Had to share this!!!

Another wonderful giveaway at The Rusty Thimble!  Just click on the pic and enter to win one of Brenda's fabulous snowmen!

Springtime and Kittens

A sequel to the last post..."Our Outside Cats, Inside".

I am finally getting time to post those pics of the kittens that I promised.  I thought I would include some pics of what was going on outside while they were inside.

We are in the bootheel (that is the very southeast part) of  Missouri and the dogwood is our state tree.

Itsy and Twitch were abandoned and we raised them. So, they are truly our babies.  After having their litters, only days apart, they moved all the babies into one box and shared.  This is Itsy taking her turn.

Itsy and Twitch doing double duty!

 It didn't take long until it was impossible to keep them from escaping!

 Nosey litte critters...they love their Papa!

 Just Too Cute!

It was really, really hard but we knew we couldn't keep all of them.  So, we found good homes for all but Droopy...that's him in the last pic.  He is livin' large and lovin' it outside with his mama's & uncle.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Judy

Our outside cats, inside...

Some of you may remember the kittens we adopted almost a year and a half ago.  They grew up, moved outside, got pregnant and came back inside to have the babies.  Daddy, aka known as Mike-my hubby, was afraid something would get the babies if we let them deliver outside.  It didn't matter that we have had multiple (lots & lots) of litters outside in the past 13 years we have lived here.  Anyhoo, here are some pics that I took while they were back inside.

Twitch, the brown tabby and Itsy, the grey, relaxing in their favorite get away.  It was great while it lasted...the kittens eventually insisted on joining them!

Kids, what are you gonna do?

 Brother, Bo, just had to come in for a visit!

Aunt Elli, so forlorn!  Those stinkin' kittens get all the attention.

So, there are our babies all grown up.  If you are all up for it, I will post pics of the babies next.

Judy

Side Note...see the old buffet in the second pic.  Trying to decide if I want to strip it (it is solid walnut) or paint it.  What do you think?

Pics of Moccasin Holler

I have been sharing my Moccasin Holler Memoirs for a while now and I want to share some pics of Moccasin Holler.  Yep, there is a Moccasin Holler.

Let's start at the beginning.  This is Mama and Daddy, the newlyweds, standing in front of their first home.  Notice the house in the foreground, you will be seeing more of it.  At the time the pic was taken, Mama's parents lived there.

In this pic my little sis, Juletta, and I are standing in the front yard of the house where we grew up.  Seeing the road brings back so many memories.  We jump on our bikes and ride anywhere we wanted, just as long as we were home before dark.  You are also seeing Moccasin Holler...it looked like this for about a 4 mile stretch.  A few houses were scattered along the road, but for the most part there were fields of cotton, soybeans and corn.  Our closest neighbors were about two miles either way down the road!

 I want to fast forward a lot of years and show you another shot of my boys in about the same spot as my sister and I in the last pic.  This one shows  part of the pasture and one of the barns. In the foreground is the house where I was born and spent the first 8 years of my life.  There is also a better view of Moccasin Holler!!

 This is our castle!  See the antenna in the center of the pic on the far side of the house?  I shimmied up it almost every day to sit on the roof.  I loved looking at the livestock grazing in the beautiful tree filled pasture and daydreaming about things that fill a little girls head. 

I

 Oh, how I would love to be able to sit in the porch swing with Mama one more time. Here, we are getting my baby brother to sleep while my faithful friend, Boy, looks on.

I'm gonna leave you with this.  This has been bittersweet for me.  The house burned down several years ago and the whole farm, including where the house and pasture set, is now a rice paddy.  I was blessed to have been born and raised at this particular spot in Moccasin Holler.  I miss it still and hope you have enjoyed seeing the pics as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.

 

Judy

 

 

Food, fun and fireworks...

who could ask for more? We will be spending tomorrow with our kids and grand-kids...food will definitely be involved!  Then, off to the park to enjoy a performance by the Community Orchestra...that will be extra special because our oldest grand-daughter is a member. Of course, fireworks are next. Fun, fun, fun!

Through all this I know memories of past 4th's will no doubt find their way into my thoughts.  It has been a few years since I have shared them with you, so I decided to post...

