Today I am presenting Oscar, or as we refer to him in our household. The Big O. He is huge.

Actually he is not the heaviest cat we ever had but he is by far the longest and takes up more room in our arms than any other cat we ever had. He is like a big bag of pudding.

Big O

Big Old Cat
Cat who purrs so loudly.
Loudly enough to wake me,
Wake me in the night.
Night when he gets lonely.
Lonely for a touch
Touch to comfort and soothe.
Soothe my big old cat.

As most of you know, we had our Waylon Cat for well over 17years and our hearts broke when he went to Kitty Heaven. Actually, knowing Waylon, he is probably in human heaven because he certainly never felt that he was less than human. He wasn't the Little Prince and Sir Wales for nothing, you know.

Here is a picture of one of our current cats. INTRODUCING ROXY. She has found no place in this house that she cannot reach. This picture shows her sitting on top of the 5 shelf bookcase in our office. I like the picture but will have to eventually get one that shows her stubby little Manx tail. I checked out Manx cats on the net and found out that there are two types. Those with a little stub tail, like Roxy, are called Bumpies and those with no tail at all are called Rumpies. Isn't that cute?

Enjoy. (Big Oscar will be next.)



Mary

I found out how to post pictures and this is my first attempt. I am sending a cute picture of our dog, Chelsea.




Mary

"Sleep easy, for God is awake."

Ellis Peters (The Monk's-Hood - Chapter 4)


Mary

Our new kitties are not so new anymore. Little Miss Roxy is really a busy little minx, I guess I should say Manx, which as I mentioned is her breed. I will mention again that she is a bumpie not a rumpie, as she has a little stub of a tail as opposed to no tail at all.

In the past two days, she has knocked a plant off the shelf in the spare bedroom and also knocked a lamp off of a end table. I am not exactly sure what she was trying to do in either incident but I have removed the plants from the spare room and we are just hoping that she doesn't get the lamp again. Thank heavens, it is still intact, though one of the glas pieces did break a bit.

Big Oscar just is a big lump. He still comes to me in the middle of the night and bumps me until I pet him. I am starting to get better at ignoring him or faking sleep. He can be a pest. But he is a handsome little devil.

Mary

Yesterday, I went for my weekly trap shoot in the league at Falls Conservation Club. It was a good day. I equaled my best score previously. I got a 16. This is very exciting for me. I started last year you know and the first time I shot, I only got 1. My partner, Rosalee, told the scorer that it was my first time and I got one quick instuction. "Point the gun that way."

Actually, over the past year many of the shooters have been very helpful in giving my tips. I have been doing some reading and watched a couple of videos. Sometimes I have the most trouble when I try to remember too many things at once. This week, I concentrated on pulling the gun tight to my shoulder, keeping my cheek on the wood and following through. I know when I am off. Sometimes not quite why, but I know it is wrong. And even better, I know when it is right.

Anyway. I wanted to share. Trap shooting is REALLY fun.

Love

Mary

Jeff and Kathy, my brother and his wife, sent the following to me by e-mail the other day. I sent it to several people in my address book but thought I would post it too. I think it is a good message and would like it to spread.

This Pastor has guts!
Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their
Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new
session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is
what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction
and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that is exactly what we
have done. We have
lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the
absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and
bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will and to openly
ask these things in the
name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6
short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone
calls with only 47 of those
calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this
prayer from India, Africa, and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio
program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other
he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so
that we again can be called "one nation under God."

I like what he has to say and hope anyone who reads this will repeat the last paragraph of Rev. Wright's prayer often, in these times of such unrest and turmoil.

Love

Mary