This ‘n That

A Valentine’s Day bouquet.

There have been some pretty sunsets at Lake Gregory.  

And some very windy ones.  The birds seem to love “surfing” the little wavelets though.  

And, as always, spectacular views of mountains in every direction.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's almost over (well, in some places it is over) but I hope everyone had a happy one!

Happy Valentine's Day From a Book Addict

I took this photo of a redbud tree ( cultivar Forest Pansy)  last May, and I have been waiting since then for Valentine's Day so I could post it and wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day with red, heart-shaped leaves. 

Yes...I know.  But, I'm a sucker for things like this in nature. 

My Valentine's Day present was a replacement Kindle from Amazon at no charge because I hadn't had the old one for a year before it croaked.  Yippee!  The reason I bought a Kindle in the first place was so that I could (hopefully) find all of my favorite books and have them stored on Kindle in case we have to evacuate for a forest fire.  I don't have room in my car for my books and my animals, and when it comes to that kind of choice the books are going to lose.  Any thing is going to lose, even treasured photos.

BUT...did I get rid of my favorite, and even second favorite, books once I had them on Kindle?  No.  I couldn't bear to part with them.  There's just something magical about holding a book, the scent of a book, and when I open it up (if I've read it before) I can see my favorite characters coming out to greet me.  If I'm reading a book for the first time and it turns out to be a favorite, then I've just made a whole bunch of new friends.  The downside of making these new friends with a Kindle is that I then want to have the actual book so I can add it to my shelves (and shelves, and shelves, and shelves...well, you get the idea) of books.

If it weren't for the threat of wildfires up here I don't think I ever would have bought a Kindle.  But, it's so wonderful to be able to have the best of both worlds! 

February 14

Betsy is Home!

I took this yesterday afternoon after we brought her home, but I was just too tired to post. And you can see that little Betsy was exhausted from her ordeal, but very happy to be home!

The doctor doesn't know what the lump is on her pancreas, but she is hopeful that it will go away now that Betsy is on the right dose of Insulin for her Diabetes. She gets a shot at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day. If it doesn't go away...well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. She sees the doctor again this Thursday, but (hopefully) won't have to stay overnight.

And, amazingly, Betsy seems to feel a whole lot better already! She's eating well, followed us upstairs to sleep with us at last night, and is back to bossing everybody around. She doesn't even feel the shot because the diabetic needle is so tiny, and that is a real blessing. If they hurt a lot and caused her to run from us once she figured out what was going on, I don't think it would be possible to catch her. As it is, I pet her and give her the shot at the same time and she just purrs!

I got the best Valentine's Day present ever.....just one day early! :) :) :)