Tabbies are the best!

I have had kitties since I was 7 yrs old but have never had a plain grey tabby. We had orange cats when I was a kid - Sunshine and Whiskers, but we had to get rid of them as my Mom developed allergies pretty much right away so I didn't get real attached although I remember crying and carrying on when they were taken away.

Then when I was 22 or so I adopted an orphaned barn cat who was brown bear black - longish hair. He was my lovely boy Iggy who I taught to jump up into my arms from the floor but wouldn't let others hold him.

I brought Iggy down to Florida when I moved here when I was 30 and laid with him on the kitchen floor one Easter night when he died in 1993 at the youngish age of 10. :(

It took some time before I got another kitty..I was pretty tore up. This is what Iggy looked like - he was black but in the sun light you could see some brownishness in his fur.

Katie was next. I found this sweet little Calico kitten while in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. She was chasing an older couple across AIA in the rain and she was only about 3 lbs - about 10 weeks or so. I said " is that your cat?" and they said, "No, what cat?" So I scooped her up and brought her home with me to Florida. She was quite the personality - She charmed everyone but didn't like being held not even by me until she was older and sick. She developed Kidney disease and I administered Saline solution to her 2-3 times per week the last 2 yrs of her life. She died right before we got Jamie. I think there wasn't enough room in the world for both Katie and Jamie. Katie died Dec of 2005 when she was only ten years old. Jamie was born the following January, though we didn't get custody of her until she was four and a half months old - later in May. Anyway this picture is similar to Katie but she didn't have long hair and her markings were more symetrical:

While I had Katie I adopted an all grey cat named Kimba - Kimba was long haired and a bit of a pill. He never had the great personality of Iggy or Katie so was a bit of a forgotten child. He also started marking his territory when we moved to our bigger house in 2000 which royally pissed me off. He died of CRF in 2007, a couple of years after Katie and died a bit young as well I think he was 10. However he was quite handsome - here is what he looked like:

We also had a third kitty with Katie and Kimba named Poncho who was my little love bug. He adored me and loved being held as a baby.  He had kidney stones so I also did the Subq fluids on him his last year and a half and he also died young. It tore me up once again to lose him in 2009 or so when he was only 11.

http://jamieandus.blogspot.com/2008/04/rip-poncho-1997-2008.html

After the three of them died I was haunting the ASPCA website and found an adorable litter of kittens that needed a home.We started out fostering them but of course we kept them all. Truman, Spicy and Minnie.

Jamie was only 2 and a half when we adopted them - I think it was too young as they became afraid of her and have always avoided her except for Truman. 

Alas Truman died REALLY young at only 3 - he also got stopped up with Cysts in his urine and though he recovered from the surgery he came home on several drugs and his liver failed from the valium they gave him to relax his urinary tract.

So we were left with two again - and Minnie and Spicy wanted nothing to do with Jamie. So we got a dog - yup  a dog when Jamie was five and a half. That's a story: 

Jamie had been begging us for a dog for quite a while. One day I asked my friend Michelle - these cute blonde boys mom if we could borrow her newish dog named Samson. They had gotten him as a pup from the shelter that Christmas and Sammie was about four months old. Well I brought him home and Mike flipped out! He was livid! I told him no worries we are just going to 'try him out' to see what i will be like to have a dog in the house. The next day Mike wouldn't go to church. He refused to leave 'that dog' in the house alone so Jamie and I went alone. When we came back, Mike's heart melted at how Jamie was so excited to see him. But I returned the dog that day as planned.

Later in the week I called Michelle to see if I could 'borrow' Samson again as it went so well. She said she would like to see if we would take him. They could see how much Jamie loved Samson and they were overwhelmed with too many pets and humans in the house as her husbands' brother had just moved in with his dog and they also had another dog (plus a cat and two boys and three adults in a smallish house). So now we had two cats and a dog - and we were at the three pet limit Mike had mandated for our household....

