Monday, February 28, 2011

Bug update....

I have had some people ask about her and I also realize that she is now about 6 months old (how did that happen?). So I emailed her new mom and asked how things are going. Jane has been pretty sick and ended up having to have surgery, so I didn't get many details, but she sent a picture. She also said Bug has been an excellent nursemaid spending most of her time curled up in bed with Jane. Her husband is jealous since Bug was "supposed" to be his birthday present.  :)

If possible, I think she may be getting cuter. No, it isn't you, the picture is fuzzy....

Friday, February 25, 2011

Grandma update....

Mom called over there last night for the update. No replacement (YEAH!!). The doctor sewed up a torn something-or-other and cleaned it up some but said both joints look pretty good. Grandma was sleeping and grandpa was watching basketball. The doctor said she should be off the crutches next week, so it sounds like she should be better sooner than we thought.

Grandma called this morning and said she wasn't feeling great and not to call for a while since she was going to take a nap. Wish we could be there to keep you company. :) Since we can't, we have having Tim send you some smooches!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Thankful Thursday....

At this point, mom is just thankful it IS Thursday. She has unburied her desk after vacation, but is trying to get stuff done for the end of the month.

She was clicking through some pictures and found this one of Mons. He was adopted several months ago now, but was a pretty awesome mancat. In the second picture, he had gone to an adoption event at Petsmart (sorry for the fuzzy picture - mom took it on her phone). Mom likes to take our harness and leash to give the cats a little more freedom. He didn't seem to mind it at all and spent most of the afternoon lounging near the birdseed. The guy who adopted him was just looking for a mellow cat to keep him company since he worked from home. Mons was a bit of a dork that night - whapping the guy and love biting his fingers. Mons must have known what he was doing though cause the guy put him on hold and came back the next night to finalize everything.


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wordless Wednesday...

Got to thinking about Ivy as a kitten...and found some pics of her and her sisters (and Spud)



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tuesday trip update....

Mom said they had a great time in Disney. Epcot on Friday and Magic Kingdom on Saturday. She had to leave to drive home on Sunday, but everyone else spent the day in Animal Kingdom.

The drive home wasn't bad. She kept texting her brother and a friend near home so someone knew where she was. Except for Daytona - she forgot about some car race and ended up sitting in traffic.

Before we gets to the pictures, two things: Malay and Holland are getting their surgeries today. Mom completely forgot it was National Spay Neuter Day, but apparently the kittens get to celebrate. The clinic is celebrating by offering low cost appointments to pitties. Mom said she met a couple of puppies this morning that were super cute. Also, grandma is having knee surgery on Thursday. She fell off her bike last fall after being run off the road by a car and messed it all up. The dr said he hopes he won't have to replace it but won't know until he starts, so the decision will be up to grandpa as to what to do.

And now: Disney pictures....

Cinderella's castle

Lanah & Grandma waiting for the magic carpet ride

Grandpa, Rob & Lanah at the Swiss Family tree house

Abby & Lanah waiting for Epcot's fireworks

Grandpa, Grandma & Lanah at Epcot


Lanah in Japan

Lanah in Morocco

Lanah in France

Yep - most of them are of mom's niece. Oh - and she wants to say sorry....she completely forgot to get a new picture of Minnie their puppy. :)

Monday, February 21, 2011

Yeah - MOM IS HOME!!!

Yep - I got back about 3pm today. Left Orlando Sunday morning, got stuck in traffic around Daytona (forgot about the car race) and then stayed overnight in Rock Hill SC. Another few hours today and I am home.  Everyone seemed pretty happy to see me. I did talk to the petsitter and she said Holland never came out, but he is sitting in the chair with me right now (Malay is on the desk staring VERY intently at the cursor and blocking part of the screen). I did ask if she ever sees Junior and she only sees him in passing.

I will get pictures up from Disney tomorrow - depending on how bad my desk looks. :)

Mozart Monday....

Well, we have been abandoned.

    You have not - I was just gone a few days with the family to Disney.

Whatever mom....you weren't here for snuggling all weekend. We like Miss Carolee ok, but it isn't the same.

