2013 marks the 10 year anniversary of my service in AmeriCorps. What an amazing 10 months it was! So every so often I'll post a tid bit from the past. If you don't like it too bad. I want to do it :)
This first one is actually a poem I wrote in a English 101. Looking back on a seemingly small but important event.
Red Wings
I opened the box and my eyes lit up
Boots of my very own, Red Winds were their name.
Brand new rubber soled,
With seven inches of leather.
I slipped them on with glee,
They fit just perfectly.
I laced them up good and tight.
They were still a little stiff,
But the day had just begun.
The hike wasn't too long
Only a mile or so, but I could tell
There boots might not do too well.
When we stopped to get ready to work
I took some time to re-lace my boot.
Not so tight this time
I hoped it would help.
There was still a long day ahead
And I was far from a bed.
We worked all morning and afternoon,
I tried to put up a fight.
To forget about the seams
That had rubber their nasty little faces into my foot.
The burning and aching almost made me cry.
Sometimes during the day I thought I would die.
After work we all came home.
I took off my boots with a sigh.
Next off go the socks
Followed by a terrible stench.
I pulled my left foot into my lap
And I saw something and gave it a tap.
That was it, the trial of my day,
A big fat blister on my toe.
I put some ice on it
To ease the pain.
I thought about cutting off the toe.
That would end my woe.
Six weeks went by in a flash.
The blister was a fadded memory.
It was time to leave,
This place we called home.
Now my boots were broken in,
And they were like second skin.
---By the way I still own these boots and love how they feel.
Number Ten Pharmacy Consultations should not be allowed at the drive thru window. ~~Two people in front of me at the drive thru had these~~
Number Nine Apparently five shirts wasn't enough. ~~How many of my shirts I had to put into the laundry for one reason or another~~ Number Eight If it wasn't for bad luck Sprocket would have no luck at all. ~~Fraggle Rock, watch it and you'll know~~
Number Seven Are the only options giant and preemie? ~~Two nurse and three people at the store asked how early Rayne was born~~
Number Six I think I know people who smoke it for less. ~~When I saw the price of Hemp Milk~~
Number Five Sugar covered candy canes no matter what consistency is delicious. ~~After finding out that my peppermint brittle came out more like peppermint taffy~~
Number Four Holding a sleeping baby solves so many problems. ~~Realizing that I haven't slept without Rayne in my arms for 3 days~~ Number Three Timing is everything. And I only have it half the time. ~~Half the calls I made today were at bad times~~ Number Two Driving school must not teach that you signal and slow down when getting into the left hand turn lane. ~~I did this and someone honked at me for 30 seconds~~ And the Number One Random Thought of the Day My Name is Rayne and I'm going to pump- you up! ~~While dropping off Rayne's steroid prescription~~
Did you cast your vote for the gender of our baby? Do you have one in mind? Well you have a 50% chance of being right.... sick of me not saying?
IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes not what I was expecting but still very happy. She is perfectly healthy with 10 little toes and 10 little fingers. With a heart that was perfectly healthy and the tech said it was the easy heart read she had in a while.
It is all very exciting, especially considering this week is when I officially move down to Alabama. Thursday is when I leave!!! What at week it's been and it's only Monday. AHHH!!! PS- Even though I'm having I girl I will still be avoiding all pink things like the plague. That will not be changing ;)
I'm ready for spring (if you can't tell by the new lay out) bright colors, warm weather, swimming, and sun bathing.
Other than that life is pretty good. The house is on the market with lots of showings happening so more exposure means a better chance for an offer. So keep those fingers crossed!!!
The baby hand-me-downs are starting to come in. Oh it's sooo much fun, all those little things. And less for me to have to find later ;) Yes technically it's more things to pack and move but oh so worth it.
Fred is just hanging out in Alabama. Making friends working and chilling with the cat.
That's pretty much our life right now, how have the rest of you been?
First off my sis in law has her first photo shoots this week. She's operating under the name of Square Root Photography. I'm really proud of Janelle that she has found something that she likes and is working on it. Especially since she has great potential and a natural nack for photography. All we have to do is get her a great camera and I know she will take care of the rest! :) You go girl!!!
