My daughter just started a blog, and while trying to locate it, I came upon my own blog.. Funny..I had forgotten about it.. I think it's more for me than anyone else.. It's like a dairy of sorts. A way to look back and remember little things I'd forgotten.
In reading my last blog, I was reminded of the best birthday present I've ever received. Our cat, Rascal, had been with us just one day when I wrote a blog about him. Now, four years later, he is the most entertaining cat I've ever met.. He's a nut wrapped in long fur.
His born in the wild side is still there, much to our dismay at times.. He's a hunter by nature and goes out every day to hunt.. It breaks our hearts when he catches a bird or another little animal we wish he'd just leave alone..
He is, however, the best mouser on the planet, which makes my husband very happy.. I have torn feelings about it. Mice are so stinking cute, but at the same time, eeeekkkkk...
We used to get a mouse in the house from time to time, living out in the boonies with woods all around us. But not anymore.. If one foolishly finds it's way in, it's the last thing he does.. Rascal doesn't rest till he's captured it..
Other than his relentless need to hunt, he is just hillarious. He's got more energy than he knows what to do with. He jumps, plays, lays on his back with all four legs up in the air and cuddles at the most unexpected times..
We thought he was very healthy when he was found, but soon realized that he had an allergy to milk, and was actually skin and bones under all that fur.. He was also the biggest gas ball on the planet and could clear a room within seconds..
We had to try food and food on him until we finally found food he can digest. He eats Blue Buffalo dry cat food, along with Pet Guard canned food.. The combination keep him healthy, and gas free. lol...
He is a huge, beautiful cat, long haired with black, brown and cream coloring.. He has a mane like a lion and beautiful green eyes.. He's our baby and obviously likes holding that position in the household..
He doesn't really like people, though, or rather, is afraid of people.. He's been on a number of vacations with us, and rides in automobiles like a trooper.. But when we stay at family homes, he hides under beds to avoid contact with anyone else.. This past year he allowed my daughter, grandaughters and grandsons to pet him, though.. He also seems to like my oldest son when he comes to visit.. Guess he's finally coming out of his shell.
He hears the UPS driver coming a mile away, though, and runs to hide before he ever pulls in the driveway.
After finding him, the other kittens in Cali's litter started making an appearance, although, none of them would let us touch them or get very near them.. We started feeding them, and eventually, Cali left with one of the kittens, leaving 3 males behind.. Cali never came back.
The three left would come to the porch to eat and drink warm milk when I called them, but wouldn't let us touch them.. We named them Ziggy, BooBoo and Dusty.. Ziggy and BooBoo never left our yard, but Dusty was a wanderer and would leave for hours at a time. As he got older, he would leave for days at a time, eventually, never to come back.
But we worked on Ziggy and BooBoo for a couple of years, and finally, one touch at a time, they learned to trust us, and within weeks of letting us pet them for the first time, they were our constant companions whenever we were in the yard. Ziggy started coming inside occassionally, and worrying about him "marking" things, we took him to be fixed. After that, he came inside every evening to sleep, but went out first thing in the morning for the day.. Although he always stayed in the yard, he just didn't want to be inside.. He would come in for a few minutes or just to get a snack, but for the most part, wanted to be outside all day.
At night he slept as close to my leg as he could possibly get. First he would nead the blankets just right, then plop down to sleep.. He was so sweet and loving.. Rascal would try to play really rough with him, but Ziggy just looked shocked, like he didnt' understand such roughness.. He was born in the wild, but he was just the sweetest natured cat ever.
We had wild turkeys that came to the yard daily to be fed and Ziggy would follow one of them around in the yard.. He never tried to hurt it, he just seemed fond of this one in particular. Always made me laugh.
Ziggy's routine was to come in at dinner time for the night.. One evening in the fall, I was fixing dinner, went out to all Ziggy, but he didn't want to come in.. He was watching something in the tree, something I could not see, and was mobilized.. I had something on the stove, so went back inside to finish what I was doing.. When I went back out to get him, he was gone, and I've never seen him since.
