The Kitty Tree

I went to Costco today and look what I bought. It's an early Christmas for my kitties.

Redfish Saturday Night

Papa was nice enough to give us a big bag of redfish and frogs legs, which means another excuse to have company for dinner! The cooking was easy it was the cleaning the house that was such a pain. We feasted on good food and wine. Debbie and Russ brought a wine aerator which I am blaming for my over indulgence!

The meal included grilled redfish (thank you you-tube for the how-to video), fried frogs legs, white and wild rice mix, mashed cauliflower, and green beans almondine. Dessert included apple dumplings (thanks to Michelle) and bread pudding with rum sauce. After dinner it was the SEC and the Big 12 football. Next year it will have to be our LSU tigers in the finals (we hope) which would make watching football worth while!

Thanksgiving with the Family

Well a week has gone by since Thanksgiving day weekend. Woody and I enjoyed having a house full of company. Nina and her crew came down from Knoxville and JP and his crew came over from Monroe La.

Papa made the trip only a week and a half after having a heart attack to cook a scrumtious meal. John and Michelle along with their former neighbor Jackie joined in the fun along with my BFF Cecelia.

The meal was excellent. I set up a serving line so that we wouldn't have to pass plates but dig in as soon as we sat down at the table.


I'm really glad that Papa made the ride to Atlanta. I think this holiday will go down in the memory book as one of the best!



We had fun with group activities that included the family picture,



A trip to Stone Mountain Park for Hiking. I think the crew was not expecting the hike up, but this is my all time favorite walk with the dog. Andy came to lead the way!


The nephews!

Golf at Paragon Driving Range with the automatic ball feeder. This is truly lazy man's golf.

But the best part was just lounging around and hugging the dog.

Too many good moments but we had a lot of fun with Nina's dogs. Woody loved playing with her Labrador Jazz. (see video).

Fun with Cole and Frannie!

It's been a month since I sat down and put a few words on my blog. I've been busy with work and more work. Day light savings time has come and now it gets dark by 5:30. I'm walking my dogs with my reflector vest on...how nerdy. Woody and I sure could use a diversion so how fortunate for Woody and I that Woody's childhood friend Cole and his wife Frannie, decided to spend Cole's birthday in Atlanta with us. After so many years apart it's nice to say they looked great and we all clicked like it was yesterday that we were double dating in Baton Rouge.


I was kind of funny that two guys that haven't had much contact over the past 15 years picked up just where they left off. They even dressed alike, just like identical twins!(This was not planned.) On Friday night we spent the evening having dinner at Wisteria. We had a really nice time reminiscing over good food and great wine. Then we were off to Phipps Plaza to walk around and maybe have a drink at the same restaurant were Woody and I saw Jane Seymour. We never made it there, after walking around Nordstroms we headed for the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Peachtree Rd. Cole had a few book suggestions and it didn't take much to get us to buy more books.


Saturday Cole and Frannie came to our house and then we went to the High Museum to see the Di Vinci exhibit. Most of the work on display were ink drawings on loan from her Majesty Elizabeth II. Needless to say it's good to be the queen. I think in the end we were all a little disappointed. I guess we expected more art and less pen and ink. From there we were off to the Atlanta Zoo to see my two all time favorite reasons to pay the admission. The Panda's and the Budgie house.

I really have to stop going to the budgie house because it only makes me want another budgie. This guy's name is Zero, because he zeros in on people for the treats you can buy. He was so funny. not only would he perch, but he gave kisses too.

Saturday night we went to see Cavalia. It's one of the troupes from Cirque de Soleil that used horse and acrobats. I thought the show was great, but I don't think Woody was impressed. You have to know something about horses to have an appreciation for the amount to training that was involved, even for the simplest of tricks.

We ended our weekend with a trip to the Buckhead Church. Andy Stanley wasn't there but the sermon was great and as always the music was excellent. We had a great weekend and I'm sure old friendships will endure and thrive in the future.

A Day at the Zoo

Lisa came for a visit this weekend and she and I took a trip to the Atlanta Zoo. I love going to the Zoo and as my own home is somewhat zooish, I fit right in, in this locale. I've wanted to go all summer long as they have opened a new Budgie house. This was without a doubt the best exhibit. Now Panda's are great, but come on .....Budgies? Can it get any better.



Seeing all those budgies flying overhead made me want one of my own again, but this time I can control the urge. I gave away all my bird supplies along with Stinky and Big. I do miss them allot. We had a good day, after the zoo we went to Ikea and had lunch. While it was a brief visit it was really, really nice.

The Flood of 2009

Well it's raining down in Georgia. I'm always game for a day off from school but not if it means more work for me. We've had over 12 inches of raining since last Wednesday and Sunday night was a killer. There was so much water coming down that our house that sits on a hill flooded from drain run off. Ms. Ray's pond down the street overflowed it's banks and destroyed her Japanese garden. This after so many years of drought. At one point the pond was so dry all of her fish were laying dead on the bottom of a dried out pond bed.