Second... lol... I'm laughing just thinking about it. It's a video that some folks in New York made. They are spoofing Twilight, and the Young Single Adult program in our church. If you know one or the other you'll enjoy it. Have fun!
So I was out running errands today. And what a day it was. That is a whole other story. Anyway... I was on my way home from my parents and I saw one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
Yes folks this is a real picture. No editing what so ever. That is the rack of an Elk on the roof of a SUV. I could not tell you how happy I was I had my camera it was such a fun moment. And I know that so many of you would get a kick out of it.
The rack was just so stinkin' HUGE!!! Then to see it on top of a car. It was just too classic to pass up. Also If you are wondering the SUV has Michigan plates.
Yes folks I am happy today. Which honestly I'm usually pretty happy but life has just been a little rough lately. My car had to go to the shop, almost all the computers around me needed work or new parts. The house is still a mess because we've been remodeling and poor Fred has just been busy as busy can be. My biggest issue has been my WONDERFUL shoulder (can't you just smell the sarcasm). My cortisone shot wore off and all my progress was gone. I have a constant burning in my shoulder no matter how much physical therapy I do. I'm just kind of stuck with limited mobility and even more limited strength . Well today was my three month follow up with my Orthopedist. He was glad to see that I had descent range of motion and strength but it's not where it should be after three months of therapy. So he did a few pressure tests to see how the core pain was doing. Oh yeah not fun for me at all. He told me I had two options we could keep with the physical therapy but it will be a very long road. Or I could have surgery, or course surgery is not without it's risks and there is no guarantee that it will work but it's a shot at a fuller and quicker recover. Well Folks Surgery it is. Now before you start going all sad say, "you poor thing" or "oh no" please know and understand that I am stinkin' excited about this. Like I've said it is a terrible being limited right now. And my heart leaps that there is something else to try. It gives me hope and then if it doesn't work at least I know that I have done all I can do. That I can live with it. The sadistic and masochistic side of me is not only am I having surgery I'm have cool surgery. ;) First of course they are going to do a Shoulder Arthroscopy. Which is when they take the scope and insert it into my should and do all the repairs that way. Although the MRI showed that everything was in tact it could have missed something or there could be new damage. Also my doctor said he'll scrape off any bone spurs or calcification. The whole point is to repair and widen the space in my shoulder so it has the space it needs to heal. Then he is going to go into another part of my arm with the scope and do a Biceps Tenodesis. This is really cool to me. The Bicep Tendon usually attaches in the shoulder cavity well since we are trying to create space he will cut the tendon and pin it to my Humerus bone. My arm and shoulder will still work just fine but when I flex my massive muscle (ha!) I won't feel the tendon pull into my shoulder. That's the news folks. My surgery will be October 1st at 9am. I get to be at the new hospital, it's only 2.77 miles from our house, at 7am and will be home later that day. After-wards I'm looking at about 6 weeks in a sling. So yup I'm excited, and I laugh about it too. In talking to my doctor and doing some research I found that this type of surgery is usually done on people who are serious throwing athletes, major accident victims or people that are in their 40s. I fall into none of those categories I was getting into a car. I am talented!!!! Don't you all wish you could be like me? LOL!
I find myself unable to sleep so I thought I would share with you all the final harvest from my garden. Due to my second job and Crys' injury, we are unable to keep up with the garden any longer so we decided to glean what we could from it and prepare the soil for next year. Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes yesterday harvesting what I could from the garden and thought I would share with those of you that read my earlier posts about the garden. All in all it wasn't a bad year. I learned some valuable lessons and was able to get some very tasty vegetables, peppers, salsa and bread out of this years garden. Hopefully next year will be better with the lessons I have learned. Anyway, here they are, the pictures of my final harvest. Don't drool all over your keyboard!
So I've learned to can salsa and pickles. Fred is working a second job. We are remolding the basement. I've found some at home work. I'm off my medication (WAHOO) I'm sure there is a bunch of stuff I'm missing but I wanted to keep you all updated.