I miss him terribly, but feel blessed to have this ferrel cat trust me, and my husband, so much that he became our little buddy.. I don't know what happened to him, but I do know in his 2 1/2 years, he never left our yard... I had a dream about a week before his dissapearance that a woman in a silver blue car with white hair had hit him, killing him.. I woke up feeling sad and depressed, and remembered the dream clearly.. Then he dissapeared.. We looked everywhere for him, went to the animal shelter looking for him, went through all the woods around us looking for him, but I knew.... I knew Ziggy was gone and wasn't coming back.. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I know that Ziggy is on the other side... I still miss him..
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time Fly's
Everyone says it..everyone thinks it..But I have to say it again! The older you get, the faster time fly's by...It's been months, almost a year, since I added to my blog... Too much has happened to catch up, so I'm just going to add that I've been so busy, I haven't had the time to add new doll's to the site.. But I'm working as fast as possible on all my orders so that I can "hopefully" get a little free time to add some new items... I have new doll's floating in my head...If only it was as easy to physically create them as it is to create them in my head!!
Until another day, this is all the time I have to post.. So much to add, so little time...
As Bob Ross used to say,
God Bless My Friend....
Karen
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The loss of my brother in law, Larry Bottoms
My little break from orders has been very productive.. I've had so much fun working non stop on new doll's and was looking forward to spending this week on Sweet Pea Doll's and their clothing.
Unfortunately, all that fun came to a very sad halt last weekend when I received word that my brother in law from Oklahoma had passed away.
My brother in laws name was Larry Bottoms.. He was a kind, gentle teddy bear of a man and we all respected and loved him very much. He and my sister had met 17 years ago, married and blended their family's together.. My sister has 4 kids, he had 2... He was a great step dad, a loving husband and a friend to all.
Larry has had some really hard things to get past in the last couple of years, the biggest being the loss of his 17 year old daughter Rachel...
About 14 years ago, after Rachel's death, Larry started having problems with his legs.. He went from having to use a cane to using a walker and finally, a scooter..
He was a city manager for the city of Tulsa, and despite having difficulty just walking, he continued to work up until last year.. He went through a very serious health crises last fall, he wasn't expected to live, but he did! He pulled through and worked at trying to get better..He was bed ridden for months but eventually was able to get himself up and onto a scooter, so he was making headway. Unfortunately, his heart could just not take the strain any more and last weekend, his journey came to an end.
I have gotten really interested in the belief that we can heal ourselves and in the way that most cultures, other than ours here in the United States, look to the emotional upheavals in one's life to figure out the best source of healing for patients.. I'm no expert on this in the least and would never claim to be.. I've just started getting very interested in this and find it fascinating.. I've always had this feeling that our body's have the ability to heal themselves, but it hasn't been a very popular belief in this country until recently, so I haven't really known where to go to figure this all out.. It seems that this theory is now becoming much more popular in our country and more and more people are talking about it on Tv as well as making cd's, dvd's and writing books about it... Not to get too involved in what I've learned so far, I'd just like to mention one thing I did hear that really struck a cord with me..
I've been listening to Louis Hay's book on Cd "You Can Heal Your Life". In one section she talks about what pain in different parts of our body's signify.. She has found, through her patients, that pain and problems in our legs mean we're having a hard time moving forward in our lives...
Thinking back on Larry's condition and how all this started after the death of his daughter, I have to wonder, is this what happened? Was it virtually impossible for Larry to subconsciously imagine moving forward in life without Rachel being a part of it?
On top of loosing his daughter, he lost his mother a few years ago and then one of his two brothers about a year ago..His father had died when he was much younger. Larry was only in his 50's, but he seemed to have a life time of heartache wrapped up in a 15 year period.
I know without a doubt that Larry is now in a better place with all the people he had lost during his too short lifetime.. His legs are healthy, he's able to dance and walk freely and he's finally at peace...
Larry, you were one of the nicest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing! Here's to you.. May you dance, without pain, through eternity with peace and happiness in your soul... Until we meet again my friend, much love.
My sister, Lori Bottoms, will be fine.. She's been preparing for this for years.. She told me she misses the man, but not the illness.. It's been hard for her watching Larry deteriorate for years, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him.
