Oh, FTM!! I'm so glad you posted those pics! They (and you) are just as I imagined from your descriptions and your posts in general (esp. your sense of humor). Romeo is so big and delicious! And WOW! Did you get to eat any of the seeds from that beautiful flower?

Thanks for sharing, lady! :)

Brenda

FTM the Cat Chariot! After months of picturing you crawling around in the yard with a cat on you back I must say that picture is priceless! Romeo is huge and adorable! Is he a Maine Coon?

I'm jelous over your grey stripe. I'm still 0 for 5 in my attempts to grow one.

hi there and thank you! brenda, did you notice you will stil be using your imagination? my face is still a bit hidden in both :) i just love your "delicious" reference btw! speaking of humor, i wanted to put the sunflower totally in front of my face to make it look like it had a body, but dh complained. another one i held it up like it was blocking out the sun, but it only worked in my imagination :(

fishy, as soon as i saw that dh took that pic with romeo, i knew i had to post it after all my carrying stories. usually, my knee isn't up, but he didn't jump up in his usual way so up went the knee to support the moooooose. usually he is closer to my shoulders and sometimes turns around with his butt on my head (not usually appreciating that one) or his foot in my face.

he isn't a maine coon and he has the cutest tail for a long hair. usually tails are very long. not his. not stubby but short all the same and he always has a kinked curl in the end when he walks. he acts like maine coon sometimes- perches on the fence posts, including the ones 2 feet taller than the fence and he sits on the shed roof. he is just too cute. with his short stocky legs and long body, when he walks his midsection sways too and fro. i really only makes him LOOK chubbier than he is.

i forgot, brenda. no, i didn't eat the seeds. i dried it to make a sunflower basket for sister (christmas). i took a pic, but don't have them available. i had three but my squirrel feeder got low and the mob leaned on me. that one survived, barely, bc i cut it as soon as they started on that one. i would have cut them sooner but i didn't think they were ready.

fishy, have you ever top dressed with composted manure? i did a light layer, and those are the ones that grew so huge. my others didn't get as big and i didn't top dress, but they were planted at a later date, even though they bloomed at the same time. this was the first year in 6 that i did this AND grew them that large. i am going to keep using the same place for seed source (i can't think of the name right now!)

I grew some grey stripes that got about that big (maybe not QUITE) one year, but big enough that some of the heads actually broke the stems and fell down -- particularly after they had gone to seed, when the squirrels got up there and hung from them upside-down eating the seeds -- made me REALLY MAD, as I was still looking for more HEIGHT (probably in vain at that point -- this was 15 or 20 years ago, before I knew better, and they were easily 12 feet or taller already)... Anything like that I grow these days I grow FOR the squirrels and the birds (my how we change).

I just LOVE the way your one eye is just PEEKING out from the side of that sunflower (though it would have been nice to see the whole toady :)

But from what I can see, you're just as purty as I imagined -- even WITHOUT your tiara and your fuschia leotard :-P I don't blame your dh for not wanting to take pictures of you as a "mophead"

:)
Jeff

When I drove long distances to work in Wisconsin, I had the good fortune to drive by fields of sunflowers. I don't know if they were grey stripe but they were tall. In the morning they faced in my direction and in the evening they had turned to show their faces to me again. There were acres and acres of them. It was a great way to start and end the working day. Sandy

FTM - those pics are great! How funny - peeking through the seedhead - huge one at that. Great job on the grey stripe. I get sunflowers that pop up randomly in the yard from uneaten bird seed, or planted by squirrels. After watching the squirrels hiding food this winter I should get a nice crop of corn too! You should enter the next giant in the state or county fair!

Romeo is a great big little stinker, and what a good pal to help you with the gardening! The supervisor! LOL

CT

why, thankye mr. jeff. btw, that sunflower only looks that big. i am really only 2 feet tall :)

i do "basically" grow them for the creatures. but, i like to save a head for winter for the squirrels but they want it all at once. the first year i grew them, the multi-bloomed ones, i couldn't b/c teh squirrels all had sweet tooths! they would bite the heads off before any seeds even developed and carry them away. now, they mostly want the meats. it IS hilarious seeing them hanging. htey used to break my sunflowers off by jumping to them like a tree. my pride flowers this year- those trunks were so thick nothing broke them, though i feared the weight of the heads for awhile. i should have gotten dh to photograph me trying to tie cheesecloth aroudn the heads to keep out the squirrels (silly me). looking back, they were more like death shrouds :)

i had smaller ones of the same type that i let the squirrel have its way with, but once a seed addict, etc.

sandy, they plant suflower fields here at work to attract doves (hunting)...they are way cool enmasse! deer love them, too.

susan, would you like to borrow him during his work release? lol.. :) he has been getting rather bored in the evening and harasses my other cat relentlessly. then, as dh would say, she makes such noise you would think sasquaatch was after her. well, looking at that pic, she may feel that way since she is only 7 pounds.

FTM, it appears you have a cat attached to your hip, a condition that I know well. Ain't it grand?

