Denise's Chat Box-Welcome ;)

Frank with his blond wig.

Frank in his new pink sweater

Am I the only one who thinks that there may be human souls inside of my pet?  Now understand I am a spiritual person and I know that the Bible teaches us that there is no reincarnation.  BUT sometimes animals are just too much like humans and seem to understand exactly what you are saying.  Their actions show them to be amazingly intelligent. 

My daughter has loved animals from the moment she laid eyes on her first furry friend.  When she left home to attend Graduate School in Philly, she acquired a feral kitten from one of her girlfriends.  Found on the streets of New Jersey this cat would much rather bite you than lower himself to rub against your leg and purr.  I got acquainted with *Frank* during his 1^st year of life, as he would accompany my daughter up and then back down the turnpike, when she would come home for visits.  Well guess what?  My daughter had to move in with 2 other girls after her first year and one of the roommates was allergic to cats.  You’ll never guess who raised Frank for the next 3 years.  Yep, yours truly.  I must admit that after 3 years Frank and I learned to tolerate each other, well most of the time anyhow. 

Now it is 8 years later and Frank resides with my daughter in a house close to mine.  Frank is 9 years old.  He feels he is one of us and it is no wonder because he has never spent even 5 minutes around any animal in his lifetime.  He has never been permitted outside, because we fear he will pick up fleas and / or ear mites and we don’t want to deal with that.    

Now back to the reason for this post.  Frank is eerily intelligent.  With these warm Fall days, thousands of lady bugs appeared.  I was in my daughter’s house when I noticed that 4 lady bugs and one wasp had magically gotten inside her window.  I went in the kitchen to get a paper towel to crush them and by the time I got back the wasp was gone.  Frank sat watching me as I smashed each bug.  All the while I was talking non stop, saying “Frank, where did the wasp go?  I got the lady bugs but I need to kill the bee.”  When I turned around Frank had left the room but I could hear him making a low grunting sound in the living room.  When I walked over to see what was wrong with him, I found him sitting, staring down at the floor.  There lying on the ground was the wasp, crawling slowly along the hardwood floor.  He looked up at me as if to say.  “There you go, kill it.”     The hair literally stood up on my arms.  How did that freakin cat know what I was saying to it??  When I reached down and squished the wasp, Frank flipped his tail and walked away from me, as much as saying, “Exactly what would you do without my superior senses?”

 I’m been thinking that I had better not treat Frank badly because I’m pretty sure that he could figure out a way to get revenge.    ;)

1969..................It's 40 years since Woodstock took place!  Now understand I was just a naive, preteen, girl, but I vividly remember sitting in front of the T.V. with my mom and dad, watching the 500,000  people enjoy the concerts.  As the days passed, the rain fell and more and more bodily wastes collected, people got progressively more dirty, no make that filthy, as the mud got deeper and deeper.  My Mom and Dad, who by the way were probably the age that I am now, were just this side of horrified at "those hippies"!!  "Sliding around in the mud!  Taking all those drugs!!   And welll....you know....(lowered voices here).....having sex out in the fields!!   Just exactly what do you think this world is coming to??"   

 Me?  I was mesmerized by the whole thing!  I loved or should I say LOVE that era of music to this very day.  Now I'm whispering to You.....If I had been older, I would have tried to be front and center at Woodstock.   I think that it would have been a once in a lifetime experience.      ;)

2009 July 20, finished pool 025

I was raised on a small farm here in the mountains of Pennsylvania.  I used to hound my Dad for a backyard swimming pool.   He would always laugh at my presumptuousness then motion in the direction of our big dam and say, "there's your pool!"  Well, believe me, I learned how to swim because that big dam had at least 6 inches of muck on the bottom and I would do anything to avoid putting my feet down on the bottom!   lol  Back in the day you could buy Styrofoam boards which came in handy.  You could float indefinitely by laying on top of them.  I have wonderful memories of time spent *up at the dam* day dreaming about life in general and boys in particular, while watching the big fluffy clouds float overhead.   Now fast forward to the present......

Since I have always been athletically challenged, except for swimming and riding a bike, you can understand that my dream of a backyard pool has never gone away.  It took me years of squinting my eyes at my backyard, (in front of my husband)

 and saying, "can't you see a pool right there?"   His reply was always, "Ah, no....I can't see one".   Well, guess what??  He finally saw the light.  I have one now!  Since it rained allll Spring and most of the Summer it took until now to complete my fantasy.    I have a pool in my backyard!  Be sure to bring a swimming suit if you come to visit.     ;)

I'm so impressed with this flower that comes up every year at my back door.  This year it realllly did well with LOTS of flowers on it's single stem.