Remembering Those Who Gave All

What an emotional day for me yesterday. I crocheted 3 red, white & blue hearts to put on the trees of our adopted soldiers at Warriors Walk in Fort Stewart.

We left out of Renegade Classics from the BACA Run (Bikers Against Child Abuse)headed toward Ft. Stewart. Rounding one of the bends on base the sky was black. I was for sure thinking we were going to get hammered with rain. But nope. So we get to the gate and the guards won't let us ride on post because we don't have long sleeves, long fingered gloves. We all have our dot helmets, but that's it. So I get this bright idea of walking because it's just up the road, not far. HUH..I was turned around in my head, this wasn't the gate close to Warriors Walk. So we walked about a mile or so down the road to Warriors Walk, leaving our bikes at the gate. It was a long walk, on a fairly warm day but ya know what?? This was NOTHING compared to what the guys overseas have to endure.

So we get to Warriors Walk and I am already tearing up just thinking about all these guys (and they are just a small portion) that have lost their lives defending our country. We get to Jeremiah Smith's tree and I put the heart on the tree, tieing it securely on. Becky reads the bio on our adopted soldier. We pause and reflect, silently thanking him for his sacrifice. I start crying.

Next is Wai P Lwin. He was our first adopted soldier. We adopted him because he didn't have anyone there at the Laying of the Wreaths to give his tree a wreath. I take off the last heart we put on his tree and replace it with the new one. Becky reads about him, we reflect and go to our last adopted soldier, Travis Bruce. I really lose it at this point once I put the heart on his tree.

I have never met any of these guys but that doesn't matter to me. They sacrificed all of their tomorrows for me and everyone else. I am thankful to them and all of their brothers past, present & future who gave some or gave all or will give some or all. All heroes in my eyes.

TTFN
Kat xoxox

Please Remember

Just a short note to say please remember to remember our heroes this weekend, the ones currently serving, the past serving and the ones who gave up their tomorrows for us to have our todays. This weekend is about them and what they've given up for us.

I have two functions this weekend. I was asked to crochet three hearts to leave on the trees at Warriors Walk for our 3 adopted soldiers. I made them red, white and blue. I haven't downloaded the pic of what they look like but I will next week. I think they turned out awesome. Just a little bit of love we show to our three adoptees.

Sunday is the memorial tribute on Bay Street in downtown Savannah. I attend this every year and the motorcycle community roars in to show and give our respect. I will certainly be remembering and honoring our armed forces.

Everyone have a safe and wonderful weekend, where ever you may be. And take a few moments to reflect on those brave souls who protect our country.
TTFN
Kat xoxoxo

Oh Mr. Lick Lick

Phew...made it to Monday. Now if the rest of week will go by quickly. I have a 3 day weekend coming up!!

So you must be wondering about the title. WELLLLL....my Mr. Lick Lick scared the crud out of me Saturday. It was late Saturday afternoon to be exact. He went outside about 3ish. There have been these three armadillo babies that are living underneath my shed, and they decided Saturday afternoon to go exploring for food. Normally armadilly's (as I call them)come out at night, not during the heat of the day. What were these babies thinking??? I know they are babies because they are still pink, they are not totally brownish/grayish yet. And there are three of them. Did I already tell you that they are born 4 to a litter and that all 4 are the same sex? Isn't that odd? Well anyways - I don't know where their mother is, she is clearly slacking on her motherly duties, I don't know what happened to the fourth baby. But they obviously are day-owls. LOL.

SOOO...I let Mr. Lick Lick out and he goes nuts. They are taunting him so badly, because they know he can't get to them. They are on the outside of the yard fence. And nuts is putting it mildly as to how he acts. Well gosh...he's a JRT after all. That is their nature, to hunt. And to have a fence in between him and his quarry does not make him happy.

I left him out there for a while - he was amused and I thought 'what harm could it do?' Well I'm here to tell you - bad thought on my part. I am a bad mama. He drove himself in such a frenzy that he was back and forth along the fence. It was probably close to a half hour or so. I could hear him barking so I knew he was ok. Or so I thought. Well the armadilly's wound up out back searching for bugs and whatnot in the soil and he was going back and forth along the fence. I decided to go out and watch them for a bit. Leo is still going at it. He doesn't pay me a bit of mind. And he looks fine, except he's in his frenzied JRT state of mind, one track mind. So I decide that's enough of his barking, he's had quite enough fun already.

