Clever Canine Manipulations

Mysti Girl is so funny, and pretty clever.

Our Doggie Girls like to cuddle with me on the couch during the evening, and it varies who gets the plum seat next to me, usually first-come, first-served. But when the Son's pup, Chelsea Belle, was staying with us during his deployment, she often got the spot closest to me because she is small enough to sit on the footrest of the recliner without collapsing it.

Chelsea is also a titch toy-crazy. She will show you a toy in her mouth while waggling her rear end all over the place for hours. And Mama Mysti took note of that.

Around Christmas, when Mysti wanted to sit next to me but found Chelsea already there, that cagey Mama would go in search of a toy and bring it to me. She would then start playing "tug" with me, putting only her front paws on the couch, and pulling the toy perilously close to Chelsea who, of course, couldn't stand not having the toy all to herself. Then Mysti would yank the toy from me and "toss" it across the room. Chelsea, of course, would spring into action and triumphantly leap down to grab the toy before anybody else could . . . while Mysti hopped up on the couch and helped her whole self to my lap.

This is what Mysti looks like when she's feeling close enough to me:

Yap's almost close enough:

They're both pretty darn close:

Last night, Yappy had claimed my lap and Mysti was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, I heard toenails clicking across the floor and here came Mama Mysti, trotting into the living room, carrying -- you guessed it -- Yap's favorite toy.  A few minutes later, Mysti was in my lap, and farther down the couch was this:

Oh, that clever Mama.  Sneaky, too.  Heh.

Keep an Eye to the Sky

Do you remember way back in 2013, when Pepper and I had first relocated to Moogie's Manor? I reported that we had been invaded by swarms of houseflies. I mean swarms! They all seemed to find their way to the master bath, probably because there's a skylight in there and they just followed the natural sunlight.

Well, they're baaaaack. Only this time there are multitudes more! We've been swatting and cussing and sweeping up fly carcasses all over the bathroom (and some in the kitchen!).

Up until this afternoon, I believed  they're government drones intent on discovering Pepper's and my (alleged) scheme to take over save the world. But something new is happening today.

Instead of me having to swat (or squish -- ewwwww!) them, they're just falling out of the air. Kind of like the alien machines did in War of the Worlds.

So now I think they might be from Pluto. The Plutonians are miffed at being  de-(and, potentially, re-)planetized, and don't like that nosy New Horizons spacecraft snapping all those pictures of them before they've had their coffee, so they're seeking revenge on Queen Moogie and her Consort.

Or maybe they're just drones. Or houseflies.

Either way, I'm content as long as they keep falling from the sky.

When is housefly season over anyway?

Perhaps Moogie should have skipped that second cup of coffee today.

The Numbers All Add Up

Younger Daughter and her husband are buying their first home!  They were supposed to close today, but the weather over the last couple of days has thrown their lending officer into a tizzy, so it's delayed until next week. Younger Daughter is, to use her words, "tres bummed."

They really wanted to get the keys so they can start painting -- it's going to need a lot of loving "updating," having been a one-owner home built in 1974.  But it's got great bones and is structurally sound -- and they got a great deal on it from the heirs of the previous owner. I'm sorry they won't be able to have the family "camp in" they planned for tonight.

I think it'll be the perfect starter home for them.  It's larger than our rent house where they've been living.  When they first started looking, YD told me that her "must haves" were 3 bedrooms, at least 2 baths, a fenced yard, and a fireplace.

(A fireplace.  Younger Daughter is sooooo me.)

So, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a fenced yard, and a fireplace.

And a 2-car garage!  With a door that opens and closes! And it's in a stable, safe neighborhood.

I know it'll be a good home for them because "the numbers" work out great. (If I manipulate them a little.  Shhh, don't tell!) You remember the numbers, don't you? The ones that applied to Moogie's Manor, Moogie's Mansion, and various other of Moogie's dwellings. Those numbers were somehow related to the number 12.  Well, get this:

The address of YD's new house is 2919 "Persi" Lane.  Two + 9 + 1 + 9 = 21, and 21 is 12, backwards!

(See, I told you -- it's just a teensy manipulation!)