So yesterday I check out our little half basement and sure enough we had water. Not much but enough to have molded the furniture so everything has to go in the garbage. I'm hoping the chairs can dry out but with more rain in the coming days I think they're destine for the trash heap. With my little bit of water in the basement I feel I need a plan, so off to Home Depot I go. too late, the rest of Atlanta had already been there. I did manage to get a squeegee that is used for putting down driveway sealer. Well I'm off to squeegee the basement.

And then Penny goes to the vet................

Penny has a Stroke

It seems like it's all dogs all the time. With a house full of geriatric dogs, I seem to be going back and forth to the vet weekly. I think I'm becoming Dr. Whiteway's best friend. This past week Bubba had an episode where his throat swelled shut. I took him to the emergency room and they couldn't tell if it was from something stuck in his throat or if it was a tumor or just an alergic reaction. I ended up taking him to the Vet specialist the next day and sure enough he had just a microscopic opening in his throat but with additional x-rays it was determined that the cause was from swelling of surrounding tissue and not something in his throat. Save one for the wallet.

This morning we woke up to find that Penny had a stroke. This is her second time and this one seems much worse then the last. I gave her a baby aspirin and a sedative. She'll be alright in a few days (I hope) but in the mean time she looks pretty sad. It's not fun getting old.

Summer slowly ends

The summer is coming to an end although the weather is still hot, hot, hot. With the end of summer comes the yellow daisies on Stone Mountain and the Yellow Daisy Festival in Stone Mountain Park. The mountain is in full bloom but you have to go up on the rock to see it. In some places the daisies are so thick the mountain looks yellow.

This is my favorite dog walk, the white trail on Stone Mountain. Andy likes it too. He has taken to nagging me to get in gear and go for a walk when I get home from work. I wish I was retired, then we would walk everyday and explore.



As usual I spent too much money on stupid stuff but what price can one put on a good time with girl friends.

I swear I don't feel as fat as I look!
What's a girl to do?

The Scholz's go Golfing

With the advent of middle age Woody and I have decided that we are going to have more fun in our 50's so that means taking up a new hobby or interest. Since my tennis career is effectively over it looks like a new sport is the best option and we have chosen Golf! Never one to go cheap, Woody's club's had to be special ordered as he his 6'6" and needs +1. I made up the difference and bought my clubs on the cheap on ebay.

Now just because you want to play golf doesn't mean that your going to be good at it. Today I did okay. We played with some friends that are much more experienced and patient then we are. We headed out for Southland Golf course, a facility that has seen better days and as such only charges $20.00 after 2:00 with a cart. I thought the course was really nice for the money, but I would have done better on a short course with just par 3's & 4's. This one was mostly 4's and 5's, so it took forever to play the full 18 holes. Let's just say that after 14 holes I peaked. We had fun till the end and I only lost a couple of balls. I played most of the course with a ball I found after losing my ball on the second hole, the "noodle".
The swing.
Next up the loss of twenty pounds, not just a golf ball.

Notice the golf shoes!

The Pro's, notice the golf attire.

Cindy Passes Away

This morning I went into the laundry room and found Cindy-dog lying dead on the floor. She looked so peaceful. She died in her sleep. I guess her heart couldn't take it any more. She had stopped eating other than a few hotdogs and maybe a treat. I can't believe the dog that walked with me this summer got so old so fast. Some times I think if I had stayed lazy and not walked her she might have lived longer. I didn't know that she had a bad heart until it was too late. It was exactly one month ago that we went to the vet and started her on heart medication. Now I have to figure out what to do. Woody is gone and I can't dig a hole that big. I guess I'll have to try and get the cremation people to come and pick her up or I'll get Debbie to help me put her in the car.

I can't believe my Cindy-dog is gone............

Andy Comes Home

Today is Andy's first day home. I took a half personal day to go and pick him up from Animal control around 12:30 this afternoon. As with all animal control places it is a sad, sad place. So much barking and the smell. Andy is such a good dog. He is quiet and calm. He gets along with the cats. My other dogs don't seem to mind although Penny isn't too happy. She doesn't want him in the dog room and got upset when he tried to go in the dog door. He spent the afternoon on the deck watching me through the window while I worked on the computer.

Andy is coughing so I him took over to Dr. Whiteway and she though he was just adorable. She thinks he is a mix of chow, spaniel and Portuguese water dog, not poodle. He has kennel cough so he is on meds. just like the rest of the critters in this house. I'm sure in a few days he will get into the routine of life on Scholz mountain. Oh and he appears to be housebroken!

