My Two Favorite Pumpkins!

Two Candy napers in disguise! Mindi and Indy just before they were going out to do Indiana's very first Halloween caper. Oh, he is pretending to yawn but he can't wait to pull off his very first candy heist and my Daughter is his ring leader!

Indiana

Indiana, Halloween night! A Dragon!
He is headed to the Mall to collect candy with Mom and Dad, but at only 6 months, he asks who the candy is for!?

He melted my heart when he hugged me, wrapping his arms around my neck before leaving for the mall! I think if his parents couldn't have collected candy without him he would have stayed behind with me, ha, ha!

Pumpkin Patch Doll

What a REAL little doll. Unlike the Cabbage patch doll, you won't find this one for sale at Christmas time, LOL!

Her parents know she is a keeper or is that sleeper!

Piston

This was a heart warming story from Heartland animal shelter in Corvallis, Oregon. It is about a 20 minute drive from Albany, Oregon, where I live.

He looks like he could have been a cat belonging to the Pharos, with his eyes outlined in black. But he was one ---- lucky modern day cat!

The miracles of children

I love to see the soft heart of children
and to read about all the GOOD things
that so many of them do. Our local newspaper
shows this young girl trying to make
a difference by helping the homeless,
pets that is, that Katrina left in her wake!

Burning Bush

All the bird feeders were empty today and of-course it had to be on a rainy, blustery day. But I dutifully went out and got the ladder and filled them all again.

I have been feeding the garden birds for many years now and they are not too shy to be peeking in through the windows at me to let me know it is time I came out and filled them again. So, I feel guilty and go do it, wind, rain, ice or snow,LOL!

On my way back to the house, I thought the Burning Bush looked nice against the flowering Plum trees, so I got this shot from the drive way.

For all my sweet toothed family and friends!

I found this Great SWEET Blog, while Blogging.
Check it out if you have a Sweet Tooth!My Chocolate Heart

stuffonmycat.com

I first saw this picture on Carolyn's Blog site. She found it on Stuff On My Cat. So I went to check the site out, hoping this photo was just an optical allusion. Phew, it was! I think it a great site to share with my friends, family and fellow animal lovers. Let me know what YOU think.

What color is your Blog?

When I went to the site below and answered the questions asked about my blog ... these were my results ... as I know my writting is no where near star quality, LOL at even the thought!
It was still fun to see what color my Blog would be and what the color meant.
If you go and try it too, let me know what color your Blog is and what that color says about your Blog! It's just for fun! Faira

***Your Blog Should Be Orange***Your writing has a star quality - it's charming, bold, and flamboyant.You write what's on your mind, without fear of embarrassment later.You are one of the most honest bloggers around, and people appreciate your daring persona.
What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorshouldyourblogorjournalbequiz/

Jengibre and Black Halloween Crow

One of my brothers moved to the Philippines a couple years ago and married a sweet girl there.
Anyway, he couldn't take most of his stuff with him and he gave Jengibre a lot of talking toys that he had. This large Black Crow is one of them. I only bring it out on Halloween. It squawks saying, Beware, Beware, the end is near and has a chilling cackling laugh while it moves and it's eyes flash. Jengibre howls and howls, whenever I turn it on. It is hard to know if Jengibre is laughing or singing, ha, ha! But she gets excited when she sees me take it out of the box each October, since my brother gave it to her. I have taken a quick video with sound, of Jengibre's howling to the Crows squawking and I thought it would be fun to share with you later.

I don't think anyone knows how I pronounce Jengibre's name, other than my family and friends. I do not pronounce it as the Spanish do, the word meaning ginger in Spanish. I pronounce it ... Jen, as in (Jen)ny ... gi, as in (Ju)st ... bre, as in (bree)ze ... Jen- Ju- bree , so I believe she must be the only dog in the world with this name, ha, ha!

The last feeding of the pond fish this year! Fall is coming on here now and the leaves will be dropping into the pond.

I fed them for the last time today until Spring is here again. I put a plastic cover loosely over the pond now to protect it from the falling leaves. These are just two fish that I caught with camera today coming up to feed in our pond.

Winnie the Pooh

The last carved Pumpkin to post this year.

One of the many Blogs I have visited this year has encouraged me to go beyond the art in the garden, on Pumpkins, taking pictures and wherever else I might find an outlet for my need to Create!

