Having a bad day...so far...

....and I'll tell you why!

First off... I awoke feeling awful, with this cold that has been hanging on for days and days; renewed in it's intensity about 100%!

I drag myself out of bed (2 hours earlier than usual) and go to put on my robe over my PJs. As I was pulling it together, what did I spy, on the inside, crawling up from the hem??? Yep -you got it- a spider-a BIG, mean and ugly spider! I got out of that robe in a flash-dropped it but quickly picked it up again to look for the spider. It had gone (under my bed??) and I'm left wondering if I imagined seeing it. I DO hope so because I will eventually have to sleep again in that bed!

After finding another warm robe , and checking for spiders, I make my way out to the kitchen; hoping to find the coffee made. No such luck on this hapless day...as my husband is sleeping in front of the TV in his den.

Oh well- first I need to put the cats out. Only Lucy is normally indoors overnight-and the others sleep on the back porch...but with this extremely cold weather we've had I often let the 3 of them come in at night. They were all ready and eager to go out and face the cold morning.

I had settled down with my first cup of coffee a little bit later. I happened to glance at the sliding door that goes out to the porch and there sits my little Lucy! OK-at first I thought because of the cold she had got her fill of the outdoors quickly. As I was going to let her in I was able to get a better look...and there she was- wanting to offer me another gift of a dead bird! :( Made me very sad-and MAD at Lucy! You'd think the Meow Mix I always have ready for her would be enough!!

There was nothing I could do as the little bird was not moving and there was no chance of rescuing it...but I darn sure wasn't about to let that cat in right at that moment! I didn't watch any longer!

Some might say I should confine my cats to the house-at all times. It's not possible for us to do that for a lot of reasons. It's the natural order of things so, as upsetting as it can be at times, I realize I can't save the world -or even the birds and lizards that my cats catch...(not to mention the Hawks that get many more than my cats do!) It's in the Plan- nature is designed that way.

Nevertheless I am STILL not in a very good mood with Miss Lucy...but I will get over it!

My cats:

Lucy and Tiger
and
General Tommy Franks

Our temps were again in the high 20s overnight and everything was frosty when I first got up! It's depressing with all our plants brown and dead looking. Not sure how much will revive at all...if and when this winter weather gets over! Many of our citrus trees are hurt bad- if not totally DEAD!

Our place after the freezes:

Orange trees are badly damaged, with fruit dropping and some still hanging on but ruined

The green grass is Rye grass , a winter grass that my husband sowed-so we'd have some green. The brown you see in back would be the way our yard would look without the Rye grass.

Dead fern all around the fish pond...

Roses will come back but are pitiful right now!

(Click on pics to enlarge)











Thank God for the Camellias! They are a winter flower here and our bushes are very tall ( maybe 10 ft) and loaded with blooms! Our colors are red and light pink (the big bushes) and we have 2 small bushes with white blooms!
Only cheerful thing about this long, cold winter!!















If I can beat this cold I figure I might have a chance of making it to Spring!



SO....How is your day going-so far?? :)




Junie Rose

Cold day here in our Sunshine state!

~~~

Oh, so cold!

We had another freezing cold night and it has remained cold all day- plus it was drizzling rain for a big part of the day! Snow was even predicted- but that didn't happen! Gloomy weather, for sure!

I've been in the house all day ...was happy not to have anything to do that would require my getting bundled up and going out!

My little Lucy had her appointment with the vet today. I felt sad to send her off with C. on such a day...but I guess a warm and sunny day would have not made much difference to the poor little girl!

I told her it's for the best that she not have babies...and she agreed that, really, her favorite thing to do is to stalk the lizards and birds in the back yard...and squirrels, even! She still gets great joy out of attacking the big boys too. They have grown accustomed to her harassing and jumping on them and just swat her down, good-naturedly , if she gets too far out of line!!

Actually, I guess what she never had will not be missed that much!

She's resting now in her favorite spot in my living room- not fully back to her normal, feisty, self!
When she's up to it I will offer her some dinner.

MY CATS:

You can see the big guys are pretty much OK with Lucy these days...The 3 of them even snuggle up together to sleep on these cold nights!
























~~~

Chili on the menu tonight for the people in the family...just right for this kind of day/night. I've been nibbling all day and am not hungry at all but I probably will be in a couple hours! Chili is better if left to simmer for awhile anyway-IMO!

I hope tomorrow is not quite so cold because we have plans for a trip south to visit relatives for the day. We're going to Winter Haven to the home of my cousin...meeting up there with my sister, Gloria and her husband ( from near Sebring) and her daughter and S-I-L who are out from Ca- and also her daughter from Homestead, Fl. My sis, Joy and her husband who live here in Ocala are going also! Hope it will be a fun day for us all!...We'll leave early in the morning and will return early in the evening.

Have a good night!
Keep warm!


Junie

Tiger and Charlie!

This is Tiger, my husband's favorite pet around here! Tiger is so sweet, no one can resist him. He LOVES spending time in my husband's den and is usually on his lap! This time I found him napping on the bed we have temporarily set up in that room!

I also got some pics of Charles in his new robe! I think he looks quite cuddley in it! ;)
Tiger likes it too!








Junie