Flat Gypsy...

Some of you may have heard of "Flat Stanley"? Well, we have a Flat Gypsy!

Gypsy is one of our cats and she is... special. In her own way she is... unique. Absolutely nothing, and I do mean NOTHING bothers her. She can get trampled by the dogs, fall off furniture or be thrown over your shoulder as you walk around the house... she never blinks. One time, I was painting my toenails and she came to check things out. She leaned in to take a whiff of my polish remover and it could have been water for all I knew... not a flinch or shudder. She just walked on like it was a normal occurrence to smell acetone!

For all of her quirks, she is very loving cat that knows no stranger (much to the dislike of some of our visitors). She has a funny growl that we will often hear as she chases a piece of dog food around the house. Oh, and she talks to things. We will hear her carrying on conversations with toys or a piece of trash she finds interesting. She is quite a cat and we love her for all of her weirdness.

Ever since we first brought Gypsy home she had a funny way of relaxing on tile or wood floors. She fully extends her back legs behind her so that her stomach and tops of her paws are flat on the ground. Gypsy is a big cat but she manages to flatten her body out.

Then
(She had a chemical burn on her neck when we first adopted her... its all better now!)

Now

It actually looks kind of uncomfortable but she is totally relaxed. I am not sure if it is the stretch that feels good or the cool floor along her belly. No matter how many times I have tried to get a picture that truly shows how this looks, it has never worked. Then the other day, I had the idea to lay down on the floor with her so my camera was level with her. It worked...

One endearing thing about Gypsy? Even though she can be a pest some times, she is always by my side. She sleeps with me, follows me around, talks to me and always, always wants to be petted. One of her favorite things to do is to lay on the desk in front of the keyboard as I type. Sometimes she watches the mouse on the screen, sometimes she plays with my fingers as they type and sometimes she just sleeps. In fact, she did just that as I wrote this blog...

Sadness is...

Sadness is seeing Lake Travis these days. The drought in Texas has made nationwide news... it is bad folks. It is on our local news every night and they talk about the dangerously low lake levels. When you don't pass it every day, it is easy to put it out of your mind. Well, I DO pass it every day... back and forth to work.

I have always said that I wanted to stop and take pictures so I could blog about it. Well, a few days ago, I finally did. They just don't do it justice though.

This is what I see as I drive down 620.
This what I see as I round the corner behind the Oasis.
Yes- those "islands" are in the middle of Lake Travis. Normally you would ski boats or jet skis racing by. Instead you see islands that have steadily grown larger as the hot summer progressed. They have become so established, they are growing vegetation on them!!!
At one point during the middle of the summer, they closed ALL boat ramps except one. Another thing I happen to pass on my drive is one of those boat ramps...

You can see what was some one's personal boat dock sitting in the dirt. At one time they could walk from their lake house to a ramp that would take them out the dock and their boat. No need now.
If you look VERY closely you can see where the water finally does begin off in the distance.

"They" say we will have a wet winter... let's pray they are right.

It is official...

This is now in our front yard...

Sigh.

How Much Is That Baby in the Video Store?

A couple of weeks ago I had a movie night with Kasi. It was a slumber party complete with Coke & Cream Soda floats, pajamas and Troy!!! We headed to Hollywood Video to choose our movies and Troy cracked me up... so out came the camera.

After Kasi and I made our selection, it was Troy's turn. At some point as she looked through the children's movie, she removed a bar code sticker from a video and placed it smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Then once it was securely in place, she seemed to forget about it.

She spent the rest of the shopping trip (and part of the ride home) with her sticker proudly displayed.

As we checked out, some of the folks in line were giggling at her cuteness. And of course, as soon as Troy realized she had an audience... the show began.

Personally, I think she is worth WAY more than the sticker value of a Strawberry Shortcake video. :o)