meet our new baby

Here she is.



Its been 2 1/2 weeks now and she has grown exponentially.
Its been fun to watch and help her through this transition of getting to know people and other animals, privacy, and all sorts of new things.
I've caught her staring at herself, among other things, in the mirror a few times.
Too funny!
I wonder if she's ever seen a mirror?!

She came from the hoarding situation last october.
Only a few kitties were still available from that situtation at C.A.R.E. and we decided to take on the challenge.
Plenty of other awesome kitties were up for adoption, but we new they'd find homes easy.
This baby is a bit skiddish and untrusting, which many people wouldn't have the patience to work with.



Here's her stats:
Female/spayed
10 months old
rescued from the hoarding house at about 6 months of age
tabby with slight calico expressive genes
amber/green eyes
can't meow - its more of a squeek!
silver/black/with a peach stripe on her nose and small peach patch on her chest
awesome
lovable
new friend to Bailey and Luna

Her name is Ariel.
I have sort of agreed on this, though it just isn't feeling right.
I'm feeling more like calling her Myrtle, Mable, or some other old-fashioned old lady name.
Any suggestions?

needing to catch up

I hate that I haven't posted in so long.

Life happened and sometimes that makes it tough to keep up with everything.

I'm most frustrated that I haven't blogged about Schwartzkopf yet.

We lost him Jan. 16. He lost his battle with Renal Disease.

I want to write about him and post all sorts of pics of him.

Its just too hard.

I'm mostly done with the weepy part of the mourning process. that's not the problem.

I just can't imagine that I could write a post about him that did justice.

I think I've accepted that and will post about him eventually.

He deserves a post ALL ABOUT HIM.

For now, know that i need to catch you up to speed on a few things and will do so as time suits.


Until then, i hope you all have had a good 2009 thus far and are enjoying that it is already February as much as I am.

I am past ready for green grass and flowers!

Christmas and New Year's Eve 2008

This year, Ladd and I were able to spend Christmas Day together here in Glenwood Springs. It was nice. We watched movies, ate yummy food, drank our favorite drinks, and gave our furry babies their Christmas gifts. It was nice to have that day for ourselves.

a new scratcher


catnip was had


rawhide bones were chewed


Then, we were thankful to be able to drive home to Kansas the next day to see family again.
This year went down as my favorite time at home for the holidays, since moving out of the house in 1998.

My mom and sister-in-law graciously saved a large amount of their vacation time and used it to spend time with Ladd and me.
A whole week!
And Ladd also saved a week of vacation for the trip as well, which I am very thankful for as well.
It was great.
And once again, the Christmas time with family overlapped with Rachel's birthday.
She chose to spend her 30th birthday with all of us!


This look is showing her nervousness of the cost of the gifts she was about to open from her husband. ;) Cute.


Lots of relaxing, naps, food, drinks, games (I learned about the famous "Wii" - super fun by the way), gifts, bonfire, etc.
I am thankful for the time with them.

My mom and dad paid for Brad, Rachel, Ladd, and me to spend the evening together however we wanted, one night.
We had before dinner drinks at Brad and Rachel's.
Then, we went out for DeLIciOUs burgers!
We finished the night watching The Dark Night at their house.
Good times.
I'm thankful for Brad and Rachel and our relationship with them.
My husband, Ladd, was already friends with both of them before we even met.
Rachel is not only my sister-in-law, but also one of my best friends.
Since we don't see each other often enough, we really enjoyed our time together that night.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.











Time with Ladd's family was one of my best times with them as well.
It was even more relaxing than usual.
My mother-in-law is by far one of the best cooks I know.
Her food is absolutely amazing and I always get so full, because I want "just one more" bite! ;)
I'm sad to say, I forgot my camera when we went to his folk's house.
So, no pictures from the festivities there. :(

Thanks, Jerry and Kristin, for letting us invite ourselves over to see your kitty!
It was fun to be on your turf for a while.
I wish we could spend more time together and get to know more about each other.
Maybe we siblings could all get together for drinks or something, next time the family gets together?!?!?!