She knows he's in a much better place now, and though she'll miss him, she's happy his suffering has come to an end.
Our parents drove out to Oklahoma first to stay with Lori... Very early Monday morning I drove to Indiana to pick up my youngest sister and we drove straight through to Oklahoma.. We arrived at 2:30 am our time.. loooooonngggg drive! I was so glad my sister had gone with me because it sure made that trip much more enjoyable! Our husbands had never had the pleasure of meeting Larry and because we both have many pets to be taken care of, our husbands said go, we'll take care of everything at home.. That really made it so much easier for us both to be able to just pick up and go.. Thank you John and Frank :o)
Sara and I both got about 4 hours of sleep that night.. I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before... We are getting too old for this. haha.
Our oldest sister's husband did know Larry really well and wanted to be at the service, so the two of them left, along with one of her son's and his wife, and also drove straight through.. We were a tired bunch of people, but I have to say, we sure are a strong bunch of people!
After the service and meal, my sisters and I all headed back.. Our parents stayed for another day and all of Lori's four grown kids, their spouses and her grandchildren stayed to keep her company.. She had a houseful!
We all drove straight through the night....I tried to sleep while Sara drove, but I just can't sleep in a car for some reason... By time we pulled into Sara's driveway, it was 6am in the morning.. I still had 6 hours to drive so I decided to get back on the road.. I was afraid if I laid down at Sara's to take a nap, it'd be afternoon before I woke up and late when I finally got home.. I stopped at a rest area on the way home, slept for 45 minutes, then back on the road.. What a relief to pull into my own driveway and being met by my sweetie John, Bear, Tomi and Rascal (our newest kitten)..
I haven't quite caught up on sleep yet, but I'm feeling pretty rested this morning. So back to work for me! I'm now a bit behind schedule and apologize to my customers because I'll probably be taking a few extra days off on my little break so I can get everything done I was planning on doing...
Just one more little thought here before I sign off... The cost of living has gotten so out of control and this experience is just one small example of that! The cheapest airline tickets we could have gotten were $1200 each.. That's a lot of money for the average American to have to spend on travel, especially for emergency travel.. That's why we all decided to drive (which wasn't cheap with the price of gas either)... This country is making things so hard for the average Joe! Why isn't there something set up for emergency's like this that would allow people to travel last minute at an affordable rate instead of having to pay ridiculous prices because there isn't a weekend involved!!! Not nice airline company's!!
I wish someone was really paying attention!!!!
Unfortunately, all that fun came to a very sad halt last weekend when I received word that my brother in law from Oklahoma had passed away.
My brother in laws name was Larry Bottoms.. He was a kind, gentle teddy bear of a man and we all respected and loved him very much. He and my sister had met 17 years ago, married and blended their family's together.. My sister has 4 kids, he had 2... He was a great step dad, a loving husband and a friend to all.
Larry has had some really hard things to get past in the last couple of years, the biggest being the loss of his 17 year old daughter Rachel...
About 14 years ago, after Rachel's death, Larry started having problems with his legs.. He went from having to use a cane to using a walker and finally, a scooter..
He was a city manager for the city of Tulsa, and despite having difficulty just walking, he continued to work up until last year.. He went through a very serious health crises last fall, he wasn't expected to live, but he did! He pulled through and worked at trying to get better..He was bed ridden for months but eventually was able to get himself up and onto a scooter, so he was making headway. Unfortunately, his heart could just not take the strain any more and last weekend, his journey came to an end.
I have gotten really interested in the belief that we can heal ourselves and in the way that most cultures, other than ours here in the United States, look to the emotional upheavals in one's life to figure out the best source of healing for patients.. I'm no expert on this in the least and would never claim to be.. I've just started getting very interested in this and find it fascinating.. I've always had this feeling that our body's have the ability to heal themselves, but it hasn't been a very popular belief in this country until recently, so I haven't really known where to go to figure this all out.. It seems that this theory is now becoming much more popular in our country and more and more people are talking about it on Tv as well as making cd's, dvd's and writing books about it... Not to get too involved in what I've learned so far, I'd just like to mention one thing I did hear that really struck a cord with me..
