Snowy Days in Dallas

Today my office was closed. Again. I have worked 2 days this week, and another day I worked from home for a few hours testing some database reports for my Director. I feel slightly unproductive, but better to be home on days like this than navigating the roads. When I drove to work yesterday morning it was a nightmare - the freeway was a parking lot and my usual 'back roads' were covered in black ice - exacerbated by the horrible drivers I had to avoid. I feel like I just had a weekend (Tues and Wed) and now I have another 3-day weekend immediately after. It's nice, but I think by Sunday I'll be ready to be back in my routine again.

Kevin decided the cat should experience it, too - check out the video; this is from last night when we realized it had started to snow. ;)

Just a few photos of the snow this morning:

Carmen's thinking about going out but she's not quite sure. Yesterday's forced romp outside may have soured her opinion of snow altogether.

Our back gate drifted in snow. I love the little caps the fence posts are wearing.

Our 'lollipop' bush.

Our pretty tree in the backyard.

Still lots of icicles on the house. 

Street view ...

A fluffy little bird with poofed feathers keeping warm ... you can just make him out on the top of the fence.

Kevin thought the neighborhood cats needed a little shelter so he set up a box for them right by the house with lots of food ... we had to refill the bowl this morning since it was all eaten up overnight. We spotted lots of little paw prints in the yard from last night that were starting to fill up with snow again. ;)

Came back in the house and make some hot, frothy coffee in my French Press...

Then we watched disc two of the new anime series Kev got for us: 'Fushigi Yugi (the mysterious play)'. I'd definitely recommend it so far. As for the rest of our snow day, I think I'll do some yoga later, maybe make something cozy for dinner and watch some more 'The Office' ... I started watching Season One again as well as 'The Office' Series One - the UK version.

What a beautiful day!!

It's been really cold (in Texan terms) for over a week now - wonderful, jacket-worthy weather. But today I went outside expecting the same and found that it is a perfect, mild day. I turned the heat off and opened my kitchen windows to the light breeze and the rustling leaves. Smiley was snuffling about in the ground cover and Kevin spotted Samantha again, but only for a minute. I went out to water all our plants and got my arm wet: it helps if the hose is connected to the spigot before turning it on full blast! I tried to take a picture of Kevin in the natural light but he decided instead I should be wrestled into the ground; I'd forgotten how fun it is to roll around in the leaves.

My plants are still doing really well, though I think my Morning Glories have bloomed their last for the year. They are yellow and wilty now. My Forget Me Nots are pretty, though still not a single bloom, and my Basil is, of course, still hearty. My jalapeno and avocado seeds have sprouted. I think it's almost time for them to come inside -- I think we're going to make a spot for all of them in the garage, though I'm worried about the lack of sunshine.

There is more and more color to all the trees and plants. I've noticed another bush at the side of the yard is yellow now - it was still green just last week. And of course the crepe myrtle is stunning. I can see the tops of the trees in our neighbor's yards and across the street and they have turned as well. Such a pretty array of Fall colors.

Kevin pruned one of our plants while I caught Smiley eying the yard through the glass door - I think he wants to come outside again.

They didn't come out after all. I think something startled them back inside.

My roses bloomed again, too. I think these are about the largest roses I've seen on this plant; flawless and fragrant. Something about flowers like this make me want to pick them and put them in a vase. Although my intention would be to enjoy their beauty while it lasted, it seems more shameful and selfish than anything.

New Cat on the Block

This morning I was pouring another mug of coffee (brr!) and saw out my kitchen window a cat walking on the gardening ledge on our back patio. I'd seen her a couple times before walking on our back fence, but never IN the yard, right by the house. She (I discovered later she was a she) was very comfortable and relaxed. She sat down at the corner of the ledge, by the back door, and just watched Carmen as she hissed at her from behind the glass, tail fat and bristled and ready for a fight, tiny but vicious teeth bared.

Samantha just watched curiously and didn't hiss or growl even once. I decided she looked like a Samantha - Sam for short. I took a couple pictures of her from the house and thought she might be hungry so I filled an old feeder with some water and a bit of food and slowly opened the back door, watching for Smiley or Carmen to be hot on my heels. At this point Smiley was all worked up, too; he and Carmen had been stalking each other around the living room as though they each were a foreign invader cat and they were protecting their territory.

Are you coming out or not?

I shut the door behind me and Samantha walks right up and rubs against my legs, flopping herself on the ground and rubbing her little face into the patio, her soft white belly and brown ears covered in dirt and leaves. She has a short face, not as long a snout as Smiley and Carmen; she has a shorter tail, too, more like Carmen – Smiley’s is long like a monkey’s tail. She is very friendly and seems to be comfortable with humans but doesn’t have a collar. I wonder who she belongs to and who is missing her. Hopefully she has a home; I hate for animals to be stray or orphaned and not have a consistent place to stay.

Samantha is more interested in rubbing my knee - I'm sitting crossed-legged by the door now - than in her food which I've set down beside me. I snap a couple more photos and she sniffs my basil and jalapeno sproutlings. She finally takes a few bites after thoroughly sniffing the food and the tray and my hands a few more times.

After several minutes with her and lots of petting and cooing on my part I am rather cold and go back inside. Samantha peers up at me through the widow in the door, held tilted to the left, as if to ask why I'm leaving so soon. I think how nice it must be to have a fur coat. She walks around the grass some and uses our yard as a toilet (even scraping up some leaves and grass when she's done).

She walks over to the corner of the yard and hops effortlessly onto the middle fence rail and then onto the top of the fence. She takes a few steps onto our neighbor’s fence and jumps - gone into the alley for more stray cat adventures. I just hope she remembers our yard is a friendly one and I'll always have some food for her if she comes around again.