Well, it finally came yesterday afternoon – the long awaited rain. Here is a pic in the car riding home – it had almost stopped by then. I had ridden my bike in to work but hitched a ride home due to the lightening.

Nat and the girls are in town for the UF Preview. Went over and visited with all but Brooke (she was spending the night in the dorm).

It’s Friday and that’s a good thing. Tomorrow is the BIG day for Andrew and Allyson. I don’t usually like attending weddings, but this one is an exception – should be fun!

Lunch is almost over – so gotta go.

Lisa

Just wanted to share a picture of Miriam’s gardenia. It’s taken a little too late as you can see some blooms are browning – but it was loaded and beautiful for a day or two.

Mom had a yard sale yesterday. She lives in the Stephen Foster neighbohood but didn’t realize they were having a neighborhood wide yard sale extravaganza. Apparently, she did quite well. Unloaded a lot of stuff. I rode my bike over mid-morning to visit – had a very nice time – Katherine and Cliff were there and we had a lot of laughs sitting under some trees and enjoying the day.

Miriam came over later and we did lunch as the sale wound down. Afterwards, we went around and did errands – dog food, bird seed and a stop at Wards.

Today we go to Ocala – will take Peanut – she’s a great little traveler.

Oh, Friday we went to a concert. Every year the UF school of music has a Brazilian Music Institute week of master classes with Brazilian musicians – guitarists – and the week culminates in a concert. This is our third year going and it was fantastic. Next year, I am going to try to blog about it beforehand so that you, loyal readers, will have a heads up and maybe make it part of your day.

Gotta go.

This past weekend we finally got on our bicycles and rode several miles on the Hawthorne Trail. We felt good doing it, but know that this spur of the moment decision will not serve us well down the road. We need to plan for daily exercise if we’re to emerge more healthy. So, those of us who know we need to do more – let’s do it.

…and after

We planted a bunch of coral honeysuckle this weekend. We’ve fashioned some homemade trellises that we’ll attach to the fence as you can see below.

These honeysuckle also attract hummingbirds so one or two more will need to be bought and planted near the hummingbird feeder.

Boxer is guarding our fresh plantings from predators. Isn’t he brave?

Last evening we attended the University of Florida Womens’s Basketball Team Banquet. It was a good time with lots of good cheer and positive thoughts for the future. This is a picture of the team and coaches.

We sat at Ebony Crawford’s table – it’s becoming a tradition for us. We sat at her table last year when she was just a freshman. She’s a lovely young lady with a special mom. (Ebony’s in the middle)

There was a good crowd as you can see. As the team experiences more successes we fully expect this crowd to grow. But we have to ask the question – where have you been all these years?

And there we are – yes, we did laugh a lot – looking forward to next year!

Go Gators!

Note: Pictures were taken by Kathy Cafazzo, Associate Communications Director, who does a fantastic job of keeping us fans informed! You can see more pictures at Amanda Butler’s home page. Find and click the “scrapbook” link to view them.

We’ve sponsored Davey from Best Friends. Read his story:

Boxer and Sydney are playing in the picture. It’s Tuesday afternoon and the big dogs are stretching their legs and taking care of business. They’ll probably get to eat dinner early since we have a Crime Watch/Neighborhood Meeting to attend.

It’s been a grey day today – raining mostly. But that’s a good thing – of course, more doggie cleanup is required – the pooches haven’t learned how to wipe their feet and dry themselves off.

We were watching Dogtown about the Michael Vick dogs and they used a cd called “Laughing Dogs” to calm down some dogs. It was quite interesting and the first time we had heard of this. We’re probably going to get the cd and try it with Peanut. Maybe it will help calm her down – especially at night when she gets so anxious.

I must amend my previous post about the bird murder. I may have blamed a cat for a murder it did not commit. Let’s be clear, however, that I stand behind every word I wrote – except for it being a cat that committed the murder. Let me explain.

As I was sitting on the deck with Peanut Saturday afternoon, out of nowhere, a hawk suddenly swooped down and chased one of the birds at the feeder. The bird did get away and the hawk flew away through the trees. It would make perfect sense for the hawk to have murdered this particular bird because of the way it was gored and ripped apart. I have never seen this kind of death by a cat. It was quite amazing and interesting to watch and it happened so fast.

I must now go check on the dogs – Boxer likes to eat grass and then throw it up and I don’t need a mess to clean up this evening.

Later Gators.

There was a murder in our yard yesterday. Boxer was the first to act oddly. Then Sydney began acting too interested in an area in the backyard. Miriam noticed her behavior and then noticed….the victim.

This was a particularly gruesome crime. I’ve seen my share of dead birds, but this was horrifying. It was a violent death. I chose not to exploit the dead animal by putting its image on this blog.

Our best guess is that a cat – unknown to us – perpetrated this crime. This is one of the big problems I have with domestic cats being allowed to roam the neighborhood. They kill for sport or instinct, not for food. I have nothing against cats, but I have something against cat owners who see nothing wrong with their cats wandering around dropping feces, fleas and other problems in my yard. And if my dogs get hold of a cat in my yard, well, that cat is as good as dead. I speak from experience, my friends.

Miriam has suggested that we create a memorial for all the fallen birds in our yard. No, not all dead from cats. Our dogs, particularly Sydney, has killed a few. We have taken measures to prevent future deaths. Make no mistake – each death was very painful for us. Tears are shed when a bird dies unnecessarily.

Peanut has just caused Miriam to spill water on her and her chair and she’s looking at me to get a towel. Doesn’t she know I’m writing my blog?! Off I go to clean it up.

Good night.

Yes, I am becoming a “crackberry”. We both got new Blackberries – it was a good deal that we just couldn’t pass up. It’s a lot of fun to play with – I was able to keep up with some basketball games this past Saturday as we were out and about running errands! Oh joy!

Later.