Yay! A good mail day! Strangely enough I have 3 things to mail out to friends today so I will go do that thinking about happy mail. I didn't mail order any flowers this year. I started thinking about it in July but it's been so incredibly hot and dry I'm glad I changed my mind. We got a little bit of rain today and it evaporated as it hit my brick patio. :0

I can't seem to get Clare's photo up, but we live in similar terrain, maybe 20-25 miles apart, so I definitely can visualize the scenario. When my cats Bonnie and Clyde (siblings) were younger (they're 7 now), they would hunt anything that moved, including numerous shrew moles (tiny black moles, about the size of a mouse). They soon learned that the shrew moles weren't as tasty as birds or squirrels (sorry, city dwellers, just the facts re: rural pets), so we'd see/clean up/bury the uneaten remains. But we also had another visitor, a true mole, which DH and I never saw, just their subsurface tunnels (thanks goodness, no gophers, so much more destructive to landscaping.) Anyway, the dynamic duo's prior training meant that the mole only resided a few weeks in our yard, never to be seen again. I don't know if they drove away or killed that mole, but it's gone, at least until spring. The cats are getting lazier now, so coming upon a recently deceased critter is much less frequent, although Clyde did decimate a Varied Thrush (closely related to Robin) last week. BTW: Because they are indoor/outdoor cats, we accept that they are candidates for the food chain -- we do what we can (getting them inside from dusk til daylight), fencing our huge yard against predetors, etc. But we do have coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, owls, and raccoons in the broad vicinity, so we accept that nature may turn the tables. However, I think there is balance in the quality of life that B & C are experiencing as both indoor lap warmers and outdoor mousers/critter-management agents. BTW: I asked a neighbor if he minded B & C hanging out under his house so frequently, and he said H_ll, no! They haven't had any rodents since they've been a frequent visitors (frequent mousers?). So, B & C are in some ways providing a much needed public service.

Fabulous find and beautiful chair! I went to the Goodwill Store with my daughter the other night to look for a tacky Christmas sweater. The only thing I saw that I was remotely interested in was what looked like to be a dime store print with a bad looking frame. The faux mat was printed on the paper with the scene, however, the scene and colors were beautiful! It was a large hunting scene. For $9.99, I debated getting it and having the print reframed. After thinking on it a bit, I decided that would cost too much to reframe, plus I had nowhere to hang it. I passed, but do plan to go back to the store in the future. Small store, though. OK, Since the title of this thread is "Scored an awesome win", I just have to share my win from last week. Hope you don't mind instead of my starting my own thread. Maybe others will chime in with their wins or bargains. I received a call from the Ellen DeGeneres Show last Thursday night. I won Day 5 of her Christmas Giveaways! Four prizes were really nice, and four were some items that we can't or will never use.

Steve, those are the things that matter the most. The feelings and respect they have for you didn't just happen. They were earned by your caring ways and you deserve the love and respect they show you. They are blessed to have an uncle such as yourself. I have a special aunt in my life too. She is the youngest of my dad's siblings and was around more when I was young. When I was a teenager she bought me things that a young girl likes to have to feel pretty as my family didn't have the money. She has been supportive emotionally as well. I love her so much and think so highly of her. It's a little early now to be calling anyone, but I think I will give her a call today, just because. Linda