Cats, Kittens, Puppies, and Babies

Cats, Kittens, Puppies, and Babies you ask? Yes, cats, kittens, puppies and babies has been our life for the last couple of months. First, if you know me, you know there are cats here on our "farm". Lots of cats!!! I am the kind of person that firmly believes every animal needs a person to love it. There is Izzy, Ozzie, Booty, Boots, Cry Cat, Ethel, Harriet, Agnes, Lexus, Sebastian, Cali, Purrslee, Lula, Felix, and Shiver. Now some of these are indoor cats, some are outdoor cats, some are outdoor cats that are indoors for one reason or another. Take Purrslee for example. Purslee is a gray tiger that appeared to have hurt her back when she was only a few weeks old and was having difficulty standing up, soooo, she moved from the barn to the spare bathroom for some one on one TLC. Before long she was up and moving around and could even jump over a baby gate!!! Last Friday, she decided she has not had enough attention and tried to make me think she was going to kitty heaven!!! She would not/could not stand up, walk, eat or drink!!! She would even take a shuttering breath, wait for 30-40 seconds, and then take another breath. I held her, snuggled her, and cried for her all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Monday, no moving, eating, or going to the bathroom and sleeping all day, Tuesday the same, Wednesday she decided to open her eyes so I made her hamburger soup and syringe fed her. Thursday she decided to hold up her head and look at me, so I gave her some hamburger to chew on, and she ate and peed but still unable to walk or stand. Friday she ate about 1/2 cup of burger and drank about a 1/4 cup of water!!!! As of today, she actually walked/wobbled, about 3 feet trying to get to me so she could sit on my lap and purr!!!! Soooooo---Purrslee is showing tons of improvement and ,as a matter of fact, she is sitting on my lap as I type this note. Really, all she had to do was look at me and purr last week, she did not have to play such a game with me!!!

Well where there are cats, there will be kittens!!! Especially when Scott happens to let Izzy out of the spare bathroom, where he was healing up from a fight with another tom cat, and OH YEA, there is Shiver!!! Now Shiver had only recently moved to our house and has not been fixed. Shiver had 6 babies!!!!! So out of the spare bath moved Ozzy, and in moved Shiver and kittens. Then Ethel, an outside cat, decided to have babies in the mulch!!! So into the house came Ethel and 5 babies!!! All well and good as long as they are confined to the box, but soon there were ll babies who needed to move outside and down the road. We have a free kitten sign and actually, only one of those kittens is still here, Mr. FuzzBucket!! Does that mean there are no other kittens outside? No way!!! I can actually see 7 babies sitting in front of the garage as I sit here. I know there are some outside in the barn, not sure if there are 4 or 5. Now I know you all are going to ask why I am not a responsible pet owner and have them fixed, well if I took every kitten that shows up here to the vet, I would not own this house!!!! Seems like there is a sign that only cats can read out front that says "Free Food, Lots of Cuddles Here". The ladies from the church are even calling to tell me about some cat or another that is in need of a home or else, so out to the barn they go!!!

As for the puppy part, we have a new Black Lab. Bentley was a stray/dumped dog that was running down the middle of the road. I stopped, and in he jumped. I reported him to Animal Control and they advised me that Bentley would be ours if no one claimed him in a week. No one came forward for him!!!!! I thought, this is a great puppy, maybe 5 months old, he can sit, he is calm, he is quiet, surely someone will want him back. Nope. So at the end of the week, he became ours. And we became the owner of a rambunctious, loud barking, waste basket emptying, dog. He redecorates any throw rug in the house to a new location, chewed the corner of the wall, has destroyed slippers, emptied every waste basket in this house!!! But he only does this when you are not looking. When you are with him, he is loving, calm, even smiles at you. If I hear paper rattling and I catch him in the act, he actually looks away like "What do you mean, I do not have any paper!" Explain that to Wells Fargo when they open my last payment!!! Scott looked at him the other day and said "Hey Douglas! and guess what? Bentley was so excited that we actually call him Douglas most of the time now. Go Figure!!! So I painted the wall corner with Cayenne Pepper, moved the waste basket into the spare bathroom, and I pray that the puppy settles down to the wonderful Black Lab he should be. As I type, he is actually removing every bone, chew toy, balls, everything from his basket of toys. And I love him!!! I am not so sure that Buckwheat the Cocker loves him, but Baby the Beagle is his best friend!!! What would we do without the spare bathroom?

