No Jumping From Bridge

Thankful

2011-11-24T20:15:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope everyone has many things to be thankful for today. I know I do. I'm thankful for my family - both the two legged and four pawed. I'm thankful for my home that withstood the storms of April 27 and everything since. I'm thankful for a job that pays well with good benefits even though I pretty much hate it. I'm thankful that job will hopefully open more doors. I'm thankful for friends near and far. I'm thankful for the soldier sitting in a war zone on the other side of the world, away from his family, protecting the world from evil. I'm thankful for life and God for giving it to me.

And I'd really be thankful if those stupid Black Friday Target commercials with that crazy blond woman would stop being aired. She irritates the hell out of me.

Goodbye Samantha Jane

2011-11-18T16:08:00.001-06:00

I loved hearing her low WOOF in videos posted by her mom, Maryann. Samantha was one of the original Brat Pack I met online several years ago and she was the last survivor of that pack. Today, Samantha of the big ears and short legs lost her battle with bone cancer. The pack had lots of health issues. I marveled at how well Maryann took care of them and I know it wasn't easy. I am blessed the my pack of five cats has no health issues and are the same pack I had when I met Maryann and her five happy hounds several years ago online. My heart goes out to her tonight. I hope the current pack of hounds gives her comfort.

Soar high, Samantha! You've certainly got the ears for it!

Day of the Tornadoes

2011-09-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

The last time I wrote before the 9/11 post was just a few days before my area was hit with multiple tornadoes on April 27th. That was a crazy scary day for everyone here in Northern Alabama and also neighboring states. I woke up to news that tornadoes had already hit towns south of me. As the day continued, one bad storm after another spun off tornadoes. Some were small and did minor damage. Others were massive and took out towns and housing developments leaving death and destruction in their path. A friend of mine watched an F5 pass within a mile of her house in Tanner, AL. It was the same tornado that took out the small towns of Hackleburg and Phil Campbell before continuing northeast through Limestone and Madison counties (I live in northeast Madison County) and then into Tennessee where it had run out of steam and dissipated. The big one hit when I was still at work. I started hearing about the damage during the afternoon at work and into the evening from my parents. A neighborhood called Anderson Hills was heavily damaged along with a grocery store and pharmacy across the street. I know that area well because I pass right through there every time I go to the cat shelter I volunteer for. Work let us out early for people to go get their kids, go see if their houses were still there. I couldn't get home fast enough. The weather was still dangerous and I can't stand not to be home when the weather is bad. I'd rather be in my house when it gets hit by a tornado then go home and find it destroyed and my cats all gone. I just wanted to be there with my cats. They are the only children I will ever have; they're my family. When it's bad you want to be with your family. So I drove home as quickly as possible in a break between storms. I didn't see much damage along the way other than some broken tree limbs. I think the worst so far that day had occurred south and west of my home. But as the night went on, the worst moved east and I sat in my dark house listening to the wind howl and the rain lash and wonder just when that big one was going to come and get me. The power all over the county had gone off when the F5 went through earlier in the day - well most of the county because the power was still on at work, but it would eventually go out as more and more storms blew through. By the end of the night the county was in total darkness. I was one C battery short of what I needed for my radio to know what was coming so I depended on my parents to tell me via my cell phone. They had their computer in Florida fired up and had one of the local stations here doing their weather online live. We'd no sooner get off the phone and they would call me back and tell me to go to the only shelter I had which was the hall bathroom. If a tornado had hit my house, that bathroom would probably not have saved me, but you work with what you got. I kind of lost it at one point. I was scared, alone, and the noises outside were freaking me out. I was on the phone with my parents when I heard the very distinctive sound of wind blowing through the window and door frames. I don't know if the wind was being sucked out or blown in. From where I sat in the bathroom I could only see one door and nothing was near it like paper that I could see moving. At that time, Dad later told me there was a bad cell right over my house. He said he thought the next thing he'd hear was me screaming as the house disintegrated and then the phone going dead. Now I was pretty terrified. I can't imagine what my parents must have felt being hundreds of miles away from me wondering if their daughter was about to die. Thankfully, whatever was over my house didn't spawn a tornado and not long after that the weather began to calm and the danger here was over. That was a Wednesday and for the next 4 days I didn't have power and work was closed. I spent the days reading, playing with the cats, taking drives away from the damage areas to find gas, food and batteries. I lost a fridge/freezer full of food. I got one shower warm enough on Friday because there was still warm water in the hot water tank. My parents shopped for C batteries and a corded phone and sent them priority mail to me. They arrived Saturday. I was ecstatic to get the phone because all my phones are cordless and the cell phone service was terrible with the power outages and damage. Unfortunately, with no power at all, even the phone lines weren't working, plus I know the phone lines were damaged, too. I did have a functional radio now so I listened to the local station to get news and they'd update the power outage situation frequently. When I heard my area wouldn't get power probably until mid-week I decided to go use my Home Depot card and buy a generator after my dad checked to see that the nearest HD had plenty of generators so off I went. I came home with a big effing generator...way bigger than what I needed (I've since sold it and will get something smaller). I got gas for it and brought it home. Tried to start it and failed. I finally went and got my neighbor who was already running a generator and he was kind enough to show me how to start mine. Honestly, I read the directions, but I guess they weren't written with me in mind. He got it fired up and I was so happy. I immediately plugged in the fridge, the big fish tank (heater, filter, light) and the TV and DVR box. I have DirecTV so once I had power I had TV. That's when I saw how extensive some of the damage was. I cried when I saw the first videos and pictures. I get chills and tears now thinking about seeing those images the first time. God those poor people. As terrified as I was with nothing hitting my house, I can't imagine the terror of the people who actually experienced the wrath of a tornado and so many did not survive. I turned the generator off at night. It made a lot of noise and there was no need to run it. The fish tank had gotten filtered and warmed up. I know some may think it's silly I would plug that in, but the generator had the capacity so why not. Fish need to live, too! As luck would have it, Sunday evening the power came back on in my neighborhood. I was so excited and immediately turned off the generator. If only I'd waited one more day I wouldn't have needed it. Oh well. As soon as the power came on, the phones worked, too. I called my parents almost giddy. Life was still far from normal. I didn't go to work at all that week because I work on the arsenal and it's huge and a big draw on power so they slowly brought buildings up on the power grid. My building was up by Thursday, but Friday was my normal Alternate Work Schedule (AWS) day and my supervisor told me not to come in. My co-workers who did go that day went in to find water damage from roof leaks. Several computers and lots of paperwork was ruined for anyone under a vent. Luckily my desk wasn't under a vent. I didn't drive through the damaged areas until about 10 days after the storms. I was curious to see it with my own eyes. I've never been this close to tornadoes. The first time I drove through where I tornado had passed was the path of the F5 crossing Highway 31 south of Tanner. You see the trees first from a distance. They are ripped off at a certain height and mostly stripped of leaves. Then you see the damaged buildings and homes. When I drove through where the tornado crossed the road I swear I felt the evil. I got chills and I shuddered and thanked God that tornado didn't come for me. I zig-zagged through the country knowing the rough path of the tornado as it moved and I saw where it took out one home after another. At one point there were trees ripped up or pushed over about 200 yards on each side of the road. At this tornado's widest point it was over 1.5 miles wide. It was a monster. I found my way onto Highway 72 which turns into University Drive as it goes east towards Madison and Huntsville. I drove right by where the WAFF 48 News Doppler radar had sat up on a metal tower next to a church. The radar ball was gone and so was the church as well as homes across the road. The tornado continued northeast from there taking out East Limestone and then Anderson Hills. It was losing strength after that and finally choked out just north of the state line in Tennessee. I drove through that area several times over the past several months seeing the progress in the cleanup and lately finally the rebuilding. National news seemed to concentrate on the tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa and northern Birmingham. Dozens of people were killed and many more injured there. I saw videos of that tornado and it was just as bad as the F5 that came through my area. Before the WAFF radar was taken out, the camera atop the radar ball capture the F5 coming at it. For a while you couldn't see the tornado because it was wrapped in rain (a common occurrence here), but then you saw the wedge shape appear and my God it was huge and it was moving fast. I wish the camera hadn't lost power so we could see more of the tornado. They switched to a picture of the radar output. You know how the radar has the arm that sweeps in a circular path like a clock? Well, that arm continued around and then it went nuts and then stopped. That's when they knew their radar was probably taken out by the tornado. I'd never known where exactly the radar was until I drove by there a second time and recognized the tower and knew then that the demolished building next to it was the church. Within a month the city of Joplin, MO was slammed with a horrible tornado that took many lives. I know I was not alone with people here empathizing with what those people went through. Tornadoes are amazing creations of nature, but also evil killers. I hope that I never go through another night like April 27 again in my lifetime. I hope nobody has to experience a day like that again.

Here's a link to the video of the F5 tornado as it approaches the WAFF 48 Radar and what happens afterwards.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150601512745565

Damage path of the same tornado. Camera zooms in near the beginning of the tower where the radar used to sit.

http://youtu.be/v-Qfdc93uzc

Remembering

2011-09-11T19:51:00.002-05:00

The Brat Pack

2011-04-24T22:07:00.002-05:00

Back in 2006, I started a blog to post tummy pictures of my cat for Lisaviolet's tummy tuesdays. Sometime soon after I started, I came across another blogger who had 5 dogs. I had 5 cats and I thought that was a funny coincidence. I loved her blog and her dogs immediately. They were the Five Happy Hounds aka The Brat Pack. I followed her blog, reading her many entries and loving the pictures. Her original five happy hounds were Tucker, Dakota, Thrawn, Samantha and Dot. It was almost comical when she went on a trip because I don't think any of the dogs were NOT on medicine so a dog sitter had a long list of carefully written instructions. Then in 2007 she lost Dakota. It was sudden and heartbreaking. Beautiful Thrawn followed later that same year. I don't think I can ever look at red ink or flour the same way again. He was quite a character. Between the losses of Dakota and Thrawn, the big lover Bear joined the pack. The pack then took in a cute little brown husky named Durango in early 2008 and within days he became seriously ill with Parvo. Despite a valiant fight, little Durango joined Dakota and Thrawn. Can the heart stand so many losses? Little Millie, a senior terrior mix, and goofy, handsome Rulon joined the pack in 2008. All was relatively well until 2010 when sweet Tucker joined his brothers. Adorable, slobbering, Otis joined the pack at the end of 2010. I hadn't been keeping up with the pack's blog in the last year as well as I should have. I found out about Tucker quite a while after he passed and now I've just found out that Millie and Dot are gone as well. My heart is breaking for their mom tonight. The only pack member left from the original five is Samantha of the short legs and long ears. She's the only girl now with Rulon, Otis and Bear. Bear had a scare on the heals of the back to back losses of Dot and Millie, but I think he's on the mend from serious ear infections. Poor fellow and his poor mom. I am thinking of all the pack, past and present and knowing those that have gone now are waiting at the bridge for current and future pack members to join and one day there will be a loud racket of barking as their human gets to join them again. I sure hope that's a long way off! But it gives us animal lovers peace to know we'll see our babies again some day. Love you Pack!

Change

2011-02-10T14:33:00.002-06:00

For the first time in 12 1/2 years I'm working for a different employer. I left my job with a local company and joined the ranks of thousands of federal employees. I've been waiting and trying for this opportunity for years. Now that I have this job, I have much to learn. The process to get signed up for everything and access to everything is long and frustrating. I may be traveling by the end of the month. They aren't wasting any time breaking me in. Today the arsenal closed because the roads were covered with ice from the winter storm that blew through here last night. Most of the snow is gone. Most roads are reopened now. I hope I'm not the only one who stayed home all day. After last year and my broken ankle, I don't do ice. I miss my old co-workers. I complained sometimes about a few of them, but it's like bitching about your little brother or older sister. Not having the familiarity of them around me day to day has made me feel a little lonely in my new office. I like the people there. Everyone has been friendly and helpful. I'm feeling pretty useless though because I don't know how to use some of the systems. Don't know what I'm doing. So much of it is unfamiliar and so different from what I was used to. I knew it would be like that, but I'm just dying to get busy and do my part.

All but December of 2010

2010-12-01T23:31:00.003-06:00

The year 2010 was definitely not a boring year. It began cold and on the 7th of January we got our first bad winter storm. On the 8th, I was home waiting for my new washer and dryer to be delivered. I went outside and stepped on a patch of snow that was hiding ice underneath. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with a horrible pain in my left ankle. I'd find out a few hours later it was broken. On the 21st I had surgery to put plates and screws in it.

