In the end...it is still all about cats....

Hinds County Gazette.... January 31
It has been so wet…. I should be up cleaning this house, I have cat and dog paw prints all over the kitchen floor and up and down the hall.
Up until last May, I only just barely tolerated cats…because the cats in my life, had been indoor cats and quite destructive…clawing furniture, climbing curtains. And I guess they were calling themselves getting comfortable, when they would push stuff off mantles…send it to the floor in loud crashes…. and that litter box we won’t even go there.
Daughter Angela was always bringing home stray cats….She even bought one…out of a pet store…it was sick! She was afraid was going to die, if it didn’t get care soon.

So anyway, Two or three years ago, In an effort to rid my shop of mice….I did get another cat, but my dogs scared the liver out of it…. it ran away and did not come back…However I occasionally spot it, through the fence, down at the bottom of the hill, prowling around H&M.
So anyway, I decided to try again…Bob and Betty Kemps cat had a litter of three kittens….They gave me first dibs, I picked the gray and white striped cat. Later Angela and Garrett came they wanted to see the kitten I had chose, so we went down to Bob and Betty’s. “Are you just going to take one? It will be lonesome” Angela asked. I went to muttering, reminding her about me being on “The Budget” and how “it costs money to have cats neutered.”

Have I told you about “The Budget”, yet? It would take a whole column to tell you all about it…but here is what it boils down to. After John died, daughter Angela, the accountant, swooped in and put me on “The Budget” She went to cautioning me, about my spending and how I wanted remember, I needed to have money not only for my day to day expenses, but year end expenses, taxes, insurance, car tags and the like….and incidentals such as tires, oil changes etc.

To make a long story short she put together “The Budget”. And I must say, for not ever being on a budget before, I believe I have done well…it has not been an unpleasant experience at all…In fact it has been quite enjoyable….and enlightening…Just becoming aware of how much money I was spending, and on what….was an eye opener.
So anyway back to the cats…Angela said, if I would take another cat she would pay to have it neutered.

Several weeks later, when we went to pick up my two cats, Angela looked at the kitten that was left behind, “Are you just going to leave that kitten all by its self?”
I again reminded her of my situation involving “The Budget”. I told her I had not seen cat neutering anywhere on it.… One cat neutering was all I could squeeze out of “The Budget”.

Angela decided to pay for the third cats neutering too.
Now then back to my wonderful cats…my intention was, they were to be outdoor cats, to keep unwanted critters out the shop. Also they could… when not in pursuit of mice and moles, serve as yard art… I just, love seeing cats lounging, draped over benches and chasing butterflies…hours of entertainment.

But slowly they have become indoor- out door cats….let me tell you, that’s the only kind to have…they do not need litter boxes and apparently they get all of their scratching and clawing, running and jumping done while they are outside…because when they come in they are content to be ornamental, they curl up on a bed…typically it is on the antique crocheted bedspread in the back bedroom.
But I have come to believe that why my cats are so easy, is this, I have the whole litter, when they were taken from their mommy, they had far less adjusting to do…They had each other.
Call if you need me
Sorry this was so long …I get carried away when talking about my cats.

Do you want to see a Southern Lady have the vapors....

HCG January 24 2008

As you know I was not southern born, we came to Mississippi in 1979 and to Edwards in 1987. So you would think, nearly 30 years later, I could no longer be bewildered by the South’s little idiosyncrasies, those charming traits that sets us apart from the rest of the world. But, very recently, I was quite flabbergasted, by the reaction; I brought on, among some of the genteel southern ladies I know.
You all, I had not seen a reaction like it in a very long time. Not since John’s heart attack years ago, when I announced to my walking buddies “While John is in surgery, (a triple bypass)…I am going home and mow the grass”… I thought they all might have collective strokes…. Bless their hearts; they were horrified to say the least….. They literally stopped breathing.
The day of John’s surgery the waiting room was packed with friends… I suspect it had less to do with keeping me company, then making sure I stayed.
What brought on this latest horror-struck reaction was ambrosia. I had ambrosia for the very first time this past Christmas. I loved it! So I decided to make and carry it to my daughter’s in-laws for Christmas dinner.
I had ask several ladies how they made their ambrosia…there was lots of variations… some used fresh coconut, but others used frozen and a few used canned, …some put in grapes and one added bananas at the very last minute, but all the recipes included segments of fresh oranges, maraschino cherries, and coconut.
Early Christmas Eve morning I commenced to make ambrosia, I cut the oranges, added the sugar, cherries and fresh coconut. The juices began to ooze out of the fruit, those juices are delicious and I had noticed the evening I first enjoyed ambrosia, as it was being served, much of the juice escaped over the sides of the spoon and stayed in the bowl. So I added an envelope of gelatin, to tighten it up…..It turned out beautifully. Or so I thought…. later that day two friends dropped in…I proudly showed off my Ambrosia….I was taken back, they appeared distressed at the sight of it, “That’s not ambrosia!”
When they were able to calm down a bit and regain their usual well-mannered behavior, they did tell me, it was “pretty”…and it tasted “alright”…. then serenely, but firmly emphasized again “But it is not ambrosia”
Another very important life lesson has been learned, along with “Don’t tug on Superman’s cape, Or Spit into the wind" .... Now I am adding "Do Not fool with The Southern ladies receipe for Ambrosia…"

Oh, you can make it and add the gelatin, and they would eat it, and quite possibly enjoy it…but unless you want to see a proper lady of the south, in near melt down condition, do not call it “Ambrosia”.
Love to all

Christiansen's Comments Hinds county Gazette

My john......

HCG January 17 2008
There are quinces in bloom and also forsythia!!!!! Haven’t the days been just beautiful lately?
Last Thursday, however there was a weather ordeal, what with all of the tornado warnings and all… Ordinary predictable weather we take for granted. The Pretty days in mid winter, even the grumpiest among us seem to appreciate those. Weather has a way of reminding us God in charge.
The days are getting longer again, spring will be here soon. My friends tell me, I am always rushing spring, and I am aware that we do have to get past that cold, rainy spell in February, that more often then not, accompanies the Dixie National Rodeo in to Mississippi, before we can declare….”Spring is here!!!!”
The Dixie National cold spell is what causes many of the flowers and buds on the Japanese magnolia trees to turn to slime. And it gets my plum blossoms too….I harvest about 4 plums from my tree each year.
The older I get the shorter the years…..But my days seem to be getting longer…..I love the long days. The long days allows me more time to hone my puttering skills.
John has been gone a year now, he died on January 18…There is not a day that goes by, that memories of him do not bring tears and grins…we had a nice life.
I ask Mother after John died if she missed him, she said, “As long as I have a memory, he will be with me.”
I said that to say this…. I am alone now, but, please don’t worry about me, because I am not lonely….I have my memories.Call if you need me…