HOW TO GIVE YOUR CAT A PILL...Author Unknown

1. Grasp cat firmly in your arms. Cradle its head on your elbow, just as if you were giving a baby its bottle. Coo confidently..."That's a nice Kitty"...drop pill into its mouth.

2. Retrieve cat from top of lamp and pill from under sofa.

3. Follow same procedure as in #1, but hold cat's front paws down with left hand and back paws down with elbow of right arm. Poke pill into its mouth with right forefinger.

4. Retrieve cat from under bed. Get new pill from bottle. [Resist impulse to get new cat]

5. Again proceed as in #1, except when you have cat firmly cradled in bottle feeding position, sit down on edge of chair. fold your torso over cat , bring your right hand over your left elbow, open cat's mouth by lifting upper jaw and pop the pill in quickly. Since your head is down by your knees, you won't be able to see what you're doing. That's just as well.

6. Leave cat hanging on drapes. Leave pill in your hair.

7. If you're a woman have a good cry. If you're a man, have a good cry.

8. Now pull yourself together. Who's boss here anyways? Retrieve cat and pill. Assuming position #1. say sternly, "Who's the boss here anyway?" Open cat's mouth, take pill and...Oooops!

9. This isn't working is it? Collasps and think. Aha! These flashing claws are causing the chaos.

10. Crawl to linen closet. Drag back large beach towel. Spread towel on floor.

11. Retrieve cat from kitchen counter and pill from potted plant.

12. Spread cat on towel near one end with its head over long edge.

13. Flatten cat's front and back legs over its stomach. [Resist impulse to flatten cat]

14. Roll cat in towel. Work fast: time and tabbies wait for no man or woman.

15. Resume position #1. Rotate your left hand to cat's head. Press it's mouth at the jaw hinges like opening the petals of a snapdragon.

16. Drop pill into cat's mouth and poke gently. Voila! It's done.

17. Vacuum up loose fur [cat's]. Apply bandages to wounds [yours].

18. Take two aspirins and lie down.

CAT QUOTE:

"Cats are smarter than dogs...
You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow!"

......Jeff Valdez

SEEN ON T-SHIRT....

Men are like fine wine...

They all start out like grapes

and its our job to stomp on them

and keep them in the dark

until they mature into something

you'd like to have dinner with!

QUOTES...

"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day,

teach a person to use the internet

and they won't bother you for weeks"!

Author Unknown

ORBS & DEVIL HEADS...

These photos were taken in my first Haunted Courthouse in 2002. The first shot shows lots of orbs and something that looks like a devil's head. I've cropped the area and tried to blow it up to a size that so that you could see what I saw in this photo hopefully it turns out okay. My sister and I went back the next day [in the daylight] to check out these places to see if maybe it could be tape or some kind of dirt spot. NOPE! All were clear! Nothing we could see with the naked eye!

These shots have made many a believer including my brother-in-law who happens to scoff at everything! He was there the night they were taken and he now firmly believes in these things!

The second photo was taken in the room that the person was supposed to have hung himself! The guy that worked that room told me later that he hated being in there and he found himself standing at the doorway a lot...just in case he had to get out of there quickly. This guy is very macho like and having him admit that he was scared made it even more believable! That was also the first year we let anyone stay in the rooms alone and after that episode we made sure that no one ever stayed alone again!

In this photo the shot was in the corner and I blew up a section to shot you what was on the pic! It looks more like a wolf or coyote head but I still think it looks like the devil's face in another form!

Either way both areas made everyone feel creepy and even scared!

Explain that if you can!

RENOVATIONS UPDATE...

Not much renovating going on seeing as I am STILL removing junk from my place.

I am ashamed to admit how much has gone to the dump and I am STILL NOT FINISHED!

THREE loads in a 6' x 8' utility trailer filled to the brim [3'high] has been removed from this place and probably a fourth after the town-wide garage sale being held next weekend! That doesn't even include the removal of renovation materials!

