An early Easter Bunny Katie

A BIG WELCOME to three new followers:

David, who is "off to Mexico" soon.  His is a new blog and tells the tale of getting "Dod" ready for travel.  Here is what Dod looked like when he bought it:  "the cab over section had been pushed in about 6" by a low tree branch; the windshield was cracked; one tire was flat; the battery was dead (really dead); the spark plug wires had been chewed by mice; the carpet was filthy; there was an odor reminiscent of a tom cat..."  This is a man with gumption!  I love it.  Actually it's a really cute looking RV.  Dod is a Dodge missing the ge from the nameplate.  So far I have really enjoyed this blog!

Donna K, who will be traveling with her husband, Russ and two dogs in a beautiful new Lazy Daze named "Therapy."  They've had a large RV carport built in their driveway to house their new RV.  Now they are figuring out where to spend the month of April in the new rig.  Sounds like fun!

and,

Melissa33 - I don't see a blog listed for you, Melissa.  If you have one, or start blogging, let me know and I'll follow along with you, too.

Thanks for becoming followers to you all!

We're a bit early, but here's Katie's new Easter outfit:

Little Katie Bunny

She actually walked around the patio then around the living room with these ears on.  Then...a good shake, and goodbye, ears!  She is such a good sport, as you all know. : )

My grandson, Gavin, came for a visit yesterday.  As usual we were busy all day, played with the Wii, then took a photo shoot walk to the lake.  I gave Gavin my old camera to use, and it was amazing how quickly he got it.  Hold the camera in both hands, look into the view finder, use one finger to adjust the distance, hold still and push down the button.  That's a lot for a six year old to learn and he got it instantly.  These kids have such good hand/eye coordination because of all their electronic games!  So we snapped away on the way to the lake.  He took a photo of some flowers in my walkway, an American flag in a neighbor's front yard, and a self portrait among others.  

 Self Portrait

Katie and Gavin

We fed the ducks,walked over for lunch outside on the patio of the cafe by the lake (outside because Katie was with us).  Gavin got compliments from the waitress for being so well behaved.  Katie, too.  The waitress asked if Katie was friendly, and I said yes, so she bent over and petted her, obviously a dog lover.  She said Saturday a woman was there sitting on the patio for lunch, and she had her Chihuahua with her.  The dog was really "snappy," and tried to bite the waitress.  Then she said, "Actually the woman was pretty snappy, herself!"  Like owner, like dog.  Funny.

 The Mickey Mouse Pancakes - Gavin's lunch

Coming in for a landing...and some bread.

Two ducks and a seagull all going for the bread.

Then we walked home, Gavin found a couple of hiding places in the bushes around my condo, then he played the Wii again while I downloaded the photos he took.  I printed them out after he left and he got them today.

 Gavin in a secluded spot behind the bushes

A good time was had by all.  I was asleep before 7:00, totally knocked out, so was Katie.  And today I was sore from all the exercise.  Katie and I have been waaaaay too sedentary during the winter months.  But still, I don't know why I'm so totally beat after a day with a grandchild.  Maybe because it's constant activity.  And the fact that I'm 60 years older than Gavin.  : )

From Me and My Dog, Katie, have a great Monday evening, everyone!  : )

Happy Halloween!

Happy Sunday, and...

Happy Halloween

I blogged every day in October - Here's my Badge!

I live in a community of mostly seniors, but a family with two kids moved in right across the lawn.  My front door faces their patio and living room window.  They are the first kids to live near me in six years.  What to do on Halloween?

For six Halloweens, and there has never been a knock on my door from trick-or-treaters.  Sometimes I go to my son's house to see the grandkids in costume, but tonight I plan to stay home.

Katie is driving me crazy - she keeps putting her paw in my hand while I'm trying to type.  She must be desperate to go for a walk.  I'll be back....

We walked for quite a while, up and down different streets in the area.  Here are some photos:

This orange tree, on my street, still has oranges at the top.  You may have to click to see them.

These two old pine trees were just trimmed. They will look neat when more growth fills them in.

Beautiful day at the lake.

The Pyracanthia are all full of berries now.  Really pretty.

"Okay, why aren't these ducks running from me?"