I've been listening to Louis Hay's book on Cd "You Can Heal Your Life". In one section she talks about what pain in different parts of our body's signify.. She has found, through her patients, that pain and problems in our legs mean we're having a hard time moving forward in our lives...
Thinking back on Larry's condition and how all this started after the death of his daughter, I have to wonder, is this what happened? Was it virtually impossible for Larry to subconsciously imagine moving forward in life without Rachel being a part of it?
On top of loosing his daughter, he lost his mother a few years ago and then one of his two brothers about a year ago..His father had died when he was much younger. Larry was only in his 50's, but he seemed to have a life time of heartache wrapped up in a 15 year period.
I know without a doubt that Larry is now in a better place with all the people he had lost during his too short lifetime.. His legs are healthy, he's able to dance and walk freely and he's finally at peace...
Larry, you were one of the nicest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing! Here's to you.. May you dance, without pain, through eternity with peace and happiness in your soul... Until we meet again my friend, much love.
My sister, Lori Bottoms, will be fine.. She's been preparing for this for years.. She told me she misses the man, but not the illness.. It's been hard for her watching Larry deteriorate for years, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him.
She knows he's in a much better place now, and though she'll miss him, she's happy his suffering has come to an end.
Our parents drove out to Oklahoma first to stay with Lori... Very early Monday morning I drove to Indiana to pick up my youngest sister and we drove straight through to Oklahoma.. We arrived at 2:30 am our time.. loooooonngggg drive! I was so glad my sister had gone with me because it sure made that trip much more enjoyable! Our husbands had never had the pleasure of meeting Larry and because we both have many pets to be taken care of, our husbands said go, we'll take care of everything at home.. That really made it so much easier for us both to be able to just pick up and go.. Thank you John and Frank :o)
Sara and I both got about 4 hours of sleep that night.. I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before... We are getting too old for this. haha.
Our oldest sister's husband did know Larry really well and wanted to be at the service, so the two of them left, along with one of her son's and his wife, and also drove straight through.. We were a tired bunch of people, but I have to say, we sure are a strong bunch of people!
After the service and meal, my sisters and I all headed back.. Our parents stayed for another day and all of Lori's four grown kids, their spouses and her grandchildren stayed to keep her company.. She had a houseful!
We all drove straight through the night....I tried to sleep while Sara drove, but I just can't sleep in a car for some reason... By time we pulled into Sara's driveway, it was 6am in the morning.. I still had 6 hours to drive so I decided to get back on the road.. I was afraid if I laid down at Sara's to take a nap, it'd be afternoon before I woke up and late when I finally got home.. I stopped at a rest area on the way home, slept for 45 minutes, then back on the road.. What a relief to pull into my own driveway and being met by my sweetie John, Bear, Tomi and Rascal (our newest kitten)..
I haven't quite caught up on sleep yet, but I'm feeling pretty rested this morning. So back to work for me! I'm now a bit behind schedule and apologize to my customers because I'll probably be taking a few extra days off on my little break so I can get everything done I was planning on doing...
Just one more little thought here before I sign off... The cost of living has gotten so out of control and this experience is just one small example of that! The cheapest airline tickets we could have gotten were $1200 each.. That's a lot of money for the average American to have to spend on travel, especially for emergency travel.. That's why we all decided to drive (which wasn't cheap with the price of gas either)... This country is making things so hard for the average Joe! Why isn't there something set up for emergency's like this that would allow people to travel last minute at an affordable rate instead of having to pay ridiculous prices because there isn't a weekend involved!!! Not nice airline company's!!
I wish someone was really paying attention!!!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Birthday
Today is my 54th birthday.. This is my year! I was born in 1954...I'm not sure the significance of that, but there it is..
I'm not doing anything special today.. Just working on orders as usual.. John, my husband, has to work, so he took me out for lunch and gave me a beautiful card that tells me how much I mean to him, and it made me cry.. I seem to cry a lot in my older age... The older I get, the harder it is for me to hide my emotions...
