Matrix and Technology

My dog Matrix is rarely discussed in public due to the fame of my other dog Faith. However, I have to tell you, as this picture truly proves, Matrix is by far a more techy-dog. He's into all sorts of things that Faith takes for granted. For instance, Matrix will actually help me make cookies; volunteering to test taste the batter, licking the bowl clean, and often times, before I get a chance to possibly poison myself Matrix is there to taste the finished product - - to be certain I'll be OK.

Matrix has been spotted wearing night vision goggles, and one can only assume its because he goes out at night to protect us from the geese in the pond. He sings when I take my bath just to entertain me, and he is always the first one of us in bed at night because he understands the importance of a good rest. Faith simply posts herself under the bed from daybreak to midnight and for a few hours of the night will keep us company on top of the bed. She will sometimes allow Matrix a sneak under the bed from time to time if he's got something to share, but the instant it has been shared she'll kick him out promptly!

When Faith and I travel it is Matrix that keeps the house warm by adjusting the thermostat, and he's so able-bodied that he doesn't even need the Nanny that I leave with him, he could probably open the door and let himself out. It's nice of him however to allow her to think that she is needed and when I ask her each time how he's been - - the answer is always the same. "He was perfect!" Of course he's perfect, he's a weenie dog! What could be more perfect that a weenie dog? As you can see from the photo, Matrix is quite intelligent, often looking over my shoulder when I read - not just to get me to pet him, but to actually learn something about whatever it is that I'm reading. If I stop reading (petting) he nudges me to let me know I have. I can even put the book down if I want, as long as my hands continue to read. He's fully capable to gleaning information from the written word through the movement of my fingers! That's an incredible dog!

I'll tell you this story, then I must go to the store and get bottled water. This morning Matrix and I were laying around watching Nebraska and Colorado beat up on each other on an icy cold field on television. I heard him whisper ever so slightly that he'd like a good cup of hot cocoa. When I explained to him that dogs aren't suppose to have chocolate he suggested that I use soy milk and carob powder, which he KNEW I had hidden in the back of the cupboard from last Christmas. Since we both knew that carob powder doesn't go bad that quickly - I made the cocoa! It was awesome. The dog is simply .... well, perfect. Check out his camo-collar from Dublin Dog. Is he not the epitome of high fashion?

A Birthday to be Thankful

(Pictured are: David P., Reuben, Toni, and Frank)


Thanksgiving was not just a day to get together with family and friends, or a day to over eat and under-exercise, no, it was also my 46th birthday. I'm not the least bit shy about saying exactly how old I am because I'm so gosh-darn beautiful that something like a little age is never going to get in my way! Don't you love over-confident people?

Well, for my birthday - and actually days before, I was given the best(est) present a mom can get. I was sitting at church minding my own business. I do that most of the time when I'm in God's house, but sometimes I do open my mouth and let the controversy fly. I do that to see if anyone is awake you know. I was there, I was minding my own business. Now, I did know that this was Thanksgiving Sunday and I was actually anticipating a friend of my son's who would be coming to Oklahoma City from Ft. Hood in Texas JUST to be with me because he (being Reuben's close friend in Alaska, and having been able to visit his family) was coming up to stay with me for a day and be my "son" for the day. It was the next best thing to having my own baby boy in my arms.

Our class secretary asked us to welcome a member of the Armed Forced who would be sharing the day with the Stringfellow family, and he stated that the man would be leading us in prayer. I turned around, and MY SON REUBEN walked into the room! YES!!! MY BABY BOY! If I had followed my dream, my heart, I would have known. Even on the way to the church I told the girls I had a dream and I felt that Reuben was truly with us today. HE WAS! Laura knew about the surprise, Caity was taken back as much as I was. I jumped up from my couch seat (our church is cool that way) and I nearly tackled my baby. I did get lipstick on his newly pressed Dress Greens and I know I probably got mascara everywhere...I was doing a bit of the teary-eyed thing too. I was holding MY BABY!! I hadn't seen him in 9 months. I told him later that there was only one other time that I expected to see him and had to wait 9 months!

He was just as beautiful this time as he was last time. I have pictures. Well, the hard part came the next four days. We had to keep his presence a secret as he went around the city literally faking out everyone he knew! He'd call them on his cell when they were in restaurants, at home, even at the vet's office. He'd pretend to be in Alaska, just calling to say hello - and then he'd walk into their office, over to their table, etc.....freaking everyone out! Screams of joy and very loud laughter all over the place! REUBEN really does mean "It's a Boy!" and he is just such a boy at times. A really really loving and good boy, but a boy!

