Have you ever had a snake.....

in your house?  I have!  Stayed tuned for more on that and Sweeney's Snake Repellent. 

Me and Two of My Three Feather Babies

This is Gabby, my ornery Quaker Parrot. He likes to bite, and he hates getting his wings clipped. He torments my other birds when he can. So I have to be careful and not let them out at the same time. Once I forgot, and let Patone and Gabby out at the same time, he went right after Patone and bite Patone on the rump. For weeks Patone would not come out of his cage as he was terrified. Gabby was found outside under someone's car and since the local humane society did not have the ability to keep any birds, they asked me to foster him. No one ever claimed him and he has lived with me for about 5 years now. I guess he is mine. I love him, even though he is ornery.

This is me and Patone. He loves to ride in my head. He actually belongs to my oldest Grandson, Conner. Conner asked for a Cockatiel for Christmas when he was 5. Conner got Patone when he was 8 weeks old, and Patone will turn 10 in October of this year. Conner has never held Patone (he is a bit scared of him) and he prefers to play with and aggravate Gabby. I am hoping as Conner gets older, he will eventually begin to bond with Patone. Please DO NOT pay any attention to the picture of me, it's horrible!
We have another bird, Tweety, that is a Parakeet, but I don't have any good pictures of him yet. I adopted him from my Sister as she had two, but one died and she was kinda of tired of dealing with just one. So I brought him home with me and he is so happy to have two other birds to chat. With all the action in my house with my Grandsons and my two fur babies. He has a lot to keep him busy.

Gabby belongs to me, Patone belongs to Conner, and Tweety belong to Duncan (my other Grandson). Can you tell we love animals?

2 of my Favorite Things

Happy Birthday Latte!!!

Latte' is 5 Today

Latte' at 5-1/2 months

My sweet, smart, and wonderful fur baby turned five today! She is so adorable and I love her so very much. I rescued her when she was about 6 weeks old. My Niece found her walking on the road. We tried to find an owner, but no one came forward. Not sure why such a tiny puppy was out and about on her own.

Latte' Nov 2008

Look what I found in my garden when I went out to hide Easter eggs for the Grandsons.
So pretty! So perfect! What a beautiful color!

It's the first one to bloom this year. Hopefully I will have blooming irises for a few weeks. Irises are my all time favorite flower. I collect anything and everything that has an iris on it. Jewelry! Throws! Pillows! Knick-knacks! Cards! Pictures! As a child we called them "Flags". A neighbor down the block has a yard full of "flags" in every color, and that is where my love affair of them began. And it wasn't until I was an adult that I learned they were really called Irises.

This is another picture of the same bloom.

I only have irises in two shades of purple and really should get some other colors. I love seeing a mixture of irises in different colors in a garden. Just not sure that I am up to digging holes to plant the bulbs. I should take a drive out to the fairgrounds, as they have a really nice display of irises, to see if theirs are blooming.

Baby Animal Nest

If you have been following my blog, you might have read my past two posts (here and here), about the animal nest that I have been making for rescued baby animals.

These are more nest that have been shipped out for use.

I have made over 4o of these so far in various sizes just using scrap yarn. I have heard that they are in use and I am still waiting for pictures, so that I can show them to you all.

I have one more batch to ship out, I just hope it's not too late and that they can still put them to use this year. But if not, they can hold on to them until they need them.

With Summer getting near and the weather warming up, I will be glad to put the yarn away for a while and let my poor hands have a rest.
But should the rescue agencies need any more of these nest, I hope that they will contact me as it would be my pleasure to make more for them.

Nest for Wild Life Rescue

Here are more crocheted nest that I made for the wild life rescue agencies. I mailed more off to North Carolina on Friday. The first batch was received and they were tickled to have them. They will send me some pictures when they get them taken. And I wills hare them with you. Can't wait to see the baby animals using the nest that I so lovingly made for them.

I can usually get one large or x-large nest made in a day or several of the small or medium nest. I just use scrap yarn, 3 strands, because the animals do not care what colors their nest are. But most of the nest actually turn out to be pretty colors that work well together. The animals are just happy to have a soft, warm, and clean place to sleep. By using 3 strands to crochet with, they really hold their shape well. The bottom of the nest range in size from 4 inches to 10 inches. And they use the larger nest for squirrels and opossums, whereas birds are in the smaller nest.

