My Time

Farewell Shelly squirrel

I am sad to admit that our Shelly squirrel has left this world. 

Shelly started coming around 5 years ago, and immediately won our hearts.  She was definitely a different sort of squirrel. 

She would reach out to us to get food, and take it from our hands, bouncing from foot to foot if we were not fast enough.  

She would "knock" on the door by running back & forth across it. 

She would put her hands on the patio window and look in, looking for us. 

When she saw me in the yard, she would come running toward me. (insert visual of the squirrel version of "10").  There was something uplifting about her excitement.

I had to rescue our mail lady a couple of times, from Shelly expecting peanuts as a toll to enter the yard.  And a UPS driver one time told me "wow have you seen the squirrels around this place?" when she was following him one day.

Shelly brought her babies around each year, teaching them where the endless supply of nuts and seeds was.  That in itself was a huge show of faith.  Now I am heartbroken, and in a quandary as to if I should continue to feed this year's babies (almost grown now).  It makes me sad to see them, and there just will not be another Shelly.

She came to us about 10 days ago in obvious distress.  She was weak and having trouble breathing. This broke our hearts because there was really nothing we could do for her.  As much as we thought of her as a pet, she was still a wild animal and would have been more distressed if we had tried to get her to a vet.  (yes, that means I was thinking of it).

She stuck around until well after dark, which is a real no-no for squirrels.  We believe she was saying her goodbye's.   Then suddenly, she was gone.  I held out hope that she would be back and all well, but that has not happened and now I must admit, it will not.

She was getting older, and had started looking it recently.  So as sad as we were to say goodbye, I suppose it was not a surprise.  Something had made me take out my camera a few days before her goodbye.  So all of these photos are all from a few days before she left.

Farewell dear Shelly.  You have touched us for sure.
 
 

 

 

 

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Habarnero Madness

The habarneros in our garden are giant!  We normally plant 3 habanero plants each year.  At least 2 - sometimes all 3 - usually die and don't produce. 

I don't know why but something about our yard is not usually friendly to these plants.  This year all 3 produced.  And one decided to take over the world. 

 Just look how HUGE these guys are -  more like small apples than peppers -

Now if you're not familiar with habaneros, they are ordinarily pretty small peppers.  Hot hot hot - but small.

 These guys are so hot that when Val is cooking with them, I usually can't be in the house.  My throat starts to close and I can't breath.  Seriously hot stuff coming out of these guys.   He has to keep the windows open with the fan on.

 

This is the normal size of a habanero -- this is one of our other 2 plants this year -  Serious difference right ? 

I see some habanero jelly making in Val's future!

Summer at Val & Lori's

 Summer is in full swing - and speeding by - here at Val & Lori's.  I have been simply horrible at blogging the past several months.  So --- here's a little update for you all.

Our squirrel Shelley is still hanging around and just keeps getting cuter.  RIGHT ? 

Camera hog!

Val's garden is doing well - look at all those haberneros!   There may be another batch of habernero jelly this year ..........

 
Kimba & Smokey Jo-Ella are doing great.  They are content to ignore Sasha (the momma cat we rescued earlier this year).  Unfortunately, Sasha is not so obliging, and we have been turning our household upside down to keep her away from Kimba & Smokey Jo-Ella.  She is vicious and attacks when she gets the chance.  It is very likely that we will ultimately have to find a good home for momma Sasha.

We've not taken any trips this year, but we have been out and about.   We've done a bit of hiking --  This is Mentryville while it was still a bit green.

 We've been to several fun events at the Hollywood Bowl - Hairspray, Star Wars in Concert, Walt Disney's Fantasia.  All absolutely amazing!

Nothing else really going on.  All in all a pretty low key summer.   Not what you're used to from us, but it's about time, right ?

New Kittens

Here they are - this is what we call a kitten pile.  Aren't they precious ?  

 

We have two white-footed girls, one grey tabby boy, and one orange tabby boy.  We had some trouble getting them all in the world, and mommy Sasha ended up having a C section.  She has been amazing through this and is happily taking care of her babies now.

I've got to tell you the girls are the most active and they are so cute crawling over each other. 

This one is my favorite - look next to momma's face - under her arm.

 

We're Expecting!

Val and I are expecting......... KITTENS!

This beautiful stray has been hanging around our place and we both decided we liked her and wanted to help her.  Then we realized she was pregnant.  Our guest room is now the nursery as we wait for the new arrivals.  

