Another Year

By Skeeter

Wow, was In the Garden really gone for a month? It does not seem like it has been a month since we last chatted about gardens, animals and family. The month flew by for us as we stayed real busy. One of our busy moments was we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise. More on the cruise another time. Today I want to talk about my girls. As most of you know, our girls are two black 4-legged Fluff balls named Sheba and Cheetah. These two stray cats came crawling out of the woods and into our life one fall day. I have spent many hours being a good mommy and properly training my babies to life in the house with claws and all. Aw, Aren't they sweet? Ha, don't let looks fool ya. I had decorated the house before our departure. Above in the first picture, you can see the tree in the sun-room.
Here you see the tree in the dining room.
The Magnolia tree in the Living room.
The snowman tree in the hallway.
There is a tree in the guest room.
And a tree filled with animals of every kind in the office/guest room. The lights in the top part of the tree died on me. Dont we just love hunting for the pesky loose bulb? As you can see, I opt out of the hunt.
I have garlands within paws reach....
As well as old Garden Wagons filled with shiny things to attract the eye of playful kitties.
I am putting this picture in for Dawn to show her how she inspired me to add lights to my basket of pine cones!
I have a second Garden Wagon in the sun-room that is dripping with dangling ornaments.
Dried greens along with artificial adorn the coffee table at the height of a cats head.
I put two snow villages in place again this year.
I must say all this plus more, was left to fend for itself while being alone with two cats for 6 straight days while we were on our cruise. And believe it or not, everything was in its place when we returned! Yep, I have good girls when it comes to the Christmas decorations. No one can believe we left them with all that glitter and glow to tempt a frisky cats attention. Our neighbor stopped by each day to make sure the girls were okay and to give them a treat. She said the only thing out of place was the plush snowman under the snowman tree. We think it may have come between a toy and a paw as a cat toy was near the snowman.
However, two days after we had returned home to our girls, I spotted something out of place in the sun-room. A Sweet Gum Ball Deer was on the floor and not on the tray table along with the other two deer. The Saint and I joke that one day, that Pet Rock you see above will be our only pet! Ha, we can dream right.... Hummmm, what's up with that? Here is the Angel Trumpet plant that Tina gave me a few months ago. I set it on a tray table in the sun room next to a Christmas tree when the temps turned to freezing outside.
With a little investigating on my part, I soon found dirt on the window ledge as well as dirt all over the carpet and baseboards. Grrrrrrr....Bad kitties!

I can leave the cats alone in a house fully decorated for Christmas with 6 shiny trees, garlands, snow villages, etc and they don't touch one thing. But turn your head from a REAL plant for a day or two and well, you can see for yourself what will happen. The scent of a live plant is way too tempting for even my well trained girls.
Needless to say, the Guest bedroom has once again been turned into a plant nursery with doors being closed for the winter. And yes, the cats are driving me crazy trying to get into the No No room! A cat does not like doors to be closed and they are sure letting me know. Last year I said no more plants in the house, but here we go again with ANOTHER YEAR, In the Garden....