Char's Blog

If I wash him in hot water will he shrink and turn gray?

Tux in Washer

Autumn Tree

Remember today the people who are the defenders of  our country.

I went out to call the men folk in to dinner one night and as I was standing on the porch, I thought I heard something, something not like a chicken or a bird but more like a kitten, yelling.  I noticed The Boy heading off in the direction of the sound so I figured they had it covered.

They came in a bit later and Col. Panic looked at me with a funny look.  In code, so as to not alert the girls, we discussed what they had found.  A little kitten.  The kitten appeared friendly and came out to them.

Now a word of explanation.  Col. Panic has my mother and others convinced he hates cats.  Although not totally true, they are not on the top of his favorite animal list.  In fact, I don’t think they even make the favorite animal list.  They would more likely make the top of the Least Favorite Animal List.   The last cat we had we took in as a favor for a neighbor.  He was old when we got him, who was to know he would live so long to torture us?  Actually, he and I got along fairly well but he drove The Col. nuts because he was loud and jumpy.  He finally died and that was the end of the cat era in our household.  I figured it would last until one of the girls looked at him with big eyes and said “Please, Papa!”  He would grumble at that suggestion saying that they had better be old enough to take care of it themselves.

So here we were talking in code about an apparently abandoned little kitten.  The kitten had already made points by being friendly.  We knew if we left him out there he would end up as coyote bait.  After dinner we all went trumping out to the weeds- it was easy to find him as he was still yelling, maybe calling for his Mom?  The girls, predictably, loved him.

So now I would like to introduce to you our new family member- Tuxedo.

We decided that Tuxedo was a better name than Coyote Bait.  Although that is his middle name.  His little eyes were blue when we first found him but have changed to yellow now.

Tux lets himself be wrapped up in a blanket and carted around- he is actually asleep in that picture with Pixie.  He will just lay down where ever he is and go to sleep- even on the floor with tons of kids playing around him.  The girls think they need to carry him over to his food and water even though I tell them he is perfectly capable of getting there himself.   He will let them know when he has had enough with a meow or sometimes more if they aren’t listening.  He loves to play- the rat he is wrestling was slightly larger than he was when we first brought it home for him.  He loves to wrestle with it.  He will play with anything- potatoes, corn husks, plastic eggs, crayons- just about anything lying around on the floor.

Tuxedo figured out what the litter box was for right away and has not had an accident.  However, he doesn’t seem to realize that the great outdoors is perfectly good for that also.  He’s been known to run into the house straight to his box.  I’m wondering how we are going to teach that one.

So The Col. has allowed another cat into the family.  Shhh!  Don’t tell, but he’s really a softy.

Once upon a time there was a young Prince who fell in love with a slightly older Princess.  The relationship had its ups and downs until finally the Princess saw the writing on the wall and made it clear that they were finished.  The Prince was saddened and went on alone.  A few months later, word came to him that the Princess was with child.  What to do?  The young Prince knew she didn’t want him in her life anymore and it was not from her that he heard this news.  The Prince made the decision to let things be and see what would happen.

Years passed and the Prince met a new Princess with whom he fell in love.  He told her his story right from the start.  He wondered if and when a child might come knocking upon his door.  They decided to wed and managed to wander through their lives together for many, many years.  They had children and the Prince would occasionally look into their faces and wonder….

One day, the fairies that are always in fairy tales led the Prince to a message on the Internet which said, “If you are the Prince who knew this Princess, then I would like to talk to you.“  Was this the knock on the door?

Messages were exchanged and the truth was confirmed.  Yes, it was the knock of the child, a daughter!  Her Mother had passed on into the mists without revealing the true identity of her father, but a kind soul knew a name, only a name, so the daughter wrote it in a place where she hoped that he would find it…  and she waited.  The Prince and his child are thrilled to get to know each other.  The Prince’s other children are excited to have a sister.  And the other Princess?  She gets to be a wicked stepmother; aren’t there always those in fairy tales, too?

