His name was Feathers

The other night Bluka caught a little bird and brought it in the house.  I praised her, scooped up the little guy and took him outside.  Since Bluka follows me around everywhere I go, she followed me outside when I put him down.  He tried to get away but she would swat him back down and turned into Bluka the Torturer.  I couldn’t watch the circle of life so I turned and walked away with tears.  I shut the blinds to the sliding door and let nature take its course.  I honestly thought she killed him.

Last night I get home, go to open the sliding door and Holy Hannah there was bird in the tracks of the door.  So I scooped him up again, called April crying and told her that I didn’t have the heart to kill him.  While I was talking to her I decided to name him Feathers.  She later found a wildlife rescue place about 5 miles from my house and I called them, listened to the recording and did what they said.  Grabbed a shoebox, lined it with papertowels and placed him in there.  I kept him safe from Bluka the Torturer and called dad to arrange transportation to the rescue place hoping that he would be nursed back to health and be free to fly again.  I prayed he would make it through the night as he wasn’t opening his eyes and had a gash under his little wing.  But seemed alert and tried to fly away before I put him in the box.

I went to check on him this morning and Feathers has passed away during the night. I cried again, apologized for not doing more to save him the night before.  He will be getting a proper burial and I am going to make him a little cross as well.

Bluka the Torturer and little Feathers

After I had secured Feathers, Bluka proceeded to bring in frogs.  Guess they are not as fun as they froze when she dropped them on the carpet.  My great little hunter/torturer.

 

Mother Natures Humor

I saw this while walking around the house in Arizona. It just needed a white flower at the top (I know, gross.  But funny)

And this was while driving along Route 66

It's like the rocks are flipping the bird

Road Trip

Craig and I took our first road trip together to Arizona to visit his parents.  We left on Friday and came home on Monday.  His parents live off Historic Route 66 and then approximately 5 miles off a dirt road.  It was fantastic.  We stopped at the Hackberry General Store and I went into sensory overload.  It was the coolest little store I had ever seen.  There were old cars everywhere, run down barns, old Burma Shave road signs and gas/oil pumps. 

You could say, this would be a great start for a thriller movie

 

Their house is located in the middle of rocky hills with awesome views.  You can hear the trains in the distance and see Route 66.  Craig I and went hiking around the property a little bit and found some really cool rocks and some dried up cactus that we brought home.  Chuck (Craig’s dad) was giving us a hard time about taking off with his stuff.  I told him we were clearing the property.  We decided to hike up one of the hills and found a few dens from the local wildlife and lots of cow flops.  Apparently they let the cattle roam free.

Taken from the garage at Craig's parents garage
and the hill that we hiked up

 

View from the top of the hill

Saturday we went to the town of Oatman located off Route 66.  It was a very cool little town that had wild Burros hanging around that you can feed.  The babies have stickers on their foreheads telling you to not feed them as they could choke, but the adults were all over the free food from the people.  Saw a wild west gun fight and just walked around checking stuff out. 

 

Sunday we checked out a few used car lots.  But these were not your ordinary used car lot.  Their inventory was the classics that had true hot rod potential.  I wanted to take them all home.  After drooling over the cars, off the winery we went.  I had no idea that wineries existed out there in Arizona as I thought it would get to hot for the grapes, but I was wrong.  They had planted their grapes and have to wait 3 years for the grapes to grow and harvest.  So right now they are having the grapes trucked in from Napa or Pasa Robles.  The wine was pretty good though.

 

 

I wanted to stay longer, but had to come back to work.  Chuck and Lorraine are awesome people and I can’t wait to go back.  It was a much needed break for both Craig and I.  We got to spend more time together and we do make a great traveling pair.  Craig is really motivated this week to go through his stuff and start moving in.  I have to get my butt in gear and start rearranging and condensing stuff to make room for him.  Not that I have much, it’s just spread out and needs to be consolidated or gotten rid of.  So let the moving begin..woo hoo!!

Facebook Post

“This is my friend Sean, he has been bullied in school recently about his looks and his self esteem is just a little low, can we get a few likes to show he's beautiful ? :')”

I saw this post from a friend who shared it from somebody else’s Facebook page. I have not included a picture of the little boy that was posted, but he is your average looking little blonde haired boy.  I got a little upset when I saw this for a number of reasons.  Putting this stuff on Facebook is teaching him that it matters what society thinks about you. When in all reality it does not.  Ultimately it matters what YOU think about you.  Nobody else, especially on Facebook.  AND it’s setting him up for more ridicule from people, because they are just assholes that way.  Afterall, it’s easy to hide behind a computer when tearing people down.  This is not teaching him to stand up for himself. My sisters and I were relentlessly bullied in school.  We were tripped on purpose, I had nose boogers wiped on me and they were ruthless because of our last name.  That is just to name a few.  But we were taught to stick together and stand up for ourselves.  Once we spoke up, they left us alone for a little while.  We were also taught that it doesn’t matter what they think only what we think of ourselves.