We enjoyed New Year's on the farm with a bonfire, per my request.
Ladd and I don't like to be driving on New Year's Eve, since we both like to partake in having a few drinks.
Bonfires are a favorite of mine.
I went to several when I was in High School and college.
Some of which were at my folks' farm.







And the Kansas sunsets.
SO glad to see these again!

my dog bailey would love this, too

ziggy

4 years ago.
It was Election Day.
Election Day in 2004 was on the 2nd of Nov.

We had plans to go to a like-minded couple’s home for election festivities to watch the countdown. We were on our way out the door when I noticed the answering machine was blinking.

I hadn’t noticed it earlier. Weird.

It was the local Human Society calling about my cat, Ziggy. They wanted me to call them back. My heart sunk in fear.

I had already made a mental note that I hadn’t seen him ALL day. That wasn’t normal.

We went across to the neighbor, who I am almost positive he fell in love with even more than us, to see if she had seen him. He spent a lot of time there and I even gave her food to feed him there, he frequented her place so often.

She hadn’t.

I told her of the message.

She said she knew of people within the Humane Society there and she would call her if I would like.

Yes, please. I said.

I think we all tried to say to each other and ourselves that nothing was wrong. He probably just got called in and picked up by the city and needed to be “bailed out”. But in my stomach, I felt something was wrong. So wrong. He was so good at not pissing off people. In fact, most people loved him.

You see, even impartial-to-cat people fell in love with him. The neighbor across the street he fell in love with is an example of that. She was more of a dog girl.

People who walked their dogs up and down our street would say to me, I can’t believe this. My dog is usually aggressive towards cats or dislikes cats, but with Ziggy, it’s like they are dumbfounded. Ziggy would approach dogs, people, and kids with no hesitation. He would rub against them or just fall and roll over hoping for oooing and awwwing of his awesome-ness. (He truly believed he was pretty awesome. It showed.)

But that call my neighbor made quickly proved that he had fallen fate to the elements of the outdoors. Her face and body sunk. Tears came. I looked at Ladd in shock and disbelief. I couldn’t believe it. It happened. Ziggy died. I knew it.

She told me his body was at the shelter for me to pick up.

No. No. NO!!!!

He had been struck by a vehicle while trying to cross a major street. A street he never bothered to explore beyond, until recently. There was a stray cat he had been eyeing. I don’t know if he was trying to make friends with it or chase it out of “his” territory. Probably the later. He didn’t really like to share our block with any other cats. He wanted to have all the attention for himself, and got plenty of battle scars to prove it.

An older lady was outside her house to bring up her trash cans from the curb and saw it happened. She told me she wasn’t about to let Ziggy get hit twice and walked out into the street fearlessly and grabbed him. He passed quickly. She held him close as he went, so he wouldn’t be alone or scared. She said she even tried to resuscitate him in hopes they could do something to save him at the shelter she was taking him to. He had severe head trauma. There was no saving him.

I will never forget this lady. She means the world to me for what she did for my Ziggy. And to know he didn’t die alone or lie in the street for hours or days, brings me peace. He deserved to die in the arms of someone who cared.


Four years ago, I lost a one of the best cats and I lost hope for America’s following 4 years, due to Bush “winning” the election.

So tonight I sit and remember with a heavy heart of that day 4 years ago. And I will sit with hope for our next president to raise us all back up as a nation.


Ziggy was so loved and there will never be another cat like him. Miss you, Ziggy.

(A.K.A. Zigster, Zigsters, Mr. Ziggy, Ziggy Piggy, Ziggers)

I will love you forever.



just brought ziggy home, summer 1999


getting older! He was about 6 months old here


approximately 6 months old


My roommates dog Smokey and Ziggy sleeping together


he climbed our christmas tree pretty much ever year he was alive. It was pretty much the only tree he cared to climb.


for awhile, he was my only roommate at my apartment in 2000


sitting on the laptop 2002


his most common pose. He truly thought he was such a king. 2004

miss you, Ziggy

Today I remember my cat Ziggy.

