Saturday, June 29, 2013

Saturday Centus Week 167

 
 Jenny Matlock
 
Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN of Saturday Centus. 

Continuing on the theme of pictures painting a thousand words...

Then what do you want to say about THIS image in just 100?
 

 The prompt this week:   Write 100 words about the picture above

Number of words:  No more than 100 total
Style of writing: Any
Additional Pictures: Any

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer.

Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up any time between now and next Saturday...
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Friday, June 28, 2013

Are you trying to tell me something?

This little 100 word offering is linked to week 166 of Saturday Centus.   To read other uses of the picture prompt, just click here.
 

“I told you this wasn’t a good idea, but you never listen to me.”
 
“Shut up. It’s fine… just fine. It’s only a coincidence.”
 
“Yeah. Coincidence. Rigggggghhhht. “
 
“Shut up. It’s fine.”
 
The annoyed lady in front of us turned around. Her powdered wrinkles squinted down into a frown as she hissed, ‘Ssssssssh.’
 
The point of his elbow met my ribs shortly after the hiss.
 
“Ouch! Quit elbowing me. Sssssh.”
 
“Shut up!”
 
“You shut up first! I told you this was a bad idea!”
 
I hadn’t been inside a church in 23 years. The heavens above were letting me know.
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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Painted Alphabet Letter F

Fee Fi Fo Fum!  I smell the blood of a letter F.

Oh.

Ummmm.

Never mind.

That doesn't really work.

But here's my F signs for the week anyway.

For my childhood memories this week...
8" x 12"

And just because it's ridiculously hot here...
 


10" x 24"
  
 Signs are hand-painted and available in my Etsy shop...you can see the mini link at the top right of my blog or click on any picture for a link!  No stickers...no stencils...my designs.
 
This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's Letter F.   To read other F offerings, just click here.
 
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Feral Facts

In dealing with the feral kitten issue by our house I've been trying to learn as much as possible.

If you'd like to read part one of this story before you read this, just click here.

I thought we had a random female cat that had given birth to a random group of kittens.

Not so.

Apparently our geographical area, like many, is covered by territorial type cat 'colonies'.

Many of the facts about feral cat 'colonies' surprised me.

First of all, I didn't even know such a thing existed.

We had originally noticed a black and white cat in our area but at the advice of the TNR (trap, neuter, return) volunteer we took a drive around our neighborhood just before full dark.

It was like an Easter Egg hunt.

"There's one!   There's one!"

Mr. Jenny and I were shocked to spot another black and white female with much larger kittens, four or five additional black and white cats and a black cat.

The coordinator told us that most like our cat colony would exist of 15 - 25 cats.

Each female could give birth to UP TO 15 kittens EACH YEAR!

Her first litter of kittens each year would be producing kittens before their first birthday, often as early as 6 months of age.

The number of new kittens each year in an uncontrolled colony was astonishing.

She went on to explain to me that a colony is stable at a specific number and that the death rate is quite high above that.

The more kittens born, the higher the death rate.

Food, water and shelter that supports 15 cats will not support 30 cats so the 'excess' will be plagued with illness, infections and more aggressive behaviour to find food and shelter.

Wow.

I never imagined that such a sub-culture of cats even existed, much less thrived in the bushes and trees and greenbelts surrounding our urban neighborhood.

I persisted in our conversation with the idea that perhaps we could catch them and socialize them.

She gently discouraged my idea.  Many of these cats and kittens are dozens of generations deep into no human contact.   They are socialized only to cats and it is difficult and nearly impossible to socialize them to humans.

She gently suggested that a more humane use of our time might be in indentifying and neutering other cats in our neighborhood.

TNR procedures can and are:

- Ending the breeding cycle and stabilizing the population
- More effective and less expensive than extermination
- Eliminates or minimizes annoying behaviors such as spraying, yowling, and fighting.
- Helps end the suffering of unwanted, homeless cats.
-Reduces euthanasia due to the number of kittens flooding the already overburdened shelters.

She then asked me if my husband and I would be interested in having a trapping volunteer call.

When I agreed she informed me that someone would contact me within 24 hours.

"What do I do in the meantime?" I asked.   "The vet's office told me to just give them water and that they might move on."

"They are not moving on," she told me.   "To a feral cat shelter is almost as important as food.  If the kittens are getting that big, she's not moving them now."

"What are they eating?   There's no restaurants here or open trash cans?"