On one of his passes I have to scoop him up to get him and he's so hot! His body is burning up!He is breathing sooo hard. Well in he's going with me and to the water bowl. I get him in the house, put him down on the floor and he collapses!! Now who's in a frenzy??? MEEEEE. I pick him up, take him to the water bowl and he lays on the floor drinking water, just lapping it up. He tries several times to stand up but his back legs splay out and he collapses. I am freaking out by this time. Kicking myself and all that stuff (cussing myself out), for leaving him outside to what I thought was having fun for him. After a whole big bowl of water I made him stop drinking and picked him up and brought him to the couch with me. He cannot stand up. It's late in the afternoon - the vet is closed. If I have to I'll call and meet them there but I want to wait until he's cooled off and rested to see how he is. The whole time I am worried sick. I have no idea what is wrong with him and of course the whole gamut of stuff goes through my head - heat stroke, drank his water too quick and it's affecting his body, he's done something to his legs. But he was fine running the fence line until I picked him up and brought him in...so what in the world can be wrong with him???

Well I made him lay next to me on the couch and cool off. He took a short nap but could not stand up. After a couple of hours I picked him up and put him on the floor. He could stand up briefly and would sit down. Then he'd get back up briefly and sit back down. Slowly but surely he got to where he could stand up and walk more and more each time he tried.

I'm breathing a little easier by this time and think that maybe after a night of rest and sleep he will be better. Which he was better. But he still was somewhat slow, and had a little bit of hard time jumping up on the couch.

I'm convinced that he hurt himself by over-exertion. He's 12 years old now, and he's not used to that much running. And with their one track minds, the only thing he was thinking about were those dang armadilly's.

Sunday he was very slow for the first half of the day, and didn't even look out there to the shed. He pee'd squatting once, instead of lifting his leg. I think he was hurting. I told him that we are both getting older and there are things we cannot do anymore. Like he listened to me right??? :o) By the late afternoon he was almost back to normal and this morning he was fine.

Ya know what??? No more armadillys for Mr. Lick Lick. Sorry...Leo can't have fun with them anymore. He's getting too old and doesn't think about himself and what harm he's doing to himself. He knew how frenzied I was about him. He'd look up at me like what's wrong with me mom, I'll be ok mom? I am soooooo glad that I scooped him up when I did. I hate to think what would have happened had I left him out there and gone back in the house.

He knew yesterday morning that he didn't want anymore armadilly's. He actually got in the car with me while I was cleaning it out and vaccuuming it. He HATES the vaccuum. Do you know he actually laid on the back seat while I vaccuumed up the back floor and the seat?? I knew how wiped out he was when he didn't move for the vaccuum. And he got up on the back ledge in the back window. He reminded me of those little bobbin' head dogs. LOL...except he was a tad bigger. 13 pounds bigger.

What am I going to do with my little dog-man?? My little armadilly hunter. Lesson learned: Armadilly's are not worth the life of my fur baby. Gotta get those dang things gone. They need to find a new home. End of story.

Is it Friday yet??? I hope your day is wonderful in your spot in the world!
TTFN
Kat xoxox

Then it was Thursday

My week has flown by so quick. It's been almost a week since I posted, doesn't seem like it.

I have been going home from work each day to Mr. Lick Lick out of his cage! I decided I am going to leave him out and get him to not go potty in my house. He's pooped once (the first day) but has not pee'd once!!! But here I am bragging and watch, I'll go home today and I'll have a puddle of pee to clean up. Though I've told him all week that as soon as he pees he's back in the cage. BUT I have praised him up so high when I get home and he pee's outside. And I stand there and watch. If he pees a lot then I know he hasn't pee'd in the house. And he gets a huge treat if he doesn't pee. So I think that has helped him be a good boy! And I love it. I don't feel so bad about him being in the house cuz he's not penned up in that cage.

I think it's a huge deterrent to burglars to go up to a house with a dog in it. They don't know that dog. Of course they could give him food with poison on it. I've heard of that happening before. I would so hate that...... But living out in the woods like I do I expect that one day someone will attempt to break in. It hasn't happened yet, but I've had dogs. Now I'm down to one and if he was in the cage and someone came to the door they wouldn't hesitate to break in with him in the cage right?