The 4th of July, Moccasin Holler Style

My sister, brother and I were lucky enough to have cousins our ages. They were the "city" cousins, but we never held that against them. They lived about 40 miles from us and we spent a lot of time together. The 4th was really special. The big ole washtub got drug off the back porch and filled with ice and sodas...something we didn't get very often. And, on the 4th we got to drink as many as we wanted. Unfortunately, they usually ran out before we drank our fill.

Our celebration actually started on the 3rd. Daddy would dig a pit in the back yard and Mama would bring out one of the grills from the oven to make sure the pit was the right size. Mama would get some pork steaks and pork chops out of the freezer. These were from one of the hogs that we had butchered the fall before.  We had our own chickens and I'm tellin' you, those critters knew what was comin'.  Thankfully, there were always a few that couldn't outrun Daddy!!  Mama had plenty to cook over that pit. Mama made her famous potato salad, our aunt brought her delicious strawberry shortcake and between the two of them we had all the fixins. Daddy would gather in a big basket of roastin' ears from the cornfield and fix up another tub of ice water for the watermelons and cantaloupes our uncle would be bringing.

By late afternoon of the 3rd, the city kinfolk had arrived and the games began. We had relay races around the house, played Annie Over, Jacks and snuck boloney or bacon out of the refrigerator, tied pieces to a long piece of twine and fished for crawdads in the big ditch across the road. This went on pretty much all night. Finally, when we were too tired to go on, we headed to the tent. Now this wasn't just your ordinary tent...it was special!! We gathered up pieces of rope and strung it between trees then went inside to the quilt stack and drug out enough quilts to make the sides of the tent with flaps hanging in the front and back. A few more to make our bed on the ground and we were set. We lit the old kerosene lantern and were lulled to sleep by the soft voices of Mama and Aunt Edith.

We woke up bright and early to find Mama already fixin' breakfast over a fire. While she had the bacon and sausage cookin', we would go to the hen house and gather up the eggs. I think I liked breakfast better than the 4th of July dinner (that's lunch to you northerners).  Just thinkin' of all that food makes me hungry!

Those days were filled with wondrous things...sodas, hand-churned ice cream, roasted marshmallows, swimmin' in Little River and so much love that you couldn't stir it with a stick.

 

I finish this post wishin' for all of you a 4th of July as wondrous as the ones from my childhood.

Judy 

I have a dilemma!!

As you all know, I have been pretty scarce around here. I have been getting back into the swing of things (gradually) and finally made it into the painting room.

 Now for the dilemma, I found these!

Yep, all base-coated and waiting to be finished.  Only one problem...I have no idea what I was planning to paint on them and my brain keeps going into the freeze mode every time I look at them.  Anyone have any suggestions...seriously, I could really use some input.  What would you like to see painted on these neat surfaces!!

Waiting to hear from you,

Judy

Ta Da...Presenting a Cone Tutorial

I have been looking forward to doing this and I really hope you all enjoy

it.

For this project you will need: 

1.     a full sheet of card stock

 2.    glue..I use Mod Podge

3.     Scotch tape

4.    Masking tape

5.     Whatever you want to cover the cone.

I am using pages from a hymnal for this

tutorial.

 Take the sheet of card stock and roll it from

a bottom corner to form the cone. You will have

some excess at the top, but when you have the size

you want tape the edge in place with scotch tape.
(If you want a heavier cone, you can glue 2 or more pages of card stock together)  

 Trim some of the excess from around the top of

the cone,  Now, fold the top to the inside to form

an edge.  You can now use the masking tape to seal the

raw edge of the card stock.  This will be the back

of your cone.

 When using the hymnal pages, I pick out what pages

I want to use and tear the edges of all the pages. I like

the way this looks when grungied up.  Begin gluing the

pages starting at the top in the back of the cone.  Place

the page high enough on the cone so that you have

an excess to fold to the inside. 

When you have the cone covered you will glue

your front (focus) page in the position you want.

 If you have some of the point that isn’t covered, just

tear a strip from one of the pages, wrap it around

the cone and trim off the excess.  You may want to

shape the point with your fingers.

 You are ready to completely cover the cone with a

good coat of glue.  I glue the inside, let it dry and

then finish up the outside.

