StrangeRanger

Biggest Darn Bat You Ever Saw

We had a completely unexpected visitor the other day.  There we were, in our garden, just minding our own business, and a huge, silent, sky-borne visitor appeared!  What is this THING?!?

Turns out, it is the world-famous Goodyear Blimp!

It was wild, seeing this 250 foot long behemoth cruising so slowly and silently over our heads.  Really very, very cool.  Apparently, they were giving some employees of a Goodyear plant about a 45 minute drive away a tour of this part of the state.  LadyRanger and I just kinda watched it cruise by....

Daisy's reaction?  Predictable...

Meh.  I'm pretty sure I could take it.  A bat's a bat, no matter how big, right?  Yeah...I could take it.

The very picture of an assured, self-confident, somewhat pugnacious, cat.  

Have a great week ahead, all!

Helpful; Part the Second

Today, our lead is news of our garden!

Last evening we made one of our favorite dinners; ratatouille!  The really fun and special part of it was that the majority of it came from our own garden!  We only had to buy eggplant and zucchini.  We used our own tomatoes and herbs. As you can see we used our own peppers as well!  (note: there is 1 small store-bought red pepper in that pile.  we didn't even really have to use it. we just like peppers and it looked like it felt left out...)  Now, you might wonder, "how did Ranger manage to chop all those peppers so neatly and evenly?". The truth?  I had help.

There!  Done!  Even sorted by color, somewhat!  And way faster than you doing the chopping, that's for sure.  Just gotta have knives at the tips of each wee gray finger! That's what makes for speed and accuracy! Done and done!

She is a marvel!

Have a great week ahead, all!

Helpful

Daisy is always helpful....depending on how you define helpful.  She's always been Daisy-on-the-spot when supervision is needed.  Whether it's cooking dinner, laying out a sewing pattern or cleaning house.  We've had workmen over several times and they all come to refer to Daisy as "The Boss".

Sometimes, though, help takes a more direct form than supervision.

I'm helping!!

Well...ummm....no?

Oh, you people are hopeless!  True genius is never recognized in it's own time!  Now, hand me the torque-wrench and we'll get this rack and pinion steering assembly installed in no time!

Wouldn't have it any other way, really.

Have a great week ahead, all!

Coy

Daisy will occasionally walk up and nip me on my leg. Sometimes she wants to play, sometimes it seems she just wants to say hello.  Whet her appetite for dinner?  Remind me it's treat time?  I don't know.

I was at the computer a few days ago.  She walked up and sat by me.  "Are you going to bite my leg?" I asked.

Mmmmaaayyyybe....

Daisy is a past mistress of the coy look.

My leg was, indeed, nipped.

ugh! you taste terrible...do you ever bathe??  I don't know why I keep doing that.....I should bite your leg as revenge for you tasting terrible......

And so it goes.  

Play Time

Daisy loves to play. Or, as I suppose she thinks of it, train. Train to nab and kill.  Bats, probably.  Red, stringy bats on sticks.

She's very good at it.

I Have Been Lazy,

I am being lazy, I will be lazy.

Vintage Pic:

Daisy, who is never lazy, especially when she is crazy!

Yes, I'm fairly stupid even when I'm lazy.

Have a great week ahead, all!

No new pics this week...

...so you get vintage pics!  These are from 5 years ago, during Daisy's first June with us.

This was about the time that we were learning that Daisy was a classic ambush predator!

I'm hiding!  Go AWAY!

RAWR!!

'd'I get it?!?  Darn....

I am still, after all these years, occasionally pounced upon unexpectedly.  Kinda nice, really.  At least I know I'm loved.

Have a great week ahead, all!

 

Now We are Six!

Last Wednesday was Daisy's 6th Birthday!  

Yay, Me!

At least, May 25th is what it says on Daisy's adoption papers.  It may be off a day or two for all we know.  Daisy was an abandoned bottle baby.  We really don't know any more about her story than that.  Daisy came to live with us when she was about 5 months old.  Such a wee beastie! Have a few pics of the first days of of her reign!

(she still loves playing with her mousies!)

She's such a lovely cat!  

We're happy she is here. We hope for 6x6 more years with her!

Hard and Fast Rules...

...are not something Daisy usually goes for.  "No Cats on the Dining Table" usually means "I shouldn't get caught sitting on the dining table like this, but it's comfy so I think I 'll stretch out.." She at least knows that there are somethings she should not do (often) while we are right there.  She doesn't (often) jump on the table while we are having dinner.  There are some items, though, that intrigue her so much that the temptation is almost too strong to resist!

Is it the yummy tomato salad, the divine spanakopita, the summery Allegrante wine that attracts her attention?  Nope.  It's the rose, cut fresh from LadyRanger's climbing rose bush. 

She spared a passing sniff for the human's dinner, but she was really interested in chomping and stomping that rose.  Daisy gave it up as too risky once we sat down.  She went off and chilled in her basement fastness, dreaming of the day the humans would leave the rose on the table while they went out.  Oh, the revenge that would be....

Have a great week ahead, all!

It's been a minute...

We've had a few busy weeks here at ChezRanger.  Well, a couple were busy and one, at least, was kinda bleh.  We hope we're over the bleh, but busy should be the watchword here during the spring planting season.  We've gotten a large portion of the gardens in but still have a ways to go.  

Our back woodland shade garden has popped up.

The woodland phlox and solomon's seal have put on their usual show, with a special guest appearance by our assortment of violets.

We had an unusual visitor to the yard the other week. (trigger warning to da tabbies:  BIRD)

This guy is a Northern Flicker.  He's a woodpecker!  I've know we have them in the neighborhood.  I've heard them time and again, but I almost never see them.  And here this guy is in my yard!

He's got that bright red patch on the back of his head.  Most striking!  It seems that Flickers are comfortable feeding on the ground as well as headbanging on the trees.

I'm just thrilled that I actually saw a woodpecker.  It was a neat experience.

Daisy was less than impressed.

I. Am. Ignoring. The. Bird.

She may be ignoring the bird, but she is beautiful doing it.

Have a great week ahead, all!