We got the neatest little catalog in the mail the other day. It's full of really unique garden items, which is big on my wish list right now. We both love flowers and gardening, and this year we've put in two new gardens as well as a vegtable garden.. He was looking through the catalog and saw all the circles around the many things I'd like to get, so he gave me money for my birthday so I can order what I'd like... So this afternoon, that's what I'll do!
I really like birthday presents that let me go shopping for what I really want :o)
I also have a doll order that's just about done, so I'll be sending that out this afternoon... It's a special angel doll with a brace on one of her legs.. She turned out really pretty and I hope the person receiving the doll will love her as much as I've loved making her.
After that, I'll be sewing on a large order of bunny jumpers that will be shipped to California probably sometime next week.
I've taken a couple of weeks off from orders so I can get caught up on many, many, many things I need to add to the site, including a new batch of Karens Kids, Sweet Pea Girls and I need to finish the Sweet Pea Nursery Reborn's website.. I also need to whip up a new batch of American Girl sized clothing, which I've been wanting to get to for months now! I'm determined to spend at least one whole week creating new outfits for 18" vinyl doll's.. I really like making the clothes for them.. It's fun to dress them and see how cute they look! My husband says I'm still a kid at heart.. He might be right :o)
Opps! A knock at my door.....Nice birthday present! The mailman just brought some new patterns I ordered for some new American Girl sized outfits.. Now I really can't wait to get started on them!
Enough of blogging for today.. I need to get back to work..
Before I leave, I have to mention the newest member of our family.. We haven't named him/her yet and aren't even sure if it's a him or a her! But we have a new 5 week old kitten to love.. We have a ferral cat we've been feeding for about 4 years now.. We've named her Cali, since she's a tortoise shell calico .. She showed up right after we moved here. She was about half grown then and just showed up on our front porch, hiding behind a planter.. I tried to catch her, tried to coax her to me, but she wanted none of that. So I left some food out for her...From that point on, we've fed her, made a place in the garage for her and cared for her, all from a distance. Four years later, she still will not allow us to touch her, although, this year she's started "talking" to us and has allowed us to get within 3 feet of her.. We hope this means before long, she'll trust us to pet her..
We knew she was pregnate when she started getting fatter and fatter this spring... We started watching for signs that she'd had the kittens.. Shortly after memorial day, we knew they'd been born, we just didn't know where..
She's continued to come here to eat three or four times a day since the birth of her kittens, but we hadn't seen any sign of them anywhere, till yesterday..
My husband was outside yesterday morning when he kept hearing a kittens meow.. He turned around just in time to see this little flash of fur run into the garage and under the car.. He went in the garage, figuring he'd never be able to catch it. But to his surprize, the kitten ran out from under the car and stood in front of the lawn mower.. John carefully walked over to it, put his hand down to be sniffed and the kitten gladly let him scoop it up. He/she instantly started purring..
I was in my sewing room working on an order when I heard John calling me, telling me to look out the window.. When I did, there was this ball of brown fluff in his hands looking back at me!
We hadn't planned on any more animals ..... We're perfectly happy with our dog, Bear, and cat, Tomi, both just over 7 years old.. But this kitten some how grabbed both our hearts instantly and we think he/she may be here to stay!
This born in the wild little kitten that never had contact with a human being until yesterday is a purr mobile of love! He's longed hair (which is why we aren't certain what it is at the moment), clean, cared for, healthy and sweet as can be.. Cali is obviously a very good mama!
I put a cat box down for the kitten and it jumped right in and went..He rubs up against our legs like a grown cat, cuddles in our arms and rubs our faces with his little nose.. How does a cat born in the wild know all this???
We aren't sure why Cali brought this one kitten here and left it for us, but we will certainly be the best foster parents possible!
Cali has always been here first thing in the morning waiting to be fed.. Yesterday morning, she never showed up till late afternoon.. Was this her way of seperating from this kitten? Did she some how sense this kitten wasn't to be a cat of the wild like she is?
Gotta boogie... Much sewing in my immediate future..
Have a great day,
Karen
I'm not doing anything special today.. Just working on orders as usual.. John, my husband, has to work, so he took me out for lunch and gave me a beautiful card that tells me how much I mean to him, and it made me cry.. I seem to cry a lot in my older age... The older I get, the harder it is for me to hide my emotions...
