A new day

I awoke around 5 AM (I slept longer than usual) hearing thunder.  I normally feed the dog at 4:30 and give the cat his bite of canned food, so I fed Gabe and called the cat in.  He knew I was late and showed up in record time when he heard his name.  After their breakfast, the hooligans chased one another and wrestled and cause all kinds of mayhem... that's their usual morning routine.  Rain fell outside; at one point, Blue the cat meowed at the back door, wanting out.  I told him there is no longer a litter box available in the back porch and chucked him outside, where he quickly ran under the back porch.  Next time I went out to look at the rain gauge, he crawled out and waited for me to open the door to the house.  So he's officially an outside cat, but he gets to come in and play with Gabe once or twice a day.  Gabe is nervous during storms, and often hides in his kennel.  But when his feline friend is inside, he shows no nervousness at all.  The cat seldom asks to come inside except for the two times a day when he gets his canned food...his sense of timing is great.  But I always invite him in for a morning play session with Gabe.  Blue has made friends with Buttons the barn cat, but Mamma Kitty barely tolerates him:  She doesn't try to hurt him, but she certainly growls when he gets too close.

At last check, I found two inches of rain in the gauge this morning.  Weather-guessers say there are several chances for rain in the next few days.  As for now, the sky looks to be clearing somewhat. 

My daughter has a friend visiting who is raising her two grandchildren; Rachel asked if I'd watch the kids while they went shopping yesterday.  I agreed, telling them not to waste too much time in their pursuits.  I seldom volunteer to babysit, especially for someone unrelated to me... but Rachel's friend Brooke housed me for a week when I was in Cozumel with my daughter and her husband, so I thought I'd better not be too picky about it.  

Actually, the two children turned out to be just about the easiest kids I ever watched.  Ezra, aged five I think, had one melt-down over some sort of sibling, bossy-big-sister thing.  But otherwise, they were no problem at all.  I didn't let my daughter and Brooke off easy though, hinting that I was totally exhausted, etc.  But mostly the kids just played together and asked nothing of me.  Here's what they looked like in the truck, not long after they were picked up at my house (I stole these off Facebook from their "Gran"):

They were exhausted!

It's about time to plant turnips, although the space I prepared for them looks like a lake right now... so I won't be planting turnips today.  

I guess that's about all I have in the way of "news", so I will wish my readers a good day and will see if I can make my husband take me to Costco now that the rain has ceased.

Sincerely,
    Donna