"The next time you're in your yard look around.   Do you see any bugs or scorpions?   What about birds?  Spiders?  See if you still have a lot of lizards in the yard."

I told her I would look for sure.

Then she said, "You don't have to feed them, but the healthier they are the more they can resist infections and fleas.  You could put out just a small amount of dry kibble with the water to help keep them healthy.   Don't give them tuna or tablescraps or wet cat food, though, because that will make the trapping process harder."

Yikes.

Wayyyy too much information for a non-cat person like me to absorb.

I relayed everything to Mr. Jenny and then we both realized that we haven't seen any pidgeons or bugs in the grass lately.  It has been months since I've had to wash off the pool apron from nasty bird droppings.   There are no spider webs and we haven't seen a scorpion EVER at this house.

Apparently the mother is working hard to keep those babies fed.

This morning I took my cell and caught this quick shot of one of the black and whites.   It disappeared in a micro-second.

The cat kibble was almost gone this morning so I refreshed it and gave them new water.

And I waited for the trapping coordinator to give us a call.

TO BE CONTINUED
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

I've got some feral friends...

...although 'friends' might be too cozy of a word.

These little ferals are not friendly at all.

They flee so quickly at the sight of me that I actually wondered for a little while if I was seeing shadows.

I'm not.

We have kittens.

They have cozied up in the narrow little spot between our shed and the house.


There are two black and whites and two blacks.   There might be a fifth dark grey one but they are so very, very fast and so very, very skittish I only see them super early in the morning and super late at night when they seem to blend into the shadows.

If they see any movement from the window while we are peeking, they flee.

If we walk into the side yard, they flee.

When we started observing them more sneakily, we realized the mom is feeding them morning and night.

They are growing bigger and stronger right before our eyes and now venture farther up into the side yard.   They are quite curious about the dog door.

Oskie, the weiner dog, is no help, whatsoever.  He is old and can't see and rarely even barks at them.

Sigh.

Like I used to do in the 'old days',  I started calling around to see who might want a kitten.

Nobody.

Every single person told me that they were allergic, had some cats or were already over-run with feral cats.

After watching the kittens race away and lightening speed for another day, we realized that even if someone wanted them we would have no way to catch them.

Mr. Jenny and I were at a loss what to do.

We called our vet's office who told us that the cats would move on when they were ready.

The vet tech informed me the only way that all the feral cats and kittens would be able to find homes is if every single person in our county took in eight cats.

Because of this sobering fact, most shelters will not take kittens even for euthanasia.

Wow.

What an awful thought.

Euthanasia?

For kittens.

Prior to this, I realized on some level that animal over-population is a huge problem, but I've not encountered it up close and personal before.

I was really surprised by all this horrible information.

The vet tech continued with her advice. 

"You probably should NOT feed the cats but just put out a bowl of fresh water each morning," she told me calmly.

We took this advice and started putting out water that the same day.   It is moving into the triple-teens in temperature now and this seemed like a kind thing to do.

But it really, really felt like we should be doing more.

I can't stand the thought of anything being hungry or thirsty or scared.

Especially anything that's a baby.

But I also can't stand the thought of 5 or 6 cats living in my smallish suburban yard.

Mr. Jenny and I kept talking about this for a few more days

We continued to think about what to do...

...and then we noticed a little ad in the paper about feral kittens from the Arizona Animal Defense League.   They advocated a program called TNR.  Trap.  Neuter.   Release.

Neither of us had ever heard about this before.

We were never in a position to need to know anything about it.

I e-mailed the ADLA.

And they called me back the next day.

Wow.

I got a real education in feral cats.

The coordinator spent almost an hour on the phone with me answering my questions.

And then she helped us put a humane plan together to help our fuzzy little feral friends and to help our neighborhood.

THIS IS GETTING QUITE LONG SO IT WILL BE CONTINUED.

You can CLICK HERE for part two if you like.

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Alphabe-Thursday Letter F

 

Good morning class. Welcome to round seven of Alphabe-Thursday!

Today we will be frolicking with the letter:


Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.

I do visit every link.   Sometimes it just takes me a little while!   But I will be by, scouts honor!

If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Saturday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and visit at least 10 other students (perhaps the 5 students before and after your post). The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please share your fanciful F post now!

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Painted Alphabet - Letter E

E-I-E-I OH!

Here are my e-s for the week!

For my childhood memories this week...
11 1/2 x 15 1/2"

And continuing my exercise in the letter E...
 
I love the philosophy of this sign...
 