There has been so much that has been happening. I kept telling myself, as soon as these pictures are loaded I'll blog. But then for some reason when I was done with photos it was 1 am or later and I would actually be falling asleep. So here is the low down.
June 18-21st I went and spent the day at cub camp helping out at the "Pixie" Cabin. These were all the kids whose parents where involved in the program but couldn't go to camp, like Brandon. It was quite the day. Filled with 21 kids running around a small cabin, awful rain storms, thunder, lightening, an inflatable water slide, and lots of messes. If you can't tell it was a blast. A long day, but a blast. That night J&B and kids all came up for the weekend. J is home on R&R so it was a treat to see him. But it was a ton of fun to have all the kids and Bre up here. We did the usual stuff. Playing, running, swimming, fireworks, movies, and oh so much food. J&B even got to go to the temple :) Fathers Day was great. We had Dad, J and Fred all there. Ben, Shawn and Dave you were all missed. Most places for Fathers Day the wife cooks a special meal, well at my parents house it is my Dad's day to cook. He is aloud to cook whatever he wants, how he wants and as much as he wants. So we had Rib racks, fresh green beans (from Dad's garden) and the best dessert ever!!! Dad's very special 4th of July pie. Which consists of crepes, blue berries, raspberries, whipped cream and a whipped cream cheese filling. It's so heavy but light at the same moment. It's the perfect balance. After dinner J&B and kids headed home taking Brandon too so that they can spend as much time as a whole family. Then I packed up and came back home. It was crazy, I didn't realize how much I missed Fred until I got home.
June 22-24 Most of this was spent with my parents. You'd think I'd be sick of them after spending the whole weekend together, but with Fred working a second job I go a little stir crazy at home. I'm still getting used to him being gone that extra 4 hours a night. Which this week it was great for Eli because he was missing Brandon. So I would go and hang out with him and play games. Eli has grown so much in the last year, I'm really proud of him.
June 25 A friend of ours (who used to be an electrician) came and installed our new lights. We now have a ceiling fan in our bedroom. New lights in both hallways, and a new chandelier in the dinning room. Another step towards a finished home. They are such great lights! Thanks J&B and Mom and Dad for your contributions :) That night we went down to the Audubon Country Club with Rick, Stuart, and of course Grandmother. She occasionally takes us for dinner down there. Grandmother is a wonderful lady, she has some of the Southern Propriety in her but she still can enjoy a younger crowd. Dinner was great, as always. And I got to have peppermint ice cream for desert. It was also the only night that Fred had off from work so we got to come home and talk.
June 26 This day was pretty uneventful until about 3pm. I had my MRI for my shoulder. The whole process although, extremely painful, was really cool. Before they could scan me they had to inject a contrast die into my shoulder joint. Well to be nice they injected Novocaine into the joint first. So they inserted the needle with a special end on it so that they don't have to stick you again to inject the dye. But one of the things that made it soooo cool was that it is done with x-rays. The tech takes x-rays every minute or so so that they doctor can see where the needle is. So they can get it where it is needed. The other part that was very cool was I had a young resident doing the procedure so he was being supervised and walked through the procedure by the supervising doctor. So not only did I see what was going on the x-ray screen but I heard what they were doing. I had a giant grin on my face the whole time. The tech said that she had never seen anyone smile during the procedure. There were parts of the procedure that were uncomfortable, like while he was numbing my shoulder he hit the bone. That was a very strange feeling. Then they took me to the scanner. Even though it was a high scanner (the tunnel was four feet tall) I decided to just close my eyes for the whole thing and not worry about it. The nurses and doctors had asked me a billion times if I was closterphobic and I'm not but they got me thinking it was going to be worse than it really was. So I just closed my eyes and listened to the music coming through my headphones. About halfway through I almost broke down in tears it was hurting so bad. I refused to cry because I knew I would move and we'd have to start the squence over. I made it through, it was not pleasant but I did it. Afterwords I went to Mom and Dad's but a soak in the jacuzie tub. Watched a movie with Eli and then came home. As tired, sore, and all the meds I took I still couldn't get to sleep until 4am. urgggg.