I think these nest would even make wonderful candy dishes on a coffee table or desk. If it got knocked over, it would not break and it is also washable. I plan on making them for Christmas gifts next year to match the recipients decor, actually this year... 2009. I can see storing all sorts of items in them. Loose beads, paper clips, rubber bands, jewelry, candy, and so much more.

And this is a small, medium, and large nest.

These are both x-large nest, with the bottoms measuring 9-10"

This is a large nest. I absolutely love the colors of this nest.
almost kept it for myself, but I didn't. I gave it to the sweet animals.

Day 9 of 29-Day Giving Challenge

Do you make dolls? Do you like to use body parts in your collage work? Do you like to work with clay (polymer clay, that is)? Have you ever wanted to try polymer clay?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to sign up for today's give-a-way. Today we have a polymer clay mold and clay. I didn't show the clay as it will be a surprise. But there will be at least 4 packages of clay to go with the hand mold, and maybe another surprise or two!

This hand mold was designed my Maureen Carlson in 1993. She is an excellent polymer clay artist, as is Christi Friesen, who has recently started working with polymer clay and mixed media together, with some amazing results. Maureen has several books out and they are all wonderful. I personally own a couple of them.

Anyhow, if you are interesteed leave a comment on this post to be intered to win. And spread the word..... this 29-Day Giving Challenge is awesome and I would love to see it grow even more. I orignally found out about this via Chrysti's blog, Art by Chrysti. Check it out, she is still in the process of her give-a-way.

And now for a few updates.

• Day 1: I gave a friend some food items that she needed to make dinner for her and her Daughter. She was hungry for potato salad and I had the fixins' for it and this prevented her from having the go to the grocery store.
• Day 2: I got on eBay some cutting mats for my oldest Sisters Cricut machine.
• Day 4: Helped my Grandson with his homework.
• Mailed off one dozen hand made birds nest for wildlife rescue of baby birds and rabbits.
• Let my cleaning lady leave early.
• Helped a friend search for a mannequin on eBay.
• Working on an afghan for my Sister for her Daughter who is due to have a baby in July.
• Mailed off crocheted nest to North Carolina. These are for squirrels and opossums.
• Still working on making more nest. I try to get one x-large one done a day or several smaller ones.
• Mailed a very good friend a birthday card.
• Visited a friend I had not seen for a while.
• Called a friend in Alaska.
• E-mailed my Brother.
• Sent a Congratulations card to my friend for her new Grandson.
• I sent a 'thank you' card to a church that helped me a few weeks ago with food.

And in return, I have received:

• My lower denture broke and my Sister paid to have it fixed.
• I won 7 gifts during the One World-One Heart Event.
• I won a bracelet from Danica, at Harmony Jewelry Designs.
• I've received a beautiful red lace heart and Valentine card in the mail yesterday.
• A dear friend called me yesterday.
• When I thought I was out of money this month for groceries, I received some money that was owed to me. So I was able to buy more groceries.

So you see, the 29-Day Giving Challenge does work! Give it a try!

Birds Nest for the Wee Birdies and Baby Bunnies

These are some of the nest that I have been crocheting to donate to the several Wild Life Rescue Agencies in NC, NJ, and VA. These are the three basic sizes that I make and am now working on one that it even larger as one place needs them for baby squirrels and baby opossums. I found out about these from a blog that I visit, but for the life of me i can not seem to locate the blog at the moment.

The next two pictures are of the one mailed out last week. These are the dozen that I sent off to New Jersey last week. I hope they are the correct sizes that they need.

You can read more about these nest at Bevs Country Cottage Blog (this is not the blog where I originally heard about these though) were she also has a pattern for the nest. I don't personally use a pattern. they are easy to make and I can make several of the small one in a night and usually one of the large ones.

The day I went to the dentist and spent 2 hours on the road each way, I was able to create one of the medium one on the way down and another on the way back home. And even while sitting and waiting (you know how doctors and dentist are .....they love to make you wait)..... I was able to create 2 small nest. So it ended up being a very productive day, nest wise.

I just use scrap yarn (the wee birds and other animals don't care what color they are) and 3 strands at a time..... so the nest will be strong and stand up on their own. I crochet them very tightly, so their little feet don't get caught in them. Some of them really turn out pretty though with the mixture of yarn colors.