I used to draw on paper and Oil paint on canvas, before moving here I always had an art studio. No room here in this small house, I always tell myself. But now I am thinking of trying it all again. I will let you know.

Jengibre, Spooky Night

Jengibre's eyes really did show up in the photo, that I took, like this. So, I wanted to make a Halloween background to match them. In the original picture she was sitting on my lap at the computer table. It has a Victorian table cloth in just that color, and I think her eyes took on the color from the table cloth. Anyway, I thought her eyes had a haunted effect, so I used it to make this Halloween card.

Braille/Thinking of Pumpkins?

Braille thinking of Pumpkins, do you think? Nah!

But it is a reminder to keep your pets safe Halloween night. There are a lot of Spooks and Goblins out on Halloween and not all them are pet friendly. I have a Pet door where my pets can come and go as they please but on Halloween night I always lock them in. There are always lots of cars and lots of scary stuff out on Halloween that might spook your pet in front of a car!

Do you want fries with that?

I found this in the Statesman Journal,
Salem, Oregon's newspaper. I thought it a really original idea from a clever Mom. Click on the picture to make it bigger and read how she did it. I thought it was very creative!

MyKia in the snow

I decorate in October as you have seen but I do not decorate much in the month of November, but I will try to post some colorful fall pictures from in and around my town of Albany. December we decorate a lot for Christmas. This is a sample of what you might see in December on my Blog.

Mykia loves the snow, although we do not get snow every winter in Albany. It is really beautiful though when we do.
If it does snow around Christmas time Mykia likes to lay in the Santa's sleigh decoration. He will even curl up and sleep in it but mostly he is fascinated with watching the falling of the snow.

Full Moon

I can't take credit for this idea, because I got it from Sam I am's Blog site, listed in my favorite Blogs. Hers looks a little better than mine, I think, because I wasn't quite sure how she had put hers together so I had to guess; by the time she told me about the broom sticks, I had already done it my way which isn't always the right way, LOL.
I will try it "your way" next year, sam I am and it may turn out a little better. But everyone in the neighborhood and everyone that comes by seems to get a laugh out of it, ha, ha! Thanks for sharing!

I added hands and a decapitated head to mine. My, my, he is really having a bad Halloween, ha, ha!

Through the Spider's Web

View of The Spiders web on a foggy morning this morning. It adds a little to the Halloween Spirit.

Crash

This witch didn't have much chose but to fly into this bush. I wanted her flattened against the house but there wasn't any room with the wisteria that went crazy there.
I have seen a lot of these witches slammed into telephone poles this year ... way up high. They really look cool, but it must have taken a mighty tall ladder! We have a telephone pole across the street but I couldn't get anyone to climb up ther for me!

Purple Trumpet

I have always gotten the white Angel trumpet in the past, but when I saw and smelled the scent of this purple variety, I had to have one. The scent is nothing short of Heavenly! You can not walk by it without being wrapped in it's perfume.

The only draw back is they are not winter hardy here in Oregon. So you need to take it in, in the winter.

Coming Up Roses

Jengibre, While we are out cutting some roses from the garden.

I have quite a few photos of Jengibre holding roses like this, they make good get well cards!

You Raise Me Up

I, Dak-Ind, have hijacked my mothers blog in order to post a surprise for her:

You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

this is her favorite song, I think. If you click on the link it SHOULD give you a pop up window playing the video for it! ENJOY!

posted by: Dak-Ind

MyKia and Akasha

MyKia and Akasha. Akasha was the cat that came to live with me when she was only a year old but had been so abused it took almost two years to get her to this point. And still if it hadn't been for her eventual love for MyKia she would not have come around at all. She does not go anywhere in the garden or the house without him and still prefers his company to mine even after all this time.

Braille and Blue

Braille snacking on one of his favorite toys!

