Adjusting

Collies have been part of our home for almost twelve years and our house isn't the same without Lady and Winnie. Jim's mom, Dot, loved dachshunds, and Jim grew up with a series of them. Dot's grandchildren will always remember her for that. For the early years of her life, Jim's Leah called Dot "Trini Gramma" because of Katrina, Dot's wiener dog at that time. I mentioned to Jim that Kayden will also have a gramma and grampa with a dachshund, as Mistie is our only dog for now. I know that we both were thinking, sadly, that Kayden will never know our home with Lady and Winnie.

They took up most of the floor space lying in the living room, and brought in a good bit of the back yard when coming inside. Our kitchen floor bore the markings of their presence - twigs and leaves from the backyard that came in on their fur, muddy footprints if it rained, and drops of water trailing into the next room after they had a drink. I learned to clean the floor with the expectation that it would be improved, but not perfect, as it would be only a matter of minutes after putting the mop away before their leavings would start to re- accumulate. They left lots of fur on the floor and nose prints on the storm doors. Mowing the back yard always was preceded by de-dog-pooping, and they would bark at every dog being walked by the house until the walls rattled.

But now, there is no barking and the kitchen floor is clean although it hasn't been mopped in several days. I mowed the back yard for the first time at this house with no pre-cleaning. A few of Lady's nose prints remain on the front storm door. I couldn't think of wiping them away.

Until we meet again

Lady's Summer Grace
December 12, 1996 - August 14, 2009

Sitting up!

Kayden, now seven months old, has learned to sit up all by himself, and had his first tooth coming in yesterday. He also has started rudimentary speech patterns: Heidi and I took him to the Ohio State Fair last week, and from his stroller there was a frequent sequence of "da da da's" as we walked along. He just keeps getting cuter and cuter, and that smile!

I watched and marveled at my own children's development, but there is something different and almost more endearing and amazing watching Kayden grow. How incredible it is that a mere half year ago he was unable to do much of anything. Now he rolls around, sits up, holds onto and examines toys, and holds his mouth open like a baby bird to have food spooned in. He knows his mommy and daddy, Uncle Aaron, and Gramma. He is beginning to learn what he likes and what he doesn't; at the fair, he was a bit afraid of the big horses, turning his head and clutching Heidi.

This weekend, Heidi and Ashley are in a wedding, and Kayden is spending Saturday and Sunday with Jim and me. I am so looking forward to spending time with my little grandson!

The story of Mr. Bailey

Everyone has a shop or store that is dangerous to enter. By that, I mean dangerous to the budget because you know that even though all you went in for was X, you will leave with at least X,Y, and Z, and maybe a bit of A through W as well. Some of my friends say Target department stores are like that, and one friend is like that at shoe stores.

Our dangerous store is Complete Petmart. We like to buy our animal essentials there because they don't sell animals (a BIG plus in my book) and because they always have a cat from a local rescue in the store for adoption. Plus, the manager orders the cat litter we like as a special order. We're REALLY good cat litter customers. So every time Jim or I goes into Petmart we stop and visit the current cat. Usually, we only see a cat there for a week or so and they are gone to a new home. Enter Bailey...

On one of his routine visits, Jim stopped to pet Bailey, who seemed like a very sweet , laid back cat. Bailey had been found in an alley with other cats,all believed to be feral. They, including Bailey, were captured in order to be spayed or neutered, then would be released. As it turned out, Bailey was very human friendly, so he was taken in for adoption. Like all strays, Bailey suffered the risks of roaming, as his tail had been injured and was infected. It was too far gone to save, so he had a tail-ectomy and his healed tail is a stump. Sweet cat with a sad past = very adoptable. A week later, I stopped in for something- probably litter-and met Bailey, who seemed like such a nice cat that I commented about him to Jim. Neither of us, having met him, could understand why he hadn't been adopted yet. A week later he was still there and that's when the danger really started because my heart has a very loud mouth when it feels like it, and it was saying things like "No cat should have to beg for weeks for a home."

As I'm sure the end of this story was clear from the beginning, Bailey and his stump tail became a member of our family in June. He never had any trouble fitting in- even Nell, who would like to be an only cat, tolerates him. And we think Sam, our manx, is happy to have a tail-less brother to play with.