My (perhaps controversial) thoughts as a "newbie" to CA.

labscientistmom, Sophia's bee-you--ti-ful! Dig the play toy. Her markings are fantastic...her fur looks so soft...and I love her curling tail!

Yes, the leash can get snagged....loved to see Mr Tibbie dragging his around.....was so funny! t

Molly50--Awwwwwwww.....look at how sweetly they're sleeping together.....sometimes I wish I had another kitty....to play with Miss P etc. But my little apartment is only big enough for the three of us: me, Miss Panty, and her fur!

Hi DisneyGirl16--

I haven't heard anything from State Farm..the gal who came and took pictures said it would take about 5 days for things to get processed....am crossing my fingers I don't hear anything.....that SF puts the ka-bosh (sp?) (don't know what this means or if it's even a word but love the SOUND of it!) on things....thing is, the police didn't make a report...I think she said they were called but no report (but if the person who hit this gal did run a red light and hit her wouldn't that--because it's a violation--have necessitated at least the issuance of a ticket to the driver? And if this gal did suffer some personal injury--maybe that came to light after the accident--again, wouldn't that plus the red-light-run have caused at least some police involvement? There are so many questions..... the whole scenario is so bizarre.....

t

(ps. How are you liking your Tumbling Block?)

P.S. A little addendum to add to the car saga: Today I spoke to Carrie, the gal handling this "claim"--and I really mean those quote marks--and she said that the woman I allegedly T-boned or that T-boned me (don't know which) said I was inebriated.

Of course!

It can be no less!

Carrie feels they have no case.

Right:

no evidence!

Molly50-- Hah-Hah! Exactly---so THAT'S why that whole day is a blank! I even have it marked on my calendar:

May 30: "Day shot--complete blank! Forgot everything that happened! Forgot the booze, the red light, the T-bone, the police, the repair shop!"

Lori and JBeans---Between bees and kitties and Zanky and raccoons--we have ourselves a menagerie!

That's so good to hear, Lori, that you had more bees in your peaches--and can't understand why no pears or apples! What goes???

One day Pantaloon let me make the bed with her in it. She was on the new sheet and just let me over-lay the top sheet and the blankets--it was winter--including the electric blanket...it was so funny...I was just wanting to see how far she'd let me go--and she let me do the whole thing without moving. I had to lift things and eventually get her out. She's such a rascal.

Here she is in her favorite spot, my now-rotting shorts.....and those big ole paws with their claws held on tight...

ChiSandy-- You're making me hungry talking about all those goodies erupting in your world! Wow....

I know the feeling of that favored tomato that goes plop! and ends up bitten on the ground....

Remember ads on TV selling those upside-down tomato planting devices? Aren't they in bags and the vines come out of holes--or am I thinking of a nightmare I had last week?

I remember standing in my uncle's field eating tomatoes right off the vine--hot and sweet! What a treat.

The other day I bought a hothouse tomato at Safeway--a good-sized one to cut and slap onto a bun with some Hellman's--and it was over $2.00! For one tomato!

We finally had a garden out in our field--my dad even got asparagus going!--but early on it was my uncle who was the garden champion. Almost every week he'd cross the road and set down paper bags full of corn and tomatoes and squash....Sometimes after one of these treats came our way my parents would load us into the car and we'd go off to a creek off the Severn where a family named Haas caught and sold hard crabs. We'd get a bushel and come home and my father netted and tonged the crabs into the steam pot (I never liked watching this too closely....) (once a crab eluded his net and tongs and took off for the woods....poor thing didn't stand a chance out there but did at least have a fleeting glimpse of illusory freedom and safety...)

While the crabs steamed and the corn cooked, we'd open newspaper on the kitchen table while mom sliced those big fat tomatoes and filled glasses with iced tea...

We didn't have air conditioning but I think even if my parents could have afforded it they would have said "No." We loved the windows being wide open and gentle fans running (the exhaust fan in the attic blasting away like a hurricane--although downstairs you couldn't hear it, thank God) and the smell of new-cut-gras wafting in the windows as we cracked crabs and picked out the meat, smiling at each other with our eyes, our teeth too full of crab to smile the regular way! It was messy and smelly and wonderful and when it was over it was just a matter of scooping up the mess in those newspapers and stuffing the whole thing in the trash cans....

I remember my aunt making garden lima beans, cooked til they were nice and soft...my aunt added milk and pepper and somehow--didn't watch what she was doing--made it creamy...sounds weird but it was so good!

JBeans--Tell me, are you planning on having honey? ( I would imagine so--dumb question, Trill). How does that work--when will you see honey, etc? And pass on an apology to Zaky that I misspelled his name.....

t

MelissaDallas--I love your story of your cats rolling tomatoes off the counter...I've never heard of a dog loving tomatoes--that's a new one.

Speaking of summer delectables, we used to pick poke salad out in the woods and mom would cook it like spinach...I loved it and ate not just mine but my brothers' helpings--they weren't such keen fans (I only recall my older brother eating one thing and that was tuna fish sandwiches.....and maybe now and then when the tuna ran out just plain mayonnaise sandwiches...). This would "make" dinner for me but I'd pay the price with a couple of bouts of diarrhea (Mom would warn when she saw me sneaking forkfuls off my brothers' plates, "Hon,that's going to go right through you..." And it did).

I loved shelling peas.....

MelissaDallas--

What's SDA? I'm acronym challenged!

Your funny tale of the bread hauler reminded me of my first cat, a Maine Coon I named Doggie. He was an outdoor-indoor cat and to keep some kind of track of him I took a metal milk jug cap and punched a hole in it and put it on his collar, so it made this loud clunk-clunk sound as he walked. One day I heard the distinctive clunk-clunk. It was a delightful summer early evening and I had the front door open. The house had about a dozen wide front steps and his clunking had a pattern to it--something was hitting each step, a rhythmic thud-thud-thud. In a minute or so here came Doggie, lugging this paper bag, which he dragged into the living room and plunked down in front of me. Inside was an empty amber fifth of whiskey bottle...

I asked my vet one day what was going on with Doggie bringing me things and he said, well, this is what they do--go out and hunt for prey and bring it back to the tribe.

After that whenever Doggie did this I'd make a big deal out of appreciating and thanking and ooo-ing and aaah-ing over his gift...

Wow...baby bunnies..that would have been something else...and unhurt! What a cat!!

That must have been hairy...I mean furry...so clever of you to suss it out and then lock the boy up....