Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

 The dog and I just got back from our walk.  We went back down to the creek bottoms.  Unfortunately it is becoming a bit hair-raising to take walks down there.  Three days ago on our way back we encountered a pack of about 5-6 dogs.  It was difficult to count them as they were milling around in the trees and bushes.  They all looked like labs, or some sort of lab mix.  There were 2 or 3 black ones, maybe 2 golden brown ones and a golden-brown and white one.  I called out to them, Bella woofed at them, trotted toward them and they took off across the creek bed.  When they were on the upper bank across the way one or two of them barked a bit, but then they took off.  I couldn't really see which way they went other than across the creek; the trees and all are too thick down there.  The past 2 days I've taken Bella out to the fenced in garden and done my walking there.  Today we went back down to the creek.  We didn't see hide...

In an effort to find something to blog about today here is a picture of my most unusual house plant. I like having house plants here, it gives me something green to look at inside the house. However, with regards to inside plants, my thumb is not as green as I would like it to be. My husband's aunt gave me a couple of plants when I first came here; an aloe and this plant. I have, to my great joy and disbelief, managed to keep the aloe alive. It has grown quite a bit over the past 3 years since I have been here. I need to repot it but am not sure how to go about it. It has propagated quite a bit so there is a little flock of teeny aloes in the pot as well. Husband's aunt propagates these other plants. They go by several names: Starfish plant, Starfish Cactus, Hairy Giant Starfish Flower, Carrion Flower. Also: Stapelia Noblis. I just call it the dead mouse plant. It is a succulent, not a cactus, and is pretty easy to care for, much like an aloe, though it needs much more wate...