He died 4 years ago today.

He was amazing. So amazing.

I will post about him very soon, as time got away from me today. I can't wait to tell you about him. He was truly amazing.

For today, I wanted to post a short note, to show that I am thinking of him today.

Miss you, Zigster.

leafers

We were TOTAL leafers last sunday. To be fair, so were hundreds of other people that day.

We drove from Glenwood Springs all the way past Aspen up to Independence Pass. Approximately 6,000 miles in elevation within one hour. (Don't tell my mom. She officially forbid me from traveling this steep and winding road.

The colors were nonstop. It was amazing. And once again, I am painfully reminded that I need (okay, want) a different camera. These pictures don't do justice. Not that capturing this kind of beauty is easily obtained by most cameras. Mine was just exceptionally poor at doing so.

Enjoy, nonetheless!


ALMOST to Independence pass.


At the lookout area at the pass.


ladd and Bailey. One of which is regretting their clothing choice, at that moment.


The happy family.


Snow approaching!


The rest of these were taken along the drive. Most of which were on the 15 mile (approximately) stretch between Aspen and the top of Independence Pass.

week 6 down, 8 more to go

It is hard to believe, but we just finished week 6 of school. This semester is flying by.

I have had a handful of tests so far and I have done very well. It continues to amaze me what I am capable of. This isn't how it used to be for me. I always struggled in school. My attention span, difficulty reading, caring, etc. I still have to work very hard for my grades. I still take FOREVER to read a page. But I am absorbing information so much better now. Maybe its because I LOVE what I am studying. I know my goals. I see my future. I see a purpose in the time I am investing in all this school work.

I recently was on chore duty for a week. A friend of mine mentioned how another girl and I call it "chores" and not "animal care". I think its the farm-raised part of me. Feeding the cows. The horses and chickens. Those are chores, where I come from. ;) I have a few pictures, but not as many as I would have liked to take, to share with you. Not in this post - but I hope to get them up soon.

It was nice doing chores. Taking care of the goats, sheep, horses, llamas, ducks, chickens, ferret, mice, rats, etc. Its a long list! It is nice to have these animals around, because I know there is no way I can have all these pets right now. I can get my "fix" at school.

It is also reminding me how much work it is to run a farm. Some days, I toy around with the idea of having a small ranch in the future. A handful of horses and maybe some goats and chickens. Then reality sets in. Working on the farm here at school has brought my dreamy self back down to earth and woke me up to remember; FARM = VERY LITTLE FREEDOM. You have to be home to do your chores twice a day. If you want to go away for a vacation, you have to be able to find somebody you trust and who is available to take over for you while you are gone. It almost stresses me out just thinking about it.

But.... I know not to make predictions. Never say never.

We also went "leafing" last weekend. I took TONS of pictures. I can't wait to go through them and I will definitely share those with you as well. It was a MAGNIFICENT time. Unbelievable. Breathtaking. We drove all the way to the summit of Independence Pass, to see all the colors along the way. We started in Glenwood where the temp was about 75 or so. Within an hour south, we were at the summit and it was barely snowing! So awesome.

Stay tuned. Pictures and more posts and stories to come.... now that I FINALLY have a little free time! :)

sweet 16

Our sweet boy turned 16 this month.

You wouldn't believe it, if you met him. He's silly, spunky, talkative and even bossy sometimes.

God how I love this cat. I've only had the priviledge of mothering him since he was 7. That's when Ladd and I met and I he "gave" him to me. (long story....)

I pick this guy up and snuggle and smooch and love on this furry fellow as much as he allows... and sometimes without him allowing.

Oh, Schwartzkopf. Schwartzie. Schwartzenegger. General. Floofin'-floof. ....etc,.

I love you.

You. Are. Awesome!


me and my baby




having birthday "cookies"