Morning Walk

I take Bud for a stroll every morning.  Yes, EVERY morning.  He pesters me mercilessly if he hasn’t had his walk by 9:30.    Most days he walks around the pond out back.  But sometimes, like today, he goes out front and down the street.  A conservation area abuts the street about a quarter of a mile down the road.  Here is what we saw this morning.

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A little research online tells me this is a yellow rat snake. It is non-venomous and dines on rats, squirrels and other rodents.

And for those of you who are suffering from Bud withdrawal, here he is, enjoying the conservation area.

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Friday Afternoon

Every Friday afternoon we have a helper come and stay with Dad so Richard and I can get out of the house together.  Usually we have lunch and then do some shopping.   The first time we did this Dad said very emphatically, “I don’t need a baby-sitter!”  But we sure don’t want to be worried about him while we are out, and you never know when he is going to fall or otherwise need help.

Anyway, this Friday for lunch we went to a place we had seen featured on TV — Mel’s Hot Dogs.  We had very good hot dogs and fries!  And they had this out front:

And then we went to Wal-Mart and got groceries.  

Before and After

We have a young live oak in the boulevard in front of our house.  It’s not near as old as the “grandfather oaks” out back, but it really needed trimming.  One branch was reaching into the palm tree, it had low hanging branches over the street and sidewalk, and in general was looking pretty shaggy.  We talked to our lawn guy about it and he recommended a tree guy.  On Friday the tree guy came with a cherry picker, a wood chipper, two helpers and a chainsaw.

He took off more than I expected, but after looking at it for a couple of days, I have decided I like it.  It looks taller and you can see its structure.  As it grows over the next few years it should turn into a truly lovely tree.

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Topper Redecorates

Topper thinks he is one of the Flying Walendas.  To Topper, the house is a playground filled with kitty-toys.   A few weeks ago he leapt from the end table to the coffee bar.  His landing was less than perfect and he knocked a mug tree down, breaking several of the mugs I had collected on our travels and thoroughly irritating me.

Since then I have been scouting around for something to safely hold my remaining mugs.  Today, I found a cool green cupboard that looks just right.  And, of course, Topper had to check it out.

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Whadaya think?

Snoo?

What’s Snoo?

Not much.  What’s snoo with you??  

Actually we have two things snoo.

A new washer and dryer!

Oh yes — they’re big!

They’re shiny!

They’re awesome!!

The washer and dryer that came with the house were functional, but barely.  These actually get the clothes clean, and I don’t have to scrape the lint off the clothes when I take them out of the dryer.