My parents drove up from FL to help me out, arriving just before my surgery and staying for several weeks afterwards. I'm so glad they were able to do this. I felt very much alone until the walked into the house. But I had lots of other company as I recovered from the surgery and worked from home. See here three of my home supervisors.
In the spring, the termites came back. I'd paid a buttload of money the previous summer/fall for termite treatment after they chewed through some drywall in the bathroom. This new damage appeared in March. I was seeing swarms in the area at that time. The termites are gone now. I hope they stay gone. Which reminds me I need to call about renewing my termite bond....
In August, I turned the big 40. I had a great celebration at work thanks to my wonderful manager and co-workers. 40 pink flamingos greeted me the Friday before my birthday (I was on vacation the week of my birthday so the celebrating started early). My parents came back to celebrate. Sadly their visit was interrupted by the death of my great-Uncle Jim. He'd fought valiantly for years against the cancer that eventually claimed his life the day after my birthday. It's still hard to believe he's gone. It's been years since I've seen him and I'm sorry so much time passed without getting in touch again. While my parents went up to VA for Uncle Jim's funeral, I stayed home and began getting the house ready for the demolition of the old floors and the placement of new floors. This meant I had to move a lot of crap out in the garage. But it was worth the effort. The wood and tile floors turned out great and I had money left over from the refinance cash out that paid for the floors to also get new living room furniture. My first new furniture in more than 10 years. All the carpet and vinyl is gone!
In October I had a great weekend here with a visit from Donna and Sandra. We don't get enough time together and I'm so glad everyone was able to squeeze out a weekend. They decided Pete the Plecostamus didn't have enough room in the 20 gallon tank I had (I agree) and so between the three of us we got a whole new setup for a 40 gallon tank and stand. The stand required some assembly. Let's just say it took a few tries to get it assembled right and I had to be creative putting the doors on. I apparently don't interrupt directions well to others. And they'll never let me forget it :) After about 40 trips back and forth to the kitchen sink with water (we took turns), the tank sat for a few days and then Pete and friends moved into their new home. And they love it! So do I. You can see Pete in the small cave on the right. He share the 40 gallons with Kate the large gold fish, Nimsy a small red cap (white body) gold fish, 6 neon tetras, a beautiful blue Betta boy named Orion, and George the African clawed frog. I haven't really named the tetras because they all look alike. Other fish and a frog have shared the water, but went to the big fish pond in the sky.
In November I went on my long awaited Cruise on the Ruby Princess. Our intinerary started in Fort Lauderdale with a day at sea then a stop at Princess Cay, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk then another day at sea before docking back in Fort Lauderdale. We skipped Princess Cay due to rough seas thanks to the remains of Hurricane Tomas. Weather was iffy at times, but we still had fun. Here I am glad to be back on land after 2 days at sea standing on the rocks of St. Maarten with the Ruby Princess (right) and Carnival Dream in the background. I left several hundred dollars there in exchange for a pretty ruby & diamond ring. After last year's fiasco with the opal ring, I was really looking forward to shopping this time.I'm sure I've left things out over the year. I know I've left one thing out that's still in the works and will be revealed in January I hope. It's been a wild year. Lots of ups and some downs. I'm just happy to still be enjoying it as we countdown to Christmas (23 days now as it's just after midnight on Dec 2) and 2011. Time sure does fly!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:37:00.003-05:00

I had several trick-or-treaters tonight. They ranged in age from babies (in the cutest ever duck costume) to tall teenagers (one in a scary ass clown costume). The last group had a little girl who walked right in the house. My door was unlocked and I guess she liked the look of the place or was really serious about getting to whatever candy was inside! Luckily no cats were by the door. Thankfully all the candy is gone. I just wish I hadn't polished off some I bought way too early! Next year I'll buy the candy the day of or the day before Halloween so I have only a short time for temptation.
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The cats seems to be more active with the hard floors. Toys slide around a lot better. So do the cats. It's hilarious watching one trying to launch with nothing for traction and then they take off. It took a little getting used to the noises their feet & claws make on the floor.
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Sammy has been getting a little extra something every night after treats. It seems she has a bit of an issue with her, um, # 2 elimination which leaves little blood spots on my floor. When I had Leo to the vet for his checkup I asked her about Sammy and she said the problem sounded like Sammy needs more fiber. My cat is now on Benefiber. I put about a half teaspoon in a little bit of milk each night and she drinks it after I give them all treats. The vet originally suggested unspiced pumpkin, but my finicky eater wanted nothing to do with that. Other cat friends suggested one of the fiber supplements like Benefiber. Last night I didn't find any blood spots. Haven't seen any today either so I hope it's working. Don't want my pretty little princess to be uncomfortable.

2010-10-30T20:15:00.003-05:00

Way back at the end of August after I said goodbye to my 30s and said HELLo to 40, I spent the bulk of my refinance cash out and bought new flooring for the house. From a Wednesday to the Thursday of the next week, the cats and I lived in a disaster area. Floor torn up, furniture moved around, a lot of stuff moved out to the garage, three strangers showing up every day to put the floors down. It was worth it in the end.
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I kept the cats in the spare bedroom with me during the day when the crew was working, then let the cats roam the house at night. Wherever their cat tree was, they were on it. This is Maggie on the tree.

They also got to climbing on the furniture, which they very rarely do normally, but these were not normal circumstances and since they lost some of their sleeping spots, they improvised. That's Leo on the dresser and Cocoa on the bare concrete floor.The first day was all demolition of all the old flooring except the hall bath and the spare bedroom where the cats and I were staying. I heard a commotion after they pulled the carpet up in this third bedroom, the hall, and my master bedroom. This crack goes across this entire room, across the hallway, and continues through the master bedroom to the back of the house. My house was broken in half. Or rather, my slab was broken in half. The carpet in the hallway was replaced in 2003 or 2004 and there was no crack there. So sometime in the last 6 or 7 years, this happened. I should have gotten the termite treatment done again, but with the glue from the wood floor down, there will be no air so hopefully there will be no termites. Hopefully.
The carpet and vinyl are gone. Good riddance. In their place are gorgeous wood and tile floors. And much of the stuff is still out in the garage! Hahaha I'm donating a lot of things to the Plea Market on November 19th that will raise money for the local low cost spay/neuter clinic so it's staying out in the garage until then. Here are some before & after photos of the floors.
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This is my kitchen and those are my parents who were here to visit for my 40th birthday and to help do some projects around the house.
This is the after with the tile down. The kitchen was done in 2 days so the tiles closer to the windows either hadn't been grouted yet or were just grouted, that's why it looks different. So much better than the vinyl!
The living room before with the tan carpet that had definitely seen better days as had the floral couch which would have been like new if I'd reupholstered it, but sometimes that costs more than new furniture, so....
So along with the new floors, I got some new furniture with cash left over on the refinance. These are actually 2 oversized loveseats. They are really comfortable and the cats love to sleep on top of the back cushions. I keep throws on them to help keep the cat fur off. The tables are new, too. I do miss the reclining function of my old couch, but I really am enjoying the new furniture AND the new wood floor that I worried over for weeks!This is the master bath before. I used to have light blue walls, but had to do some painting to cover the termite damage I had to the left side of the window to cover that up so the home appraiser didn't see it when he appraised the house for the refinance. Painting this bathroom was a pain in the ass!
And here it is with the new tile and Leo checking it out.
The transition from the tile to the wood were these gold color metal strips in the shape of an L with little punch outs that looked like the state of Michigan. The bottom part goes under the tile and gets cemented down and the upper part goes between the tile and the wood. It creates a nice, smooth transition between the two types of flooring.The flooring job was finished just before the Labor Day holiday weekend. It's been almost 2 months and I don't miss the carpet or vinyl. This floor is so much easier to clean. I spent more money from the refinance on area rugs to help protect the wood a little and to make it a little cozier.
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The floor was the biggest event since my last post. Fall allergies kicked my butt his year. I've never suffered like this before so it's probably time I had an allergy test done. I thought I had a sinus infection. After a week of suffering with a migraine off and on and feeling miserable, I went to an urgent care clinic. They gave me 2 shots (in my ass...ouch) and some medication. When I was done taking the medications, the symptoms returned. So I went back to the clinic and saw a different doctor who took an x-ray of my head. My sinuses were empty so it wasn't a sinus infection. She diagnosed allergies and prescribed a nasal spray. I got the Singulair refilled from a prescription from my regular doctor earlier in the year. After 3 or 4 days I was feeling a little better. I feel pretty normal now and recent rains and cooler weather have helped.
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I've been counting down the days now for my next cruise. This time next Saturday I will be in Florida at my parents' house and this time next Sunday we'll be on a cruise ship heading towards the Bahamas for a 7 day cruise. I'm just hoping Hurricane Tomas gets out of the Caribbean.

6 months later

2010-07-09T22:38:00.002-05:00

This has definitely been the year of medical stuff. The ankle was the biggie of course and it's been 6 years and a day since I fell down and went boom and snap. Lemme tell you that I am not looking forward to winter and if we get a storm that lays ice on the ground, yours truly will be keeping her little white ass inside safe and warm. I sure as hell won't be going out on that evil concrete that bit me. That experience for sure was no fun, but in several ways it could have been worse. I saw lots of money go bye bye with the bills related to that then I got a physical this spring and didn't realize I'm not covered for a physical until I hit 50 so I got credit for one regular doctor checkup but had to pay for the lab tests. Oops. And now I've got dental hell to deal with. I finally went to a new dentist after no dentist appointment for at least 2 years. That visit was covered 100% - which is good because they charged my insurance over $250. Yikes. And I only have $1000 per year for dental. I might need a root canal on one tooth, at the very least I'll have a cavity there. And it won't be alone. Just about every molar the last dentist didn't fill, this one will. YIKES! I'm not hurting so I'm putting it off for as long as possible and hopefully until the first of the year when all my benefits are 100% again and I can reload my flex spending account medical MasterCard with more money - more than I had this year for sure. If I have to buy a case of tampons at the end of the year to use up the money left over I will.
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I'm signing away my first born child again to refinance my mortgage to take advantage of a lower interest rate and get cash out to replace all the flooring in the house. I really want to put wood floor down everywhere but the laundry and bathrooms. I'm leaning heavily towards a nice medium honey colored bamboo which is both eco friendly and budget friendly. Did you know that bamboo is a grass, not a timber and matures in 3-5 years vs the 15-20 years it takes timber to mature? I did not. I knew bambo was eco friendly, but never knew exactly why. In the laundry and bathrooms I want to put down ceramic tile. And I'll let professionals do it because I don't want to screw it up. They'll get it done quick and if they screw it up they have to pay for it. Hoping to close on the refinance by mid-August, then I can get estimates on the flooring. Depending on that cost, I would next like to replace the kitchen and bath countertops with something more neutral than what's there now. Bathrooms have a hint of blue; kitchen has pretty dark blue counters that I love, but if I sell this place in a few years potential buyers are going to want something more neutral. And someday further into the future I want to replace the kitchen appliance with stainless steel also for potential buyers. And me :)
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Mom & Dad will be here next month to help me bring in the 40s. I'm looking forward to their visit. Not so much the fact I'm turning 40. But honestly, I'm pretty much over it now. I think 39 was harder as was 29. By the time I got to 30 and now 40 I was done with the agony. LOL And now I have 49 and 50 to look forward to in 10 years. Woohoo!!!

5 months

2010-06-22T23:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was 5 months since I had the surgery on my ankle and it's feeling pretty good. Most times I don't limp and it feels close to normal. In the mornings when I first walk on it it aches a bit and if I sit for a while then stand up and walk it will ache. I've been able to expand the shoes I can choose to wear so that's a plus. I can wear shoes with a little heel, but the heel has to be as wide as the shoe, not thin almost like a spike. I need stability. I have a hard time walking with any heeled dress shoes anyway, but I do have some shoes that I wear for work that I hope I can put on again when summer is over and I've had a few more months of healing. I'll just have to be careful.
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No sign of the kitten since that night. Sylvester has been here several times, but I haven't seen him a few days either. No surprise there. He's semi-regular. He may come to the porch and I just don't see him. I don't put food out unless I do. The ants will get the food if I leave it out. I have to figure out a way to deter them. When I had the old swing, I put the bowl on it and that got it off the ground and gave the cats a nice place to eat, but now with the wrought iron furniture it's not working. I could put the bowl up on the glider, but I'd rather not. I'll come up with something.
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I did adoptions tonight, but it was pretty quiet. Nobody even came into the cat room except me the whole time I was there. I am so pleased that Caine is relaxing and showing what a nice, friendly, playful cat he is. I really think getting him to sit on my lap that first time broke the ice for him. Tonight he let me put him down on the floor and he walked around a bit, rubbed against my legs. I walked several feet away then called for him and he came trotting over for pets. I brought some toys out and tossed them and he'd give chase and bat them around, but the kittens were moving around with the toys in play and he was distracted by the kittens. I will be so happy when he gets adopted. He's such a lovely boy. I wish I could take him, but the inn is full here and it wouldn't be fair to him, me or my cats. His home is coming. I just know it.
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I took this in May. I've never seen to of them propped up on the arm of the couch. This is Sammy's favorite spot during the day. Leo eventually gave up and surrendered the arm to his sister.

An itty bitty kitty on my porch

2010-06-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

I saw her for just a few seconds...a little tortie or dark calico. She's maybe 6 weeks old. I could be weeks off of that estimate. She ran off when I tried to open the door. I hope she will come back because of the food I leave. I hope Sylvester, who was also out on the porch, will tell her I'm trustworthy. I want to help her and also prevent a cat population explosion in the neighborhood.

The heat is on

2010-06-13T22:03:00.003-05:00

It may not be officially summer, but the heat and humidity of summer is definitely here. We've gotten enough rain to keep everything green, which means the grass could be mowed once a week. Which sucks. I hate yardwork. I hate housework. I hate work period. I wish life was simpler, no bills to pay, no debt, no expectations. As hard as life was for people a few hundred years ago, I envy them the simplicity. There is a lot in my life I would change - mostly past decisions. I'm thankful for a lot though so I am not complaining. I love that my cats are such great company for me in a daily basis. As I type, Scully is laying right next to me. She's been by me for the last few hours. Sammy was in the same spot earlier. And Leo was up on my lap before that.

I took this series of photos a couple weeks ago. Cocoa was laying on the window shelf and a red wing blackbird was just inches away on the top of the feeder hook. It was hilarious to watch.

2010-05-31T23:50:00.001-05:00

The little hummingbird that is becoming a regular visitor. Tends to come in the early evening.

2010-05-21T20:21:00.002-05:00

My new patio set. I sold my old swing. I love this wrought iron and it's very comfy. The chairs rock and that's a double glider. I got cushions for it all, but it's comfortable without them and it's kind of a pain to find a place for them when I'm not out there. I don't want to leave the cushions out there. So I'm taking them back to Home Depot tomorrow and I'm getting rollup blinds to hang on the left side there to provide shade from the afternoon sun and a little privacy, too. It's peaceful out there when the neighbors aren't playing their loud music.

Donna bought these pretty little flowers for me.
And she bought these pretty little flowers for me. She went a little crazy at Home Depot. I think she misses having a deck. Now all I have to do is not kill the pretty flowers.

Yep, she bought these, too, and all but one of the pots. I've had that raccoon for years. You can see the swirls on the cement. I powerwashed the siding on the patio and need to come back and do the cement. The patio doesn't have good drainage off the sides so I have to fix that first.

These I bought! But Donna planted them. They will grow up to be sunflowers.

My little buddy, Gracie

2010-03-09T20:07:00.002-06:00

Gracie has been my little friend and unofficial 6th cat for almost 5 years. That picture below was taken two years ago today when she came inside the house for a visit. I had a hell of a time getting her out.

