I Remember the "Ots"

A new year requires a new blog post... much like I did last year.
But this New Year is different. This one marks the start of a new decade, which makes us all pine for the last, lost 10 years.

Well, time marches on kids. And someday this past decade will be a 30-minute show on VH-1-- I Remember the "Ots" (as Abe Simpson calls years with single digits).

This is what I'll remember about years 2000 to 2009:

Flip-flops and Crocs: Remember when everyone thought it was OK to wear crap-tacular $4 shoes to any occasion? OK, well, I still do, and that's allright until the Preppie look comes back around.

This Lacrosse team made everyone 'le cross' by wearing flip flops to meet the President. At the time no one knew an Iraqi journalist would someday actually throw a shoe at him.

For those who scorned the open-toe look, there were crocs-(sold in previous years as simple gardening mules) for any occasion.












Another kind of croc(k) was American Idol.
ya.
This show and Survivor.

9-11 brought funny sayings like "ground zero," "underwear bomber" and "homeland securtiy" into our vernacular.
Ha ha ha... good times.

Global warming got everyone steamed...

not much else came of it. But it made way for funny things like "carbon footprint" and 'Smart' cars, and made green more than just a color.

America voted in its first black President.
Great, right?
Ya.










Having internet at home brought chatting and blogging and social networking to us all. Then there's texting, vlogging, webinars, etc. It all can be summed up like this: "how did husbands get groceries before cell phones?"

And last on my personal list, the recession. Much like an earlier decade in U.S. history, there's a lot of blame, a lot of unemployed, and a lot of people moving to Texas.

Aside from all that, I'll remember the "ots" as the decade I got married, had my babies, and raised and loved them. And those years aren't done yet, so I look forward to the coming decade.

Two Calling Birds

Since my last writing is about the end of Gracie's life (as we know it), it seems appropriate that I pick up blogging again with the start of a relationship with two new additions.

On the 2nd day of Christmas... I found on Craig's List, two Parakeets.

A very nice woman who's first and more expert language was most certainly Korean wanted to unload these guys so she could get something mammalian for her daughter.

From what I could glean during our short exchange they are a males, until one of them "change into a girl"-- which I later realized meant one of them was certainly a boy, while one's gender is still undetermined.

I took them straight to a vet-tech who clipped their wings, making it impossible for them to escape me unless they hitchhike.

Even though all the reading would have you believe that parakeets explode in a puff of vapor at the slightest discomfort, they survived a harrowing drive on a cold, cold day through South Austin.

I've given up trying to convince the Girl-Child that these birds aren't hers. She wanted to name them Wallace and Gromit, but I felt Pancho and Lefty (white, on the left) left wiggle room for Lefty's ambiguous gender.

All the Federales say... they could have had them any day, they only let you clean their cage, out of kindness I suppose.

The previous owner explained that she "keep them in my stereo"-- which I think means the back room. This means Pancho and Lefty aren't used to being around people, much less handled by them. They haven't had a coronary over screaming kids, but Christmas day proved to be too much what with the Zhu Zhu Pets, and Fur Real cat, so they were temporarily moved "to the stereo."

And although it's said their bite is not much, I wore socks the first time I had to handle them. The socks didn't even snag.

Hopefully, future blogs will include a definite gender for Lefty, and a picture of me holding Pancho while he recites poetry to the kids.

And maybe Lefty will sing the blues all night long, like he used to.

The Messenger's Arrival

I was all awash in a warmth-filled cold, and the arms around me seemed to melt along with the steady drumming pain that coursed through my bones these long months... The voices tapered... and...

The light was bright but not uncomfortable to look at, and for the first time in years, not hazy to my cataract covered blue and brown eyes.

A warm, sweet breeze wafted my way and grew more enticing, drawing me in. Somewhere in it I could smell a lake.

With paws that no longer sent waves of misery through my legs, I felt myself work up to full speed, springing through a webby portal. Spilling out into a great, green field, I saw a menagerie of lounging dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets.. and all makes of animals. They seemed to be waiting.

Several dogs saw me and started to walk slowly over. Cats converged as well, hanging back to plop down again and lick themselves. A rabbit, rat and several hamsters scampered into the group.



A heeler stepped forward, her tailessness forcing her wags to wiggle through her barrel shaped body.

A black dog stood next to her. "Come with us,"
she said.
It was time to deliver my message.

A Basil Blog

At the close of summer I round up all the basil, leaving some to drop seeds for next year. Basil doesn't like temps under 60 degrees, so I got to it just in time.


Then it's time to make the winter supply of fresh pesto.


It doesn't look very appetizing , but it's summer in a bag.
However, no measure of romanticizing it will persuade the kids to eat any of it.


But I'm still getting basil from the farm I get veggies from weekly. This bunch had a stowaway... a spider mama. Now I guess I'll have to clip around her and her egg sac until the babies erupt.
Let's hope we don't wake up wound in web-thread soon.

Snout it out

Since yesterday masses of snout butterfies have been flitting about town. I see in the write-up that drought is hard on their main predator, so they must be footloose and fancy free after the long, hot summer.

These guys are as thick as the tourists in our tiny town, and I really hate driving through them. I can't bare to check my front grill for their broken wings.

Exemplifying the term Flying $%^&



If you look closely, you can see me waving

This is the first time I've seen them this thick in a few years. And while this definitely isn't as dynamic as a monarch invasion, it's noteworthy. (I have witnessed a monarch swarm, migrating through the back yard of the old homestead in Fredericksburg-- and it was amazing.)

I can't seem to pin these guys down for a picture, but as you can see by the description of their lifestyle, that's not surprising. And upon checking youtube, someone uploaded this video today, taken in Austin-- it gives you the general idea. Imagine driving through it.

Get your Folk on

When Mary Travers died last month... the nostalgia drove me to download Peter, Paul and Mommy for the kids.

Acoustic is where it's at for kids. A perfect album for a car ride.

The album won a Grammy in 1969 (before this Mommy was even born), and holds faves like 'Boa Constrictor', 'Marvelous Toy', 'Leatherwing Bat,' and lots more.

The kids love it and I added a few more Peter, Paul & Mary staples, including 'I Dig Rock-n-Roll Music', which the Girl-Child demands to hear over and over.

It warms this Mommy's heart to hear the kids sing 'If I had a Hammer' and 'This Land.'

This collection was made for kids, kids, kids.



And it goes well with this Pete Seeger album that we've had for many months now:

This CD squirms, hops and gallops with great with tunes about frogs, mules, and women with a taste for spiders.

Birds, Beasts, Bugs.... is required listening on our daily walks-- quelling any techno-guilt I might harbor with its back-to-nature subject matter. (We always seem to hit 'My little little kitty" when we visit the neighborhood cat)

And if you get the chance, watch the Foolish Frog video on Scholastic DVD: