If you have a prayer to spare…

Could you send one up for our feline King -in-training, Kubota? 

 

I’m going to break out of order in introducing the Sassy Cats because one of the youngest is having a bit of a crisis right now.

Kubota is one of three kittens born to Nervous Nellie, our semi-feral porch cat who I’ll introduce later on.  There is a long story involved in how I managed to obtain these three kittens, but that will be told in Nellie’s story. 

Kubota is a fat orange tabby cat. He’s very reserved and shy and doesn’t like to cuddle much. He does have a sweet side that he shows every morning when he rushes ahead of me to block the stairway until I give him a bit of morning love. He also tries to make sure that he is  the same room with me whenever possible… although if he has a particularly comfy napping spot he’ll stay put. He also makes his love known by snuggling every night up against either MrC’s or my legs.

Right now he is at the hospital under observation because he began vomiting  some blood on Tuesday night.  The vet might have to do exploratory surgery in order to find out what is wrong if the vomiting continues.  Please say a little prayer for our shy little man. I sure missed my morning love at the top of the stairs today.

Yeah right!

You didn’t actually  believe me when I said I’d be sitting inside watching the snow falling while sipping a cup of tea did you?  HA! There are CHORES to be done on the hill! First I went and got the paper and trudged through  this… 

Kinda pretty, but I gotta do what I gotta do…

Keep in mind that I’m not driving right now so this was all for the benefit of Mr.C.    ALL done  with a hand shovel too! Guess I can declare myself healed from the ‘unfortunate incident’.

Then it was down to check the chickens… they are pretty distraught by these unfavorable weather conditions. Not a single chicken print in the snow!

My peacock doesn’t seem the least bit concerned…

Beautiful metal sculpture by  http://jeffkolar.com  (aka. BFG)

The Blue Girl hollies sure do look pretty with a dusting of snow to show off the beautiful red berries…

It iced overnight so I’ll be at home sipping tea all day again today. Yeah right!

SNOW DAY!!!!

I’m a little excited to see the snow. It’s our first real, actual accumulating snowfall of the year. (sorry to you poor Michiganders)

I’m happy that I don’t have to leave the house and can watch it fall as I sip a nice cup of tea. I’m happy, because so far our fall/winter season has been pretty darned dry and I always worry about those drought conditions when it garden season rolls around again. We’re supposed to get 3″-6″.   That means I’m housebound for the next few days because Mr.C. takes the big redneck truck to work and MY 4 wheel drive has gone to car heaven or has been split up into a million different componants and sold at a junk yard. *SIGH*  O’well, I’ll try to use my time wisely and do some cleaning & organizing.

Fish for the Freezer!

Mr. C.  had a successful and fun trip yesterday…

Motown pride

Since I’m living on the outskirts of Washington D.C. I thought I’d had just about enough  inauguration talk … I mean really, we’ve been forced to listen to it for MONTHS now; but Aretha’s hat does warrant some discussion…

Oh never mind… being a true-blue , born and bred Motown native, any DIS- R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Queen Aretha is tantamount to treason and may cause me to lose my key to the city. However, you may leave your own comments and opinions about ‘the hat’ if you would like!

Redneck Sunroom

Today is the first day since my ‘unfortunate incident’ that my body hasn’t felt like I had just put in  a marathon session with Chuck & Christie on the Total Gym so I decided to go out and get some farm chores done. (that would be Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkly for those of you that haven’t seen the infomercials)

I went down to clean out the chicken coops but then I realized that frozen chicken poop sticks to the floor, isn’t that messy and it doesn’t stink! Decided to just throw another layer of straw on top and call it clean. Then I noticed that Seymour the evil rooster had what looked like to be a touch of frost-bite on his wattles so I decided to put a tarp along the north side fence of the coop run to give them a windbreak of sorts. Did the same thing on the banties coop too. Don’t know why the stupid birds don’t just stay inside when it’s this cold!

