Remembering Tiffany...

Tiffany ~ March 1, 1986 ~ April 19, 2002

My sweet little gray girl, Tiffany, passed away seven years ago today. I still miss her so much.

Tiffany came into my life when she was only eight weeks old and stayed until she was 16. She lost her battle with chronic renal failure just a month and a half after her 16th birthday.

Tiffany had fur as soft as rabbit fur. She was blue as a kitten with faint stripes. As she grew she became a lovely shade of grey with little tufts on the very tip of her ears. She also had a few extra toes on her front paws.

Tiff was never much of a lap kitty except with my father. She just loved him to death. She would stand with her back feet on the arm of his chair and just knead on his belly and purr with her eyes closed. She also had a fond attachment to one of my night shirts and I ended up cutting it into two pieces for her so she could hold it in her mouth and knead on it with a look of euphoria on her face.

Tiffany was diagnosed with CRF and it was already to the point that there wasn't much we could do but to keep her comfortable for as long as possible. I learned how to do sub-q fluids at home and had to give them to her every 2-3 days. Keeping her eating was one of the hardest things to do so her vet recommended a steroid to help with her appetite and it helped a lot. She also became anemic and when she got down to a certain number we intended to try her on injections that would help her make more blood cells, but she never quite got to that point. When she got down to under 5 lbs and just seemed like she was having more bad days than good, I chose to let her go. She was the sweetest girl ever....

I took this picture right before taking her to the vet's that last day. Such a love...

Birthday Calculator

Sent to me by my sister, Cindy. http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

Here's what it says about my birthday:

21 January 1960

Your date of conception was on or about 30 April 1959 which was a Thursday.

You were born on a Thursday under the astrological sign Aquarius.
Your Life path number is 11.
Your fortune cookie reads: If your desires are not extravagant they will be granted.
Life Path Compatibility: You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 6.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2436954.5.
The golden number for 1960 is 4.
The epact number for 1960 is 2.
The year 1960 was a leap year.
Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/8/1959 and ending 1/27/1960. You were born in the Chinese year of the Pig.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Otter; your plant is Fern.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Famenoth, the third month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 21 Tevet 5720.Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 22 Tevet 5720.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.6.5.10, which is 12 baktun 17 katun 6 tun 5 uinal 10 kin
The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 22 Rajab 1379 (1379-7-22).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 17 April 1960.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 17 April 1960.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 2 March 1960.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 5 June 1960.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 12 June 1960.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 22 September 1960.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 12 April 1960.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 1 March 1960.

As of 4/11/2009 6:15:05 PM EDTYou are 49 years old.
You are 591 months old.You are 2,568 weeks old.
You are 17,978 days old.
You are 431,490 hours old.
You are 25,889,415 minutes old.
You are 1,553,364,905 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Izabella Miko (1981)
Emma Lee Bunton (1976)
Hakeem Olajuwon (1963)
Robby Benson (1956)
Geena Davis (1956)
Jill Eikenberry (1947)
Mac Davis (1942)
Placido Domingo (1941)
Jack Nicklaus (1940)
Wolfman Jack (1939)
Benny Hill (1925)
Telly Savalas (1924)
Paul Scofield (1922)
Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson (1824)

Top songs of 1960
Theme from A Summer Place- Percy Faith
Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley
It's Now Or Never by Elvis Presley
Cathy's Clown by Everly Brothers
Stuck On You by Elvis Presley
Running Bear by Johnny Preston
Save the Last Dance for Me by Drifters
Teen Angel by Mark Dinning
My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own by Connie Francis

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 7.03639921722113 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 4 & 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Leo.
Your opposition number(s) is 1.
Today is one of your lucky days!

There are 285 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 50 candles.
Those 50 candles produce 50 BTUs,or 12,600 calories of heat (that's only 12.6000 food Calories!) .
You can boil 5.71 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1960 there were approximately 4.2 million births in the US.
In 1960 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1960 in the US there were approximately 1,523,000 marriages (8.5%) and 393,000 divorces (2.2%)
In 1960 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1960 the population of Australia was approximately 10,391,920.
In 1960 there were approximately 230,326 births in Australia.
In 1960 in Australia there were approximately 75,428 marriages and 6,633 divorces.
In 1960 in Australia there were approximately 88,464 deaths.