June 27 I went and hung out with Lacy and Ryan at their yard sale. I was planning on just stopping by but then I sat down and I got comfortable. So I helped out by keeping my eye on the sale or the kids while they were running around doing things. I can't believe they are moving. :( Off all the way to Idaho!! At least I'm glad the Air Force gave them their first choice, so they are going to a place they want to be. Ryan has been our home teacher for our entire marriage, and Lacy is just a sweetheart I'll miss them greatly.
Till Now As expected I'm reacting to my injections, and all the extra fluids in my shoulder. So I'm not sleeping well, and at odd times. I hurt, all over and I'm getting a sinus infection to boot. Oh well it will pass.
This Week Getting better, follow up with the Othropedist, and Bre and kids are coming up for the 4th. So another weekend of living over in Indiana. Maybe the kids will wear me out so that I get into a regular sleep schedule. One can only hope :)
I'm not sure what is worse, the pain, the lack of sleep or that fact that it was all well worth it. Monday night Janelle, Breana, Gibby, Molly, Joey, Sam and Julie all came into town. And they all stayed at Mom and Dad's house, I stayed with them too. I was there to help chase kids and all the fun that goes with it. Tuesday started very early and we headed to Churchill Downs for a tour with the home school group. On this trip it was just Mom, Me, Eli, Brandon, Gibby, and Molly. The reason we went so early was because we were able to see the horses train. Some of them might actually be racers in this years Kentucky Derby. These were just amazing horses. After seeing the horses they had a music class for the kids and then we went through the exhibits. Towards the end of the trip my camera memory card decided to eat 30 of my pictures. Urggggg. And then it died on me, totally kaput. After a nap and some dinner we all headed out to bowling alley. While the family bowled (an activity I can't do) I went on a hunt for a new Compact Flash memory card. It took 5 stores and almost 2 hours but I eventually found one. I made it back to the bowling alley before the game was finished so I got a few photos. Wednesday was another day filled with activity. We went down to the Louisville Science Center. Holy Smacks was it busy!! Lots and lots to do and the kids loved it!!! It was three and a half floors of things to do and see. We had lunch, watched a rocket launch, dressed up like fish, walked passed two HUGE polar bears, built and archway and crawled through a cave. Not to mention all the other activities in between. The downside was it was very loud most of the time. It's in an old building downtown that has been renovated into the science center. But as an older building it was not very sound conscious and put a ton of activities in there and several hundred people. It gets loud quick. Still the kids loved it and didn't want to go at the end of the 3 hours we were there. But we had to leave otherwise we could have hit rush hour traffic. That afternoon was spent taking pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits. So they would have new photos to send overseas. We got some fun shots of them all together and Miss Molly just loves to model for me. While I was doing photos dad was busy grilling hot dogs and chicken for everyone. Yummy!!! And Fred made an appearance to see everyone. Out night was filled with games, laughter, movies, and lots of children running around. Today was a fairly calm day. For me. I spent a lot of time working with photos, printing, and backing up files. While Mom and Bre took the kids to a movie Janelle and I did a photo shoot of Julie. She is such a little cutie. Bre and the kids just left, so here I sit with Mom, and Janelle watching a movie. Eli and Brandon are playing video games and Julie is asleep. It sounds almost silent compared to the last two days. Oh it different. Part of me misses it and part of me not so much, I'm glad for the quite but I do miss the family.