After breaking my ankle and spending more time at home, I realized she was AWOL. I hadn't seen her since before Christmas. As the days went, I got more and more worried, especially when the cold finally started to ease away and sunny, mild days reappeared. Gracie was never absent for more than a few days, a week at most. Now it's been more than two months. I wasn't able to get down the street easily until last week and finally today I couldn't wait anymore. I saw a car pull into the driveway in the house where she lived (just two doors down) and I walked down there. I found out that the couple have divorced (I wondered why one of the cars was no longer in the driveway) and Gracie has gone to live with her dad in an apartment nearby. AND she's now INSIDE ONLY. Phew! I'm so relieved she's okay. I really thought she was dead and my heart broke at the thought of my pretty friend being dead. But she's not. I'm really going to miss seeing Gracie. There are other cats who come around, but she was special and she loved me to pet her and would even let me pick her up on occasion. I hope she enjoys her new life inside with her dad. I sure enjoyed the last 5 years of her visits!

Nearly Normal

2010-03-07T09:55:00.002-06:00

Slowly life is returning to normal here. With the exception of a stiff, sometimes sore, ankle and moving more slowly life is returning to where it was 2 months ago today before I walked out my front door and went boom. The sun has been shining all weekend and today the forecast says the hi temp will be in the 60s. I hope winter is finally gone for good from here. Though our winters here never get the 3 feet of snow like other parts of the country got this year, we had a lot more snow and ice than we've had in the almost 12 years I've lived here. It was like adding insult to my injury! I'm getting rid of the extra pillows I was using to prop my foot up and to sleep with. I finally put my bath rugs back down last night in the master bath. Today I'll put that boot from hell and the sticks of doom into the far corner of the closet out of my sight. I started showering standing up again the very next morning after my doctor said I was cleared to walk. Boy did that felt good. Those sitting showers got cold with me sitting there wet while the shower head was being used hand held and not beating down my back. I did notice that my back skin was a lot less dry this winter, but I'd rather have a slightly itchy back then shivering in the shower! I have PT on Tuesday and Friday this week. That may be it for me. I start doing adoptions again on Saturday and then will pick up the Tuesdays again. I'm still working Fridays from home. Gives my ankle and my car a break. This Friday I'll be letting the pest control guys back in because I found new termite damage on the frame of one of the kitchen windows. I'm 99% sure it wasn't there before. Hopefully this isn't something I'll have to pay for since I'm under a termite bond now after the treatment last year. Problem is that the frame is damaged. I have peeled enough of the paint to see how bad the damage is. Damn termites. Go chew on someone else's house! Like my neighbors next door that I don't like that play their damn music with the bass up so high my windows vibrate.

Walking Tall

2010-03-02T21:35:00.002-06:00

I was cleared to walk today as much as I can tolerate. I am ditching the wheelchair, crutches and boot from hell. I have a new small brace to wear over socks with regular shoes which will be sneakers and other flat shoes for a few months at least. I don't do heels much to begin with, but even little ones won't work for a while. No biggie. But I might have to do some shoe shopping. It was so nice to park where I used to and walk into work this morning with nothing but a cane to help me. I feel so tall now that up walking totally upright again after spending so much time in the wheelchair or hunched with crutches. The surgeon left my physical therapy schedule up to me. I've got approval for 2x per week for 6 weeks, but I've only scheduled 4 more appointments and may only do the first two to get exercises and find out what exercise equipment I can use at the gym at work. That I can use for free. I was so happy when I left the doctor's office I would have done cartwheels if I could! It snowed here today, but that quickly turned into rain and since it warmed up into the 40s the soon did not last long. It is supposed to be in the 60s by the weekend! I hope this was winter's last gasp today.

Sunny Sunday

2010-02-28T16:12:00.002-06:00

I've been on my own for 4 days now since Dad left on Wednesday. Aside from being very lonely I have done okay. It is very tiring doing normal things the way I have to right now and I've had a lot of annoying discomfort on my ankle at the crease. I've taken my hydrocodone at night after going several days without it. That discomfort was new and I'm told just part of healing, but makes it hard to sleep because my foot twitches and the little muscles down there keep twitching. Last night I had to take a second pill and finally the discomfort went away so I could sleep. As I waited for that pill to take affect, I finished the new Dean Koontz book Breathless. I was disappointed with it and that's a first for one of his books. It just was not well developed and there were 2 story lines that I didn't really see a point about. They all touched each other, but I'd have rather he stuck to the main two with the animals than the crazy killer and the hitchhiker bum. I washed my clothes and towels yesterday. I wasn't going to change my bed, but decided to do that today. I'm running a Tide cleaner through the washer now. It's a frontloader and I want to be careful keeping it clean and free of mold. I've been keeping the bird seed up outside for the morning doves, cardinals and all the little birds that found the feast. And I'm also still putting food out for whatever cat happens to come and eat. Last night I saw the tuxie and he went away limping so I worry for him now. I'm glad there was food for him so he didn't limp over here for nothing. I'm sorry to see the weekend almost over now and shortly the XXI Winter Olympics will be over. I've watched quite a bit of the games in the last 2 weeks. I have a short week this week. A friend is coming for a short visit and I'm taking Friday off. Monday I have my last scheduled PT appointment, but I see the doctor on Tuesday and hopefully he will tell me I can now put weight on the left foot/ankle. I guess I'll turn my wheelchair back into the company where I rented it after I leave the doctor's office. I'll take my cane with me. I'm sure I'll have to wear the boot for a while to give the ankle support when I walk. I want to see what my x-ray looked like that was taken in the emergency room on January 8th. I do not know why they sent me home with just the boot and literally refused to give me crutches or even a prescription so that I could get crutches because less than a week later the orthopaedic surgeon told me he had to fix it in surgery and I was to not put any weight on it and I had to work on getting the swelling down before surgery. The ER doctor just sent me home with the boot and told me to ice and elevate. Had I known surgery was going to be needed I would have worked from home immediately and kept the foot up, but I went in for the next 4 days until I got in to see the surgeon. If that x-ray shows the bone pieces lined up, I think I'm going to talk to a lawyer. That means that the hospital sent me home and told me I can walk on it and the walking shifted the bone out of alignment. Even if the x-ray shows the same thing as when I saw the surgeon on the 14th, they shouldn't have sent me home with a walking boot and no crutches. Either way, the ER screwed up. And to add insult to injury, not only do I have a $100 co-pay to the ER, but also had a $30 co-pay to the ER doctor. I may still consult a lawyer regardless. Can't hurt, especially if it is a free consult.

Pet Peeve: Bathrooms for Individuals with a Handicap

2010-02-25T12:42:00.002-06:00

I have this pet peeve about the bathroom stalls that are obviously larger with the bars in them and the toilet usually up higher that are for the use of those individuals who have a handicap, be it temporary (like, oh, ME) or permanent. And the pet peeve is those who do not have a handicap using them when they've got several other empty stalls to choose from. Obviously in a busy public restroom like a movie theater or restaurant, us ladies sometimes have to wait regardless of how many stalls. Though I rarely see a person with a disability, I still will pass the handicap stall to use a normal one unless that larger stall is the only one open and I have to pee so bad my eyeballs are floating. We have a large bathroom at work and there are like 10 stalls and 1 is the larger handicap stall. I have NEVER seen EVERY SINGLE STALL in use. There are no signs stating the big potty is for people with a handicap, but c'mon, it's obvious. And I've been using it since I broke my ankle last month. At least half the time I go in, someone is in that stall with ALL THE OTHER STALLS EMPTY or is just coming out. Nobody wants to stand there in a quiet bathroom and wait for someone to do their business because they need that stall. One day I went in and whoever was in there was determined to use all the toilet paper on the roll and after a few minutes I finally rolled back down the hall to wait. At that time I was still hurting too much to put any weight on the foot. This week I've gone in at least twice to find someone in there and I waited, but I really had to go so finally I said fuck it and rolled past that stall and parked the wheelchair and hopped inside the regular stall. I forgot how low those toilets are and almost fell the first time. Both times the person who finally vacated the handicap stall walked right past my parked wheelchair, never said a word and went out the other door - i.e., it wasn't the first stall they came to. They walked past every single other empty stall and went to the big one. Why? Most people in the building have seen me rolling around at some point or another and a few of the ladies have seen me waiting for them to leave that big stall so I can use it. It has always irritated me that able bodied people use that stall when they don't need to. Like I said, I purposefully do not use it. I posted about this on a chatboard and one lady told me I shouldn't be so angry and that she uses it and basically fuck me she doesn't care and what about the people who park in handicap parking spots. I wasn't angry, but those people who park in the spots without any handicap tag of any sort should be ticketed. Maybe they should be ticketed for peeing in the handicap stall, too! If it's an emergency and it's your only option, use the big stall. If it's not an emergency then leave that stall for people who need the bars and the room and the higher seat. It's called courtesy.

Rest in Peace, KatieDon't

2010-02-17T11:09:00.004-06:00

Kate was part of the "Lost" kittens taken in by PJ in 2007. Kate, Sawyer and Charlie stayed with PJ while their mom Angel and brother Jack were adopted by PJ's mom and daughter respectively. Kate took ill yesterday and just as suddenly died. It's a horrible shock for PJ and my heart goes out to her. I hope KatieDon't is finding all kinds of trouble to get into on the other side of the bridge and will be there many years from now when it's time for her brothers and mom to cross the bridge.

___

Kate, Sawyer, Charlie and Jack. Aren't they adorable?! This is my favorite picture of the four of them all lined up together.

___

Kate with her big brother Rico. I think he may be a little lost without his snuggle buddy for a while.Rest in peace, KatieDon't.

My new hardware

2010-02-06T09:51:00.002-06:00

Six screws and a plate. Doesn't my ankle look nice and skinny? First picture is both views of the left foot then second picture is a closeup of one of those. You can click on them to make them bigger.

Rain rain go away

2010-01-24T10:43:00.002-06:00

We had a bad storm here Thursday evening after I got home from my surgery and that storm spawned an EF2 tornado that got within 6-8 miles of the house. That's not the kind of excitement I needed after having my ankle screwed back together! Though the twister didn't get this far, Dad says I'm missing at least a dozen shingles off the roof. That's nothing compared to some of the damage in historic areas of Huntsville where the tornado hit. No loss of life and only minor injuries so everyone was lucky that evening. Last night we had strong winds and I'm sure more shingles are missing now. Dad is going to buy shingles and borrow a ladder from a former co-worker who lives close by and he's going to replace the missing shingles for me. It's raining now so I'm a little nervous about leaks, but he says the tar paper is still in place. I sure hope so.
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I'm so very thankful my parents are here with me. They have been doing so much work here keeping things going on top of helping me do simple things like Mom pulling out my clothes, or fixing my bed or helping me get my leg up. They were planning to come up later in the spring to help me with projects around the house so now they are doing a few of those sooner rather than later. My follow-up appointment is Tuesday next week so we'll see how I'm doing then and what the doctor says to determine when they will head back to FL. I know they can't stay the whole 6 weeks I'm healing. We have a wheelchair on order for me to rent and it should be here this week. That will make it easier for me to move around the house.

Surgery went fine

2010-01-21T18:19:00.002-06:00

I got a late start and didn't get taken to the OR until 10. When I started waking up the pain was definitely a 10! I was listening to the nurse tell me I'm okay and just to take deep breaths as she loaded me up with pain meds until she hit the limit. They finally kicked in about 20 minutes later. I have more lortab and an anti-nausea med if I need it (haven't yet and hopefully won't). The bandaged my ankle and put it back in the boot. The boot I despise. I have to say in it all the time for the next 6 weeks. And I have to keep the weight off for 6 weeks. I'm doing okay on the crutches. My parents brought a shower chair and a potty chair. Two thumbs up for both. Going to be hurting for a while, but I know at least now I just have to recover and the dreaded surgery is done!

2010-01-16T22:11:00.004-06:00

Last night I took off the pressure stocking to see how the swelling and bruising looked. Swelling seems to have gone down a little, but look at my purple toes!

---
I thought my desk chair on wheels would be good to roll around in, but it doesn't do well on carpets and puts a slight dent on the kitchen floor. Oh well, it was worth a shot and Cocoa like the additional bed choice.---
Leo was my buddy last night. He likes this new throw blanket I got off eBay. it has a cat print and it's really, really soft.

Surgery

2010-01-15T21:12:00.003-06:00

Oh joy. I get to have surgery now to fix this broken ankle. I'm scheduled to go in for outpatient surgery on the 21st. My parents should be here Tuesday. The doc told me yesterday I need to get the swelling down. He couldn't do the surgery sooner (which was fine by me, frankly) because of the swelling. Said he wouldn't be able to close the skin. The images running through my head are not pretty! He told me not to put weight on it...after I'd been walking on it (as little as possible) since this happened. So I'm staying off of it as much as I can, but there are things I can't do with one foot. I'm trying to be good. I am working from home until my follow up appointment on Feb 2. I spent the day sitting up on my bed with my leg up on two pillows and icing it often. I have a pressure stocking on it. Quite a lovely fashion statement. I have crutches now. I am still flabbergasted that the hospital wouldn't give me crutches or a cane even. Crutches are not fun.
--
Today it was 56 degrees and I went out to get the mail wearing shorts & a t-shirt with a light jacket. I didn't need a jacket. And I was a little ticked that it's so nice today and yet a week ago there was snow and ice on the ground and clumsy, stupid me got into this predicament.
--
I know this too shall pass (right, Donna?) and when I am having a pity party I find my thoughts drifting to the people in Haiti dealing with a catastrophe that is just horrible. My heart goes out to them.

