All hands on deck for the reveal of my green thumb experiments.
Whatever they may be – I’ll make them fit into our pal Linda Hill’s prompt. She gave us a strange prompt this week. Today is all about body parts. I’m taking the liberty to ramble about body parts in cats, plants, and yours truly.
All clean, no censorship needed! This post is not like that other post where I did have to warn you.
Did I tell you that Dessy has lost a pound and half since Copper left our lives 60 days ago? I think he stressed her out so she ate a lot to calm down? She’s been quite the sweetheart. And is playful and calm most of the time. She’s pleasant when she wakes me up in the morning as she meows 3 times when she’s hungry. “I.AM.HUNGRY”. We’ll have to tighten her collar soon, it’s hanging on her neck kind of like her extra skin is doing too. Aging skin is a thing. Just saying!
The flowers I rescued last week when we had our first frost are still hanging in there. They are getting a little big saggy too.
Their flowery friends in the yard have not fared as well.
But…I did actually grow some corn! I’ve never seen it grow like this? Have YOU? It’s a cobstalk?!
I don’t think it’s edible though. Even the birds and the deer aren’t trying to eat it. I’ll have to yank it out and toss it into the weeds today. My rogue corn experiment is officially done.
Never fear, I found another experiment. I’m thinking about tossing into the weeds too.
Who knew that a GMO tomato would sprout out its top?! I’m tossing the idea around to plant it in a crock to see if I can grow tomatoes in the house over the winter? I have a good start, don’t you agree?
I guess it’s time to show off my green thumb (hand). Yeah, I know, I know…If I ever have to give blood they won’t have a hard time finding a vein. LOL! Do they kind of remind me of the cornstalk photos? Hmm…maybe? Ever since Mr. and I lost weight and dropped our BMI’s, we both have popping veins. We compare arms and hands often. We know how to have fun, don’t we? 🤣😳😁
Oh, boy, I think it’s time to put this bizarre stream of consciousness to rest…and for me to go curl up like a cinnamon bun cat and take a nap of shame.
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “body parts.” Pick a body part and talk about it. Make sure to leave a comment below or put a disclaimer at the top of your post if it’s NSFW! There are people who participate in SoCS and love to support others, but not everyone will want to read about private parts. Have fun!
PS – Do come back again – I hope my green thumb/hand didn’t scare you off! Can you make your veins stick out or shrink just by looking at them? That’s my big trick, I can!
That tomato creeps me out, like it has a tomato brain in there somewhere! GMO is a bad thing. I hope Dessy doesn’t lose too much weight, what a beautiful cat she is!
LOL – yes, the tomato is creepy. I agree, the GMO stuff is bad.
Dessy needed to lose some weight. She’s still a couple pounds heavier than her sister. She seems to feel better now. Still snores when she’s napping, so maybe she could use a CPAP? That would not be fun to put on a cat?!
A terrible, bloody battle will ensue if you try to mask that cat! 😂
Yes, I’m pretty sure that would be the case!
All of this, except the sweet kitty kinda creeps me out. But it’s almost Halloween, so I guess it’s normal.
Thanks for enduring the creepy factor. I’m glad I included the kitty photo then! LOL! Yes, it’s a creepy time of year 🎃🧹
The tomato looks like something out of “The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” I’d toss that on the pile if I were you. If you do try to grow it, it will either be an amazing treat in February, or it was nice knowing you.
I wish I could curl up like a cat.
Fun post, Shelley. I hope you have a great week.
That’s a great title for the tomato. If we would’ve eaten it before the sprouts started to appear I may have never seen it in real life. I don’t know if I’d enjoy meeting it in February or not? That is the month of ‘love’ though.
Me too – a cat’s flexibility amazes me more and more each day.
Thanks, Dan – I enjoyed your post too. I hope you have a great week!
I think Dessy may have been stealing Coppers food now there’s not the “extra treats” available 😂 Fabulous corn harvest Shelley, time to plough the back 40 and do some planting 🌽 😁🤗
I think you’re right on her eating his food. I used to put it in the fridge overnight if he didn’t finish his meal, but she frequently napped next to his bowl during the day…
I don’t think I’ll be planting anymore corn intentionally. Since the farmer had soy beans this year, I’m guessing next year will be corn. I’m better with flowers than corn. I harvested some different kinds of marigolds from the neighbor’s garden, I’m excited to see if I can get them to grow in my yard next spring.
Oh yes Marigolds are easy. I have a bazillion seedlings ready to plant perhaps tomorrow.
Napped next to the bowl….that’s like breakfast in bed for a cat.