Then I went up to check on Mr. Kowalski and his ladies. They don’t need a windbreak because I’ve already given them their very own redneck sunroom!  My oldest brother who happens to be a master woodworker built the coop this past spring but it isn’t exactly roomy in bad weather so I decided to cover their outdoor run for the winter so they could have some leg room. It stays downright toasty in there!

This b K-Wal’s crib….

(K-Wal is what we call him when we’re feeling particularly hip-hop-cool)

This is Augustus II, our banty rooster… he’s mighty handsome…

His tail is beautimous…

 

And this is Truman who we were told was going to be a  TRUDY… he started out kind of homely but is growing into a real beaut…

For all of my Michigander loved ones…

 

Have you had enough of winter???

Wow… this is a first!

TWO posts in one day… wow, in fact only an hour or so apart… can you stand it Schmenk?

Anyway, Mr C is off on a ‘fitchin’ trip hosted by a sales group that his company works with. (in other words… free!) (we LIKE free!) Personally, I can’t imagine going off in a boat in the middle of January, but that’s just me I guess.

They are ‘fitchin’ for Stripers out of Hampton, Virginia.  They left today and will ‘fitch’  all day tomorrow. I hope he catches something to add to the freezer and I hope he has lots of fun.  I’m perfectly happy to stay at home keeping the fire going, keeping the chickens fed, keeping the cats fed, keeping the beaver fed… AND dealing with all of the ‘by-products’ of all of that feeding!

Now don’t get me wrong, I like to fitch but fitchin in freezing temps doesn’t sound all that appealing to me. Back in the day I WAS known to enjoy a trip out ICE FITCHIN… but hey, that was when I was young and brainless dareing!

These days, I quite enjoy  chair by the fire with a glass of good cab and a purring cat on my lap or a beaver wrestling with my foot… whatever… anything other than being cold!

Sharing some fun

Since my recent ‘unfortunate incident’ I’ve been spending a little extra time putzing on the computer. No, make that far too much time on the computer… Researching new cars, playing games, and popping around on different ‘blobs’  and checking out their blog rolls. I found one that amuses me greatly and thought that some of you might want to check it out…

http://www.myhomeamongthehills.com/

The guy that writes it is like a conglomeration of some of my most favorite people. (I hope he wouldn’t be offended by being compared to a conglomeration, but some how I don’t think he would be) Some of his posts remind me of Mrs. Schmenkman’s … particularly the one about decorating sugar cookies with the family AND they like to play games like Apples to Apples! He is bald like three of my favorite people. He’s an inventor extrodinaire like a certain BFG I know. He’s silly like one of of those afore mentioned baldys who I could totally invision building a catapult out of a clothespin and a pill bottle, although his would probably involve some sort of combustable fluid and a match as well. (I shiver to think about it) He is in touch with his inner craftiness and isn’t ashamed to admit it!

Anyway, he’s a hoot and a half so check out the blog if you need a good giggle!

I’m Thankful for…

Seatbelts and airbags!

Went to the body shop today to get everything out of my car since it has been officially totaled. Decided to take a few pics while I was there..

 

 

It doesn’t really look all that bad does it?

Let’s have a moment of silence for my little Tracker…

It was sure a good car and really held up under a pretty hard impact.

Just a tiny whine about the accident… why did it have to happen right after we had new brakes installed??  O’Well, at least there wasn’t too much gas in the the tank!

God is good

Woke up this morning feeling mighty sore. I’m really shocked that I don’t have any bruising from the seat belt or airbag.  My jacket sleeve does have a burn mark from the airbag  though. I think that the scarf Mrs. Schmenkman made me padded my chest to keep the seatbelt from bruising me… THANKS Schmenk!

After laying in bed thinking about things last night I believe that God may have put me there in order to stop that girl and her baby from being severely hurt or even killed. If my car hadn’t been there to stop her I believe she would have ended up in a very deep and rocky ditch or going airborn. I got a call from the police last night because they needed to ask me a few more questions. They couldn’t give me any details but said that she and the baby were both going to be ok. God is good!