Even if the numbers are over-manipulated, there are still multiple digits in the street number.  That's important right now, too. Moogie's Manor is 14212; Elder Daughter's is 13707; Younger Daughter's will be 2919! It's just meant to be, don't you think?

(Where is Buck to make fun of me when I need him?)

Speaking of dogs -- Pepper was mean yesterday when he had the audacity to go outside in the snow without any dogs. Can you tell?

Weekend Observations, Stolen Stuff, and Being Royal

Winter reared its frigid head around these parts the last couple of weeks. Most of the snow has melted (although there's more in the forecast for Wednesday), but we were pretty much housebound for days. The novelty wears off pretty quickly. (I know -- I hear the "wah, wah, wah" from you folks who have winters that regularly last longer than a few weeks. But you must remember that Moogie is a Southern girl!). Consequently, I've spent a LOT of time on Facebook this past week, so I thought I'd share a few giggles I found there.

Sad commentary.

Then there's the really bad pun:

Heh. A math joke that even I get!

We've all had a little cabin fever and been cooking obsessed. I had lots of help in the kitchen:

And, even dogs get cabin fever and go nuts when they finally get to romp outdoors:

We went through quite a bit of firewood. Yappy found the fire mesmerizing. She also found the firewood to be a tasty snack:

But, I think this is my favorite Facebook steal. Pepper posted it and tagged me in it with the caption, "OMG. It's Moogie!" And, of course, he was correct:

He later acknowledged in the comments that he's just a lowly unpaid Consort. It's good when a man recognizes his place.

And it's good to be Queen.

Happy Sunday!

The Circle Remains Unbroken

There's an angel on my shoulder.  JB's gardenia cutting not only survived and is growing, it's blooming!!!

You know how Moogie can be a little strange when it comes to the prophetic value of ordinary things that surround us.  Well, I believe that the successful rooting and thriving of my treasured gardenia is JB's way of celebrating the upcoming birth of her third grandchild -- and first granddaughter.  She'd just do something like that!

I also treated myself to some potted tulips from the Krogerville earlier this week.  After they wilt, I'll plant the bulbs in the backyard where we can see next spring's blossoms from the deck.

I'm such a happy girl.

Except for the pollen part of spring.  I'm kinda hatin' on the pollen thing.

Welcome, Spring!

Landscaping, Spring?, and St. Patty's Weekend

Spring has been teasing us up one side and down the other at Moogie's Manor.  I spied a bunch of daffodils about to bloom before we left for New Orleans a few weeks ago.  They burst into flower shortly after we left, according to our friend, the Dog/House sitter.  Then came the sleet, and they never quite recovered. Here are our disabled daffodils:

And, today, I noticed for the first time that we have a Flowering Plum tree.  A BIG one!  It is sneaking into bloom in the side yard:

I am still so enthralled by the landscaping around The Manor. Every season delivers something new. Pepper and I are plotting how to add to it without detracting from any of it.  I know I want herbs and probably some tomatoes and peppers.  And daisies. He'd like a spruce or some other Christmassy evergreen. One thing we'll plant for sure, probably in the fall, is the Gardenia I rooted from a cutting of JB's huge plant in the yard at Moogie's Mansion.  I was sooooo excited to be successful in rooting it! It's presently sitting in a sunny spot in the entry hall in Moogie's Manor -- I figured that would be a good place to strengthen it before we transplant it outdoors since it's already demonstrated a liking for the sunlight there.  I wasn't able to get back to the Mansion before we left New Orleans to take another cutting, even though the new owners said we were welcome to cut as much as we'd like, but there's always next trip.  Look!  It has set flowerbuds!  (One of which has been decapitated by Mysti's excited tail. *sigh*):

And, here's my favorite pic of the day! Elder Daughter and family headed to New Orleans yesterday so that SIL#1 can join his family in the Irish Channel St. Patrick's Parade tomorrow. You read a little bit about it here once before. They split the trip into two days because they had to leave so late yesterday (and because #5 Grandchild's transportation attention span hasn't reached a full Little Rock to New Orleans length yet). So, today's second leg was filled with electronic entertainment and traffic, hence:

The Jack Kaleidoscope!