Not planting corn. Better at flowers. Plant Cornflowers, one of my favourites 🙂
Yes, marigolds seem to be the easiest for me. The zinnias have been growing too. It’s kind of therapeutic to harvest the seeds. I’ll have to look into Cornflowers. I may need to add a new flower bed next year.
Dessy naps next to food as much as possible. She doesn’t make the connection that it makes her fat.
I am licky I don’t really have to harvest seeds. Mostly they will pop up in the garden next year. I took some zinnia seed from K’s but nothing came up. I suspect the seeds were harvested by ants 🙂
I like my flowers that keep coming back each year too. Ants…hmm, we have plenty of those, maybe they do eat them? I’ve witnessed the zinnias being eaten here by the yellow finches. They like thistle too. I hope to rescue some of the seeds. It’s fun to see what colors actually survive the harvesting efforts.
I have been planting all day. Raise seedlings, buy rescue plants from the nursery and cuttings that needed planting out. Marigolds, Gazanias, Gerberas Geraniums, tri-colour Salvia, some pink Pentas and dug out a sizeable heap of Dietes, the main weed plant as well as Fishbone Fern. There now you know even if you didn’t need to know a rave about a day in the garden 😁😂
Aw, as you are starting to plant for the season, I’m prepping to see snow and be stuck inside for the long winter. How are things going for you? Still safe? The news never paints a good story.
Things are fine for me. There are a few cases up here but I am safe and doing everything to keep nasties at bay 🙂
I’m glad to read you’re safe and doing what you can to keep nasties at bay!
Dessy looks very good with a few pounds off. She’ll be around a long time, I think.
My veins aren’t quite as prominent as yours, but they never have trouble finding one. I’ve been poked and prodded with needles a lot over the years….
I hope Dessy is around for a long time. The sister cats are 12 years old. If Dessy could lose a couple more pounds, she’d be at a healthy weight like her sister Tizzie. They still play well together.
It is helpful to have easy to find veins. The last time I had a blood draw though, the lady stuck the needle right through the vein. Overshot it I guess. I had a bruise for weeks. 🙁
When I was in the hospital after my stroke, they drew blood about three times a week, often at 3 AM. On Phlebotomist in particular had the nasty habit of arriving unannounced, turning all the lights on, and talking to me in his “outside voice.” I think he missed on one or two occasions.
Our Molly is aroiund 17, we think. She was young, about 2 when we adopted her, and she’s been here since before my stroke, which was 14 years ago. She sleeps a lot (what cat doesn’t?), but is in generally good health (some signs of renal problems, for which we feed her prescription cat food), and still full of piss and vinegar, as they say. I wouldn’t mind if she lived forever….
Ah, yes, hospital blood draws at 3 am are not fun. Yikes your phlebotomist doesn’t have good bedside manners. Can you imagine how loud he’d be trying to talk through an N95 mask? I would feel so terrible if I missed a vein, thus I would never do that job.
Aw, Molly sounds like a wonderful companion. I wish all pets could live forever with us. Enjoy every moment you have with her.
The flowers in your yard may have had it. Nevertheless, the photo of them is beautiful.
Great to hear from you! Yes, the flowers are done. Last year at this time we received 6 inches of snow that shut them down. They hung on as long as they could before the frost got them this year.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the photos.
I hope you’re able to grow tomatoes inside the house this winter. I’ll be following along to see how that experiment goes. I’ve grown herbs inside over the winter, but not all that successfully. I like your wedding rings, btw. Very pretty
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Ally. I may have to ditch the idea until the next tomato purchase. This one has grown mold and looks like it may explode. I’m not sure if that is a viable stage to start growing from? But, it may still be worth the trial? Hmm…I’ll decide today. With our new windows, my plants that like sun aren’t growing as well. I think I’d have very little luck with herbs.
Thank you for noticing – my wedding ring set is 32 years old and I still love it. 💕
My hands look similar so I won’t have any issues giving blood either, I guess. That tomato looks odd. It reminds me of when I sliced open a lemon and found a miniature lemon inside. Kinda freaked me out.
Yay, thanks for sharing, I’m glad I’m not the only one with hands like that. I’ve gotten used to them over the years.
The tomato is very odd. I’ve never had one sprout like that. Now it has started to mold, so I may be past the opportunity to plant phase? We’ll see, I might still test it out just for giggles.
I’ve opened up a grapefruit that had one too. It freaked me out, and I think I threw it out? Makes me wonder how long ago it had been harvested and traveled to our grocery store?
