Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Ya think?!

We're in bed last night. Cuddle Buns, Rudy, and me. I'm reading. Cuddle Buns is ready to drift off. Then he says: "Do you think Rudy is spoiled?" I look over to see Rudy, under the covers next to Cuddle Buns with his head on Cuddle Bun's pillow. Looking at me like....WHAT?

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My Rancheros


Zoey and I left for The Ranch on Thursday. What a time we had! The Ranch is NW of Hamilton way NW of Temple. It belongs to Cuddle Bun's brother and his wife. It is an awesome retreat!


We fed the cows and got to pet them.


And take their pictures. (With that camera, Zoey's shots look strangely like Cinderella.) (She is a very serious photographer. Takes after her gramma who apparently has dropped out of her online photography class.)



We walked all over nearly 100 acres. (Yes....her pants ARE falling down. They were wet and muddy and therefore a  heavy weight. They probably would have fallen down anyway. The girl has no butt! )
We walked up the "mountain" 4 or 5 times for these views:





A glorious view, isn't it?
 We found the windmill several times.


And Rudy got to wade in the pond. Zoey only got close enough to throw deer corn into it for the fish.



Our walking was off-and-on all day on Friday. Beautiful day for walking. On Saturday it snowed. NOT KIDDING. Not a real snow, according to NW Iowa standards. But it was snow! Momentary snow. With winds at 30 mph. So, cold, wet, horizontal snow.

Rudy and I came home Saturday evening while Zoey stayed with her Daddy for an extra day. Rudy was exhausted. After a bath (no way he was getting into bed with me with mud encrusting him and pond stink on him!) he passed out. Burrowed under the pillows and all tucked in.



Friday, March 12, 2010

Day 5 of Rudy Watch

I didn't mention this earlier because I didn't want all 3 of you to worry, but Monday morning when I got up I felt the need to rush Rudy to the vet. He hadn't been eating for about a week. Not hardly at all. He was still frisky. Still drinking. Still playing tug. Just not eating. I tried a new food, and Monday morning, bright and early, after sampling the new food, he threw up. So I immediately called the vet.

Dr. Key (bless him...he's been our vet for as long as we've lived in Humble and had pets) checked him out and found nothing wrong. He said, "You know what it's like. We don't always feel like eating either." I think my stomach growled when I assured him that I had indeed no idea what he was talking about. Dr. Key offered to do blood work but thought we should just watch him for lethargy, yadayadayada.

So, I brought him home (Rudy, not Dr. Key) and we have been watching him. More so than usual. Cuddle Buns has been giving me reports in the morning before he goes to work to let me know if Rudy just peed or peed AND pooped during his pre-dawn outside time.

And now I have probably created a binge eater. Everytime poor Rudy takes a nibble I cheer and tell him what a good boy he is. Today he ate all of his breakfast AND all of his dinner. He was very proud. As was I.


It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The kind of day I used to spend in a windowless school wishing I could escape to enjoy the warm weather with no humidity. We only get about three days like that a year here in the Houston area. 

Rudy spends most of his day outside when it is nice. Today, I sat outside for a long while with him. Luxurious. Brilliant sky. Breeze that moved the wind chimes. Birds chirping like crazy.

I tried to get a shot of the intense green of the trees against the splendid blue sky.



Rudy wasn't paying any attention to the weather or the sky or the breeze in the trees. He was busy trying to burrow under the fence to properly meet his new friend. They were nose-to-nose all day. We might need a play date.



TO THE LIBRARY LADIES (and really to most everyone I've seen this week): Thanks for looking so patiently at Rudy's baby book and cooing the expected oohhs and aahhhs. I agree. He was the cutest baby ever. And still is!




Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Fridge Art

Rudy can't draw yet, so I have none of his work from our fridge to display. However, with three of the grandkids destined for The Louvre, he will have some catching up to do. (He's much younger than they are, to be fair.)

When she becomes famous, I'm sure psychologists will have a field day with Zoe's early works.


She also works with magnets. 


Only the "U" gets to sing in the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics thingy. All the other letters are used in an upsweep fashion that she diligently checks for order when she comes over. I'm sure I've seen some of her future performance art, as well.

At the top of the fridge is a masterpiece by Maddox. He works in tape. This jet liner is several sheets taped masterfully together.


Maddox spent hours at Christmas taping together telescopes for Gramma and Gramps as well as other murals. I can't wait for him to discover duct tape. Think of the possibilities!

This rocket ship is by Hayden. (YES. It IS a rocket ship.)




If you read closely, you will discover that he has indicated that the ship runs on electricity and not on fuel. Very forward thinking child. Another amazing thing about this art work is that only months ago, he flat out refused to hold a pen or pencil unless bribed with M&Ms  or Hershey Kisses. Amazing stuff.

At this point I would like to say a special THANK YOU to Cuddle Buns. He has been such a good sport putting up with my artistic endeavors. Although not as creative or even productive as my grandkids, I do dabble. For the last few days I have had an extra table set up in my kitchen for my scrapping attempts. Now, that in-and-of-itself is a pretty big deal. BUT, when you consider that my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp, he has truly been heroic in his silence of this mess creative exploration. 


The table started out in the living room. But, we spend a fair bit of time in the living room, and I thought it should have an air of order. Besides, all my knitting stuff is in there.