Now we are on to babies. We are going to be grand parents again in January. Scott and Brandi are having a Baby Girl!! Jayden, who is now 4, said that if the baby was a boy, he was going to throw it in the lake. Yesterday when Scott and Brandi told him it was a girl, he was jumping up and down and squealing!! Bryce, who will be 3 in November, said NO when asked if he wanted a sister. I call this baby our tie breaker since we have 6 grand sons, and 6 grand daughters.

Our Laura started chemo again last Monday. This chemo is to beat down her immune system so she will be able to receive the 3f8 treatments that put her into remission. She has not been able to get these treatments for awhile and can only receive them until December. She is still showing no signs of active cancer and for that we are so grateful. GOD is good!!

So as you can see, we have had a busy summer. I am so very blessed to be "Just The Grandma"!!!

Pretty Please With Sugar On Top

Who can resist those words? Not me!!! And apparently not Grampa Scott!! One of the things that Laura and I love to do is go to Pet Smart to visit the fish, hamsters, birds, kitties, and see the dogs that are there for a hair cut. Where you first walk in there is this huge display of Christmas vests for doggies. Here is our conversation:
Laura: OH Grandma Look at these cute sweaters for Baby.
Can we get one pretty please?
Me: Oh Grampa would never go for that!!! (Same conversation happened on Halloween!)
Laura: Come on Grandma Pretty Please Grampa will say yes if I ask him (imagine her saying this with the I know he will attitude!!)
Me: I do not think Grampa will go for that Laura
Laura: Can we call him pretty please, pretty please with sugar on top!!!
Me: OK ( I can not say no to that!!)
So I dial up Grampa and put him on speaker much to the delight of all the other people standing by us.
Grampa Scott: Hello
Laura: HI Grampa can we buy a sweater for Baby?
Grampa: A sweater for Baby huh
Laura: Yeah you know because she is cold when she goes outside
Grampa: Did Grandma say that? as he is chuckling
Laura: Pretty Please Grampa Pretty please with sugar on top?
Grampa: What kind of sweater?
Laura has to pick up several to look at while Grandpa waits and all the bystanders are anxiously awaiting the answer!!!
Laura: Like this one (as if he can see through the phone)
Grandma: In the background Pink argyle
Grampa: How much is it?
Grandma: You do not want to know.
Laura: Can we please Grandpa Pretty Please with Sugar on Top?
Grampa: Ok go ahead
Laura: Bouncing up and down Yeah thank you Grampa.
Grampa: Good Bye Laura, I love you.
Laura: I love you too!!!!
So here is Baby with her new sweater and here is Laura on the way home. I guess it is pretty tiring to pick out a doggie sweater!

After Laura falls asleep on our way home, I call Grampa and he tells me that "You know I can never tell her no!!! Of course, my comment was "That is exactly why we called you, I can never tell her no!!!"


This last week Jayden and Bryce spent a couple of days with me. Jayden knows the pretty please ploy as well.
On Monday morning I picked them up at home and brought them to our house. On the way home we had to stop at the grocery store to by milk. So as we go by the donuts, the conversation goes like this:
Jayden:Oh Oh Grandma look at the doughnuts-can we get some for Grampa pretty please?
Me: Pretty please? For Grampa?
Jayden: Yes Grandma Grampa wants them pretty please with sugar on top!!!
Of course, you guessed it, we bought donuts, and milk, and bananas, and grapes, and eggs, and cearal, and pudding, when we really only needed milk!!!!! Grampa really did like those donuts though. On Wednesday Great Grampa Joe came to visit for awhile and we had a lesson on hearing aides.
Jayden was trying to talk to Grampa Joe and I was trying to explain that he needed to talk a little louder because Grampa Joe has a hearing aide.
Jayden: What is a hearing Aide?
Me: See look in Grampa Joe's ear, see the hearing aide? It helps him hear what you are saying.
Jayden: Why does he have a hearing aide?
Me: He has it to hear you better (for the tenth time!!)
Jayden: I can hear.
Me: I know, but sometimes people have to have a hearing aide to help them hear, like Laura has one too.
Jayden: No she doesn't.
Me: Well, yes she does, just not right now. Try to explain that to a three year old.
After Grampa Joe went home Jayden and I discussed the hearing aide, oh I don't know, a hundred times more.


Here is a picture of Grampa Scott and Jayden and Bryce. We really had a good chuckle from this conversation:
Jayden: Grampa Scott your jeans have a hole in them!
Grampa: Did you hear that Grandma my jeans have a hole in them!!!
Bryce: See See the hole!!!
Me: Thanks for telling me boys-I will have to fix (throw away) them!!!

