My bedroom is shrouded in morning darkness longer, a natural occurrence this time of year. My clock on the opposite wall is in shadows until close to 8 a.m. if I happen to stay in bed that long.
But I have a couple of living alarm clocks to remind me of the time. Their names are Ivy and Gracie.
Ivy always acts as though she’s starved, even though she has dry food still in the bowl. She loves her canned gravy food I give her a tablespoon or so of twice per day.
Gracie likes it too and tries to get a bite or two of Ivy’s gravy food.
I can’t seem to find the gravy version for kittens. So Gracie is eating the kitten pate I was told she was eating when she came to live here, nearly three weeks now.
A Single Bloom:
The other day I stood at the French doors looking outside and from the corner of my right eye, I saw something white that had not been there the last time I looked.
Apparently, after I cleared out many of the vines, a white morning glory decided to show me one bloom. It must have been underneath the rest of the vines I cleared out.
I planted various colors of morning glories and none of them bloomed. This might be all I get after I got rid of so many of the heavy vines that were holding the overhanging tree hostage.
The vines had grown high up in the tree branches and held them down like a snowstorm often does. Purple morning glories could be seen near the top of the tree.
Lemon Verbena:
What you see next to it are offshoots of the lemon verbena that made its way over from the galvanized garden space. I’m finding a lot of that happening this year.
Zinnias are coming up in the cracks of the cement. Some actually made their way into my house plants and are already blooming.
How and when did that happen? One particular house plant I took out there just a few weeks ago when Gracie came to live with us. And now the zinnias that leaped in there are mature enough to bloom?
The Kitties:
The kitties are playing, running back and forth. Ivy is hunched down low, ready to pounce on Gracie as soon as Gracie is in her sight.
There is some hissing going on and Ivy’s tail is thumping.
Is this normal cat play? I never know whether I should intervene or just let them be.
I now have their separate litter boxes in the same walk-in closet, but I still have them eating in separate rooms.
Gracie is a little purr machine, the opposite of Ivy. Like all cats, they have their individual personalities and habits.
My heart swells with love for both of them.
Increased Prices:
I have noticed that prices for everything have really gone up. For instance, kitty litter and cat food have skyrocketed and are sometimes hard to find. Toilet paper is very expensive again. Food as well.
I hope this resolves itself soon, as I know there are people really hurting out there.
More and more homeless are seen on the street, many times with their dogs beside them. It is enough to break your heart, knowing people don’t have a roof over their heads at night.
Brenda, this is the first time in 9 years, since we moved to the mobile home park, that my pots of geraniums are still blooming (beautifully) this late in the season. I have several Mums on the deck, and never had geraniums at the same time. I know what you mean about prices. I wonder how high they will go, and how hard it will be to find certain items. After I saw thousands of containers sitting in the bay and on the shore, I wonder if they ever will be unloaded and delivered. I was going to order a pair of boots, but saw they would be coming from China. Well, we know that those boots would probably arrive in 6 (maybe) months, if in fact they would ever get here. At the grocery store, I’m trying to buy several of each item, just in case it may not be there next week. Never thought in my life time (82) this world would come to this. But here we are, and I am thankful for that, and everything else in my life. Hugs from Wisconsin…
Your photos are truly gorgeous.
Hi, Brenda! Always love your kitty stories, and I’m happy to read that (somewhat …) things are starting to “settle”.
I have two discount cards for prescriptions, as at the present time, I don’t have coverage. So I was surprised when I went to pick-up a refill and it had gone up by $1.16! That doesn’t sound like much, but as we all know, it all adds up! And why such an odd number? Am going Walmarting tomorrow where I hope to be able to purchase non-dairy creamer for under $5 (a 2-liter bottle): around here, it has skyrocketed to almost $6! What I gather is that there are supply chain problems, but I honest to God just don’t know what to think.
Your photos are especially beautiful in this post, Brenda. I didn’t get one morning glory bloom. How fun that zinnias are popping up everywhere! Sounds like Ivy and Gracie are playing, even with the hissing. I had two cats – their personalities were different as night and day.
