Catching Up

Hmmm. Blogger seems to be very tired today. Sloooooowwwww to load.

I know how it feels.

My brain seems to be in suspended animation, so please pardon the rambling.

We went to the CAMAN Ball in New Orleans last weekend, then spent the following night at Covey Rise Sportsmen's Lodge with Bouie (He and Pepper had done a quail hunt on Friday and Saturday morning after dropping me at the hotel in NOLA). The next morning I got to shoot skeet for the very first time ever!  I even killed two of those critters! Pretty impressive stuff, if I do say so myself. Here's the skeet shooting range:

And my "Badge of Honor" (for not holding the shotgun correctly on one shot -- shhhh, don't tell anyone! I was kinda proud the bruise wasn't any worse!):

We also got to visit with some neighbors from Moogie's Mansion's 'hood, then made a stop at Rouse's to stock up on some stuff that we just can't get in Little Rock. Hmmm. There seems to be a substantial amount of alcohol involved:

Yes, Moogie and Pepper did some pretty serious bootlegging.

One of my dearest childhood friends and her husband spent a few nights with us this week after her sister-in-law passed away unexpectedly and they came to town for the funeral. I haven't really gotten to spend any time with her in probably 25 years. I wasn't sure what to expect, but we picked up right where we left off, as if not a day had passed. In fact, we were so engaged in visiting and catching up that we totally missed the Young President's State of the Union Address! What a lovely lagniappe to the visit (and panacea for my blood pressure!).

So, I guess you can go home again.  Nice to know.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is always a solemn time for me. An uplifting thing occurred on Friday, though -- Pepper found a spot on the house with enough wood ( instead of Dri-vit) to support a flag bracket!  So now Old Glory is proudly flying at Moogie's Manor, just as it did at the Mansion in NOLA.

Pepper and I joined friends on Friday night at Riverfest so we could turn back the hands of time at a "Chicago" concert! Man, those guys are genuine musicians! Then, last night, The Son and his group went back to Riverfest so that #1 could do a little volunteer work (yay, #1!!), but we had a family cookout anyway with Daughters' families, including 2/5 of the grandkids (##4 and 5).  Don't they look like they're cooking up something mischievous?

Heh.

Tonight we'll have Swedish food (smorgasbord of leftovers!), and think about what to grill tomorrow. Ah, tomorrow.  Memorial Day.

Never forget.

Thank God, indeed.

Adventures in Suffrage

Being good citizens, Pepper and I registered to vote in Arkansas at the same time we got our new drivers' licenses last summer.

A month or so ago we received Address Confirmation Cards from the Orleans Parish Voter Registrar that had been forwarded from our old address at Moogie's Mansion in New Orleans.

We also received Address Confirmation Cards for Elder Daughter and Younger Daughter, using their maiden names. Daughters haven't lived in Louisiana since 2004, but Younger Daughter has been summoned to Jury Duty several times since she moved. Each time she has contacted the Registrar (as well as the summoning court) to tell them that she doesn't live and vote in New Orleans anymore so she won't be showing up for Jury Duty any time soon, thank you very much.

Anyway, Pepper and I decided to help out Registrar Sandra Wilson, PH.D., (her credentials, as noted on the form, in capital letters) by returning the Confirmation Cards, noting our new address, and writing in large letters, "Moved to Arkansas." In block letters, not even cursive. We assumed she would remove us from the Voter Registration Roster, posthaste.

Nope.

Today, all four of us received another Address Confirmation Card from Ms. Wilson, Ph.D, requesting that we verify our address. The address we were asked to confirm inside the mailing was the old Moogie's Mansion address. The address on the outside of the mailing was our current address in Arkansas at the Manor.

*sigh*

In her epistle, Ms. Wilson, Ph.D., notes that, if we fail to return the card by December 10, 2016, we "may be removed from the voter registration list." MAY be removed. In 2016. After the next presidential election.

Theoretically, Moogie could vote for the next President both in Arkansas and Louisiana. Louisiana requires voters to show a government-issued photo ID before one may cast a ballot. (Arkansas' voter ID law has recently been declared unconstitutional and is under appeal at present.) Even though we now have Arkansas drivers' licenses, this requirement would not pose an impediment to voting in Louisiana for Moogie and Pepper as we both have retired military IDs bearing our smiling faces and no address.