Elder Daughter can make electronics sit up ad do tricks. I think that's just too cool for school.

And, I'm still a little under the weather, so I'm easily entertained.

Happy Friday!

Your Botany Lesson of the Day

Someone who really knew what  they were doing landscaped Moogie's Manor.  There is always something flashing color, no matter the season.  Right now we have scads of bright red holly berries showing off next to the deep green leaves.  And there is always visual interest.  My gosh, Autumn was fabulous!! There was so much color you could almost hear it.

One of my favorite plants is pictured above -- it's a Harry Lauder's Walking Stick.  The leaves are very soft -- almost fuzzy.  Ours is just outside the front door, and you look right at it from the office windows.  See it on the left?

It's a member of the Filbert family, but doesn't usually produce.  This is what it looks like today, wearing a "dusting" of snow (Yep, the weatherfolk predicted a "dusting" of snow last night.  Cars were crashing into one another all night out there in the dust storm. We got over 3" of dust.):

And a closer-up, after the ice storm on Sunday:

I mean, how cool is that ?!?!

The literature says it flowers in the spring before leafing out.  I can't wait!

Class dismissed.

Party Politics, and Happenings at Moogie's Mansion

I'm really, really glad the political party conventions are over.  We were able to see Ann Romney before the power went out, but missed Paul Ryan and Mitt.  And Eastwood!  We missed Clint Eastwood!  The battery operated radio was all-Isaac, all the time.

Ann Romney was some kind of impressive -- sincere, intelligent, and she didn't insult the intelligence of those listening to her, unlike a certain First Lady who shall remain nameless, and who flexed her muscles behind the podium a lot.

I did watch most of the network coverage of the Democrats.  I know -- why?  That was Pepper's take on the whole thing, but I wanted to see what was being said for myself instead of relying on the media to convey content.

Wanting to hear for myself turned out to be a big mistake when Clinton did his marathon pat-himself-on-the-back speech.  Did the Democrats learn nothing from his performance when nominating Dukakis?  Now maybe you understand why we Arkies used the phrase, "Clinton Time," when he was governor.  He was always late, and always ran over.

It was probably a mistake to watch the Young President, too.  That is the tallest drink of aloof, narcissistic sparkling water I've ever encountered.  Pepper had to leave the room on several occasions to do a little guitar therapy in order to ward off a stroke.  And what a finale!  Splat.  Serves them right for unnecessarily moving the location because of the non-existent "bad weather."

Anyway, now we're in the home stretch and I expect the robo-calls to begin at any minute.  With dread.  Serious dread.

So, what's been happening at Moogie's Mansion since the storm?  We're still waiting on the roofer -- blue tarp is in place, though, as is the downed chimney cap.  Man, that thing made quite a racket when it hit the deck!  Pepper went into manic Captain Ahab mode with painting and door-repairing and more painting.  And yard cleaning.

The city has been pretty overwhelmed in getting the debris picked up.  Isaac was such a slow mover that there was almost as much tree debris as after Katrina -- 54 consecutive hours of sustained winds in excess of at least 40 mph, with gusts at over 90.  But, yesterday (I know!  On a Sunday!) I heard the sound of heavy equipment and this is what I saw:



Yes. I realize that Moogie is very easily entertained on occasion.  (And a guy that doesn't look very much like Andy gave me a hint on Facebook about turning the phone sideways when taking future videos. Thanks, Andy -- and friend!)

Of course, they only picked up the debris that was piled up (by the homeowners, thank you very much), not the stuff that has been bagged.  So, we still have quite an impressive pile of bags littering the curbs.  *sigh*

And, today Moogie did a little money laundering:

Shhh!  Don't tell the authorities!

Bieber? Seriously?

Now, here's something I probably wouldn't have suspected.  Justin Bieber, BadAss, hangs out with Mike Tyson, Crazy BadAss.



Egad.  Just seeing the words "Justin Bieber" and "BadAss" in the same sentence -- not to mention those words being being related to each other -- just shakes me to the core.

Where's New Kids On The Block when you need a little wholesomeness?

Or Hammer?

Mercy (and, forgive me!), I loved those pants!

Moogie 1, Thieves 0!