What a few weeks it has been. First off, Spring has hit Louisville, KY. Our crocuses are in full bloom. The Tulips and Daffodils are not far behind. With the wonderful weather Fred and I have taken to working in the back yard. We are getting ready for our garden. Which means tearing out all of the over growth back there. Which has been growing for no less than 5 years... it's pretty bad. But luckily we planed it just right to get it will things were still hibernating so it only took a day to take down everything off the fence lines. Saturday (the only rainy freezing day we've had lately) Dad came and helped us with some of the chainsaw work. Which I wish I could be doing but I'm trying to be a good little girl and stay away from those things. Also last Saturday was Pi(e) Day. Several of us from the church got together, had pie and just talked. It was really fun. I kept myself entertained by taking pictures. I'm staking up a pile of pictures that I'm not sure if I want to publish or what. One I really love is a picture of a little boy through a chair. That was at the Pi Party. This little boy is almost three and can talk your ear off. Most kids will but this one you can actually understand. He will go off on random tangents but he articulates every single word. It's nuts! He also comprehends a lot. It will be cool to see how he grows up. Also he is just a down right cute kid. In the most recent of news. I've officially been burned. And I mean burned. I was boiling a chicken, I was stirring it (wish a spoon) so it wouldn't stick to the bottom. I took the spoon out and splash, all over my left arm. IT HURT!!!! Yes I can tolerate all sorts of pain but for some reason this just put me into tears. I rinsed off my arm with cool water. That didn't help in the slightest. So I called Fred and told him to come straight home from work. I started cleaning up the kitchen. No only had I been boiling chicken but I was in the middle of making bread for hot pocket lunches and about to start dinner. I had stuff everywhere. Once that was all cleaned up Mom called me about something totally un-related. I said I couldn't tell here what to do because I couldn't think. (I'd spent the day with her so she knew I had been okay) Mom asked what was wrong so I told her what happened. She offered to come over and finish the chicken for me. I accepted and once Fred got home we went to Urgent Care. And yup 1st and 2nd degree grease burns on my arm. I was given a prescription for some cream and they bandaged it for me. Mom showed up just after we got home. She stayed for almost 4 hours! She helped get all of the cooking I was planing on doing done. (Monday is usually my cooking day, I try to get it in before the week wears me down) We made hot pockets, Fred made dinner, and Mom finished the chicken for me. How blessed am I that I have family willing to do all that for me. Not to mention putting up with my whining about wanting to do things, or my arm hurting. I can be such a baby. What was interesting about the whole event was the Smiths. While mom and I were out getting my prescription and bandages, the Smiths came by. They are a wonderful family in our ward, who the husband is in the Bishopric, the wife is in the Relief Society Presidency, and they have three children ages 4, 2, and 6 months. So you can image that Sundays can be hard. This Sunday we had some extra space in our rows and I noticed that the mother came in with her children and was sitting in the metal chairs. I went and told her she could come sit by us. Well, today's Family Home Evening was on the Good Samaritan and I was the example. Of how the little things can make a difference. They shared was moment with Fred and left a wonderful note and cookies for us :) I just thought it was amazing that one day you can be the Samaritan and the very next day you can be the one receiving help. Because for my Mom what she did for me was nothing. But boy was it a help to me. Just like what I had done for the Smiths. We often forget that sometimes this happen so we can learn and sometimes things happen so others have the chance to serve. What a wondrous occasion to be on both sides within 48hrs. So thanks to Fred, Mom and the Smiths for all that you have done for me :)
It has a been a very, very crazy couple of weeks. Of course we had a wonderful little Ice Storm. Which we survived no problem, just a couple of power flickers. Then right after that we had both got sick. Fred was first (for a change), he came down very suddenly with the flu. The nasty one that sticks around for about two weeks. Thankfully we got him in to the Urgent Care Center within 48 hours of onset so they were able to give him some medication. Anti Viral medication and some pain killers. Then a few days later I landed at the doctor. Luckily I didn't have the flu, I had a chest wall infection. Which may sound terrible and worse than the flu but, it isn't really. I went on some antibiotics and some awesome pain killers. Slept for the most of three days and I was back to pretty much normal. The later half of that week was spent getting ready to leave for Cleveland. We cleaned the house, did a ton of laundry, and packed for our week long vacation. Sunday afternoon we packed up the car and the cat and we took a nice drive up to Cincinnati to see our friends, and pseudo siblings, Dave and Erin. We stopped