Ruby Tuesday

Hey, this post has nothing to do with the restaurant (in fact, I never been to a Ruby Tuesday--I've been to TGI Friday's and Applebee's, but never a Ruby Tuesday) nor have I recently acquired a gem mining operation. I don't even own any kind of jewelry with rubies in it (although I do have a necklace with little red glass bead things on it), but it is Tuesday and the song came into my head.

****Warning, this is a bit of a rambling post with no real point to it, but if you want to know what's been up in my life--Read on . . . ****

This past week has been warm, it has also been kinda pretty here and there and I've done a few different things. I will get to them in just a bit, but first let me say a sad little item. If you want you can skip this little emotive piece of stuff and just start reading after the pictures.

It happened a month ago, but it made me very sad and I just didn't know how to say it. You know those precious baby kittens that I posted pictures of--(I always tell myself I shouldn't get so attached to precious babes like that, but I can't help myself)--Well, one day a month ago Dan came running up to the house to telly me that my most favorite little fluff ball was laying in the barn nearly dead, so I ran down, picked up that limp little body and got some liquid and milk replacer down her and she perked up quite nicely. I had her sleep in a little cat carrier in our room for the next couple of days and fed her every little while. She was starting to regain her energy, when all of a sudden one morning when I was feeding her she just died--I cried and cried. She was the sweetest little thing. Well, that same morning two of her siblings (who had been very active and doing well) got very weak and died. We ended up losing 4 of the 5 kittens in about a week's time and I was very sad about it. The symptoms they had were nothing like the common diseases that our kittens have normally had when they have died suddenly, so I think it must have been some congenital defect or something--I just can't figure it out. These little kittens were much smaller than other ones that were born about the same time. In fact the night before these ones died a friend brought some that were about the same age to live at our house (they were never exposed to the other kittens, so it couldn't have been anything that they brought with them) and they are way bigger than the ours. Anyway, of our first little batch of babies that I petted, cared for, and loved to the full all we have left is little Hank.

He's just a precious little ball of fur and now he has five other siblings that play with him and cuddle up with him, thankfully.

At the moment I only have two really good pictures of a kitten a piece, but I will tell you all of their names--Mike, Molly, Mabel, Tom, and Jerry.

Little Miss Mabel looking out the barn door

Little Miss Molly lounging in the barn.

Okay, that sad item took way longer than it should have to talk about. I ramble and ramble sometimes, but I do love my little kitties (and all our animals really) and even though I grew up on this little farm and have had to deal with pets and farm animals dying most of my life, I have a bit of a tender heart. (Don't worry we are well acquainted with our local vet and we make sure our animals get the care that they need--I've been helping give shots to animals since I was in my teens)

Anway, I have also picked beans and peas from the garden . . .

Yellow and green beans, with a pea or two stuck in for good measure!

I call this one-On the Vine-Sugar snap peas are so pretty!

Dan and I went to his aunt and uncle's house for a birthday party. They own an old farm place near this little lake about 1/2 an hour from our place. You walk down this long driveway and come up to the lake where they have an old cabin from, oh, probably the 30's and the part they own is undeveloped whereas the rest of the lake is full of cabins, homes, beaches, and docks. (His aunt's husband's family has owned the property for generations--they even have the original farmhouse back in the woods a ways--I plan to get some good pictures of it sometime, but the mosquitoes were nasty that night and I didn't think traveling further into the woods would be a good idea!)

The sun was shining on the lake real prettily that evening!

On our walk back up to the house I stood back a little ways and took a few shots of Dan, his brother, and his two cousins.

Cord, Tim, Dan and Jason

(I have and idea this picture will be one that his aunt and uncle will especially want to have--their son Cord (he's almost 12) loves hanging out and being one of the big guys and this shows that really well!)