Kelli's Cat

Kelli now has a Hemingway Cat.
Do you know what that is?

 Cute cat, right?

 Wait, his feet look really big...

Wow, that foot looks a little weird...closer, maybe??

 Whoa.  He has extra toes!!!!

 Seven on each front foot, to be exact.

Kind of like a cat foot with the usual 5 toes.  Then a thumb on the side.  With a toe in between that's smaller and kind of hidden.  That makes his feet look a little like hands.  Little monkey hands.

Technically, this condition is called polydactyly.  (Remember, I used to teach Biology...)

Lots of organisms can have this condition.  People with polydactyly usually have an extra piece of tissue on the little finger side of the hand which is not functional.  This person has a rarer form of it and the extra finger is  on the thumb side!

Sometimes this happens on the feet.  Kelli's cat has normal back feet, but you can see that this human foot has an extra pinky toe!

Now this one's even rarer--the extra digit is in the middle of the hand.
Wow.

Okay.  Back to the cat.  The reason he's called a Hemingway Cat is because of Ernest Hemingway.
Hemingway got his first cat from a ship's captain in Key West.  This cat, probably a Maine Coon, had extra toes.  It's believed that Maine Coon cats are the first to have had this condition.  Their ancestors are thought to have hitched a ride aboard ships sailing to the US, so polydactyl cats are most commonly found along the east coast of the States.  Hemingway loved his cats so much, the terms of his will provide for about 60 descendants (half of which are polydactyls) to reside at his home in Key West.

If you visit the Hemingway Home and Museum, you'll find the cats pretty much have their run of the place.

They sleep where they want,

drink what they want,

and come and go as they please.
The one drinking from the fountain looks an awfully lot like Kelli's cat.

So now that you've met the newest addition to the family, there's just one problem.

Kelli's cat has no name.
Any suggestions?

Fresh Start!

Yeah.  So I lied.

It's September and I'm not making any excuses for having waited until now to write!  Let it be known, however, that I have been painting.

This is a smaller version of the two I painted for Kelli's apartment.  I love the bamboo.

I sold this one.

So now I'm starting a new project for a friend.  She had an old wooden high chair her husband had painted white for their first child.  Her new little girl is going to get a fancy one though!  We're going to use lots of pretty cool colors and make it special...stay tuned for pictures!

So far, it's been cleaned and lightly sanded.  Paints are on the schedule for this weekend or early next week.  I can't wait!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  Do something fun with family and/or friends!
(If you're retired, do you have to work on Labor Day???)

wow....I lost a month

It's August.
How the heck did that happen?

I haven't posted since the end of June.  This is why:

Caleb's first birthday was the end of June.

Aubie became a full-time job!

We moved Kelli to South Georgia...

This was my living room before we moved her!

We'd been passing this sign for 4 years going to Millledgeville...we finally stopped.  Bought a concrete bunny.

I've told you about my auction obsession...this is a toothpick holder, btw...

I've started selling my art and collectibles on Etsy!!  This is in a 1939 reader I have for sale.

Bought this on an online auction; it was black and gross and now it's Kelli's new nightstand.

This is Kelli's new handmade head board, made by uncle Scooter!

But it had to be finished....

sanded, painted, sanded, stained, sealed?   Check.

...finally got around to weaving the 2nd chair...

Finished!!

Painted birthday presents,

and finished froggie pictures.

Kelli's rules for her new apartment.

Can't show the actual picture, but here we are (me, with Sara's mom and sister) as Sara picks her wedding gown!!!

Big painting for Michelle!  It wasn't finished here, and she'd been waiting patiently, but I'm proud to say I got it to her TODAY!

yeah....

So....these are some of the reasons I haven't blogged lately.  Okay, maybe they're excuses.  But they happened, and I've been really, really busy!  Hope you didn't need a new recipe!!

This is what I know.  I will not wait 6 weeks before I post again!  I want to paint.  And talk to you.  Hope you're still reading!

I have a new love...

Maybe I should call it an addiction.  I've had to limit myself to only once a month.  If not, I'll spend a fortune.  It's terribly unhealthy.

What, you say?  Drugs, alcohol, an illicit affair?

Nope.  It's worse.

It's online antique auctions.

In two weeks, I've spent $*#*%@&  (can't reveal the actual number in case someone tells David...) and who knows how many hours checking the furniture, collectibles, and junk for sale on www.proxibid.com.

I've even made a trip to Greenville, SC to pick up 3 beds, 3 end tables, a night stand, a wooden chest, 6 chairs, various Degenhart glass pieces, an old bottle crate, a Shawnee planter, a Fiestaware platter, and several old planters, one of which is a McCoy.  I told David I was picking up a bed.  Only.

