thanks thanks thanks

My blog consultant and helper came to my rescue and gave me a new look to my blog. It is me. Plain and simple. Thanks so much daughter.

Also I now have a digital camera and hopefully will learn to use it soon and can actually document some of my country adventures.

still another tail to tell

Soooo, obviously possums travel with company. One medium possum has been evicted from the premises.

Next night, water dispenser again scattered here and yon. How rude.
Hmmm could it be. Yes, it seems we have more than one culprit.

So out goes the trusty trap and walla, we now have a rather biiiig possum on the front porch.

Have you ever seen one of these things up close other than bumps or smears on the road? They are really uggggllllyyyy. At least it wasn't a skunk.

By the way, who says animals don't have a sense of humor or a vengeful streak. Fluffy the cat comes prancing up on the porch this morning and walks around the cage as if to flaunt the fact that she is free and said possum who has been bullying and making messes on her turf is now in a small cage awaiting his fate. I kept waiting for her to stick her tongue out at him but i guess she is too much of a lady.

Now where is my very brave and helpful dispencer of the critters?
Yep, gone fishing and said possum is left to wait out his sentence of expulsion.

Still no sympathy on my part.

Living in the country can be entertaining.

Hummm

from the looks of things, I guess I need to get my blog decorator to come and redo my blog. I love talented family. If you don't have talent, mooch off of those who do. Works for me.

newest critter episode

Ok, first it was horses running down my driveway, then it was raccoons on the back porch, then it was skunks under the house, what next?
So you think possums are really stupid timid little creatures that go around becoming road kill right?
Well the ones we get are nasty little buggers that come out after dark and eat the cats food if you make the mistake of leaving it out. They turn over the water dispenser and scatter the parts here and yon. They dig holes all over the yard and flower beds.
To top it off, one had the nerve to climb up on the porch and when I went to see what was scaring my cats it beared its teeth and hissed at me.
That did it. I went for my gun. Yeah my great big powerful b b gun. By the time I found the gun and got it cocked and ready to give that hissy little bugger a good what for, it took off. Good thing too, I might have acctually hit it.
Sooo I called in the reenforcements. I borrowed a trap from my very sweet and accommidating son-in-law and my very helpful husband set it out.
Of course the first thing we caught was one of my cats. Sigh. I figure since they are supposed to be smarter than possums it would only happen once and then they would learn to leave it alone.
So sure enough the next morning we have one very unhappy possum. Like I really cared it was unhappy. Did it care that it made me unhappy digging all over the place and moving in on my cats turf?
Sooo, sweet hubby hauls it off to the wild woods far far away. His reward, a Hardee's biscuit for his hard work and heroic efforts.
Peace is restored until the next critter comes along. So until next time.....

ten things

1. I have been blessed with a wonderful heritage and have done a pretty good job of living up to the examples set my grandmother and mother.
2. I love my husband unconditionally and am so blessed that he loves me.
3. I love gardening and working in the yard and have done some good things around my yard that I am proud of.
4. I hate housework. When I was growing up things were made to feel more important than people at times. I let my kids sit on the furniture, our house was lived in, I tried to spend more time with my kids than cleaning house.
5. I love to read and have learned about some cool books from my kids and grandkids. I have been blessed by good books and enjoy sharing with my grandkids.
6. I am a good person. Not a perfect one but a good one. I like myself. I try not to take myself too seriously and can enjoy life.
7. I like to quilt and will actually make one now and then just to prove that I can and am not just collecting fabric.
8. I am a good mother-in-law. I had a great example in my husband's mother. She has always been good to me. Of course it helps when you have great daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. Not sure why I have been blessed with such great people in my life but am so glad that I am.
9. I am a good Granny. Again, not perfect but good. I have every size, age, personality and temperment of grandchild there is and they are all great.
10. I am a good mother. I (with the help of a good man) raised some great individuals. I made lots of mistakes but I also did alot of good things. I am proud of how they have all turned out. They are making good choices, doing their share of dumb things but nothing worse than what I did growing up, raising some darn good kids, are hard workers, and still associate with me so I must have done more good than bad. I love each of them and wouldn't have wanted to be anything else than just their Mom.

Wonderful mothers

The purpose of the previous post was not to knock moms. It was to point out that mothers in nature raise some great offspring.

We human moms do the same and yet tend to beat themselves up over everything.

A great mom is one who does the best she can under whatever circumstances are hers.

A great kid is one who does likewise.

No mom is perfect and no child is perfect. They each come with faults and talents and struggle to do the best with what they each have.

It must make Heavenly Father a little sad when His wonderful daughters are working so hard and doing such a great job at what He gave them to do and yet they seem to only see what is perceived and perpetuated by the world as their or their offspring's supposed failures or mistakes.

We should celebrate. We need to find the joy in ourselves and our offspring. Look at all of the great people walking the earth becasue of truly great mothers. You moms are doing wonderful things.

I would love to see truly great moms toot their own horns once in awhile and relish their successes and those of their offspring.
You turned out great and so will your offspring.

Motherhood is great!!!!!!! Here's to all of you wonderful, truly great moms and your equally wonderful offspring.

I challenge any mom out there to post at least ten of their successes and those of their offspring.

mothers in nature

There is alot to be learned from nature. Mothers in nature don't worry and lose sleep over whether their offspring are going to make it or if they are being a good enough mother.
They protect their young when they are very small and gradually let them explore the world, letting them get hurt and learn and even cuff them when they step over the line of authority. Are these bad mothers? I don't think so. These mothers know by instinct that young have to experience the tough things to become strong to survive. Young of all species want things easy but it isn't what is best for them.
More and more as their young grow, mothers in nature back off and even push their young from the nest or den to make them see that in fact they can make it.
Then those mothers get on with life and low and behold, their young survive and go on to succeed.
Those moms succeed because they don't over protect, over think and do for their young what they can do for themselves. These mothers do what God intended for them to do.
Heavenly Father doesn't hang on to his children. He lets them go. He wouldn't allow Lucifer to control and micro manage the lives of His children.
God trusts in His children, He believes in the abilities that He has given them. He allows them to get hurt, to make mistakes, but shows love and confidence in their abilities thereby building THEIR confidence in THEMSELVES.
We can learn alot from mothers in nature and in the instincts that God gave them in raising their young.