This is the time of year for those wonderful county fairs with livestock judging, horse shows, a carnival on the grounds with all the scary rides the kids love, booths selling candy apples, cotton candy, hot dogs, pretzels with spicy mustard, funnel cakes and all kinds of good things that make your eyes get big and your mouth water!

     Mom and grandma always headed for the pavillion where the canned goods were judged, the handmade quilts were on display, jams and jellies galore, pie and cake contests with the judges required to taste each and every one and looking pretty green by the time the judging was all over.

I remember the hog calling contests and the log pulling contests with big chains tied around cut logs and those huge draft horses pulling them .. the winner pulled the most logs the farthest in the ring.  Dad always headed for the farm equipment display or the sale barn where you could see horses, cattle, sheep, or goats up for auction.  My grandad was an auctioneer and I used to marvel at the rapid fire speech and the way he and the other "criers of the sale" could see the funny little movements of the prospective buyers in the crowd..some scratched their nose , touched the rim of their hat, moved their feet, tugged on an ear lobe while others would raise an arm and yell something to make a bid..."YO."..."YEAH"..  "RIGHT HERE COLONEL"... auctioneers were called colonel and my grandad had a special nickname cause he was so tall,,,"Colonel High Pockets",,,always made me grin whenever somebody hailed him that way.  I always felt sad for the big old bulls led into the arena with a big ring in their nose and a rope tied to it..the seller would lead it round and round the arena so the people could get a good look at it before the bidding started.  It was usually hot and the bulls were so big and fat and muscular and they had a rolling gait like a bulldog when viewed from the rear....usually there was a long string of slobber hanging from their nose and the seller would pull a red checked hanky from his overalls pocket and wipe it away occasionally.

Our state fair was over late August, but county fairs are in full swing through September and some  into October.  If you get a chance, attend one and  meet me by the Merry Go Round or the Ferris Wheel...I'm not afraid to ride them!

Hugs, Gayle

2 comments View Entry

     There's a killing going on here....

...sitting at my computer desk right off the kitchen, I heard a sound and went to investigate as Paisley darted out past me and sprinted into the living room.  I spied a gallon milk jug lying on the floor that I keep to fill water bowls for the critters.  "What'd you do that for?" I yelled at Paisley who had now disappeared behind a living room chair.  She trotted out and there was that "telltale tail" hanging from her mouth.....yes friends....ANOTHER mouse.  Sometimes I feel like we're being invaded by the nasty things and it'll only get worse as the weather gets colder and they move in  like the Yankees who escape to Florida each winter.

I wont include all the gory details , but suffice it to say it was a long, drawn out death for said mouse as Paisley caught, released ,  recaught it over and over again.  I called to Sugar, dozing under the kitchen table, and he strolled in looking all sleepy eyed but very quickly got all excited when he saw what Paisley was up to.   At the next release, he pounced on the thing and began his own version of "let's play the mouse to death"  adding his own special flourishes by throwing it up in the air and  leaping on it when it landed.  Frankly I got a bit bored with the game and retired to the computer desk to busy myself with mails till it was all over and " the deed was done".  Periodically I went into the living room to check on the "progress"  only to find the scene replaying itself over and over...Paisley and Sugar actually SHARING the thing by batting it to each other as though they were playing ball...that's a new one!

    I am now ashamed to admit that I have "lost" the corpse and cannot find the place where it was  [at last] laid to rest.  All I know is that both Sugar and Paisley eventually rejoined me in my room , so figuring it was all over, ..I searched the house with a dustpan in one hand and the pooper scooper in the other ...ready to dispose  of the dead body outside as usual, but no corpus delicti manifested itself.

I have learned a valuable lesson this day...remain and watch the slaying like a witness at a gas chamber execution or  you may be left with an empty casket!

3 comments View Entry

I iz Sugar cat and

I iz da great white hunter in mom's house

and I'm resting up now coz I just caught her a mouse!  Yup, I did...found 'em in the bathroom .  Creepy lil fella and durned fast too but I got 'em .  Mom was so proud and follered  me aroun' da house saying "don't drop him...don't drop him"  coz he wasnt

dead yet..said she could still see his tail

amovin' and didnt want this one to crawl under the dryer like that udder one done.

I brought 'em into da kitchen fer Paisley to look at too and then she follered me aroun' da house just like mom...dat's what pesky lil sisters do.. they look up to big brothers like me so I tries to set a good example fer her.  I could tell she wanted in on da hunt so I finally squatted down and spit da lil fella out in front of her and she got all excited and batted 'em aroun' and had da best ole time. 

     Mom kep' close watch till she wuz sure da lil fella was a goner and then  she scooped 'em up in a dustpan and tossed 'em

outside..she sure was prouda me and petted

me lots and kep' sayin' "that's my good big boy!"

    She calls me Big Boy sometimes coz I weighs in 'tween 20 to 25 lbs now  but sometimes she calls me Stinky when I use da litterbox!  Says  she never smelled anythin' like it and the girls' poop dont stink that bad..so how come mine does?

She named me Sugar coz I iz all white 'cept for some ginger spots on my back and ears and also coz she says I iz so  sweet!