Of course, we all know that Moogie and Pepper are beyond ethical, so we would never do something like that. I can't say that would hold true for every other "displaced" Louisiana voter, however. (There are special instructions for "involuntarily displaced" voters.)

I'd say that Ms. Wilson, Ph.D, might want to do a little training for her data entry folks.

*sigh*

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!

Mardi Gras Memories, Version 2014

This was definitely a different sort of Mardi Gras for us. It was fun to stay with friends and catch up with neighbors, but it just felt . . . like we were visitors.  Which, of course, we were.

Wow. That's kind of hard to admit.

Anyway, we spent the first part of the week staying with a friend in Lakeview, and we left our car there for the second part of the week, not really being up for paying $50.00 per day to park in the Quarter. Retired Navy friends picked us up there and took us to their lovely 200 year old  home in the Quarter after dinner on the Lake (they live up the street from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house, and catty-corner from one of Nicholas Cage's former houses. One of the ones he lost during his little tiff with our pals at the IRS. I might note that our friends are less than enthralled with Brangelina.). Here are two views of the downstairs parlor:

One thing that made me feel "at home" was the ubiquitous Mardi Gras decor.  I did a few things outdoors, but didn't manage to get the lights up. That failure will not happen next year. It's just cheery to see decor like this:

One doesn't encounter decorative arts like that in Little Rock.

We made it to the old neighborhood twice, got to visit with dearly missed neighbors and meet new babies both trips, and even got an extended tour of Moogie's Mansion, which is now nothing like Moogie's Mansion inside. On Bacchus Sunday, we went to two neighborhood parties and visited with the out-of-retirement-just-for-Mardi-Gras Security Guard at St. Elizabeth's who had taken a shine to Pepper and wound up giving him quite a few hunting rifles and shotguns before we moved because he was downsizing. (That is proof positive that it certainly pays to take plates of food to the Security Guard on a regular basis!) It was a great day, but another you-don't-live-in-Moogie's-Mansion realization hit us square in the face when we couldn't find a parking place any closer to the parade route than a mile and a half! We got our exercise in that day, for sure. Here is what the front yard looks like now at the Mansion:

No more holly, jasmine, and lantana on the front fence. And JB's gardenia has been dramatically pruned. It should be okay though -- it survived Bouie's puppyhood, after all. They offered to let us take the Mother's Day birdbath, but we didn't get back over there on the way home. At least I have a picture of it as it sits today.

I went with our Lakeview friend to the Mystic Krewe of Nyx's parade on Wednesday night after our arrival while Pepper relaxed. It was freakin' freezing! And I didn't wear nearly enough clothes, thinking I was back in New Orleans and all -- it took me all night to thaw out beneath the covers. Who knew? This is one of my favorite new floats -- it's one of the signature Nyx floats:

Cosmo, anyone?

I can't believe I didn't take more pics of the food we gorged ourselves on during the week.  Maybe I feared that just looking at the pics would pack on the pounds. On Friday night, we had dinner at Ralph's on the Park with our real estate guy -- he had become a very good friend. He even bought Pepper's 911 so we wouldn't have to move it. (Don't grieve for Pepper's loss of a Porsche.  He had a gently used, but not terribly well-maintained, Cayenne waiting for him in Little Rock that had found its way into the family last spring during a trip when we were supposed to be babysitting, not car shopping. I call it "The German Lemon." Hopefully, it's in good shape now, plus we can get in and out of it a lot easier than the 911.) This preceded dinner -- a cucumber martini. (It had been prettier -- I had already eaten the cucumber slice perched on the rim of the glass):

This was my dinner -- Visiting Fish:

I think we had dessert, but it disappeared PDQ.

This was breakfast with the Krewe of Eggs on Mardi Gras morning on St. Charles Avenue across from Gallier Hall.  Pretty darn good buffet on a dreary, cold, rainy morning!

But, I think this was my favorite.  A shrimp Po Boy from our neighborhood grocery, Zara's.  Or what was left of it by the time I snapped this pic. I called in the order as we were hiking toward the old neighborhood and it was steaming hot by the time we got there, just waiting on us. We ate it on the neutral ground. It also pays not to delete numbers from one's phone when one moves:

There was a lot more food and fun than I photographed. And I finally got to see the Sophie B. Wright Academy marching band as Zulu passed our restaurant on Mardi Gras morning!