Corn in the backyard and no deer or crows wanted it? They wanted you to succeed in your experiment I guess. I grew romaine lettuce in the house over the Winter for my canary. He loved his greens and canaries can only have romaine lettuce, (or very dark greens), not iceburg lettuce as it has too much water. Well, we had a horrible Winter one year and the plow came down the street after I shoveled and plowed me in overnight and then we had freezing rain. I did not get out of the driveway from mid-January until St. Paddy’s Day. I always load up for Winter with pantry items but did run out of paper towels and I wanted lettuce for Buddy, his favorite treat. So I went shopping a few times with my neighbor/friend Marge. She only shopped at KMart and they had romaine lettuce which looked half dead. So I used it, then lopped it off to about three inches, then put the stalks in containers of water until it got long roots, then tiny leaves. I had some potting soil in the house so planted two or three of them. The yield was not enough for lettuce for Buddy every day, but sustained him until I could get out again.
Yes, it was so weird that the deer wouldn’t eat it. They eat my flowers, though. Thanks for sharing your story. That’s awesome that you found a way to keep Buddy fed. I’ve always been impressed with your stocking up for winter skills. If the rumors are true, that gift of preparedness will come in handy this year too.
My friend says the deers dine on her hostas all the time and she is frustrated. A fellow blogger lives in Alberta and has done some fun posts about how a family of moose come into their yard and “prune” all the landscape for them.
Yes, deer love hostas. My daughter has a deer couple that come through every morning. They ate all of the buds on her day lilies, but left her hostas which is weird. The only thing they left in the hostas was a fawn a few times. I think I’ve read a couple of those posts about your friend in Alberta. Animals in the wild that seem quite comfortable around plants the humans are nurturing make for fun blog posts.
That is odd about the deer. There was a post by Ally this Summer about a fawn concealed in the bushes/flowers in her garden. Very cute. You know now excited I was to see the fawn up close this Summer at Lake Erie Metropark. The moose are pretty funny and yes, they make themselves right at home munching away.
Deer are interesting creatures. Yes, I remember how excited you were – and all the great photos you captured of the fawn. I’ve only seen a wild moose once – so many years ago. They all arrive in yards when they’re hungry. 🤣
That was a great day – so close and unafraid. My friend in NY was just writing today that she heard clomp, clomp, clomp and deer were on the deck eating her flowers that had just bitten the dust overnight.
Yes! Wow, that’s bold of the deer!
They are very bold – a herd will lay in her backyard, drink from the birdbath, tip the birdfeeder sideways and then clomp up to the deck to see if there is something else to eat. I don’t know if they eat cat food, but Carol shelters many feral cats – she has put out their wooden shelters for the Winter with straw and heated pads and heated dishes for their food and water. She suspects that the deer have no doubt tried the cat food too. Carol has one Mama cat that has a few litters a year and brings the kittens to Carol’s house to be nurtured once they’re weaned.
Oh, my, that’s a bit much for me and wild animals. My MIL has adopted 3 cats who were raised that way. They’re all nice. Feral cats can have many health problems though. It sounds like Carol keeps very busy.
When it got so cold there suddenly (kind of like here after the long warm spell), she fretted that her new shelter she purchased would not have time to be painted/waterproofed before the first flakes flew. All went well, just in time. She worries about them incessantly and also, I forgot to say, names each of the feral kittens.
It is scary when it turns cold fast. We have feral cats in the neighborhood. I don’t know how they stay warm all winter.
I knew of a lady that lived near my grandfather who had over 100 cats living in and out of her house. I was fascinated by one that was blue. I think she named them too. I have enough with two cats.
And now it is warm – a gorgeous weekend. I cannot imagine 100 cats Shelley. How did she remember all their names? Yes, two cats is plenty. My friend Carol had three – now down to one and that cat is very obstinate.
Yay, glad to hear you had a gorgeous weekend. I can’t even remember 100 names, let alone name 100 cats. You’re funny – I also can’t think of a cat that isn’t obstinate in one way or another. 😉
I’ve never had a cat, but took care of Marge’s cat several times while she was on vacation many years ago. That cat did not like anyone, including me. I tried playing with it as it was alone all day – it scratched my hands and arms. Marge asked my mom and I to call the house several times a day so Missy could hear Marge’s voice on the answering machine to keep her calm.
I’ve taken care of a cat like that. It’s interesting how some cats like only one or two humans and are happy with that. That was nice of you to do what you could for Marge’s cat.
