Summer Bouquet #3 - Daisies, and #4 - Hydrangeas

Garden Highlights

I have been gone for ten days house-sitting, so I was super excited to see how my gardens have changed. A few more blooms have come out, but mostly everything has just grown bigger and taller. Here are a few pictures of blooms and video of the the full gardens.

Very excited for lots of zucchinis!

Sedum

Russian Sage

Only a few white cone flowers have bloomed so far.

I think this is a phlox plant.

Daisies have been blooming for about two weeks.

Big, vibrant hydrangeas.

Daylillies

Summer Goals

There are few home projects that I would like to get done this summer.

- Purchase queen bed frame converter for Nanny's old bed frame.

- Decide and complete window treatments for the bedroom.

- Finish my quilt for the bed!

- Strip wallpaper and paint downstairs bathroom.

- Paint trim on unfinished window frame downstairs.

It is an ambitious list, but I think I can do it! Mom's given me the push to finish the quilt, so I want to complete the other parts of the bedroom if I can. The downstairs bathroom and window trim should be easy and done in a weekend.

Summer Bouquet #2 - Lillies

My String-Eater

This Saturday, we discovered that Otis ate Zach's drawstring to his pajama pants. It started with him vomiting about 12 inches of string in the morning. He was pretty lethargic, vomited again later that afternoon, and refused dinner - all of which are highly unusual for our energetic, food-crazed cat. So, off to the vet he went and after several x-rays and a barium study, we saw there was still more string in his stomach.

We returned home late in the evening with the plan of returning for more x-rays the following morning to see if the string would pass through the intestines. Fortunately, Otis managed to vomit up two more feet of string! He continued to feel pretty sick the rest of night, so we were still pretty concerned that perhaps something else was still in there.

We had a rather sleepless night, but I woke up and showered and found Otis to be much more alert and interested in his food in the cabinet. Thankfully, by 11am, he was pretty much back to his normal self and x-rays revealed no more string in the stomach and the remainder of the barium was passing normally! What a relief!

After we got home today, wouldn't you know he wasted no time in returning to his normal counter-surfing behavior and I was able to catch him in the act of eating a rubber band that he found (from the produce we bought for dinner yesterday). This cat is determined to keep us on our toes...

Oh, did I forgot to mention the fact that while all of this was happening yesterday, my parents and Zach's parents were visiting?! Nothing like leaving the party you're hosting to take your cat to the vet. Thanks to all of them for understanding ;) Thanks to my husband who finished cooking the meal, and helped with the clean-up. It sure was nice to return home to a clean kitchen!

Big thanks to Dr. G, who came out to the hospital to see us on Saturday and Sunday. We are so grateful!

My Bone-Chewer

We recently found out that Otis has been chewing various things in the house. The most obvious offense was the cell phone charger. Today it was the chair. (Yes, that's right, the chair!)

So, in an effort to curb this unhealthy habit usually limited to the canine species, I decided to purchase a teething toy to direct him toward a more healthy chewing option. Wouldn't you know Petco had a teething toy for cats in the form of a plastic, catnip-infused worm. Gross, but whatever works. He loved it. Unfortunately he loved it so much it was chewed apart in under 10 minutes.

Back to the store for a replacement of presumably more stability in the dog aisle. I came home with two options, both puppy teething toys, one of which was a nylabone. He took the nylabone with some interest, but went a little nuts over the other blue bone teether. In 15 minutes, he had split that apart at each end. So, that toy was confiscated and only the nylabones are available for chewing.

Apparently, his heart was set on the blue bone and he found its hiding spot last night. I heard rustling in the kitchen and could only imagine the trouble any one of my felines was getting into. However, it was just Otis, who had found the blue bone, and he was chomping away. I had to get video to document how crazy this cat is. (And no, this toy has no flavoring added to it.)

Flower Gardens

Summer Bouquet #1 - Roses

From my garden blooms, I hope to have a new bouquet each week. Stay tuned for posts throughout the summer! So exciting.

Visitors and Garden Blooms

We have a lot of visitors to the bird feeders - cardinals, blue jays, finches (gold and red), woodpeckers, squirrels, and even our resident pair of ducks. The cats love the activity at the feeders!

Here are a few photos of the flowers currently in bloom. The roses are really vibrant this year. I'm very anxious to see the rest of the flowers in full color - - soon, soon!!

Anniversary Pictures

I like to commemorate our anniversary each year with a photo. This year we took pictures at my parents' house. The mosquitoes were deadly, so we opted for indoor pictures. I thought they turned out nice. Two Years!!!