I have no X’s, Y’s or Z’s.

its -9 degrees here this morning, but the sun is shining (finally). And my orchids are happy as ever.

One Z

ZIPPTY DO DAH late in august

No z's here but lots of snow!

Zippity Do Dah in June

In July

Oh wait, I did buy Zebra Stripes from the Wade and Gatton close out sale. I stuffed the car with plants! Peren,all, yours looks lovely how much sun does it get?

Thanks miles. It gets dappled sun/shade all day. If I had protected it from the late frost it would have looked much better. The leaves are on the thin side.

Paula..you had me going with the crow story..

I have Zero Zs..

looking from my kitchen window today..9 inches of snow yesterday..

Chan't get enough Z's this time of year.

Haha, Paula...... I was so interested in the bird story, I even read it to my husband to the laughable end———cah,cah, cah indeed! :-)

I have no Zs yet so I must get one, maybe Steve will have to enable me. Lol lol .....instead how about a picture of Tonto, a neighborhood stray. He has been coming around for about a year and a half. He drinks from the heated water bowl and sometimes accepts food, not always. I have been worried to death about him because we have been having bitter cold weather—— the kind where the weather reporters tell you to stay in because your skin could frostbite in minutes. Last night I thought, “he’s not going to survive this winter.”

Well, guess who showed up at the water bowl and ate two bowls of food this afternoon? Yes, Tonto! And he looks just fine......no frost bitten ears, no injuries from fighting! Made my day!!!!

debra

I haven't found a Z worth buying, until this winter. You'll have to wait until later to see. Although, someone added Zu Zus petals to their list which looks good to me.

I did order that Steve.....how pathetic is this? I was looking for Z for next years ABCs and I really liked Zu Zus petals ===>> am I enabling you yet?

:-D

debra

OH, so it was you. Doesn't seem pathetic at all to me. I saw that and looked at it and had the same thought. Then I noticed I had already ordered . . . something . . . for Z, for next year, lol.

Djacobz, cute picture of Tonto. We have a heated bowl of water and even a heated little house for strays; Over the years, we have seen numerous stray cats--I don't understand why people let them out to roam but that's another discussion entirely. We had one who begged to come in so we did take that cat in since he was starving and ill. Many vet bills later, he became a permanent resident.

Miles, the 4 I have now were all born outside. Momma is almost 16. I started trapping and neutering outdoor cats in 2005 which is when mom brought her first litter here at about 4-5 weeks old. We neutered all the kittens then mom left. We thought well that’s that until she came back with her second litter......little did we know. They were all neutered and finally so was mom. Since then I did TNR (trap-neuter-return) probably 40-50 cats. Not just my yard, but neighbors, friends anyone that asked for help basically. Most cats didn’t stay. Some were very sick and then only kind thing was to euthanize them.

But momma Snow, daughter Kibble and little Jingle from the second litter are still with me. We lost two to car accidents, two to sickness and one, Braveheart to hypothyroidism just before he turned 12. But they all lived quite good lives......they were all allowed inside, but only the girls really spend a lot of time inside. They sleep inside if they wish to. A new guy came around about 2 years ago, Seurat. He’s young, maybe 3 now. He’s a very sweet cat, but I can’t touch him yet, but he loves to sleep in one of the living room chairs, all day.....lol

Anyway, we have a screen porch that we winterize and heat and the beds are all also heated. So, not bad for an outdoor cat. We love just as if we had picked them from a shelter. I am sure you feel thee same for your rescue baby. Thanks so much for caring about these cats.......it’s a tough life and once they get to know you......there’s so much love! ♥️

debra

djacobz, simply great story about all of the cats. You've done a lot for them. Do you have a vet that helps you out? We've had 5 cats, 4 found outside our office or house and 1 adopted from a rescue group. 3/5 were very small when we found them outside so they were happy to get food and find a home. The only older one was begging to come in so he stayed inside, I guess he felt that he had enough of the outdoor life. Yours seem to like the freedom of going in and out. You should post some pictures of the cats. Do any stay with you when you garden? Bet you don't have a lot of chipmunks, etc in your yard, lol.

For five years Milwaukee had trial TNR program which was great! The Humane Society did the neuters/spays for free. Then after a few years they started charging caregivers $20 per cat! WTF??? Then when it came up for renewal, it wasn’t. It wasn’t a good ordinance anyway. So the Animal control who became the the oversight group for the TRN decided to write a new, better ordinance. Problem is that one is bad too allowing only 2 cats in a yard. I have friend with an aging colony of 15-20. She doesn’t make much money but every thing is for the cats. I help her by buying food and paying vet bills. We do the best we can. 👍🏽 Here’s my 16 year old mama cat, Snow:

debra

Very cute Kitty, I have a Snowball who's 11 1/2 years old. We found her hiding in a flower pot on our patio at the office. She was maybe 6 weeks old. She's got a bad attitude and doesn't get along with any other creature. We should have given her a name to reflect her negative outlook on life, lol.