MmmmmMMmmm Pie

Just as I like to experiment in the garden I also like to experiment in the kitchen! I like to come up with new recipes that taste good, are easy to prepare and lower in calories.
This has all of that! I call it Cherry cheese cake pie.
1- Ready Crust, reduced fat, Graham crust.
1- 8oz. Fat free Philadelphia cream cheese.
1- 8oz. Kraft Cool Whip Free
1- 20 oz. Can light cherry pie filling
(1 teaspoon to 1 Tablespoon) Crystal light Lemonade crystals (depends on how lemony you like your pie, I like 1 tablespoon or more myself)
2 to 3 Tablespoons of splenda sweetener, to sweeten cherries a little more (optional)
So easy and fast to make. In a large bowl cream together until smooth, the cream cheese and the crystal light lemonade. Then blend in cool whip until soothe and creamy. Spread into graham cracker crust. It's that easy!
Pour cherries over top of pie, sweeten ahead of time with splenda if so desired.
You will want the pie to set in the refrigerator for a couple hours to chill before serving, to give it a chance to set up. I hope you like it! Let me know! And if you have any questions ... also let me know!

finished pie

Cherry Cheese cake pie, finished product!

Its Elmo!

Oscar, anyway I think it is Oscar, it has been awhile since I have watched Sesame street with my daughters. It could be Cookie monster? I don't remember. If you know which one, leave a comment!

Scooby Dooby Doo

Scooby, I am too old to watch cartoons like I did in my salad days but Scooby Doo! What can I say! I still watch all I can watch! His cartoons are what makes me love anything today with a mystery behind it, whether it is true life, a cartoon, or a movie, if there is a mystery, I am hooked. And it all started with a cartoon! SCOOBY DOOBY DOO!

Trimming the tree

Down come limps from my Weeping Willow!

Trimming the tree Part II

Trimming the weeping willow away from the power lines! These guys did a great job yesterday. They were all very nice! This guy here and I am sorry now that I didn't get his name( he is from Eugene, Oregon) said his wife would like a garden like mine. He told me about his wife and how well his children were doing in college. He was very proud of and loves his family very much, which makes him a very special man in my book! He looked to me like he was college age himself but maybe that is showing my age, ha, ha!

In my eyes, I don't get older ... Everyone else just gets younger! Anyone else feel like I do?!

SNAKE!

One of the tree trimmer's was dragging some of the limps that they had cut from my weeping willow, through the back garden gate, under the Honey Suckle vine tunnel ... And he bumped into this rubber snake which made the snake jump out at him and he said it scared the ---- out of him, ha, ha!

I love having the unexpected in the garden (like the Garden of Eden), it makes it fun and interesting, don't you think?! Some of my friends won't go in certain parts of my garden because they know what to expect and they are no fun at all anymore, ha, ha!

Peanuts

Pumpkin- From the Peanuts cartoon

Scooby

Pumpkin- Scooby-Doo

Rebel Falls

Mindi, I found this picture of Rebel and I had to post it. Taken at Mom and Dads of-course. I thought the water fall out the living room window showed up really nice. I liked it at night with all the colored lights best.
I thought it might bring back great memories for you as it did for me!

Bikers for Pets

I love it when people come together to help other people or pets as the case may be. There are many really good people in the world but I wish we heard more about these people than we do the evil doers.

My Mother, The Biker!

Posting the Newspaper clipping above made me think of the biker group that my Mother used to run with. Oh, what Mothers don't tell their daughters, ha, ha!

Jengibre at feeding time

The garden birds and Jengibre live side by side, they see no threat in her and she enjoys their company! In fact I think that the birds feel that she is protection against predators.

(note: Sorry about the awkward color change. The text was wonky once posted in its regular color.)

Northern Flicker

Mary, this is the Northern Flicker that you so admired, in the top of my willow tree, in picture further down on this page. He is one of my favorite birds in the garden. I feed him at the front porch, so I can see them come and go. He hangs out a lot on the concrete bear that you can see in this picture, if you look real close. There is a berry suet block feeder hanging on the porch railing that he is eating from. Berry suet blocks are a favorite of Wood Peckers. I get all kinds!

feeding station

This is one of my small bird feeding stations. These little ones were the main reason for coming up with alternatives to feed the bigger more aggressive birds in other places in the garden with their own favorite foods, so they would leave these shier birds alone. I feed these birds, berry suet and they love it. They never eat alone they always fly and eat in groups.

