Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Crazy Cat Lady

All my life I've loved cats. I grew up on a farm and much to my father's dismay, I befriended and tamed practically every barn cat on the property. My brothers had dogs, I had cats. I did manage, twice during my years at home, to convince my parents to let one of the barn kitties become a house cat. 

I married a man who doesn't think it's "unmanly" to like cats. We have had a variety of cats over the years most of them strictly house cats. In 2008 a bedraggled looking male cat appeared at our door. I swore I would just ignore him and he would go away. He didn't listen and of course I ended up feeding him. He convinced the neighbors to feed him also. He liked it here so much that he brought his girlfriend to dine. Then he turned fickle and left but his girlfriend stayed and multiplied and multiplied and multiplied. We continued to feed her and all of her offspring. Over the years we adopted some of the babies and the neighbors adopted some. Nature (survival of the fittest) took care of some of them. Females had their litters in the woods and usually only "mama's" babies survived so the group remained manageable. 

That all changed this year. Two of the youngest females decided to turn our backyard shed into a maternity ward. They had 9 kittens between the two of them. Mama had her usual 4. Nature has now reduced the number of kittens to 8 and most are males but enough is enough. Kittens are adorable but it is heartbreaking when you lose one to nature and this year's batch have required a lot of extra attention and care. So the 4 adult females are all paying a visit to the local vet in the next two weeks. Female babies will make their visits as soon as they are old enough. Expensive, yes! But the peace of mind it will bring will be well worth it. I just hope the "Ya'll are welcome" sign has been removed!






Thursday, June 5, 2014

Thinking!

I have a few blogs that I read faithfully.  I have always admired these bloggers' dedication and their ability to make even the most mundane everyday activity interesting. Unfortunately that description doesn't extend to me. We have been back in Florida since last October and I haven't even blogged once. I've thought about it, especially when the guilt sets in, but then I start in with the excuses - "I haven't been anyplace exciting", "I haven't done anything interesting", or the best one "I don't have the time right now to sit down and remember way back to October".  Duh! That's why I retired at 62, to have the time for things like this.

So, I knew I needed to give it some thought and I thought about a scrapbooking blogger that I follow. She always has several scrapbooking projects in the works. One of her favorite projects is called Project Life. The purpose of the project is to focus on the everyday happenings of life not just the special events. Each day's entry usually revolves around a random photo taken that day or on a recent day.

H-m-m, I take a lot of pictures with my iPhone of things that happen to catch my eye. Why not post a recent picture each day and then just comment on it? Could be a workable plan so here goes . . .


Our granddaughter Sarah, in 2005, at her pre-school graduation.


In 2014 ready for her 8th grade dance!
 Time flies by whether you're ready for it or not.

Unfortunately, health issues have kept Bob and I from leaving Deltona this spring but we should be ready to roll by July. Plans are still being made.