But then I found Cody. Meowing piteously in the church parking lot, surrounded by the church feral cats. I went over to him and picked him up and he hugged me around the neck and it was love at first sight (for me! and Jamie and my Mom who were with me when I found him - Mike not so much)

http://jamieandus.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-cody.html

Ok so now we were at four. My mom used to say how did you end up with the best cat AND the best dog in the world as both were very affectionate with all and Jamie finally had a cat and a dog who would let her love on them and play with them.

And really I felt satisfied. I didn't plan on going any higher- No more pets! Mike was sure to tell me over and over that we were not going to get ANY MORE PETS!

Then this summer happened. I just couldn't let another litter of kittens become ferals so Jamie and I socialized the litter of five kittens. And I found homes for four of them...but that last kitten couldn't get adopted - He was just a plain grey tabbie and nobody wanted him. I kept saying I just know we are going to get stuck with this cat! Mike couldn't believe I didn't want him. But I didn't. I didn't want any more turds to chase and didn't think I wanted such a plain boring cat. After all my kitties are usually quite striking and usually have great personalities. (Aren't they? See above) Shiver was his name as he wasn't as socialized as the other kittens and just shivered and shook when we first brought him home.

Then I administered flea medicine - I split an adult dose between two of the remaining kittens. Gator (which we started calling him) almost died from the medicine. DO NOT DO THIS. They have kitten doses...If you split the dose there are two medicines inside those pods and you may give most or all of one of the medicines to one of the kittens and it can hurt them. Anyway see that blue blanket? I kept that kitten in that nest for three days right with me at all times. I spoon fed him canned cat food and syringed water in to him. On the third night (he slept on the pillow next to mine) he started purring for the first time ever and later that night woke up and started trying to play and that is when I knew he would survive and also that he had found a place in my heart. He has turned out to be the most affectionate and lively of the bunch.

So now we have FOUR CATS AND A DOG!

Geesh. 

Not the best year but the trip was worth it!

I hoped to make each year more productive as the year before as a Realtor.

I actually hoped to do 1 million the first year 2 million the second etc.

Last year I hit the 2 million mark and this year I will be slightly shy of that mark. (Or more than slightly depending on whether 2 of my pendings close before the end of the year).

So I am not hitting the marks I had hoped but have no regrets. The trip was amazing and my life is pretty darned amazing too.

I am thinking of getting certified as a substitute teacher so I can pick up some hours and pay if real estate dwindles like it did for me in September and October. $80/day is better than nothing!

And real estate is a hard, awesome, frustrating but incredibly rewarding way to make a living. I love what I do. I won this cruise last year as I had a GREAT end of the year. (And was able to bring my daughter Jamie on the cruise for a negligible cost). Let's hope next year is incredible as well.

Kitty Wrangling Or TNR ing

 The original kittens on the porch step - well three of the five.

 I thought Gator was going to die!! He just laid there for 3 days!

 Gator, smaller than my water bottle.

 He could fit in Dad's pocket

 Gator now - Well loved and getting tall!

About three months ago I noticed my neighbor lady's cat colony had another litter. This colony has been there for a couple of years and the kittens keep coming. We starting stopping over there a couple of times a week to socialize the kittens and when they were about 6 wks old I kitnapped the kittens.

I found homes for all but the littlest plain tabby. I was NOT doing this to acquire another cat. We had 3 cats and a dog and I do alot of turd handling.

Well as it happens everyone wanted the Siamese and the Tabby marked kittens so we got 'stuck' with the plainer Tabby. But he is the sweetest kitten. 

I gave him some flea meds a bit too early and he almost died. See above in the blue blanket- He just laid there and was so lanquid! He wouldn't eat- I had to force feed him with a syringe. I was taking him to bed with me and holding him so I would know when he needed to pee or poo. He would wake and cry and I would put him in the box to do his business and then bring him back to my side.

He was a bit shyer than the rest as he normally didn't come out when we stopped to do the socializing. (That is him hissing at us on the front step in the top photos.)

Here is the whole litter - I kept them in a dog's crate most of the time to keep track of them.

 I called this one Spitfire!

 My friend came and picked between the last two.

 Gator's mom on the way to get spayed.