I don't have much to take, but what I have is mine and I've worked my ever lovin' butt off my whole life for what little bit I do have.

So anyways, I am working on crocheting a clown. I am having a hard time with the head/hair. So I attached the head to the hat and I'll worry about the hair after. But I am doing it in pinks and purples. This is because the clown will be for my oldest granddaughter for her birthday in October. And she LOVES pink and purple.

I am still working on my sister's afghan. I am bad for getting bored with a big project. I love doing little stuff. The instant gratification is grand, and then I'm like ok....what's next. lol. THE AFGHAN dummy! sigh

I hope your Friday Eve is totally awesome where ever you may be!
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/This is my youngest granddaughter at Christmas. I got her that baby and she climbed in the box with her to play. Too cute. :o)

Remembering

Have I told you how much I love Fridays?? I live for them. Which I shouldn't do but shoot...we need something to live for huh? LOL

It's kind of quiet this morning in my work world. What's up with that?? Oh crud...shouldn't have said anything...the printer just went off. I think I'm ok..it's probably a 'no data found' sheet. YEP! Cool...now I have a few minutes to ramble.

I find it odd that when I get here that sometimes I can't think of what to type, but when I am driving to work, driving home, sitting crocheting, I can think of things that I could talk about that you may be interested in. So then you'd think that I'd remember what it was I was thinking but nope...it's escaped me yet again.

One thing I did want to remind you about is tomorrow is Armed Forces Day. Please remember those who have served for their country and us, and those who have not come home from serving their country. Remember that our freedom is not free - they gave their life for us to be able to live like we do now. Keep them and their families in your thoughts and never forget that some have sacrificed much more than a lot of us have. Thank a vet, thank a soldier, thank the families who have had to do without their loved ones and thank a family that has lost their loved ones. Let them know you appreciate what their loved one did for our country and that it was not in vain and that we are proud of them. Let them all know we appreciate them and their sacrifices and that we are very proud of them. That's not so hard to do is it?

Happy Friday to you all! Have a lovely weekend where ever you are. :o)
TTFN
Kat xoxo

PS/I forgot to mention in my last post that I have finally finished Pee's grave. It's taken me almost 3 months to get myself outside the fence to do this. I finished his cross last week and made myself go out there Sunday morning to get it put up. I still cried...buckets of tears for my little bull in the china shop. I miss him very much. This is a pic of him and Leo laying on the couch together. I think this was one day when Leo knew that Pee was not feeling good and getting close to his time to go to Rainbow Bridge. I'll have to take a pic of his and Misty's graves together to show you.

Whirlwind Wednesday

Holy cow...it's Wednesday already. Time sure does fly. I am so busy since the departure of said co-worker. Tis ok because the days go by really quick. But now I am falling behind on my blog. When there was two of us it was relatively easy and I had a lot of time because we 'split' orders. So to speak.

I so did not want to get up this morning. I was in such a deep sleep and dreaming something (can't remember this one)and the alarm went off and I and Mr. Lick Lick jumped. I truly could have laid back down and went back to sleep. Most of the time I can't do that. Once I'm up, I'm up. Leo woke me up last night, I think it was around 11:30, to go out to potty. I vaguely remember it. Here lately I've had a hell of a time getting back to sleep, but not last night. And I've done nothing different.

I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago. Most of my levels are good except my TSH, which has almost bottomed out, and my Vitamin D, which has almost bottomed out. My A1C went the opposite direction. It's just slightly above the normal levels. And that's probably because I have been binging on sweets in the last few months. Now I have to back off. This is the first time I've had my cholesterol checked and was mildly surprised that it was in the lower part of the range.

I go through these spurts of no carbs. When I do that I eat a lot of eggs, meat and salads. I need to do that again because my weight is bothering me. It'll be a year on June 22nd that I quit smoking and I have gained 20 pounds. I hate it. I have threatened here recently that I was going to start smoking again, but the big deterrent there is the cost. OH MY GOD.....it's horrible. They are over $5.00 a pack here now. At least that's what someone told me this weekend. Why don't they tax liquor more? Maybe there won't be as many drunks on the road.

