Meet Goree

 

Goree is my latest creation. I haven't had time to make much this past year, but a couple weeks ago I drew a face on my gourd and and my husband cut it out for me.  

I painted around the openings with black paint.  

I decided to make her a sunflower dress.  I added a dried sunflower and a vintage gold pin with a G on it that was my Mom's.

  Goree also has bloomers under her dress and an apron made out of a dish towel which says happy halloween.  Since she is a scarecrow she has raffia hands and feet. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing Goree all made up and ready for the Fall season. 

It's That Time of Year Again

 That, being school!

I just talked to my daughter about this the other day. 

When my kids were little I always cried on the first day of school. (All the way home after I dropped them off, of course.)  Other Mom's were celebrating.  I was weird I guess, because I never liked back to school time. 

I enjoyed being a Mom. 

My Mom was one of the Mom's who celebrated my brother and I heading back to school. I guess she liked her freedom. 

I loved volunteering at school in their classes. And later, I loved being able to work at their school. I'm still there and  I still enjoy it for the most part. 😁

And now, on the first day of school, I say goodbye to summer and look forward to the next one, when time can be simpler and slower.  Until then, time marches on through the year.  Each month like a new chapter of a book, waiting to be read.

I can't wait to see how the story unfolds. 

 

Vince 1st grade❤️

Klara 6th grade❤️

Charlotte 11 months. ❤️

First Day Back to Work

         I had to rush this morning to get Baylee walked and things ready. I didn't have time to feed the wild critters. When I got home Cashew came to the front door for his snacking!  I called him and he came running.  Maybe he prefers a set table ?🤣

            The First day is always early and always a rush to get there. Rest of year will be normal.  So will have time for wild critters. 😁

The kids will be back on Wednesday. I am sure the year will fly by as usual. Hopefully I  have time to enjoy it. I hate always rushing . 

Enjoy your last days of summer vacation with your kids!

Hey Cash

                                                            He is giving the thumbs up! 💖
 

In the Midst of the Chaos

Back on April 1st it was a very windy stormy day. My husband had a blood draw and we ventured out.  The wind blew so hard and it poured rain. Pretty miserable. We got the blood draw done and came home.  The next day my husband found a tiny baby squirrel in the back of my son's truck bed. It was cold out and the baby squirrel had definitely been there for some time. It was near death.  He brought it inside wrapped it in a little cloth towel and waited for me to get home to decide what to do. 

When I got home I knew if we didn't get it fed it would not make it. I ran to PetCo and bought a bottle. I had goat formula so I made that and fed the baby squirrel a bottle.  He was very lethargic.  I was not sure he would survive, but I did my best.  I got a cage out and set him up with a warm bed and waited.  I figured he was about a month old according to the online info.   

I have fostered many animals over the years. I even fostered a squirrel when I was a teenager. It was not a great experience because he grew up and bit me all the time. I was happy to let him go.  He was happy too. LOL. No idea why that squirrel we called Elvis was so aggressive towards me. He liked everyone else.  

Anyhow, we named our new foster squirrel Cashew. He continued to improve and grow. 

He loved his bottles.  As time went on he also loved nuts.  Cashews being his favorite,  but he also loved pecans.  He eats other nuts too, but those remain his favorites.  During these months my husband was going though chemo and radiation.  Coming home after that and carrying for Cashew gave me something to look forward to. After work I would come home feed him his bottle and head off to radiation.  Those were very long depressing days, but knowing Cashew was home waiting for me made the day less stressful.

You are probably thinking what about Baylee and the bird? Well of course they were waiting for me too. 😁  And yes, surprisingly they all got along.  We all enjoyed Cashew. 

I loved watching him sleep. He slept like a dog. It cracks me up whenever I look at the pictures. 

And yes, he likes chewing on things.  Whenever he was running around the house I would have to watch him, so he did not chew on furniture.  I added a big log in his cage and a deer antler to chew on. He also chewed on his plastic box he slept in. 

        Soon it was June, school was out and I thought I would have lots of time to spend at home.  That never seemed to happen, because we had to go to hydration 3 days a week and see doctors etc.  But everyday Cashew was waiting when I got home.

