Babies

Saw this by the house the other day. Had to snap a quick one and get away 'cause the mom was waiting in the underbrush.

showering on the road

okay, messiest blog ever. don't ask me how this jumble happened, but it took alot of work to create this fiasco, and i'm not gonna redo it. bear with me!

pictured (haphazardly) are the things i use for staying fresh and sweet on the road. above is my Equinox ultralight toiletry bag. silnylon and mesh! when you are packing light, it is annoying to have a bag that's bulkier than what you are carrying. found on a clearance table in a health food store.

the tupperware container is my washbowl when i'm doing a quick wash-up in a parking lot somewhere. i can seal the lid to contain the water til i can get to someplace to dump it, like a public restroom.

i carry a small rubber door mat(below) for standing on where it's rocky or muddy. the green folding table was $9 and has a dozen uses. i use a 3 gallon paint can from lowe's for my potty. it doubles as a shower seat.

this is my outback porta-privy. i got it from cabela's a few years ago for $49. it pops open when taken from the carrying case, and folds down flat like those car sunshades.

it's a great changing room too. it stakes down. or has pockets at the bottom for rocks or sand to help keep it in place. staking is highly recommended when it's breezy!

above is one of those elizabethan dog collars/ cone things that mutt got after surgery once, to keep him from pawing the stitches.

((((that is a dreadful thing for an obedience trained dog to wear. mutt automatically heels to my left whether i tell him to or not. when he wore this, he'd drop into position at my left heel, whack the back of my knee with the cone, and drop me like a rock! entering a doorway was traumatic. it was a long 2 weeks!!!)))

anyhow, folded up, the collar makes a nice extension funnel for a folding bucket for washing hair! neat, eh? also makes a good pee bottle for those of us whohave trouble hitting the nalgene bottle in the dark :-)

magnet hook for holding the hose

this was my outdoor shower in the desert using the MSR dromlite bag. you can buy the shower nozzle for them from campmor. no shower shelter necessary if you can get the boys to point their solar panels away from you :-)

4 wheelin'

on memorial day i got a call from cathy. she asked me 3 questions:
do you want to go on an adventure?
do you want a helmet?
do you have someone who can make bail?

well, what can ya say to a call like that? i got my first taste of 4 wheeling :-)

we started out in a a big old artic cat with a cab on it. we had to get a few miles away in a vehicle not licensed for the road. we did this by taking as many back roads as possible. when we had to go on paved road, we squinched our heads down into our necks and drove fast, as if we were invisible. we drove over creeks, through creeks, and up steep hills.

we met up with some of cathy's family for some trail riding. here cathy and derek stop to move a log across the path. what i had the decency NOT to post was the pic of cathy going ass over tincups when derek moved the log alot faster than cathy has moved in years. good friend that i am, i shreiked and recorded the event for posterity. heading back on the trail, something happened to the muffler. the noise was terrible, and we were shooting fire out the back end.

cathy's husband gary tried to fix it, but didn't have the proper bolts. we were stranded miles from home and had to be ferried back by car to the lilting strains of lawrence welk. it was memorable :-(

back at the ranch, we moped around a bit, deflated at our aborted adventure, and then decided to take these babies out for a spin. i drove the red one, and fast, too! it was scary and thrilling and way different than driving the rondyvan :-) i'm trying to figure out how to get a kayak rack on one of them.......

twoknives katie goes to tea

you have heard me talk before about my friend cathy (made famous in "two loaves katie"). i have known cathy and her husband gary since high school, and they are responsible for keeping me in running vehicles. god bless good mechanics :-) cathy's daughter angie grew up with my oldest boy, josh. she is now the mother of The Twins, who are the 7 month old sweet babies i get to mind when i am on my best behavior. megan is the wife of cathy's son jason.

a few weeks ago, i watched the babies while the three of them went to tea. sometime mid-day i got a picture message on my cel phone of the three of them grinning and wearing big floppy hats with blossoms on them. i laughed and told the babies i got the better end of the deal.

well, last saturday, they bundled me up, brushed me off, and took me to Sugar's Tea House to see how tea was done proper. i tried to take my mukluks, just to prove to you i was really there, but couldn't find the van keys in time. the following pics were loaded backwards, so i'll start at the end and work back :-)

this was my rice pudding for desert. it had an actual rosebud on the top. you are supposed to eat them, so i did. kinda like foraging, no? note all the fancy china and multiple utensils.....quite a switch from sporks and aluminum plates from REI! the girls guided me through tea etiquete, which includes trying on every hat in the place and giggling alot.

check out these tea sandwiches! i took a picture of cathy's, because hers were more colorful. tea sandwiches are color-coded. full afternoon tea includes 5 tea sandwiches, scones, soup, salad, desert, and of course, tea! my choices included salmon, olive and cream cheese, ham and pineapple, and taco. it was all really good! and best of all, we ATE THE FLOWERS!!!!

here are the girls. we were a lively bunch!

everybody tried to get a little leg action going.....

i never, ever would have believed it if you told me i would end up eating dainty sandwiches in a tea room and sipping from china. it was a hoot! thanks to cathy for the special treat, and to the girls for making it a really fun time :-)

You won't believe this

I am out with the girls having tea. I'm wearing a cute hat!

"my barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon" masahide

Http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com

Porcupine misadventures

a couple weeks ago mutt came to the door with a face-full of quills. i was astounded. this is the dog that is afraid of birds and rabbits up close....i can't imagine what possessed him to bite a porcupine. i spent several hours pulling the big quills out of his face, only to discover when i could finally open his mouth that it was full of tiny and broken off quills. bazillions of 'em. so off to the animal emergency hospital we go....he never EVER needs medical attention when his vet is open....to have them taken out under anesthesia.

an hour and several hundred dollars later they delivered him back to me with a bandage where his IV had been, and prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medication. they told me that 2 quills remained, and would have to work themselves out. i was a little annoyed that for all that money, they coudn't get them all.

i am even more annoyed 2 weeks later when i have pulled about 18 of them out of different parts of his nose and face, even near his eye, as they work forward from the inside out. he has been pawing at his face today, so i'm not sure we're down with them yet.

the pics above are him pre hospital, and immediately post-op with his little bandage on his leg. what i didn't get a picture of was when he lifted his leg to pee, and toppled over like a drunken sailor. i had to laugh, rotten mother that i am!

"my barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon" masahide

http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/