Furry Friends Friday ~ Frolicking Feline

Today's "Furry Friends" post is about our female cat, Cassie.  Surely, you've heard me talk about her many times before.  She's the "pretty" one with a mean streak and straight-up crazy personality. 

Cassie, up until a few years ago, never went outside - not even for a short period of time.  Now, however, she loves to be outside!  She loves to roll around in the grass, hide under stuff and then jump out at whatever comes close by.  She's just really playful when she's outside and while it's cute and all, we don't let her frolicking cuteness fool us; she's still a crazed cat waiting to strike!

The pictures of Cassie {below} were taken this past Saturday in our backyard.  Jack, Madi and I spent most of the day doing yard work and had the animals outside with us.  I was taking pictures of the Black Swallowtail butterfly larvae (Yay! We're raising butterflies again this Spring!) on our Dill plant when Jack told me to look over at Cassie. 


She was half crawling, half stretching under the wheel barrow when I looked over

rollin' around playfully

She loves to roll around in the grass and like all cats, likes to have some sort of cover nearby. With the shelter of the wheel barrow, she's in heaven!

"I don't think they can see me."

See, from this picture, you'd never guess that she's actually an evil little devil-cat. But, trust us, if you get too close, she'll gladly rip your face off!



"Ahh my family, if only you were smaller... I'd already have eaten you"

Boy are her looks deceiving!

Jack planted some beautiful Snapdragon flowers (from Oma's) on Saturday and I wanted to share a some pictures of them along with some other pictures I took on Saturday of what's going on in our backyard this Spring.

I'm so glad Jack choose the Snapdragons for the yard this year.  I think they're so pretty.  We bought what was labeled as a "rainbow pack" and will eventually have a few other colors, but when I took these pictures, they weren't open like the yellow one was.  Yellow is my favorite color, so I'm really enjoying this flower!

Black Swallowtail on 3.24.11

The same Black Swallowtail on 3.30.11. They grow up soo fast!

A couple of ladybug larvae on the Mexican Plum by the back fence. These little chicks have been chowing on the many aphids that the new leaves on this tree have been infested with. Go girls, go!

Another little lady. Or would that make her a baby-lady? Maybe a lady-baby?

An adult no-spotted ladybug also on the Mexican Plum.

Apparently our yard is its own little melting pot as this ladybug is actually an Asian Ladybug which is often lacking spots. I found an interesting article for more information on these non-native ladybugs:

"Ladybugs, or as the British call them ladybeetles, are one of the 450,000 types of beetles that share our Earth. We are used to ladybugs with spots, but increasingly we are seeing orange/red bodies with no spots.

These are Asian beetles, which can be tan to orange, and can have very discreet spots. They have become more prevalent as they have displaced the native beetles. Like the native beetles, they do eat aphids, scale insects and mealybugs.

They have become fairly infamous because they try to move into houses when the weather turns cool in the fall. If squished, they can leave a yellow/red stain, and they have an offensive odor. This is just a natural defense mechanism designed to protect against insect and animal predators.

Vacuuming them is the safest way to get rid of them if they get into houses, but outside they should be left to take care of insect pests."

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/home-and-garden/2010-04-16/story/ladybug-no-spots-still-bug-we-love#ixzz1IIiDLQtH

Apparently this Asian Lady likes Mexican food or at least she likes aphids that like Mexican food.
(the pretty white flowers on the Mexican Plum tree have been replaced with nice green leaves - as you can see in the picture above)

Our Culinary Sage is in bloom. It's always nice when something that you can eat puts out pretty flowers too.

A wider shot of the Culinary Sage in the bed outside the back bedroom.

Another herb that is in bloom this spring is our Thyme in the bed by the back fence (the Mexican Plum's little neighbor).

I'll be documenting {in pictures} the Ladybug and Black Swallowtail larvae as they grow and change stages; so they'll be more to come on our Spring babies.  Also, our garden is looking good so far as we already have a few vegetables growing; a tomato and a few peppers.  There will be more to post on the garden later.  I've got a feeling this is going to be our best one yet!

As for Madi {the deprived one; as she's the only one I haven't spoken of yet}, she's doing really good.  School's going well and her grades are good. She's still swimming - on average, she swims eight times a week and she has a few important swim meets coming up that we are all looking forward to. First, she has the "Longhorn Aquatics Long Course Kick" swim meet at the University of Texas in April.  Then, in May, she has been selected to represent her middle school in the "Hill Country Middle School Championship Meet" in Burnet, Texas.  Jack and I are really excited to see her swim at the University of Texas because it will be her first competition where she will be swimming in an Olympic size pool.  She's practiced in an Olympic size pool, but this is going to be totally different. We're ready and can't wait to see Madi swim competitively again.  

Well, this post turned into more than just my usual "Furry Friends Friday" post, but I've been lazy with posting this week and wanted to make up for it a bit. 

Wishing you a very happy Friday!