July came and I knew it was time to get him ready for the great outdoors. He is after all a squirrel. We took many trips outside together. He ran up and down the trees. Everytime he was ready to go back inside. Until  Sunday the 27th.  On that day he decided to stay outside. It was sad for me. I worried about how he would sleep. Where he would sleep etc.  In the morning I went out to check on him and he was doing fine. Each day I checked on him and took him nuts. Each time he came to me and got the nuts, but he did not want to stay.

During that week he even started building a nest.

On Saturday he decided to come over and see me. We visited for 30 minutes at least.  He even let me hold him. It was so nice to get to hold him again.  Since then he has let me hold him everyday for a few minutes. He likes back scratches. 😁🥰

So his rehab was a success. I am very happy for him. I'm so glad I can still visit with him and enjoy him. He has several new friends that he runs around in the trees with. It has been a complete joy to have this opportunity.  I am very blessed. 

Welcome August

 It is almost that time of summer again. Back to school time I mean. So many happy Mom's and Dad's celebrating their kids moving up a grade level and many parents celebrating their free time! I always cried when my kids went back to school. We were always so close and it was more of a separation anxiety for me. Until my daughter went to high school. Then it was something else. Whatever that was I was glad to see it go. 🤣  My son never treated me bad. No slamming doors. Always a goodbye. Yes I will call when I get there and never snubbed me when I said drive safe!  He did drive his sister to school. It was a difficult time for all of us. I really don't miss that part of raising kids. 

 My dear Granddaughter who got to hang out with me the other day and enjoy rootbeer floats,  is turning 12 in December.  She is starting Jr. High this year. Do they even call it that anymore? I just hear it called middle school. I like Junior High better.  

Klara is so precious to me. I love her so much. We have a lot of fun together. We always have. She always makes me laugh. We think alike. I can look at her and I know we are thinking the same thing. Both of us will laugh. We have always had that connection from the day she was born. She is the best of the best. 

But, those teenage years are coming soon. Guess we will see how that goes. 😁

Speaking of growing up, my other Granddaughter is turning 1 on September 1st. 

Charlotte has had a busy year growing. I feel like I missed it all. It has been a crazy year. I hope next year we can spend time together.  ❤️

My grandson turns 7 on September 12th. 

Vince is starting 1st grade. Big milestones for all.  ❤️

They will be celebrating today with a big swim party. My daughter says once school starts someone will probably be sick by their birthdays and not be able to celebrate.  So a month early is the plan.  

When I was growing up we had a birthday party at home with a couple of friends from the neighborhood. Now days parents go all out and rent places. Its a huge ordeal. I was lucky to have cake and icecream.  Yup, I am that old. 🤣  

Next week looks like will be our last week of hydration.  I have spent 3 days a week at the hospital all summer. The rest it seems were doctors appointments or related stuff. I will be going back to work in a week with no fun filled, carefree days to think about. I guess that is life.  Maybe next summer will be better. 

My husband still can not eat. He is drinking some better. Still using feeding tube for shakes. Still no teeth. He sees the oncologist in a week for checkup. Maybe doctor will have some good news. I know things take time. It is just hard to wait it out. I have been told many times by my husband I am not a patient person.😁 I try. Sorry. 

 

In the garden news we are getting wheelbarrows' of veggies. We have been taking tomatoes, cantaloupe, cucumbers,  zucchini and peppers to the hospital for the nurses. They are all so kind and work so hard. I will miss them when we finish our last day next Friday. I won't miss going there though. For obvious reasons.

My flowers have suffered so much this summer. I have spent every extra time and energy I have helping with the veggie garden. Normally, my husband does veggies and I do the flowers. I haven't had time to even enjoy the flowers. Even when I have a few minutes I am too tired. This ordeal has wiped me out. My brain is fried from stress. 

The grasshoppers ate a lot of stuff. Things are just now growing again.  We also have a family of deer that are visiting at night. 

These pictures are from the security camera. 😁

They can not get into the veggie garden since they can not fly. 🤣  I think they like roses better anyhow!😬

Well that's it for my update! I hope you have a wonderful stress-free August!