Broken bones suck

2010-01-12T18:42:00.002-06:00

I'm in a pity me mood right now. I have an appointment for the orthopedic doctor on Thursday at 3pm. I went to work today. I didn't want to be there. I made myself as comfortable as possible by bringing a pillow and putting it on a box under my desk then propping my foot up on that. I even brought a bag of ice which I put in an insulated bag for the trip to work. I left just after 1 for an appointment with my new regular doctor and have gotten things going on getting a physical done plus some other tests. Also got new prescriptions for my stomach and allergies. I'll get those filled tomorrow. So, I'm sitting here on the couch with both feet up and my left foot just can't relax. It feels twitchy. The bruises are spreading. I have a morbid curiosity in those bruises. I keep taking pictures. I'll post the one I took earlier in my next post. I bought a cane yesterday. More than anything it helps my right leg which has gotten sore because it's compensating so much for the left leg. The cane keeps me more vertical so I'm not leaning so much to the right. But as I sit here with my twitchy bruised and broken left ankle I feel like I want to cry. It's very frustrating not being able to walk normally, having to walk so slow, not being able to just jump up and get something, or sit normally and even though it doesn't hurt the way I'm sitting now, it's just not comfortable. I took the last of my Lortab this morning so now it's just me and my friend ibuprofen. I still can't believe I broke this stupid bone. I rarely go out the front door. I should have known the ice was there. Why didn't I just go out through the garage? I mean, the damn door was still up waiting for the delivery guys that day. No ice between me and the car there. But noooooooooo I went out the front door and down the walk and weeeeeeeeeee on my ass I went. It happened so fast I was on the ground before I could do anything and then I felt the pain in my ankle and I started gasping and crying. I got up very slowly and leaned against the house and slowly made me way back to the stupid front door. I don't know why there has to be a downspout right at that corner anyway. Why can't the water just flow to the other corner? We may have to change that. I know I will never go out there if there's a chance of ice, but I worry about other people. I'll have to get some rock salt on hand just in case. Litter worked as a substitute this time. Rock salt would be better. This sucks. I don't know how people deal with broken legs that require surgery and that they can't walk on. I was really lucky. I hope my luck holds when I so the orthopedic doctor on Thursday.

Swelling & bruising

2010-01-10T19:24:00.003-06:00

My left foot and ankle look quite lovely now all puffy and turning black & blue. I'm going to work tomorrow. Will have to move some things around so I can keep the foot up as much as possible. You'd think I'd milk this for a day or so off, but seeing as how I can walk on it I figure I should go.

Ouch

2010-01-09T11:16:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning I went out my front door and slipped on ice on the sidewalk near the corner of my garage where a downspout comes down and I fell down. Soon as I hit I felt pain in my ankle. This is one of those times it sucks to be alone. I managed to get up and limped painfully in the house crying and then I called my parents still crying. Damn that hurt. I had been waiting on the delivery of my washer and dryer, but now I needed to go to the ER and get my ankle checked. It quickly swelled up and there was a big lump on the left side. It was my left ankle. Luckily the delivery guys were running early and they got here about an hour after I fell so once they got my old machines out and my new ones installed and left, I bundled up and drove myself to the hospital. I spent about three hours there. I broke my left fibula which is the small bone on the left/outside of my leg. It doesn't bear much weight so this is why I could walk on it, albeit painfully. They put a boot on it that I can take on and off. No crutches because those would be dangerous with this big boot.------
The best medicine - Lortab and Scully :0)

I wish I'd gotten a cane at Walgreen's last night when I was picking up my prescription just so I'd have an easier time getting to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I didn't sleep with the boot on. They told me I could take it off at home and prop the foot up. I have to call the ortho doc on Monday to set up a follow-up appointment sometime next week or shortly thereafter to be sure I'm healing fine. I hate winter.

ROLL TIDE!!!!

2010-01-07T23:09:00.003-06:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE FOR WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
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Alabama 37, Texas 21
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ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!
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I'm not really a college football fan and I didn't go to Bama, but living here you can't help but root for them in this game.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T19:19:00.007-06:00

I started the new year off very quietly sleeping in this morning and enjoying the peace with my cats. I've spent most of the day vegging on the couch, getting up occasionally to build then stoke a fire, refill my drink, seek food from the kitchen and other necessities, as I watched TV. I'll be doing adoptions for at least part of tomorrow if not the whole time. Sunday will be my last day of vacation before going back to work on Monday. But we get MLK day off so at least there's a long weekend coming quickly, then it's a long stretch until our next holiday off on Memorial Day. I'm sure I'll take some vacation time before then as my parents are planning a trip up in March and I may have a conference in Orlando just before or after that. I had a wonderful Christmas visiting them in Florida. It was just the three of us and of course there was visiting with friends/neighbors down there. We saw Up in the Air (okay - George Clooney is always nice to look at) and Sherlock Holmes (so so), visited Homossasa Wildlife Park, saw Ice at Gaylord Palms (kind of disappointing considering how much you pay), ordered my new washer & dryer (to be delivered next Friday), and spent lots of time eating, shopping and enjoying each others company. I was very lucky with flights and airports on both ends of my trip. I was pretty much on time both ways and my suitcase made it. Both flights back I had an empty seat next to me.
************
My friend Bobbie is in need of prayers right now. On December 29th she suffered a massive heart attack and was taken to one hospital and then airlifted to another hospital on the other side of Atlanta. At the moment she's doing as well as can be expected, but has a long road ahead. Last reports were that she has some internal bleeding and they've had to give her two transfusions. They will have to find the source of that problem. She'll also need bypass surgery. They put a pacemaker in, but have turned it off now. They had to cut off the blood thinner so they could stop the internal bleeding so the danger remains for her arteries to collapse again. Bobbie is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and she has a huge soft spot for all animals. She shares a home with 10 cats and a dog and has 2 goats who spend most of their time outside, but come in during very cold or very wet weather. I am very worried for my friend and I pray she will recover soon.
************
Pictures from my week in FL. They are a bit mixed up and I'm too lazy to put them in order.

Snoozing red fox at the wildlife park.
Florida's only "native" hippo (really a naturalized hippo). He is a big boy!
Two beautiful owls.
Perfect posing.
Colorful and noisy flamingos.
Stunning bald eagle. There were at least 3 there. Either injured or a mate to an injured eagle.
Majestic falcon.
Pretty panther. She wandered around a bit, then got bored with us and laid down for an afternoon nap.
Playful bobcats. I have video of them wrestling with each other. What a treat to see.
This tiny little turtle could have fit in the palm of my hand. He has at least one other turtle in the habitat with him. While I watched he was snacking on his salad.
Manatees enjoying the warm waters of the spring. We saw at least 4 of them.
Anniversary flower arrangement I sent my parents. My mom loves the Thomas Kincade scenes and either Dad or I get one each year.
Our Christmas tree with presents below.
Sandhill cranes behind the house. I rarely have seen them laying down. The one closest got up soon after I took this shot (with a zoom lense from the back patio). Eventually they all got up and slowly walked away.
Mom, me and Dad at Gaylor Palms after we'd gone in to see ICE.
Fritzi was my bed buddy this trip. If he wasn't on the bed he was on the suitcase.
Danny Boy still doesn't trust me after all these years. He's got the biggest eyes and such a sweetie.
My new little sisfur Sophia is doing great. By the end of my visit, she was letting me pet her and rub her belly. She has the softest fur.
Christmas decorations at the Gaylord Palms.
Eskimo & husky ice carving.
The entrance to Ice.

Ice was COLD. They keep it at 9 degrees Fahrenheit. They give you parkas (3 different sizes). If you ever go, take gloves and hats and wear warm clothing. Might also double up on socks to keep your feet warm. One guy told us to keep our cameras warm as we entered because the cold supposedly eats the battery energy so Mom and I had our hands over our cameras when we weren't taking pictures. Mine did fine and so did hers.

Christmas & Cats

2009-12-13T16:54:00.002-06:00

I'm watching The Christmas Shoes on LMN. Not crying yet. Yesterday I would have been crying. I talked to the shelter manager earlier. She called to ask what Soldier had been eating so I told her. She said he hadn't eaten during the night. He was probably still a bit freaked out. I'm sure he'll be fine. He was being friendly with her when she went in to check on him. He was always friendly with me. I also talked to the wonderful lady who adopted Dega last year and Rascal a few weeks ago. Seems Rascal is being a little ornery and jumping his brother and new sister. So I'm giving her my bottle of Rescue Remedy Tuesday night. I hope it will help. She said Rascal is a love, too, and is even a lapcat. So he just has to learn how to get along again with other cats. He'll be fine. Now the husband has picked up his dying wife do dance with her one last time. Here come the tears!

Back to 5 cats

2009-12-12T18:12:00.001-06:00

Soldier is back at the shelter. He'll get tested Monday then rejoin the cats in the cat room. He meowed all the way to the store where I handed him over to the shelter manager. I'm sure he meowed all the way to the shelter. I came home and turned off the fountain in his room and closed the blinds for the first time in a month. Then I walked out and closed the door. It's hard coming home to that room with the cat(s) occupying it gone. I have cried a little. I always do when one of them leaves. Soldier was a real pain in the ass with my cats and he was constantly crying. He kept at it for a while last night. My nerves were on edge with him her. He and I are better off with him back in the cat room at the shelter instead of her. He'll be fine there. He's been there before. I hope his adopter will come back for him soon.
*****
All of us volunteers got nice navy jackets from the shelter as Christmas gifts. They have the shelter logo & name and "Volunteeer" written on the front in the upper left chest area. We also got a little bag of catnip toys and mousies for our cats. Maggie & Cocoa have grabbed the two mice and have been having a blast with those since I got home. The catnip toys are always a hit, too.

Soldier will be leaving us soon

2009-12-07T17:02:00.002-06:00

I feel like a failure, but I'm not going to be able to keep Soldier through the holidays. I have to get a petsitter to take care of my cats. I can't trust Soldier out with the bunch. He keeps acting aggressive with them, but I'm here to stop it. I don't know how far it will go without me here to referee. He's been here more than 4 weeks. We've had a week on Rescue Remedy. I've tried several things. He's comfortable with me and he's fine out for a while, sometimes with no problems at all and then he gets a wild hair up his furry little ass and goes after a cat. His adopter can't take him back yet so he's going to the shelter on Saturday. I'll keep his cat tree and all here until she can come get them. Hopefully she will be able to take him back. He's not likely get adopted quickly so I hope he ends up back with her. If it's mean to be it will happen. Or he'll get another better home. I just hate that I have to send him away. Some have wondered why I try to integrate him. Well, me being gone for a week at Christmas is one reason. The other big reason he's when he wants out of that room he's not quiet about it. He cries and pounds at the door. You try ignoring that. I've had other cats here that integrated just fine. I would have kept them indefinitely. If he'd been like them, there would be no problem. He could stay for a few more months. But he's not, so away he must go. He'll be safe at the shelter. He'll have a big room to roam and lots of cat trees to climb up on and even a screened porch to go out on. It will still be stressful because there are lots of cats, but he's been there before. I just hate this. I feel like I'm the one that's let him down.

Should obese flyers be charged more?

2009-12-07T14:10:00.002-06:00

This article recently appeared on MSNBC.com with a picture of a very large man on a flight who was obviously overflowing from the seat. I'm a big girl, but I can still cram my fat butt into an airline seat. It's not comfortable. My hips ache for the flight if I can't lift an arm rest, but I am very conscious of not impeding the space of the person next to me (unless the seat is empty and then I can relax and enjoy the flight more). This poor fellow can't do that. He should almost certainly have to buy two seats unless there is at least one empty seat in the plane he can sit next to. Some of the readers responded that we should pay by our weight. Fine, let's do that, but not just our body weight, but our baggage weight, too. We already have to pay per bag, but lets pay by the weight. I usually only check one bag and it's always under the weight restrictions before you pay extra. So, charge me by my total weight, body & baggage. I bet there will be skinny people paying more than me because they can't or won't pack light. If you want to pay by weight, it should be by weight of everything going on the plane not just the difference between someone who weighs 250 and someone who only weighs 150. Who knows that that 150 pound person doesn't have baggage. I may still pay more, but at least it will be fair. And really, are you gonna weigh everyone to charge them. Isn't the airport hassle painful enough that you have to add humility onto it?
So now that the weight is addressed, there are still going to people fat people overflowing onto skinny people, but if they paid by weight then the airlines ought to be sure there is space to accomodate that weight. What are they going to do about the person who sits with legs splayed, hogs armrests or falls asleep and puts his head on my shoulder? He's invading my seat space. Are you going to charge him more, too? Or the ones who carry on all this crap on the plane and use up all the carry-on space. Whatever happened to the rules of one carry on and one personal item such as a purse. I usually carry-on my purse or a slightly larger tote to carry a book and some other items to occupy me and that's it. If I travel for business, my laptop bag becomes the second carry-on item I'm allowed. I cringe to see the people carrying on not one but two full size pieces of luggage plus a purse or another bag. Where were the gatekeepers when these people got on board?
The airlines need to follow their own rules and be consistent and fair to everyone getting on the plane and travelers need to learn patience.

Surprised Kitty

2009-11-30T19:14:00.000-06:00

One of the cutest videos I've seen.

Rascal is getting ANOTHER new home for Christmas

2009-11-29T15:49:00.003-06:00

Rascal was adopted last year right before Christmas. But his adopter brought him back saying she never wanted him and her kids talked her into it (adult kids). I saw him Thursday when I was having dinner with shelter friends for Thanksgiving. He was not a happy little guy and I felt so bad for him. I came home and sent an e-mail to Dega's mom. Dega is Rascal's brother. I did Dega's adoption on New Year's Eve last year and loved his new people. I asked his mom if she might have room for a third. I talked to the shelter manager a little while ago and she said Dega's mom had called and wanted Rascal. I'm overjoyed that sweet boy will get a second chance and to grow up with his brother is a bonus. I hope Zetti, their sister, is happy in her home now.

****

Brother's furever - Rascal & Dega in my home last year

Lollipop & Junebug -- on the road again!

2009-11-29T14:11:00.002-06:00

Lollipop, white greyhound, and Junebug should be at or near the final stop on their transport this weekend in Michigan. They started off yesterday in southern Alabama. I drove them from Decatur, AL, to Columbia, TN. They did not travel light. I knew they were coming with crates, but thought they were folded and did not expect such large crates. I guess large dogs would need large crates, but drivers should have been warned ahead of time about the size of those crates. The crates made it part of the way, but the plastic crate stayed in TN and I think the folded wire crate is stuck in KY until they can be shipped I guess which won't be cheap! The girls with Kelly, the driver that brought them up from Birmingham (she was also the driver I met on Lou's transport last June!).Junebug and the massive crate claimed the back so Lollipop claimed the front and find a nice pillow on my leg :) I spent most of the trip rubbing her ears, petting, and counting her heartbeats while my hand lay on her chest. We had extra time to wait in Columbia behind a Cracker Barrell. We waited outside for a while then the girls decided they wanted back in the car. I told them they could not drive.