This has only helped me to strengthen my resolve "NEVER TO COLLECT JUNK EVER AGAIN"! Granted I can blame most of it on needing it for my work [which obviously I didn't or it wouldn't have had to be junked] or to use it in theatre set building/decorating. I used to make the table centerpieces for the dinner theatre so that meant keeping 24 of whatever...this added up after awhile and it didn't help having a whole building that I could store it in either!

I have also removed all of my "creature building" materials and forms that I needed for the haunted courthouse...guaranteeing that I will not be doing the haunted courthouse ever again! I will be going through my Halloween decor and cutting it down also keeping only my collectibles!

I've been so busy throwing out junk that the urge to go Garage Sailing hasn't bothered me this weekend and this purging episode will stay strong in my mind for A LONG TIME so any hording of stuff doesn't interest me like it used to!

My next test of will power will come next weekend when the Garage Sale is on! Hopefully I will be stuck for a long time at my own sale and that I am not tempted too much! But if I do check the sales out, hopefully I can resist collecting anything else that can't be used right away!

I still have that little devil sitting on my shoulder whispering...."You never know when you might need that...."!

UP EARLY...

Had a hard time getting to sleep last night and finally dragged myself out of bed at 3:20 am...laying in bed half awake seemed pointless and plus my back was starting to hurt.

Again, what does one do at that time of the day...work of course! I figured why not...I haven't had anything interesting to blog about lately besides my boring life....so I figured I'd save you all from that crap!

I've been kind of bogged down at work lately with a lot of designing to do and estimates to prepare for [hopefully] future work...so why not try to catch up?

Around 5:00, as I was doing this drawing, I noticed a movement in front of my building right across the street from me. Six Mule Deer had wandered into town....2 young Bucks and 4 Does.

It's been awhile since I've seen any wildlife at that hour of the morning and watched as they nibbled on the bushes in front of the building. You could tell they were on guard as they wandering in and one caught sight of me and the herd stopped. They watched me for awhile! I guess they figured that I was no threat they turned and went down the back alley instead of continuing through town. By the time it took to grab my camera they had stopped at the alley junction point and nibbled at the grassy mound behind the Convenience store.

Of course they were too far away for me to get a shot so I could let you see too! Took one anyways....hopefully you can just about see them in the photo....honest...their there!

Then a huge truck came barreling through town scaring them away and they ran back from where they came from.

Still it was nice to see and gave me break for a few minutes!

Come to think of it....I haven't seen "Hoppy" the rabbit since Easter? I wonder if he's still alive & kicking?

Oh well...life goes on....got to get back to work.....time for coffee!

It's gonna be A LONG DAY!!!

HAPPY MAY-LONG WEEKEND

I refuse to call it "Victoria Day"...we gave up the monarchy a long time ago and this is one holiday that should have it's name changed...sorry all you British people but that must make sense to even you guys! After all why do they celebrate a past queen's birthday and not the present queen's birthday.....or maybe they do and I missed that day at school?

Anyways.....

Happy weekend to us....

The birds are singing....the sun is shining....people are out doing their gardens/yards....

NOT!!!!

IT'S BEEN FREEZING COLD AND NOW IT'S RAINING!!!!!
Hopefully with no signs of SNOW!

I am sure glad I am not out camping right now! For this the time when the rich people go out to the lake and open their cabins and tidy up their yards...hope they all have good heaters!

It has been happily quiet here in Dodge as this is also the weekend that the High School kids leave town and go terrorise the lake goers! They even get a longer weekend as the school unit decided they needed a longer weekend so they won't be going back to school until Tuesday!

No spinning of tires...no stunting in the streets...like I said...peaceful!!!

I had planned on cutting grass and checking out the leaks in my roof but laziness made me put it off until today and now I can't...woke up to rain...inside and out!

Oh well...there is lots more that can be done inside!

It's also been another hard weekend with my "addiction" still in full force...many a garage sale had to go without my money in their pockets! The urge is still strong...but I'm hanging in there...the more I throw out my junk the more I am determined to not add any more!

BUT...there is still that little demon sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear..."think of all the little treasures you might have missed"....

Like I said....it's still a test of wills for me!

Anyways....

Have a Happy "May-Long" weekend...stay warm!

