WILD KINGDOM!!

For the past two Sundays, we (OK, me and Dylan) have been watching the Discovery Channel as they show the 11 part show about life. It has been really interesting to watch.

But it has made me a little jealous for a couple of reasons. One, "I want to take pictures like that!" I would LOVE to be able to go to places like they get to to take pictures of WILD animals and beautiful scenery!

Two, is that for those of you in hearing distance of my voice know that Maggie (my camera and D'Kota and Dylan's sister) has not been home for FOUR MONTHS! And I have lost my mind, just a little bit.

I was using my cell phone to take pictures. Yes, I know! I do have another camera but it was like using my cell phone with a cool zoom with that thing and only added to my stress.

Well, this morning, she decided to show up. All wrapped in plastic and all cleaned up and healed and looking quite rested.

So I decided to put her to work.

So I looked around my house to find things to take pictures of and found.......

A WILD KINGDOM!!!!

I have stopped listening to the Vet and don't think that Rufus needs to lose weight and so I give him bones with meat on them.

So I fed the beast and he provided the best fodder for my picture taking needs.

At first he was a little hesitant to eat with me watching him.

But I think the smell of the meat made him not care anymore.

So I started taking pictures.

It turns out that I had to control my need for picture taking for so long that once I got her in my hands again.......

I could not stop. Teddy was not too comfortable watching me taking pictures of Rufus eating that. But poor Teddy is SOOOOOOO fat from eating so many birds that he could not get up to move away from the show.

So here are my pictures of my wild kingdom here in Huntington.

I also think that I could also use these pictures to scare people or things.

Wouldn't you think twice about breaking into a house with a picture of this dog at the front door?

Or make that meat salesman that does not understand the word "NO" think about skipping this house?

I am hoping it will make the deer think about whether they REALLY want to eat my flowers?

That's not their 2nd cousins' hairdressers son is it?

That is a hip bone right?

Cuz it DOES look like Edith! That crazy old deer that was always yelling at the younger deer as they ran through her yard!!!

OK, I am running out of comments for these.

Holy Crap! Just how many pictures did I take?

O Good, here we go. Something else to look at.

The purple tulip in my kitchen window.

I love this vase, don't you?

And a different color scheme to look at. My purple flower and my red tomatoes. In the morning sun.

And the door on the house across the alley from us. The door is on the 2nd floor but once you step out of it.... WHAM!! Your face hits the ground. Of course spring has finally sprung here so that gorgeous tree is in the way. I have been waiting pretty much all winter to get these pictures. I guess I should be glad we will be staying here for another winter. So I will get another opportunity to get pictures of those scenes I have longed to capture all winter long.

Holding on

Some day I will be able to just lay around a watch people, right? For those of you who do not know this man, his name it Teddy and got his name from Dylan because he could not say "kitty, kitty" without it coming out, well not so nice. So we call him Teddy. He was given to us by Melissa about 4 years ago and is now a permanent part of our family. His life is really good. A bowl of food every day. Clean water and a warm blanket and a dog to sleep next to. And since I put a bird feeder on the front porch, his snacks come right to him, already fat themselves. Life is perfect.

But for the rest of us, it seems like we are just holding on. As some of you may or may not know, Eric is diabetic. He is insulin dependant and gets to stab himself everyday for probably the rest of his life. He will probably also get mad at me for telling people this. I do it for my boys. I do not want this to be something they have to hide from. D'Kota is already scared because what will he do if he gets it too? The boy can't even look at his own wrist without wanting to pass out and turning green. So it starts now, holding on. If you look at this picture you will hopefully see that the only things holding this fence post in place is three lines of barb wire and a simple piece of wood that was stuck in the ground. Not on other part of this post is touching the ground or even a rock. Who's holding you?

This picture is me. If you look close you will see that one toe is still holding on to the barb wire. It was if the beautiful bird (even thou now we have now real idea what kind it is without getting even more involved than just looking at it) was watching the morning sun rise and something that it had no clue about was quickly coming in behind it to rip it clean and leave it still holding on. It's spine is still intact. The things I see on my walk is pretty cool huh? Too bad Maggie is in Florida and will not be home until March 21 or a poor man in New York named Ethan will know how this bird felt just before it could not feel any more. So I am holding on and taking pictures with my cell phone to feed my need for picture taking. (And just so you know, Mom, I did not touch this dead bird. He was like that when I found him. No dead bird germs on me. )

I really like this picture. Not sure if I am tooting my own horn, not that one D'Kota! Or what, maybe I do have skills and it is not just my camera. I took this one with my cell phone as well. If you look really close, you can see where I walk across the middle part of this everyday. I have added a couple of miles and am loving the view. As long as I don't take pictures off the sides Mom will still read my blog. So I went to the top and took this. Beautiful isn't it? I DO HAVE SKILLS!!!!! Raise you hand if you looked really close at this picture to see if I was telling the truth? Come on!!!! Be honest! This is part of the graffiti rock I pass each morning and I would have to be an ant to cross this rock bridge. Even the squirrels are too big for it. Yep, skills.

I friend of mine tells me that I am not really making sense lately probably because I have not landed yet from hearing all this bad news. If that is true, I do not want to come down. I want to be as oblivious as Rufus and just be. Besides just what is it that any of us can really do put hold on and just keep going. Doing just what a man in church's talk was about. Doing our best with where we are, what we have and what we know. So I will continue to fly up here where ever I am, taking things in stride. Holding on to the things that will hold still long enough for me to catch.

And keep going.