Blue skies, fluffy white clouds, little breeze, perfect day for a walk.

Every time I walk down this streeet I wonder how these two palms got so curved.

The dad from the new family was playing ball with his dog on the lawn, so Katie and I went out to visit.  I asked where they were going to trick-or-treet. He said they were going over to Encinitas, about 3 towns over (it's where my son lives). I told him about my son's last neighborhood, which was super for trick-or-treating. Lots of kids, very well lit, everyone decorated their houses, really friendly. I sent him an e-mail with the address and mapquest map.

When Katie and I came back into the house, their dog, a big black lab, tried to follow, and BOY, was Katie NOT letting him into the house.  Very territorial little Miss.  She bared her teeth and growled like crazy, and he backed off. 

Right after I came back into the house, my son called and invited me to go with them - guess where? The old neighborhood! I'm not sure if I'll go or not, but it's nice to be invited.

Hope the gouls and goblins are good to you tonight, and that you get lots of treats.

From Me and My Dog, Katie, Happy Halloween everyone!  : )

Saturday with the Grandkids

WELCOME to our two new followers, Kimberly and Froggi!  Thank you for joining our family of followers, and I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures.  I'm not an RV owner yet, but that's the plan - the great escape in 2012.  Neither of you show a blog listed, but if you become a Blogger or already have one you want to share, let us know!

I picked up two of my grandkids at 8:00 AM Saturday morning.  I brought them to my house and we had breakfast together - Kennedy had scrambled eggs, bacon, a bagel with cream cheese and hot chocolate, and Gavin had HoneyNut Cheerios with blueberries (we ended up taking out the blueberries before we added the milk.  He wanted them separate. : ) ), bacon and hot chocolate.  I had a bacon sandwich and coffee.

Kennedy said I make the best breakfasts she's ever had.  She said that last time, too.  I was very flattered, but I think it has something to do with the hot chocolate.  : )

Next we loaded up on old bread and took Katie to the lake to feed the ducks.  This is a 1/5 mile walk that we've been doing for the last five years almost every time the grandkids come over.

We started out with just a couple of ducks, then a few more would swim in, a few more would fly in, and we ended up with quite a paddling of ducks.

 

 These two were my favorites.

 Kennedy (7)  and Gavin (5)

I wasn't sure what to call a bunch of ducks, so I looked it up and this is what I found:

Several general collective nouns for ducks:
A team, brace, bed, flight, flock, raft.
A paddling of ducks refers to ducks on water.
A dopping of ducks refers to diving ducks.
A nadger of ducks refers to flying ducks.

So I guess we had a paddling of ducks.

Here's a very patient Katie waiting--her leash is hooked on a metal hook so she wouldn't scare the ducks.

When we ran out of bread, we continued walking around the lake buildings. There are tennis courts, and when we first walked near them, you could see lots of birds through the chain link fence standing in front of the painted concrete blocks - pecking away at the paint.  There must have been 20 of them all lined up, pecking.   I hope they weren't eating it!?!  I've taken this walk hundreds of times, and never seen this before.

 You can see I used a different setting on my camera on this one.

Then we walked back home and Kennedy did some crafts things.  She finished up the picture she started last time she visited, and made another one for Halloween that's hanging on my fridge.

Meanwhile, Gavin was playing baseball with the Wii.  Gavin is the baseball player I had pictures of in a previous blog post.  When Kennedy was done with her pictures, she joined Gavin and they played Wii tennis.  All the baseball Gavin has been playing has really improved his hand/eye coordination and he actually beat Kennedy in tennis, and when they played the Wii bowling game, he almost beat her.  Sports are so good for kids to participate in.  All my grandkids are doing one kind of sport or another, and it is so good for them, physically, mentally, and socially.

Next, we drove to the cafe by the lake where the kids love the chocolate milkshakes.  We had a nice lunch, and I drove the kids home around 2:00.  We had a GREAT visit! 

I don't know why having the grandkids over tires me out so much, but I got home and collapsed!  How in the world did Margie ever take such good care of her Grands for so long?  It's hard on us old folks!  At least this one.

That was it for Saturday.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Sunday evening, everyone!  : )