Really, Lollipop, you cannot drive!Junebug gets comfortable again in the back. I'd taken the plastic crate out and it was on the ground behind the car.Junebug takes another nap.And Lollipop finally found a spot in the back for another nap of her own.

The girls traveled well once they settled down which is good because I was worried about those long legs of theirs getting tangled up in stuff. And there was a lot of stuff! They came with the crates, big standing feeder stations, and 2 or 3 bags of other stuff.

I went to Walmart today

2009-11-27T17:19:00.002-06:00

I didn't go at 5am this morning. I'm not that crazy. I was surprised that the parking lot was showing a regular amount of cars. I guess most of the crowd dispersed when the big sales ended at 11am or they all went home to watch the Iron Bowl. Worked for me. I was hoping to snag my $25 HP printer and I got lucky. They had several of them and the price was still $25. I chickened out on the laptop and bought it a week ago. I didn't even check to see if they had the one at Walmart that I wanted still in stock. The store was a little messy from the early crowds and there were some impatient people hanging back in electronics, but all in all it was a pretty calm trip. I was out and back in just over an hour.

**********

Soldier did okay today. He was out for a while after I got home and he gave chase a few times, but he didn't keep chasing. All the cats were out in the living room and kitchen window which makes it easier so nobody is cornered in the bedroom and I can keep an eye on them all. I don't have any Rescue Remedy to give Soldier. I may stop at Petsmart on the way home tomorrow to see if they have any or maybe sometime similar.

**********

I'm doing a transport tomorrow. First one in several months. I will be driving two senior greyhounds named Junebug & Lollipop from Decatur, AL, to Columbia, TN. I'll be on I-65 the whole way. I love the names of the dogs. I haven't driven greyhounds before. It sounds like they will be crated which is probably good for them with their long legs so that they around wandering around the back of vehicles and get those long skinny legs tangled up. So that's where I'll be tomorrow afternoon. I finally get to use my animal rescue transport vehicle magnets.

This cat will not shut up

2009-11-26T20:45:00.003-06:00

Soldier cries constantly. He wanders around the house when he's out and he cries. He'll shut up if I play with the laster light with him, but the minute I stop he starts meowing again. He meows to get out. Pounds at the door. I let him out he meows. It's really getting on my nerves. My cats are pretty quiet. He's still going after my cats. He comes out looking for a target sometimes. Cocoa seems to be his favorite, but he's an equal opportunity pest with the other cats. None of them like him because he keeps chasing and I think his constant crying gets on their nerves, too. I feel bad for him. This is not his home and he doesn't understand and he doesn't like being here with five other cats. Can't say I blame him.

Soldier

2009-11-09T20:49:00.002-06:00

This is Soldier. He looks a lot like Cocoa except he has white patches on his chest and belly.

Cocoa definitely does not think there is enough room in this house for two black cats. Lucky for Cocoa, Soldier is only here temporarily. He's a foster cat with a bit of a twist. He was one of my shelter's cats last year and was adopted in early 2008. His mom lived in an apartment and the apartment has black mold. She recently got very ill with double pneumonia and was hospitalized then was in a coma. Now she's doing better, but she's had to move out of that horrible apartment and is having problems getting out of her lease. Also, she fears she may lose her job. She and her daughter moved in with her mother until she can get another place. Her mother has a dog that goes after Soldier. She also has some birds that Soldier would love to turn into snacks. She didn't have any options for placing Soldier temporarily so she came to the store Tuesday night while I was doing adoptions and asked if the shelter could take him back for a little while. Nobody's asked me that. Usually that just want to give up the cats permanently. I know we'd take him back, that's our policy. But I didn't know if we'd take him temporarily. So I told her I'd take him if that didn't work out. As it turns out, he's being "boarded" by the shelter and placed with me as a foster. There's no charge to his mom. He's spending most of his time in my spare room. His mom brought over all of his stuff, including a big cat tree that is identical to mine. I put it in front of his window. When I pulled into the driveway tonight, I saw him curled up on the top. He's been here only since Saturday so just a few days. I let him out frequently when I'm home, but he's chased after my cats and he and Leo and a smackdown on the cat tree in my bedroom this morning. Tonight he ran after Scully. He's also gone after Cocoa. It's minor stuff and I feel confident they will sort it out over the next several days so he can be out with everyone else and not cooped up in his room. I hope he won't have to be here for too long. I know his mom and her little girl are missing him and he them. And I'm sure Cocoa will gladly help him pack his bags when it's time for him to go!

Where does the time go?

2009-11-08T21:08:00.007-06:00

It's been two months since my last post. Facebook has taken hold of me and I spend way too much time on there. But I can't help it. All those apps I am addicted to now. Fish Wrangler. Island Paradise. Cafe World. Treasure Mania. And then there are the other games. I need an intervention!

The biggest even of the last two months is that two weeks ago tonight I was onboard the Carnival Inspiration sailing towards Grand Cayman Island. I took my first cruise ever and LOVED it! I am already making plans for another cruise next November.

So here we are on the bus on the way to the port in Tampa. That's my best friend Myrica on the left and me on the right. She and I shared a cabin. And we both snore. Me with the Carnival Inspiration in the background. This is just outside the facility where you go through security and check in before climbing aboard.Our first towel critter - dog? - wearing my sunclips on the first night.A bigger view of our room. We had an ocean view which was nice. The room was small but comfortable. The bathroom wasn't too bad. There was plenty of closet space.

The towel frog on our second night.

I could have had pictures here from Grand Cayman, but when we arrived it was very overcast and threatening rain. Dad and I had a planned shore excursion that put us in the water. We swam with the sting rays in Sting Ray City. That was so awesome! The sting rays are used to humans coming to that part of the water where it is shallow to be fed and they are reasonably safe from the sharks that are their main predators. Thankfully I had no idea how close we were to really deep water! I got to kiss a sting ray! The only problem was that our group was full of the typical tourists who didn't respect the animals nor did they understand to spread out a bit. Everyone was crowding around. I hate that. After the sting rays we went to a coral reef. Well, that's what the brochure said, but it was pretty disappointing. We did see lots of pretty fish and I had more than a few at my fingertips as I wiggled my fingers. I think they were attracted to the sparkles in my nail polish. The water was a bit more choppy than I would have liked and I got more than one swallow of salt water through my snorkle, but overall it was fun. Then we all got back on the boat to towel off and nervously eyed the dark clouds gathering. Then Dad says here comes the rain and points out to the side. You could see it coming at us and when it hit it hurt! The wind turned the rain so hard it felt like hail. We were huddled under soaking wet towels as the boat lurched to and fro. Several life jackets were torn from the netting and the boat captain stopped once so one of the crew could retrieve a life jacket, then gave up as they lost a few more. Maybe they went back out after the rain. We were cold and wet when we got back into town. My shorts were soaked, but I should have put them back on because I felt really self conscious just wearing my swimsuit and a t-shirt. I didn't get to shop. Didn't feel like it. All I could think of was a warm shower on the ship. The whole experience was certainly not one to forget!

The next day we docked in Cozumel and The Carnival Holiday was right there alongside us. It appeared to be slightly smaller.View of Cozumel from the concrete pier. The LONG concrete pier. View of the ship from the pier.Towel bunny that night.

And me in the Paris Lounge where we saw shows every night. It's a pretty decent picture of me.

All in all I had a great time. I did get to go shopping in Cozumel, but my only purchase there was a beautiful 14kt gold opal and diamond ring. Unfortunately, I noticed a line on one opal after we left Cozumel and when I got back home a jeweler confirmed my suspicions. The opal was cracked and probably had bin originally. So it is now in Los Angeles to be fixed by a jeweler who works for the same company of the store I bought it from in Cozumel. I'm hoping it comes back to me looking beautiful and whole.

I enjoyed this cruise so much that I already have another one planned and will have my first deposit on it this month.

The Ruby Princess. November 2010!!!

I'm still alive!

2009-09-06T20:00:00.004-05:00

This is Sophia (aka Sophie), my sisfur who lives in Florida with my parents. They adopted her in March. I got to see her again last month. She was playing peek-a-boo with my under my bed. Very sweet, but shy little girl.

Scully sleeping by a window earlier today. Some of the many platy fish I have now. The biggest orange one here is the one surviving momma fish. She's had mulitple "litters", but I think now she is done. Finally. All the orange babies I think are hers. The black & white youngster on the right is one of two surviving offspring from the two female black & white platys who died earlier this year. See the big plecostamus in the back? Scully & Leo sharing a spot near a window. Sammy in the hallway the other night. I feel so bad because just a few minutes ago I rolled my computer chair back a little to reach the one window blind to put it down and I must have caught part of Sammy's tail fur. I heard a funny noise and she took off. When I looked down there was a huge clump of orange and white fur. :( I will go make it up to her. She wouldn't let me touch her yet. Bad mommy. I've just pretty much moved over to Facebook to post updates, pictures, videos, chat with people, etc. Since my last post on July 12, I've turned 39 (mid-August), spent that weekend in Florida with my parents, paid $122.50 for my air conditioner to be defrosted, spent $900 to treat termites in my house, paid off my cruise in October. The cats are doing great. I'm doing fine. I came home from FL with a cold that hung on for two weeks. It's gone now thank goodness. My cruise is at the end of October to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It's a short, inexpensive cruise and it's my first cruise ever. I'm going with my of my best friends who will share my stateroom. My parents are also going (they are cruise veterans - my friend and I are both cruise virgins). That's about it from here!

WWWii

2009-07-12T14:48:00.002-05:00

I joined Weight Watchers (WW) again on Thursday night. Friday was day one and boy did I blow the points without meaning to. I got a sub at subway and thought it was one of those low fat subs. NOT. Between that and everything else I ate, I used 50 points, but I had weekly points to use so that's okay. Yesterday I used exactly my daily points and still had 2 activity points left. Today I haven't eaten much yet though I'm getting hungry now. When I got groceries Thursday night I bought carrots, a bag of salad, bananas, peaches, Boca Burgers, and other things that will be low points. I have frozen meals to take for lunches this week. I wanted to get WW meals, but I just didn't like most of their stuff. I prefer the Lean Cuisine choices. I got 1 from WW and 5 from LC. I've been measuring things so I know how to count the points. Like how much milk goes in my blue glasses (just shy of 2 cups or 16 ounces). I've had Cheerios with a banana cut up and 1/2 cup of milk. Before I would have put lots of sugar for sweetness, but the banana cut up means I get a slice of banana with just about every spoonful of Cheerios so I get my sweetness. And now my Wii is functional again. I got the new sensor bar in the mail Thursday night and hooked it up Friday when I got home from work. I did 15 minutes on the Wii Fit on Friday and 2+ rounds of boxing (Wii Sports). Last night I did 18 minutes on the Fit. I couldn't get the Step game to work Friday, but I did yesterday and so far that is my favorite. The more I do the more I unlock new games on the Fit. The Yoga was a riot. I did the Tree position. My trainer dude tells me to grab my left ankle and put my foot against my thigh. My leg doesn't bed that far. It's got too much fat in the way so I put my foot against my knee or a little lower. On another exercise he tells me to touch my toes. I can't do that without bending my knees. Eventually I will be able to do that. I just laugh and do what I can knowing you have to start somewhere and it will get better over time.

Speaking of kittens

2009-07-05T22:37:00.003-05:00

DERWOOD GOT ADOPTED! Woohoo! I split Saturday adoptions with another counselor and got there just before 2pm. I was just in time to meet Derwood's new mom and dad and see him one more time. He was already in the carrier. Kitsy and JC are still hanging out together and doing great. I know they will be adopted soon. I would love for them to go together.

Wii has a problem

2009-07-05T22:11:00.004-05:00

And the problem was a kitten or kittens with sharp little teeth who were determined to be behind my little TV entertainment center which had all kinds of yummy wires for them to chew on. I didn't think they'd chew. I found out tonight I was wrong.

I finally got off my butt and dusted off the Wii Fit balance board to do some exercising. But the Wii remote wouldn't work so I changed the batteries. That didn't fix the problem. So I thought well maybe the kittens pulled the plug loose where the sensor bar plugs into the Wii console. As I followed the wire, I came up with an end not attached to the plug. They hadn't unplugged it. The little brats had chewed threw it. I'm glad their innocent little ears weren't here to hear me cussing. I ordered a new one on eBay for $6.15 and free shipping. Before any more kittens enter this house, the cords and wires will be protected.

Baby Fish Update

2009-07-03T21:03:00.003-05:00

There are about 12 tiny fry in the big tank. They are hard to count because they move FAST! I rescued one from the filter today. I looked through the water at the filter and there were 2 little eyes looking back at me. Eek! I guess the rest of the 30 or so from the last birthing did not survive. I feel bad, but maybe that's for the best. I did not have room for 30 more fish. It's still a little crowded, but it's manageable. I moved one of the oldest fry into the bachelor tank. I determined upon closer examination (and that ain't easy) that his anal fin declared him to be a boy. He's doing just fine hanging out with the rest of the guys. I took a few pictures of the fish and have some video to upload.