Anyhow, mom got a new car. Her brother works for VW and she bought out his employee lease. As we speak, she is finishing the drive back from Florida. While she isn't excited about the trip, she is excited about the new car.  Check out Penny: (she is a limited edition Red Rock Beetle)

Friday, February 18, 2011

2010 Annual Purr-fur-mance Review

Review of: Mom
Date: 2/18/11
Reviewed by: Maestro, Tim, Tom, Mozart, Ivy and Spud (with comments from Chiclet and Junior)

Quantity of Output: Purrty good.  She don't post on the weekends, but then again, if she spent the weekends on the 'puter, we wouldn't get any lap time ("YEAH - we love lap time" says the foster kittens)

Quality of Output: she spends a heck of a lot of time posting about those darned foster kittens.  Course, if she posts about them, maybe they will get adopted and get out of our house

Client Pawticipation: We think mom put her email address around here somewhere.  Sometimes she is not so tech savvy....But we love the comments we get. Sometimes it is good just to know mom isn't talking to herself in cyberspace.  MOL

Pawticipation (II): contests, parties, etc: yep, sometimes. But she posts mostly from work, so she can't put too much time into it (cause if those boss guys find out then we will have a green paper shortage)  Plus we got her with the commentathon we had and made her donate some green papers

Client Satisfaction: We think so. We get some good comments and are slowly picking up more followers.

Overall Rating: Medium....probably more she could do (more gooshy foods lady!!!) but overall, not bad.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A cat in need....

Mom got an email from a lady she used to work with (which made her laugh - apparently once you get the rescue lady moniker people remember you).

Anyhow, Waldo needs a new home. He is 7 year old, neutered and up to date on shots and everything. He is front declawed and good with kids and dogs. His mom is worried about sending him to a shelter due to his age and has been told by the few local no-kill shelters that they are full). One of his kids has developed really bad allergies and asthma and she has been in the hospital twice because of it. If you are interested, I am sure we could work out transport, but he is living in central Ohio.

On the subject of being bleeped...

OK, so I went a little nutty yesterday. Some things just set me off....

But, I got thinking about it. I try to be careful about editing myself before opening my mouth. Doesn't always work... 

However, it makes me laugh sometimes when things happen around the house. Since I am single, it is usually just me and the cats.  I am sort of handy, but just usually enough to get myself in trouble.

One afternoon I am sitting on the floor working on the box by the window that the cats sit on to look outside. Loose leg that needed to be screwed on tighter. No big deal. As I am sitting there, the group of kittens at the time (Dragon, Talon & Jumanji) come over and are watching intently. I slip with the screwdriver and bang my hand. Bad words are said. "OK kittens, just don't repeat what you hear". They appear to be paying attention. Then I slip again - and stab myself in the middle of my left hand with the screwdriver. It isn't serious, but it hurt. More bad words.....


Which makes me glad kittens can't speak English or I would have to keep certain groups of kittens just to keep them from repeating things they hear.....  :)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tabby Tuesday...

Mom was sitting on the floor last night trying to get some stuff organized and we were snoopervising helping.  Except mom said we were being a pain in the (bleep).  Hey - mom said another bad word.

    Yeah - so get over it. I was tired of pulling cats out of strange places last night.

Anyhow, she watched that dog thingie. She gets a kick out of it. She does say that she likes that David Frei guy cause it calls it like he sees it and doesn't sugar coat the dogs. He will say if this is a great starter dog or if it should be owned by someone with experience. And the Pedigree commercials get mom all choked up. :)

Speaking of which, mom hasn't said much about this before, but she is pretty fired up now. Seems that Oprah is having the (BLEEP) Vick on her show. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Michael-Vick-booked-on-Oprah-Winfrey-Show-021411/?gt1=39002  WHAT????  Seriously, can someone explain to us why this guy is suddenly forgiven?? He does a few months in jail, a few service things for HSUS and gives them some money, and it is all OK. NO!!! Those dogs suffered and it is taking years to get them rehabbed and into homes and he is using it to further his career and make millions. I say let him live in a trailer and his salary goes to Bad Rap and Best Friends and the other rescues that took these dogs. I don't care how much he paid up front....it will NEVER be enough for what he did.

Francis Battista is one of the founders of Best Friends and wrote two blog entries about this:
  1. never say never
  2. mr president

And honestly, it isn't just him....I was talking to a girl in the office this morning about the tendancy to forgive athletes no matter what they do. What is it about sports figures (or famous people in general) that gets people to say "oh, that is OK?" WRONG WRONG WRONG

OK - sorry...I am getting off my soap box now. It just makes me nuts!!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy V-day....

OK, so this isn't mom's favorite holiday.... But, it is one of her favorite times of the year. Something about dogs on TV walking around in circles.

   It is Westminster guys. It is a big deal and fun to watch.

Whatever mom.  We goofed off most of the weekend:
mom got new shoes, we got a new box

yep, there is a Spud under there

toys...lots and lots of toys...


And mom got Holland and Malay on camera playing (Holland has the blue collar on):

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sunday smiles....

