herbiehancock

No matter what kind of day I am having, no matter what is going on, if I stop and think for even just a few minutes, I can always think of things for which I am grateful. During the day, throughout the day, I try to make a mental note to myself when I happen upon something that makes me feel gratitude. I wanted to share just a few small moments of gratitude from my day today. * * * * * One of the best moments was when Dan gave me a smile, a nice big broad one. All I did was tell him to have a good afternoon as I was leaving, when I went to visit my Mom at the nursing home today. He gave me a big smile and said very simply, "Thank you." That is the first time I've ever seen him smile. * * * * * Poor Charley the Lizard is shedding his skin again. I am grateful that humans don't shed their skins the way lizards do. This just looks very uncomfortable and itchy to me. Additionally, after these lizards shed their skins, they eat them. That strikes m...

When I went to bed last night, I had folded the afghans neatly and put them across the back of the couch. When I got up this morning, I found this dark furry spot. My dog Max had pulled two of the afghans down and made himself a little nest out of them along with the throw pillows on the couch. You can see him a little better here with some more light on him. Talk about living the life of Riley!! Everything in this house has been put here especially for him (or so he thinks!). He is the king of all of he surveys! King of the Castle! It's good to be King!

UPDATE: Well, gee whiz! Who would have ever thought that my posting these photos of the cats in my sister-in-law's basement on my blog could cause such a stir! I have heard from several people both in the comments here and through my email that these cats are not all Servals as I had thought. If I understand it right, my sister-in-law is not breeding Servals. According to one person who emailed me, she is actually "breeding Savannahs, which are a cross between a Serval and a domestic cat. Savannahs rarely get anywhere near the size/weight of their Serval parent/grandparent. It looks from these pictures as though she is using a Bengal female, which is a cross between an Asian leopard cat and a domestic cat, which is a common breeding practice. Servals are not by nature aggressive cats, they would rather run from confrontation, so do not pose the same threat as the larger exotic cats can, when owned/handled by an experienced person. They can make wonderful pets...for the ri...

Max, the toy poodle, having heard that Charley the Lizard was on my blog, is now demanding equal time. So I put together a montage of Max pictures for you to see. Before you watch it, let me tell you just a little bit about Max. Max is actually my older son's dog, but because he has spent the most time with me, he has sort of attached himself to me. He is very protective of me and will growl at anyone (even my husband and sons) who comes close to me if he is also nearby. He will stop growling if I tell him everything is OK, but he is ever vigilant. He barks if the phone rings more than twice and no one is answering it or if the timer on the stove goes off. He likes to let us know that these things are making noise, I suppose. Every day that the mail is delivered, he sees it as his duty to sit on the back of our couch, look out the picture window, and bark at the mailman the entire time he is in our yard. As soon as the mailman leaves and goes into the neighbor's yard, Max...

Some of you may remember Charley my son's pet lizard. Charley was complaining to me the other day that I haven't given him any blog time for quite a while, so I thought I'd post about him today. He is getting BIG !! Don't let anybody try and tell you that you can lose weight on one of those all-protein diets. The only thing Charley eats is crickets, just crickets (all-protein, right?), and he has gained a great deal of weight. When we first got Charley, he slept inside a half of a coconut shell . Now he has gotten so big that we have replaced his coconut shell with a good-sized flower pot with a hole cut out of the side for him to sleep under. This is what Charley looks like today. When I took his picture, Charley wanted to know why I haven't had any dancing lizards on my blog yet. Well, I aim to please, so here you go, Charley, this one is for you.