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The black and white is one of the 4 surviving dalmatians and she has flecks of orange. Just to the left of her is one of the new platy fry and there's also one in front of the thermometer above the larger orange fry.

~~~

Here are all 4 of the surviving dalmatians and that's Pleco Sam hanging out in his cave. I removed the other cave thing because it was too small for him and it had holes and I'm afraid some of the smaller fish went in the holes and didn't come out. This cave has holes but they are just on the bottom and hopefully blocked by gravel.

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Close-up of Pleco Sam. I throw wafers in for him every few days. He would probably like a bigger tank. Maybe one day I will get another bigger one closer to 50 gallons. He's magnificent when he's out with his fins unfolded. I'm going to buy some of that scenery paper to put on the back of the tank.

One down, three to go

2009-07-01T21:36:00.005-05:00

Penney was adopted last night! Pretty Penney went home with a very nice lady who was very excited to have a new kitty. I think and I hope that Penney will be spoiled rotten and have a wonderful life. I also hope her new mom will send me updates from time to time. Durwood, Kitsy and JC are all doing fine. I will see them again Saturday unless one or more get adopted Friday evening. I have some straws to give them to play with.

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Some pictures of the kittens during their stay here.

Durwood cuddled up against me. I was laying on my stomach on the bed in their room. He was big into snuggling. I love the pink nose and toes!

Pretty boy and one of their favorite toys.

Sammy and Kitsy

The kittens LOVED the big kids' food. They'd come out and immediately go either to one of the water fountains or the food bowls. That's Maggie between Kitsy and Durwood.

JC chewing on a sock. She loved playing with socks.

Penney is such a photogenic little girl. I'm so glad I got to meet and approve her new mom last night.

Kitsy joins the big kids on the couch. She's sharing the top with Scully. Sammy and Cocoa are laying on the seat.

Then she moved down to lay next to Sammy.

I'm still having kitten withdrawal. Seeing them last night was bittersweet. I couldn't wait to get my hands on them and gave them lots of kisses and snuggles for the few hours I was there. I will see them again Saturday afternoon if they aren't adopted Friday evening or Saturday before I get there.

The kittens are gone

2009-06-28T20:13:00.003-05:00

I took them to Petsmart yesterday morning. Bought them a bunch of new toys and also shared some with the other cats and kittens there. Mine were okay with the new environment, but weren't quite sure what to think. I felt guilty for leaving them there. I always do. It's the hardest part to leave them there and walk away. And I never do it without crying. I kept the door to their room closed since then. Walked in once and burst into tears. The house always seems so quiet and empty when fosters leave. Last night I decided to get out for a few hours and went to see a movie. That helped improve my mood. I still looked this morning for the shadows of their feet walking back and forth in front of the door waiting for me to let them out. I sure hope some of them got adopted yesterday. I will see whoever is left on Tuesday night when I do adoptions and again on Saturday. It's a holiday but I wasn't doing anything so I said I'd still do adoptions. I have Friday off and right now have half of Thursday off since I worked 4 hours today. Anyway, the kittens were fun to have for the last few weeks and I am envious for the people who will adopt them and get to see them grow up. I wish I had more patience with them. I should learn from past experiences. I guess I just wasn't expecting to have kept these guys for more than original 5 days that I thought I'd have them. I'm not sure I'll foster again any time soon. They can cause havoc in this house. If I had a better set up for them it would be different. We always manage, but I feel bad for my cats, especially Leo. He was getting better with them at the end, not being bothered by them so much. In a few days I'll clean their room out, bag up some toys to take with me on Saturday. The toys there at the store are starting to look pretty ragged. I've got more than my cats ever play with. I hope they will get adopted quickly. They are all pretty, friendly, playful.

Vishus Kitten Wrestling

2009-06-21T21:56:00.000-05:00

Penney vs. Derwood

2009-06-20T11:45:00.002-05:00

Penney

Kitsey

Derwood

These cute little rug monkeys had their speuter surgeries yesterday. I had to listen to little baby whines all the way home. It sure was quiet while they were gone. They got their rabies, FVRCP and FeLV vaccinations yesterday, too, and they are microchipped. They'll be the first to tell you it was NOT a fun day. Last night I went to check on them and all but Penney came out, but those three flopped on the hallway carpet. The energy level was definitely not the usual. Kitsey was acting a little pookey this morning so I gave her a quarter baby Benadryl. They were a little more active when I let them out earlier, but it will be a day or two before they are back to their old ornery selves. God help me.

Free Platy Fry

2009-06-18T22:34:00.002-05:00

I freed the babies and they quickly dispersed in the tank and disappeared into various hiding spots in the gravel, plants and fish "furniture". I decided that the net box would get crowded quick with 30...yes THIRTY...platy fry in there so I'm going to let them grow up with the other fish and let Mother Nature decide what will happen next. There are 13 or 14 bigger platy in there including Momma. The others are her older fry. I moved 18 over with her and I've netted 2 dead fry out but the others are MIA. I guess they passed, too, and were fish food for the others or sucked up into the filter. I hope a lot of the new fry survive, but the tank is going to be crowded. I don't know what I'll do with all of them. The adoption counselor in me doesn't want to just give them away, but I might have to. I got 30 gallons of water between 2 tanks and over 40 fish right now. Not good.

More baby fish!

2009-06-16T23:29:00.002-05:00

I have 14 more at least. I would be catching one and see another and another. I think momma fish was having the babies as I was catching them. The little ones are safely in the birthing net box which is back in the big tank where all the other kids are with the mom. The dad is in another tank where he moved a few days ago. These newbies are half the size if that of the smallest ones I've found before. These are almost colorless. They have just a slight tinge of orange and boy are they fast. They have great hiding places in between the rocks that make up the gravel. There may be more. I moved 18 babies from the small tank to the big tank when I switched dad and the silver fish to the smaller tank. One baby died and 3 are missing. I have no idea what happened to them. I was looking tonight in the gravel and that's when I spotted the new babies. I hope mom is done. I was already overcrowded. They are so tiny. Not much bigger than the tip of a ball point pen. Did I mention they were fast? Pleco Sam was not happy since I overturned his big cave to get at the little ones hiding under it. I put it back and after I ran him out of the smaller cave he resumed his upside down sucking position in the big cave. I quit looking after about 45 minutes because the other fish were freaked enough with the net moving around in the tank after the babies. Please don't let there be any more!

My arm hurts

2009-06-15T23:06:00.003-05:00

Why? Because I'm a dang klutz. Last night I closed the computer room door and ran into the door frame and hit my right arm above the elbow. I frequently run into door frames. They just jump out at me all the time. Today I was exiting a bathroom stall at work and hit part of the lock mechanism really hard on the right arm again this time below the elbow. That stung so bad I was fighting tears and sucking in breath as I went to wash my hands. I really wanted to have a cry right there but I sucked it up and rubbed my arm. Both spots still hurt. I wonder if they'll bruise.

Morticia and her boys

2009-06-14T13:01:00.003-05:00

Morticia is one of the cats up for adoption from my shelter. She came to us with a litter of four kittens. All were adopted, but the two adopted together most recently came back. Their adopter had just lost a cat and thought he was ready to bring two more into his life, but he wasn't so he brought them back. He's the type we would adopt to again even though he brought them back and at least he did and they are fine. Anyway, Morticia and her boys are both at Petsmart right now in separate cages. Morticia has an upstairs "suite" all to herself and the boys are sharing a deluxe suite on the bottom floor with 2 other black kittens from 2 different litters. Morticia loves to be out with her boys. I love seeing them interact. She knows them and they know her. She pays no attention to the other two kittens and they don't pay attention to her. But her boys are all over her and she'll straddle them and play with them and they remember Mom = Milk. I don't know that she has any left, but they still try. It's sweet to see them interact. There's another mom there who has one more kitten left and they act like strangers. Morticia HATES dogs. She attacked one for no reason in her foster home so she'll be adopted to a home without dogs. I think she'd be fine with another cat. Here's a pic of Morticia.

TGIF

2009-06-12T22:19:00.003-05:00

This has been a very long week at work. I'm working on a major contract proposal while also doing modifications for the same contract. Confusing, right? Yeah, welcome to my world. But it's almost done and I sure hope there aren't any major issues.

My neck still hurt this morning, but it's feeling better. I thought it would make me miserable today as I spent 8 hours at a desk in front of the computer. I am using 2 flat screen monitors now. It's really working well. I can have an e-mail up on one and be doing something in a spreadsheet on the other that relates to the e-mail. I was always having to flip between windows or split the single screen. This dual monitor capability really makes a difference.

I did a fish switch tonight. The small tank was starting to look crowded as the babies were growing so I put some water in my fish bucket and one by one I loaded the kids into the bucket. Then I put them in the big tank. I then put some more water in the bucket and loaded up the daddy fish and his new best buddy that came home with me tonight (also a male) as well as the silver dollar fish I got the other day, and the two silver hatchet fish (one came home tonight) and I moved all those to the smaller tank. The momma fish stayed with the babies as did Pleco Sam (who is huge). I also got a small algae eater tonight who is living in the smaller tank. I counted 18 babies when I did the exchange. That makes 20 in the large tank (which will still be crowded when the babies are full grown) and 6 in the smaller tank. The lady who assisted me at the fish store told me the orange fish I thought was a molly is actually a platy. I'm pretty sure the dalmatians were mollies so maybe I just assumed the orange were, too. Anyway, I hope they all live and I hope momma doesn't have any more babies!

Speaking of babies, the furry ones are doing great. They had a nice long romp through the house tonight. They sure can get into trouble quick. I pick them up every chance I get. They are all so soft and they purr all the time. I just wish they didn't consider my fingers as toys. The thunderstorm we had tonight didn't phase them one bit. The lightning seemed to fascinate them and more than one got up on the window sill to look out at the wild weather. They have an appointment for their spay/neuter surgeries next week. Hopefully they'll be at our adoption center shortly thereafter.

These kittens are a pain in the neck

2009-06-11T20:54:00.004-05:00

That's right. Four little pains in the neck. Literally. I don't know if the way I jerked in the kitchen when I stepped back onto a fuzzy rug monkey did something or what, but a few minutes later I went to lift the small throw on the couch and had instant pain across my upper back between the shoulders. I could move my arms fine, but I couldn't lean my head back at all and moving side to side hurt, too. So I tried not to do any of that. I tried a cold pack first, but that didn't do anything. I took some ibuprofen then put heat on it. I put the kittens back in their room after a while then went in with them and laid down on the bed as they played and climbed all over me. The pain is a little better now. I hope I just strained something back there. Boy did that hurt!

Then again....

2009-06-10T21:13:00.002-05:00

...the tiny tots are sticking it out here until they are all fixed and it's their turn to go to our adoption center at Petsmart. I'm going to take them next Friday to get fixed. Shortly thereafter they will make their public debut and I'm sure there will be a stampede of wonderful people begging to adopt them. Meanwhile I'm trying to keep them from eating my fingers and being eaten by their much bigger foster brother Cocoa "kitten smacker" Puff Kitty.

~~~

In other news, I have 19...yes 19...molly fry. Momma molly birthed 5 more. They are tiny little orange babies now getting to know their older brothers and sisters...or maybe just sisters. They all look like girls. In a few weeks I'm going to vacuum the other half of the big tank and then we are going to switch the babies to the big tank and move Daddy molly and the two silver dollars to the smaller tank. Pleco Sam will stay where he is lurking in the depths of his fake cave.

Fuzzy Foursome sweet memories

2009-06-08T22:05:00.002-05:00

Tonight is the last night with my little fuzzy foursome. Tomorrow I'll run home after work, pack them up and deliver them back to their first foster mom. Tonight I let them have the run of the house for about 30 minutes. They were non-stop. I gathered them back up and put them back in their room after Cocoa had a smack down with Kitsy. No biggie even for a big guy like Cocoa. He was just showing the little one who was boss. She was like whatever. I gave them their canned food and left them for a bit. A little while ago I went back in and they looked like they were settled down for a nap so I pulled the blanket up over me as I sat up on the bed. Eventually all four kittens curled up on my legs and chest and one by one they drifted off. I wish I could freeze moments like that as I watched these four fuzzy cuties blissfully sleeping. Yeah, I'm gonna miss them. The worst part besides letting them go is coming home and having to pick up their toys and food bowl and water bowl and even their litter box. I hate cleaning up and knowing they won't be back. Sometimes after fosters leave, I just close that spare room and avoid it for several days. It makes me sad. But these little guys are so sweet and playful and friendly and adorable that I know they'll have homes in no time.

HE WON HE WON HE WON HE WON!!!!

2009-06-07T18:59:00.003-05:00

TONY WON THE RACE!!!

Tony "Smoke" Stewart won his first race as an owner/driver today in Pocono.

It's his first win in 19 races (going back to last season when he was driving for Joe Gibbs Racing).

It's the first time since 1998 that an owner/driver won a race and that was Ricky Rudd.

Last week he took the lead in points and it was the first time in over 550 races that an owner driver lead in the points dating back to 1992 when Alan Kulwicki won the championship as an owner/driver.

I was so excited I don't think I took a breath during the last lap praying he didn't run out of gas as I watched his lead cut in half from over 4 seconds to just over 2. Whenever he's been in the lead or fighting for it at the end, you will usually find me hopping from foot to foot in the living room in front of the TV saying prayers. Today I was on the phone with my parents doing the little dance and when he won I was yelling and crying at the same time. I love that guy. He may be a real shithead sometimes, but I've never been more proud to be a fan of his than right now with his performance this year and defying all expectations set for any owner/drivers.

CONGRATULATIONS TONY!!!

Fuzzy Foursome Video blowout

2009-06-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

The Fuzzy Foursome

2009-06-04T21:38:00.003-05:00

These 4 cuties are staying with us for a little less than a week while their real foster parents go on a trip. I got the kittens tonight and will hand them back Tuesday night. They are very sweet and active little fuzzballs.

Catching up

2009-05-31T21:17:00.011-05:00

We're going to go backwards because that's how the pictures load and I'm too lazy to put them in the right order. So, we start off with Scully tonight in her little basket bed next to my chair in the living room. It's been on the other side by the table thing for a while, but apparently that's not the right spot. That pink blankie she's on is one of the blankies I brought home with her and her babies more than 3 years ago. This blue bean bag chair I got at Walmart for $20 to use for playing games on my Wii (sit down games anyway). Leo first discovered it in the computer room and decided it was a pretty cool place to sleep. I moved it close to the window in there and all the other cats thought it was pretty cool, too. Now it's in the living room and we have Sammy keeping it warm...

...and Leo (with Maggie keeping a close watch).

Yesterday I did a dog transport for two sweet dogs. This is Isabelle. She's a mini-English Setter (probably a mix from the looks of it). She was abused in her former life and is a bit skittish, but she was very sweet and is going to be almost a lap dog for her new human. She wasn't too crazy about walking on the leash. She did great on the trip sleeping most of the way. She is not shy with food. When I picked her and Nick up, we gave them treats. Nick had a little and Isabelle ate hers and what Nick didn't eat.

This handsome boy is Nick. Nick likes birds. If he saw a bird that tail would wag like crazy and he'd get up and watch until he couldn't see the birds. When we were outside walking he was determined to find birds. That made him a challenge to walk. He's a big dog, but he's too skinny. I hope his new home can fatten him up a bit. Both dogs behaved wonderfully and were model passengers. The transport got a little messed up when the driver ahead of me didn't get the word that we were running early so I ended up voluntarily driving almost an extra leg (an extra 40 miles north) so that I could catch the next driver and not screw up the schedule any more. I ordered some magnets for the car that say Animal Rescue Transport Vehicle. That way people might give me some extra room and also my car will be more easily recognized by any driver I'm meeting.

