What Happened To My Sweet Little Kitty?

Last year my son rescued a sweet little kitty from some animal that was feeding on the litter a little at a time. The litter was where he worked. This little thing was so grateful he would love to climb on my shoulder and cuddle. he was so sweet. What happened to this gentle, loving kitty?

Remember this post: Porch Paint Job

And remember the culprit:

Yep! This is the same guy, only much bigger. Except now he is cocky, hyper, a terrorizer of the other animals, and sometimes a little psycho!

There is times he will run thru the house in hyper-mode like something out of the movie Matrix. Running full speed, sideways across the back of the couch, from one object to the next then out the doggy door. he has sat to the side of the doggy door out of site of the innocent family member coming thru the door. Then when they get thru , he pounces on them, rolling with them across the floor.I have made a mad dash to the bathroom (you antique women know how that it), sit down on the toilet in a hurried rush, to realize the seat is wet. Then when I get up I see muddy footprints on the seat and down inside. We now have to keep the seat down because he likes to play.

       For over 30 yrs we have kept cats. Since then, we no longer had a problem with mice in the house. UNTIL NOW! About a month ago, I was getting something out of a little cabinet. I kept smelling something.  So I pulled out the cabinet,and found a dead mouse to the right corner. Yea, I knew who did it. he probably brought it in to play, and hid it for later. So I swept him up in my dustpan, tossed it out, then mopped the floor. Then I noticed a piece of paper that had fell behind on the left corner. I picked it up, and there was another one under it. Except this one was so far gone, tufts of hair was around it, and coming  loose when I swept him up. I mopped again. 

        Now fast forward to yesterday afternoon, I am walking into the kitchen to start supper, and sitting in the middle of the floor is another small mouse. Now i hate mice and bugs, and if this critter had taken off running, I would have run screaming in the other direction. Probably looking for the nearest chair. But I grabbed a broom, and tried to hold him in place with the bristles. he was very slow moving, and seemed very weak. I guess another of Joey's playmates. He is hard on friends. Just as I had him trapped my husband came in and I quickly relinquished the handle. He held it, then I got the dust pan and he was able to scoop him in and throw him out. Then later that evening, another weak, and barely moving mouse was found in the bathroom floor. My son got him out.

                 What ever happened to cats keeping the mice OUT?!

                              Not bringing them in to play!

Western Style Handmade Homespun Kitchen Towel Tutorial

        I just finished this towel this morning, and I think it turned out pretty well. There are a few changes in measurements I have decided to make after seeing it. It went together really easy and quick. Use your own embroidery designs, or just stitch on a band of contrasting fabric instead. These would make great Christmas gifts as well. To purchase the machine embroidery design I used for this towel, then go to:
http://stitchthisdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/10/lost-horse-western-design.html

Go here to download towel topper pattern for free. Be sure your printed dimensions are approx 7 and 1/4" tall  x 5 and /8" wide at the widest point at the bottom.
DOWNLOAD TOPPER

Here is the tutorial for the towel.
1. cut desired fabric for the body of the towel 13" long, and 21" wide
2.Cut out 2 pieces for the towel topper. be sure and add in seam allowances to patern piece all the way around. Iron on stabilizer to one piece. This piece will be your TOP piece.. Cut a piece of velcro about 1" long and stitch onto top of topper, and on bottom about 1" up from folded edge of topper. Stitch these onto the TOP piece of topper only. be sure to center them.

3. Place topper pieces with right sides together. Stitch around, leaving bottom open. Clip curves, and turn right sides out. Press well.
4 Turn up edges on bottom towards inside and press well.

5. Cut decorative band 3" wide by 21" long. Stitch embroidery design in center, and fold over long edges approx 1/4" and press.
6. Place band on towel 3" up from bottom on towel, and stitch long edges down. press well again. Trim edges of band that meat sides of towel to same width of towel if needed.

7. With a narrow 1/4" hem, hem sides of towel (13" sides), and lower edge of towel. Leave top edge un-hemmed.
8. find center of towel and mark it at the top edge. Then measure over 3/4" from center, and then 3/4" over from that mark. Then do the same on the other side of center.

9. With back of towel facing you, Pinch up fabric at second mark and fold over to meet center. Fold should line up on 1st mark from center. Do the same with the opposite side. Pin well. ( pen in pic indicates center mark)

(these folds are shown from the TOP or RIGHT side of towel)

10. Now fold sides of towel over to back to meet in center. Form a pleat in each side as needed to make towel width same width as your topper. Pin in place.
11. Now slip upper edge of towel into bottom of topper. Pin and stitch all the way around edges  of topper.

(the above pic shows pleat from the back side)

Notice velcro side of topper is on the right side of towel, same side as decorative band.

Enjoy!

GMO seed and a Trip To Amish Country

     Last year my husband and I took our very first trip to an Amish area. We went to Berlin, Ohio, and visited Sugar Creek,and other local areas. we stayed in our camper and traveled everywhere on our Honda Gold Wing. We loved the trip. It was time to relax, enjoy the scenery, and each other. We enjoyed the buggies, watching the Amish kids playing in the school yard.  Laundry hanging in the sunshine , their shades of blue waving in the breeze. We visited the local eating places, toured the shops admiring their handwork.
     We just got back from our second trip to the same area on Sunday. It was another wonderful trip, but this time, my eyes were more observant to other things. Things that were slightly depressing. Everywhere we went , we saw miles and miles of  corn fields. i assume this late in the year it was more than likely field corn, but may have been for people to enjoy to. Anyway, this corn was every bit of 10 feet tall. ears packed in closely, as far as the eye could see. The disturbing part came when we saw the occasional small signs along the road in front of the corn fields, bragging about it being from Great Lakes Hybrid, Chemgro, and a few other names that are escaping my memory at the moment. All from GMO seed. Genetically modified! I have read only bad about this stuff. One article I read said scientist modify the seed for different traits. One was kind of like a time bomb in the DNA of the seed so that farmers can not save the seed to use from year to year. The plants produce sterile seed. This is called a "terminator seed". Other seeds  with the chemical Round Up gene.
    Monsanto is the largest producer of these GMO seeds. They have also been the manufacturer of chemicals that have been the most destructive to mankind. Such as Agent Orange. The toxins these seed produce are even found in fetal tissue. SCARY! huh? Read the article found at this link:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/05/has-any-company-ever-harmed-the-planet-more-than-this.aspx
    Do your on research, and be informed. The health of our loved ones are at stake. I was really expecting the Amish would save their own seed from year to year as the old farmers of our past did. I never dreamed they had gotten as commercialized as most of the farmers providing our foods now-a-days. Dont take me wrong. I am not just coming down on the Amish, its just that I expecting them of all people to be different. This eye opener is going to make me work even harder at using only open pollinated seed, and save my own. However, all in all, I still love the area.