I am so blessed to be just the grandma!!!

Sweetest Day

Sweetest Day. HMMMMMMMMMMMM I did not even remember it was going to be Sweetest Day until Friday evening when I arrived at the grocery store. I walked past a chocolate chip cookie as big as a pie, decorated with a huge Happy Sweetest Day LOGO and lots of frosting. Then past cupcakes decorated with the same, then small cakes, and finally Sweetest Day cards. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Must be Sweetest Day is coming, OH WAIT---It is the very next day and I do not have a card or a present for my husband Scott!!!!!!!!!!!! So around the store I go once again picking out the perfect cookie, and the perfect card. And just think, if I had not needed eggs, I would not have even remembered!!!!!! Scott loved the cookie (of course not as much as if I had made it) and the card was a hit. But you ask what was his gift to me? Well, not a cookie because those of you that know me, know that a cookie would not pass my lips. Scott's present to me was in a conversation we had later that day. It went like this:

Scott: I love you.
Me: I love you too. I like us like this. You know, close and happy.
Scott: Me too.
Me: What did my note say that you found?
Scott: It said "I married you then, and I would marry you again"
Me: I would, you know.
Scott: Babe - even if we had to do all this again (Laura's cancer), I would still marry you again.

That statement was the best present Scott could ever give me.

Does sweetest day have to be a holiday?? No. I think any day is sweet, but some days are sweeter. Like yesterday.
There is a very sweet little guy CJ Shaw who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma on December 1, 2006. He had two masses on his brain and had emergency surgery that night to remove the larger of the two. A few days later he again had surgery to remove the other mass. It was cancerous. You can read his updates at:
www.carepages.com/carepages/CJShaw/updates
CJ's aunt Erin is putting together a wonderful fundraiser for CJ and his family. I called her and offered to help out. So yesterday I spoke to Mrs. Michigan and asked her if she would like to make an appearance. Here is the sweet part--she said yes, without a hesitation in her voice, just YES!!!! It would be her pleasure!!!!! How wonderful it is that someone as important as Mrs. Michigan would just say Yes, just tell her when and where!!!! I have included a picture of her with Owen and Rich Michaels at Laura's fund raiser. I have never met CJ in person but he is one of my little angels in my Angel_Wings prayer group. His grandma Michelle and I have never met either, but we have talked on the phone and emailed back and forth. We have that the common thread of being the grandma to a child with cancer. I can not wait to share a grandma hug with her. That is the joy of being just the grandma!

Sometimes I Get To Be The Kid

First of all, this picture is of my son Scotty, Daughter-in-law Brandi, Jayden and Bryce.
You know, sometimes I forget that I am just the grandma and decide to be the kid. Well, not actually decide, but get forced to be the kid. I have had a tummy issue for several years and it usually decides to act up at the most inconvenient times. Saturday night was one of those times. As the evening progressed, my tummy pain became more and more intense. Usually I can just go to bed with the heating pad and sleep it away. Not Saturday. My husband is a semi truck driver and was in Oregon, about as far away from Michigan as he could be. The kids are all tucked into their own beds at their own homes. I was a paramedic several years ago, so I know the cost to just load someone in the ambulance, let alone drive 2 miles to the hospital. So I take myself!!! After 5 hours of IV, CT scan, X-ray, pain meds, it is now time for me to get home. Now you all know that even though it is only 2 miles, the hospital frowns on driving after IV drugs!!!!! "So, who do you want us to call Carolyn?" (good thing I know the nurses!) Well, I can't call my mom, she won't be that happy I did not call her in the first place. I could a friend, but I am sure they are either sleeping, in Church, or working. So I tell the nurse she can call my son, Scott. She looks at me and says "He knows you are here right?" Well no he does not. So she gives him a call and over to the ER he comes. Now this is the part where I get to be the kid!!!!
Scotty: Hey Ma What is going on?
Me: Oh you know, just the belly.
Scotty: What is wrong with your belly?
Me: Just the usual belly pain.
Scotty: Did they find anything?
Me: Just the usual IBS.
Scotty: OK as he walks to the nurse and says:
"So I heard her story, now what is the rest of the story!!!!!" I actually had to snicker a little. Anyway, he drives me the two miles home, hops on my bike and rides back to the hospital to drive my car back home.
And of course, I find out he has called Scott to tell him all about it because "Like you would tell him all of the story? " It is days like that when you love your child for letting you be the kid sometimes instead of just the grandma!!!!