Weird

Three of the six finch eggs hatched.  A day or two ago I checked and it appeared that at least one of the baby birds was no longer alive  This morning I checked and the nest is completely empty except for one live baby.  No egg shells, and no sign of the other two baby birds.  Does the mother clean it out or something?  There are no shells or anything on the ground below either.

In other animal news, make sure your dog never eats grapes.  Sunday night Lila ate probably a pound of grapes that had accidentally been left out, and she's been in the animal hospital ever since.  She was in kidney failure within a couple hours of consumption.  Twenty-four hours ago the news was not at all good, and we were mentally preparing for the possibility of having to put her down.  We went to visit her last night, thinking it might be one of the last times we saw her.

This morning she has amazed everyone by being completely normal.  It doesn't appear that there is any lasting damage, and she should come home this afternoon (some $700+ later).  So, it seems that everything will end well, but don't risk it, grapes are dog poison!

Up to My Old Tricks Again

Can you stand another post about a repurposed thrift store sweater?  I hope so, ’cause it’s comin’ at ya.

You may have noticed that the country is being hit by a cold snap.  I am currently wearing 4 layers of clothing and a hat…in the house… and I’m just comfortable. 

Our dog Lila is cold-blooded, I’m convinced.  When I saw her sitting on the kitchen floor this morning, shivering like a leaf in the wind, I decided she needed a sweater.  We’ve tried coats for her in the past, but she’s not too bright in some ways, and stands frozen like a statue when we put one on her, chained by her own mind.

I looked at Walmart this morning when I was there stocking up for tonight’s big storm.  You know there’s always a run on milk and bread when snow is forecast.  They were out of dog sweaters bigger than teacup.

That’s when it hit me, I’ve got a box full of thrift store sweaters at home.  I’ll just make one!  I picked one that had already been felted:



Cut the sleeves off, turned it inside out, and marked my sewing lines with chalk:



Sewed a seam down each side, cut a piece out of the underside for the “business end” and slits for her front legs:

he looks so sad!

I didn’t get fancy and finish the edges or anything like that, because for my dog, good enough is, well,  good enough.  She’s actually been wearing it all evening with no complaints and is moving freely!



In other related news, puppy Sophie went to the vet today to get “tutored”, if you catch my drift.  She’s looking kinda dopey herself.


Keep warm, my friends!

It’s a Christmas Miracle! (Plus, a Winner)

(If you just want to get to the winner info, scroll to the bottom.)

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that our cat, Daisy, ran away in early September.  We looked, we put up posters, we chased her in the middle of the night and she eluded us.  We borrowed a trap from the Humane Society, and Craig even kept a blog about his efforts.

A month later, when we had given up, we got another cat free from a Craigslist ad.  Well, that cat peed all over the house.  In baskets, in boxes, in a corner in my bedroom, and holy guacamole! did it stink!  We gave him several “second” chances, but ended up taking him to the Humane Society.  I didn’t tell you about that, because I felt really bad about it, and didn’t want you to think I was some kind of cat hater.  I’m not, but I like my house more.

Fast forward to yesterday.  A phone message is left by a man saying he thinks he has our cat.  His work in our area involves driving a truck around, and about 10 days ago in a field not far from our house, in frigid weather, he rescued a frail white cat about a day away from death.  He took her home and would have kept her, except a few days ago he happened to see one of our forgotten “lost cat” signs, tattered and torn.

So, 103 days later, Daisy is home, frail, weak, skin and bones.  She seems happy to be here.  In fact, I think the experience has humbled her.  She seems much more affectionate.  My kids are thrilled; their prayers have been answered, literally.

Here she is last Christmas:

This morning; yes, that is her spine:

She weighs 5 lbs; I know she used to be at least 10lbs, and the guy said she gained 1.5-2 lbs while he had her, so I can’t imagine what she looked like when he found her.

And now, the winner of the washer necklace “wardrobe” giveaway, as chosen by Random.org, is Bec4 of Beyond the Picket Fence!  Email me so I can get your info.  Here is a look at your prize package, which includes two 2-sided washers and one leather cord.

Weekend Recap

Saturday unwittingly became the first, albeit unofficial, Souper Saturday of the year. I had all those lovely organic vegetables to use up, and my first thought was ‘soup’.I found a recipe for Squash Soup on allrecipes.com, and modified it just slightly. I used the yellow squash and the zucchini, a yellow bell pepper that I already had (I thought it would be disguised better than a green one), and cheddar instead of processed cheese. Craig and I thought it was very delicious, and filling. No comment on the kids’ comments.

I also sliced the radishes and sauted them in some butter, then added the steamed green beans and tossed them all together with some sea salt. Craig and I enjoy green beans, but haven’t had a radish since childhood. Cooked, the radishes lost their bite and were quite tasty, almost nutty.

I’m planning to roast the sweet red peppers, and there’s a couple of beets under there that I want to pickle. I may try this recipe, which doesn’t involve canning.

Now an update on our wild ride of pet ownership. Our cat Daisy never came back, in spite of all of Craig’s attempts to find her or trap her. After the first 10 days or so, we never even saw her again.