Ah ha!!!  Victory over the thugs is mine!!

Remember when we discovered the theft of our lawn mower (and other stuff) from our garage after Thanksgiving?  Remember how I bought padlocks and heavy chains to reinforce the gate closures?

They worked!

Since Pepper has been out of town for a few days, the Bouie-poop-walk duty has fallen to me.  As we rounded the corner and approached the gate on the side street this morning, I noticed the gate to the back courtyard looked a little whoppy-jawed (translation for those not fluent in Southern: misaligned; crooked; off-center).  Sure enough, upon closer observation, I found the tongue was out of its little slot, meaning that someone had tried to unlatch the gate, to-wit:

And, this time the miscreant thief couldn't simply reach over to unlatch the clasp!  The padlock held! 

Ah, the smell of victory over reprobates is sweet indeed!  But, it's also a little creepy to know that someone was trying to gain access to the yard while Pepper was gone and I was here alone.  Fortunately, I am armed with both weapons and a large black dog who loves me.  He loves to squish plants in the sun, too. 

Nonetheless, I'm glad Pepper comes home tonight.

This has been the strangest winter -- it never got cold enough, for long enough, to kill my potted jalapeno plant, and now it has set five flowers!  And last year's petunia just went a little dormant and has now exploded in purple blossoms!  It was just too mild to kill the annuals, I suppose, except for the basil, whose remains you see beside the pepper plant.

Or, maybe I've become a magical gardener.  Yeah -- I'll go with that.  I'm magical. 

You'd best beware Moogie the Magical, thieving scum, or I'll transform you into the literal slime that you are and deliver you up to Obama's algae-based energy experiments!  At least there you'll be among your own kind, and potentially productive, instead of just another leeching wart on the nose of society.

There.  I feel better.  Can you tell I overdosed on Harry Potter movies this weekend?
          

Ya Gotta Love a Principal Who Sticks to her Guns. Um, Principles. She Doesn't Carry, I'm Pretty Sure.

I'm sitting here listening to the intercom (yes, they broadcast over their intercom to the entire neighborhood, but we always know what's going on!) at Sophie B. Wright Institute for Academic Excellence (Whew! That's a mouthful, even when you type it!) down the street, and I've just experienced yet another refreshing note of what's happening in that school.

The Principal's irritated voice (yes, I recognize her voice by now) summoned three students by name and directed them to board the bus at once:  "Get on the bus now.  You're holding up the entire bus and the entire route.  Get aboard your bus immediately, and I mean NOW! Do NOT make me go looking for you!"

How cool is that -- a principal who takes no guff and suffers no fools.  Way to walk the walk, Ms. Clark!  Happy Homecoming Week!

Monday's Musical Interlude

Now, this qualifies for the adjective, "Amazing."  Prepare to be amazed.



Was I right, or what!

Stolen from Facebook.

Oh, and it's Labor Day.  I still feel pretty much the same way about it today as I did last year.

No Keymaster, Just a Gatekeeper

Just so you don't have lizard withdrawal, voila:

The gatekeeper at Moogie's Mansion.

Home: Improvement and Invasion

As revealed here in an earlier post, we did indeed celebrate Bastille Day at Moogie's Mansion by accepting delivery of a new, fancy mattress.  We were way overdue -- both of our backs had been talking to us for quite awhile.  As Pepper observed, our old mattress held up really well for 10 years -- too bad it was 11 years old.

So, I was very excited to get the new one set up (the delivery guys left the house just as the rain began to fall), with its high-falutin' bedbug-proof, allergen-free, waterproof cover.  Bouie was neither excited nor happy because he had to be locked in the tv room while the delivery guys were here -- he was acting just a little too "interested" (read: he had entered a not hump-free zone) and "helpful" (read: he needed to see every little thing and inspect every little movement).  Being all caught up in Bouie and getting the zippered cover fitted correctly, I failed to notice how much higher the surface of the mattress was than our old one's.

The dang bed is now taller than more than half of me!

No way are my feet going to reach the floor when I try to get out of bed.  I felt kinda like a 5 year-old sitting on a chair designed for the "big and tall," swinging my legs.

