Fairy Bird Bath in Garden. Picture taken 8-7-09.
Picture taken August 7, 2009.
This is Kyle Hall and Sara. They have become good friends and I have referred to them, and members of their family, throughout the blog.
Squirrel in the Holly Tree in the backyard. Taken8-15-09.
Dragonfly picture taken 8-15-09.
Dragonflies are common in every state I have been in. Mississippi is the only place I have seen them in swarms! One evening I was driving along the highway, kind of facing the sun, and there was something flying in the air along the highway. Their wings were just glistening in the air. It was MILLIONS of Dragonflies. There are always many of them in the yard an garden and along Deer Creek.
Fountain in west sun room. Taken 3-24-09. It weight a ton!
I’m not going to tell you where the water comes out….
Statue in the back yard by the old fish pool. Picture taken June 28. 2009.
It seems like so many of the ladies around here are showing their boobs! She’s always like this, no matter what the weather! Rain or shine, cold or hot!!! And she’s always in the same spot!!! Well, one day, she took a swim in the pool. She said the wind blew her in… Well, I think she just jumped in so she could be rescued!
"Cutesy" statue in the back yard. Picture taken 9-3-09.
Another statue in the backyard. Picture taken 9-3-09.
Looks like this Cherub is trying to keep everyone quiet!
Picture taken on 9-22-09.
I really like this frog!
Cherubs at work in the back yard. Picture taken 10-23-09.
1,000 pound fountain! Picture taken 9-17-09.
There is also a picture of this fountain behind Suzanne’s Carson, CA house. It is located in the page titled DR. SUZANNE M. SKINNER. Like all of the other fountains in the backyard, it wasn’t put together. Kyle, Sara and I managed to put the top and and base together, but I didn’t realize the feet were in the front yard!!! The two side pieces were in the shed and I didn’t know what they even went to until we put the two pieces together and I could tell there were still some pieces missing. Then I remembered the pieces in the shed… This picture just shows the top part of the fountain. The bottom part was hid in the brush behind the top part when I took the picture.
THE CATS
This cat was here when we arrived. Suzanne called her 'Bandit' Picture taken 1-16-09.
We had no idea that we would already have a cat when we came to Mississippi! At first, Suzanne thought that she must belong to someone because she looked so well fed. I didn’t think she was anyone elses cat because she was always at the back door or somewhere in the yard. I thought she was fat because she was going under the house and eating rats… We did have a very big rat problem here when we moved in! At night they sounded like wild horses running across the attic floor! So, Suzanne suggested I close off the opening she use to get under the house and we would see if she lost weight. Sure enough, within a couple of days, she looked like she was starving. So, we realized that she just belonged to the house so we started feeding her. Suzanne named her Bandit.
After Suzanne passed away, some relatives of the former owner stopped by and said that they thought the cat had belonged to an aunt that lived here at one time…
Bandit wasn’t a young cat by no means, and was showing signs of age. She had kittens under the house in May. When I would work in the backyard, I had a habit of leaving the sliding door open in the den… Well, a couple of times when I would be in the house, Bandit would be inside also. I thought that was kind of odd, because she normally stayed outside. I thought she was acting kind of “innocent” for some reason… She always had that “I’m not doing anything” look.
Well, a few days later I was in the east sun room and I heard a kitten meow… It was pouring down rain outside, and I thought they must be somewhere along the outside wall of the sun room. So, I went out in the rain and could not see anything. The next day, I found out that Bandit had snuck them all the way through the house to the sun room while I had the door open in the den. So much for being innocent!!!
Picture of one of 'Bandits' kittens taken May 29, 2009.
By the time she had moved them in the sun room, they were already walking around pretty good… A little to good. Within a week they had made their way back through the house and into the den… Then they started hanging out in the breakfast room most of the time. I found a container with low sides and put cat litter in it so they would learn where to use it. One of the black kittens had some kind of eye problem. They would get all infected and stick shut. I started washing them out with green tea and they were fine within a few days. But it was completely blind in one eye. After they started going outside more, I found the one with the bad eye laying in the yard dead… By the driveway. I figured it could have been on or behind a tire when I backed out… In October, the other black one, the one Sara named Poof, acted like she had been attacked or something, maybe even hit by a car. She moped around for a few days and then she died.
The other two of Bandits kittens taken May 29, 2009.
Taco and Poof on the steps by the den taking their first steps outside the house on 6-14-09.
Bandit at the door and Taco behind her. 9-26-09.
Bandit, like I mentioned, was no young cat. No telling how many years she has been at the mansion. She has had several scrapes with death like she was always getting attacked and generally looked kind of rough. Her fur was always sticking out like she had come in from the wind! Twice, she has almost died because of an attack! One time, something had happened to her foot and it swelled up three times its normal size. Then right after that, she came on with this big gash on her neck under her chin. Well, she recovered. Then in December, she started acting like she had a cold… She stopped eating and December 13 was the last day I saw her. She may have died, or she just may be lying around somewhere until she feels better.
Taco is still here and as onry as ever. That cat will play with anything! She liked to hide behind something and jump out at you. She is a pretty good cat, and she seems to be taking after her dad. Oh, I forgot to mention her father. I think he is the HUGE old tom cat that comes around from time to time. He is a real alley cat… Tall, skinny, has a HUGE head, and man does he stink! He is the same color and has the same markings as Taco. He has gotten so used to me that he doesn’t even run anymore.
(NOTE: On December 10, 2009, Bandit came in to eat and didn’t seem to be feeling well. She ate a few bites and wanted back outside. On the 11th, she came in and just sit by her food and didn’t eat. Later, she didn’t come when I called for her. On the 12 and 13th she seemed like she had just disappeared. I decided to go to the basement and look under the mansion on the 14th. There is a small basement, but I can see under the whole house from there. I saw what looked like it could be her… I had to crawl on my hands and knees all the way to the front of the mansion. It was Bandit, and she had crawled under the house and died. I buried her close to the peach tree in the back yard.)
OTHER FRIENDS
Flicker in the backyard taken 6-3-09.
Pigeons on the roof on 6-14-09.
Yes, we have plenty of pigeons. They next in the roof above the porch and I think in one of the chimneys.
A tree from on the Asparagus on 8-28-09.
A nice BIG garden spider behind the kitchen on 8-28-09.
There were many spiders throughout the garden and around the house. There were two garden spiders, one in the back and one on the west side of the kitchen.
Doves on top of a pillar on the front porch. Picture taken 9-17-09.
These pair of doves have made themselves right at home! They like to sit on the balcony where they can see everything then they made a nest on this pillar. They also like feeding under the bird feeder in the back yard.
This beautiful butterfly was in the back yard. I just had to take a piture on 9-28-09.
Praying Mantis on patrol on the pot of the 'Tall Trailing' Nasturtiums on 10-23-09.
There are STILL more pictures to add to this page!