Growing up is not easy and kids can be cruel.  We all know that words can tear a person down really easily so those doing it can feel better about themselves.  For this person to put his friend up on Facebook seeking approval from society about how beautiful he is is wrong.  I read some of the comments and they were positive and some had the same message that it doesn’t matter what they think about you, it’s what you think about you.  But they need to teach him to stand up for himself.  Life sucks and will tear you down in heartbeat if you let it.  To turn to society every time your self esteem gets a little low for approval is going to make for a long hard life. 

This is just my opinion.

It Starts

Yard work

Yesterday was the first weekend I have been home in a month.  There was so much yard work to do; I didn’t know where to begin but the front of the house seemed like a great beginning.  Got out all my supplies (clippers, pruners, weed bucket, lawn mower, green waste bin) and off to work I went.  The lawn was the easiest part of my morning.  Just push the lawn mower around and no biggie.  Then attack of the weeds.  The little jerks were taking over my river rocks, pea gravel and flower beds.  After what seemed like forever but in all reality was only a couple hours it was almost done.  I should have taken before and after pictures of my flower bed but ya know. Got to working and forgot about it.  About halfway through my project, Craig came up with some of his stuff so I helped him unload the truck and went back to my weed pulling.  This is great therapy by the way.  The front of the house looks fantastic again.  Flowers are so happy they can breathe, weeds met their death and just to be extra sure I sprayed weed killer on the pea gravel and river rocks to make sure the little jerks don’t come back…well for at least a few months anyways.

After the front yard was done, it was time to move into the back yard. Craig was so nice as to mow the grass/weeds for me and then I started on what I call the dirt patch.  My Butterfly Bush that I planted last year was being choked out by the wildflowers I put in there so they had to come out.  I could have sworn I heard a “Thank you” come from the bush when I was done.  After awhile a break was needed, so Craig and I went off to the nursery and came home with three new plants.  The frogs, spiders and other critters will be so happy since I mostly ripped their little homes out.  I told the critters that we are in the middle of rebuilding the community, had to take the ghetto flowers out.  They were okay with it amazingly enough.

Our first plants together

I can’t wait until they get established.  It’s going to be so pretty.  Still work to do be done in the backyard, but it's almost complete. 

 

First BBQ

I cannot wait for our life together.  We decided the best way to celebrate the new beginning on Saturday was to do an impromptu bbq.  It was a great way to break in the new life ahead of us and his patio set. Just need cushions now.  My nieces would always ask me when I was getting a boyfriend and married. I used to tell them when the right one came along, I wasn’t going to just settle for anybody. Well, here he is manning the bbq and teaching my nieces golf.

Fabio saw Cooper and did what he usually does, hides either in the house or goes to explore his kingdom behind the house.  Bluka wasn’t sure what to do about the dog or all the people, so she hid in my room and only came out to see if the crowd was still there.  She made friends with Doug and Autumn though. 

My nieces were entertained with chalk in the garage.  Here is their fine art work.

 

I see many more of these in the future and cannot wait.  Craig’s friends are excited for him and cannot wait to see his new residence and for some meet the girl that stole his heart.  Craig said we will have to have a house warming this summer.  But we will wait until he’s fully moved in.  I’m going to go throw up now (too much cuteness in this post).

Change is a comin'

Those that know me really well know that it’s a big deal that Craig has lasted more than 3 months.  In past relationships they were being kicked to the curb because there were things that I would not put up with.  Yes, I learned and paid attention from past relationships.  Craig and I are going on 7 months now (holy cow).  We are taking the next big step in our relationship, yes folks he’s moving in.  It’s easy for him since he rents and I own my home.  It’s going to be hard for him though since his life is down in Elk Grove and he’s moving to the foothills.  But he’s willing to do it and we have plans in a few years to buy another home and use the current one as a rental.  For me it’s a major milestone as I have never lived with any boyfriends.  There was a lot of talk, but no action on it.  Yes we still have a lot to learn about each other but I have no apprehensions whatsoever.

Craig is, I believe, who I have been holding out for.  You know when they say “you just know”. Well you do.  I just know that with him everything is okay.  He’s everything that I have wanted in my partner.  I’m not saying he doesn’t have his flaws, I do too, but those flaws don’t bother me.  He’s skilled in many areas (auto, construction), sociable, understands the family bond and doesn’t hold it against me and likes hot rods.  We do our own thing yet can’t wait to do things together.  I’m not one to gush about how great he is, but he is great.  I love him with all my heart and am truly happy.  I am very excited for the future and all it holds.  Both good and bad we are going to be there for each other, the way it should be.

Models

Craig’s Uncle Keith has been working for 20+ years on a model train setup.  They live in a cool Victorian style home and have converted what used to be the basement into one elaborate display.  There are train yards, homes, pastures, lime quarries and even a house of ill repute.  Each town is named after somebody in Craig’s family.  His is Fort Craig and the only one with a beer train car at the station.  Every Friday night his uncle has a bunch of train junkies like him come over and they build models, trees, roads, glue people and cars down and play with the trains. It’s a dying hobby and it’s sad to know that because it’s so neat and they are so passionate about it.