I was supposed to take Sumatra and Phoenix to the adoption center yesterday. We stopped to pick up kitten food at Petsmart and ran into Beckie who volunteers with Colony as well. Seems she got an email from a lady looking for a pair of male tabby brothers. I can help her with that...plus it turns out that Holland is big enough to be neutered. Hoping to hear something today. Cause with as fuzzy as Phoenix is, he won't last long at the adoption center.

And to make you smile, I hit a link that led me to these cat guy videos for the Much Love Animal Rescue Center in California. I am all about cat guys and these videos show you can be tough and still love the kitties!  http://www.muchlove.org/2011/02/10/its-okay-to-be-a-cat-guy-watch-some-realy-cat-guys/

Friday, February 11, 2011

Finally Friday....

Mom plans to crash this weekend. She said something about feeling like she was run over by a bus. We looks for tire tracks and didn't see anything, so we aren't sure what she is talking about (though her voice sounds funny so maybe that is where is happened).

Sumatra and Phoenix did great yesterday and are back home with their siblings. Mom plans to take them to the adoption center tomorrow.  It will be sad to see them go, but they need homes of their own and that goes much better when people can see them in person.

Mom got pretty excited watching the TV lst night. Apparently those Spartan boys got it together and beat those Nittany Lions. Plus Draymond Green got his first triple double. Grandma was very excited - she likes Draymond a lot.  :)

Mom said she is just gonna hang around the house this weekend and try to catch up on some house things. Do you think that means the Dyson monster is coming out again??? Gonna have to plan our hiding spaces now....

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Thankful it is Thursday....

Mom has decided rather than have one of "those days", she is going to have one of "those weeks". She just can't seem to get it together.

Sumatra and Phoenix went in for surgery this morning. The tech told mom she could leave, but mom asked them to weigh Phoenix just in case....he was JUST 2 lbs.  :)

Oh - in the previous post, we said that Sherlock is FeLV positive, but mom decided she should tell something about that. He is actually very healthy, but has to live in a home with other cats that have it since he could "give it away". Mom found this online: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/felv.html
What does FeLV do to a cat?



Feline leukemia virus adversely affects the cat's body in many ways. It is the most common cause of cancer in cats, it may cause various blood disorders, and it may lead to a state of immune deficiency that hinders the cat's ability to protect itself against other infections. The same bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi that may be found in the everyday environment—where they usually do not affect healthy animals—can cause severe illness in those with weakened immune systems. These secondary infections are responsible for many of the diseases associated with FeLV. (from Cornell Vet University)

And mom woke up to a surprise this morning - Junior was spread out sleeping next to her. He jumped up and left as soon as he was discovered, but she laughed just the same. Besides, how could you not love that face???

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wordless Wednesday...(sorta)

Aww - this is Sherlock Holmes from Best Friends.  Keep your eyes open...mom is planning another trip.
Oh - and Sherlock needs a home but is FeLV positive.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Toesday...

Apparently if you try to take pictures
of big brown tabby boys cleaning their toes,
they turn on their lasers and threaten to shoot you....

Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday update....

Grandpa is happy the Packers won yesterday. Mom has to send a condolence email to her friends who are Steeler fans.

Those Spartans got run over again.  sigh....  Wish we knew what was up with those boys.

Mom thinks Phoenix might be big enough to be neutered. Have to weigh him tonight. Sumatra is but it would be nice to send them back in pairs.

And now, on to the pics from the new flashy box...
Holland

Holland

Sumatra Malay & Phoenix

Ivy & Tommy

Chiclet

Tim & Junior

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Snappy Sunday....

HELP!!  Mom bought a new flashy box and we are being tortured! OK - it is mostly the kittens, but still...

See, she got a digital many years ago and it died after a while. So, since her brother is a computer/tech geek and feels the need to upgrade every so often, he gave her his old Canon. Works fine, but a little clunky. Anyhow, she asked his advice for an external harddrive to save her video and he sent her to Best Buy (of course - his favorite store next to Home Depot). Mom had spent a good part of yesterday morning doing research and just couldn't decide. She ended up asking the guy at Best Buy...who said this - really the only difference in the catagory of camera she was looking at was brand. If you are brand loyal, you will buy that brand. Otherwise, they are all pretty similar. So, she picked a Sony and has been using it.

So far she loves it and thinks it is AWESOME!! She will get the pictures up tomorrow, but managed to get a couple of good ones of Junior in the cat condo IN THE DARK!

Mom doesn't so much care about the Super Bowl. The Spartans play Wisconsin this afternoon and she is going to grandma and grandpa's house to watch the massacre game. She said the other day that at the rate this is going, the FOOTBALL team has a better chance to make the Tournament. Not sure what she means, but it made her laugh!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Flashback Friday....

