To all the June babies I know

They say April is the cruelest month, but June is for me. Ever since I've been working at my current place of employment (over 18 years now!) I'm waist deep in preparations for our July Board meeting. I eat, sleep, and drink my job from mid-May until the end of July. That is in a typical year. This year, we've lost some very valuable people and my boss has taken up the slack. In turn, I've been given a lot more work on top of my already crazy schedule. I told a co-worker today that I'm just totally burned out.


So, I need to apologize to all my peeps who are born in June. I always am late or totally forget to acknowledge your birthdays--my sister and brother-in-law, my good friends J & P, and my great pal and sometimes blogging buddy, Cat59.


I hope you will accept this small virtual token birthday present:



The very first handfull of blueberries from my very own Butterball blueberry bush! Now, remember, I did say virtual, because...well...I threw these little puppies into a container of vanilla yogurt and ate them this morning. They were butterballisious!


Not to worry though, there are still many more blueberries on their way to ripening.


Happy Birthday all you Geminis out there!!

Eine Kleine Elefantmusik*

(*with apologies to Mozart)

With all the craziness going on in the world at large and in our own little worlds, I thought I'd lighten things up with a couple of videos courtesy of the Elephant Sanctuary. No, the elephants aren't making the music, but there is great music that accompanies each one.

The first shows that The Elephant Sanctuary is not just a sanctuary for elephants. In the rural Tennessee town where the sanctuary is located, there is an area close by that is a known "dumping grounds" for people who no longer want their cats or dogs. The Elephant Sanctuary will find a stray and take them in, getting them--up to date on their shots, neutered or spayed, dewormed and defleaed and then gives them sanctuary on their grounds. (In the past few months the sanctuary staff has worked with Lewis County in an advisory capacity to find a solution to the ongoing problem of stray animals.) Enjoy! I especially like the Spike Jones music.

The second video just makes my heart sing. It shows the elephants just having fun. Remember that the vast majority of these elephants have been taken from cruel and abusive situations. Some were kept chained in a windowless barn for months at a time. To see them frolicking and being able to come and go as they please, pleases me to no end. And who doesn't love a good Desi Arnaz song to go with it?

Wild Kingdom (Takoma Park style)

Sorry yet again for the long delay in posts. With me being up to my eyeballs in paper at work and staring at a computer screen all day long, the most I’ve been able to do at night is read a few blogs and leave even fewer comments. On top of that the heat and humidity of the summer has arrived in full force for the weekend. Temps in the mid to upper 90s and high humidity. I just find myself very depressed during this kind of weather and if I’m not working, don’t feel like doing much of anything.

Hmmm, I wasn’t expecting that to come out so negative considering I have a cute wildlife video for your perusal! You have met Willy Mo, one of the many raccoons who come by the Possumlady Outdoor Cafe, now meet…..Little Mo. Little Mo is new to my wildlife menagerie. I have three other possums that come around—Daisy, Simon, and Twinkle Toes. Little Mo started appearing around March. Hope you’re not bored with the video as it is over a minute of just watching him eat, but he is just so cute! I don’t understand people who think possums are ugly. They are so timid too and do no damage around the house and help eat up insects and grubs. Though I think my possums probably think they’re a little too high class for that now after gorging on expensive Science Diet cat kibble, along with the occasional grape for dessert.

The video was taken around 8:00 one evening when I was surprised to see him out in the daylight. But 8:00 is his usual feeding time, in darkness or daylight. You will see him scoot into a cat shelter my neighbor brought over. The cats will go into it if it starts storming out, but it really has been taken over by the possums at night. I don’t know where they go during the day as I’ve opened it up on several occasions during the day and no possums.






Speaking of storms, we had a hellish one on Wednesday afternoon. Tornados were spotted around the DC area (which is very rare). The wife of my boss called to say that a huge neighbor’s tree had fallen on her car and crushed it and also damaged my boss’s house. He lives in Takoma Park too so I was quick on the phone to my neighbor and luckily there was no damage to my house or the block.