 Alrighty, now you have your cone ready for your personal,

finishing touches.  I will grubby this one with a coffee

and vanilla mixture, sprinkle on some mica flakes and

fill with Christmas-y stuff.

 Now, I have a favor…I want you to critique this tutorial so

I will know what I need to change when doing future

tutorials.  And, please tell all your blogging buddies

that might want to make a cone about this tutorial…I have

a plan for the future that will only work if you make and

decorate a cone!! 

I am really looking forward to hearing from you!

Hugs,

Judy

Tutorial Coming Soon!

I have been working on the tutorial for the cone, if getting the template done counts!!  I had hoped to get it posted today, but, I still have some things to do around camp...our first full session begins Sunday.  

Anyhoo, just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about the tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by,
Judy

If you are reading this...

you have made my day!!  I am so happy you are still checking in.  I have had a bit of a set back with my health issues but have felt better the past week.  

Actually did a little painting last week.  My niece was given a wedding shower and, since she has a country theme for her upcoming backyard wedding, I decided to wrap her gift in brown paper that is used for shipping packages.  I then painted hydrangeas all over it and tied it up with jute.  I really liked the way it turned out...just didn't think to take a pic.

I have been working on the tutorial for the cone and hope to have it posted this week.

Again, you just don't know how much I appreciate all my followers and I am looking forward to being back in the swing of things.

Hugs,
Judy

Another great giveaway!!!

Brenda of  "The Rusty Thimble" creates some of the neatest things and has a giveaway each month...on both her blog and her Facebook page.  I knew you would want to see what she has for April.

Good luck!

FIRST BABY PICS!!!

Well, yesterday was a long day!!  It didn't start to get really exciting until about midnight. This was my first experience at birthin' babies and was it ever exciting.  It was also Twitch's first time having babies so we wanted to keep a close watch to make sure everything went okay...it did and the first of five made it's appearance around 2 a.m., the last around 6.

I just had to share pics of mama and babies...unfortunately one of the little critters is on the bottom row and can't be seen.

I love how Twitch has them all snuggled up.
Notice the red and white in the pic...that's part of our supply of rags to be use for staining.  We prepared a nice pet bed, a nook in an old crate and a cardboard box for her to choose from when the "time" came.  Instead, she decided to climb into a plastic milk crate filled with old rags.  It's a close fit...cozy and comfy.
I hope you all enjoyed the pics and much as I enjoyed sharing them.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I always love to read your comments!

Judy 

We are having babies!!!

Yep, one of our babies is having babies...today!!!   Poor Twitch has been miserable for a couple of weeks now and for the past couple of days getting comfortable has been impossible.

Until today, she has loved having her tummy rubbed and wanted to cuddle.  Today, she just wants to be left alone.  This is her first litter so we are keeping a close eye on her.  I will share pics as soon as I can.

 

Hugs,

Judy 

 

They grow up so fast!!

It was about this time last year when my hubby called me from the video store wanting to know if I wanted to "adopt" 6 kittens that had lost their mama.  All he had to say was that if we didn't take them they were going to be killed!!!  Little did we know how they would change our lives!!

Meet, from left to right...Bo, Bitsy, Itsy & Twitch 

We lost 2 of the sweet babies to pneumonia the second week we had them. It still breaks my heart.  These four thrived...feeding them was hilarious!

Itsy, Bo, Twitch:

Bitsy wanted to explore after his meal, Bo always wanted more!!

I was never an "animal in the house" person so we had planned to find homes for the babies.  Very quickly after officially looking for new parents, someone called wanting Bitsy.  I couldn't bear going to meet with them and give them one of our babies. But, tough Mike picked Bo up and headed to town.  The lady that called told up she was getting the kitty for her husband who was handicapped and would love the company.  Even so, while waiting for them to get to the meeting place, Mike decided he couldn't part with Bitsy and started to head home...but, the new Mama and Daddy pulled in.  It seems they were running late because they had been to PetCo to get a bed, toys, food and more for the baby...they were so excited !  So, Mike came home without Bitsy and we knew there was no way we could part with the others!

This is getting to be a long story so I will wait to another time to tell the rest of the story.