I know...cigs are bad too. They make you smell bad and don't do anything good for your body at all. But my dad is in his 80's and he has been smoking all of his life..well since he was in the navy anyways. What were cigs back then....a nickel a pack I think. That's over 100%. But he's in pretty good health for the most part...in regards to smoking anyways. I take after my dad in so many ways. I most resemble him in looks, body build, and characteristics. The rest of my siblings take after my mom's side of the family.

I found out this last weekend that Mr. Lick Lick has an excellent nose. (Dogs smell in ppb - parts per billion) I got tire of all the crap in my shed because I can't move around anymore. And I needed something from a box for my bike that was underneath three other boxes. So I started moving stuff. One of the boxes I couldn't remember what was in it so I opened it up. When I first looked I saw a bunch of toilet paper in a next and then I saw a long tail and then some more little tails. UH HUH....Mr. Lick Lick's obsession was in this box. A mama mouse with 3 baby mice hanging on for dear life!!! I had put out some Tom's rat/mice poison a couple days prior and had seen that something had been eating on it. It had to be this mama...and she wasn't dead yet! But then I was thinking that if she ate some that she ingested it and her babies would get some through her milk. And there was no way I could sling that mama with her babies out in the woods. Hell I couldn't even pick her up...for fear of getting bit. So now...what to do with this box??? Well....for the time being, while I needed to get to the other box, and I couldn't put it on the floor for Mr. Lick Lick to get to, I put it up on top of my car roof. Oh man...Leo about had a fit! He went round and round that car. Always looking up when he got to the side the box was on. That kept him busy for a long time. I didn't have to worry about him getting in trouble. This is what he was trying to get at every time he got in the shed knocking stuff down and falling.

At the end of the day I put the box back in the shed with something heavy over top of it. If she wants out she'll have to chew her way out. I probably won't check it until this weekend. My luck her and her babies will have fled their temporary home and I won't have to deal with her anymore. (yea right).

I hope your day is wonderful where ever you may be.
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/This is my little part of the world in the woods. I think this was taken back in the winter when we were having all that rain. I didn't look at the date before I uploaded it (of course it's probably wrong anyways).

Fabulous Friday :o)

Ahhhhh......the end of the work week. I'm so glad it's Friday. This week went off without a hitch. I was busier than crap but hey...the days went by quick.

I know one little man of a dog that is happy it's Friday. My Mr. Lick Lick...he is not a stupid little man-dog. I know I've told you that he absolutely HATES me going to work. Well that little joker this morning got it into his head to hide from me when it was time for me to go to work!!! Can you believe that??? I was utterly astounded! Nothing brought him about....until mama tried the very last thing she could think of. I thought he was too eager to go out and potty before I left this morning. He didn't come back, and didn't come back, so I went outside and called for him. No Leo. I promised him chip, no Leo. I stood there and listened. I didn't hear him. So I went inside and got my keys. I shook them, went to the car, opened the door and stood there. No Leo, no sound. Ok, so next I went to the gate and opened and closed it several times. No Leo. By this time I'm running 10 minutes late leaving. So I go out looking for him. I looked under my car, out back in the black edges of dark (and believe me when I tell you it's dark in them there woods...lol, you can't see your hand in front of your face). I have a street light on the shed side of the house because rattle snakes are prevalent in this part of the country, along with copper heads. Anyways...no Leo!! I'm thinking...what the hell???? I'm laughing a little because he's this smart, that he doesn't want to go in the cage. So I go to the shed...we all know how he LOVES the shed. I rattled the keys in the lock......no friggin Leo. Now I'm getting scared at this point that the damn huge owl has snatched his skinny little 13 pound body up and took him away. So I open the lock and go in the shed, go toward the back and turn the light on. No Leo. I start rattling and moving stuff around. All of a sudden a white streak comes a running in the shed. I scooped his little ass up. I scolded him the whole way to the house. He went in the cage with his little head down. He knew......

I can't help but laugh. How smart is that....to hide from your human mama because you don't want to go in the cage because she has to go to work?? I wasn't laughing too much this morning, especially when I thought maybe the owl had gotten him. We have HUGE owls here! I haven't gotten a pic of one but I have seen them. And I hear them all the time in my woods.

