Simply Remember

and be grateful to those who gave their last full measure to preserve the freedom we so often take for granted.

Memorial Day is officially observed on Monday,

but it certainly wouldn't hurt to remember them

way more often than once a year.

And Then There Were None

Found Twitch's other two babies dead this morning.  She actually seemed a bit distressed over their lack of motion.  She tried to block my efforts to take them away.  Maybe she wasn't able to produce any milk for them, they seemed a bit emaciated.  This might explain why there weren't more than two black rabbits hopping around the neighborhood last summer.  Maybe they were very unsuccessful parents in the wild as well.  Hopper seems quite keen on trying again, and Twitch did not object.  They are rabbits after all.  We'll give them another month or so.  If they cannot manage to produce bunnies that actually grow and thrive, they will still get to spend the summer converting weeds to fertilizer, then they will end up on the dinner table as planned in the first place.

And Then There Were Two

Twitch managed to drown one of her babies in her water dish last night.  Her water dish has now been switched with Hopper's dish.  Hopefully, that will prevent any future drownings.  The other two are still alive.  Still 33% attrition isn't good.

Still Sorting

Mom's .... stuff.

In future it may be referred to as S.M.S.,

and depending on my patience level that last S might be replaced with the Arabic meaning of the word goo.

Hubby had yesterday off work, so taking advantage of the opportunity, I flipped the seats in the Element up to the sides and loaded it up pretty full of grocery bags full of some already sorted papers, and four paper yard waste bags full of shredded paper.  The cranky man at the city garage seemed perturbed that I would have the audacity to bring lots of paper for recycling and try to fill up the bins.  Silly me, I thought that was the point of recycling, to get it out of mom's house and put it back into "circulation".  The fella was even more "thrilled" when we made a second trip to dispose of the 10 - one gallon jugs of waste oil that have somehow accumulated in the garage.  Maybe he had just been standing outside in the sun for too long.

Then we headed up to the farm supply place and purchased another 100 gallon stock tank to use as a rain barrel.  That should provide enough water for the garden if we get 4-5 day stretches without rain.  The city water bill last summer was outrageous.  The one tank was not enough with the additional planting bed that I added last year.

On another front, Twitch was behaving very strangely yesterday; she was picking up giant chunks of greens and waving them around quite frantically in her cage.  I suppose rabbits in labor instinctually avoid "screaming" to avoid attracting predators.  Taking her odd behavior as a cue, I cleaned her house thoroughly yesterday, and when I checked on her this morning, she had produced three little baby bunnies some time last night.  Not sure if she will get the hang of being a mother.  Earlier today she was sitting in the opposite corner from them with a look that was less than contented - more an expression of "What are those wriggling alien parasites; was it something I ate?"  No further arrivals happened during the day.  Time will tell if she actually nurses them or not.  Today was a dim, gray day; the light was too low for pictures.  Maybe tomorrow, if they make it.

Hope they make it and grow up before fall.

Rabbit, tastes like chicken.

Rabbit, the other white meat.

The only down side is that when the time comes, I will probably have to dispatch them.  Hubby doesn't want to.  We'll see; the cuteness factor wore off months ago.

Thieving Squirrels

the evidence of your deeds is appearing all over my yard.

 I didn't plant this one.

 or this one

 or this one.

This is where they belong

 at the neighbors house across the street.

What's The Matter?

Hopper and Twitch is the dandelion supply exceeding your appetite?  Hurry up, convert more weeds to fertilizer please.

Hopper: "Put me back in with Twitch; that was fun.

Living in seprarate houses is boring."

No, it looks like you might have already done your job.

So now you have two names -

Hopper and Twitch

for when the neighbor kids say "Oh, look at the cute bunnies."

and Humper and Trollop (for adult conversations)

because that more accurately describes your sole and abiding motivations in life.

Twitch: "We're tired of dandelions.

Where did the carrots go?

Do I look fat?"

Spring is Trying

to arrive.

 The wandering onions that were left over from last year are coming up nicely.

And the asparagus is popping out of the ground,

in particularily slow motion this year because of the cold weather.

Picked the first two stalks today, one for each of us.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

So Glad

that I don't live in a neighborhood with one of those lousy compacts that prohibits drying clothes in the bright sunshine.

The picture is from last summer, but after doing 5-6 loads each day they all start to look the same anyway.  I've been doing laundry since Sunday.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) promises to be another sunny day.  After finishing mom & stepfather's laundry, I get to do mine - woo-hoo.  Hope the washing machine doesn't start smoking from exhaustion.

Happy Alzheimers Monday!

Yup, stepfather misplaced his checkbook.  So after giving mom her shot, we did the great checkbook search in the house and car.  With the change in the weather, it took a while to find it because it was not forgotten/left in the usual winter coat pocket or in mom's purse.  I finally found it when double checking the pockets in a spring/fall vest.  Never knew changing seasons could present such challenges, but alzheimers does make it more difficult to retrace one's steps and remember what clothes were worn the previous day.  Have to cut him some slack though.  There have been times when the weather finally gets warm enough to go without a coat that I have left my house keys in my jacket pocket inside the house and locked myself out.  And what's my excuse?  Ah, none!

On the plus side, stepfather cleaned out the newspapers stacked in the back of the station wagon today (The extra weight of the newspapers over the wheels is quite useful for winter snow traction.)  The garbage/recycling men are not going to like us in the morning.