Tell me why I don’t like Mondays

Well this Monday it’s easy to say why I don’t like it.

First, I had to go to the doctor today for a problem I’m having with my knee. When I kneel down it feels like I’ve knelt on a sharp rock or a piece of glass. It’s been like that for a month, I was hoping it would just go away.

I KNEW that I would be pooh-poohed by the doctor because there is no swelling or bruising to speak of… just excruciating pain when I kneel. He gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory,patted me on the back  and told me  I’d be fine.  Yeah yeah, I know you think I’m some kind of a hypochondriac buddy. *SIGH*

So, I went to the store to get my script filled and did a bit of shopping while I waited. Headed home in a very light snowfall but the roads were just wet. As I headed up Browntown road I was going slower than the speed limit because I was coming to a spot that I knew from previous experience got very slippery, very quickly. Just then I saw a car coming down the road out of control and headed right for me… I slammed on the brakes and  I remember thinking “Oh NO!” right as she hit me head on!  First thing I did was dig for my phone and called Mr.C. (cuz he is my hero and protector) then I called 911.  I was pretty sure that I was fine, just stunned. The girl who hit me was bleeding profusely from her nose. She also had a baby in the back but he seemed ok, just looked like he bit his lip a little bit but it was barely even bleeding.  In fact, the brave little kid wasn’t even crying and even smiled at the ambulance guy! She said she didn’t even know what happened.  She was driving an old car without airbags and her steering wheel was really bent badly. I hope she’s ok.

I think  I’m ok… my left arm hurts a bit and will probably be bruised, and my back and neck are a bit sore right now. I didn’t go to the hospital or anything. Mr. C came and got me and we went right to the insurance company. I’m home now and have decided that I ’m going to take the rest of the day off and lay on the couch! 

Gotta give some props to Chevrolet though… my little Tracker really held it’s own and the airbags sure did their job! I know her car was mangled and my car’s engine was still running after the wreck. I’m not sure if it will be totaled or not, it looked bad but not THAT bad considering! Guess we’ll just wait and see.

I’m thanking God right now though for watching over me and pray that the other girl will be fine as well.

Tagged by Schmenky…

Being tagged for these meme things is stressful for me. I’m not great about sharing personal things but since this one is about my animals I’ll do it… besides it will make Schmenky happy if I do …

1.     What is the first pet you remember? 

Two come to mind. I have no idea how old I was but I remember that the garbage trucks were still using the alley ways in Detroit and that was a looooooong time ago!

We had a big white rabbit with pink eyes named Pedro. Can’t say I remember a whole lot about him other than the fact that he disappeared and my Dad suspected that the garbage man stole him in order to make rabbit stew!

The other one was a sweet mutt named Jethro. He ran out the front door and got hit by a car. I think he was chasing the mailman or something. It’s a bit fuzzy; but I kind of remember a funeral and burial in the back garden. Wonder if any of my siblings have a clearer memory of that?

2.     How many different kinds of pets have you owned?

Oh wow… I have to really think about that.

Dogs, cats, birds,  snakes, lizards,  turtles, tortoises, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, fish, crabs, frogs, chickens and most recently (although she isn’t technically a ‘pet’) a beaver!

I’m probably missing something too.

3.     What was your strangest pet?

    You just read the list, YOU decide!

4.     What is your dream pet?

I think they’re all dream pets. Right now I’m coveting Alpacas or goats though.

5.     What is your nightmare pet?

There is no such thing as a nightmare pet.

6.     Your best/ funniest pet story…

There are so many that I can’t think of just one to relate at the moment.