Anyways....the day is almost over. Tomorrow I am going on a benefit for a soldier back from Afghanistan that lost his legs and the benefit is for a house for him. I haven't seen my BG sistah's in a while because I've been down with my back. It'll be great to see them and hang with them for a little while. Mr. Lick Lick is not going to be happy but oh well....mama needs some mama time. It won't be an all day thing. I won't have to leave the hacienda til 11.

Sunday is Mom's Day. My mom has been gone many years, 38 to be exact. I lost her in my teen years. My youngest sister was 7 when she passed and she doesn't even remember her. How sad is that. I will be spending it home, alone...well not alone. With Mr. Lick Lick. It's one of those holidays where I'd rather hermit myself away and not have to deal with anyone other than myself. That way I can't feel sorry for myself. :o)But if your mom is still around let her know how much you care for her, love her.

Have a wonderful weekend where ever you may be and who ever you may be spending it with.
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/Mr. Lick Lick says 'RuffRuff Ruff Ruff Ruff'. LOL...that stands for love love...love your mama. :O)

Friday Eve!

Yes sireeeee. LOL. I live for Fridays. :o)

On the way to work this morning it was soooo foggy! That is very scary. When you are traveling a road that you travel every day of the work week to go to work, and you can't see 10 feet in front of you....scary. The only thing I can think of is a log truck fully loaded stopped in front of you and you happen upon it and can't see it until you are right there!!

If you don't have log trucks in your area, when a log truck is loaded, the trees hang out of the back of the truck's trailer. So in essence if you came upon one of these and you can't see in front of you, the chances are that one of the logs will go through your windshield!!

One thing I am scared of is log trucks. Those guys haul butt down the road. They can't stop quick like you and I can in a vehicle. And since texting has become popular it's even more scarier. I've noticed many a log truck close or going over the center line or having a hard time keeping in their lane because of texting. How do I know? Because you can see them, head down, eyes down. They already drive a lethal vehicle loaded down with very heavy, deadly missiles. Texting is not the thing to be doing in these trucks. That's pretty much a no brainer I would think.

Anyways...I don't like riding my motorcycle when it's foggy like it is today. It's too easy for a vehicle behind you to not see you (they don't see you anyways when you're on a bike on a clear day). And it's too easy for a vehicle to pull out in front of you or into you because they don't see you coming. It's a perilous thing to ride a motorcycle these days anyways! I try to be seen at all times. I've had several very close calls on my bikes. More on my sporty than on my roadking. And I was always amazed at how I survived each situation. All were scary and very well could have ended up with me either dead or very maimed for the rest of my life. I definitely have a guardian angel.

Well I need to get to it here. It looks like it may not be as busy a day as the last 3 have been but then again I could be very wrong. That's happened a time or two....lol. (Been wrong that is)(Hey, at least I admit it!!!)

Where ever you are I hope that it's a clear, beautiful, lovely day for you.
TTFN
Kat xoxox

PS/Check out my Christmas cactus. This was two of them this past Christmas. See the pink one? That's the one that has two blooms right now, outside on my front porch. But aren't they just gorgeously loaded with flowers?
PPS/Don't go by the date in the pic. My camera has been funky in regards to the date. Sometimes I don't even realize that the date is wrong....and sometimes I don't care. But I know this was taken last Christmas. I need to just take the date off of my pics so that I don't have to worry about it.

Holy Moly!

Well here it is Wednesday. I have been one busy little bee at work since said co-worker is no longer here and I am doing it all now. Tis ok, it's just eating into my blog time is all. :o( I shall endeavor to do my best to blog like I have been. I rather enjoy it, I get 'stuff' off my chest. And it helps clear some of the cobwebs from the space between the ears also. It makes room for more stuff to ooze in from the nether of life.

I have started working on a granny square blanket for my sister. (One of them, my youngest to be exact) Her favorite color is purple, so I am doing three shades of purple and I made a chart so that this blanket will be a 'Purple Heart' blanket. I'm excited about it to see the end result. It looks good on paper, let's see if it'll ring true when it's all put together.

