Venus 11

Saturday night I brought home my birthday present. A red kayak. I brought it in and placed it on the living room floor so I could look at (we are still having 100 degree heat outside). I took all the paper tags off and went and showered to get ready to drive to San Antonio. Look what I found when I came out of the bathroom.


She has claimed it as hers. If the seat were still on it she would be curled up in it.

Someone TP'ed the house—inside...

Nooooooo, I don't see any paper. Nope, not here.

Noooo, still don't see it. What shoe??

You cannot tell by this view, but she is steadily fussing at me. Aaawwoooowooooo!! I found what was left of the roll under the couch. I was trying not to laugh in front of the child...

Testosterone in the Kitchen

Dale is now canning. His mom comes over on the weekends and they go to the farmers market and bring back loads of vegetables to process and can. Peaches are starting to come in and I have pulled out all my peach recipes, I want to freeze and can several kinds. But anyway, a few weeks back, Dale made Plum Jelly. All by himself. He proudly gave me jar and it had great color, jelled perfect, and tasted fine. As I read his label on the lid, I saw that he left his mark as a man. He spelled plum with a "B".


I have watched Dale "plumb" many things over the years. He is the kind of husband that can fix anything. We have lived as neighbors for 20 years. When my daughter grew up, she measured her future husband next to Dale (my husband left us when the children were small and I have not remarried). Thank you Dale, for being a great husband, father, friend, and man in the kitchen.

Starbucks Friendly

We are still composting in the heat. A neighbor that manages a Starbucks is bringing coffee grounds home for me. A vegan friend brings her veggie skins over. What started as a 70 model station wagon size mound of leaves has broken down to a Smart car size lump in my yard. I have been shoveling loads into the garden and landscape beds to protect the plant roots from the heat, and to help hold the moisture in the ground. HoneyBelle likes to sneak around in the squash plants, the only thing showing is the tip of her tail like a sailing mast.

Blast Furnace Heat

We are sweltering down here. I keep checking the 10 day forecast in hopes that a percentage of rain will appear. All I see is a smiling sun picture with no precipitation. I sold all my hens to a woman that had an air conditioned hen house. I have ordered water misters from an on-line company that has commercial quality tubing. The water in the bird bathes has become to hot for birds to visit—and all bathes are located under full canopy tree shade. I turn the sprinkler on low and let the water sprinkle my giant rabbits that are uncomfortable in fur coats. The dogs and wild birds walk into the light jet and cool off. Baby HoneyBelle puts her face right on the jet and lets the water sprinkle all over her honey colored coat. I rush home from work to check on everyone and see how they survived the high heat. Grass is already withered crisp and brown. This is tough. We have had one substantial rain since last fall.

He says "Don't Spoil Her"

And look at him. She does her herky-jerky tank run through the yard, random ear tripping. And he just gushes "you are just the cutest lil' thang!" People come to the front door and say "Can I hug HoneyBelle?" No wonder we end up with 70 pound lap dogs. I told my grandchildren that bassets were really royalty from long ago, and they are with us now as beautiful bassets, and it is our duty to give them extra special care. I am sure when they get older I will have some explaining to do, but until then we can believe. You can never have too much love.

Some of the HoneyBelle fan club

Hard work being a Baby

HoneyBelle is a true hound. She is already following scents, digging, treeing rodent squirrels, playing, getting dirty, eating and sleeping. I am landscaping around a dog kennel area to be used for fosters and she in the middle of the job, digging and snorting. She wears herself out and curls up by me, so I place her in an outdoor chair to nap. HoneyBelle has a fan club of all ages. Even grown men become childish and enamoured of her jumbo marshmallow feet and auburn eyelashes.