7. Tell your worst/ saddest pet story…

That would be back in Detroit when a group of neighborhood teenagers took my beautiful Siamese cat and carried her down the block and across busy Plymouth road to see if she could find her way home I guess. She knew her way home alright but she wasn’t familiar with the concept of traffic and she got hit. Unfortunately she wasn’t killed outright, she was laying on the road paralyzed and choking when my neighbor came and told us about what was going on. I wished I hadn’t gone with my sister to get her… it was awful seeing her like that.  Brave Capri P stopped traffic and someone came with a box and she scooped her up and rushed to the vet. There was no saving her though. I remember my sister had a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror in her car and I was clutching it and praying like crazy as I sobbed. It was just horrible and I still dream about it once in awhile.

 

8.  Did you ever have a scary animal experience?

Oh yeah, when Mr.C. and I were taking a walk at Chesley one summer when we were ‘house’-sitting. We were being very quiet so we might encounter a white tail deer or two and we came to a spot where there was some thick brush right on the edge of the trail. As we got next to the spot there was a loud grunt and the brush began moving! I immediately turned and RAN! I grabbed Mr. C’s arm as I went assuming that he would follow, but then I heard him yell “DON’T MOVE!” I got behind the relative safety of a nearby tree and turned to see Mr.C. still standing right where I left him! And 3 feet away from him stood a black bear  on her hind legs looking at ME! I was wearing a red shirt while Mr.C. was wearing camouflage and she apparently didn’t notice him until he yelled. She then stopped my heart for a second when she looked directly at Mr.C. and then dropped and ran about 50 feet from him and began pacing back and forth with all of her neck hairs bristled up as she was popping her jaws and grunting!  I urgently asked Mr.C. to please let’s get out of here! He calmly turned and walked to where I was and we went back down the trail the way we came with our hearts racing. As we got a little ways down the hill Mr.C. says “did you see how cute those cubs were??” … “CUBS!?!?!?”  I gasped…“I didn’t know there were CUBS!!!!”…  “Yeah, they climbed up the two trees the mother was pacing between while YOU were running away.” He calmly replied.  At that moment my legs turned to jelly as I realized the true danger we had  just been in! The whole time  it was happening, Mr.C. was just thinking about how cool it was that he got to see them, later that night though he got a little bit rattled when he got to thinking about what could  have happened!  After that, whenever I had to go into the woods to get rocks or something for the gardens I would loudly sing or hum… and for some reason it was usually the Girl From Ipanema tune… I’m not sure how that happened. “Tall and tanned and dark and lovely the girl from Ipanema goes walking….La La La La La La La LALALA” I must have been a sight, I’m sure I must have scared every bit of wildlife away for at least 20 miles!

9. What was your favorite pet? 

No way to answer that, they are all my favorite at different times for different reasons.

10.  What did you really want to tell us about pets that didn’t fit into the other questions?

That it makes me so sad when some people treat their pets as possessions instead of family members. That they consider them ‘just animals’ instead of the true-blue, all loving, all-forgiving best friends that they really are. Unconditional love is not something to be taken lightly no matter what the source.

 

 

So that’s it… now Im tagging Steph http://justincaseyourewondering.wordpress.com/

 since she was so interested in MY answers!

 

Follow up to last post

Here is a picture of Paddy’s activities last night…

She ALSO began to chew the edge of the pool along the slide UNDER the waterline! She hasn’t gotten a hole all of the way through but it will only take a SECOND for that to happen. We are SO screwed!  Gotta come up with a plan B. I need a BFG here!!!

I got tagged yesterday by Mrs. Schmenkman… I’m working on it.

No more tags though please… it’s way too much pressure.

Lest you may think it’s all cuteness and fun….

Up until now I’ve been posting only the cute stuff about Princess Paddy.

I think it’s important to note that she is a whole lot of work and sometimes a big pain in my butt too! Every morning there is a good measure of clean up to be done in her pond after her nightly activities. Usually it’s just a matter of draining the water and scooping her poop out with a net and then refilling. It’s harder than it sounds given the size of the pool and that it doesn’t drain completely so I have to tip it up to get most of the water out.