I have the radio on my Zen here. Today I am listening to oldies. Isn't it wonderful to hear a song that will take you back in time to an earlier life? Ventura Highway is playing. When I hear this song I think of a causeway in southern FL where I was at the time this song was popular. That was in my teenage years before my mother passed. That time of life for me was a carefree one before I had to grow up rather quickly. Lost innocence of another kind, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that time in my life and know what I know now.

Sigh.......

I hope the rest of your day is wonderful - I am headed to the hacienda and my Mr. Lick Lick. :o)
TTFN
Kat xoxoxo

Fly Away Sunday

Geeze...the day is almost gone. The weekend is almost gone. So quickly they go.

Yesterday I did laundry (yippee) and went to a wedding of a friend's son. I'm considered part of the family as I don't have any family close and I usually attend all of their family functions. It's wonderful that friends' families will accept you into their family like that. I think a lot of southern families are like that. Not to say that northern and western families aren't like that but for the most part southern are. It was a nice outside wedding and I'm glad I went.

I told my friend I would come over today and help her clean up, as her back has three bulging discs right now. So I was getting ready this morning (Mr. Lick Lick let me sleep til 8 this morning after getting up at 5 to let him go out to pee!) after I had half a cup of coffee in me, and she calls me. I didn't have to go because it wasn't that bad and Chuckie would help her tomorrow finish what needed to be done. And she invited me over to her nieces to help eat some of the leftovers of the wedding. I declined saying I didn't want to intrude too much on family stuff. She said I wasn't intruding, that I was part of the family. That made me feel pretty good.

I still didn't go. I feel so guilty on the weekends when I leave Mr. Lick Lick. The poor boy is in the cage all week while I work. I can't let my man of the house stay in the cage all weekend too. (How magnanimous of me huh?) LOL. He's all I have and the guilt weighs heavily on me when he has to go in there on the weekends. I don't have a choice during the week, I have to work. And I would love to be able to leave him out, I would feel a lot better, but I'll be damned if I'm going to come home every day after work and clean pee up. He pees cuz he's mad that he can't go and that I am leaving him alone. I don't know what to do to make him stop. He's 12. I'm pretty sure he did this to Jeff when Jeff was alive, though Jeff would never admit to it. Jeff would leave the a/c on and the back door open so that Leo could go outside during the day to pee. I asked him why he did that, that someone was going to come in and rip off his whole house. He said he did it for Leo and no one was going to come in the house unless Leo knew them. So anyways, Leo's done it to me and I'm not going to do as Jeff did, I can't afford to leave the a/c on and the door open. And a doggie door is out because he's a JRT (Jack Russell Terrier), he will dig out of the fence. It's too hot out in the summertime to leave him out in a confined area. Sorry, my dogs have been spoiled that way. If it's too hot out for me, it's too hot out for them.

Well I think Leo has napped at my feet long enough. It's time to go out and put another coat of finish on my latest woodburnings. 3 are gifts - Kay's is the froggy,
Chuckie's is the eagle, my daughter's is the other and of course PeeWee's cross that I need to finish. My daughter's is for mother's day, Kay and Chuckie's birthdays are next month.

Here's to a stress free Monday at work even though I will be working my tail off. :o) I don't think I have ever liked a Monday before but I will be loving this one.
TTFN
Kat xoxox

The Cost of Freedom

Mr. Lick Lick let me sleep!! I am amazed. One night he doesn't wake me up to go potty and let's me sleep til almost 7. Holy cow. I think he knew how stressed I have been lately.

I am feeling better this morning after the rant yesterday. Do you believe it took me all day to write that? I will tell you the short of what happened - my direct fellow co-worker (unbeknownst to me) back in November logged onto my work computer under her log-in. Somehow my emails were being redirected to her personal yahoo account. This was discovered by me, I reported it to my boss and IT, and it resulted in this co-worker turning in a resignation yesterday. There has been much turmoil, tension and stress with said co-worker for over a year now. It is a welcome relief on my part for many reasons but the result of it is that the company is not going to replace said co-worker so now all the work reverts to me. Which really won't be too bad because I did the majority of it to begin with. The last three work days have been hell for me.

May your weekend be one of serenity, love and laughter.
TTFN
Kat xoxoxox

PS/ the pic above is one of my tattoos. It is actually part of a print that I bought years ago at one of the Moving Wall events in FL and took to a tat parlor right after I moved here.