I think they are just having cat fun. The morning darkness is confusing me as I can’t seem to figure out what time it is. xo Laura
The gravy in dog food caused trouble for my dog. Years ago when my father went to a cardiologist, he was told to avoid gravy. He called it “paste” because it is made from flour and water.
One white flower, so beautiful! I would like to have seen the morning glory vines that grew up to the top of the tree, wow! I’m wondering if they didn’t bloom much because of too much shade under the tree? My recollection of seeing them growing wild was usually along fences on alleys that were sunny. We’ve had mild weather in SE Wisconsin and I have 4 tall daisies that bloomed very late, my aster has grown very large this year and looks like a miniature Christmas tree filled with little pink and white flowers, and my Roses of Sharon are still blooming even though the hummingbirds have moved on for the season. My hydrangea still is holding on to all of its flowers, too. I am spending as much time as possible outside in between rain storms, taking care of the lawn, doing ongoing garden bed cleanup, to take advantage of our mild weather while it lasts.
I think the hissing and tail thumping are very normal.. and even chasing and catching and rolling around…. as long as it doesn’t get overly rough. I don’t intervene unless I see it overly mean by one of the cats… they both like to stalk each other, crouch down and “attack”.. and they are 5 and 6 years old now. Each one doesn’t seem to mind and they love the play… unless one gets too mean.. that’s when I loudly call that one’s name and say NO! All these years I see it all the time, so it must be play time. Glad Gracie is a purrer…. my rescue cat, much like Ivy, doesn’t purr too much and it’s very low and rumbly.. but now and then she does if she “allows” me to hold her in my lap for awhile… of course, that is always HER choice! Marilyn
Sadly, don’t see the inflation issue resolving itself anytime soon. There really are supply chain issues, not to mention employee shortages. Am noticing articles sprouting up of worker strikes, more on the way. This all contributes to higher prices. The only relief may come when the supply chain issues let up, but let’s be honest here, do prices really ever come down? I recall all those fuel surcharges on utility bills and increases at grocery stores several years ago, yet we never saw those prices come back down as the cost of oil came down dramatically. The surcharges may have been removed but new ones replaced them, such as building maintenance fees or legal expense fees-all because as hubs says “because they can”. And we now are once again dependent upon foreign oil. Oy. All I know is I am working harder and harder at budgeting my grocery expenses as well as looking at ways to be more creative in meal planning and meal stretching.
Eating out is limited more so to lack of consistency in quality. Always felt it prudent to consider eating out as a “treat” vs. a convenience, so while I am willing to put up with a certain amount in increased pricing, I will not tolerate poor or even mediocre quality. Service can even be a bit sketchy if the quality remains spot-on. Otherwise my dollars will not be impressed.
In the meantime, we all must continue to look forward to simple pleasures and even revisit those we gave up in the past. Taking advantage of extended lovely weather in my area has us doing some nice little fall picnics out and about and taking in nature. Getting recipe books from the library for new ideas helps and is also a very nice cheap form of entertainment. Does anyone else enjoy reading recipe books?
Love seeing the latest antics between Ivy and Gracie!
Chris I love to read through recipe books for inspiration as I get tired of eating and cooking the same thing, I also love to watch Rachel Ray as many of her recipes she shows are easy to make with some good results I have found. It gets me experimenting on using more spices for flavor so what I spend is still way less than a take out meal. I am with you on eating out right now. It isn’t impressing me so better I fix something right here at home and save my hard earned money.
I have 2 also, Bella boo, my tucked has been with me for 9 years, she is just a sweetie, not a mean bone in her!
Buddy is my house panther, I brought him home in 2016, he’s a little devil at times but also a cuddler with the loudest purr!!!
They light up my life in many ways and sometimes are good for a laugh, they’re also dying of starvation at 5-6 a.m. or earlier if I get up to use the bathroom, like your house there’s. always 2 bowls of dry food at all times but I’m guessing that must be emergency rations,LOL
What would we do without our furkids…cant imagine!😻
Me either!