My Famous Encounter

The only close up encounter of a celebrity was when I worked at Disney World. I happened to be working at Dumbo the Flying Elephant and I was able to sit Alan Thicke and his son on an elephant. That is all. As far as seeing celebrities...I have got great pictures from concerts. Allison Krauss and Reba!

It's really not again

We tried. The little kitty didn't make it. It passed away on Friday sometime while I was at work and Helen was in town running errands. It's sad, but at the same time it's okay. I said when we first took it in that if its going to die, then I'd at least give it a fighting chance. We did what we could, but it was just too weak.

Not Again!!!

Well, our kitty count has doubled. We now have 2 cats. This one is even smaller than Chance was when we first found him. Let me back up and set the scene. On Monday, when I got home from work Helen stopped me in the driveway and told me to park right where I was and come inside the house. She called me back to the back door and had me look out in the back yard against the house. The only thing I could see was white fur. I'll admit for a brief second I thought it was AnnaBelle. Not getting my hopes up, I asked if it was a cat. Helen told me it was, and that it had 5 kittens at about lunchtime. I opened the door to get a closer look and sure enough, there they were, 5 tiny little kitties and their mama. We didn't want to disturb her so we closed the door and went back inside. A little while later, my curiosity got the best of me and as I went to park my motorcycle under the shop, I slowly walked up the back porch where I could see the babies. The mama saw me and started hissing. I just tried talking to her in a sweet calm voice, but she just hissed and hissed (just like a woman...always mad about something. I mean you can't even walk without getting in trouble!! Just kidding.). So, I went inside and left her alone.
Anyway, as I was leaving for work the next morning, I looked down to check on them and noticed that she had moved the kittens; all except for one. I didn't think anything about it. I just figured that she hadn't finished moving them all yet, so I went on my merry little way to work. I let Helen know about the lone kitty, and to check to see if the mama comes for it. I called about noonish to check, and she said it was still there. So I was wondereing if we should take it and feed it. Helen told me she had called Quailwood and they said to give till the end of the day. Okay no big deal then, it will be fine. When I came home, I checked again and it was still there. No sign of mama. The weather was starting to turn bad; Hurrican Dolly was in Texas, and was throwing thunderstorms at us. I told her that I'm going to get it and take care of it since the weather was getting bad. Still not wanting to touch it, I got a small hand towel and picked it up and started towards the car (we were going to Mom and Rich's) when mama cat came from the neighbor's yard. I laid the kitty down on the towel in the grass, and we all went back inside and watched so we wouldn't freak her out again. She walked up to her baby and sniffed it for a little while, and sat down beside it. After a few minutes, she walked away like it was nothing. So, we decided we'd put it in a box with some of Chance's food (for the mama) and see what would happen when we got back from mom's. It was still in the box when we got home, and I couldn't just let it die. I figured the mama abandoned it when she walked away from it, but wanted to give her every possible opportunity to take it. I figured if it was going to die, then I would at least give it a "chance" to live. I have never really been a fan of cats, but I won't just let it die either. I took it in the house and started the whole process over again the same way I did with chance. Although this kitt still has the umilical cord attached and its eyes aren't open yet. It's doing very well I think. It has survuved 3 days with us so far, and is looking good. I'll post some pictures when we get some.

Happy Independence Day!!

As my grandfather so proudly stated last Sunday... It is Independence Day not the 4th of July. We don't celebrate the 25th of December or 31st of October, so why is it that we celebrate the 4th of July?? It made me rethink the holiday. I personally love Independence Day.

I am grateful that I do live here America. I love BBQs, eating watermelon, being dressed in Red, White, and Blue, and I especially love the FIREWORKS!!!. I wish every holiday celebrated with fireworks. I personally feel that the louder they are the better. This year I have to admit was a bit of a let down. We went to the Agrirama last year and had a great view,so we went again this year. We went early to make sure we found our spot again and ended up waiting a good hour and half for the fireworks to start. At about 9:35ish they finally started.

It was going good. Nathan didn't cry and Sam just watched in amazement. Then lots of fireworks went off...was is the finale already...couldn't be...it's only be going for 10! Sure enough it was, but I must add that at the point the finale began, a rocket shot off and started a fire in the woods. We all figured that due to safety reasons they ended the show early. That is what we are telling ourselves anyway. All in all we did enjoy the time together. So remember for next year...Happy Independence Day!