New Dog

What a way to end a very stressful week. I found a really good home for my birds. Bridget came by today with her mom and picked up Big and Stinky. She was really excited and her mom was totally on board to take them. I only hope that Big has a full recovery from his attack by Oliver cat. I gave away all of my bird supplies to remove the temptation to get another bird. Woody and I went to dinner with friends yesterday at our favorite Mexican restaurant and had a pitcher of margarita's, which went down really nicely.

Today, Bridget's mom talked about her German Shepherds and that was enough to convenience Woody to go to Animal Control to check out the female Shepherd they had there. She was really pretty and very, very smart, but way too much shedding. I knew about a black curly coated lab that was on their website and when they brought him out Woody and I knew that he was meant to be ours. What a cutie! I would post a picture, but by the time I got to the website his picture had been removed. I'll be able to get him either Wednesday of Thursday after he is altered and has a vet check. I'll post pictures then.

I'm still working overtime. I went to work this morning and have been working at home all evening. I have to check over 160 schedules to make sure they are correct and if not mark down what they should be. I am only able to accomplish this task with the help of a trusty kitty that is sleeping on my printer. (He doesn't want me to work too hard.)

Tomorrow Woody has a tennis match planned. I'm going to walk the Penny dog at Stone Mountain Park and then it's back to work. Retirement is looking mighty good!

A Totally Stressful Week

The first week of school has been a nightmare deluxe. The school system instituted a new scheduling system that has too many glitches to write about. Almost all of my student schedules are wrong and I have no way of looking at the scheduling menu to make it right. Almost all of my animals have been either sick or have geriatric diseases so they are on medication and now yesterday when I got home from work my poor budgie had been attacked by I suspect my new cat.

He needed some fixing by the vet and I was told that it looks worse than what it is. There are no puncture wounds and he should be alright. Even worse, I had found a new home for my birds and the girl is coming this Saturday and I'm not sure if she will going to be willing to nurse him back to health or if I should keep him until he his better. Poor big bird!

Woody has been home this week which has been nice and helpful. I took my second golf lesson yesterday. It was on the short game. I have a lot to learn. We are going to play another round of gold this Sunday morning this time at the Hooch Golf Course with cart! I figure if we are out there early enough we should be able to play without being pressured to speed up.

FOUR!

Back to Work

Summer of 2009 is now officially over. Today is my first day back to work and my schedule is full. somewhere I have to find time to get Cindy to the vet. she seems to have stopped eating and is looking older then usual. She has also started to cough on occasion. I'm hopping it's nothing more that a shot of antibiotics can't cure.

Woody and I have dived into our new sport of golf. I have take one lesson so far and Woody has signed up for two lessons at the PGA Superstore to get started. We're hoping to make our debut on the golf course next sunday evening after his lesson. There is a lighted par three course about 20 miles from our house so that will be our first stop. Pictures are sure to follow.

Debbie is staying with us for a while. She got her job with the county back and is looking to rent an apartment or a house in the area. I told her to take her time. Its nice to have company during the week while Woody is gone.

Meet Louie

Drove mom home to Monroe and then down to Gonzales to visit with Jerry and Rita, Woody's parents. A trip to Baton Rouge wouldn't be wouldn't be complete without dropping in on my brother Chris and my good friends Lisa and Lloyd.

Lisa and I have been partners in crime for over 25 years and our latest caper was a quick trip to animal control to bust out Louie the cat.

Louie did everything a kitty could do to be noticed in a kitty house with 30 other kitties. He batted his paws through the bars of his cage, purred really loud and generally made himself noticed so that we would spring him loose from the cage he had been calling home since the end of April.

It kind of breaks your heart to hear all the kitty cries in the background, kitties that need homes. Anyway, Louis takes an 8 hour ride to Georgia and he was such a good boy the whole trip. Not one peep once we got under way. And now he is parked in my bedroom waiting to visit with Dr. Whiteway. She is on vacation until next week. Louie has ringworm. I am 100% sure of this since I now have ringworm on my thigh. Oh joy! Woody and I gave Louie the treatment, I shaved his hair in the offending spot and then we bathed. Such crying, you would have thought we had killed him, anyway, he is now ointmented and cleaned. I do believe the parasite is worse that I first believed, but there is nothing to be done until next week. What's a kitty without being nursed back to health!

Mom is here for a visit

Mom is here from Monroe for a few days. She flew in after spending a few days in Knoxville with Nina. We spent the day shopping at the mall and then a quick trip to Ikea. We had fiskeboller for dinner and now we are getting ready to watch Valkyrie (this will be the third time for me). Tomorrow we are going to Sam's and what ever passes our fancy. All in all a pretty nice day.

