31derful Years

I've always liked how Baskin-Robbins used the word 31derful. A fun word, but let's face it, you can't use it every day. (unless you are Baskin-Robbins) But I can use it this week, as Jerry and I celebrate our 31st anniversary, in honor of which I have usurped their motto and their vintage advertising art. (see this bag that I used for inspiration.)




Love you, Jerry♥

When life gives you lemons persimmons

Actually, Mrs. W. gave me these persimmons. Aren't they pretty? I'm going to make something with them, maybe this weekend. I found a bundt cake receipe that looks good.


I cut them all up and put them in the freezer for now. Hopefully the finished product will be update-worthy.

Fall Photos

Unnecessary quotation marks

Ok, I'll admit that this is a really crappy photo, but at least you can read the sign, including the words "Meat Cutters", and "CERTIFIED". Notice that last word is quoted, capitalized and underlined! If I were one of the guys that work behind the counter, I'd be insulted.

This is not the first time I have complained about Stater Brothers' over use of quotation marks. I wonder if the wording on this sign was written by the same person who inspired this ranting post I made last summer

I have also found an entire blog devoted to the superfluous use of quotation marks.

Sweet old girl

Marley-Mar enjoying a bit of sun the other day.

Boomie looks like a clock

That's what Michael said the other day when Boomie was laying with his head hanging over the arm of the chair.

"A clock?"

"You know, like a Salvador Dalí clock."

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dalí.

Well, when you put it that way, I guess he does look like a clock.


Note: I am embarrassed by the condition of the chair that Boomie is relaxing in. I didn't think it looked quite that shabby in person. Perhaps, in the same way the camera adds 10 pounds to a person, it also adds shabbiness and filth to old chairs.

Our leather furniture, purchased on sale from a department store about 12 or so years ago, has not aged well. I had a product to clean it with, and it worked well, a little too well in fact. I realized too late that the cleaner was actually removing the paint from the leather. This, together with the fact that the dogs use our furniture as their doggie beds, has hastened its demise. That being said, I am reluctant to banish the dogs from laying on it, so I am resigned to living with old, dirty, shabby furniture until the dogs die.

Not that I am in any hurry for the dogs to die. Boomie is just 2 days away from the 2 and a half year anniversary of his amputation, and look at him up there. He can still hoist his old carcass up on the chair all by himself. If Boomie is a clock, I hope he keeps tickin' for a long time.

The cactus egg

Seon gave me this for my birthday. She had no idea I have been trying to grow an aloe from a seed. She just knows I like cacti.


Here's how it's supposed to grow*.


*Your results may vary


No turning back now.


Inside the shell is soil and a little paper with a couple of tiny cactus seeds (of unknown, but most likely common species).


Also included was a packet with a few extra seeds, which I stuck in shell as well.


I was a little concerned about what would happen to the seed paper when I watered it, and I decided to put a few granules of crushed pumice on top. Turns out the paper dissolved quickly when I watered the soil in the egg.

So now, we wait.

I did search online to see if anyone else had documented their experience with an Eggling cactus. I found this set on Flickr.

3-legged neighbor dog update

I saw them again, yesterday. Through my kitchen window, I saw them walking across the street. I hurried outside and called out to them. "I just want you to know I have a 3-legged dog too!" I said. They crossed the street to meet me.

The lady, actually a young woman, is Amy. She is new to the neighborhood. The dog is Lana. Lana is a sweet German Shepherd. Amy adopted her as a tripawd, through a rescue organization. Poor Lana had previously lived chained outside as a guard dog, until one day she got loose and ran into the street. She was hit by a car. She paid with her leg, and part of her tail, but she earned her freedom and has started a new life with her caring owner.

At this point, I don't know when or if our dogs might meet. Lana, like Boomie, is not very friendly with strange dogs. But at least we know of each other's existence now, and that's a start.

Reaching out

The other day, I was in the house minding my own business, when Michael came home and announced that he had just seen a woman walking a 3-legged dog right past our house. In the nearly 2 1/2 years since Boomer's amputation, I have never seen a 3-legged dog in our neighborhood, so I was very excited and I ran outside to see.

By the time I got to the sidewalk, the lady and her dog, indeed a right rear amputee like Boomie, were almost to the corner. Too far for me to yell, run after her, or otherwise make a spectacle of myself. But I have been thinking of them ever since. Last night at around the same time, I kept watching to see if they might come by this way again. But I didn't see them.

Why do I care? I don't really know. I guess I just want to say Hi. Let her know that we here are also members of that special club. The "Tripawd" club. I made a silly little sign and hung it on the geraniums closest to the sidewalk. Maybe she will see it next time she walks by. Maybe she will want to introduce herself and we can talk about our dogs.

Under the parasol tree

I took this picture this morning as I was hiding from the sun on a beautiful 90+ degree day in the arboretum. I like how these leaves lose their color from the bottom up.