Thanks for stopping by.

    

So thankful and blessed

Daddy is doing really good and I am now home for the most part...he ran me off! :)  Thank you to everyone for the prayers and good thoughts.  Daddy is one-of-a kind and I can't imagine life without him.  I know that day will come so I cherish each moment we can with share with him. 

I have written some about growing up in the 50's, life on a farm...life in general.  I am doing this for  our kids and grandkids and my oldest son has named them "Moccasin Holler Memoirs".  I would like to share what I have written about Daddy...this is a work in progress.

A. A. (that's Double A ), our daddy

     Daddy… always workin’.  He was either plowin’, diskin’, plantin’, choppin’, pickin’ or combinin’ crops.  If he wasn’t workin’ in the fields, he was takin’ care of the livestock.   Even with all that, he always found time for us kids.  We grew up and he retired from farmin’ but he hasn’t retired from workin’.  He says everyone he knows that retired and quit workin’ is dead and he doesn’t intend to let that happen to him.

     Daddy… clownin’ around.  I can still see him wearing my bright yellow swimming cap with the big flower over the ear while driving up and down the main street of our small town…yep, I was in the car.  It would not have been so bad if he hadn’t rolled the window down, stuck his head out and hollered at all passer-bys!!  There are so many memories that end in laughter… I don’t know what Daddy likes best…to make someone laugh or to scare the daylights out of them.   He has done more than his share of both and he is really good at it.

     Daddy…the disciplinarian.  He believed in not sparin’ the rod or in his case, the belt.   But, he didn’t use it a whole lot.  I’ll admit I did get into trouble a “few” times.  One time it was for cussin’!!  I don’t remember what Daddy said to me, but my reply was “Good Grief”.  I remember the exact spot I was standing, the look on Daddy’s face and most of all the tone of his voice when he looked me straight in the eye and said, “We don’t cuss in this house.”  I didn’t say a word…I was just thankful that he didn’t have his belt handy and that it was too dark to send me out for a switch.

     Daddy…the singer.  Yep, I said singer!  We loved to hear him sing while we traveled down the road.  I’ll never forget his favorite song.  It went like this…marezie dotes and dozie dotes and little lamzie divie, eye dee divie, too, wouldn’t you?  You can imagine my amazement when some years later I learned he was really singing…Mare’s eat oats and doe’s eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, I’d eat ivy, too, wouldn’t you?  I think I still like it the way I thought Daddy was singin’ it.

    Daddy…the teacher.  Most of Daddy’s teaching was by example.  When in doubt we can ask, “What would Daddy do” and know that we would be doing the right thing if we followed the answer.  Daddy did have “special” ways of explaining some things.  When I asked where the cows got their calves, I was told they found them under a clump of grass.  I couldn’t tell you the number of hours I spent in the pasture turning up the ground!!

Daddy…our daddy.  Oh, how we love him.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know my Daddy just a little bit.  Now that things are beginning to simmer down around here, I will be back more often.  I promised (almost a year ago) to share pics of our "babies") and will be doing that next.  I will also be sharing a tutorial on making the cone I showed you awhile back.  Please, stay tuned!! 

      

The faster I go, the behinder I get!!!

It has really been almost two months since my last post.  I had grand plans for my blog but you know the old quote, "the best laid plans...".  That certainly held true for me...I'm not even going to try to go into all that has happened.  The latest has been the scariest.  On Sunday, March 3rd, my Daddy had a stroke.  He scared the daylights out of us...but, he is a tough, old bird and is doing pretty good.  Not your typical 87 year old, he works at his scrap metal business, hauling and cutting up scrap metal.  He is probably healthier than me...I know he is in better shape!!  So, it is going to be a battle trying to keep him at bay until he is stronger.  We are all praying that he will be able to do the things he wants to do once again.

I have been able to get some painting done and actually got a couple of things listed in my Esty shop tonight. These are Terrye French designs...I do love her designs!! 

I also painted my newest design on a vintage Homer Laughlin serving piece.  I am planning to make this design into my first e-pattern.  What do you think?

I will be staying with Daddy while he recuperates at home and will check back in whenever possible.  It has been great talking to you.

Hugs,
Judy