HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SUNRISE AND FOG OVER THE POND

We had a beautiful sunrise and fog on the pond
a few weeks ago...I know, I am sooooo behind in
posting. Having health problems and still looking
for a house.

Looks almost 'swampy' doesn't it?

Even Stormy seemed impressed, and as soon as I saw the photo below in my view finder, I knew I had a caption for it. Also wrote a 'little' poem for it.


LITTLE POEM :-)

Is that You God?
Are You watching over me?
Slow down that fox,
As I hurry up a tree.

GRANDMA'S EASTER COLD SPELL

Spring seemed to be coming along on schedule in Oklahoma and then wham! Mother Nature hit us with another blast of Winter. I cut all the Irises that were blooming and the buds in hope that they will open indoors. The Daffodils had already stopped blooming. I'm sure they would bloom longer if they were in a cultivated flower bed. However growing along the edge of the woods, they are soon overtaken by weeds, briars, and the shade from the leafing trees. We have learned to enjoy their early burst of sunshine yellow while it last.
Mother says this freeze is what her mother called the Easter cold spell, and it came right on time. Happy Easter!

Regardless of the temperature outside, the clouds can always put on a show, as shown by the photos below the collage.

EASTER SUNDAY 2007

HAPPY EASTER!

This Easter greeting is to my grandchildren, Carl and LeAndra Jackson, Cindy Johnson and Darienne Spradling.

I think of you every day, and more than anything in this world, I would like to see you, talk to you, or even get a letter or email from you.

Your Mimi and I are sending love, hugs and kisses.

Hope you are having a great Easter!

Love always,
Grandma

OKLAHOMA ICE STORM

The photos here were taken after a record setting ice storm in our part of Oklahoma back in January, but due to so many different things happening in my life, I never finished drafting the blog entry.

Today we have once more set a record. This time a record cold for Easter, so it seems appropriate that I finish this blog at this time.

During this ice storm and the many, many days that it ‘hung around’ I was more glad than usual that I have had to retire early. I find no joy in the fear I encounter when trying to drive a vehicle in the ice or even snow. I love everything else about a winter snow, as long as I do not have to get behind the wheel of a car.



There were three different levels of icicles
hanging from the roof outside the laundry
room window.
















The old tomato plants on the deck and the dead
tree branch I was going to break up for firewood,
made interesting ice sculptures.















This dead plant was incased in ice and sparkled
like a diamond tree in the sun
















This was looking out the breakfast room
window at the pond which had been dry all
Summer, now filled with ice and snow.















This close-up of a twig shows the thickness
of the ice. It also reflected the sun beautifully.

CATS!

This is about Stormy and Mama Cass. Stormy was little more than a kitten when I found her huddled on the back deck one morning after a night of terrible thunderstorms. Because we signed a lease that stated, 'no inside pets,' I could only keep her in the garage while I waited for an opening at the SPCA.

We would bring her in to feed her each day, and after watching Mother with her and hearing more laughter than I can remember in a long time, I knew we had to move.

So we are looking for a house to buy that we can fill it with cats if we want. I am going to miss this house so much. We can never afford a place with anything like our "Thirteen Acre Woods." However, Mother is going to be 85 the 22nd of December. How can I not give her this simple thing that makes her so happy?

Shortly after Stormy came, an older cat began to hang around outside and I fed her. When 10 inches of snow fell in one day (unusual for Oklahoma) I brought her into the garage too. It appears that she is 'with kittens,' so we may have a start on our houseful of cats already :-)


Stormy, looking for something to attack.





















"Hey, what are you doing up there?"






















Checking out sales for catnip.
























"Mama Cat" or Mama Cass rolling over for a tummy scratch.

























Eating outside, before she became an inside cat.

STRANGE CLOUD

I have never seen a cloud formation quite like this one, and none of the pictures I took really do it justice. It was not stormy that day at all...not even a shower.
Standing beneath it looking up into the center, reminded me of the movie "Independence Day." Spooky!

A FOX IN THE HEN HOUSE

Actually, we do not have a hen house, a hen, or even any chickens. All we really have is one spoiled old dog and a stray kitten who is hiding in our garage illegally since our landlord said we could NOT have a cat__period!

However, it would appear that we have a family of foxes near by. According to the Oklahoma Wildlife Authority, the red fox lives in dense woods near open fields. Our dense woods consist of a thin circle of trees around the thirteen acres, but we do have open fields with grasses high enough to hide even a fox’s bushy tail. So they could have been here all of the fourteen months that we have lived here, but it has only been the past few weeks that we have seen them.