Thanksgiving, my birthday, was fantastic. Not being able to blog about him coming was hard to do. My sister or my mother, or maybe someone who knew them would have been able to tell them he was in town and therefore ruin the surprise. MY surprise was equalled by my sister Linda. She was just staring out Grandma's window, thinking about a day when we would all be together, he called her, he talked to her, then he said "Turn around Aunt Linda" and she was all over him then! Squeeeeeezzzzing and hugging and I think she left an imprint of her nails in his back through his sweater! She was crying and crying, and then she let go and began hugging him all over again! She loves her nephew. Grandma wasn't as funny as Pop. My Dad was literally 2 feet from Reuben, with his back turned, talking to him and asking him if he was going to have enough food for Thanksgiving. I was staring at my dad, telling him to turn around - when he did he just stood there facing my son with the phone still at his ear. He was still talking cell to cell to my son! It was pretty funny, it really was.

So, after a few more relatives, a few more friends, I think he's all surprised out. I thought about having his friend come up from Texas to surprise him...then I found out he was LYING to me about Clark in the first place. He's not from Texas, he's from Iowa! Now, I have to ask you, would it be against any federal laws if I pulled off my belt and spanked a United States Army Private?

Last year I was in New York City on November 22, hugging Jesse L. Martin on my 45th birthday. (I do treat myself right!) This year I was holding my three children in Edmond, Oklahoma. Given the choice? I'd take my three in Chicago any time. Hahahaha

Big Time Announcement!

Yes, it's true: I'm writing ANOTHER book. This one is so tight...well, they all are, you know...awesome, but this one will be 27 of my own opinions. I feel that in these days of complete political correctness that the world needs honesty, truth, and just a bit of irreverent talking - PC has kept us all liars, omissions rather than commissions. We don't say what we want to, we don't want to lose our jobs, hurt others, and well, that's a good thing. We shouldn't HURT others, but we certainly shouldn't NOT say what we think either. Now, there are rules, there should be. Tell the truth without calling names is one of those rules. I intend on doing that. I will put my heart and mind on the line, and I'll possibly get into areas that may or may not be popular; but they are areas that need to be discussed.

Since Glenn Beck, Dr. Phil, Oprah, and other really open people have decided to tell the truth - and get paid for it, I thought I would too. You never know, someone out there just may agree with me. I bet they do. In fact, I'm so sure that millions and millions of you agree with me, that you'll be surprised to know that you could write the same things and I'd probably buy your book too.

I asked my daughter Caity to write out the same book, telling the world the same 27 opinions, and that would give the world a really good comparison into what the world of parents vs. kids thinks. People who really wanted to know would have to buy both books in order to really check it out, and hey - we'd both make out huh? Caity told me she wasn't much of a writer - see, we are already disagreeing! She's incredible. I've read her work. She makes ME think, and that's not the easiest thing to do. I usually think I have the best opinion out there - - for my own kid to bring up the eye brow...that's saying something. I made her! Thank God we disagree, can you imagine how boring life would be if we all agreed? Isn't it written somewhere that kids have to fight with their parents to survive? If it is written I'm sure the author disagreed in the first place with their parent and decided to write that fact out! (or maybe, that person didn't disagree, and the parent thought it was odd, so THEY wrote it out!) That makes me think!

Anyway, the book should be finished by summer and published by this time next year. Fun! Fun! Let the world rejoice....another book about ramblings.....YES!

Oklahoma Rising! 100 Years Strong!

I must have cried my eyes out tonight about a dozen times during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular - and NO, not because we weren't asked to be a part of the show...I pouted over that, but didn't actually shed any water. I cried and cried when the Miss Americas (5 out of the 6 crowned in our state) introduced the men and women of our Oklahoma National Guard - and I continued to cry during Toby Keith's "American Soldier". I couldn't take it. I jumped up, grabbed my son's official Army portrait, and I squeezed it. I wrapped my arms around the frame, and I just bawled like a baby - - and then I called him during the song. I called him to thank him for being an American Soldier. I called him to thank him for protecting me. I called him to hear his beautiful hard-to-understand-at-times screaming/laugh and I called to tell him that I made the RIGHT choice to raise my son, and my daughters in the great state of Oklahoma.