11 1/2" x 13 1/2"
 
This one turned out pretty cool, I think.  I like the compass in the background.
 
15" x 16"
 
 Signs are hand-painted and available in my Etsy shop...you can see the mini link at the top right of my blog or click on any picture for a link!  No stickers...no stencils...my designs.
 
This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's Letter E.   To read other E offerings, just click here.
 
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Saturday Centus - Week 166

 
 Jenny Matlock
 
Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX of Saturday Centus. 

If a picture paints a thousand words...

Then what do you want to say about THIS image in just 100?
 
 
The prompt this week:   Write 100 words about the picture above

Number of words:  No more than 100 total
Style of writing: Any
Additional Pictures: Any

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer.

Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up any time between now and next Saturday...
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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Acrostic, Schmagostic!!!

Tracy gave us a nice little prompt for week 165.

But, yeah.

I really stink at acrostic poems.

It was supposed to be in honor of Father's Day.

Geez.

Anyway.

Here's what I came up with.

To read other acrostic tributes, just click here.


I’m trying to write an acrostic
It’s as hard as a haiku
My mind doesn’t process letter order
So I stink at this.   Sad but true.
I’m stuck on the letter H.
And the letters E and R.
I started strong but fizzled.
For.  Always.  Thinking. Isn’t getting too far.
I wanted to make it shorter
And use the letters D, A, D.
But that didn’t work well either.
I’m quite frustrated, yessiree.
So for Father’s Day my message
is not acrostic a bit…
Dear Dad.  You always like my sisters better than me.
Sorry to be such a SH@t!
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Alphabe-Thursday Letter E


Good morning class. Welcome to round seven of Alphabe-Thursday!

Today we will be elucidating about the letter:


Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.

I also want to let you know that each week I visit every blog. If it appears I haven't visited your blog by the following Saturday morning, please let me know!

If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Friday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and visit at least 10 other students (perhaps the 5 students before and after your post). The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please share your eloquent letter E post now!
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Pre-baking bacon...

...for a big party...

Is NOT a good idea.

You start with four pounds of bacon.
There it sits.

All piled up and tempting on a big pile of paper towels.

Soon.

You have 3 5/8 pounds of bacon.

There it sits.

All piled up and tempting on a big pile of paper towels.

Soon.

You have 3 1/3 pounds of bacon.

There it sits.

All piled up and tempting on a big pile of paper towels.

Soon.

You have 3  pounds of bacon.

And a stomach-ache.

As you put the bacon away in the fridge another piece or two wanders into your mouth.

You have no choice...

...but to chew it up.

After all...

it is BACON!

Arrrrggh.

Your husband, oddly, gets quite annoyed when you ask him to go the store to buy a few pounds of sausage.
Because.

Sadly.

You fear there is NOT enough bacon.

Consider this a warning.

Pre-baking bacon before a big party is NOT a good idea.

And neither is getting on the scales after you attempt such madness.

Sigh.
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A handy dandy tip about growing older...

I was raised to be a helpful person.
 
You know?
 
So although this tip might, at first, seem a bit odd I'm only telling you to make your life easier.
 
Have you ever gone on an escalator with little kids?
 
Rememer how they are fearful of the moving stairs at first but before you know it they're trying to run back UP the DOWN escalator?
 
And you're worried that their little toes are somehow going to get stuck in the metal plates things that squish together?
 
But their little toes never get squished so you just worry about nothing after all?
 
Okay.
 
So.
 
A few days ago I went to a giant sports store.
 
With an escalator.
 
All my myself.
 
I was looking for some swim goggles for a birthday present.
 
And I had to go upstairs on the escalator to the second floor.
 
After I finally located the goggles I wanted, I got on the down escalator.
 
And something came over me.
 
Seriously.
 
Call it a moment of temporary insanity...
 
...because about five steps down I decided to turn around and run back up.
 
Now this probably doesn't seem like such a big deal, right?
 
But I am old.
 
And...ummm...quite gravity dense.
 
But I didn't stop to think of those things.
 
I turned around, quick like a bunny, and tried to head back up...
 
And let me tell you.
 
It's not as easy as an eight year old makes it look.
 
In fact, it's downright hard.
 
And...ummm...dangerous.
 
And I about totally killed myself trying to go up the down escalator.
 
Just a little bit.
 
Because.

Because I was distracted...

...and...

Because, well, I was thinking about this...
 
Our oldest Grandlittle turned 11 today.
 
I am sooo emotional about it.
 
