Remembering Olivia Rose

My darling little 14 month old girl that I lost four years ago today. She was so young, and had only begun to live. It's so unfair that her life was so short. I was truly blessed to have her in my life, even if it was only for a short nine months. She was the sweetest little being.

Fly with those angel wings of yours and have a ball, sweet Livia. Until we are together once again....

Plant Identification?

We have two mystery plants growing in our yard this year that we've never had before. The first one is growing in the dirt by the gutter and by the cinder blocks about 8 feet way, but no place else in the yard at all. There are clusters of berries that start out green and turn a deep purple. Any idea what it is? Is it or the berries poisonous? Raeka likes to eat the grass around this plant, so if it's not safe, I'm going to yank it up!

The second one is growing all around the shed. Never did before this year. It's really pretty actually, and sort of delicately bushy.

I have no idea why all of a sudden we have these two new additions to the yard. Maybe all the rain we had early in the summer that lasted a month!

RIP Sweet Lulu

My sweet little Lulu passed away during the night last night. She showed no sign of illness, but was close to two years old from what I could figure, so maybe it was just her time. She and I have been through a lot together over the past few months. I will miss her darling little face, her charming antics, her gentle ways, her sweet personality. Goodbye my dear little one....I miss you already.

Pnigel

My little rat boys are four months old now and they are growing like weeds! Pnigel continues to be the smart, adventurous, friendly one, while Simon is more reserved, shy, and I hate to say it, but simple minded. I love him just the same, but he's not the sharpest little guy. Pnigel loves to have me pet him and will even leave one of his favorite special foods, spaghetti, to come and say "hi". Look at his sweet little face and the tomato sauce on his hands. Doesn't he look as if he's about to say something?

Melissa's Fur Kids

My sister Melissa is in Boston, 220 miles away, healing from bilateral hip replacements for congenital high dislocated hips. They were very complicated surgeries, much more so than a regular hip replacement, so she will be there for another week or so. In the meantime, here at home she has many pets that are missing her something awful. I thought I'd share some of them with you.

First there's Lindsey. She and her brother Howie are Manx. She is tiny and reminds me of a little fawn. She is very attached to Melissa, but is doing surprisingly well with her gone.

Here's her brother Howie, a silver tabby Manx, with Gracie, one of the skittish gray kitties.

Here are some of the boys. The black one is Guido, the gray one up in the back is Stormy Sky, and then there's Howie again, and Grace in the front.

Another of sweet Guido, who suffers from hyperthyroidism and kidney failure. Not a good combination :(

Here's sweet old Maggie Lou, beagle girl. She's missing her mommy terribly.


And lastly is Gabby Blue, a Siberian husky. She's a crazy nut!

I'm missing a couple. Lucky, Storm's brother, and Hunter, the newest member of the family. She was hit by a car and Melissa found her and rushed her to the vet. No one claimed her, so she lives here now. She's a long haired black kitty missing part of one ear to frostbite and a tail like an enormous feather duster. I'll share their pictures as soon as I get some on my digital camera.

How I Spent My Saturday

I've been on an email list called Canine-L since 1998. It is the best group of people you could ever hope to meet. I've had the opportunity to meet some of them in person and it nevers fails to amaze me how comfortable it is talking to someone you've just met, but that's how it always is.

Each year or so, we have a t-shirt design contest and the winning design is put on shirts and accessories, with any proceeds going to our COMFY fund. A fund that helps people who may need support financially for their sick dog. This year, 103 items were ordered, ranging from t-shirts, long sleeved tees, sweatshirts and hoodies, tote bags and aprons. They came out great!

I've been the one that has taken care of the organizing, printing, sorting, packing and shipping of the shirts for the past several years, with the help of another Canine-L friend, Andrea, that puts together the website for voting and ordering. It appears that this will be the last time we organize this project as it's been decided to use Cafe Press going forward, but I would like to say that it's been an honor to be a part of this fund raiser each year and I hope it has helped pay back in some small way for when I needed the help from the COMFY myself.