Work takes us everywhere. We fly from one coast to the other, and we drive for miles in every direction possible to get to military stations, bases, hospitals, children's homes, and schools always to do the same thing - kiss, hug, and love on the folks right here in America who have been so wonderful and so courageous. Sometimes people stop me, they ask me what keeps me going. They ask me how I can get up and drive, get up and fly to another city, they ask me how I can say the same things, answer the same questions, and pray the same prayers. I tell them it's the Oklahoma Standard. We set that standard many many years ago, and it made its mark permanent at the time of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah (Federal) building in 1995 - - the Oklahoma Standard: You just DO it, and you DO it right, setting the example because everyone needs to believe that someone will do what they're suppose to do when they're suppose to do it.

My kids got so tired of me saying this, but I would say "You do it because I said you'll do it, and I said you'll do it - because it's the right thing to do!" My students heard me say that, and they'd come back with "Ms. Stringfellow, you're so mean to us, but I guess that only means you love us." That's right. Oklahomans are the hardest people to please, but the easiest people to work side by side with. We'll get in there, we'll work and work until it's done. We'll keep working when it's finished just to be sure it doesn't come undone! I like the words to the Jimmy Webb song that he and Vince Gill sang tonight at the near close of the show. "Oklahoma Rising" is the title - go ahead, look it up...it made me cry too, because we are the sons and daughters of the west, and we are (and have been) rising up to be the best. I'm proud to be an Okie, so if you're going to call me one, well, you better say it LOUD - Sooner born, Sooner bred, and well it was worth calling my son during the "American Soldier", because if I do anything at all before I die - I want my kids to know, no matter where I am in this world when I die - - I'm Sooner dead. Bury me here, in the crimson clay.

Theodore Roosevelt said it in 1905 when he came to this land hunting coyotes with "Catch-em Alive" Jack Abernathy; he said "The people of Oklahoma don't give a damn about what others do or say, as long as what they do and say is right." In 1898 during the Spanish American War more Oklahomans volunteered to help than from any other territory or state in the union, or the frontier. In 1995, you saw our resolve when we refused to let the terrorists tear us down, or squash our spirit - you saw our EAGLE fly that day, you saw it again when we were among the first to volunteer to help the great people of New York in 2001, and the victims of hurricanes along the Gulf.

I may leave our state for commerce, I may need to be away - but for the rest of eternity when someone looks over their shoulder to see me dance, I'll be in Boomer Sooner Crimson & Creme, and probably being a little louder than most because of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OKLAHOMA!

Happy 100th Birthday OKLAHOMA!

On April 22, 1889 the middle portion of our state was opened up at the exact minute of NOON - it was opened to anyone and everyone who could, if they had the heart to do it, stake a claim and get their claim to the make-shift office in the center of the middle section, the city was called Guthrie. April 22, 1889 is often mistaken in history as being the real birthdate of the 46th State, but it is not. That day goes down in history as the Opening of the Unassigned Lands - Pioneer Day is what we call it here in Oklahoma.

November 16, 1907 found Guthrie, Oklahoma bustling, full of people, full of celebration, new buildings and crowded streets as they welcomed the visiting President of the United States, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt! That day marked the day that Roosevelt wrote Oklahoma into the Union as the 46th state, and Guthrie was our state capital...for a little while. If you're from Texas you may never know the trouble it took to get the capital seal moved to Oklahoma City, and you may never understand that being called a Sooner was a bad thing - back then...not now!

If I could take a minute to list a few real Oklahomans that have made a difference in our state, you'd be surprised who I'd pick. Oh, I'd name the famous ones; Toby, Rita, Garth, Vince, Carrie, The Flaming Lips, The All American Rejects, Color Me Badd, and about a million other singers. You can't name off famous Oklahomans without mentioning Shannon Miller, Shannon Lucid, Paul Harvey, James Garner, Ben Johnson, or Wilma Mankiller, but did you have any idea that Tony Randall and Brad Pitt were Oklahomans? Did you know Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys was an Okie? (Just as Sam Bradford is!) Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, and of course, Jim Thorpe, so you can see that Shannon Miller is among the best when you say "Oklahoma athletes"; and that's without having to mention all the college athletes who have brought our state several National Championships. Yes, we're rich in that part of American History.