I stopped in Ohio to spend the weekend with my best friend, Myrica, and one of the many stores we visited was a nice Petsmart. I bought that blue bed for the kids (and a new rock cave for my plecostamus who loves his new hideout). This is Scully telling me she LOVES the new bed and Maggie who wishes she could have a turn. She's just happy to have someone to cuddle up near.

I also bought them a nip banana and a nip cigar. I should have brought 5 because they were a hit. They were kind of expensive so I just got one of each. I put the banana in the blue chair and nobody would get in the chair until I moved it. Maggie isn't sure what to do with it when it's in the chair.

Scully really loves the blue bed. The material is super soft.

My first night home from the trip north and I think the kids missed me. I sure missed them!

This is my "cousin" Goldie. She's a pretty little golden cocker spaniel who LOVES chasing the laser light. I took this picture in the downstairs family room that contains a HUGE flat screen TV. Gram and I were in awe of the picture. Goldie just wanted me to shine the light so she could chase it. She was relentless and look at that face. How could I not play with her?

I love these little pajamas on her. She was so damn cute in them. They even have a cut out for her tail.

So, that's it. All caught up. I have a video to post of the molly fry. There are 14 now and they are getting so big. It's funny how they range in size though. Some look like they haven't grown much especially compared to the largest fry. I am really enjoying watching them and they LOVE their food.

Ginny

2009-05-25T23:38:00.002-05:00

My grandmother called today to tell me that Ginny had passed away yesterday. Ginny is the mother of Glenn whose family has lived across the hill from my grandmother for more than 20 years. Ginny has been in poor health for the last several years with a bad heart and diabetes. She smoked and did not eat well. I got to see her briefly when I visited my grandmother earlier this month. Ginny had been renting the small apartment over my grandmother's garage for several years. One of Gram's friends cleaned the place for Ginny regularly and I'd gone up to ask Julie to move her car so I could get mine out and Gram and I could go to wherever we were planning to go that day. Ginny got up to talk to me and gave me a hug. She told me all her medical woes of the last several months, even showed me the place on her chest where the pacemaker had been installed. Either a stroke or heart attack or both is what took her in the end. She was a nice old lady and I'm sorry she is gone. I hope now she can rest in peace away from the body that had given out in the end.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T00:20:00.003-05:00

On this day I will remember all the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the USA. And also those who fought and lived to tell their stories who have passed away now. None of this bravery should ever be forgotten.

Namaste, Bunny

2009-05-21T23:14:00.001-05:00

Two more elephants earn their angel wings...

2009-05-20T20:23:00.002-05:00

Last week The Elephant Sanctuary lost one of their long time residents, Bunny, and their only bachelor elephant, Ned. Bunny was one of the first few elephants to call the sanctuary home and became famous for being elusive of the elecam and spending all her time completely immersed in the many acres of her new home. For the last few years, since Jenny's death, Bunny helped Shirley over her grief after Jenny and the two old girls spent all their time together exploring, napping, eating and being silly. Now Shirley has lost another dear friend. In Bunny's former zoo home, she rarely got to see the night sky and on her first time outside at night at the sanctuary, she looked up at the twinkling stars with awe. Now, I see a Bunny star twinkling up there and will never see the sky the same way again. From a recent edition of the sanctuary's "Ele-notes" her caregivers wrote "Before being buried, caregivers covered Bunny head to toe in yellow flowers, a scarf (for the girl who was always very proud to dress herself in anything she found in the habitat), and a pine tree on top of her (just like you would have seen her on a daily basis)." I cried for Bunny last week, but reading this made the full impact of her death hit home. Bunny, God bless your beautiful soul and may you rest in peace.
~~~
Ned came to the sanctuary about 6 months ago and was only the 2nd elephant to ever be confiscated by the USDA. The first was Delhi, who spent several years at the sanctuary before she passed away. Ned's first steps on sanctuary ground had me in awe of his height and sad over his emaciated appearance. Despite all their efforts to find what ailed him and get him strong enough to what was supposed to be his new permanent home in California (with the only other bull elephant in a sanctuary, Nick), Ned quietly passed away just 12 hours after dear Bunny. Bunny held on for several days. I think she knew Ned might need some company on the next part of his journey and she stuck around long enough to join him.
~~~
Bunny and Ned join all the elephants who passed before them who called the sanctuary home in the last days, months, and years of their lives...Barbara, Tina, Lota, Jenny, Delhi, Queenie, and Zula.

~~~

Sanctuary life continues for those they all left behind...in "New Asia" Tarra, Sissy, Shirley, Winky, Misty and Dulary. In "Africa" Tange and Flora. And the Divas - Minnie, Lottie, Liz, Debbie, Ronnie, Billie and Frieda. I hope this year more names will be added to the list of elephants calling the sanctuary home.

Molly fish graduate

2009-05-01T22:19:00.002-05:00

I moved the 13 surviving babies to their own 10 gallon tank today. When they are big enough for me to tell the boys from the girls, I will move whoever has the highest number to the bigger tank and the lesser population to the 10 gallon tank. I don't want any more babies!!

Molly fry graduate from Lisa McDowell on Vimeo.

The piggies are getting the shaft!

2009-04-30T22:42:00.002-05:00

Yeah, poor little piggies getting the blame for this Swine Flu pandemic. They should have just called it Influenza A. My county has the first 2 "probable" cases in Alabama and another 1 has been reported down in Montgomery. Here they closed the county schools the two city school systems, probably all the private schools and day cares. All kinds of events have been canceled. I have to be at Petsmart for adoptions for 5 hours on Saturday. I will be washing my hands all day long. I'm not around kids much or in crowded public areas very often so hopefully that means my risk is very low. The cases here so far have been mild which is good to know. I sure hope nobody reading this gets sick.

~~~

I got my yard all mowed today including the still somewhat soggy ditch in front. I called my county commissioner about that earlier this week. Supposedly there is some machine that fixes how ditches drain water but this machine has been broken and they are supposed to be fixing it. If they don't get to my house in the next few weeks, I'll call back. This has always been a problem and this year seems to have been the worst. I hit the ditch with the weed eater last night and knocked most of the thick weeds down and also as much of the neighbor's as I could before the weed eater ran out of juice. Tonight I did the same with the mower. My ditch was fairly dry, but the closer I got to the neighbor's driveway the wetter the mower tires were getting so I pulled out before I got halfway there. Oh well. It's supposed to rain off and on for the next week so I'm glad I got the yard mowed tonight. I think it's raining now....

~~~

Scully has not escaped again. She is sitting on my foot rest now staying close. Earlier she was up on the couch, sleeping on her side with her belly to me and her head kind of sideways and her little tongue sticking out just a bit. I kept reaching out to touch that beautiful furry belly. It's so pretty. I am still a little shaken over her brief escape. I have a hard time not thinking of what would have happened if she hadn't come back so quickly. I've decided that there will be no trips out into the garage for anyone. I want them to know that those outside doors are off limits. My kitties are too precious to take a chance on them getting out and all the dangers they face there. Around here we have coyotes and other wild animals. There are several cats that live outside and will fight. Then there are the cars that will squish them and I don't doubt that someone in this neighborhood wouldn't try to hurt an animal.

~~~

I'm going to see my grandma again in May. I'll leave from work on Friday night and spend the night in Louisville then finish the rest of the trip on Saturday. I'll get to spend Mother's Day with her and then most of the following week. At the end of that week I'm going to see my best friend in Ohio and spend the weekend with her before heading for home. I've been so looking forward to this trip.

The Escapee

2009-04-26T15:21:00.003-05:00

Scully here. I just scared the crap out of my mommy. She had the front door open and I couldn't resist so I ran outside. It was just a small gap, but I got out anyway. Mommy yelled my name, but outside was scary and I didn't know what to do and the noisy birds were scaring me and Mommy was scaring me saying my name and trying to catch me. I tried to get back inside but the door was closed so I ran back again and then around the house. I can run faster than Mommy! I faked her out and she thought I was going to the back door, but I went and hid. I waited until she left the doors open and she went up to neighbors' houses to look for me and when she had her back turned I went running back in the house. She came in a few minutes later crying and she closed the doors and then she found me in my new hiding spot under the couch. I'm typing this from under the couch now 'cause I'm still scared though I did let Mommy pick me up and give me loves and tell me she loved me and wasn't mad. I'm still going to hide for a while because I didn't like the outside. There's no food in the bowl out there!
***
Scully's mom here. I'm almost over the shakes after that little girl scaring me nearly to death. I can't believe I let her get out and I was trying not to scare her when she was still in front of the house. When I lost sight of her I ran back in, made sure the other 4 were in the bedrooms and I shut those doors, then I propped open the front and back doors. I went up 3 houses looking under cars and bushes, talked to 2 neighbors. Went down the street the other way 3 houses. Came back inside after about 10 minutes and shut the doors then looked around and finally tipped over the couch and there she was. When they get scared sometimes they will go under the couch especially if they can't get under one of the beds. I can't tell you the relief I felt when I saw her in the house. I was already thinking of posters to make and post and flyers to give to neighbors and just trying not to panic but failing big time. I am so glad she came back so quickly.

The Big 1-0 for Leo!

2009-04-19T23:18:00.005-05:00

The King of the Jungle makes himself comfortable on the best bed in the house.

Cuddled up with his little sister, Maggie, who has adored him since she was a kitten.

Chewing on some fresh grass. He doesn't get to do this nearly as often as he would like.

I remember it like it was yesterday the day the receptionist at work called and asked if I liked cats. Of course, I said yes. Then she told me there was a kitten running around in the parking lot and nobody could catch him. Hah. I went out. I said "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" and this adorable little brown tabby came running and crying right to me. Nobody wanted to give him a home so home he came with me after a brief trip to the vet to have the little guy checked out and tested. He's giving me kisses here. Maybe saying thank you for being his new mommy.

He was a cute little guy.

His two big sisters weren't to happy about their new little brother, but before long he had them charmed. See, here he is giving big sis, Emma, a kiss.

He's now outlived his sisters who died young at only 9 years. I know so much more now about being a cat guardian than I did when I had them. Leo and the 4 kitties I have now owe their good health to my big girls. My vet said, on Leo's last checkup, that he was the healthiest looking of the bunch. I told her the secret must be in the fish food.

~~~
Happy birthday, my dear boy, and my you have many, many, many more birthdays!
I love you, Leo!

In the last week...

2009-04-18T22:59:00.002-05:00

I've lost 2 molly fry and a molly adult :(
Leo turned 10! (I'll post a special birthday post for him tomorrow)
I've mowed the grass for the first time this season (hooray the mower works! Thanks, Dad!)
Gracie (my unofficial 6th cat) was found snacking on a dead baby mockingbird in the yard next door. I chased her off and gave the little bird a peaceful burial.
I've set up a second tank and when the Ph balances the boy fish will be moving.

This concludes the week in review. :)

Counting the fry

2009-04-09T23:22:00.004-05:00

These buggers are hard to count when there are so many of them and I kept forgetting to count as I was catching and rescuing. So I took the little fake plants out of their breeding net and took a bunch of pictures so I could count them without them moving around and hiding. I come up with 20 now for sure.

Er, make that 20 fry

2009-04-09T22:34:00.001-05:00

I just rescued 3 from the filter. They were below the basket. I don't know if they'll survive, but they are with the other babies now. I cut an old net off the handle and covered the filter intake with it, securing it with a rubber band so no more babies will go through the filter. Thankfully someone suggested I check. Poor babies. What a ride they had! I hope they live!

17 Molly Fry

2009-04-09T20:34:00.003-05:00

That's 17 baby mollies. I bought 4 mollies from the pet store last week. By Sunday I had 11 baby mollies. Surprise! I went out and bought a birthing/breeding net which is shaped like a box with plastic frame surrounded by a net with the top open. It hangs in the tank and you put the babies in and keep them safe. Mollies are live breeders and the big fish will eat the babies. Even the mothers will eat their own young. Yuck! The first bunch I found were 11 total. I lost 2 in the last few days. Tonight I looked in on them and there's one outside the net. I counted the babies inside the net and came up with the original 9. I caught 8 more new fry and added them to the first 9. Now I've got 17. I've got a lead on a 10 gallon tank (the one I have is 20 gallon) with everything I need to set up a second tank and as soon as possible I'm moving the boys to the new tank. Only one of the molly adults is male and the mommy or mommies were pregnant before they left the store. So, I'll move Mr. Molly over to the new tank and when the babies are old enough to be out with the big fish, I'll separate the boys out to the new tank. If I have more boys than girls then I'll move the girls over instead and leave the boys in the bigger tank. I just don't want any more babies! But we might not be done yet since the moms can continue having babies for up to 90 days on one fertilization. Oh joy.
~~~
Here's a video of the kids and the rest of the finned family.

I am sad tonight

2009-03-30T21:30:00.002-05:00

I am sad tonight because I am thinking of a fellow I went to college with who was probably the only guy I went on an official date with in college and with whom I'd just recently reconnected with via Facebook in the last few weeks. We had been joking back and forth doing virtual pillow fights and talking about McDonald's junk food and late night munchies. I knew he had cancer. I knew it would probably kill him. I didn't know that last night he would be departing this life. Lee leaves behind two kids, his two wiener dogs (and possibly a cat?), family and many friends. I didn't know him that well in college. I was just starting to get to know the the man he had become and that journey has come to an end. He would have been 41 on April 13th. Lee, I ate McDonald's for dinner in your memory tonight. I hope you appreciate that sacrifice :) I am glad I got to "know" you again and I hope you are at peace now looking down on your kids and everyone who loved you. Sleep well my friend.

