Zooma the Wonder Dog (my dog for those who may be new here) has this way of sitting and staring at me right at the moment I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and work on a blog post or read a book.
And what stinks is that I have no idea what she wants when she does that.
Sometimes she wants to be petted and other times she wants me to take her out. It is up to me to decipher what she wants and there are days I am just in no mood to try to figure it out.
Today as I work on this post is one of those days.
We just took her outside so I don’t think she has to go to the bathroom. What it looks like is that she wants attention. She wants to play and be petted. I guess I will have to pause and see what she needs.
Ah, yes. It was a pet and a play.
Now with that out of the way I can continue to chat with all of you, my bloggy friends.
I like my Saturday chat posts because I just ramble and then you ramble back at me. I like that we ramble about nothing and everything.
This week I have a little more to ramble about than some weeks, but not a lot more.
We didn’t do a ton but with the weather nicer we were outside more. The temps were pretty high at the beginning of the week but at the end of each night, it was cool enough for Little Miss to jump on the neighbor’s trampoline. They are so nice and put that trampoline up each year specifically for Little Miss since their kids are grown now. They do have their grandsons up to visit sometimes but they live eight hours away now so that visit doesn’t happen as often as they would all like.
The trampoline is on top of a hill behind their house and it’s a bit of a hike for this woman who is out of shape and overweight. The first night we hiked up my legs hurt and I had to stop four times. The second night the climb was way better and by the third I climbed it very easily. I was grateful I got used to that haul a bit faster than some years.
Little Miss asks me to pretend I am characters from the books we read and those characters rate her various jumps and flips. I don’t mind doing it when it is just her and me out there but a couple nights this week my neighbor’s husband was outside burning his trash and working in the garden and there I was doing my silly voices. He didn’t seem to mind, but I still explained to him what I was doing. He isn’t a super chatty guy but he smiled at me good-naturedly and either thought our little play-acting was amusing or that I’m insane. Maybe both. *wink*
On Thursday Little Miss and I visited my parents for some dinner. The Boy had worked with my dad all day after morning technical school and was tired so he crashed at home while we were gone.
We took Zooma the Wonder Dog with us to show off her crooked new hairdo. Grooming has gotten very expensive so we bought a cheap kit and decided to groom her ourselves. It didn’t come out too bad but she still needs to be trimmed on her right side. She didn’t enjoy the sound of the clippers so we used the scissors. At least the large mats behind her ears are gone.
And the fur around her legs and feet is a little shorter.

The view from my parents was absolutely beautiful on Thursday. I was dealing with some stress and depression that day and it seemed like Zooma knew I needed to see the view because she let me know she needed to use the bathroom and then led to me to the dirt road and field in front of the house where I admired the view for several moments.




My mood was greatly improved after the visit and when I went home, I read books instead of going on social media or watching anything. It helped my mood immensely.
Yesterday Little Miss, The Boy, The Husband, and I traveled to a theater 45 minutes away and watched the new Garfield movie. It wasn’t too bad. Better than I thought it would be. Afterward we picked up some lunch at a local supermarket (they have amazing fried chicken there) and then visited a park near there that was located next to the river.
There were white puffs all over the ground, which at first I thought were from dandelions but then realized that they looked like puffs of cotton. I looked up and they were floating all over in the air, falling from the trees. I knew there were trees that dropped pods or something that had white cotton-like material inside but wasn’t sure what they were so I had to search online on my phone while we were sitting there.



Of course, the cotton-like material was coming from cottonwood trees along the river. I don’t think I’ve seen that material fall from trees before so I thought cottonwood must not be as common in Pennsylvania. After I got home, I looked that up online, though, and cottonwood is fairly common but is found along rivers, lakes, streams, and marshland.
After we ate lunch, The Husband picked up some groceries for us while the kids and I stayed inside the AC car. I felt rude not helping but he moves very fast and we dawdle so he seems to do better if we aren’t with him. We sort of annoy him when we wander around the store instead of just getting what is on our list.
After the groceries were picked up we headed home and read some on the porch.
The rest of the weekend should be just hanging out and relaxing, probably at my parents on Sunday and Monday.
We have a local Memorial Day Ceremony Monday morning that we will try to attend and then we will probably have a cookout at my parents that afternoon.
I hope that you all are having a nice day Memorial Day weekend, if you are in the U.S., or just a nice weekend in general.
What was your week last week? Did you do anything exciting or interesting? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know.
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That was a pretty peaceful spot Zooma led you to stop by. Glad it helped your mood. Cottonwood trees are messy, and I’m glad we don’t have any nearby. I seem to remember there were a lot when we lived in other states though, and last year we were treated to those fluffy fly-by products from the trees when we stopped in the Indiana Dunes State Park to eat lunch. (Tried not to eat cottonwood too!) We just got back home yesterday from a trip to our great-nephew’s wedding in Oklahoma. So I’m behind in blog reading since I was offline for several days.
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I hope there will be a blog post from that trip. *hint* *hint*
Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed the cottonwood trees before because we don’t have them as much around us but this year I’ve noticed the cotton stuff flying when I am along the river more than any other year. I wonder if they cause allergies for some people or not….
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Those nature photos are just beautiful! I was actually giggling reading about you explaining your silly voices to the neighbor. That is so sweet of them to set up the trampoline for your daughter to use.
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I am so glad my neighbors are used to be being weird.
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Zooma sounds like my Jack. There are days I’m OK to play, and others when I’m just not up to it. I do wish we had a yard where he could go out and just run because I think he’d love that. But, he also likes to eat mulch which is not a good thing!
Your neighbor is a sweetheart for continuing to put up the trampoline for Little Miss. That’s what neighbors are for, right?
Our week has been so small lately. Mike is now walking with a walker and isn’t supposed to be on his feet any more than necessary. I’m hoping we get some answers this week. But, I can sit outside, look at my flowers, and listen to the Indy cars speeding around the track! Life is still good, and God is always good.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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