I’m writing this on a late lunch break as I know I’ll be too tired when I get home to post anything. Wish me luck though! I’ll be turning on the AC for the first time this season when I get home and fingers crossed, I hope it works!!





Update: Well, I'm finally posting this on Saturday morning. The AC works!! Woke up and wasn't even able to open the windows for a bit this morning as outside is already unbearably humid and sticky--yuk! The inside cats are not happy. Their usual perch in the windowsill is no more until the heatwave breaks late next week. Who ARE all these people that crave summer!! Do you LIKE sweating and having no energy? I just don't get it.

Sweet Pea trying to cool his ample stomach on the kitchen floor. Hmmm, maybe I should give that a try!!

Stay cool everyone!

Bleuberricous Butterballous

A few years ago I bought two small blueberry bushes. Before I bought them I looked up blueberry bushes and found they have pretty spring flowers, then blueberries (for the birds), then beautiful red leaves in fall. You needed to get two different species of blueberries for best results. I planted them and they never really took off--pretty spindly and few berries. Then, one died. I've kept the one lone bush but it was clearly lonely and not doing well. It did produce blueberries but only one little cluster of about 6 or 8 berries a year that the mockingbirds got always a few days before they were ripe.

In April, my friend and neighbor Stephanie surprised me with a blueberry bush in honor of Butterball. I have yet to plant it but I put it right next to my lone blueberry bush and exciting things started to happen! Bees were coming by and I watched as they would fly between the two bushes pollinating each one. My one lonely little bush produced many more leaves and flowers. Here, take a look for yourself...

I know it still looks spindly but it has at least 7 clusters of berries. Maybe I might even get to taste a few this year before the catbirds and mockingbirds get them all. I've named this plant Sunkist.

Here's my new plant, Butterball.

It has been two months on Saturday since Butterball left me. I've been under so much stress at work lately and this time of year the yard is growing out of control. It ain't easy being a single homeowner with a good-sized yard. I really think the reason I've not been able to shake this stress is that my main man is no longer around to calm me down. The rest of the cats, God bless 'em, can be a constant source of stress with all their allergies and issues with one another. I told a co-worker that as much as I love my other cats, it is always like they are saying "Feed me, play with me, love me, leave me alone, let me out, let me back in, would it hurt you to clean the litterbox?" With Butterball it was as if he would look at me and say "What's wrong mom, you look a little stressed. What can I do for you?" Oh, I still miss him something awful.

Butterball and Apu just hangin out

Meet Willy Mo

All right, I know I should be chasing these guys away and I usually do, but this guy was just too cute. I almost didn't post this video because of my geeky background talking but hey, that's me. I talk that way to all the animals here, the cats, raccoons, possums, birds, tent caterpillars, etc.

My friends Paul and Joy treated me to a Washington Nationals game a few weeks ago (in their new fancy schmancy stadium I might add). I was telling them when the time came to get another cat I had to think of a good name. We started going through the names of the Nationals. Joy wanted me to name it "Lastings". There is a Nats player with the first name of Lastings! What kind of a name is that? My favorite was Willy Mo! Now that's a name. And, since I won't be getting a new cat anytime soon, I decided to name this little visitor Willy Mo.

Flower Mart and a Shout Out!

I just realized I'm going to talk about a flower mart without any photos of flowers! Oh well.

One of the jewels of Washington, DC is the National Cathedral. Make sure the next time you visit to put the Cathedral on your list. It is an Episcopalian church with its own parish community but the community shares it with the nation as it is named the Nation's Cathedral. I LOVE this church and its surrounding gardens. This Church is a uniter in every sense of the word. They bring in wonderful speakers such as Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.

Most former Presidents have their funeral service here as well as services for major events like right after 9/11.

There is a wonderful little book that was published years ago called "A Soul in Balance: The Gardens of Washington National Cathedral." The introduction states that early designers and supporters of the Cathedral "foresaw the creation of gardens suitable for a fourteenth century Gothic cathedral: ancient, walled gardens appealing to the five senses, filled with plants of historic interest, plants of biblical myth and legend, and native plants. Tranquil, permanent, and timeless; hallowed yet real, set in the midst of a bustling capital city."