I just got a box from Kansas today.  It has some Christmas plates, a depression glass creamer, and a couple of other things.  Cost me only 36 dollars.

And 14 dollars to ship it.

I'm visiting Manchester, TN Thursday.  Two old library chairs.

I have 5 more boxes coming in the next week or so.  Or maybe 6??

Yeah.  I'm addicted.

Just don't bid against me.  Or do...please...

Rollergirls--Part 2

The Sake Tuyas won a nail-biter, beating the Toxic Shocks because of some AWESOME jams in the second half.  Our girl Regreta won MVP for the night for her team.  All-in-all, a successful night, with an after-the-bout dinner at Eats on Ponce...

Check out the details and go see maybe the best sports team in Atlanta (okay, that was typed with my tongue only slightly in my cheek...) for yourself.  Google Atlanta Rollergirls and peruse the schedule.  Bet you can find a date that works for you!!

Oh, and this is what I know...buy a raffle ticket or two and you might just win a bag of meat.

Don't ask.  Just trust me.

Atlanta Rollergirls!!

Yes, you read that right.  It's June 18th and I'm about to head to Atlanta for the roller derby!

Crazy, right?  You should see these girls skate while being tripped, elbowed, punched and blocked--it's insane!  I would never have been able to do this, even when I was young, and I think it's awesome that they can.

Dirty South All-Stars

It's not your mama's roller derby, with an inclined track and rails. These women skate on a flat surface without rails. Remember watching the men's and women's derby on black and white television when you were young?  (if you're as old as I am!)  They'd link arms and slingshot each other around the track.  You can't do that on a flat track, and no one goes head first over the rails, but they do travel to other places to compete, and tonight the Fort Myers team is coming to Atlanta.  I'm actually going to both bouts...Bout 1 is the Sake Tuyas vs the Toxic Shocks.  Yep.  That's what I said.

One particular derby girl, #1905, Regreta Garbo, skates for the Sake Tuyas, who is currently the only undefeated team of the four Atlanta teams.  She also rolls for the All-Star team that competes against the other traveling teams.  I've known her since she played basketball at the high school where I taught.  I'm going with one of her ex-high school teammates--we've gone a couple of other times--to cheer her on.

They hold these things at the Yaarab Shrine Center on Ponce.  You can buy food, non-alcoholic beverages, t-shirts and other souvenirs, and you can also BYOB!  If you want, you can browse the tables in the courtyard for jewelry, paintings, or other art while you listen to the band play between bouts.  There's something for (most) everyone, and the girls promise to put on a show you won't soon forget!

Is anybody out there melting?? I mean, besides me...

Okay, so I'm watching the 5:00 news on Channel 2 and I hear Glenn Burns say, "we'll get a break from this heat June 21st."

EXCUSE ME??  June 21st, last time I checked, is the official first day of summer.  This is spring, for goodness sake.  96 degrees???  On June 2nd?  I think I need to move to, I don't know, anywhere but here, where it's 96 degrees in SPRING...

I'm through with that rant (I think) and I'm going to go on to the next thing I heard.  The state of Georgia is about to increase the gas tax, for the second time in two months, I might add.  It's going up 1 to 2 cents a gallon.  Yes, I realize that's less than a quarter per fill up.  But damn, first it's the Texas lizard that's supposed to make it go up to $5 a gallon by summer (when they put the little reptile on the endangered species list) and now they're sneaking in another tax on us.

Add the gas prices to the heat and I'm just a happy camper sitting here at home, with the air on and every fan in the house aimed my way.  At least until I can't afford the air conditioner bill...

Have I told you about my daughter's puppy?  When we went to visit Thomasville a couple of months ago we saw the cutest little dog at the soccer fields.  He was a Chorkie--half Yorkshire Terrier and half Chihuahua.  Not a big fan of Chihuahuas myself, but this was seriously the cutest little dog I've ever seen.  So anyway, I did all the "you don't have time for a dog, you can't afford a dog, etc, etc" speeches and she agreed, but right before graduation she says to us, "you know I won't have any family down there and a puppy could be my family..." and within two days there we were, scouring the internet to find a Chorkie.

it's hard work being cute!

yes, they changed my name to Aubie!

I am adorable!

on the way to Mommy's graduation

He's a cutie alright.  A cutie who has chewed the top corner of my footboard, the back of the rocking chair's rocker, and the black mesh-like fabric on the underside of my box springs.

This is what I know.  It's hotter upstairs in my bedroom (where I need to sit to make sure he doesn't destroy my room any further, and where my husband has hung out with him so much that Aubie loves him more than the rest of us put together) than it is downstairs in my house right now.  And it's another month before Kelli moves and takes him with her.

And if we had it to do over, we'd buy him again.  What will we do when they move?