GONE GIRL CAT

Our sweet boy-cat left us this spring. Now our feisty girl-cat is gone, too. We are still a little shocked at how quickly we lost them. He was nearing twenty -- we don't know his age for sure -- and she was just seventeen.

We'd had the boy a few months when a relative called. A papa cat, mama cat, and four kittens had turned up on his doorstep. The papa delivered his family and left. The relative took the mama cat and a neighbor took the kittens. Two of them found homes. Would we take one of the two that were left?

We went to look at them. The neighbor already had five or six adult cats -- she was brave to take on the four kittens! -- and they were all in the living room, looking on with bemusement as one of the kittens ran around playing with a toy. If another cat tried to take it away, she grabbed it back. And they let her. That little black and white ball of fur was clearly the boss. She cowed them all, including her brother.

My guy pointed to her. "That one. She's got personality."

And that she did. When we got her home, she assumed the role of queen of the house and never relinquished it. Our darling boy-cat wasn't sure what to make of her but was too much of a gentleman to object. He let her do as she pleased except when it came to food. He had been a street cat, and he took umbrage at anyone interfering with his meals.

So for all but a couple of months of her seventeen years, she lived with us and her adopted brother. When he left us, she must have been bewildered. I don't think she remembered life without him. She went downhill, had to be put on steroids. That helped, bringing back her appetite and giving her some energy. I thought the worst was past.

Then last week, she threw up, curled up into a ball, and refused to eat. Even her favorite tuna juice got nothing more than a desultory sniff. She started hiding under the computer table or in the closet without moving for hours, and I knew it was time.

I do think she was pining for her brother.

Now the house is quiet and we have no need to watch for a warm furball or make room for a little form to lie beside my guy while we watch TV. We are thankful for all the good years we enjoyed them, but oh, we are missing both of them dreadfully!

The queen:

Our gentleman:

BEEN MISSING

We've had company the past two weeks and I haven't got much done. I didn't even have time to post a new blog last weekend!

But I'm back with a couple of pix. In the first one, the young girl is showing off what she found on the beach. In the second, we see what it is!

In case you can't tell, it's a baby horseshoe crab shell. They found several molted shells, but this is the tiniest I've ever seen.

Beaches are so much fun!

FOURTH OF JULY

Both the places we've lived in the most recent years, have gone all out for the Fourth.

Here, they hold the Sunshine Festival around the holiday, with activities including bands and food and a run. And of course fireworks at dark. They close off the pier and shoot them over the water. People sit on the sidewalks and lawns and under the roof at the Casino to watch them explode. Last year, they had patriotic music playing as the fireworks exploded, and it was wonderful!

Up in our north Georgia town, there is an annual steam engine parade in the morning, All kinds of steam engines, including tractors and calliopes, participate. They give out free earplugs because they're noisy! People line the streets to watch. Then they have a festival in the park afterward. Finally, they set their fireworks off at dark. It's always great fun!

Wishing everyone can safely enjoy fireworks on the Fourth of July and hoping everyone drives carefully!

BARGAIN BOOKS

I don't know how many sites there are that will send you online newsletters for reduced price and free books, but I think I must belong to most of them!

It takes at least an hour just to scroll through them every day. Some days I just have to hit delete and let any good deals pass me by.

There is Book Bub, of course. Everyone's heard of it, I'm sure.

Then there are The Fussy Librarian, eReaderiQ daily, and Ebook bargain UK (but you can sign up for different countries including the USA).  Add to that Ereader News Today, the Kindle Book Review, and Readfree.ly. There are also Free Kindle Books and Tips along with Peoplereads.com...

And I also subscribe to Digital Book Spot, which I don't often look at because it lists so-o-o-o many books, it takes all my allotted time!

I found these when one of my books went on sale for $.99, and I wanted to do a little advertising. Unfortunately, ads run anywhere from eight dollars to four hundred. I did put a couple in some of the cheaper sites but didn't get much of a bounce in sales.

But I certainly have picked up a lot of book bargains!!!

LEMON TREE

This spring, we had a Bradford pear tree cut down because it had gotten so big the limbs were splitting off. One just missed the house.

Later, we set out a Meyer lemon tree because I love the fruit. The lemons aren't hard and sharp-tasting like regular lemons. They're less acidic and about the size of an orange. Granny Dale had a bush at her Florida house and we always brought some back when we could.

So we (actually, my guy) picked out one with lots of blossoms and planted it. When the lemons started making, he pinched off some so the others could thrive. The tree's about three feet high and its lemons are getting bigger.

They should be ripe sometime this fall. Then we'll juice them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays, then bag the cubes up so we can take out however many we need. (We learned this from Granny Dale, too.)

I keep thinking of lemon bars and lemon pie and lemon cake--most of which I rarely make but it's nice to dream, right? We'll use the juice for sauces and marinades for sure. Maybe even to make lemonade and add to iced tea!

Can't wait!

OUR SCHEDULE

My cat likes to stick to a schedule. She wakes us up somewhere between 6:15 and 6:45 every morning, meowing in my face. She looks like this:

If I don't get up, she waits patiently. For about five minutes. Then she pat-pat-pats my face and meows some more. Loudly.

I get up, feed her the food, give her fresh dry food and water, and clean her box, By then she's ready to nap. She sits quietly in the bedroom, waiting for us to make the bed up. Again, she's very patient. Unless we don't get it made up in a few minutes. Then she climbs back in and we have to move her to make it up which she doesn't like and so she protests pretty noisily.

Lunch, she strolls out as we're eating. I have to feed her wet food again. Otherwise, she stays underfoot till I do.

After lunch, she waits beside the bed to see if I'm going to take a nap. If I don't, she takes one by herself.

For supper, she starts demanding food early. I have to feed her before we eat. Lately, we've been giving her the steroid (tiny dose!) after supper and then giving her some of what we ate as a treat. She loves my guy's grilled stuff: pork chops, steaks, chicken, fish... I must admit, he's an expert griller! That might be why she doesn't eat so much of her cat food.

Then it's TV time. If we don't go toward the den, she stands in the door and looks at us expectantly. Once we sit down, she meows to be picked up and placed on the sofa between us. This is when she gets brushed. When she's had enough of that, she cuddles up with my guy. Strangely, only when we watch TV does she want to be with him. She follows me around the rest of the time.

When it's time to go to bed, she leads the way, looking back to make sure I'm following her. She sleeps by my feet, sometimes so quietly I don't know she's down there.

Until morning when it starts up again.

She gets upset when we do something different. I guess because she's getting old and set in her ways. And of course, we just do what she wants. It's easier that way.

I'm just glad she's stopped yowling in the middle of the night.

BIRDS WITH THEIR YOUNG

Looking out into our postage-stamp of a back yard:

Our lilies are starting to fade but are still pretty.

And this bird came up to the feeder the other day. I don't know what he is, but he has a splash of red on his wings that you can't see in the picture. We hadn't noticed him before or since. Maybe he was just passing through.

And I could not get a photo of our cardinals. Every time I tried to take one, they spotted me and flew away. A couple have been eating at our bird feeder for some time and lately, they've shown up with a large baby. Well, it can fly so I guess it's technically a fledgling.

What seems strange to me is that the mother and father feed it from the bird feeder. The baby sits on the table or a chair, and a parent comes down from the feeder and puts food into its mouth. A couple of times, the baby has lit on the feeder and seems to be eating, then she goes back to her old habits, waiting to be fed.

This has been going on for several days now. I'm wondering if the baby is a little slow? Seems like she ought to be able to feed herself by now.

But what do I know? Maybe this is what all birds do!