Writing this post brought up some very pleasant memories.  And it kept me from concentrating on Ukraine and our paper tiger president, who is on yet another golf vacation in the Florida Keys while the world threatens to implode.

Thank you for your indulgence.  I think I'll go find a little snack!

And maybe a cocktail. After all, it's 5:00 in the Florida Keys.

Carnival Break

Oops.  It looks like I fell off the blog wagon yesterday -- there was lots going on with daughters and grandkids and stuff. And, posting is only gonna get more sparse for a little bit.  We have a long-time friend coming over on Wednesday as house/dog-sitter, and we're going to the Mardi Gras! For a whole week!

Not hearing the drumlines and not seeing the floats and costumes has been a little harder than I expected -- after all, Carnival has been a major part of our lives for 14 years.  It's a hard habit to break. (Although the preserving-a-parking-place ritual is definitely not missed!  But where will we park when we go back to the old neighborhood on Bacchus Sunday?) We'll stay with a friend in Lakeview for the first half of the week, so we'll have to drive to see the parades! I don't know whether we know how to do that.

We'll be with our Military Officers' Wives Club for Muses, and Pepper rides Endymion for the last time on Saturday -- Carrie Underwood headlines the post-parade, black tie Extravaganza!  I really like Carrie Underwood. And ball gowns.  I'm gonna wear last year's Queen CAMAN dress, but begrudgingly, without the crown.  Those Endymion folk probably wouldn't understand if I showed up in my crown.

As I noted above, we'll be in the old neighborhood on Bacchus Sunday, and the nice folks who bought (and seriously transformed) Moogie's Mansion will give us another tour -- Pepper hasn't seen it yet.  I got to see the old girl when I went down in January to have the royal title ripped from my chokehold.  All I can say is, "Wow."  She is no longer a Victorian inside.

Mardi Gras morn will find us with the Krewe of Eggs, followed by an Open House in the Quarter in the home of the friends who are graciously hosting us for the second half of the week. Then, we'll pack up and head north on Ash Wednesday.

There will be lots of food and drink, probably not much sleep, and lots of revelry and renewed friendships. I can't wait to see beads in the trees and on the streetsigns, like in the pic above. So, think of us on Sunday -- we'll be right under that streetsign! Throw me somethin' Mistah!

Where is Ernestine When You Really Need Her?

We recently received in the snailmail an Explanation of Benefits from Aetna in connection with Pepper's little "procedure" back in December.  We received it a little late because, once again, it was mailed to Moogie's Mansion in New Orleans instead of to the Manor, here in Little Rock.

Pepper had tried to change the address several times online, but his attempts apparently never took.  So, with that vein in his forehead throbbing to beat the band, he "suggested" that perhaps it would be wise if I called Aetna to speak to a human being about the address change instead of subjecting said human being to the wrath of Pepper.

Thus, this afternoon, beginning at approximately 1:23 pm, I spent 15 minutes on hold with Aetna (2 full minutes of which were responding to prompts to push a certain number for a certain service). Then, after acquiring a live human being at long last, I was sweetly informed that Aetna doesn't accept changes of address; I'd need to do that through Pepper's former employer, Entergy.  Would I like her to give me that number?

No, Sweet-voiced Young Lady. I'd rather just take my chances feeding random numbers into the phone.  Of COURSE I'd like to have that number!

Then she had to put me on hold to find the number.

*sigh*

Once I was armed with the number to Entergy's HR & Benefits Department, I climbed up the next phone-prompts tree of pushing a certain number for a certain service. Fortunately I wasn't put on hold this time for too long, and was soon speaking to a very nice lady whose name I won't even attempt to spell.   As she was typing away on the changes, we chatted about the differences between New Orleans and Arkansas, and I bade her Happy Mardi Gras as we hung up at 2:01.

