For the Last Week

Our new kitty, Sister, has come up out of the basement and joined the family. 

We all sit together in the evening and watch tv... and Sister sleeps at 

the foot of my bed.  Jester sleeps next to me... Bed Hog.... and Lilly sleeps in the 

doorway until early in the morning and then jumps up with the rest of us. 

This cat has brought so much happiness into my life, Keith loved cats, and he would have 

loved Sister.  I found her, you remember, at the hospital parking lot during his last stay. 

Friend Jill is convinced she is his spirit animal. 

I am not so sure she is not. 

I am seeing this redtail regularly now at 155th and Fairmount.... it is a very dangerous road to stop on, so I have to hurry when I snap a picture of it. 

Here is one of my favorite shots, taken on the 12th... Stranger Creek at the bluffs on Leavenworth Road.  I stopped on the way to church that night.  I'll have another shot of this later. 

I took this on the way home that night, it was so beautiful... the supermoon rising.  See the hawk on the pole on the right? 

Here is what was interesting... I was standing under another hawk, taking the pictures.  Usually, they do not hunt so closely. 

This makes me laugh every time I drive by.  You see, the deer was the very first thing in the tree, why, oh, why did I not get a picture of it?  These folks decorate every year, they bring a cherry picker in to do the top of the tree.  The deer now has a red glowing nose on him, they are very creative. 

The begonia is still blooming in the window of the tv room. 

I have visitors on the back deck again, and have been enjoying watching them. 

Now, here is the same scene I showed you above of Stranger Creek. 

I took this Saturday afternoon on my way to church. 

The chair was over to the left in this picture.  I saw no one around... and no cars around.  

I don't like to be in a place where someone can sneak up on me, so.. I got back in the car and left. 

Interesting, it might be a photographer who is being patient to get his shots. 

This was the park Saturday afternoon... today was a much gloomier picture, we have heavy clouds and expect rain tomorrow.  We need it! 

This is gomphrena at the Ag Hall.  They kindly agreed to let me get some seeds today, so I am going to plant some next year.  I think this is Strawberry Fields, but I am not sure. 

White gomphrena.  I got some seeds of this, too. 

Our girl Lil has found a place where something is living below ground, and she heads there everytime we go out the front door. 

Jester was with us too, we were on our way to the park. 

Tomorrow, we go see Dr. Tom for a pawdicure.  I suspect we are not going to get our walk 

at the park because of rain. 

Driving Around the County

I showed you this picture of flooded fields from Stranger Creek the other day. 

Here it is today: 

Hmmmm kind of a hazy picture.... 

but... you get the picture.  The water has receded. 

I actually drove out there after Jax's game tonight... and went all the way to the bridge. 

There is still a LOT of water in the creek, but we are not expecting rain for a week or so now. 

I know a lot of farmers who are happy about that. 

I took this the other day. 

Actually, there were three. 

I am trying to remember to check my settings before snapping that first picture! 

This absolutely GORGEOUS bird is a green heron, my first ever! 

I ran over to the Ag Hall on Monday to check on the chickens, and 

saw him.  I could not believe my eyes. 

The straw bales are doing... okay.  I am going to work on them tomorrow. 

I think I am not watering enough, and was depending on the rain. 

Tomorrow they get water and fertilizer. 

(The grass growing is okay) 

I have only lost two plants, a cucumber and a watermelon.  

Actually...

Even though it was bitten off.... it is regenerating.  See that hole????  Hmmmm. 

My faithful Jester is on mouse patrol.  Since I took this picture on Monday, 

I have removed more of these things from the patio.  We are trying to follow the 

mouse man's guidelines, and I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.  

I am VERY close to stopping feeding for a few days while I am 

gone to the Blogville Awesome Retreat in Indiana from the 8th thru 

the 12th. 

I had to run to the store on Monday afternoon, and I took the camera. 

I stopped at Angel Falls Trail and walked down to see how the creek 

was flowing since the rains. 

I could hear it before I saw it. 

(Holy cow, I have NEVER Had a video load on Blogger as fast as that one! 

Turn it up if you can, so you can hear it. 

So... we have hired a company to get the mouse situation under control here. 

I can't bear killing ANYTHING, let alone a mouse.  I told the young man we could not do sticky traps, I can't torture.  He is snap trapping and coming daily to empty them. 

We are not winning at the moment.  We ARE down about 20 mice in the last week. 

I took it outside.  I'm sure it's back in here somewhere tonight. 

Thank heavens I am plugging the drain and the garbage disposal at night, and 

now you see why. 

The Saturday Roundup

Okay, the Friday roundup, too! 

It's been hot and humid the last two days, and 

yes, it stormed again this morning. 

The ground is so very saturated. 

That's our mighty Stranger Creek, a mile from the old house.  It's out of it's banks, but 

not up to the bridge, yet. 

It's a major tributary to the Kansas (Kaw) River. 

As you see, it's out of it's banks.  That's a cornfield. 

See the dike?  It was built after this whole valley flooded four years ago. 

The field out of sight to the left is standing water, but from the rain, not from the creek. 

A peacock posing for you.  Note the tail! 

Cattle are taking to the ponds to keep cool. 

Surprise! 

Here's why the cow was calling from the pond... there were six cows and six calves! 

Today, I went to a Pie Social at a very old church in Leavenworth 

County, the Little Stranger Church.  The pie social was held to raise money to start

fixing  this old building to keep it from falling in. 

The McKinney sisters of Moundridge, Kansas, were part of the entertainment. 

They were wonderful, three high-schoolers who sang gospel and bluegrass in perfect harmony. They played the fiddle, the dobro, guitar and one picked a mean banjo.  

This young girl (Mikyl???) had a wonderful voice, very strong. 

You see the building needs a lot of preserving, but it is on the registry of historic places. 

There is a beautiful old cemetery around it, and one woman has been taking it upon herself to keep it trimmed.  The last time I was there, it was very overgrown. 

Those are lilies about to bloom in the middle, there. 

Yes, the old outhouse is still there! 

There were so many different kinds of pie and cake... I had chocolate pecan pie, it was great! 

The Kemps also entertained us with more bluegrass music, and I really enjoyed them. 

I hope you enjoyed this visit to Little Stranger Church! 

More rain coming tomorrow.  I hope we all don't float away!