She was temperamental that’s for sure. She developed dementia quite suddenly – did you know cats could get dementia? One day Marge came home from work and Missy hissed at her and arched her back, tail flicking wildly. Marge thought maybe she was not feeling well and it happened a few days in a row. She was worried and took her to the vet. The vet did a CT scan (brain) and could tell. She had her euthanized. It broke her heart – she had lost her husband a year or so before … she began getting a series of pet, each a worse choice than the last. I won’t go into all of them, but she did get a cat which she named Sassy. Marge had a Victorian Christmas tree, tall, full of ornaments, done in pink and cream, lots of ribbons. Marge came home from work and the tree was knocked over, bulbs everywhere and the wide ribbons/sashes on the tree were shredded, her living room window sheers were shredded and pulled off the rod. First and last day for Sassy. She was a shelter pet. My mom said “Marge: did they say why she was in the shelter?”
Oh, my, Marge has had tough luck with pets. Yes, I do know pets can get dementia. Copper had it too. It’s tough to watch happen to our loved furry friends, just like it is tough to watch happen to our loved humans.
I didn’t realize Copper had dementia – I was thinking it was more old age. Poor Copper. Marge’s cat was not as old as Copper and it happened so suddenly which was worrisome. Yes, it is tough to watch. That’s why I am taking the easy way out and having no pets, much as I would love to spoil one silly. I’ll do the squirrels instead and then I worry about them. This morning two hawks were cruising overhead when I arrived. Sigh.
Yes, he had doggie dementia. It was due to old age and small dog issues. I don’t know that we’ll have any more pets when after our cats pass away. They do bring such joy, though. You’re smart to devote your love and attention to the squirrels. The hawks, not so much!
My friend’s vet came to the house to give them routine shots and one of the dogs, a German Shepherd, had a reaction and she had to euthanize it a week later. The vet doesn’t know why – it was shots the dog had had before, but my friend was very spooked by the whole incident. That dog saved her life when she collapsed in the snow in the backyard wearing a robe and the dog laid over her body keeping Ilene from getting hypothermia. She had a brain bleed a few months earlier and was hospitalized, but had another one as she let the dogs out in the yard.
Oh, such a sad story. Dogs are so loyal, German Shepherd’s especially. Pure breeds tend to have the most problems.
Yes, she was heartbroken. She had a few Shepherds, mostly Goldens … she had about a dozen dogs when we worked together in the 90s. She lives in the country and had six or seven of her own and one of her buddies in her tracking group was very ill and asked members of the group to take her dogs so she knew they had good homes before she died and Ilene took four or five along with her gang. Now she only has two Goldens left.
Aw, such love for her dogs. We had a Golden too and he had many health issues, died too young at 9 due to cancer and blindness. Copper learned how to be a big dog from Nick. Happy memories fill my heart.
Yes, her dogs are devoted to her. She lives alone but has many relatives in the area, but she is thinking of getting another Shepherd, perhaps from a local shelter. Good to hear Copper was fearless and thought of himself as a big dog. Made me smile. 🙂
Aw, I hope she finds a lovable companion. Yes, Copper was our biggest little dog ever. 🙂
That’s some amazing corn! Dessy is always cute. I’m with Bushboy; I think she was helping Copper eat his food. Be happy you have large veins- they stuck me 4 times last time & still didn’t get enough blood. There’s no excuse for missing yours! The guy’s arm creeped me out, as well as the tomato. It’s an alien, kinda like the watermelon that blew up overnight the day after Hubs got it. I woke up the next morning & found it on the kitchen island. So gross. https://sprawly.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/8317-01.jpg I have anxiety when he picks out watermelons now. lol
Aw, thanks! Yes, that corn was something else. It was fun to watch it grow.
You and Bushboy are likely right. I think Dessy at Copper’s food when he wasn’t looking. He always pushed her away from her treats – it was payback.
Yikes – that’s not fun to get jabbed 4 times!! OUCH!
The tomato has been planted in a pot – to extend the experiment. But it kind of stinks, so maybe it’s rotting in the pot?
OMG – that’s a messy watermelon! Thanks for sharing the photo! I bet that was fun to clean up?! I’d be anxious about the shopping experience too.
I’m interested to find out how the mutant tomato experiment turns out! 🙂
It’s starting to sprout through the dirt…time will tell if it actually grows!
You always make me laugh, Shelley! (Or cringe–at your GMO experiments. Just a little terrifying!) I have the veiniest hands, like my mom did. If I ever have to have photos taken where my hands are visible, I hold them higher than my heart for a few, to smooth them out. Yeah, no trouble finding a vein here! Btw, Dessy is so pretty. I hope you’re getting some snuggles from her!
I’m thankful you catch my attempts at humor! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who pays attention to how the veins on their hands look. 🤣 I have veins like my dad does. I just hope I don’t end up with arthritic knuckles like he has. Brilliant – I need to remember that tip to hold my hands up higher than my heart to smooth the veins out.
Dessy is being extra loving. She’s such a sweet cat. I hope you’re getting snuggles from Rufus before he gets too big!