Every spring the guardians of the Cathedral gardens, the All Hallows Guild, put on a Flower Mart festival to raise funds for the upkeep of the Cathedral close. The Cathedral is a quick ten minute drive from my house, so my sister and I have made it a tradition to attend almost every year for close to 10 years.

The festival is always on a Friday and Saturday. We have always gone on Saturday and, while fun, it is extremely crowded. This year with my sister recently retired I decided to take the day off and go on Friday. The crowds weren't nearly as bad. They have plant and herbs for sale as well as wonderful crafts and delicious food.

Every year the festival showcases a different country. This year was South Africa

As soon as I saw this group dancing I thought they were performing a Zulu dance.

And I was right! Sometimes I amaze myself!

It got up to the mid-80s on Friday so my sister and I were quite hot when we returned home. I had told her about my latest discovery--Edy's Coconut Creme fruit bars. If you love coconut, these are heaven.

They're even "Woody approved"!

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Now onto the Shout-out! I just need to publicly state how much I love and appreciate cartoonist Patrick McDonnell. He created the comic strip "Mutts" about the adventures of a dog, "Earl" and a cat "Mooch". The comic strip is a delight. I even named one of my strays Moochie. But the thing I admire most about Patrick McDonnell is his commitment to the environment, animal welfare, and especially the plight of shelter animals. Every year he devotes a few weeks to telling shelter stories. Now, I don't know if I will get in trouble for copying this cartoon here, but I just wanted to share it with those who may not get his comic in your paper...

A few years ago he was on a discussion chat sponsored by The Washington Post. I wrote in telling him how much I appreciated his work and asked him if he could write about the plight of older animals that always seem to get overlooked at shelters. He wrote back thanking me for my volunteer work and said he would definitely work different animals into his shelter stories. And, he was true to his word...

I could not have said it better myself.

Why It's a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird

“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." -- Miss Maudie in the original book; Atticus Finch in the movie version of “To Kill A Mockingbird”

Yesterday was the day I was determined to work in my yard. It was sunny and in the 80s (already too warm for my taste!). But, I didn't let the warm weather sway me and started pulling bramble and vines from my side yard. All the while being serenaded by Marcel the Mockingbird. He literally sang for hours sitting in the bramble. After about a half hour I thought, "I need to get this song recorded" and ran to get my camera. (Yet another excuse to stop the yard work ;-). It's not pretty to look at and you really can't see Marcel but he is in the gray bramble in the lower center of the video. But, oh listen to him sing! The video is over a minute and towards the end I especially like his robin and jay impersonation.





He just went on and on and on. I sure hope he finds a mate.

When I first moved into my house (it will be ten years on April 25!), the yard was just an overgrown jungle. But, before I moved in I saw a few daffodils and one lone red tulip trying to peek out from all the overgrown vines. After that first year the tulip never bloomed again. The leaves would come out and I would get my hopes up, but no flower. Last week as I was walking down the steps of my front porch something caught my eye

Here's hoping it's a sign of better times ahead.

Possumlady Place is still trying to find a new rhythm to its household without the big personalities of Butterball and Sunkist. All the other cats have done their best to help fill the void. It will just take time.

Oh, I almost forgot. Let me show you my latest purchase! Years ago I had heard that the Isle of Man had a Manx coin. I always thought to myself that one of these days I needed to get myself one. About a week after Butterball's death I went online to research it. Apparently, in 1988 the Isle of Man started a series of cat coins that goes on to this day. Every year they come out with a one crown coin with a different purebred cat. It has been wildly popular. Of course, to start out the series they had the Manx cat as their first. This is what arrived in the mail yesterday

I was SO excited to get it. And look! The cat is a rumpy riser just like Butterball. I've put it next to Butterball's remains in a place of prominence in my living room

Don't you love the little cat stones! My sister Michele gave them to me when I first adopted Butterball and Apu.

Ahh, today is more my cup of tea. A soft rain outside with temps in the upper 50s. Great cleaning up the house weather.

Have a great week everyone.