CAT FACTS:

- Contrary to popular belief, the cat IS a social animal. A pet cat will respond and answer to speech and seems to enjoy human companionship.

- Cats beat dogs for the #1 spot as the most popular pet in the USA and Canada.

- In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death. Mummies were made of cats and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found.

- In the Middle Ages, during the Festival of St. John, cats were burned alive in town square.

- The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London.

- In England, the government owns thousands of cats. Their job is to help keep the buildings free of rodents.

CAT QUOTE:

" There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life...music and cats"

Albert Schweitzer

ANTICS OF MY FUR KIDS:

Last night I was again entertained by my fur kids.

My cats are always more active when the moon is at its fullest moments...new moon tonight.

Thumber was doing her weird thing again!

She runs around the place chasing something that only she can see. It looks like it must be a fly but her actions show otherwise. Flies kind of dart here and there...erratic looking but the thing she chases flies in a straight line and stops...more like bird movements...my thoughts make it out to be an "orb". She chases it and stops when it does...then she acts like she wants to pounce on it. This is all done with the object being up high where she can't get to it. Thumber doesn't react to the dangling string thing but when the invisible thing starts she looks like she is doing just that!

Last night she was perched on top of the "Queen Anne Chair" and was quite intent on the invisible object that looked like it was just out of her reach. Being on the edge like she was it was quite a balancing act and she was focusing hard on the object looking like her thoughts were going a hundred miles an hour!

Meanwhile Suki had noticed her antics and decided to investigate what was going on! She might have even seen what Thumber saw and wanted some of the action also...who knows? Anyways she went into the stalking mode and snuck up to the chair where Thumber was balancing on. She did her stop and you could she her butt wiggling like she was getting ready to pounce. All of a sudden she pounced...leaping onto the seat of the chair!

This scared the hell out of Thumber!

Thumber leaped 2 feet into the air straight up...flipped herself over...emitting a screech and hissing...landing 2 feet away from the chair! Her whole body was fluffed right down to the tip of her tail! Then she went into attack mode...her hair standing straight up along her spine...arching her back like a halloween cat on her tippy-toes...growling as she did this!

Where's the camera when you need it! It happened all so fast that I wouldn't have been able to take the shot if I did have one there!

Thumbers reaction startled even me and I couldn't stop laughing...it looked so funny! Cats do not like being laughed at and this ticked Thumber off even more! I'm pretty sure Suki was laughing also! We didn't see Thumber again for at least another hour...and she was still looking at the spot that had captured her attention earlier! She was walking very carefully and looking like she was on guard for anything else that might come her way

Like I said...my cats can be quite entertaining!

CAT FACTS:

- Besides smelling with their nose, cats can smell with an additional organ called the Jacobson's Organ, located in the upper surface of the mouth behind the front teeth. Sometimes you will notice that they look like they are sneering or snarling...they are using that organ to check out their present environment.

"Can you imagine someone [stranger or otherwise] coming up to you who has either just bathed or didn't...what they would smell like? I have many allergies and I am bothered by those who are very odorous, pretty smelling or not...so the first thing I try to do is get away from them. If they extend their hand to me to shake [in greeting] I try to avoid it because of the soap smell [or not] or if they are sweaty...so if I was a cat with extra strong smelling abilities...I would hiss and back away"!

-A cat will spend nearly 30 % of their life grooming themselves.

"Can you imagine you just spending hours on grooming yourself...only to have someone come up and ruffle that nice hair-do that took for ever to get it that way...would you enjoy the fact that some weird smelling person just picked you up and spread their smell all over you?"

"Dogs may not care what they smell or look like but most cats have human traits!"

- Cats do not think that they are little people. They think that we are big cats. This influences their behaviour in many ways.

"Don't blame the cat for their attitude...they are only standing up for their rights in whether they want to be handled by you or by strangers!"

"After all...we teach our children not to talk to strangers...don't we?"

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Me included...of course!

I still remember my thoughts about not having children before my inner time clock went off!

I swore that after living with too many brothers, sisters, having to babysit their kids and other kids...that "no way was I going to have kids of my own"!

Until that "biological clock struck"!

I now sing a different tune!!!

