And yet more photos by the magic Mr Kyle Cassidy! I have a lot of the Boss and Miss AFP walking thru the woods with the dog, but Boss points out that with his dark glasses and the leash, he looks like a blind person. But these are lovely. And he doesn't look at all blind.

That kitty he is holding is Zoe, who is in fact blind, and the two old ladies on the bottom are Pod and Hermoinie. They are 17 now, and kind of creak when they move about. Hermoinie is deaf now, but they still love scritches and cuddles.











Love and Photos,
Lorraine

Tonight's post, with pictures of Miss Amanda Palmer (AKA AFP) on her Pony, is entirely due to the courtesy of Miss Palmer in letting me post them, and Mr Cassidy who took them and is letting me post them, and Horsetrainer Mel, who provided the Pony, Glorious. Riding with Amanda was really lovely, and more fun than you can possibly know. (I adore that women!) I loved it that they all came out to the farm with me, and that she got a chance to ride one of the loveliest Arab geldings going.

It was easy to see that she really loves horses, and I believe all concerned had a wonderful time.

My Boss would like me to add that AFP is the best houseguest ever, and that she is welcome to return any time she likes.

I hope she will....Soon.

(Edited to add in response to Twitter Queries: The horses are at a farm some distance from our home, no riding over. I lease a horse there, from Horsetrainer Mel, and she was kind enough to lend another of her horses to AFP)











Love, Ponies, and AFP,
Lorraine

And here we have yet more photos for you, from the wonderful Mr Kyle Cassidy, of course! I have to say that besides out own Miss Kitty, I have never been so comfortable shooting with anyone. The two of them have the Secret of making me feel comfortable, and cool, and downright lovely. I think it might be that they both Get It, that I am not comfortable in front of the camera, and I don't much know what I am doing. He left this morning, and I have to say, I miss him already.



OK. I am in awe. I was not around for this particular shoot. Here is the Boss, sans suit, AND in black, leather to boot, checking out the feeder buckets in one of the hives. Here I am trying to work up enough nerve to ditch the suit, and thinking without gloves is a pretty big deal, and he has way taken it further! Hats OFF. Too cool. Not even a Bee Hat!



I think this might be one of my favorite photos of me ever. That's all I can say. Kyle and I were in the house yesterday, while another photgrapher shot the Boss, and he looked outside and said "The light is PERFECT! Come ON!" Got it in seconds. he did. Makes me happy. Very happy.



And here we have, for the very first time anywhere, after 17 years of working together, a picture of me and my Boss. Heck, I will go all out here. Here's me and Neil. I love this shot.

Since the cat seems to be to be out of the bag, what with AFP posting a photo of Herself on Twitter riding on Saturday, I will tell you I do have lots of photos of us on the horses. I will tell you too that was a wonderful day. I just need to ask her if I can post some, and then I surely will.

I can tell you this as well, that she is every bit as cool as you think she is.

Love and Photos,
Lorraine

Kyle Cassidy came over and took some photos.
It's pretty easy to see why this made me very happy. We adore him. Hugely.

We start at the Spooky House. You get three that are rather alike, as I can't for the life of me decide....And we start with one Mad Lady with Bengal, of course. All the best stories start that way....









This is from a series called Mim and the Melon, out on the new Screamed porch....Venus declined the photo up today.







Tho he had never shot horses before (NOW we can't say "Kyle Cassidy shoots horses, doesn't he?") he took some GREAT shots. We'll do more over the next couple weeks, but this seems to me to be plenty for one day.







Thank you Kyle. Many, many times over.

Love and Really Cool Photos,
Lorraine

I got this from Janet Saltzman, President of Great Lakes Bengal Rescue tonight, about the 14 Bengals we are saving. She also told me the cost was $4000 total, not $3000, but I am REALLY happy to say, mostly thanks to YOU we have raised $1000 of that.

THANK YOU!

I have heard from one of the adopters now, which makes my heart happy, and we will find homes for these others. They do need some special care, as they have had it rough, but I do know, with the right homes, they are going to be fine.

It means a lot to do this, and it does make a difference.....

Again, I thank you all for caring so...

Love and caring,
Lorraine


Hubby and I left this morning at 6 am (yuk) for our trip to Flint, MI to pull the 14 bengals. We had the car loaded with 14 carriers and the shelter told me they wold be able to help transport the cats to the Vet Clinic that was going to board and spay them.

We got to Flint at 10 am when the shelter opened and brought in carriers and put them all together. Filled out the forms, traded money for cats and found out that even though the shelter vaccinated them with FVRCP they did not FELV/FIV test the cats, so we will have that done too. Also found out that the shelter was short-handed and wouldn't be able to help transport so we had to make 2 trips to the clinic which was 40+ miles away. We ended up putting 530 miles on the car today and spent 13 1/2 hours doing it.

But the cats are now safe the the clinic is great and the girls' room is wonderful. Each cat has a non-wire cage with 2 levels and each has a cubby for a litterbox that they go through a hole to get to. They also have windows to look out to keep them entertained.

