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....