Good Thoughts for Mom

Today is surgery day. We will be at the hospital well before the sun for Mom's 7 a.m. surgery. (Mabel Lou will hopefully be snoozing and playing nicely with her cousin Bailey.)

If you have a moment today, think of my mom. Please keep her, and us, in your good thoughts and prayers! It is much appreciated!

Cottonwood

There are cotton wood trees on the perimeter of our hiking area. Amazingly, I'm not allergic to it. Year round, the seeds blow their billowy pods all over and they land on everything. Can you see how they settled in the Mulberry tree? See how fuzzy that center branch is?

Sometimes, it looks like a spider's web:

The thing I MOST wanted to show you guys when I posted this photo in May was the cottonwood blowing in the air. It's an almost magical feeling to be in the creek in the early morning or at twilight, sunrise peeking over Mt. Luken's or dropping behind the Santa Susana's. The air aglow with expectation, birds hunting, frogs croaking and a coyote howling in the distance. A slight breeze kisses your skin and then you notice them. The cottonwoods adrift, floating near and yon. It's as if a million tiny faeries are around you. It's a beautiful place to dream!

Shovel Head

I promised a post ages ago about how our hiking buddy Susie got her new nickname, Shovel Head... so here goes:  Have you ever seen an elephant create a shower with his trunk??? This is Sue's version!

She dunks her head under the river and comes up shaking. She does this repeatedly until she cools off!

And she is one happy pup when she's done! We LOVE our Sue!

Not Normal by Any Stretch...

I had hoped I could be posting more here by June. As always, make plans and the Universe laughs.

Mom needs a hip replacement. Yes, my 90-year-old mother...who still cuts her 3/4 acre yard with a push mower... is tired of cutting her grass in bone on bone pain! Pistol that she is, she's getting herself a new hip! The fact that she's so active is what convinced her doc to do it.

 We miss this already (Mabel with Rottrover's Otto)

So Mabel and I are to be nurse maids in Louisiana for a whopping five weeks. I haven't spent that much time down South cumulatively in decades! And certainly not in the summer! I'm a wimp and Mom hates the A/C!

And, that's not all. My wonderful brother-in-law, who spent so much time taking care of my sister the last year and a half of her life, found out he's living with not one but TWO hernias! He will most likely have surgery while we're home.

And... as if that's not enough...I just found out I have cellulitis (the connective tissue kind; not the inflamed skin kind)  in my feet making standing and walking terribly painful again!

To make it even worse... I will have limited internet connection.... I promise, I'll visit your blogs as often as I can...

It's gonna be an interesting summer....

Lizard Hunting

Thank you all for humoring me with all the photos in May... I needed the month to deal with my new glass bead blog that I created for artisans to share their work publicly. And now that that's done... things won't be getting back to normal around here... But more about that tomorrow!

I love this photo so much, but I felt the need to keep it 'in sequence.' I think this shows my girl's intelligence and it's something I've seen her do since she was a pup. Note that she is digging on one side of the rock while simultaneously watching the far side. She learned early on that the lizards often run the other direction. I think the lizards are onto her because, I've seen many run right between her legs!