Move Over, Elf and Other Good Stuff

 

We all like to explore, am I right? Our home provides some places for me to check out when I get really bored (which seems to be often). Until mom went and moved some stuff around to make it more difficult, one of my favorites was the second shelf up from the floor on this bookshelf in the living room.

Now that things have been rearranged, I'm forced to make do with the bottom-most one, which is fine, I guess, considering they probably don't want me jumping any more than I need to (what with your advanced age, dear girl). 

Says the one with more and more white furs sticking out of his head & face...

Update: Well, now they've gone and done it. Even my bottom shelf spot has been taken. Mom and dad have been on a puzzle thing again, and mom recently found some at the Good Stuff Thrift store up the road in Buckingham, where proceeds go to helping kids in need in the community.

 Mom and dad enjoy simple, old-fashioned and inexpensive fun, like jigsaw puzzles, Yahtzee and Dice (mom's wicked competitive, and both can be sore losers), and this is how they spend most evenings. 

Warmer Weather is (almost) Here to Stay

Except for today, of course, we've had a few days recently when mom has been leaving the front door open for me so I can keep watch again over all that happens outside through the storm door glass. The elderly lady over there with the yappy little mutts, the robins bobbing and skittering across the front lawn, the fat, juicy geese honking away over by the pond and decorating the lawns, and the seemingly steady stream of Amazon trucks whizzing back and forth all hold my attention for like 2 1/4 nanoseconds a pop. 

   Oh, the choices I'm forced to ponder-

The warmer weather also brings the removal of the Coleman sleeping bag from the bed. You can probably guess where this is going. 

How 'bout Them Pink Beans

Big S-T-R-E-T-C-H

Half Awake & In a Daze

For a crusty old lady cat who meows like a duck/frog hybrid, routinely grunts like she can't be bothered to open her mouth for a meow, provides more side-eye than your average teenage daughter, and typically can't give us the time of day, Smudge provides her mom and me with so many tender moments like this that give us the warm fuzzies and let us know that deep down, there's a sweet, gentle, loving kitty in there. Somewhere. Maybe. I think. 

 

Whatever

 He's all better, folks. He calmed down. He still hasn't figured out the video thing, but after taking a little road trip for mom's birthday last week, his demeanor changed with a replenishment of one of his favorite things (you called it, Mackerull!). 

In spite of some clouds, mom and dad caught a glimpse or two of the eclipse during their outing, and although they had those special glasses, the best pictures were taken without them.

No, he didn't look directly at it...

There are a few dad took through the glasses, but they just look like a hazy, blurry little sun. Maple syrup? Total eclipse? As far as I'm concerned, I couldn't give a rat's butt.

Mom and dad call this my annoyed face, which I apparently give them all the time. Whatever.