Tuesday morning

At 1:00 this morning, a clap of thunder so loud that I nearly fell out of bed wakened me. That was followed by heavy rain and more claps of thunder now and then. It was a very noisy night – not over yet, as it is now 2:30 a.m. I unplugged the laptop and brought it to my room.

Yesterday Sis and several others were helping unload a truckload of food at the food pantry at the church. They found three little kittens by the dumpster near the back door. They had been dumped there – two little black kittens and one that is white with a big calico spot on its forehead. Sis was able to catch the two little black ones and put them in a pet carrier that she had in the back of her pickup truck and took them to the veterinarian. He said they are healthy and amazingly not covered with fleas, but they are only about four weeks old and two young for their first shots. She can take them back at the end of the month for their shots. In the meantime one of the men was able to catch the little white one, which was shyer. So now we have three little kittens residing on our screened porch at the back of the house. They are perfectly content. Calvin is not. He thinks they are intruders and he growls and hisses at them. So he stays in the house and if he wants to go out on the porch, I put them back into their carrier until he comes back in.

I hope that we can find good homes for at least two of them. We don’t need three more cats.

And now for the rest of the story. . . I got a shock this morning when one of the neighbors brought in a 4th kitten that had been separated from the other three. This one is yellow and white. It has joined the others on our back porch. I sure hope no more show up. The lady who brought it in did leave a donation toward their care. That was nice.

We had a different speaker at church this morning. He gave a good message.

The organist sang "You Will Always be my Child" for a Mother's Day special. I think there were tears in most people's eyes. She sang it beautifully and with such feeling.

After church Sis and I went to IHOP. Most restaurants were packed today, more so than usual because of Mother's Day. We had a wonderful waitress. She took our order quickly, checked to make sure everything arrived as ordered, and came back every now and then to see if we needed anything else. She was one of the best waitresses we have had there.

I ordered the Crispy Chicken Salad. It was delicious and so much that I had to bring half of it home in a take-out box. I had the rest for supper.

We didn't go out to breakfast this morning. Sis made whole grain waffles here. They were delicious.

Later I made a loaf of yogurt bread in the bread machine and I made apple crisp for lunch, using these recipes:

Yogurt Bread Machine Bread
3/4 cup water
1 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt (I forgot & put in 1 tsp, but it turned out ok)
2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast)
I also added about a half cup of dried cranberries when the machine beeped.

Pour it in, turn it on. How easy is that?!

Apple Crisp for Two

1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c oatmeal
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp soft butter

Mix above ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Peel, core and slice 2 cups apples (about 4). Place apples in a buttered loaf pan and sprinkle with oatmeal mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until top is brown and apples are tender. Serve warm. Can also be served over vanilla ice cream.

I used 3 apples, which was more than enough. We didn't have any ice cream, so wasn't able to have that with it.

I got out my Leslie Sansone exercise tape and exercised to it a couple of times today. I need to get back to doing it regularly.

I also worked on the prayer shawl I am knitting. I finished the white one and have started another one using variegated yarn.

Sis wasn't feeling well today.

Just a quick note: It rained and thundered a lot during the early part of the night. I didn't get much sleep. Now at 5:45 a.m. it is starting in again so I will be turning the computer off.

It is another uncomfortably warm day here. The forecaster said last night that we might hit 100 this afternoon.

We went out to breakfast this morning, then a little grocery shopping, but were very glad to get home to the air conditioning.

I think my "new" car needs the a/c recharged, so I'll have to get that taken care of pretty quickly. I wanted to get the car repainted, but on checking prices, it looks like it will be such an expense that I'll have to decide whether to put out that much on such an old car.

I've started a new knitting project - knitting a prayer shawl. Our pastor showed one at church last Sunday that will be donated to someone soon. They can be crocheted or knitted, but I don't crochet. I started knitting a white one and have it perhaps half done.

I'm in the middle of doing my weekly laundry right now.

Bear Quints - once in a lifetime photo


Black bears typically have two cubs; rarely, one or three. In 2007, in northern New
Hampshire, a black bear sow gave birth to five
healthy young. There were two or three reports of sows with as many as 4
cubs, but five was, and is, very extraordinary. The photographer learned
of them shortly after they emerged from their den and set a goal of
photographing all five cubs with their mom - no matter how much time and
effort was involved. He knew the trail they followed on a fairly regular
basis, usually shortly before dark. After spending nearly four hours a
day, seven days a week, for more than six weeks, he had that
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and photographed them. He used the
equivalent of a very fast film speed on his digital camera. The print is
properly focused and well exposed, with all six bears posing as if they
were in a studio for a family portrait.

The photographer stayed in touch with other people who saw the bears during
the summer and into the fall hunting season. All six bears continued to
thrive. As time for hibernation approached, he found still more folks
who had seen them, and everything remained OK. The photographer stayed
away from the bears because he was concerned that they might become
habituated to him, or to people in general, and treat them as
approachable friends. This could easily become dangerous for both man
and animal.

After Halloween, no further reports and could only hope the bears survived
until they hibernated. This spring, just before the snow disappeared,
all six bears came out of their den and wandered all over the same
familiar territory they trekked in the spring of 2007.

The photographer saw them before mid-April and dreamed nightly of taking
another family portrait, a highly improbable second once-in-a-lifetime
photograph.

On 25 April 2008, he achieved his dream.

When something as magical as this happens between man and animal, Native
Americans say, "We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow." And
so it is with humility and great pleasure that I share these
exhilarating photos with you.

I made a loaf of bread machine bread last night, using the following ingredients:

¾ cup water
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
2 teaspoons salt
1 very ripe banana
4 cups bread flour
handful of whole almonds
2 ½ tsp bread machine yeast

It looked great until it reached the top of the machine against the glass, then sank several inches. It tastes fine, but I think I should have used 2 to 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast instead of 2 1/2 teaspoons.