Don't forget - Oklahoma has only been around 100 years - we've had good guys and bad guys (and girls) coming through to make their mark: Bonnie and Clyde were from Oklahoma, Belle Starr, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bill Doolin, Bill Dalton, and we can't possibly forget Elmer McCurdy, but he wasn't born in Oklahoma like Native America folk hero and/or legendary criminal (depends on how you look at it) Ned Christie. We had the lawmen too, most of the really famous lawmen were born elsewhere, but called Oklahoma home; men like Chris Madson, Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, and Oh, my favorite, Mr. Temple Houston!

Yes, Oklahoma is one rich and enterprising state, that's for sure. I'd say we rally any other state when it comes to bold, enterprising, stand-up-and-fight-em-til-the-end kind of maverick citizens. We're like that. We Okies are a crude, but beautiful breed for sure. We'll wait until the very last seconds to get into the storm shelters during a tornado just to compare this one with the last one. It's true, we do that. We vy for parking spots in the shade no matter how far we have to walk, and yes, you'll see us screaming our collective, impassioned guts out at each other over whether it should be crimson and creme or orange and black on any given matter about any given subject on each and every day...but that's just us. Don't think another 100 years is going to resolve anything relating to that issue - that one started before statehood; with the run of 1889.

Oh, I almost forgot - Oklahoma is the home state of the WORLD's ONLY bipedal dog that just happens to be famous as well as inspirational. She embodies everything necessary to be an Okie. She's strong, courageous, outstanding in her field, she's unique, charasmatic, striking in both appearance and memorable. Am I upset that she wasn't invited to appear on stage with the others - well, to be honest -- yes, but since she doesn't know she's a mirale dog, and since she's got work to do tomorrow with some really cool soldiers at the airport - I'll let it slide. However, at the bicentienal, someone had better mention her being from Edmond, Oklahoma! It's only fitting.

MY Home Depot

Right now MY Home Depot is off of 59th and North May in Oklahoma City. I think it is number 3902. I'm not sure - but when I get to Lincoln Park (Chicago), I will be shopping and/or part time living at the 2-story Home Depot pictured up above. I just can't wait. I know what you're thinking - she's a girl! GET OVER IT. I like football too, and I can (if I have to) drink a beer. I can do the Depot! In fact, my kids know now that if they can't find me at Starbucks, they can probably check out HD and I'll be on the Paint, Home Appliances, or the Lawn & Garden section. TODAY however, I was in lumber.

I decided (because I'm that way) to put up a little barre, like a ballet barre, but not that professional, not as large either. I just needed a barre to do squats, stretches, and strength exercises on. I could buy a prepackaged barre from a company online, or I could (say it with me) "Do it Myself" at the Home Depot. So, I went down the road to Starbucks, picked up a cup, and headed on over to the lumber department. It took Alex and I about 15 minutes to figure out exactly what I wanted, and then he got a call from the Pro-Desk. After a minute of being left alone in that massive beautiful store, I had made a few other decisions as well.

By the time I left, poor Alex (hails from Detroit and is making a special trip to Chicago to see the 2-story building) had been commissioned by me to cut 4 pieces of cheap ply wood to use as backings for several bookshelves I have that need support. He had picked out the stain, my sandpaper, and the screws I'm going to need for my unprofessional wall-mounts for the barre. He had also met my friend Valerie (nee Bridges) who used to be a cheerleader when I was a spirit clown at the Mayfield Junior High School in 1977. She was perky, I was perky, we were both having wood cut, and picking out projects for the weekend. It's cooling down, and I think women just like to fix things when the weather changes.

This weekend I will be sanding, staining, rebuilding, and stocking my new/old bookshelves. I'll hang my really pretty (already sanded and first-coated stained) barre, and I'll be picking out a new hinge for my gate. I don't like the one I have now. I did pick out a new lock to keep it shut and make it THAT much harder for my girls to just step back into the house! (They steal my food. They steal my TOFU they're so lazy and won't take themselves to the store. They took my less than what normal people consider decent food...now that's lazy)

The Home Depot in Lincoln Park is soooo pretty. I assume the lumber and millworks is on the ground floor, and all the hardware, little things, probably paint is upstairs. You could have your appliances upstairs because I'm sure there's a big freight elevator in the back too - look at me, I'm dreaming...just dreaming. I could spend hours and hours JUST in the Lawn & Garden section. Oh, but I don't have a lawn or a garden, never let that stop you! Never let someone push you out of the heavy-equipment department just because you live in an apartment. There are fewer things more beautiful than a riding lawn mower with a cup holder.

