Gracious Rain

July 17, 2013July 16, 2013

Hot Air Balloons?

Did anybody notice that there was no post for the 4th of July Balloon Festival?

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Well, that, my friends is because we were totally ready to go at 5:30 am but when we arrived at the field…

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all the people and cars were going the other direction.

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Apparently, there was too much cloud cover and too much wind so the whole darn shootin’ match was canceled and everyone was heading back home.

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Which pretty much means that this year the Hot Air Balloon Festival was just, you know….

hot….air.

Yeah, I crack myself up.

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Luckily, even in a dreadful crisis such as this, we still know how to behave.

It was a good day.

July 15, 2013March 3, 2017

I’ve posted many times in the last few years about Mr. Beany and his adventures, and more particularly in the last few months–with his injured leg. The vet told us that there wasn’t much that he could do other than give him antibiotics if it flared up occasionally. Then one day, he just happened to be laying a certain way and I got a real good look at the inside of his leg. The condition of his back right paw had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

I took him to the vet again. After examining him, he came out to me and said, “You know…Beany is very, very old…” I knew what he was about to say but I couldn’t let him. I held up one finger and managed to say, “Just don’t.”

Then I started to cry.

The decision was made to relieve Beany of the burden of that terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad…

leg.

When the doctor told me that Beany might not even make it through the surgery–I said, “Then that will be the Lord’s decision, not mine. At least he’ll go knowing that I was trying to help. He deserves that.”

So, I held him on my lap and talked to him for awhile. He seemed to get that I was sad and worried but that I love this old silly cat so darn much. I handed him over to the nurse and slowly walked to my car. I kept thinking how strange it would be to not have Beany anymore…if something were to happen to him. I sat in the car and bawled for awhile, then drove home.

The next evening at about 5:30 pm I finally spoke to the doctor. He said, “That is one tough cat.” Good, good news. My cute little tough-guy cat was apparently much sicker than we had thought. In fact, he had a fever going into surgery, but the second that angry leg was gone his temperature dropped down to normal.

Long story, short– this cat is a champ and he did beautifully…

and we got to bring him home the next day–Saturday night. Look how swollen his paw was from the IV.

Now some of these pictures are graphic so if you have a tender stomach, you might want to stop here. If you’re very brave…you’re welcome to continue on.

We’ve had to give him several kinds of nasty medicine and a pill a couple times a day. Not too fun, but he’s a terrific sport.

This is Beany boy sitting up like nothing ever happened…

the day after surgery. Sorry, I know it’s pretty graphic, but I’m just amazed at him just carrying on like it’s any other day, except that he’s missing a leg.

This nutty guy has already jumped up on my bed and back down a couple times. He follows me around and lays on the floor by me wherever I am–like he’s just glad to be here…with us.

Oh, me too Bean.

Thanks for sticking around.

I’m not really ready for the world without you.

July 12, 2013July 12, 2013

Rapunzel Repurposed

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Miss Chompy made a tower out of the kid’s ancient Duplo Blocks and put a happy little lady inside. She thought about it for a few minutes and said, “Hey, she’s like Rapunzel…only with not good hair.”

Hmmmm….let me just put on my Crafty-Grammy cap, I thought. So I cut a long strip from a plastic grocery bag…tied a few knots…

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and snapped it in just below Rapunzel’s window, in the back.

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Next, Chompy stuffed all that “hair” into the room with the girlie…

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and…POOF!!

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Instant. Repurposed. Princess.

Grammy of the year award…

in…the…bag.

July 9, 2013March 2, 2017

The Big Parade

This year, our parade “stake-out” blankets survived a small thunderstorm AND a gigantic windstorm. We thought we’d find our stuff somewhere in Fargo, North Dakota–but no. It all miraculously stayed put. Good blankets.

Miss Chompy and I hung out, eating Twizzlers while everyone else roamed around in the booths. Twizzlers won…for a while…

then we joined the crowd and strolled around the concession booths…

where apparently, somebody was blowing bubbles.

The girlie even got to bring home a little brown frog. I know. Random. But she loved it.

I was tempted to go buy dinner at the big covered wagon, but then I had to wonder if they were serving chuck wagon type food. I ended up being too chicken to even go see because I’m pretty sure pioneer food was nasty. And hey, I’m just not that brave.

Magoo had had it before we could even decide what food to get. Don’t you wish you were a baby sometimes? Looks good to me.

Then everyone gathered for the parade…our favorite, silly little thing.

It always starts off with the police doing motorcycle tricks.

Incredibly loud tricks.

Then the military comes with the American flag. Luckily, people still stand and put their hand over their heart. I was so glad.

These beauty queens were totally waiving at the Bald Kid like they knew him. He was baffled.

Pretty cute Rapunzel float…

and some creepy tiger guys with no faces.

Then came this fuchsia poodle. I couldn’t tell how I felt about it because I’ve been looking for non-toxic nail polish and natural mascara and here comes this poor neon colored doggy. I kinda felt sorry for her.

Magoo dancing to the band’s music. This kid’s got music in him deep down that’s coming out someday–mark my word.

Cute little fireman clown that miraculously didn’t scared the kids. He was a gentle, quiet sort of clown guy.

Of much more concern was this odd little dude. I couldn’t tell what his deal was but he just stopped right in front of us and started dancing in his…flag skirt…thingy.

And this guy made us laugh because he was just sitting on the flatbed of a pick-up truck playing his drums. Just like that. I wondered what his parade entry said…”guy sitting on a trailer playing drums.” Okey dokey.