They are doing ok but could be in a lot better condition. Their coats are a bit dull and thin, not luxurious like I'm use to. They are also very scared and a few didn't want to get out of the litterbox where they felt safe. One girl however is a head-butting, purring, kneading, paw grabbing, fool, lol.

There are 2 marbles and the rest spotted, one spotted girl is a blue and she is very pretty. I have pictures but they aren't great as they are a bit to scared to pose but the pictures are necessary for us to identify which is which. Since I don't know names right now their cages are numbered and they have a matching number on their collar. They will be evaluated after the holiday and spayed. I have approved applications on 5 of the cats but there will still be 7 available. Their adoption fee is $150 which is considerably less than the approximately $270 each will cost.

We have received almost $1,000 in donations - THANK YOU. The Vet is a cat lover and when I told him we would need FELV/FIV tests he said he would test at 50% off their normal rate.

Janet

I've been riding out every day this week on my steed here, and despite it being the Merry Month of May, nothing much has happened. Well, I am a bit fitter, and a bit better rider, but I was sort of hoping for more. Might be the leg wraps. Not sure the horses in the songs wore bright blue leg wraps, nor were they ridden by girls with lime green shirts and purple helmuts. If only we could DRESS right....



Jet came out today to help Hans with the tricky bits on my new screamed porch. (No, that's it's name now. Screamed Porch.) She is apparently some sort of Cat Whisperer, as I sure never have seen Mim do THIS before with anyone, including me. The Royals loved her too.



It was a long day, and as you can see, they got a lot done. The frames are all painted, and ready for their screaming. For both the porches. The deck still needs some staining but the stain is apparently Very Special also and has to be ordered before that can be done.



The door frames are both in, with the very special Bengal proof locks (We hope.) The Screams are going outside the railings, so the Bengals can have a little walkway all the way around. I still, you may notice, haven't found my couch, or indeed ANY patio furniture, but all in good time.



It's all very exciting, to see how much further along the project got today. I am hoping that tomorrow it might be nearly done, at least one of them, so we can see how the Bengals like their new rooms. There's not much more to do, and Hans certainly works diligently, keeping his mind of the work at hand. NOTHING distracts that man!

Maybe tomorrow I will show you how far we got on the Gardens...

Love and All Work and No Play,
Lorraine

A whole lot of Irish Songs start out with the line "As I Rode Out On A May Morning" and so I was rather excited about it being May, me having a horse and all. You have NO idea the things that can happen to people as they ride out these mornings. Generally involves a river or valley, someone washing something, an old women who turns into a demon, a lot of drinking, and a whole lot of SEX. You can see how I was looking forward to the possibilities.



Well, nothing happened. I mean, I had a GREAT ride. Really fun. Did great. me the canter are one now. No fear. Loveing the friends at the stable. But nothing, well, you know. Like the songs. May however, is not over yet, and I will ride every day. We will see.



The pictures tonight are all Bengals, as Nathilie said her cats were grumpy and could she please have some shots of happy cats to wake up to. That's Venus in the first one, licking her chops, and Magic in the next two. Whole lot of playing going on with that guy tonight. I think he really likes his new room, AND he came to the window when my guests were here tonight and Mewed at them!



Yes. I know. They are on the stove. They like it there. Weird. Good thing I don't cook much here.



Here's one of the Royals, King Lear the Huge, and below, his little friend Queen Mab. They are fosters still waiting to find their Home and their Person. I know this Person is out there, and I will find them. Speaking of Bengals who need help, we have recently heard about a cat hoarder, who had Bengals. A lot of Bengals.

As in about 85.

Sadly, they were siezed (well, good they were siezed, but sad they were in the state they were in.)

Some had to be put down.

About 14 of them have come to Great Lakes Bengal Rescue, and we need homes and foster homes for them. If you live in Michigan or Indiana and can help, please get in touch with GLBR or myself. They are currently in a shelter, but shelters dont' like Bengals, and we are worried they may be put down as well. These are VERY adoptable cats. Sweet loving and they need places. Even temporary places. This isn't their fault, and they are scared, and alone.

We can help them, and will help them. That's what we do. But this is a lot of cats to get at once.

Janet, president of Great Lakes Bengal Rescue says she won't ask you for $$, as she says everyone here has been so very generous, but I will ask. All of these cats need to be spayed, get shots, and tests. We don't take money as Foster homes, but getting them there takes gas. This rescue, I've just heard, is going to cost $3000.

If you can adopt a Bengal, you will be forever grateful. If you can foster, you can't know how good it feels when they find their people. If you have any amount of $$ and can send it, we will Bless you every day.

And I will once again do the Unicorn Song, live, on a webcast, during the Fiend Weekend in June.

(Edited to add: Or not. We are now taking donations with votes FOR and AGAINST doing the Unicorn Song Live.)

donate@greatlakesbengalrescue.com.



I can't save them all, but I sure as hell am going to make a difference for a few.

Love and Bengals,
Lorraine

The Birdchick came today, as promised to check on the Bees, always fun. (She was remarkably un-jet lagged for some one just back from Kaz-ek-stan. I was impressed) There isnt a lot to do this early in the game. Just make sure they have feeder buckets, and that the Queens are doing the Queen thing, and if they are filling up their brood box, to add another one.