Sasha is a very well mannered little girl that has been lost or abandoned.  And she seems very grateful for the help we are giving her.  She rolls over on her back and gives us that belly to rub every chance she gets.

Kimba is goo-eyed when he sees her, he's so cute.  Smokey Jo-Ella is not so enchanted and doesn't quite understand why we like this other cat. 

Our new addition has been searching every corner of the guest room for a good hiding place for her new additions..... shouldn't be too long now !   Anybody want a kitten ??

 

A Snowy Wonderland

You guys know I live just outside of Los Angeles and the weather is usually HOT and it hardly ever rains.  Winters are mild, with 40's considered to be a pretty cold night.  Things have been different around here lately.  We had an 8-day stretch of rain recently, and today it actually SNOWED.  This is not a place where it snows.  It just doesn't happen.  But it is snowing as I type.  And it's starting to accumulate.  By Los Angeles standards, this is an outright blizzard !!!  Well - enjoy these photos of our winter wonderland -- I may not get to ever take snow pictures at home again!!

 
 
Kimba getting snowed on -- he actually liked it until his feet got cold.  NOTE - buy kitty boots before next snow. 
My flowers were not prepared for snow !  And my huge daisy bushes were just crushed by the weight of the snow.

Then Val & I went back out a couple hours later -- yep -- still snowing --

 hmmmm -- nobody was using the pool ??
 
These kids had one huge snowman nearly done --

 our own cars are snug in the garage - but I'm wondering if these folks own an ice scraper?  I don't even know where one would buy an ice scraper around here ? 
And now let me just say -- it's right about NOW that this snow thing stops being fun and starts becoming a nuisance.  Hoping for some melting and no ice by morning.
 

Christmas in Stevenson Ranch

Now that I am finally getting into to the holiday spirit, Christmas has already come and gone.  To help me hang on to the season a bit longer, Val & I braved the rain Christmas night and got these shots from around Stevenson Ranch. 
 
  
 

 

In My Yard......

Last weekend while much of the country was blanketed with snow, I got to spend  a little time in the yard.  It felt (and looked) a lot like Spring.  Here's some photos from our day in the yard (remember - tiny yard - patio with dirt).

This squirell keeps coming around.  She's become like a puppy -- running up when I go outside.  Too cute.

*** my family & friends in the snow -- don't be jealous of our weather here!!!

This blue jay loves peanuts.  It will come down on to the wall even if we are there - because it wants peanuts.  A pair of these blue jays live on the hill in front of my house.  They are georgous. 
My daisies have bloomed again - they are confused by this nice weather.  But I love them.

 

It's beginning to look a lot like......

YOU KNOW ............  Christmas is sneaking up so quickly, it's almost here.  Can you believe it ?  

I've been madly working on making our Christmas cards, and I am so late this year.  It's been a difficult year for me just mentally (no jokes people) --- but I have still managed to get the Christmas cards made.  Feeling a little accomplished right now. 

85 cards - DONE.     Think I still need another 20 or 25 but it's all OK.    If you get one of these cards with the reindeer on it - you better treat that reindeer like family because those suckers caused me some stress !  LOL.   

Anybody else making their Christmas cards ?   Are you done ?

Crazy Squirrel

Does anybody remember Psycho Squirrel  that used to visit me in the yard?   See a video of him barking at me here. 

I just met crazy squirrel and I'm just sure he is related to psycho squirrel. This crazy squirrel came right up to me and reached out from the wall to try to touch me (I wasn't paying attention and it wanted my attention).  My cats were both in the yard and it didn't care one bit. 

 

Then it acted like it was going to jump from the wall right on to my shoulder.  The cats ran inside and kept peaking out - they were both freaked that it was so forward. 

I went inside to get a peanut and it waited patiently.  Then it took the peanut right out of my hand.  It wasn't one wit scared of me (and was very interested in the camera). 

 

 

It took the peanut - ran around the corner of the building - then a few minutes later came back and reached out to me again (literally) and asked for more.  He took 4 peanuts right out of my hand and kept coming back. 

When I finally ran out I just gave him birdseed and he played with that for a bit, then he jumped down into the yard.  My cats were afraid to come out - this squirrel wasn't acting how they thought a squirrel should act !

I finally left him in the yard when he started to try to get into the house.  I was shooing him away but he didn't care. 

Very crazy squirrel!