So that's how my afternoon has gone.  And here's how I feel about that:

TAKE THE FLIPPING ON-HOLD RECORDING AND FINE TUNE IT!!!!! Listen to it yourself every now and then to hear how it sounds.  If it's so scratchy and garbled that it sounds like it's being played on a Gramophone, FINE TUNE IT!!!!  CHOOSE SOME BETTER BACKGROUND MUSIC!!!!  Elevator music is for elevators from which you're fairly certain that you will be escaping shortly. DO NOT TELL ME REPEATEDLY THAT MY CALL IS "VERY IMPORTANT" TO YOU!!!!!!!! The fact that you've had me on hold for eons is proof positive that you don't give a good diddly squat about me or my call. If you insist on regularly interrupting the lovely background music, and getting my hopes up that I'm on the brink of speaking to a human being, simply tell me that you remain cognizant that I exist and am on hold in your queue; don't court me with your declarations of my import.

Whew. I feel better now.

I'd feel even better if businesses would just return to the days of having switchboard operators -- the sources of all information. Or, at least the repository of everybody's business.

Memories in My Blog, Because There Aren't Enough Corners in My Mind

I've had such fun recently, getting back into blogging.  I've even been reading many of my old posts.  (Come on, admit it.  You do that, too!)

This morning I ran across one that made me laugh out loud  (mostly made me laugh  -- there was that little encounter with Ohio State), and brought back some wonderful memories.  From early 2011:

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

Just Another Week in New Orleans, With Pictures!

Okay -- I have a semi-serious post rolling around in my head, but first I need to get this one out of there so there's more room for reflection.  Bear with me -- this one's gonna be kinda long, but it's mostly for me so I won't forget all this stuff.  Some is kinda irreverent, but it actually happened, so documentation is appropriate.  Some is just fun memories.

This is Grandson#1, all decked out in his new Razorback gear on Christmas Eve at The Son's house.  Heh.

This is Trevor, The Son's lucky puppy, not in motion.  This needed to be documented because it's a rare occasion when Trevor, the lucky puppy, is not in motion.

This is a group of good friends and family at She-Who-Should've-Been-My-Sister's Little Rock home on New Year's Eve after we devoured all the food brought to the potluck.  SWSBMS's other home is in Hong Kong, so it's wonderful when we can all get together on the same continent in the same hemisphere.  You'll note the conspicuous absence of SIL#1.  He and his college buddies had met in Ft. Worth to watch TCU's first BCS Bowl appearance together, without wives and significant others.  Thus, Elder Daughter and SIL#1 spent their first New Year's Eve as a married couple in different states.  Elder Daughter, being Moogie's progeny, devised a way for SIL#1 to make it up to her, however; she persuaded him to secure 4 tickets to the Sugar Bowl from her FIL and went without him, taking her college friends, now living in Upstate New York, and Younger Daughter instead.  And they were Club Level seats to boot!  Clever Elder Daughter.

Here is what midnight in New York looked like on New Year's Eve at SWSBMS's house, and Pepper.  You can tell it's reallyPepper because there's a Blackberry in his hand.  Unlike at most of our recent New Year's Eve celebrations, we actually stayed out past midnight in New York, and beyond when it became midnight in Little Rock.

This is what New Year's Night looked like: a 1-1-11 wedding in the Chapel at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.  The Son was best man (he's the squared-away, handsome one with raised saber).  I managed to catch the precise moment when the other groomsman lowered his saber to swat the Bride on the rear end and shout, "Welcome to the Army!"  The newly-married couple would leave central Arkansas on January 3rd to honeymoon at Moogie's Mansion where the Bride was lucky enough to share one bathroom with her new husband and 4 of his best friends.  The Bride was a very good sport.

Here we are at the Super Dome, getting ready to head inside to watch the Hogs trounce the Buckeyes.  There were plenty of raucous Razorback fans to add to our Sugary spirit.  And there was apparently at least one young lady (at the far right) who looks like she has not been adequately schooled in just what, exactly, a Hog Hat is.

Here are tens of thousands of Hog-callers and the Razorbacks thundering onto the field before trouncing the Buckeyes.

In cased you missed it, The Hogs failed to trounce the Buckeyes.  And that's enough about that.

Before the Big Game, several happy events, and one rather bizarre event, took place at Moogie's Mansion.  We celebrated the 30th birthday of Elder Daughter's college chum with mimosas, brunch and cake.  Cake, both birthday and wedding.