I can't even begin to imagine life without them and in NO WAY do I want to even experience that!!!

I never had the fear that I wasn't going to be a good mother...just the fear that I wouldn't be able to tolerate their behavior! But I surprised myself by finding out that they made ME a better person and that I do have tolerance in me after all!

Having kids also made me a GRANDMOTHER and in my old age I still have the ability for tolerance! I can even smile at other peoples kids....to a point...there still are "BRATS" out there!

I feel for those who cannot have the children that they want but I also understand the ones who choose never to have kids.

In this day and age I would have to say that if I had to do it all over again...I would never raise children to the turmoils that abound in this world...because we have not given them a great world to live in!

If my son chooses never to have kids...that would be okay with me. Do I regret PoD giving me grand kids?....the answer would be NO!
I LOVE MY GRAND KIDS! My sorrow is in "what is their future going to be"!

My sorrow for today is not having a mother who is alive to wish Happy Mother's Day to!

My biological mother died in 1961 and step mother in 2003...so to all of you that still have a great Mom...treat her like there is no tomorrow!!

And to those of you that are Dads...."appreciate" the woman that made you a DAD!

Our kids dad always told me "your not my mother...so why do I have to wish YOU a Happy Mother's Day"?.....this is one of the reasons why we are not together now!!!

So on a better note.....All you Moms out there....have a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

My son is working today and gave me his gift beforehand but also remembered to call me at 6:15 am this morning to wish me well and PoD has made reservations for today at the local eatry here for a smorg supper.....

I GIVE THANKS DAILY FOR HAVING GREAT CHILDREN!!!

Color me RAINBOW colors!!!

ADDICTIONS:

Well I managed to get through yesterday...it was a long day! Saturdays being the worst!

My addiction drove me crazy [short trip] but I was able to hang in there... but man-it-was-hard!!!

Quite a few times I almost gave into the urge! The day being perfect for it...warm with a slight breeze...no bugs....

Thankfully not having a car helped for a bit...but there was still the temptation of what was in town...

Making a promise to myself helped and calling PoD at my weak moments worked also...

Still it was a STRAIN...to abstain from...

GARAGE SAILING!!!

Thankfully today is Sunday....NO SALES...except for the ones that only have unsellable items left!!!

My bank account thanks me also!!!

STILL....there's always next weekend....!!!!

PAINTED ROCKS:

PoD and I like to paint rocks. We also like to spend time hunting rocks to paint.

I like to paint my rocks with many colors and use its shape to determine what it will look like.

The first rock I ever painted was an owl rock [2002]..."Mom & Baby" and then added "Daddy" who sits perched on an old stump.

To finish my rocks so they can sit outside [out of the sunlight] I cover them with 3 coats of varnish.

These guys now reside at one of my brother's place.

CAT FACTS:

Here is a chart that will relate your cats age to a human's age in years:

Cats Age: ...............Human Age:
6 mon..............................10 yrs
8 mon..............................13 yrs
10 mon............................14 yrs
1 yr..................................15 yrs
18 mon............................20 yrs
2 yrs................................24 yrs
4 yrs................................32 yrs
6 yrs................................40 yrs
8 yrs................................48 yrs
10 yrs..............................56 yrs
12 yrs..............................64 yrs
14 yrs..............................72 yrs
16 yrs..............................80 yrs
18 yrs..............................88 yrs
20 yrs.............................96 yrs
21 yrs.............................100 yrs

So in human years.....Thumber is 40 yrs old and Suki is 56....the same age as me!

I wonder if she feels as old as I do?

My Fur Kids

I would like you to meet my fur-kids: Thumber [left] and Suki [right].

You can't tell by their pics but both have blue eyes.

Thumber is 6 yrs old and Suki will be 10 in June.

Both decided to give me a nice pose until the orange locator light drove them off... neither one likes to have their photo taken.

ORBS:

Orange Angel Orb....

The first picture was taken immediately after the
the other one. I did not see these images on the camera and only noticed it when I down loaded them. On the psyhic sites this shape is known as the orange angel. I went out later to check to see if was a reflection or not and found it wasn't. Notice how it fills itself in and it moves across the shot. This shot was taken at 6:00 am 2003 [Aug] and it was too calm to work up any dust motes.
Weird huh.....
Any other explanations?

