Kitten Heaven!

 

No, no one died, I was the one in kitten heaven on Saturday at the Humane Society.  We have a wonderful vet, Dr. Hank’s, that gives us numerous free days of surgery along with raising a ton of money for our Paws On Parade which will be in October.  For every thousand dollars he and his team raises he gives us one day in the clinic!  Last October they raised $10,000 so we got TEN free days of surgery! I am humbled by this man’s generosity and love for animals.

We had about 25 cats and kittens that were due to be spayed or neutered and we got through them all along with something very unexpected which I will tell you about later.

My job was to take the kittens after their surgery and cuddle them, watching their vitals signs and waiting for them to wake up.  Dream job or what?!!

As you can see sometimes I had my hands full!!! There are three in this shot!

Lauren, our sweet vet tech, showed me how to listen to their hearts as sometimes I couldn’t feel the breathing and it scared the wits out of me! This little guy took a long time to wake up and I was getting very worried about her but she was fine!

It was loud!

Dr. Hanks loving on this little one.  We had six totally black kittens.

Lauren had her hands full, these three were coming in for their pre-surgery check ups.

We had some unusual pets come in called dagoos, I think I spelled that right.  They had been adopted by a nice couple but before they could be released they needed to be spayed and neutered.  It is policy not to let anything out our doors without that being done.

They look sort of like a cross between a chinchilla and a gerbil.

Getting her anesthesia.

Hope you’re not queasy.  :o)

Hummmmm………what’s this lump???????

Guess what?!  This spay turned into a delivery!!!  Here they are getting some oxygen, two little bundles of fur, well not much fur yet!  They were so cute in a rodently kind of way!!!

The proud Mama!  There was no way of knowing that she was expecting.  Babies and Mom and doing fine and have gone to their new home.  :o)

I’ve just about finished my Love Bears wall hanging although it came out bigger then I expected.  I may put it in the church nursery instead of giving it to the people I was planning on and make them something smaller.  I just need to put on the eyes and the backing and will be all done.  I’ve been working on it for several weeks.

Miss T has been playing with my Go cutting system and having such fun.  She’s been cutting out different things from the multitude of scraps that I have and putting them together and stitching around them.  I think we might tackle a small quilt one of these days.

Guess that’s it for today.  It’s raining here again but after watching the news about the folks in Missouri I have NOTHING to complain about!!!  My heart goes out to those that lost everything, some including their lives.  It is just unimaginable what this storm did to that little community. Let’s all keep them in our prayers!

Where is everybody?

 

You can always tell when spring arrives as the comments and readers drop off immediately.  I think we are all outside trying to enjoy the spring sunshine but that has eluded us here in the northeast so far.  It has been raining buckets and is scheduled to rain all week with just some chances of the sun peaking out for a few minutes here and there.  No big flooding problems, just some minor roads with spots washed out and a few basements with some water in them.  Up here on the hill we don’t have those problems for which I am grateful.

We didn’t bring the boys home due to all the rain.  At the stable they can at least be out in the inside arena for some exercise but here they would have to stay in their stalls until things dried up a bit.  They don’t mind the rain in the warm weather but when it’s only 38* in the mornings that is just too cold for them to be out in it.  Plus with still having a pretty heavy coat from the winter it would not be good for them to get that wet as it would take forever to dry out.  So we are hoping for this coming weekend.

We had our fundraiser for the Hemophilia Foundation on Saturday night.  We have friends whose grandson has a very serious case of hemophilia and his parents have started the Foundation of Maine to help raise money for research.  It was a family night with lots of kiddoes having a blast with glow sticks, clowns making balloon animals and hats, games, dancing, all kinds of yummy food, a silent auction and a twist contest for all ages.

I remember the twist, it was all the rage when I was a youngster. Who would think that 50 years later it would make me so lame and sore that I needed to go to my chiropractor?!! Sigh…….

Here is ‘Scooter’ with his pet skunk.

My niece Ashley and our friends grandson.

 

Cousin K with his glow light glasses and balloon hat.

I think we were doing The YMCA in this shot.

Me and my niece Ana who just graduated from University of Maine last week.

Here is our friends grandson with all the cash raised on the Twist dance.  He is such a sweetie!  With research hopefully a cure will be found soon!

The reason for the school bus graphic at the beginning is because my grand kids are here with us this week as Son and DIL are at a conference out of town.  Our house is much busier with them here as you can well imagine!  Thankfully DIL wrote out a very good schedule for all of their activities and who eats hot lunch on what day and who wants cold lunch.   They have lots of activities such as chorus, baseball, a play on Wed. night, guitar etc etc  The Hubs and I have been busy! :O)  They are due to get home soon so I guess I should get a snack ready. I have been bringing their cat over to spend some time with them each day and she is ready to move in but I’m sure she would move out just as quickly when her two kids go home!  :o) 

Random Friday

 

It’s cold here this morning with the temps only in the high 30’s.  I have been wearing my winter coat when Dad and I go for our morning walk. 

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any time knows that I love wildlife, well except for my raccoons and I am mad at them for using some of my hay for a bathroom.  I think most of them have moved on but here are their tunnels.  I wouldn’t advise sticking your hand in these holes.  :o)

 

They got rather mischievous this winter and had fun in the shavings too.  They opened many of the bales and probably lined their dens with them.  We think they are all out except two that come around looking for a handout.  They can open the barn doors so I am going to have some locks put on.  We really enjoyed them and watching the babies grow but when they get destructive it’s time to move on.

 

I’ve been watching some woodpecker activity on our walks.  We have tons of them here, even in the winter months.  Haven’t caught them going in or coming out yet but will keep trying.

The grass in the pasture is getting really nice and green in anticipation of the boys coming home this weekend.

