of that book. Well one hour of it anyway. Richard's Mother died. No one could find him therefore he missed her funeral. That was just the beginning of this four hour story. Richard decided to end his life after losing his scholarship, his job, his fiance of four years, and then his Mother, when a young girl came upon him in the middle of a snow storm. Yes, he fell in love with her. Her name was Macy and her Mother died when she was 6. The Father was a drug addict, therefore she was separated from her baby sister Noel, age 4. Noel was adopted by the prominent family and Macy got beat all the time at her new home. Macy ran away and a woman named Jo saved Macy from a shelter on Thanksgiving years later. (Sure, right, Thanksgiving!) Richard talked Macy into finding her long lost sister......after he was hired to play guitar at the Java Junction where she worked. To cut this short, Jo adopted Macy even tho she was an adult. Jo died of Cancer....Noel found Macy.....they had each been given a Christmas Ornament from their real Mother before she died, with Noel written on it. Noel accidentally broke hers while in college and found a letter from her real Mother inside telling her the truth that her adopted family refused to do. The girls figured their dead Mother made it break. I believe that. Richard found out his Father really wasn't his Father while visiting his Mother's grave. Stu, the stand in "Father" showed Richard a gravestone that belonged to his real Father, and the man his Mother loved all her life. He was killed in Vietnam and was an avid guitar player. (Go figure)
And that is why Stu never treated Richard very well. Ah Ha! Well all ended happy....Macy and Richard married and had three children. What's my point?

My dream in life was to help children who needed love by adopting them. I did that for a few years, in fact one of my precious girls graduates this month. People don't realize what these children go through, but I seem to understand.

At the end of Richard's book he said we "fixate on the blossoms.....when its really the thorny stem that keeps the blossom alive." It keeps the plant alive only to get a few blossoms in the course of its life. I say we are the same as the rose ... We have to learn to appreciate the everyday thorns because without them there is no life and would be no blossoms, ever.

photo from NatashaP at www.flickr.com

My Firstborn Son Lives in a Small Box, a Cell

By Judge Dennis Challeen

We want them to have self-worth

So we destroy their self-worthWe want them to be responsible

So we take away all responsibility

We want them to be positive and constructive

So we degrade them and make them useless

We want them to be trustworthy

So we put them where there is no trust

We want them to be non-violent

So we put them where violence is all around them

We want them to be kind and loving people

So we subject them to hatred and cruelty

We want them to quit being the tough guy

So we put them where the tough guy is respected

We want them to quit hanging around losers

So we put all the losers under one roof

We want them to quit exploiting us

So we put them where they exploit each other

We want them to take control of their lives, own problems and quit being a parasite...

So we make them totally dependant on us

Flowers for Who?

Today I came upon this beautiful Spring bouquet of flowers in a basket . It was sitting all by itself in front of a huge apartment complex on a busy street and near a bus stop. I continued doing my job in the area and then proceeded to my car for my camera. I just couldn't leave that lonely basket sitting there without offering it some sort of attention process. My thoughts were mostly who it belonged to? Was the person it belonged to inside and would he or she be delivering it via that bicycle parked nearby? Or was it intended for someones sweetheart but before he could deliver it, the phone call came saying Good bye, it's over. So he left the gift of love on the grass for all who passed to enjoy and take if they so desired. Or was it for someones Mother who was visiting on campus today? Maybe this was a hidden camera deal for UTube? Were their people watching from the 5th floor to see how long before it was taken by a passerby? Who were those flowers for? Why were they sitting in such an open lonely area? We'll never know, but they certainly added a bright "spot" to my day as well as many others I suspect. Maybe that is exactly who the flowers were for.