Besides our outing, Woody called me this morning to tell me about a kitten that had found it's way to the office at Valero in San Antonio. It's gray like my Sammy but with a white ear. Woody called Delta Dash and it will call a small fortune to bring it to Atlanta along with a vet certificate. He said that someone had already given it food so we are hoping that it will be adopted at some point. I miss my Sammy.

Kitty Up-date

I got a call from Dr. Whiteway and she said that the kitty wasn't doing well today and suggested that it be put to sleep. She thought it was going to be okay yesterday as it appeared better in the evening and even ate but by this morning it had taken a turn for the worst. So, I guess it was better to have passed peacefully at the vet then violently under a car tire. I'm not having much luck with kitties lately.

Coming soon........

This morning I met Cecilia for breakfast at the IHOP and afterwards we decided to go for a ride and just sight see a little and try to come up with something to do. Well we didn't make it very far because just as we were about to go through the intersection of LaVista and NorthLake Parkway we spy a kitten trying to cross the road with what is obviously a broken back leg. Not far away was another one already dead. The next thing you know Cecilia puts the car in park and we go jumping into the road along with about half a dozen other people in search of this kitten. After crawling around on the street it was found beside the back wheel of a Escalade still alive. We grabbed it and quickly drove off to the vet where this feral kitten is now parked until Monday. Please check back for further updates and pictures........

Friends Reunited

Some times its amazing that after 30 years time feels like it just stands still and yesterday wasn't really so long ago. I drove to Laurinburg NC for a short visit to see a friend that I had lost touch with some 30 odd years ago from NJ. She was my Rocky Horror buddy, heck for a while there we went every where together. This was before we embarked on our transitional period, before I was on may way to Louisiana and God knew what and she was on her way to Florida and marriage to a high school sweetheart. But recently a funny thing called the internet came along and facebook made it possible for old friends to finally find each other. The internet can sure be a wonderful thing.

me and Sue

I really liked Laurinburg NC. We went for a walk in Sue's neighborhood and it was really, really nice. It reminded me of Monroe Louisiana and the Garden District. Her house looks small from the front but it was much bigger on the inside and really, really cute! This was just the nicest place to raise a family.

Sue's mom was visiting from Florida and it was really nice to see her again. You talk about bringing back memories! We had a lovely evening with a wonderful meal, great conversation, good wine and just a great time.

Hiking at Red Top Mountain

This morning I got up and took the dogs for a hike at Red Top Mountain by lake Alatoona Ga. There are several trails to choose from but since we were new to the area we choose the 3.5 mile trail that was rated "moderate".


As usual the dogs whined in the car but settled downed after a while. We've settled into a hiking routine so they do better when get started and are not so over excited. We found some water to wade in and cool off which was a welcome find as poor Bubba gets over heated.


On the way home we drove through Lake Alatoona and stopped at one of the boat ramps. I took the dogs down to the waters edge and we all got in to our knees. The water was surprisingly warm. I pulled Bubba in up to his neck and Cindy was dunked too.

In the end I took home three happy dogs!

Tree Cutting Day

With a forest comes forest maintenance and today was finally the day that we cleaned up the yard of tree branches and cut down the dead trees in the front and back yard. We had managed to accumulate a large pile of sticks that had gotten out of control. It will be nice to come home and not have to look at all the debris at the entrance of our yard!

Paris 2009: Our Last Day

Our trip was a hugh success with much enjoyment by all. Woody and I were fortunate enough to have had friends with us on this adventure and still be able to spend time by ourselves and do the things we wanted to do. How fortunate I am to have a wonderful husband and great friends to share these great experiences with. It will be fun to look back on my days in Paris and at the French Open.....next year Wimbledon!

Eating Our Way Around Paris

France is world renown for the food and we certainly had every intention of eating our way across Paris. I had to stop early as my stomach wasn't cooperating but Woody and Russ sure gave it their best effort!
This is the restaurant that Woody and I found on our first evening in Paris and we ate there again on our last with Susan. We found it to be very good and very reasonable. We met a very nice American lady who had lived in Paris for 42 years and taught political science at the Sorbonne. She asked how we had managed to pick this spot and we said just by chance. She told us that we had picked well and that proved to be true! I wish I had gotten a picture of dinner but by that time the red wine was, well how should I say Ooh la la!

French Onion Soup

Quiche

Blue Cheese Salad French Style

Here is a pit stop at a coffee and pastry shop. I think we had breached some kind of etiquette because this sale woman was not very pleasant to deal with. I went and sat down and let Woody pay and take care of business. The only reason I stopped was to use the restroom.

Here I am eating breakfast at the hotel. They had wonderful cheeses, soft boiled eggs and terrific bread every morning.

Here we are at a cafe on the grounds of Versailles. Woody and I shared a raspberry tart pictured below while Russ had a quiche and Debbie had a chocolate crepe that she didn't share as Russ thought she should. C'est la vie!