Oh yeah, she sez I iz a clumsy tom boy too

coz sometimes I knock stuff over and I should try to be as graceful as that prissy Miz Callie Cat who never does nuthin' 'cept sit aroun' lickin' herself alla time and

lookin' pretty with all that long hair.  But Miz  Callie never caught no mouse neither..so there mom!!

    Well I jus' thought I'd drop y'all a lil note to show ya ...Paisley ain't da only one dat knows how ta write and it's kinda

embarrassin' to have yer lil sister outdo ya, ifn ya know what I mean.  So till next time when I do sumthin' else wonderful fer my mom, I'll say so long and curl up fer a well deserved nap...ifn ya wanta praise me like mom does, ya can write ta her and I'm pretty sure she'll tell me.

    So long...Sugar

4 comments View Entry

If something was gonna' get rubbed off your keyboard....wouldnt you think it'd be the vowels?? Not at my house...my "e",,h"..."n" and "m" are gone and my "d" is looking pretty puny too!  So today I tried cutting out small pieces of tape...yeah..itty bitty squares mind you...writing in ink those letters on them and then sticking them on the guilty keys...Do you know how difficult it is to get a piece of tape about a half inch square off your fingertip and attached to a key pad???  Glad you weren't around as it wasn;t a pretty sight and the air around me turned blue with oaths as I shook my finger in the general direction of the keyboard...ever had a piece of Saran wrap get stuck to you?  You know what I mean then...My pal Di informed me you could actually BUY stick on letters for the thing...now why didn't I think of that?  so have a friend who's out shopping today gonna check it out for me...now I'm wondering just how hard it's gonna' be to get these itty bitty homemade pieces of adhesive tape off the darned keys??  This thing is only a year old and Im not about to buy a new one just cause  a few letters have gone missing! 

  I hate to tattle on dear ole Tippy dog but he's in the doghouse today for digging in the cat litter box!  No he was not burying a bone in there...he was looking for the poop!!

do you believe he actually will eat the stuff??? I know..I know..it's disgusting ...but some dogs do that sort of thing and others don't...My big ole collie Baby did it while border collie Tuxedo would never even think of such a thing...Baby also liked to roll in smelly stuff ..Tux didnt..guess theyre as individual as people are and find some human habits pretty disgusting too!

  Critter snack time...the cats are looking at

me accusingly like "dont you KNOW what time it is" so while I apologize profusely and beg their forgiveness, will sign off to my human friends and go be subservient to my feline ones!

Hope you're having a good one!

Hugs,  Gayle

3 comments View Entry

Does your  gramma still whisper in your ear?  Mine does...all those little pearls of wisdom and words of advice that she passed on to me long ago are still with me ...like last night after I took out the towels from the dryer and plopped them in the laundry basket for folding tomorrow...I heard her say...

4 comments View Entry

 Halloooo Friends & Neighbors!  And a Happy Tuesday Afternoon to you..

  Just couldn't resist sharing this graphic that Tobyjug1001 [Doris] sent me today suggesting that since the mouse under the dryer no longer appears to be there..possibly a friend of his helped make good his escape from the waiting jaws of my 3 kitties!

  God knows we've had enough rain that he could have found the frog in my back yard with no trouble!  Question is...where did the frog swim  so the aforesaid mouse could disembark safely, thank his pal for the transportation and proceed on his merry way???

   Personally,  I'm hoping he has found his way into my neighbor's house as she has no cats to threaten his existence and she's been laughing at my cats' inability to catch and destroy the lil bugger!   God will forgive me from wishing this peril upon her cause I clean out the weeds from her fence row that constantly invade my flower bed!  Let him be HER guest and not mine!

  As Martha says...."It's a Good Thing.."           

To be continued....Hugs..Gayle

2 comments View Entry

Well, I got an email today from friend whose story beats my mouse one all to heck and back...seems she went into laundry room and thought her kid had left a stuffed animal atop the dryer...but when she tried to pick it up..it moved and she saw it was a live opossum!  She shrieked and called in a neighbor to help her.
    Both these "brave" ladies were actually scaredy cats and they 'dressed up" for the possum hunt by putting on boots and gloves and arming themselves with brooms!
[I understand the brooms...but boots???]  Did they plan to drop kick it out of the house like a football??
   She says they found it in the kitchen eating the cat food and said she suddenly remembered she'd left her back door open one cool day a week ago so her cats could come and go at will...figures the possum had been in house for a week enjoying the AC and eating cat food and drinking their water and  was quite happy in that cushy environment.
     Our great white hunters followed the thing into the living room where it went under a futon on the floor...my friend talked her pal into jumping up & down on it to scare it out!   So while her pal jumped up and down on the futon , my friend  waved her broom about and yelled like a banshee...it worked..and the thing waddled out the back door and into the yard where it got caught in the fence trying to escape from the 2 crazy ladies chasing it waving their brooms in the air. My friend says she smacked it in the butt with the broom and it went limp and played dead for 20 minutes!
      They went back into house, removed boots and gloves, put away their brooms and  had a cup of tea together.  My friend called her husband who cracked up at the office and he now promises to take her on an African safari for their next vacation!
    I offered my friend a tidy sum to bring her boots, gloves and broom to my house and add my mouse to her trophy collection..I'll even pay to have it stuffed and wall mounted for her den...she declined...

2 comments View Entry