Your birth flower is CARNATION
Your birthstone is Garnet -->The Mystical properties of Garnet
Garnet is used as a power stone

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Emerald, Rose Quartz

Your birth tree is Elm Tree, the noble-mindedness
Pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.

There are 258 days till Christmas 2009!
There are 271 days till Orthodox Christmas!
The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was in its last quarter.

My Black and White Girls

I was just sitting here and noticed Phoebe and Raeka laying together on the floor and thought how nice they looked together. Both black and white, both sweet and lovable, both of them friends and companions. Then, out of the corner of my eye, Lulu is trying to get my attention for her evening chat and treats. My three sweet black and white girls.

Phoebe and Raeka, with eyes glowing!

Sweet, sleepy Pheebs

Adorable, sleepy Lulu

Lulu, enjoying yummy peas. I'm happy to say that she seems

to be doing well since her sister died on March 25th. I was afraid

she would be lonely and get sick, but she's eating well and seems

happy and healthy.

Goodbye Little One

My darling little Poppy passed away on Wednesday, March 25th. She seemed fine on Sunday afternoon when I cleaned their cage, and she ate some baby food and peas Sunday night, but on Monday morning she had collapsed and she never recovered. I will miss her sweet little face and her adorable antics. She was a bar-chewer, so it has been quite quiet here in the evenings without her grinding away on the metal bars. I only wish that in the time she was here she had learned to trust me enough to be able to let me hold her and especially to console her in her final hours.

Thank you for giving me the chance to get to know you, Poppy. I sure miss you, my little sweetheart. I will take good care of your sister, Lulu, until you are together once again.

A Heck of a Two Weeks!

As some of you know, my mom passed away early the morning of February 24th. We were able to take care of her at home until the end, which was what we all hoped to do. That is mostly thanks to my sister, Melissa, who quit her job to stay home and make Mom her priority. The last week was very rough. The hospice nurse thinks she had some mini strokes and she started to become combative and refused to take her medicine. She also started fighting to get out of her hospital bed because she was convinced that she could walk even though she's been bound to a wheelchair for years. The last few days she was in a coma and she passed quietly in her sleep.

This was taken on Christmas. She was so happy that day.

Mom is looking at Melissa, then Cherry is behind her, Cindy is top right,

and I'm lower right.

We are trying to learn how to go through life without her, but each day is still a struggle. Some days are worse than others.

Then, that Friday, my little grand nephew, Kai, ended up in the hospital with pneumonia that went from bad to worse. Over this past weekend they found out that his lung had collapsed and when they did a CT scan they found that he had 30 to 40 pockets of thick infection that would have to be scraped out. On Tuesday they did surgery. He lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion, and they ended up having to remove part of his lung because the infection had killed some of the tissue where the lobes meet. They said to expect him to run a fever for a few days, and they intended to keep him sedated because of all the chest tubes, catheter, and oxygen tube. He woke up and ate a little on Thursday and was well enough to go home on Sunday, March 15th.

This is the 19th and he is doing well. He saw the doctor on Tuesday and he said that Kai's pneumonia is resolving and that his lung sounds good. Poor little sweetheart went through so much and we were afraid we were going to lose him for awhile there.

Kai in the hospital before he took a turn for the worse. Such gorgeous eyes.

The Many Faces of Sherman

I hope you aren't tired of seeing my silly boy, Sherman. He is such a clown. He just makes me smile whenever I look at his darling face.

My brother-in-law was visiting and Sherman was right in his glory sitting on his lap

Laying on my lap and acting silly. Making noises and nipping playfully at my hand.

Looking so sad...

The innocent look. I just reprimanded Sherman and Raeka for wrestling on the futon because he is recovering from a back injury. "Who us?"

Forget the laptop, I need some lap time!

My darling Sherman, who is very unhappy that I am playing a game on my new laptop rather than put it away so he can have some lap time. He will climb right on top of my computer if given the chance.