The wedding cake, and tons of other leftover wedding reception fare, was courtesy of the honeymooners, who got the very best guest room and pink roses.

After the Razorback fans departed to return to a soon-to-be-frozen-over Arkansas and other destinations, and after Moogie quickly changed a few beds and cleaned a few bathrooms, two Mardi Gras revelers arrived to join us at the CAMAN Ball -- our first big celebration of Carnival season.  Reveler#1's daughter was ever-so-slightly embarrassed by #1's gleeful immersion in the Carnival spirit.  Can you tell?  R#1's daughter was also less than pleased when Moogie manipulated several eligible young men to dance with said daughter, but she's young and will get over it.

The Ball's theme was "CAMAN Under the Big Top," and the decor was quite festive.

King CAMAN XXXVII enjoyed his entrance and hammed it up for his subjects, also showering them with doubloons of the realm.  Queen CAMAN XXXVII was regal, radiant, and very, very happy.

Following the Ball, the Revelers were snowed out of Arkansas, so their departure was delayed by three days.  We took that opportunity to turn their extended visit into "The Early Winter Eating Tour of New Orleans."  This was one lunch, at Pascal's Manale, on Tuesday the 11th -- Mushroom Ravioli with Crab Alfredo Sauce and Crabcake.  Oh my freakin' goodness! 

The Revelers got the "all-clear" to return home on the 12th, and it's been kinda quiet around here since then.

Oh yeah.  I mentioned something a few days back about ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

While we were brunching before the Big Game, Honeymoon Man meandered into the dining room from the front porch and said, "There's a Viking in a track suit leaning against your fence."  I peeked out the window, and, sure enough, there was a Viking-ish looking guy (or a lost member of ZZ Top) leaning against the fence.  I asked Honeymoon Man whether the Viking needed to talk to me, and he replied, "I don't think so."  I gave it little more thought, this being New Orleans and all.

Twenty minutes later, Honeymoon Man, having been upstairs and having looked out the window, came back down and announced, "The Viking's down."  I thought it prudent to go check on him; one male Hog Fan accompanied me as my protector, fearing that the wrath of a prematurely-roused Viking might befall me.  He took his camera.

Meet the Viking in a Track Suit.

I called to him in a loud mother-ish voice, "Sir?  Are you all right?  SIR?!?!," while also noting his rather battered and swollen face.  Then I hot-footed it inside to call 911.

Here are a few of the emergency responders.  When they finally got the Viking onto a back board and roused him a bit, they asked him the typical questions -- what's your name, do you know where you are.  To the name question, he responded with a strong display of the one-finger salute from beneath the back board straps.  To the location question, he replied, "Pennsylvania."  We're still not sure what happened to him, or who he is, but if he planned on being in Pennsylvania, he definitely took a wrong turn somewhere.

                                                   

Here are the Honeymooners with emergency responders in the background.  They kept the discarded instructions on "how to apply a neck brace" as a souvenir.

After the excitement quieted down, one police officer noticed all the people wearing Razorback tee shirts and told us he really liked the Razorbacks and wanted us to win the Sugar Bowl.  Then he said he really liked "that cheer," too.  Then he asked us to teach him how to do it.  So, with the Viking strapped to the backboard and being rolled to the ambulance, we all called the Hogs along with New Orleans first responders on the sidewalk.  The cop "woop-wooped" his siren at us and waved as he drove off.

Several of the Hog Fans were smokers.  They did not empty the ash tray provided for them on the front porch.  And you know who you are!

It was a hectic, sleepless, delightful week.  And there's lagniappe!  One pair of Fans brought a bottle of wine, another a lovely piece of Who Dat art, and the group of guys brought this delight for the nose and the palate -- 21 year-old single malt!  Ahhhh.  I didn't realize that Pepper had partaken as much of it as he has until I took this pic today; I've enjoyed one tiny snifter, preferring instead to keep it forever and savor it by occasionally removing the cork and deep-breathing the aroma.

So.  Such is life at Moogie's Mansion.  And Carnival season has just begun.

I'll sign off with this pic snapped before Christmas, en route to Little Rock, in heavy traffic.  It just reminded me of all my wonderful Blog Buddies, and a few in particular.  See if you can read the name and home base of of the trucking company.

Heh. 

So very New Orleans!  Viking in a track suit.  Heh.