Potty Training 101

So last week I decided that I would buckle down and introduce Nathan to the potty. He had gone on it before but that was awhile back and it was more of a fun thing as opposed to a necessary thing. So, I woke up eager and ready to start. Nathan has been wearing Pull-Ups so I told him that today he would be wearing big boy underwear. He was very excited. I put them on and a shirt to keep things simple. I set him on the potty and waited. Nothing happened, but that's okay he tried. I then set the timer for 20 minutes to help remind me to set him on it again. No sooner had 15 minutes passed when I discovered that he had wet his underwear. I didn't yell or scream or even scold. I just took him into the bathroom and gave him the potty talk while he sat on the potty again. I asked him him where does his tee-tee go and he responded, "In the Potty!" I gave him a high-five and told him that's right. I also reaffirmed the difference between wet and dry and that we wanted him to keep his big boy underwear dry. Of course he said in his most excited way "OH-Kay!" Off the potty and into his room to put on a clean and dry pair of underwear. Set the timer again. This time however, 15 minutes. Occasionally I would ask him if his big boy underwear was dry and he would say yes. However, in 2-5 minutes time, after we had changed him before, he had wet again. Oh ! I forgot to mention that while doing this with Nathan I had Sammie going around commando. She had woken up and had a terrible diaper rash, so I was letting her little rear get some air. Back to Nathan. So after this round of wetting I repeated everything as before. Third pair of underwear were on after sitting on the potty for at least 15 minutes to "make sure all the tee-tee had come out". Once again about 2-5 minutes later..."Potty,Potty," Nathan let me know that he had already wet. Repeat steps. All in all in about a hour and half time, Nathan had successfully gone through no less than 7 pairs of big boy underwear while Sammie had successfully peed on me and all in her bed while taking her nap.( I expected that of Sam though.) We ended the morning by putting on a pull-up to take a nap. I had even called Ryan and let him know that if he felt so inclined as to leave work early, today would be a great day. He just laughed at me. I couldn't believe he would do that. Anyway, day 1 of training did not go well,but hey try and try again. So yesterday I did that. Day 2 of training. I am pleased to announce that we only went through 2 pairs of underwear! No, no tee-tee entered into the potty though. I am just happy that he stayed dryer longer. So I will continue to try. In the meantime, please enjoy my funny story and I will keep you posted on the progress.

A Chance Encounter

On Father's Day weekend, I was mowing Mom, and Papa Rich's yard as a surprise for Papa Rich. We are too poor to buy a gift, and I wanted to do something for him, so I figured he would be just as appreciateive for being able to go an extra week without having to mow (I would be). It was looking like it was about to storm, so I was trying to hurry and get the mowing done, also mom and Rich would be home soon and I wanted to have it done before they got home. I had made about 4 or 5 passes in the ditch in their front yard, and was coming up to the culvert and driveway when I noticed a movement in front of me. I looked and saw that it was a little kitty. It's eyes were just barely open. It was crawling towards the culvert as best as it could. I stopped the mower and picked him up. He had a really bad looking cut/laceration on his back at the base of his tail. I took him inside to show Helen. She just looked at him, and asked where in the world did you find that? I told her how I had found him in the ditch. I know he wasn't there when I started mowing because I would have either seen him or run over him. I believe someone tossed him out of their car since the cut on his back was so fresh. I told Helen we can't just let him die, we had to do something. I called Quailwood (a local animal hospital) and told the doctor what had happened. He asked if we wanted to keep him for ourselves or give him to the humane society. As any man in this situation would do, I said "hang on, I need to ask my wife." We weren't quite sure what to do, I mean we just found him and were thrown into the situation. After talking about it for a while, we decided we would keep him for now and see if we could "nurse him back to health". The doctor told us to put peroxide and neosporin on his wound and keep it clean. I went and got some baby kitty milk and a bottle from Wal-Mart. I had never bottle fed an animal before so it was definitely a learning experience for me and the cat. We both finally got the hang of it and he began to eat more and more. His wound wasn't looking so good though. I called the vet back and asked if we could bring him in for a check-up since I was off work until the evening. At his first vet visit, which was 4 days after we found him, he weighed 5 oz.!! The doctor put him on an antibiotic for 10 days and told us to keep cleaning his wound. He wasn't getting better after a few days, so Papa Rich took him back to the vet for us (I had to work). A different doctor looked at him this time, and said that his wound was infected pretty badly. He hadn't gained any weight, and it would be a struggle for him to survive. We needed to be prepared to put him down if it came to it because things didn't look good for him. The doctor put him on a stronger medicine and told us to keep him clean and fed. We needed to keep the kids away from him because they didn't know what kind of bacteria was infecting him, but it was dangerous. I thought about giving him to the animal shelter because I didn't want to risk my children's health to save a cat, but I figured I'd give him a few more days. He started looking better and becoming more active after a couple of days on the new medicine. He was also eating more. Papa took him to the vet again and the doctor was surprised at how well he was doing. His wound was healing nicely, and he was gaining weight. He now weighs 12 oz. We decided to name him Chance. It fits him considering the circumstances of how we found him. He is cute as can be and is becoming more playful. Sorry if I've rambled on too much. This is my first time blogging.