 Mom with a kitten in her pocket.

 Gators dad?

 Gators aunt?

My friends daughter wanted Gator but Lipp got chosen by her mom instead.

So the last 3 months have involved TNRing. 

Trapping, Neutering. Return is a program my city uses for Feral cats. Instead of putting them down then encourage the community to bring in the feral kitties and they fix them and give them shots and return them to the original site.

I trapped 13 cats for the program. One of them got let loose by my daughter - so now there is a black and white female (Probably Gator's aunt) loose near my home. The other 12 were returned although I only see four there at the original site. What happened to them all? I don't know but the neighbor lady is sure grateful I helped her cull down the herd. Now I return the traps though I didn't catch them all. Mr. Mustachio remains at the outskirts of the colony. He was just too clever to be trapped.

I am unnaturally happy & unconcerned about life (NOT WORRYING)

I just got some good news about a diagnostic mammogram and biopsy I had Monday. Whew...But I don't think I sweated it that much actually.

In fact for some reason I am not sweating things right now. I have nothing closing which is unusual for me as a Realtor. But I am not freaking out.

Thinking about cancelling cable, yes. Worrying not really.

Why is this? I am not sure, but for some reason Faith has said her prayers.

Life is good!!

Balmorhea State Park, Texas

When scoping out our route out west I found this hidden gem in the western part of Texas. Balmorhea is a state park that was constructed during the Great Depression by the CCC Civilian Conservation Corps) It has a spring fed swimming pool - and is it ever huge! And Cool! So our campsite looks like we are in the desert and a short walk away is a clear stream heading to the huge pool - which is up to 25 feet deep on one end and has lots of Diving boards.
When we arrived there were about 20 cars at the side of the road as they had closed the park for the day. They close it when it fills to capacity and just let in a car when a car departs. Luckily I had internet and when tto the site where they said all campers can come in so we didn't have to wait. Checked in and hooked up and walked to the Spring fed pool. What a great cool off!

Forget the Alamo?

We are on the 2nd night of our great RV adventure or Westward Ho! as I like to call it. We got here to San Antonio at 12:45 - a far cry from early in the evening we thought we would arrive.

There was a huge crush of traffic jam on I-10 out of Baton Rouge that took over 2 hours to go approximately 15 miles. For some reason traffic was diverted to only one lane.

Then in Houston THE FREEWAY WAS CLOSED! Yup you heard it right, they just closed down part of the freeway and diverted traffic away from I 10 and didn't tell you where to go! WTH?!

So anyway our 7 hour trip took almost 12. I'm getting very afraid of our 12 hour trip from Balmohea to Tombstone on Monday night! It's not like you can make changes - you have to book ahead so I am not quite sure what we will do - get up at four am? To get there by ten pm?

So tomorrow we may just skip the Alamo. Forget it...But Mike really wants to see it. (He is a History teacher and quite the history major and a huge history buff.  He really should see it. We all should.

Tomorrow Balmorehea is only 5.5 hours away (Or so they say....) We shall see.

Summer is here!

We are having an eventful year - Jamie and I just got back from our cruise to St Thomas and St. Marteen and now we are preparing for a cross country rv trip! Yup we lucked out and got a Mammoth Lakes Condo for $300 and then someone from church is loaning us their RV!

We plan on seeing the Grand Canyon, The Alamo, the Mississippi River as well as Yosemite and some presidential sites for Mike the History Buff.

We are picking up Jamie's best friend in Los Angeles and bringing her with us! We are lucky that someone from Church has agreed to live in our house for the 3 weeks or so we will be gone.

Oh my the excitement around here!

Little Dog Envy

Jamie and I have been talking about maybe getting a small dog someday. She loves to hold them in her lap. The dog at the top is a dacshund//chihauwah mix my friend had, the one at the bottom is a teddy bear pomeranium that we saw at a street fair.

The thing is small dogs seem to have issues with pooping and peeing in the house.

And I just don't want that. So Sammy will probably suffice. 

(Not that Mike would let us bring another pet in the house.)