It's silly really.
 
We've had wonderful times togther and we will have so many more.
 
It's just that.
 
Gulp.
 
She turned 11.
...and she is beautiful and sweet and loving and kind and compassionate and athletic and smart and wonderful.
 
But.
 
ELEVEN.
 
And maybe I'm distracted trying to figure out a way to slow down the hands of time...
 
Because.
 
Well.
 
Because, of this, too.
Oldest Grandlittle.   132 months.   Youngest Grandlittle.   3 1/2 months.
 
Geez.
 
Geez.
 
That's why it's so much easier to have tried running up the down elevator two days before her birthday.
 
Instead of feeling all blue today about how quickly time flies...
 
I can focus, instead, on the looks of horror AND amusement on the faces of all the people on the UP elevator.
 
YessireeBob.   When I finally looked around after my near demise, there were at least 16 eyes staring at me.
 
Gosh.
 
Yeah.
 
Blush.
 
I didn't realize there was a whole bunch of people on the other escalator when I did my extremely ungraceful and ridiculous attempt to go back UP!
 
They looked surprised all right.
 
And one of the men actually came down after me and asked me if I needed any help.
 
The worst part was he used that, "I think you're probably crazy but I was raised to be helpful fear-filled voice" reserved for talking to lunatics and other not-quite-there people.
 
The wonderful news is, this whole fiasco was quite distracting.
 
Remembering the expression on those other peoples faces and recalling how close I came to sticking not only my toes but other body parts into the metal plates things that squish together?
 
Very, very distracting.
 
I highly recommend you try this technique if you have a child or a grandchild growing up too fast.
 
Pain and shame are quite helpful in de-fusing the little grenade of memories that can be so brilliantly bitter-sweet on momentous days like this.
 
Oh.
 
...
 
...
 
And.
 
You're welcome.
 
PS.   No aging gravity-dense Grandmas were actually hurt in this process so the whole thing ended as well as can be expected!
 
PPS.   Do you know you can order swimming goggles on-line if necessary, thus avoiding the temptation to try running UP the DOWN elevator.
 
PPPS.   Sigh.
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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Painted Alphabet Letter D

Da Da Da!

I'm finally put up my painted letter D's for the week.

I had much bigger plans for this letter but the darned heat got me.

For my childhood memories this week...

24" x 10"

And lastly...technically this could be an H but I'm using the D in day!
 
This is one of my favorite songs.
 
I really like the blue and white of the sign, too.
11 1/2" x 5"
 
 Signs are hand-painted and available in my Etsy shop...you can see the mini link at the top right of my blog or click on any picture for a link!  No stickers...no stencils...my designs.
 
This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's Letter D.   To read other D offerings, just click here.
 
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 Jenny Matlock
 
Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE of Saturday Centus. 
 Tracy had a great idea for this weeks prompt.   She suggested we write an acrostic poem for Father's Day.   I kinda/sorta stink at these so this seemed like a good challenge.
 
Here's HOW to write an acrostic poem (in case you're in doubt):
 
Decide what to write about
Write your word down vertically.
Brainstorm words or phrase on the lines that being with the same letters.
Fill in the rest of the line to create a poem.
 
You don't have to use the word Father.  You can use Poppa, Dad, Daddy or whatever you call(ed) the Father figure in your own life.
 
The prompt this week:   An acrostic poem as described above

Number of words:  No more than 100 total
Style of writing: Any
Additional Pictures: Any

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer.

Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up any time between now and next Saturday...
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Friday, June 14, 2013

A good life...

This little story is linked to week 163 of Saturday Centus.  The prompt is in bold.   To read other offerings, just click here.
 
 
Bad things in life don’t make our lives bad.

Sad things in life don’t have to make our lives sad.

When you look to tomorrow

let the fear leave your eyes...

...let past ugly escape you.

Be brave and be wise.

Find good in each moment.

Find good! Look ahead!

Change can empower you…

...unknown’s nothing to dread.

That bad things you’ve lived through…

Doesn’t have to be what you’re about…

Repeat after me…

I release all fears and doubts.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Alphabe-Thursday Letter D


Good morning class. Welcome to round seven of Alphabe-Thursday!

Today we will be discussing the letter:


Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.

I also want to let you know that each week I visit every blog. If it appears I haven't visited your blog by the following Sunday evening, please let me know!

If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Friday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and visit at least 10 other students (perhaps the 5 students before and after your post). The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please feel free to discuss your dynamic letter D now!
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