Post # 777

2009-03-29T12:52:00.002-05:00

Does this make me extra lucky today or holy? Or I will just settle for feeling a wee bit better today. I bought a bottle of Tylenol cold medicine for daytime and one for night time and it seems to work pretty good. I did better sleeping last night than the night before. We had some nasty weather yesterday afternoon in the form of a long, narrow line of storms that rolled through the area with some straight line winds and really heavy rain. I thought it was hailing at one point, but it was just the rain hitting the windows and roof really hard. Bobbie said she got hail over near Atlanta. Near the tail end of the storms, I was sitting on the couch with Leo on one side of me and Scully on the other. I think I needed them to be close to me as much as they need me to be close to them. :)

Blech

2009-03-27T23:34:00.003-05:00

I have a cold. Colds suck. It started with a sore throat on Wednesday and yesterday the snot factory began. Today was even worse. Luckily I had the ability to work from home today because it was a busy work day. The kitties kept me company today. Sammy even helped keep my legs warm earlier. I didn't bowl in my league tonight which is a bummer because I was looking forward to it. I hope I'll be better tomorrow so I can meet some friends for lunch and a movie. I have some cleaning to do this weekend because my parents are coming for a visit and they arrive on Wednesday. I hate to clean and I really hate to clean when I feel like crap. Due to the parental visit and my trip to PA coming up in May, I've had to pass on some opportunities to foster three different litters of kittens that still have their momma with them. One I heard of today was a momma who was very pregnant. That would be so neat to foster the mom and her babies from the day they were born. And yet, I know I'd be even more attached than ever before. But wow, I haven't seen brand new kittens since I was a little girl. I told the shelter manager when I get back in May I will be able to foster because I don't plan to travel or have any visitors until I go on my cruise in October. I'm sure I'll get a foster opportunity. Kitten season never really completely ends!

The horse and the donkey

2009-03-23T19:08:00.002-05:00

On my way to work, I pass two houses on land also shared with various farm animals. The pieces of land are on the same street, nearby, one on each side of the street. The property on the south side of the road has 3 donkeys and a black and white cow. They apparently are rescues of some sort as they've been there for several years now. They appear to have several acres of nice grass to munch on and the property is big enough that they can be out of sight for several days in another part of the acreage. On the north side of the road is a much, much smaller piece of land with a small house and small yard which house several farm animals, most recently added were a brown horse and a brown donkey. I'm assuming this is a donkey. I don't know much about them or it could be a mule. I don't know what the difference is. Anyway, it's not a horse. I've been feeling sorry for this donkey and horse because of the small often muddy yard. They do get fresh hay, but they didn't really have any shelter and just no room. I was almost to the point where I was going to call animal control. This morning, on my way to work, I noticed a brown horse in the big pasture. I didn't see the horse or the donkey in the small yard. Hmmmmm.... Tonight I went down the road a little slower and saw the brown horse AND the brown donkey now in the big pasture! There is no sign of them in the small yard. I'm 99% sure they have been moved across and down the street to the big pasture. They were grazing very peacefully near the cow and the other three donkeys. I don't know their stories, but I sure was glad to see them in the big field now with plenty of room to roam and graze.

Cocoa and the one that got away

2009-03-17T21:29:00.001-05:00

Turn up the sound a bit to hear Cocoa "talking" to the fishy.

Fosterless again

2009-03-16T18:05:00.002-05:00

Adam (formerly Spot) and Danny (formerly Stripe) are up for adoption as of Saturday when I took them to the adoption center. I was sung to the entire 20 miles from the house to the store. Yes, that was a fun trip. It was just singing though because they were pretty relaxed and had sleepy eyes. No surprise seeing as how they woke me up at 7am Saturday morning. I know I had sleepy eyes! I had no sob scene at the store, but I didn't stick around for long. Shed a tear or two then went on with the rest of my day. It wasn't until I got home and finally opened their bedroom door and saw the bowls and the toys and the box and their big blankie that I crumbled a bit. They were here only three days but these sweet little boys stole a piece of my heart and the house was very quiet for a while. I'll see them again tomorrow night when I work adoptions. I sure hope I get to meet their new family. I would love to see them get adopted together.

Rest in peace, KittyBoy

2009-03-14T09:35:00.003-05:00

KittyBoy shortly after he became one of Bobbie's bunch last year.

~~~
Bobbie's beautiful KittyBoy died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday. My heart breaks for Bobbie knowing how much she loved KittyBoy and how sweet he was the whole time he lived with her and the bunch after finally giving up life as an outside cat. All of the bunch or special to me, but this dear boy was extra special because he was partially responsible for those 4 tiny terrors I fostered last summer. We're 99.99% sure he was the daddy of Didi, Doolittle, Reggie and Ralphie. He'll live on in them. Please keep Bobbie in your thoughts and prayers.

Introducing Spot & Stripe

2009-03-11T21:50:00.002-05:00

These are my new short timer fosters. If all goes well I think I will be taking them to the adoption center this weekend. They are very sweet boys with loud purrs. They came out of the carrier purring and have not shown much fear, even when one was almost cornered by Leo and Cocoa in the hallway and both big boys hissed, but the little guy just walked around Leo and kept on exploring. They've both been tested so there is no risk of exposure to anything that we know of. They will be spending most of their time in the spare bedroom. It's quiet in there now so I think they are finally settling some for a nap. I can't think of any better names so...
~~~
This is Spot.

~~~
And this is Stripe.

~~~

I have not fallen off the face of the earth

2009-03-09T21:15:00.002-05:00

I've fallen into Facebook. Evil invention. Pet Society, Fishwrangler. I've reconnected to old classmates which was pretty cool.
~~~
Sophia is doing great in her new home with my parents. And she's giving Fritzi and Danny Boy a run for their money. Today found Fritzi fleeing into the closet with Sophia in hot pursuit and Danny flying under the bed while Sophia went in another direction with some of Danny's fur in her mouth. Oh my. They've got a little spitfire on their hands, but all confrontations have been non-violent (don't know so much about that mouth full of fur) and Sophia is still sleeping in her room at night. They are slowly easing her into the household with the boys. She has no fear.

Introducing my new sisfur Sophia

2009-03-01T20:28:00.003-06:00

She and my parents arrived safely home in Florida earlier today. I managed to find my way through the snow to get home safely earlier this evening. It was a very long trip that none of us wish to repeat anytime in this lifetime, but knowing Sophia is safe and loved is worth snow, thunderstorms, bleeding head wounds, famine, locusts, fire (okay not so much the last three, but the first three are true enough).

~~~

Pictures of Sophia in my hotel room yesterday and more about the trip later.

Scully has a twin brother!

2009-02-26T23:12:00.002-06:00

Look!

Here's Scully for comparison.

The $8.69 knob

2009-02-26T23:02:00.004-06:00

It's for my new used dryer. The knob that picks the temperature is missing the little disk that has the little painted dot that tells me what the knob is picking. It's been pretty much a guess for the first half dozen loads I did catching up from the weekend. When I realized that this knob didn't have the disk that the knob next to it did I thought, hmmm, I wonder if I can find that online. I LOVE eBay. I found ONE seller who had the exact knob/disk I needed. See, this is what I'm talking about...

See that darker brown disk with the little white dot on the right? That's what is missing. I can't believe I found it for sale. I checked the Kenmore/Sears parts site and they showed the part as discontinued. I have no idea how old this dryer is. I would guess 15-20 years old. It's just gotta work 12 more months.

A dryer and a cat

2009-02-25T21:34:00.003-06:00

The new used dryer arrived today. It was a little wet since it was raining outside, but the rain was very light and a quick rub down was all it needed. The delivery guy took the new old one off the truck, put it in the garage, took the old broken one out of the house, put the new old one in and left with the old broken one. The new used dryer works great. She ain't pretty, but she'll do. I hope she'll do for about 12 months until I can get my shiny new washer & dryer to take me through the next (I hope) decade. I've already finished 3 loads of laundry with a 4th in the dryer and a 5th in the washer. Much of it was the clothes, blankets and sleeping bag from my trip over the weekend. I never knew how much I'd miss doing laundry until I couldn't do it (well, I could, but drying was a bit of a problem).

***

Cocoa finished out this year's annual vet visits today going solo with me to see our vet who has temporarily moved into a small trailer while a new building is put in place on the old site. They told me the new place will be 2 1/2 times bigger. Wow! Can't wait to see it finished and I know they'll be glad to be out of the temporary digs. Cocoa gained less than half a pound and is in great shape. I don't ever take the cats out of the carrier when we are driving, but he's been in the car before when it was in the garage so I decided to give him a treat and I rode home with him exploring the back seat. I don't recommend this as it's not very safe. If you have to brake suddenly the critter could go flying, but mommy drove her Cocoa boy home safely. He's such a love.

The Replacement

2009-02-23T19:46:00.002-06:00

The dead machine is going off to dryer heaven on Wednesday and a not so pretty clean white used machine is coming to take its place. I found a used appliance store in town today and for $145 I bought the machine, delivery of new used and take away of the old. Deal. Now that means I have to do laundry again. Damn. Calling this place a store is a bit of a stretch. It was a little scary inside. They have a 30 day warranty so if the new used machine breaks in 30 days they will swap it out if they can't fix it. And if it breaks in 31 days...I will not be a happy camper. It just needs to work until next February when Uncle Sam sends me another refund (or we get another stimulus check).

Rest in peace

2009-02-22T18:39:00.004-06:00

My dryer

1997 ~ 2/19/09

I will miss you very, very, very much.

Dat food ain't right!

2009-02-17T23:59:00.002-06:00

I bought a bag of cat food on January 30th, but didn't need to open it until this weekend - Sunday to be exact. And much to my dismay, my little piglets turned their noses up at the food. Crap! Apparently that's what they thought about it, too. I didn't see much change in the food level yesterday so last night I put the food back in the bag, taped it shut and today at lunch I went to Costco and returned that bag with an explanation and they gave me a quick refund with no problems. I found a bag with a different lot number and use by date, brought it home and put some in the food bowls. Scully & Cocoa dove in. I put food in three more bowls so the others could have some without having to wait. Then I went back to work with a great sigh of relief. I don't know what was wrong with the bag I bought at the end of January. Someone else I know up in Canada had the same problem and ended up going to another store because she had just bought the bag and the one store had bags of same or near lots. Lucky for me, it had been 2 weeks since my purchase and a new delivery was made with fresher food. I felt so guilty when I left this morning and the food bowls were empty. I thought Scully was going to start chewing on my ankles. I threw Temptations down for all of them and ran for my life.

Don't buy puppies!

2009-02-16T20:14:00.001-06:00

We stole this from the Brat Pack (figured they wouldn't mind)!

New favorite spots for Maggie & Sammy

2009-02-16T20:08:00.002-06:00

The cost of a U.S. Passport

2009-02-15T20:19:00.002-06:00

My last passport expired almost 9 years ago and if all things go according to the current plan, I'll be needing a passport for a vacation trip in October. I'm taking my first CRUISE! It will be a short 5 day cruise with only 2 ports - Grand Cayman and Cozumel - but I'm already looking forward to it and it's cheap. I just got a rude awakening though when I was filling out the passport application online. My passport renewal fee is $100! WOW! I figured maybe $15-$25. I'm just sitting here in shock. And if you need to expedite, it's another $60. Yikes!

Scully plays

2009-02-15T18:53:00.004-06:00

My silly little girl will spontaneously start playing with the "go around" toys here in the computer room when I'm not paying attention to her. I haven't been able to get a video of her playing because she hears the camera come on and comes running to me to get scritches. This time she was more interested in the toy.

Another reason I should keep my house clean

2009-02-15T15:53:00.002-06:00

Or clean it more often. I found a little windfall just now - a $25 gift card. I have no idea if it is one I bought for someone and didn't give it or one someone bought for me and I haven't spent it. I just checked and the balance is still $25. It was with an iTunes gift card I haven't checked yet (but I scratched off the code on the back) and I think I got that for Christmas in 2007. So, I'm guessing that $25 gift card I got then, too. Probably from my parents. Cool! I'm cleaning the house and watching the Daytona 500. Have already gotten 2 calls from Dad who is at the track watching the race with my aunt, uncle and a neighbor of my parents'.

Happy Birthday, Cocoa!!

2009-02-14T13:05:00.004-06:00

It's my baby's 5th birthday today. My big black love kitty was born approximately on Valentine's Day in 2004 and found his way to my house in November that year. He was instantly comfortable with me and moved in with the family with very little problem. He's the youngest and the biggest and I love him so very much! Happy birthday, Puff Kitty!

Help Coweta Kittens

2009-02-14T11:58:00.004-06:00

See that widget thing on the left? If you have an extra few bucks, please donate via this widget, which takes donations securely via Paypal, to help buy vaccines for young kittens in Coweta County, GA, to give them a better chance at a healthy life. A friend of mine has made it her mission to help save the cats and kittens there and get them homes before the clock runs out and they are euthanized. I had a personal interest this week with Honey getting pulled and spent yesterday celebrating her life and mourning the cats who didn't get the same chance she did and were euthanized. So, even $5 will help vaccinate one baby and give them a better chance at life. Click on the ChipIn button in the widget at the left or go directly to the ChipIn site by clicking HERE. Thanks!

Honey passed a big hurdle today

2009-02-13T21:49:00.001-06:00

She tested negative for FeLV and FIV. Phew! I always think positive, but still hold my breath for those test results. She's a bit feisty when it comes to pilling. I pity her foster mom who has her and at least one more who was pulled from the same shelter and has the same URI. The other one is easier to pill, but he's also a little more sick. I just hope Honey gets better soon so she can get spayed and not be delayed too long before heading for FL. I don't know when I'll get to meet her myself.

A new addition to the family

2009-02-12T21:48:00.004-06:00

No, the Five Frisky Felines won't be 6, but my 2 brofurs down in Florida will soon have new little sisfur. Her tentative name is Honey and she was pulled from a kill shelter in GA this afternoon. She was schedule to die tomorrow. We tried to pull at least one more, but were unable to do it. I'm sad that some beautiful kitties are going to lose their lives tomorrow, but we got this girl out and a few others earlier in the week. Here is a picture of my new little sisfur who is currently in a foster home being treated for a URI.

We think she's about a year old. Our only concern other than the URI is that she tests negative for FeLV and FIV. I'm hopeful that won't be a problem. She looks so much like my parents' cat Toby that died almost 2 years ago. That's what originally caught my eye when I saw her picture.

If you are in or around Coweta County, GA, and would be interested in becoming a foster home for a cat or two, please let me know. There is an urgent need for foster homes in that area.