CAT FACTS - Kittens:

- Kittens are born with both eyes and ears closed. When the eyes open, the are always blue at first. They change color over a period of months to the final eye color.

- A healthy kitten has clear, bright eyes and clean ears.

- If you take a kitten away from it's mother before it is 8 weeks old, she may not of had enough time to train it properly to use the litter box.

- The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker. Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother's uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens hair from darkening on the points.

- Hunting is not instinctive for cats. Kittens born to non-hunting mothers may never learn to hunt.

- Most lively, active kittens grow up to be friendly, outgoing cats.

- Only a mother cat should pick up a kitten by the scruff of the neck!

ORBS:

These photos are of our first halloween in 2002
The first shot is of the back bedroom in the Custodial Quarters
of the courthouse in Dodge. This room was supposed to have had someone hang themselves from the pipes in the far left corner. The far right shot was taken first then the left one shortly after. We called this our "Grave Room"....it made everyone uneasy when they were in there! The white area to the right wasn't there when I first looked at the shot. No...it isn't my camera strap as I had it around my wrist [I have a tendancy to drop the camera...so I make sure that it's secured] at the time. On closer inspection it looks like the orbs are moving fast up and down. PoD was also standing right beside me!




Dodge's Haunted Courthouse "Orbs" -outside


They were taken with my digital camera Sept 2002. The evening was perfect for capturing these images. No wind...so they aren't dust particles!



If you look closely at the upper window on the bottom picture...far left...there is a ghostly shape which looks like it's behind the window frame. I checked out the windows before taking the pics and all I could see was the curtains inside. This shape looks like it's someone looking out the window at me!

Stay tuned for more photos as I try to figure out how to post them properly!

CAT FACT:

If you have a cat and want to have another cat, it would be easiest to introduce a female kitten. An elderly cat that is alone, however, should not be bothered with another cat. Let it rest in peace. Bringing a new cat into a household is always very stressful for all the cats concerned!

Cats don't usually crave companionship in quite the same way a dog does!

UP DATES....

Health:

With everyone [except me] raking and cleaning their yards its been kicking the hell out of my "itis"! It became so bad that breathing was becoming rarity for me! Doc finally had to do something about it! So, for the last three days PoD has had to drive me to the hospital twice daily so I could sit for 15 minutes with a medicated oxygen mask on! I'm not supposed to use an inhaler as the medication makes my heart race! So they have added an extra drug to the heart-racing medication to hopefully not make it race so much...didn't matter...it still races! This makes me feel like crap for about an hour...but at least I can breathe! It is helping because I am able to get some much needed sleep and my lungs aren't making weird noises any more! Here's hoping that this works and I can get over this problem! Oh by the way....the anti-biotics didn't work so it's still a virus!


Where Did the Mouse Go?

WARNING: Hopefully your not eating something when you read this as it could take away your appetite like it did PoD's when I told her!

Yesterday I took this large empty box, sitting in the middle of my spare bedroom's floor, and flipped it over so my cats could reach the window sill better. Right in the middle of it was this blob of something! On closer inspection I saw these parts that looked like they might be ears and bugged out eyes....yup...a squished mouse! Kind of like bug splatter on the windshield! On removing of the splatter, which was rock hard, the tail emerged! I will spare you on the matter that was left on the rug!
The only way I can figure out how it happened was that my son saw the mouse...creamed with the box and didn't tell me! He knew I would have told him to clean it up...seeing as he killed it!
Can't prove it but it seems to be the only answer...the box didn't jump on it by its self......? We will definitely have words!
At least I know now where the mouse went!

Be thankful I didn't show a picture.....!!!


Renovations......still working on them!


Weather:

It's raining right now and the birds are still singing! How much rain....buckets full! I know because I have had to empty many of them....ROOF LEAKS!

I AM BACK AND BLOGGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turns out that it was my computer all along and my daughter set up hers beside mine and we are using it to do things that my other computer wouldn't allow!!! Stay tuned for more...... PLUS PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!