Tiger & Caroline

It was love at first sight!Tiger climbed the cage, stuck out his paw, and let out a blood-curdling, never-ending cry! Even though we only planned to adopt 2 female kittens, Tiger (a male kitty) was meant to be ours.Here is the moment he was given to the littlest joy!Those two, Tiger and Wyatt, are very much alike! They both have a very mischievous twinkle in their beautiful, blue eyes.They both are cunning and creative!And they both are stubborn!I've been known to nickname each of them 'TROUBLE'!And Lord help me, they are! But I can't resist either of them! This is our precious Caroline. She belongs to the oldest joy! And I am amazed at how much alike Caroline and Cameron are as well! I'm beginning to believe that you don't choose your animals, they choose you!

She is timid, kind, and playful. I love to watch her dip her paw in her water bowl.Then she licks the water off her paw. It's so sweet!And she has the most beautiful blue-green eyes. They are the same color as Cameron's.

I stand amazed! Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't like animals at all! Yet I now find myself completely in love with these sweet kitties!

Cause & Effect (*warning: creepy snake photos*)

Several weeks ago, Superman came face to face with kryptonite. He walked into his shed, turned on the light, and from the corner of his eye, noticed a line of black where it shouldn't have been. He turned around to find a snake curled around the door knob to the shed- it's body stretched across the window of the door. The same door he had just walk through in the dark.Here's a photo of him headed back out to the shed with a pellet gun.Knowing he'd protect me, I grabbed the camera and followed him outside to get a picture.
(Risking life and limb for blog-worthy stories.)
Too bad I don't have a video, or you'd be able to hear me screaming bloody-murder when I looked thru the lens and saw the snake. Zooming in made the snake a little too close for comfort!

But the good news is, that because of this:My oldest joy now has this:And because of this:My littlest joy now has this:I've taken a million pictures that I'll be back to share with you this week.

But for now, here are a couple more cute ones of the wee, little natural-born snake deterrents!

My Garden is Calling

The last few weeks I've scoured the seed racks in search of 'just' what I wanted to plant. And my wonderful Superman set about planting the seeds. Then he surprised me one day when he pulled into the local plant nursery and asked me to pick out a flat of herbs.It has left me wondering who on Earth is this man? And what did he do with my Superman? Because, you see, Superman does not like to work out in the yard. He's outside all day with his job, so sweating in the sun is not his idea of relaxation.Yet he and the littlest joy have disappeared to the backyard more times than I can count, only for me to find them planting surprises like yummy, scented Lemon Balm.And Basil and Oregano for my summer canning recipes.They were also careful to plant the plethora of Dill away from the other herbs. At the nursery we learned that Dill can leach yucky stuff into your soil, and the other herbs will absorb it if they are planted in the same container.

Somewhere is my Rosemary they planted, but I can't seem to find a photo?!?!

And then there is George...George is the littlest joy's tomato plant. He has a thing for naming inanimate objects. He also likes to make said inanimate objects feel special, thus George's decorative whirly-gig!Because we all know that happy plants produce better crops, I'm inclined to believe that the whirly-gig-adorned George is going to produce lots and lots of tomatoes this summer! That is, if the littlest joy doesn't drown him first! The littlest joys has also been busy planting pumpkin seeds, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and chives for the garden, too. The oldest joy has spent his time playing Lego Star Wars and trying to break Superman's records on the Wii Fit. Little does he know that this too shall pass! His days in the air conditioning are numbered! In between planting every seed he can get his hands on, the littlest joy has taken a few breaks to practice shooting. (Paw Paw, these photos are just for you... your namesake seems to share your obsession with things that go 'bang'!) Tin cans BEWARE!!!In between planting, watering, and shooting, the littlest joy also found a way to involve power tools...It seems that there were a few pots that needed drainage holes. There were also a few areas of grass that needed holes drilled into them as well. Because it would help the rain water drain into the ground, too! Right?

(Two more pictures and I'm done! I promise!)

Here's the crop we're all anxiously awaiting in the fall. And if you're a family member, the littlest joy is already planning on bring you your very own, "Wyatt's Wonder" Pumpkin. When I stumbled upon the seed packet in Target, I just had to bring them home. Now if only I could find a variety of some seed with Cameron's name!Soon I'll post pictures of the miracle Superman has worked on the pond. But for now, here's a photo of some of the pond life. Wyatt's not home to verify for me which frog this is, but it's either Smally or Slim-Jim! And FYI, he's unfortunately NOT inanimate!