Oh, the fields of sunflowers are lovely! I always imagine they are soldiers, standing at attention, ready for their orders. Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I'll even talk to them. They don't seem to understand what "At ease!" means, though. :D

Brenda

lol, jeanner! kinda like a tumor sometimes :)

brenda, we are more alike than you know. probably, many of us here, as a matter of fact. though, i will admit never saying to them at ease.

ftm, hoping to host bumblebees again this year.

can't resist another one :)

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oh, to have a better camera!

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Now, if THAT doesn't have "Romeo" written all over it, I just don't know what would! I don't think I could resist jumping in there to cuddle if I saw that waiting for me. LOL!!

Is that 2nd pic (it's red-eye for anything!) of your "old man"? Pretty kitty! Goes so well with the couch, too. :D

Brenda

hello brenda and thank you. the second is actually my "sweetness", frost. it is very hard to get pics of frost without red eye...her eyes are blue so they reflect red. except here where her eyes are closed :)

this is the last pic i have of my old man from november :-(
i think dh hs a better one, but it is on 35mm.

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Fairy, I just around to this thread and what a surprise.
I'm so glad to finally get that image of Jeff's out of my mind. For at least 2 yrs now, I've pictured you as a cilantro eating transvestite with a tiara! LOL
What sweet kittys. How much does Romeo weigh? He covers a large portion of your body, unless you are really only 2 ft tall. :)

hi poo! really i am...i just grabbed someones pic off the web and transposed to everyone would think that was me.... just joshing!
what a pic that must have been. i am still thinking of those "avatars." like i could make a toad in fuschia tights wearing a tiara and a tutu :)

i am only 5'4" and romeo takes the whole length of my back when he is up there right. he does his best to make me cater more and more to him, as you can see in the first pic. romeo is short and long, and heavy boned. he really isn't much over 12 pounds. can you believe it? and, i have seen cats that make him look small. i could only imagine how massive he could be if he wasn't snipped before adulthood. he has the cutest short tail for his body type, that he pulls into a kink at the tip! the long hair accentuates that also.

myold man in his prime was the same weight, finer boned but much taller.

Yep, if you are only 5'4", then that explains it. The pic is a little deceiving in the respect that Romeo covers up your entire thigh and most of your back. He looks HUGE!
It's obvious the both of you have a great bond. My little dog, Tippy and I are like that. I can't move, without her right beside me. She's getting old and has developed breast tumors. Although the vet can prolong her life with surgery and medication, we decided not to, after weighing the pros and cons. It will be a long, painful time for her, not to mention the expense. The surgery is not guaranteed to cure her. She gets so stressed every vet visit, shaking and panting. I just can't put her thru it. She's been with us about 15 yrs and is already old, although in good relatively good health otherwise. It's a hard decision to make, but I want the rest of our time together to be active and happy. We'll have to be strong at the end and do what we have to do. Isn't it something how our pets become our children? It's really nice to be able to share our stories here. :)

I really do love the pics and the stories, ladies!

I sure miss having a dog, too, but my Pookie's size and companionship more than make up for it. She's about the same weight as our pug Clyde used to be, so I just pretend she's a dog. Until she attacks, then she's our little bear cub. And she refuses to ride in the back of the pickup, like some dogs might enjoy doing. :D

Brenda

LOL, Brenda. I could just imagine a cat cruising down the road in the back of a p/u with it's head looking over the side, like a dog. That would get some attention!
My little Tippy loves to ride INSIDE the car, and will jump in to "go" anytime the door gets opened. It's funny when we're not even going anywhere, but sad to make her get out when we are.

ha! a cat ride in the back of a pick up? how dare!

lol, poo...he is still a big cat (dh says so). yes, we have quite a bond, but he simply does not allow me to do anything without first paying "homage" to the el romeo.

you will know when it is time with tippy. you have done the right thing. my old man decided when, though i still doubt myself. and, he was also freaked by the vets office. i had the vet come to my house, instead. my old man gave me 7 more years than i thought he could. at times, it was a bit humorous aactually. in his latest years, he used to sleep so still and sound that dh and i would both stand over him to see if he was breathing!

flying furball attacks! what could be better?

Thanks for the support, Fairy. Sometimes I doubt our decision, but have the support of our family and especially my son. Since I only have one child, we always called Tippy his sister. lol
Life is a huge balancing act. You have to accept the bad along with the good and only hold onto the good.
~grandmapoo May 18, 2006~

That's pretty much why we never got another dog after Clyde. It was just SO hard when the time came. And we'd even talked about it for years before, because he was our little angel, and the thought of not having him was...well, you know.

And THEN, when I'd finally gone a day or 2 without crying, the vet sent a handwritten card that read, "Dear Brenda, I am very sorry about your loss of Clyde. I know you did everything for him. Our thoughts are with you. Sincerely, Barb Williams, DVM" GEEZ! Open the floodgates! :)

Big kisses and cuddles to Tippy, 'Poo.

Brenda

no need for thanks,poo!
brenda, my vet office sent me a surprise- a donation to u of i's vet program in my old man's memory. waaaaaaaaaa!