**********

This is not a made up story, obviously.  This is the story of our lives.  We are thrilled to introduce to you our 24 year-old daughter.  I’ll have to think of a good nickname for her.  She lives far away but we are looking forward to seeing her in person some day.

And best of all?

We are GRANDPARENTS!!!!

Things are definitely in need of repair here at Char’s Blog.  I just received my email notification for last night’s posting, and discovered that the web link is broken!  I’m sure some of you have noticed that, too.

I’ll try to fix it this weekend.  Meanwhile, you should be able to browse to http://www.char-lyn.com/ and find the postings you want to read.  Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Sunshine was playing in her room and found a coin purse full of coins.  She came to me and handed me a dime and a nickel.   They were a gift for me.

“How sweet! But are you sure you want to give it away?”

“Yes, it’s for you.”  she nodded seriously “I checked, it’s not the special coin Papa brought from his trip.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it and spend it?”

“No.”  she shook her head.  “I want you to have it.”

I’ve been hearing the coins clink in my pocket all day and it makes me smile.

I haven’t been able to upload photos to the blog when using my default browser (Firefox) for some time now.  It “broke” when Firefox was upgraded.  I have been using the Evil Windows Internet Explorer in order to put in photos and post.  Now, for some unexplained reason, that will not work either.  Apparently, I will have to get my Tech Support to upgrade Wordpress on the server.

How will I manage without photos?  I might have to use, gasp!, WORDS.  I used to do it all the time- before I got lazy and learned that inserting photos was a great (i.e. easy) way to post.  I didn’t have to worry about vocabulary and grammer.  Much less the ellusive spelling thing.  Sigh. 

Anyway, we’ll work on things here.  I’ll be back.

We were in a store yesterday, and one of the children begged to get a shovel. 

It was not The Boy.

She has a little plastic one that she was so excited to get  but it was very cheap and I knew it wouldn’t last long.  She seemed disapointed that she wasn’t able to dig in the hard earth with it.  Then the handle broke a little.

This is not the one that wants everything she sees.  That one walks through the store saying “Oh!  I want that!”  “I want that.”  “I like that, can I have it?”  This, of course, is when the Mother looses patience and says “Don’t you DARE ask for one more thing!”  I mean, really, how many different ways can a person say “no”.  It apprently doesn’t sink in- there is always the hope that I mean “no” for that ONE item, not the one next to it.

So here was the child that doesn’t ask for much, looking all sweet, begging “Please?!”  For a shovel.  We bought it for her.  She has been happily digging in the hard earth with it.

Then we approached the sporting goods area and she thought she’d also like a fishing pole.  She didn’t get that.

Now, I bet you know which girl – can you guess?

(Note:  I know I’ve been sadly neglecting my blog.  I promised more beach photos- I’ll see about getting them up.  There are other stories that need to be told too. )

Col. Panic had promised to take his little Pixie to the beach last year and somehow it didn’t happen.  This year it was a priority.

We drove to my parent’s place, spent a night and then headed to the coast.  We took The Long Way because that is just how we do things, much to the disgruntlement of the children.  They see no sense in it but who said parents had to make sense?

We were all glad to arrive, check out the ocean and find ice cream.

 After walking around awhile The Boy decided he would much rather go back to the hotel room, get into comfy clothes and relax.  It didn’t hurt that there was T.V. there with a kazillion channels.  But no, his parents were still in Torture the Children Mode and insisted on going out in paddle boats.

All safe in lifejackets.

The hotel key fell out of my pocket somewhere out there.  The river then became known as “The Lost Key River”.  And about every river we went over from that point on was called that- so hard to keep rivers hundreds of miles apart straight.  The hotel was very understanding and didn’t charge us anything. 

We made those poor children go out to eat and then FINALLY let them go back to the hotel room….and watch T.V.

We did spend time on the beach- stay tuned!

Going down the trail.

Peeking to see if we’re coming.

Having a good time.