Still on probation

Bailey's six month probation period is up in September, but I may have to extend it to a year. 

You know how some pets  employees start out strong, working hard and trying to impress their new owners employers?  And you think "I am so lucky to have found that pet employee!

Baiey stalking her prey

And then you see signs that they aren't getting the job done...

You know, signs like when you walk outside to put meat on the grill, and then turn back around to go back into the house and you hear CRUNCH under your feet... and you look down and there is a mouse flailing because you stepped on it.  How I wished I had been wearing tennis shoes, rather than sandals - but at least I wasn't barefoot!  What if that mouse had crawled across my foot.  Yikes!  Once I finished screaming and shaking, I looked for the lazy cat employee who didn't do her job.

Bailey lounging in a rocking chair

Just as I feared, she had become complacent - and didn't even care that I knew it!

Bailey sleeping in the rocking chair

Sleeping on the job is a firing offense - don't you think?

I think I'll give her one more chance.  She does provide me with a lot of love and who knows how many little critters would be running around my porch if she wasn't around.  Bailey's a keeper after all.  But please... no more mice!

Bailey

No, I did not take a picture of the dead mouse.  And yes, Jim had to get rid of it for me.   Yuck!

6:15 am - Woke up, big stretch, got up to pee and brush teeth
6:17 am - Curled  back up in bed
6:47 am - Crawled Jumped back out of bed to face the day
6:48 am - Grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on morning news
6:55 am - Kissed hubby goodby as he headed to work
7:15 am - Turned off news (ugh) - do I really care about Arnold, Newt, and that dude from France?, grabbed anothed cuppa coffee and bowl of cereal and check email.
7:22 - Done with emails (where did all my friends go?!?)  Started writing this blog
7:26 - Blog time!
8:15 - Grabbed another cuppa and started chores... made bed, put out a load of laundry (how can two people dirty so many clothes...), unloaded dishwasher (how again...), fed cat, looked at dog who Jim already fed, filled the bird feeders, put first load of laundry into drier and put another load (again, how...)
9:00 - Grabbed another cuppa in a clean cup because the previous one is sitting cold somewhere in the house and continued with blogs.  If anyone tries to tell you that blogs are not time consuming, they are kidding themselves!  But I love them.
9:30 - Phone call with Julie
9:45 - Fold clothes, put out another load (again, how...)
10:00 - Heading out to mow grass.  This is a biggie for me because Jim is at work.  He usually gets the mower going for me.  Cross your fingers!
11:30 - Time for a water and left over fried chicken (compliments of WalMart) break.  Turned drier back on to fluff clothes because I was outside too long (come on, admit it - you do that too!  Don't you?)  Mower started right off!  Five sections done.  I think everyone has a different method of mowing.  Since we have so many trees and "areas", I tend to section my mowing off by trees or terrain.
12:00 - Got sidetracked by my Nook - reading John Grisham's "The Confession"
12:20 - Sister called
12:30 - Returned to mowing
1:15 - Another break.  Took bird pictures and posted them on my blog.
1:45 - Returned to mowing
4:15 - After numerous breaks, I'm DONE!  Jim came home around 3:00 and helped finish
4:30 - Jim discovers our 21 year old cat, Shelby, curled up in a pile of leaves, close to death.  We've made her comfortable and hope she is not in pain.  She's lived a good life.  It is going to be hard to let her go - and that is all I plan to say on the subject.  Can't dwell on it.
4:45 - Heading for a much needed shower!
5:15 - Margarita time
5:45 - News
6:15 - Supper of chicken and rice casserole
7:00 - Television and then bed
I am soooo damn tired!

I think I missed a load of laundry somewhere... Pretty sure I missed a few potty breaks too.

Hope everyone had a great.  They are calling for rain for the next countless days.  Am glad the grass is mowed!

Can you?

Here it is another weekend.  A beautiful, busy one.  Will get back on the blogs soon!

Can you touch your nose with your tongue like our talented Bailey here?  Shoot, I can't even roll mine!



Talented Bailey



Cherry Blossom Time



The dance

When we introduced Bailey into our life, we were a bit concerned about how our 9 lb Demon Dog would get along with this who knows how many pound cat (20? 30?)… I just know when I pick him up, he is heavy!
The two warily dance around each other, usually keeping a bush or something between the two of them.  I don’t believe there is any chance they will be best of buds, but they have learned to respect each other.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the human race could learn to do the same?


Bailey made himself right at home.  He sleeps on his own personal cushion on my rocking chair.  Now that Spring is finally here, he has even learned to share that chair with me when I take time to front porch sit.  We love Bailey.

We wanted a big ol’ tom cat that would lay around on the porch and do a little hunting in his spare time - and that is what we got.  He is perfect in every way.

And Whiskey?  He is doing fine.  He cautiously sniffs the air before he heads out to do his thing.  Don’t you just love the tough guy stance he takes?  Yep.  We love our Demon Dog too.
 

New Kit in Town

We have welcomed a new addition to our family.  Introducing Bailey!

  

Isn’t he beautiful?

My hair-dooder, Alicia, knew I was looking for a mature cat (kittens don’t survive well in these woods).  So when her friend, Meg, mentioned she had to get rid of her cats, she hooked us up.

The moment we let Bailey out of his cage, he took off.  The next morning we could tell he had slept in his box on the porch, but he was nowhere to be found.  It turns out he was hiding under the grill cover.  Smart cat.
He and Whiskey are still trying to figure things out.  Since Bailey outweighs Whiskey by at least 20 lbs and has claws… well, let’s just say that Whiskey has already learned to quit sniffing Bailey’s butt.