The Birdchick will no doubt have pictures in great detail of the bees themselves, as she has that sort of camera, so check her blog out later tonight or tomorrow. In short, two of the hives were ready for a new box. Two are taking things a little easier. In fact, the yellow hive is kind of a slacker hive so far. Always one stoner in the bunch.



I wasn't quite brave enough to go bee-suit-less but I did ditch the gloves. They really do feel like velvet. I had a couple of Bee Moments, and had to stop and breathe, but mostly I concentrated on not being aware, no fear, nothing but what I was doing. Worked just fine. Of course, the bees are pretty mellow at this stage of the game, and aren't really interested in much except building the hive up. We did get bonked a few times (Bee talk for "Get the heck away from us or we will sting you") but we had the smoker and they calmed down.



Boss even got into the non-gloved approach. We tried to get them to drink honey from our fingers, but they weren't playing today.



Cabal the Bee Dog has Beekeeping down to an art form. Here he is inside the enclosure. Notice the distinct lack of bee hives near where he has decided to lounge. Smart dog.



Here's the start of the screened porch. That's Magic's window on the right. He will go in and out thru that. It isn't a huge porch, but I will make it fun for him.



And here is Venus and Mim's porch. A bit bigger and they will have a door to go in and out. The palm tree will have to move. (Ah, the trouble I go thru.) I had been hoping Hans would get it all done today, but apparently, it takes more than one day for one man to screen a porch. I don't know much about such things, but I do know...

It's going to rock.

Love, Bees and Bengal Proof Screens,
Lorraine

I went to the Store That Has Everything today. I forget it's name, but if you want to say, build a house, this is your store. And anything else you need. I did get the hammer. And a trampoline. And the Bengal Proof screening. And THIS!!!!!!!



I knew that I wanted a little fountain for the new porch. Bengals like water. I thought maybe a little pool, but then I saw this Rock Extravaganza and even tho it was kind of a way lot more than I wanted to spend, what do you do when something is this perfect????? As you can see, it is POPULAR.

I didn't get a couch, something I wasn't opposed to dropping some $$ on, but only because the just exactly perfect one failed to appear. This is still a very exciting week tho. My deck is getting stained. My house washed on the outside (apparently they need that from time to time) My new lawn is going to grow. And Mad Gardeneres Gayle and Beez want to come over and garden (Hey, show up, I'm not turning down help, and when I say help, I mean, come and garden. I will make tea.)



As you can see, the New Rock Fountain is currently in the kitchen. I kind of like it in the kitchen. The Ficas is there too. It's looking less like a kitchen and more like some sort of water park all the time. Cool. (TOLD you I would get a waterfall, now didn't I?) IT will go outside for the summer when the porch is done, but for now, I like the look.

As do Venu and Mim.

Now I just need one for Magic.

And maybe the Royals......

Ah, the possibilities....

Love and Water,
Lorraine

Since I do seem to be spending Friday night here at the Spooky House, cleaning it, in preparation for people who are coming to clean it tomorrow, I might as well go all out and share this adventure with you. It wasn't that the place was all that bad, but one thing leads to another and another.....

Boss gave me this present today! It was a surprise gift from him, he had seen it in a shop the other day and couldn't figure out if it was wonderful or exactly what, but he knew it didn't belong in his house. Funny thing was I had also seen it a few weeks before and thought the same thing (tho I knew I KNEW it belonged in my house) and the nice lady who owned the shop mentioned that I loved it, and so he got it for me. Again, I love it. The dinning room seems to have ended up full of strange gilt things. The just wander in, and there they are. (if you have lost any, this is where they go)



Here's a close up of the Angels. Or one of them. There are only the two, tho it does seems as tho there might be more at any time. It's that sort of piece. Kind of a cool mirror too. No matter WHAT you look like, it simply doesn't matter. You can't compete with it, and will not end up looking at yourself.



Magic's room has been a source of irritation to me for some time. I've never really done anything with it. First it was sort of a closet. Then it was the room where the Fosters lived. But Magic has been there some months, and tho it has had what he needs in there, it isn't much of a place to hang out, which I find myself doing more and more, as he gets more social. SO we had a talk about it, and he told me he wanted window treatments and Underworld Posters.



The windows aren't done yet. I only THOUGHT I had bought enough fake flowers and vines. I want a jungle of the things, but the posters were easy enough, just gathered them up, and up they went. (No, actually, that wasn't all I had in the house. REALLY liked those movies I did. Magic can do with out the signed one.)



If I had known where things were going, I would never had got such a deep rich long purple carpet. Zero to a mess in a day. I thoughtfully added a large white carpet today, which Magic thought sucked until he noticed that the canned food and chicken bits showed up much clearer on it, and the Ball on a string practically bounces. At any rate, the room is way nicer to be in, and that, works for me. It's a proper room now, and not a space where he stays.



Sometimes order is good. Did I mention I love my new Mirror?

Love and Spring and Clean Houses,
Lorraine