37 packages waiting to be mailed

Phoebe helping me out

Birds and Buds

I found this nest out under the pine tree today. It was laying upside down with the strangest appendage protruding from it. Can you tell what it is? Look closely......

It's a dryer sheet! This mama bird wanted fresh smelling, no static babies, apparantly.

I walked out to the backyard and found that the peonies are getting ready to burst from their buds. The buds are huge this year! I heard on a gardening show that to get larger blossoms you should pluck off the smaller buds that grow around the sides. These buds are almost the size of ping pong balls. I can't wait until they open. My sister is in the hospital in Boston MA (we're in Vermont), so as soon as they open I will bring some down to her so she can enjoy them during her stay in rehab. She had one total hip replacement on Monday, June 8th, and the other will be done on Monday, June 22nd. I'll save that story for another time.

And, tell me, why do people dislike dandelions? I love them. They are gorgeous and cheery when they bloom, and even when they turn to fluffy, seedy heads they make me smile.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom's been gone for three months now, and today would have been her 78th birthday.

I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday....

Richard Henry Bolton - June 30, 1927 ~ May 27, 2005

Love you, Dad....

Happy Gotcha Day, Pheebs!

Six years ago today I was visiting my friend Amy in Maine and we went to a friend of hers that did cat rescue, and I adopted Phoebe Jane (then known as Sophia). She was a frightened little kitty back then, but is now a big, lovely, snuggly girl. I'm so blessed to have her in my life.

Phoebe and Raeka really adore each other. My two little black and white girls.

Happy Gotcha Day, Pheebs :)

I Hope You Were Waiting for Another Rat Fix!

Pnigel and Simon are eight and a half weeks old now and are just the most adorable little ratties ever! I have been handling them daily, and Pnigel is really coming around. He seems to enjoy walking on me and sitting on my shoulder. Simon is a little nervous norman and I have to chase him around in the cage to even catch him and then when I hold him I can feel his entire little body shaking. I will continue to work with him and I'm sure with time he will learn that it is safe to be outside his cage.

Here is Pnigel walking around on me. Notice how color coordinated we are with his little pink feet and my pink shirt!

He looks so much bigger in these pictures than he does in his cage. Such a handsome little man, isn't he?

Here is Simon. He's too nervous to walk around on me and I have to hold on to him so he doesn't just take a flying leap off into mid air. Isn't he the cutest boy ever?

And I have to share this sweet picture of Miss Lulu. She was sleeping in her hammock and in the perfect position for a picture, so I couldn't resist. I woke her up with the cage door, but she still didn't move so I was able to get some sleepy pics of her. She is so cute...

Lastly, here are just some cute pics of the boys. I apologize for the blurriness. I guess I was too close. Pnigel greets me at the door everytime I open it, usually from the hammock.

Simon enjoying a yummy pea.

That's it for this weeks edition of Raising Ratties :)

New Babies

Let me introduce you to Pnigel and Simon. My new babies. They were seven weeks and one day old when I drove to Woodsville NH to pick them up on Sunday.

Pnigel is creme colored with a white belly. He is a little wild man! He's also very friendly and curious about everything. I came close to calling him Spidey for Spiderman for the way he jumps onto the bars and runs along sideways.

Pnigel had a bit of mycoplasma when he arrived but his eyes and nose have since cleared up since getting him out of the pine bedding they were in and starting them on grapefruit seed extract in their water.

Simon is more reserved, but has started to come to see me when I open the cage door instead of hiding in the corner.

Isn't he just huggably, squeezably adorable?

I put a hammock in their cage and it only took them minutes to figure out what it was for. They sleep in it all the time. They have yet to discover that there is a pocket for them to climb into. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Sweet Daisy Mae

April 25, 1992. My darling Daisy Mae was born. It was to be the luckiest day of my life because she became my special girl. My heart and soul. My heart dog. There will never be another one like her and my heart still aches from missing her. It's hard to believe that she has been gone for four years now.

I love you, my sweetheart. And I miss you so....