So, of course, the subject of a new cat started coming up. Firstborn told me he had “a hole in his soul” because he missed Daisy. I certainly have my hands full with an adolescent dog and a puppy, but wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, as cats are pretty self-sufficient.

I did say if we ever got another cat it would be an adult, a neutered male because I’ve always heard they’re the friendliest, and it would be declawed.

On a whim yesterday I checked craigslist (famous last words). There was an ad for “FREE 1.5 yr old tom cat, neutered, declawed, up to date on shots, good with dogs and people of all ages, exclusively indoor, very friendly”. His owner was a college student who didn’t have time to care for him and her parents didn’t want to.

You saw it coming, didn’t you? You were right. Here is our new cat, Owen Pickles. ‘Owen’ because that’s what we were going to name the puppy if it was male; ‘Pickles’ because when Firstborn was about four somehow it was decided if we ever had a dog we would name it Mr. Pickles and he took it seriously and has wanted to use that name ever since.

I fully expect Daisy to show up at the door in the next couple of days.

(My dad is going to be in town this week, so I may not be as active on the blog. I’ll try to check in a couple times though.)

Update and Milestones

I’ve left you all hanging on the Daisy saga. She has not come home yet, but has been sighted a few times, so we know she’s still out there. Craig is doing his best to catch her; he borrowed a cat trap from our humane society, and did catch a cat, but it wasn’t Daisy. He has even been keeping a little blog about the adventure. He’s had people comment and tell him how his love and dedication for his cat shows, but, as he told me, it’s not the cat but his kids that he loves. He wants them to know that he’s done everything possible.

On to the milestones…I noticed this morning that I have reached 200 followers! If you are one of them, thank you so much! It’s fun to work on this blog, and I appreciate so much your interest and comments.

flickr

Also, unbelievably, this week is my one year blog-iversary! I feel a giveaway coming on, but I don’t know what yet. I want it to be good, so I’m going to have to put some thought into it. Stay tuned!

Cat-astrophe

Some time on Wednesday our cat went missing. Daisy is a totally indoor cat, except for the one other time two or three years ago that she got out and was lost for 48 hours. That time she somehow turned up, meowing, in our garage on the second night.

After that incident, I got her a tag with her name and phone number. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that her collar was off. The kids take it off from time to time to brush her or whatever, but nobody owned up to it this time, and the collar never turned up and I kind of forgot about it. So, at the time of her disappearance, Daisy was collarless.

Wednesday after school, which was shortly after we discovered she was gone, the children printed up and passed out flyers, and we scoured the neighborhood. Nothing. The past two nights, one or more of my kids have cried themselves to sleep.

Last night at about 4 am, I heard meowing from my third floor window (our house is really just two floors, but we have a walk-out basement, so at the back it’s like three). I don’t know if I was already awake, or if the sound woke me.

Craig ran outside and spotted her across the street in the neighbor’s yard. But instead of running to him, she ran away, behind the houses into the thick brush.

For the next hour and a half or more, Craig, Firstborn, and I (but mostly them) climbed through bush and branch, catching a sight of her here and hearing her meow there. However, she eluded us them. (She still has her front claws, so thankfully, she is not defenseless.)

Now, I should explain that she is not an affectionate cat. She spends most of her day sleeping on the hamper. She hisses at strangers. She doesn’t particularly like to be petted. She doesn’t really like any kind of cat toys, even catnip. I’m kind of wondering if she really wants to come home.

The kids love her, though, and at night she sleeps on Pinkerbelle's bed. We looked again this morning and found nothing. I guess we’ll go back out after dark when her nocturnal instincts have kicked into gear. We know she’s out there. Stubborn cat.

What Were We Thinking?

Monday night we spontaneously decided to get a puppy. Now, we already have a dog and a cat. Lila, our Boston terrier, just turned two, and is what I’d call an adolescent. Not a puppy, but still childish and a bit of a pain. We love her though, and actually it wasn’t 100% spur-of-the moment; the idea had come up a few times in the last couple of weeks but was promptly rejected. Until our sanity left us Monday evening.

Pinkerbelle and Lila

Having recently looked at the website of the puppy mill breeder Lila came from, we knew that there were Boston terrier puppies available. And somehow, at 6:30 Monday evening “no way” turned into “let’s drive out and see them”. Let’s drive 2+ hours. Each way. And get home at one in the morning.

Long story shorter, we put a deposit on Lila’s half-sister. She can’t leave until she’s 8 weeks old on July 25, so we don’t actually have her yet.

We were powerless to resist.

Here’s Lila shortly after we got her.

And here’s the new puppy.

Striking family resemblance, no?

While we wait for our new bundle of joy, we need to come up with a name. I like “people” names, and it needs to sound cute with ‘Lila’. So far, here’s our list:

• Libby
• Posy
• Lucy (I like it, but many moons ago we had another BT by this name, and we’re not sure if we want to reuse it)

So, I’m taking suggestions. You dog’s name, a name you’d use if you ever got a dog, the name of your firstborn daughter, whatever. I can’t promise we’ll use one of your ideas, but if you have one, lay it on me.