There's not enough room on my side of the bed for me to be able to use one of those pet steps designed to enable older, short critters to get up onto the furniture.

So, I went upstairs and grabbed Elder Daughter's step-stool from college.

So, now, instead of feeling like that 5 year-old, I feel more like a toddler bellying up to the bathroom sink to brush her teeth.  Or a sorority girl.  On second thought, I don't think I have nearly enough energy to be a toddler.  And I certainly don't have enough energy to be a sorority girl; I barely did the first time around.  So, I suppose I'll just feel short.

*Sigh*  At least the new mattress is really comfy.  Once I manage to get up on it.  And I hardly need to bend over at all to change the linens! 

One strange thing, though, leads me to believe that the fancy cover wasn't made here in the good ol' U.S. of A. -- this advisory label that lets you know which end goes where:

There's the same label on both ends.  I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

And, speaking of lizards -- I went into the kitchen earlier today to put some thing in the sink and this is what I found!

It was a tiny little thing and it didn't seem to be very frightened of me.

It seemed to prefer red wine to coffee, however.

Pepper invited it to go back outdoors.  We really don't need any new pets around here right now.  I'm too busy adjusting to a new mattress.

Leapin' Lizards -- Today's Lesson in Herpetology

Moogie's Mansion is overrun with lizards from early spring until frost (which, sometimes, doesn't arrive until well into winter).  Most of the common lizards we see are either brown anoles or green anoles -- the browns tend to stay closer to ground level while the greens typically prefer higher terrain, but both varieties can be found on fences, in bushes, and even up in trees. There's one stretch of sidewalk down the street that I call "Lizard Central" because any time you walk through it, dozens of lizards scurry back and forth from the groundcover near the street to the foliage near the fence.

Both of the guys pictured above are males -- they have this "distensible dewlap" that they use to attract females and  challenge other males.  It's quite impressive to see them all puffed up and macho, sending signals all around the yard -- they do two or three lizard push-ups and then poof out their dewlap like a balloon.

For several years -- especially after Katrina which pretty much wiped out the lizard and songbird population for awhile -- the brown anoles were winning the lizard territorial war from the green anoles around here and I was afraid we wouldn't see the colorful shows that they produce anymore.  The browns are apparently fairly aggressive.  But, both varieties seem to be thriving these days and I am very happy about that.  Except, they don't eat enough bugs to suit me.  And sometimes they jump out at me when I open the mailbox.  That's a little disturbing.

Several days ago, two males were doing this "anything you can do I can do better" number on parallel poles on the gate while I was sitting outside waiting for Rosie to do her thing.  They leapt and crawled the length on the poles, eyeing each other all the way, then they'd flip around and climb back up.  Quite the gymnasts.  I really wished I could've recorded that little episode.

I finally had my phone with me yesterday on my way to the car when I spied a green on the fence.  I thought he might do some acrobatics for me to record, but he did something even better -- he got a drink of water.  He got a drink of water by licking a holly leaf with his tiny pink tongue!  I'm not sure how I thought lizards get hydration before seeing this -- maybe I assumed they just absorb it from the atmosphere? -- but I never suspected I'd see a lizard lapping up water like a dog!  Look closely at this little guy's tongue -- it's amazing!  And he let me get right up next to him!


(I was so excited to watch the video in the car that I left the house keys in the gate lock and didn't realize it until I got to the grocery store.  I had to come all the way back home to get them before I did my shopping!  I don't think my vicious attack lizards would've done much to discourage a key-thieving thug.).

Today I spotted one slinking across the birdbath to get a drink!

Someday, I'll get a video of two males stalking each other and puffing up and chasing one another.  It's quite the B-movie horror film scene when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, in miniature.

What's really unusual about my fascination with lizards is that I can watch them and get close to them without being afraid.  Except when they leap out of the mailbox, and that's mostly a startle reaction rather than the full-blown panic attack I suffer when I get anywhere near a snake.  I think it's probably because lizards have elbows and shoulders.  Joints seem to make a difference.  Don't ask me to explain it -- I'm just grateful for those shoulders and elbows, or I don't think I could go outside down here except during the winter!

There are days when Moogie is so very easily entertained.