Sunday, December 28, 2008

Where Are You, My Friend?

I had intended this to be an upbeat, happy post filled with holiday stories and photos of our trip to New Jersey. This is also my 100th post on Blogger, and that deserved some sort of celebration. What was a wonderful trip has suddenly crumbled into anger and sadness.
When we returned home last evening, the water pipe in our laundryroom had burst and the room was filled with about 4 inches of water. All boxes, bags and even a few clothing items were floating around in there. Hence, no water supply at all until the plumber can fix the leak. But that is a small inconvenience compared to the greater issue. Alix had gone with us on this trip and survived the ride amazingly well. Infact, it was decided amongst Joe, my parents and I that Alix enjoyed Christmas most of all! Coal and Elliot arrived to greet us as soon as we pulled in the driveway. There was Bud standing outside his dog house and the kittens were waiting inside. Even the elusive Mocha came out of the barn to say 'welcome back'. So far we have not seen site of our Sammy. He is our oldest black cat and has FIV, a form of Feline Leukemia. He shows no outward signs of being ill and is over 12 years old (at my best guess). He has suffered in the past from bouts of illness that cause him to "shut-down" and just lay still. It effects his upper respiratory system and these attacks last several days. He usually hides himself away under the bed or in a quiet corner of the house until he feels well enough to join us. He has even vanished outside somewhere for 16 days and then returned to us....a bit thinner but healthy again. With being away from home for 8 days I have no idea if he was ill or when he was last seen. The neighbors in charge of the care of the house/pets say they saw him Friday night, but he didn't want to come inside because the weather was unusually mild. But these are the same neighbors who were in charge of the water shut-off valve. I don't mean to be ungrateful for their help. I suppose I am just frustrated, angry and sad all at once. My house was cold, messy and water was spewing from my laundryroom at high speed. Now my dear friend Sammy is missing. I've searched and searched in all his usual hiding places. I have even done the mandatory search of the roadside ditches for any unfortunate accidents. Luckily, nothing. Please come back to us Sammy, we miss you.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Cyber-Slug

What is a Cyber-Slug, you may ask? It is one who composes countless blog entries in the mind and then never actually sits down at the computer to write them. It is one who takes numerous photos and then leaves them in the digital camera until they are hopelessly out of date. It is one who reads other's blogs and marvels at their capacity to stay on top of things in a timely fashion, but then does nothing to improve her own blog. If these descriptions have not clued you in, here is a photo of the beast itself:
Here is said Slug with co-workers. Slug is at far right. From the left it is Brenda, Kaysa, Alisha, Jill in the back and Carina .
Slug has many seasonal and family photos to share, but that must wait until tomorrow. Slug's "computer skills" are required by the parents to update their computer, make labels, and clean out their e-mail folders.


A Very Merry Christmas to all my on-line friends!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Full Circle

So what is it that's put me in such a good mood? The fact that I can finally post photos here again? Yes, sort of. I give more credit to this though.............

and these lovely ladies.


Quite a few stitchy photos to show too. Here's a collection of WIP items on the sewing chair. Some half-finished doll clothes and a little knitted hat in the background, a few Prairie Schooler ornaments and a little freebie bird from a French website.
Of course the pets always put me in a good mood too. Roy and Carmella are just loving every minute of living with us and it's hard to imagine them living anywhere else but here. They have both gotten bigger and a lot stronger just by having so much more room to run around and play. They spend several hours a day wrestling or playing with all the recycled cat toys. Then they spend an equal amount of time napping in all the newly discovered places, but most likely the couch or the bed.

A little "holiday warmth" to share with you. Our main heating source, the wood-burning stove in our living room. Luckily we also have a good supply of wood, courtesy of Joe.
Ok, enough already with all the photos! I've run out of stuff to post for today. Is this what the hip young people call "over-sharing"!?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Can I really Manage Two Blogs?

I can't believe I am back here on Blogger. I actually got a picture to post here after nearly two months. I really do like this style and set-up better then Wordpress, but to have two blogs...how confusing is that? And they both have the same name! So I'll go at it full-force for a few minutes and get some photos up here and see what happens. I honestly don't know how I managed to get this to work again. Something about settings and entering that little encrypted password of gibberish. Then suddenly it said "Welcome to Blogger, you're ready to post." How weird is that?! After 96 posts I'm suddenly "ready" again. Technology; I'll never figure it out.

Look at me, I'm writing while the photos upload. I love that feature and can't seem to get that to work at Wordpress. I'm such a fickle old thing these days. These photos are from last week, but I haven't gotten a new series out of the camera yet. All of cats of course. Roy bonding with Joe's sweatshirt, Carmella discovering the many benefits of furniture, Alix inspecting the new arrivals.

La, la la..the photos are uploading! I get such a thrill out of the oddest things in Life.