Can't wait to move to Lincoln Park! My condo will be 100% new, which means I won't need a thing from the Depot, but that only means I save money while I browse!

Bigenho For A Little While Longer

THIS IS SAD AMERICA! SAD!

When we can't afford to buy our United States Army soldiers REAL beds to sleep in, and when we have to resort to building them little car beds to help them live 24/7 on the field, whether they are awake or in dreamland, we have got to rethink the way we are spending the millions and billions of dollars given to us to protect and outfit our guardians....may I have an "Amen!"

For a little while longer this woman's name is Laura Bigenho. You can see from her pajamas that she is an enlisted U.S. Army soldier. She happens to be serving overseas in the sandy, but constantly-falling-temperature country of Iraq. Although Alan Jackson can't tell you the difference between Iran and Iraq, Laura Bigenho's actual job as a journalist is to do exactly that! I believe if you were, as I am, on her mailing list, you too would be able to know the latest, and the greatest that comes out of this Army post. I'd tell you where she is exactly, but the shame of you seeing more of those little car beds would put me in an early grave.

Laura, and some of her fellow soldiers, have taken it upon themselves to live positively in some of the most unpopular and often negative times. They are often seen (caught if you will) praying to GOD, and asking for HIS help, in order to bring sense and order to their mission - - dare we admit that this brave, unmoved, strong, and courageous woman actually invokes the name of Jesus on a daily basis? Are we to believe that she actually believes that by doing so her work, her life, her love, her full existence will be enhanced? Come to think of it, I had a really good prayer this morning which left me feeling both relaxed and secure for the rest of the day - maybe she's onto something!

America! World Audience! Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing this very moment, you too can rest, and feel secure because THIS WOMAN (and nearly a million men and women just like her, but probably taller) are out in the world protecting you! They are the reason we sing "Land of the free, and home of the brave!" Hooah!

(How was that Laura, over the top, maybe ...just right? Oh, I forgot to mention Marcus.)

America! World Audience! Laura is engaged to another one of those nearly million men and or women who look like, act like, dress like, and fight like her...he's a guy, and he's considerably taller. His name is Marcus Levering, and I don't think he would mind me telling you that his little car bed is yellow!

Love you guys! Thanks for the prayers! I feel them. Have some of mine!

I Love November

My Grandpa Edwards was born in November, and so was I. We had that. I miss him every time I think about the fact that no one can buy me cordial cherries, and have it mean the same as when he did. He hid a dollar under the bottom row, and he ate the first cherry, EVERY TIME. This is a little girl's poem to my Grandpa's memory. Intended to be sweet and without much fuss. ********************************************************** A Man I Know and Knew

 I knew a man who had one leg 

He had one leg to stand on

 He had two arms, this man I knew 

A chest that his heart could pound on

 He had a head with white ringed hair

 Hair from ear to ear

 No hair on the very top 

His eyes were crystal clear

What a nose! 

It stood out so 

His mouth was just as large

 His teeth he bought, he had two sets 

He rode in Daddy’s car 

This man I knew went away 

Away to be with Jesus 

So far away – I can’t be close 

One day I’ll hold them both

 I know a man who has two legs 

He has two arms just waiting 

Waiting for me to meet him where

 

His chest and heart are heaving

 He has a head of hair I’m sure 

With ears that still stick out

 His nose is sure to be as big 

As big as it ever was 

 I know a man whose teeth are real 

Who never rides in cars 

I know a man whose prayers I feel

 I love you so, Grandpa. 

 Ernest Rivers Edwards November 19, 1890 – July 5, 1982

No Matter What Your Politics - Love Them

PFC Reuben Stringfellow (top photo)

Cpl Kory D. Wiens and Mine Dog Cooper (bottom photo)

When I think about what energy goes in on BOTH sides of the issue of war, I am always confronted with one question: What about the troops? What do you, those who are opposed to the war, feel for the men and women, who because they promised they would go, and because they are ordered to do so - protect us? What do we FEEL? It's not a question of what do we do. We don't ever DO enough. We can't give them enough protection to continue protecting us. We can't and don't pray enough, but we can sure try. What do we FEEL?