It's For the Birds at Moogie's Manor

My father, Boompie (that's his "grandfather" name, after Jimmy Stewart's character in Mister Hobbs Takes a Vacation -- "Boompah?!?!  What kind of a name is Boompah?  You couldn't do any better for your own father?!"), instilled in me at an early age a love of, and fascination for, birds.  Except sparrows.  Don't ask. It's a long strange story.  Anyway, I can just sit and watch birds for hours.

Back at the Mansion in New Orleans, birdwatching was pretty much limited to Mockingbirds, Cardinals, and Doves, with the occasional obnoxious Crow or Pigeon thrown in.  And, Doves are just stoopid birds with very little personality, so they don't really count, and that just left me with Cardinals and Mockingbirds, who are meaner than a snake!  It was hardly worth setting up a feeder because the Mockers wouldn't use it and the Cardinals got bored with it, and it attracted rats.

But, here at the Manor, we have a wooded green space in back that is home to scads of birds!  Moogie is in hog heaven! (Heh -- get it?  Razorbacks?  Hog Heaven?  I crack me up sometimes.)  We have Cardinals and Mockers and Finches and Titmice and Chickadees and Nuthatches and Hummingbirds!  I have three feeders on the back deck!






(There's Moogie's reflection in the window. Say hi!)

Having three feeders, however, means we also have a herd of greedy, marauding squirrels. 

I originally hung the feeder in the first picture in the spot where the new squirrel-resistant feeder now hangs in the second pic.  Not a good plan.  Acrobatically-gifted squirrels had it emptied in a day.  The new spot is just far enough away from any good launching points to keep them at bay.  Pepper said he'd hang and re-fill it for me (Moogie is height-challenged), but I had to clean up the Kamikaze squirrel carcasses.  So far, no squirrel carcasses!

As for the new feeder, so far, so good.  It works on a weight and spring principle -- it closes the food ports when heavy critters get on it.  The squirrels tried every angle possible for a few days -- you could just see their frustration when they shook their furry little tails and had to give up.  Sometimes they will sit and stare at the feeders, as if willing the feed to hover into their greedy little paws.

But, I think some of the birds must be in cahoots with the little vermin.  Some of the birds appear to prefer a specific type of seed, so they'll sling the other types right out of the feeder!  And the squirrels, being the determined moochers they are, now just kinda hang out on the deck or the rails and scoop up what has fallen, without really even having to work for it.

And that drives Bouie nuts!  I'm just hoping he doesn't go through one of those windows.  Mysti just gets excited because Bouie's excited.  Come to think of it, however, she has started tracking the squirrel scent lately, so I suppose I should start worrying about both of them now.

We have a dominant Hummingbird who has staked out his territory around the hummingbird feeder.  He loves to light on the feeder and drink his fill.  They are such incredible little birds!  And, fearless.

So, it's apparently the best of times for the local bird populations, now that Moogie has become their neighbor.

I wonder what else we'll discover?  Hopefully nothing reptilian.  Ewww.

A Little Holiday Cheer, and Welcome!

I've been incredibly pre-occupied lately, with the house and Christmas and something else kinda exciting that I'll share in a few weeks, so I've been kinda neglecting Moogie's World and the blogosphere.  I'll try to do better, but I can't make any promises, seeing as how I have done very little shopping, and we're getting ready to travel for the holidays, and we have a 10 week old black lab girl puppy!!! 

This is the visual definition of cute (and hell on four large paws!):

 

 

Say hello to Mystic Roux (her mama's name was Roux), more commonly known as Mysti (or other "colorful" pejoratives, e.g., "you little fill-in-the-blank"):



She's getting the house training idea insofar as piddling goes, but we're still working on the poop angle.  Bouie is very good with her -- he plays so gently with her.  Perhaps he understands that she is his email-order bride and he needs to treat her right if he expects to wed her in a year or so.

She has gained over 3 pounds in two weeks, so she has an insatiable appetite.  It's been pretty much a sleep-deprived, multi-ring circus around here since Thanksgiving (we picked her up on the way home from Arkansas).  So, this video that appeared in my Inbox today was a calming, welcome pleasure.  Just look at the children watching in awe. 



I think the puppy needs to watch this. Often.