 

Here is a shot of the lovely roses that the Hubs got me for our anniversary, yellow is my favorite.  Where did 40 years go????

  Can’t you just smell that wonderful scent?

Every so often I get a ‘hankering’ for some homemade custard and Betty Crocker has the best recipe.  It’s smooth and creamy and no fail.

Baked Custard

6 eggs slightly beaten

2/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups of milk, scalded

Nutmeg

Heat oven 350*

Blend eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla

Gradually stir in the milk

Pour into 10-12 custard cups depending on the size you use. Mine are quite large so I usually get 8-10

Sprinkle with nutmeg

Place cups in a deep baking pan and pour very hot water into the pan within 1/2 inch of the tops of the cups

Bake about 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean

Remove cups from water and serve warm or chilled.  I like chilled the best! YUM!  These are the BEST!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Personal Negative

 

Have your heard the term ‘personal negative’ before?  I had not until one day last week I was chatting with my two grand kids about a sad situation in their neighborhood where the mom does not pay much attention to the children.  In the course of the conversation one of them commented on how one child had gotten several personal ‘negatives’ at school recently.

I had no idea what that meant but figured it must be for some sort of misbehavior and that is exactly what it means.  Now I haven’t had children in grammar school for many years but when did misbehavior become a ‘personal negative’?  Why not call it what it is, that is is improper behavior.  To me telling a child that they have numerous personal negatives gives a very NEGATIVE label to that child.

Now I agree totally with rules and regulations, actually I don’t think there is enough structure in the schools, they get away with disrespecting the teachers, wear T-shirts that have things on them that shouldn’t be just to name a few but let’s not stunt their creativity (I am being a tad sarcastic here).  :o)

Anywho,  I feel badly for this child that is getting so many personal negatives.  I know the teachers have their hands full and having a child that is disruptive can be a strain on anyone. I just think there has to be a better term to use when disciplining them.  I’m sure it’s not the teachers that came up with that term, probably someone with more head sense then horse sense.

Speaking of horse sense, the boys are coming home next week. :o)  Kipper is a little off on one of his hind legs and Nick seems to have a sore back again so they are both going to the vet when he gets back from picking up his daughter at college.  Miss T has been begging for them to come home before she and D spend the week with us while Son and DIL go to a convention.

Nick was being ridden regularly without any problems most of the winter so I can’t imagine what is going on.  The vet wants to check his hock again, I am just holding my breath that he doesn’t have to have another surgery. Little Kip has never been off and I am wondering about the deep mud that is in part of the pasture due to all the rain we have been having.  They don’t stay away from it and run and jump and play and I think that maybe could have pulled something from the suction of the mud.  I keep my pastures closed here that have mud in them until it dries up so hopefully that will help.

We had a wonderful Mother’s Day!  The skies were blue and the temperatures mild so we had fun outside playing kickball with everyone from the youngest to the grandparents.  (I’m still lame!)  It was so cute seeing the little ones run the bases whether they had been tagged out or not.  The smiles on their faces as they touched home base were so cute!

We had a BBQ at Son and DIL’s and everyone brought something to add plus there was a pretty cake for dessert.  Unbeknownst to us they had had the grandchildren’s pictures taken together (there are five counting DIL’s sisters children) and they are just beautiful!  Mimi and I were snuffling….again…..that’s what grandmother’s do I guess.  :o)

 

Christmas Quilt

Finally a day to sit down in front of this computer.  It seems like the days just fly by and I don’t think that is going to stop any time soon.  I can’t imagine ever being bored, that word just isn’t in my vocabulary.
I finally finished my Christmas quilt.  Yay!  It’s off to the quilters today! Working with one inch squares was a bit daunting at times and they aren’t all perfect but I don’t think quilts are made to be perfect, they are made to be used and enjoyed.  I remember one quilt I made for T when she was just a toddler and it had a GAZILLION pieces and I mean a gazillion and the first night she slept with it on her bed she threw up ALL OVER IT!
This quilt was fun though, I like appliqué so putting on all the trees and satin stitching around them had me right in appliqué heaven.  I have been sewing more lately as I have moved one of my sewing machine upstairs from the basement so that I can enjoy the sunshine, birds, squirrels etc while I sew.  Much nicer.


The backing.


I love Moda fabric.


Now on to the next project which is a wall hanging for friends that are adopting a child.  He will arrive in about nine months and they are just so excited and happy!!


We had our Awana closing program at church Sunday night. They are off for the summer months and will continue in the fall.  My younger sister Jill received flowers for being the one person in the 29 years we have had Awana that has worked in it for 28 years! (The first year she and her husband were still living in Miami.) I was blubbering so didn’t get a picture……..  I blubbered a lot that night.  They put together a slide show with pictures from the 28 years and there are numerous people that are no longer with us as they passed away, some young, some old.  There were lots of fun pictures too, I don’t remember being so young……..
Here is Funsize at about ten years old!  Cute or what?!

We used to have dress up nights and my sister would make costumes for me and the Hubs.

I could see without trifocals back then, amazing!

The Hubs and I worked in the program for 22 years and Son and DIL have picked up where we left off.  It thrills our hearts to say the least.  :o)
Now I am off to the stable to see the boys. The stalls are ready here with lots of nice sweet smelling shavings in each stall. We need to get the water turned back on and the feeders washed. The fences have all been repaired from the ravages of our hard winter and the gates that were hit by the snowplow have been repaired.  I need to pick up some grain and we have plenty of hay in to last through the summer and fall.  We are still battling the raccoons that are living in the hay loft.  We thought they had left when the yard man was cleaning up there but noticed today that the door has been opened about six inches so we know they are back.   They are baaaaaacck!  What movie is that from?
Now to get around and visit, I have lots of catching up to do! :o)