Yesterday morning I went down to discover this…

This is actually the second hole she has chewed in the side. The first one was a molded in cup holder that she could easily get her teeth around. We fixed that hole with fiberglass patch and silicon-ed a piece of slate on top…

That worked for a couple of weeks but I guess it was only a matter of  time until she tried again. *SIGH* Here she is actually defying me, I was 6 inches away from her! * HUGE SIGH*

So here was yesterday’s solution… more fiberglass patch and lots more slate.

When she figures out that she’s strong enough to pull that slate off I’m really in trouble.  I’ll go back to posting cute pics of her after this.  In fact here’s one of her engaged her one of her favorite games… wrestling mom’s foot…

And yes, that is what color beaver’s teeth are supposed to be!

HELLO??? Is this thing on???

OH, hello there, my name is Kismet. I’m hi-jacking my mom’s blog because she seems to have developed a case of writers block with introducing us Sassy Cats. Perfectly understandable, as I’m sure it is very hard to come up with the correct words to describe my unmatched handsomeness,  my supreme intelligence, and my incredible fluffy tail.

I come from very humbling circumstances as mom adopted me from the humane society here in Front Royal. My brothers and sisters and I were left there in an effort to conceal the illicit tryst of my obviously pedigreed parents.  Clearly my birth mother didn’t want the gossips talking about her. O’well, it’s definitely her loss as all of her children were quite lovely.

In fact, mom had her eye on one of my sisters who was unbelievably beautiful with markings showing her Siamese heritage. Unfortunately for her, she also had a bit of an attitude problem! When mom took all of us into a special meet and greet room and sat on the floor with us, I was smart enough to climb directly onto her lap and stay there as the rest of those fools actually explored the room and played with each other! Really, how stupid could they be? In other words, I made it perfectly clear to mom exactly which one of us she would be taking home with her! In fact, I sat on her lap and watched as she filled out the paperwork to make sure that she dotted all of the i’s and crossed the t’s.

Really, I only had to gaze at her with my striking  baby-blues and I had her! Honestly, who could possibly have resisted this?

I think it helped that we slightly resembled each other too…

Mom was pretty disappointed that my eyes changed color as I grew up. Well, the blue served their purpose and I’m perfectly happy with the lovely amber-gold they have become. I think they make me look very dignified.

I am the undisputed king of our domain now after the tragic death of my most beloved mentor,  Buster. I now have a little(well, he isn’t exactly little!) orange protegee who isn’t quite catching on to what it takes to become king. I’ll just have to keep working with him. He does worship me and follow me around like a shadow, so clearly he has the brains to learn. His bloodline is slightly less than it should be but his father wears a tuxedo very well and his mother is a vision to behold. There’s no hurry anyway since I plan on sitting upon my throne for quite some time to come!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Wishin all y’all the best of everything in 2009!

We had a very quiet night… 10 toes up before 9:00. The surrounding redneck gunshots woke me up at midnight but Mr C snored right through them… didn’t even wake up for a midnight smooch!

I’ve already accomplished my first resolution which was to back up all of my picture files to C.D. That little computer crash scared me! Capri Deb showed me how to do it but the info did not stick so the crazy dog lady came and showed me another, different way and I had it done in two shakes of a lambs tail. (see if you can find and explanation for that ‘ism’ Schmenky!)

My most important resolution is to get back to the low carb lifestyle. I don’t know WHY I let myself get back to the old habits and making myself feel terrible in the process. I know that I feel 100 percent better when I’m not stuffing that poison (aka white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, ect) into my mouth.  I WILL do this!

Today I’m making a prime rib roast… never cooked one so I sure hope I don’t blow it. Mr C went this morning for some target practice with neighbor Nick (aka MR Crazy dog lady). When he comes home we’re going to watch the Redwing Blackhawk game played at Wrigley Field… old time hockey. Kind of a lazy quiet day… just how I like them!

May God bless all of us with health, love  and happiness this year.