We got the neatest little catalog in the mail the other day. It's full of really unique garden items, which is big on my wish list right now. We both love flowers and gardening, and this year we've put in two new gardens as well as a vegtable garden.. He was looking through the catalog and saw all the circles around the many things I'd like to get, so he gave me money for my birthday so I can order what I'd like... So this afternoon, that's what I'll do!
I really like birthday presents that let me go shopping for what I really want :o)
I also have a doll order that's just about done, so I'll be sending that out this afternoon... It's a special angel doll with a brace on one of her legs.. She turned out really pretty and I hope the person receiving the doll will love her as much as I've loved making her.
After that, I'll be sewing on a large order of bunny jumpers that will be shipped to California probably sometime next week.
I've taken a couple of weeks off from orders so I can get caught up on many, many, many things I need to add to the site, including a new batch of Karens Kids, Sweet Pea Girls and I need to finish the Sweet Pea Nursery Reborn's website.. I also need to whip up a new batch of American Girl sized clothing, which I've been wanting to get to for months now! I'm determined to spend at least one whole week creating new outfits for 18" vinyl doll's.. I really like making the clothes for them.. It's fun to dress them and see how cute they look! My husband says I'm still a kid at heart.. He might be right :o)
Opps! A knock at my door.....Nice birthday present! The mailman just brought some new patterns I ordered for some new American Girl sized outfits.. Now I really can't wait to get started on them!
Enough of blogging for today.. I need to get back to work..
Before I leave, I have to mention the newest member of our family.. We haven't named him/her yet and aren't even sure if it's a him or a her! But we have a new 5 week old kitten to love.. We have a ferral cat we've been feeding for about 4 years now.. We've named her Cali, since she's a tortoise shell calico .. She showed up right after we moved here. She was about half grown then and just showed up on our front porch, hiding behind a planter.. I tried to catch her, tried to coax her to me, but she wanted none of that. So I left some food out for her...From that point on, we've fed her, made a place in the garage for her and cared for her, all from a distance. Four years later, she still will not allow us to touch her, although, this year she's started "talking" to us and has allowed us to get within 3 feet of her.. We hope this means before long, she'll trust us to pet her..
We knew she was pregnate when she started getting fatter and fatter this spring... We started watching for signs that she'd had the kittens.. Shortly after memorial day, we knew they'd been born, we just didn't know where..
She's continued to come here to eat three or four times a day since the birth of her kittens, but we hadn't seen any sign of them anywhere, till yesterday..
My husband was outside yesterday morning when he kept hearing a kittens meow.. He turned around just in time to see this little flash of fur run into the garage and under the car.. He went in the garage, figuring he'd never be able to catch it. But to his surprize, the kitten ran out from under the car and stood in front of the lawn mower.. John carefully walked over to it, put his hand down to be sniffed and the kitten gladly let him scoop it up. He/she instantly started purring..
I was in my sewing room working on an order when I heard John calling me, telling me to look out the window.. When I did, there was this ball of brown fluff in his hands looking back at me!
We hadn't planned on any more animals ..... We're perfectly happy with our dog, Bear, and cat, Tomi, both just over 7 years old.. But this kitten some how grabbed both our hearts instantly and we think he/she may be here to stay!
This born in the wild little kitten that never had contact with a human being until yesterday is a purr mobile of love! He's longed hair (which is why we aren't certain what it is at the moment), clean, cared for, healthy and sweet as can be.. Cali is obviously a very good mama!
I put a cat box down for the kitten and it jumped right in and went..He rubs up against our legs like a grown cat, cuddles in our arms and rubs our faces with his little nose.. How does a cat born in the wild know all this???
We aren't sure why Cali brought this one kitten here and left it for us, but we will certainly be the best foster parents possible!
Cali has always been here first thing in the morning waiting to be fed.. Yesterday morning, she never showed up till late afternoon.. Was this her way of seperating from this kitten? Did she some how sense this kitten wasn't to be a cat of the wild like she is?
Gotta boogie... Much sewing in my immediate future..
Have a great day,
Karen
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