When we're feeling, when we're emitting energy to the universe, the world, the community, the people, we are showing our emotions. We are demonstrating our true heart. You can be pro-peace and pro-troop at the same time. You can be anti-war and love the guys and girls wearing the uniform, holding the gun, watching the corners, using their skills, training, knowledge, and experience to keep themselves, their commanders, their units, and all of us as safe as they can. There will be accidents. There will be complications, and there will be death, sorrow, and hurt. In my heart in my soul I hold the heroes of our times to be as gallant and as brave as in any other time. They are truly to be honored and remembered correctly.

Before I had kids I used to throw out this really selfish statement. I'd say "I don't salute generals", and for me that meant that I didn't take orders. It was my arrogant, cocky way of saying I stood on my own two feet, and I was fully capable to do so. I don't believe I could have been any further off the mark than I was during that time of my life. Give me the lowest ranking man or woman in the service, and you will see me standing straight, my eyes looking forward, my back and hips in place, and you can bet your heart I've got my hand out to shake their hand, to thank them, and I wouldn't dream of saluting them now because I don't believe I have deserved that honor. I do salute my son, but not in public. He has to correct me every time I do it. (with that smile of his. "Mom, you're such a dork!")

The picture at the top of this blog is that of Cpl Kory Wiens. He is a 20 year old man. He will never be 21. He was killed in Iraq by an IED while he and his dog Cooper, a full blooded Labrador, were on mission. Their destroyed bodies were found close by each other, and they were returned to the Wien family in Dallas, Oregon. Their bodies were cremated and then buried together in a single small grave. For that I say thank you to the Wiens family. Now, I won't blog about every young soldier that surrenders his or her life for us, but this one was a little special to me. If you set my son's picture next to that of Cpl Kory Wiens, you'll see that they resemble each other. Faith, my precious U.S. Army SGT dog, is part Labrador, so this story is especially close to my heart.

We can't pray enough, we can't do enough, but we can love enough. We can stop fighting over the fact that we're fighting - - we can be pro-peace rather than anti-war. I've said it before and it warrants me saying it again: To positively live, you must live positively. Thank you - - is not enough. I love you! I truly truly LOVE you. Come home when you can.

Army Journalist Laura Bigenho wrote an article about Cpl. Wiens and Cooper months before they were killed. Here is that link. Thank you Laura! :http://www.blackanthem.com/News/U_S_Military_19/Man_s_best_friends_are_unsung_heroes5030.shtml

GEEEEESSSSEEEE !

Sometimes you have a very very relaxing day and all you do all day is play....rest, drink in the day, let the sun hit your face, let the wind blow through your hair, and you chase geese. Seventeen is a great age some days.

I got up the nerve to spy on my kid today, and where that can bring me the strangest of awarenesses that maybe I did or didn't want to know - today was wonderful. You can see she was having the best time of it with about 40 or 50 flapping birds that reside just outside our apartments. We live in a little neighborhood of buildings that resemble townhouses, but once you walk through the front doors of one you realize you're in the foyer of four separate apartments. My girls live very close to me, and that's good...but sometimes they're a little too quiet - - you know what I mean. I can do the dumb-mom game, and just bring over a batch of cookies, stare into their rooms and count their toes, or I can go through the front door with both mom-barrels loaded, asking questions and prenatally demanding answers. Today I did neither.

Today I walked out the back gate, it made the metallic squeal that alerts the neighbors that I'm doing so, and they all pop their heads up to see where I'm going - - they love to spy on me as much as I love to spy on them. Today my baby girl was outside feeding the wild Canada Geese (the ones we used to call Canadian Geese, but someone corrected us, now didn't they?) and she was playing with them, chasing them, catching them, even petting them, and they didn't really seem to mind all that much. If they knew what the dead beaver knew about this imp they may change their beakish minds -- Caity can be so gentle and for that I am grateful. She would never harm an animal; but she would cut them up and dissect any dead one - in a heart beat!

Some of the geese were trying to establish their domination with each other, mounting and biting, doing the goose and gander dance when Caity Baby decided to interrupt their lives for a few hours. She was outside with them for several hours, and one has to ask - why wasn't she working today? Whose paying her rent, what did she do for lunch, did she remember to take out her laundry or is it still in the washer? Most of the time I would have walked right up and questioned her, but not today -- today was a day to hang back, use the telephoto lens and surprise her with 5x7 black and white photos framed on her wall when she came home from going to the mall with her sister!