We have met lots of new people here in the CB and thought we would "flashback" to some posts to reintroduce ourselves.

First, an introduction to our Bridge Angels:

Butterscotch was a long haired male orange tabby that lived to age 16.  He was social, lovey and just an all around great cat.  When people talk about the personality of the orange tabby, Butterscotch was a grand example.  My Dad was adamantly anti-cat and used my allergies as an excuse.  However, when I left for college he told my younger brother that if he could stay on the honor roll for 2 semesters he could get a kitten (I swear if Dad knew that was going to work, he would have made the bet for a longer period of time). Dad lost and Rob picked Butterscotch.  When I moved out, Butterscotch and Maestro moved in with me and were wonderful companions for a single girl in a new town.

Tigger was adopted when I lived in Texas.  A guy from work had a cat that had 2 kittens.  I took one and my friend took the other.  Tigg was pretty social when I lived in Texas, but got skittish when I moved back to Ohio.  I swore that I was OK living in an apartment since no one ever saw the 3rd cat. At age 7 he was diagnosed with hepatic lipadosis and we managed to get him through it. The vet said it rarely reoccurs, but I swore to Tigg that if he got sick, I wouldn't put him through that again.  About 2 years later, he got sick again and I let him cross the Bridge.


Maestro is the resident old man of the family at 16 yrs plus.

Tim & Tom are 8 year old brothers. My first venture into fostering cats - maybe the fact that they didn't leave should have been some sort of sign. :)  My favorite story about them is here.


Mozart is the 4 year old house panther.  Mo's hunting story.


Ivy is another foster failure.


Spud was found as a kitten when I was fostering Ivy.  I think part of me was hoping for redemption since he so resembles Tigg.  However, fate has a sense of humor cause Spud has the same spooked out temperment as Tigg did.  sigh....

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Back to work....

The power was on at work this morning so mom left for work.  She was sad, but really, having her home during the week just messes with our schedule of events for the day.

That being said, she played with the camera yesterday...
This is how Tommy spent part of the afternoon:

The kittens goofed off:



Mom cheaped out and rather then turn up the heat, she broke out the space heater:

All and all, not a bad day....

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Thank you....

Mom teared up some reading all the comments about Sultan.  But, we love that about being part of this online community.  Everyone understands and wants to show their support.  And we can't thank you enough for that.

The other kittens are doing well (in fact, mom is currently under attack and is mumbling about cutting toenails).  They are active and eating and being kittens.  Mom is beginning to suspect that Java isn't actually a sibling and just got lumped in with the rest of the group.  No one is at 2 pounds yet, so they will be hanging around for a while.

In other news...
SNOW DAY
Mom doesn't get too many of these since she works in a small office.  But, the power was out this morning, so the bosses said don't come in.  Yeah - we see some lap time in our futures!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Goodbye sweet Sultan

I got home last night and he wasn't doing well.  I got in touch with the vet that helped me with Bug, and they fit me in.  Sultan was very cold and not responding much, but they wanted to try to get his temperature up before making any decisions.

The vet called about 7pm and said that he had perked up some and suggested I take him home and give him a chance.  He didn't eat at all over night and I was up at 6am this morning just holding him.  I left the other kittens in the bathroom and just sat with him in the dark living room and told him it was ok for him to go.  It was strange....all the adults took a spot around the living room and it was so quiet.  Sultan would cry once in a while, but I mostly sat there and listed to him breathe.

The vet office opened at 7:30am.  I called and they said come right over.  The tech got him on a hot blanket surrounded by water bottles and it still took 10 minutes before his temperature even registered on their thermometer.

Roads are terrible here this am as we got an ice storm but the vet made it in and we talked about the options.  I had called the rescue last night and she said she trusted my judgment.  I just felt like it was time to let him go...I didn't want to keep fighting when it felt like the wrong thing to do.  Dr. Hoffman agreed and said she suspects it may just be something congenital and no matter how hard we fight, the end result may be the same. 

So this morning at 8:30am, I let Sultan cross the Bridge.  I know I did the right thing, but it still breaks my heart. 

The tech said as I was leaving that she hopes I don't stop doing the good work I am doing.  I won't, even when it gets hard.  I haven't gone into work yet, and as I sit here at home typing this, Phoenix is sitting between my wrists purring so loudly.... So no matter the heartbreak, there are still lives to be saved.  So I keep it up - in the memory of those that died in shelter with no names, those that are abused but saved by rescues, for those rescues that operate on a shoestring but never give up....and for the small purring fuzzy kitten that still needs my love no matter how bad I feel right now.