Our first encounter was one dark night when Kodiak (the spoiled old dog) chased out from under the front steps, what I thought at the time was a Siamese cat. All I was able to see was a blur of something light colored with a dark tail and legs. Because it had only been a few days since a stormy night had left us the stray kitten, I thought perhaps there had been more than one. The next morning I looked and looked for it, but did not find a sign of another cat anywhere.

Two days later, I was on the front porch taking pictures of the changing leaves, when Kodiak begins to whine. I followed his gaze toward the trees and thought, ‘Oh, a small dog the color of Kodiak.’ But when it raised its head and looked at me, I knew I was seeing my first red fox. It was beautiful and did not seem to be afraid of me or Kodiak. I backed slowly in the door to get Mother, but when we returned, it was fading into the trees. At no time did it seem afraid or in a hurry to get away . . . even when Kodiak finally decided to bark and go closer. It must have gauged from experience how far his chain would allow him to go.

Later at the computer I googled Oklahoma Red Fox and found a picture to make sure that was what I had seen. I also found a picture of a young kit (baby fox) and realized that I was looking at the ‘Siamese cat’ from a few nights before. What a surprise. There must be a den near by, and it was only then I realized that I had stood on the porch with my mouth hanging open, staring at the fox, with my camera in my hand, and took not one picture!

But I was to have another chance . . . actually two more chances. Once as I sat at my computer and glanced out the den window, I saw it again in the front yard. When I moved in my chair to pick up my camera, he must have detected the movement for he stopped and sat down looking in at me. Because the window goes all the way to the floor, I knew if I stood up and moved toward it, he would leave. So I snapped pictures from my chair, about nine feet away, and of course they were terrible. When the fox began to walk away, I went to the window to follow him only to discover there were two of them! The lighter colored one (that I have decided is the female) was sitting about twelve feet from the front porch and looking in the window at me. As I began to snap pictures, she got up and walked into the trees. The darker (male) fox hurried into the high grass, in the other direction and emerged only seconds later out by the apple tree.

I was so afraid that I would not get another chance, but yesterday the male was back. This time behind the house and I took many pictures through the South breakfast room window. When he went to the front yard, I hurried to the front porch and was there waiting when he arrived. He stood for a long time letting me take pictures before he moved into the trees.

Now my quest is to find the den and get some photos of the babies!


THIS IS ONE AS HE 'POSES' IN THE FRONT YARD



THIS IS THROUGH THE WINDOW IN BACK



THIS IS ANOTHER IN THE FRONT YARD. HE WAS GETTING READY TO SCRATCH...HE DID A LOT OF THAT!

THE LEAVES THEY ARE A' CHANGING!

We do not get the beautiful fall foliage in this part of Oklahoma that they do in the southeastern part of the state, and even there it is nothing like New England. Still the leaves are changing and falling fast. One good wind storm and the trees will be mostly bare. So today I took pictures of the changes, and tried to capture a couple of hawks gliding overhead. I also tried to get a photo of one of the 'leaf showers' that occurs sporadically, but it was hot outside and I have been 'sickly' for a few days and just not up to waiting around.

Now . . . all excuses made, here's what I DID get. LOL

SMALL FALL FLOWERS

Not Spring flowers, but Fall flowers....well, maybe
weeds or wildflowers.....but still pretty!





Even when things are dying, there is beauty. Do you suppose there is a lesson for us there?

BLUE SKY and COTTON CLOUDS

Most of our yard has been mowed now and some of the fields, so I went to take some photos of the progress. However, the sky took center stage...such a beautiful blue and the clouds were balls of cotton scattered as far as the eye could see.

SUNSET BEFORE THE STORM

Waking from a late nap (not sleeping well at night) I saw the most gorgeous clouds out the dinning room window. By the time I got my camera, the best of them were gone, blown away by the wind announcing the approaching thunderstorm. Still, I got a few, before the darker clouds blocked out the sunset completely.
Can’t win them all, I guess, and we do still need the rain.

THE CLOUD DRAGON AND THE SUN

A Cloud Dragon chased the sun one day,
And the sun hid in a tree.
But the dragon waited ‘til the sun came out,
And what a fight I did see.
But the Cloud Dragon won,
As he swallowed the sun.
I was awed at such a feat.
Then with a mighty shudder,
He coughed out the sun,
And it landed . . . a tiny stone,
At my feet.