and had dinner with them, visited for a little while and then headed up to Cleveland. We arrived late Sunday night, and simply set up the bed and crashed. Monday was spent just hanging out with Janelle and Julie at the house. Fred and I didn't want to go anywhere after spending six hours in the car the day before. Also we wanted to give Raek a chance to adjust to his surroundings with us there. Ben and Janelle went out for their 'Pi Anniversary' while we watched Julie. That was another night we went to bed early. Tuesday morning, Fred and I woke up on a very deflated air mattress. I'm not sure if I crawled out of bed or fell out. But that morning I had a photo shoot to do. That was the reason we actually decided to go up. After the shoot I spent pretty much the whole day editing pictures. If you would like to see them they are on my business website. Wednesday was a huge highlight for me. We (Fred, Janelle, Julie, and Me) went to Kirtland, Ohio. I had never been there, and what a wonderful place. The Temple was closed. It is only open on the weekends in January and February. But we were able to go around the church owned sites. What was fantastic was the fact that we were the only ones there. Julie fell asleep in the car so Janelle sat with her while we went on the tour. We had a wonderful private tour with Elder and Sister Harris. We the took us into all of the buildings we wanted to go in. Including the ones that were closed. Usually when it's really cold out they don't go into the Saw Mill and the Ashery. They were soo cool. The mill was powered by water and it took 7 minutes to cut a single length of wood. It may go a little faster when the water level was high but that was the avarage rate. And a lot of the machinery is the original gear. It was escavated and restored to be put on display. And they are all in working order. It could start up tomorrow. Can you believe it. I'd also never heard of an Ashery. But they treated fire ashes and turned it into lye, and then into potash or pearlash. They would use these things to make soap, glass, gun powder, and several other things. I wonder why we still don't uses ashes for those things. It is a great way to recycle things. Yes it requires more labor that way but I'm sure we could find a way to moderize it to be more efficent. Okay I maybe crazy but I thought it was awesome. Next we walked up to the Whitney House. Yes it was small but what an adorable little home. And for the day it was really a large house for only five people. The little room on the right is the kitchen. It was a nice size kitchen. It was almost as big as the one in my house, and almost an entire wall was an oven. There was a big table in the middle to work on. I found myself a little jealous of it. As I stood in the room I could almost feel the warmth from the stove, and smell fresh baked bread. Up and downstairs were bedrooms. We couldn't see those because they were too small for everyone to fit in. The next room was where the main fireplace was, another bread oven, a dining table, and rocking chair. It was kind of the everything room. I was so well put together, I could almost see a family sitting in there. Playing and crawling all over each other trying to keep entertained. Even though no one had lived in it for years you could still feel the love that resided there. Our next stop was over to the Whitney Store. That was a serious step back in time. My family did historical re-enactiments so when I walked into that store I felt like a kid again. I saw things that I used to camping with. Tin lanterns, calico fabics, bonnets, natural leathers and corn cob checkers. A big part of my heart jumped for joy. Those times camping with my family were some of the best I remember. Yes I complained sometimes during it but I look back on them fondly. And that store brought back every happy memory I had. I loved it! The rest of the week was spent watching movies, eating food, (yes folks I ate) and playing with Julie. Oh how cute she was. By the end of the week she was so comfortable with us around that she would try to follow us around and miss us when we left the room. Of course by tomorrow she'll have forgot we were there at all. Julie loved the cat. Raek wasn't so sure about it. Raek was terrified of Julie. Thursday morning though Raek figured out that he was faster than Julie and that she couldn't climb stairs. So he would get up on the stairs and Julie would sit at the bottom, or hold on to a couple of stairs and standing. She would just stand there and watch Raek as he watched the fish. Also Raek figured out the she could get close enough to her so he could look at her. Then she would move toward Raek and he would walk away and Julie would follow. They did that for almost 30 min. It was adorable. I wanted to get a picture but the camera was upstairs and if I went up there Raek would have gone into hiding. Today we drove home. Started unpacking and doing laundry. We watched our shows we recorded and had fast food for dinner. A perfect way to end a vacation. I just hope it doesn't take too long to recover. ;)
My sister in law does this just about every week. She writes a quick blog about something she wishes for. Sometimes they are actual items and sometimes they are like having family closer, or better weather. Since there is actually something I'm wishing for I decided to do one.
