Ida Morning

I love hurricanes - as long as I'm not in the middle of them. I went to bed last night with a nice pounding rain and got up to the same. Not much wind at all. I called my father-in-law who is between us and the Gulf, and he says the same - rain and no wind - yet. I told him when I went to get the paper, I thought to myself that this was not very exciting, but as soon as I got into the garage, a gust of wind shook the garage doors as if to warn me not to get too smug.


I guess this rain and wind will get rid of the few colorful leaves we have in the yard.

Debby called me from the lake house last night wishing I were there to enjoy the weather with her. I could think of nothing better than drinking coffee and listening to the rain and talking, but unfortunately I was an hour-and-a-half away and working. Maybe next time....

It's another of those mornings I'm glad I work at home. I got an invitation to a dinner yesterday that said "Business Attire." For me, that's paint-spattered, Clorox-stained sweats and a wrinkled T-shirt. Sometimes socks, sometimes not.
Darby's content with Sheepy right outside my door in the sunroom.



The cats are sleeping somewhere. I thought I would try to expand their culinary experiences - the cats' - with different types of Fancy Feast. Their hard food always stays the same, but I give them a spoonful or 2 of Fancy Feast soft food during the day. Always seafood flavors, always the same stinky stuff. So this morning they got Beef Tips in Gravy or something like that, and this was the way it was accepted. She making insulted burying motions with her paw.


It DOES look disgusting. Time to bring Darby in for clean-up duty. She'll eat anything, especially if she thinks she taking it away from the cats.



This is a 10-pound bag of pecans ready for Mama to tackle.


This is what they look like now, ready for the freezer.


The second bag was a disappointment for her, smaller and not so easy to pick out. She took it personally. I told her we could take them back, but she went on and fussed her way through them. They're done too and in the freezer.

This is the side door after the carpenters and I finished with it. What is it with me and crooked wreaths? I'll let it drive my neighbors crazy. Also let them worry about fact that they put the doorbell at knee level for some reason. (I'm going to fix that weather stripping at the bottom if any perfectionists are looking too hard.)

Crazy fall-blooming azaleas. They're beautiful but just a little bit out of place with all the yellow and gold. Like wearing white shoes in winter. Having a persistent leftover morning glory doesn't help either.