I had gone out in the back garden yesterday morning to put something away in the green house and as is always the case unless I can sneak out and back in unnoticed, the Jays will accompany me demanding peanuts. They caught me this time, so I put a couple handfuls in their feeder as I went back in. Much later in the day I was at the kitchen window and the Jays seemed to be interested in a green lawn chair out back. So I went out to see what the attraction was. I saw that I had forgotten to bring their peanut container back in and worse yet I had forgotten to put the lid back on. This container had been full! Ha, ha! I got a couple pictures of them before taking their free for all peanuts away.

Helen, I don't have any trouble with the Jay's being aggressive with my other smaller birds because every bird in the garden has their own feeding stations that only serve (their favorites).

The only aggression I had from the Jays for the smaller birds was nesting time a few years back. They would tear apart the smaller nesting birds nests, eat their eggs or babies. So I thought on it and came up with a solution. I went to home depot and bought about 20 plastic parts from the venting, section. I brought them home and adjusted them to fit over each hole to each of my bird houses.

Now the nests, eggs and babies are cozy and safe! I believe I have a picture of the changes I made in a past post. Also you can put crushed egg shells out for them and cooked chicken bones with meat left on them, during the nesting season, that helps the Jays get nutrients they crave during their nesting season and also makes them less aggressive toward smaller nesting birds.

The Peanut Thief!
After taking this one last picture of his beak in the peanut jar, so to speak, I took the peanuts away!

Mary, When you were over the other day and we were visiting in the front drive way, you saw this bird in the weeping willow in my back garden. You asked me what it was and I told you it was a Northern Flicker. You said you were going to go right home and look it up on your computer. Did you? If you did, they are fascinating aren't they, I love their unique call, too!

Jay eating peanuts from one of about 20 feeders in the garden. It is hard to keep up with them sometimes because winter and summer the birds of all kinds swarm in to feed, drink and bathe here.

Jengibre... I found her a set of wings at the Dollar store. I love um! She kind of bumps into everything with them but she is a good sport. I have been dressing her since she was 5 weeks old and she is 12 years now, so it is all old hat to her! When I sew her coats, she tries them on and models them with the pins still in them, so I can get a good fit. When I am done with the sewing ... Then it is time for hammering the snaps in place, she really gets excited then and won't leave me alone until her new coat goes on her. If anyone comes over and they haven't seen her new coat yet, she models it turning in circles and she stops every so often, until they tell her how beautiful she looks and then she circles again so they get a different view, until again they say, "Oh, Jengibre how beautiful you look." Then she is happy and on her way she goes. Everyone thinks it is so funny and she is so vain, ha, ha! I should take a short video of it for all you non-believers!

Dakota, Here is Jengibre in a Oregon Ducks jacket. I know how you like the Ducks, even calling yourself Duckota, sometimes and I am going to make one for the Beavers, too, ha, ha!(: What do you think?

And, Dakota, I went to your Blog site and it was all blacked out,
is that for Halloween!LOL, Nana!

Mary and Maud, Here is the pumpkin snake at night, you wanted to see. But I couldn't get a good picture of it. It shows up bright and scary when your looking at it but when I take the picture the lights want to reflect giving it a washed out look. So this was the best I could do but it sure doesn't do it justice.

Fred Flintstone Pumpkin. I like to make cartoon Pumpkins and when it comes time to carve them I like to line the drive way with then and light them all up for the little children when they come on Halloween night. You can hear them when they come up to the doorway for their candy, they are naming them all off and it makes it all worth the extra effort. I will post some more tomorrow.

Jengibre and Casper the ghost pumpkin. Jengibre is wearing a bat coat.

A cobweb Halloween coat that I made for Jengibre. It is a beautiful material that makes the cobweb look alive in the light. I have made her some others too and I will add them later in the month.

A pumpkin snake I carved. It took quite a few pumpkins and quite a lot of work. But when I light each pumpkin up at night though, it really makes it all worth it.

I met "Maud" through my Blog site and her son's blog site, men-a-men. She would like to share some pictures from the Netherlands. This picture is of a Dutch Mill in a very old village with all wooden houses, it's in the "Zaanse Shans" a great tourist attraction in the Netherlands, she says! Thank you Maud, I will post any pictures you would like to share!

Out one of my Bedroom windows. Out this window is a wisteria and a blue jay feeder. The blue jays love to come into this peanut feeder because of the protection from the wisteria. I will post a picture later of the blue jays as they fly into this feeder, I love to watch them as I wake up in the mornings.