Here is what I want:
This is a Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 SLR Digital Camera. It is a very nice piece of camera equipment. It takes pictures at 10.2 Mega Pixels. Which doesn't sound like a lot but because it's a SLR and doesn't use digital lenses you can take better pictures with less pixels. It also have 1/4000 second shutter speed. That is faster than you can blink! I won't bore you with the rest of the details. If you want to check them out here is the website.
The best part about this wish is that soon I will actually have it. If I was irresponsible I would have already ordered it. But since I am a responsible adult (some days) I'm waiting until our tax return comes in. A couple of weeks and it will be all mine!!!!
By the way, the price on that website is not what I'm paying for it. I a found much, much better price.
Everyone meet Raek (said Rake). Raek is our little kitten who we adopted today. Fred and I have been thinking about getting a cat for a long time. Our main disagreement was de-clawing. Fred insisted that any cat would have to be de-clawed, and I was against it. So we have put it off and kind of came to the agreement that we probably wouldn't get a critter. Well this week a couple of things changed. First off we were over at some friends and they had this little dog. I mean little dog that just loved to be held I loved holding her. I was joking with Fred that I needed an animal to keep me company when I'm home and he's at work. That way I'm not totally alone. The second thing was on Friday afternoon I came face to face with a mouse. We have had a mouse problem off and on for over a year. We have done just about everything and the most effective seemed to be having my parents cat stay with us for the weekend. So today while I was napping Fred was looking at kittens, just to see what was out there. And he came across a couple that he liked. After my nap he showed them to me and I absolutely fell in love with this one called Aspen. Fred wasn't going to call because it was a Saturday, but I felt that we needed to call. So we called the number and low and behold it's was the Foster Mom's cell phone. She was actually out with Aspen at the Feeder's Supply Store for adoption day. How very exciting! We immediately headed out to see her. On the way there Fred was talking about how he'd like to get a cat today but realized it might not happen. I didn't say it to him but I knew that cat was coming home with us tonight. It didn't matter what we had to do this cat was ours. Upon arriving Dana, Aspen's Foster Mom, immediately knew who we were. She automatically introduced us to Aspen, and I held him. Although he was a little timid he didn't try to jump out of my arms or anything. I just looked at Fred (must have been glowing) and nodded. Fred knew went and got a contract and we started the adoption process. While doing the paperwork Dana showed me what toys Aspen liked and the food he was currently on. Dana was very excited that we were taking he cat. Aspen's sister was adopted last week and she really wanted to find a home for this kitten. After paying for everything we put our new kitten in his carrier and drove home. Fred had already expressed a desire to name whatever cat we got Raek. Raek is a character in the book he wrote. Raek is a warrior, who is a little crazy. And that is the type of cat Fred wanted. I thought it was a great name for our cat and agreed. So no more Aspen, it's Raek. It took Raek a few hours to settle in, but with some coaxing a little bit of force (had to put towels and blankets to block all the places we didn't want him hiding) he started to wander around and get used to the place. He also sat on my lap and let us pet him for a good 45 min. Dana said he loved to be the center of attention and is a big cuddle cat. Oh and you may be thinking what are you doing about de-clawing? Well Fred relented. We are not going to de-claw our cat, but I have to train him not to claw at things and keep his nails filed. Half of that is done for me. Dana has never been scratched by Raek and he's never clawed at anything. He really is the perfect cat for us.
RAEK's STORY Raek was found with his sister, by Dana, outside of a restaurant down by the river in October. Dana being an assistant at a veterinarian's office couldn't simply leave them there. So she took them home. The vet estimated that the kittens were only a month or so old at the time. Dana took great care of them and in November after both had been tested, given their shots, and neutered they went up for adoption. Each Saturday Dana would take the two down to the Feeder's Supply and hope that someone would adopt them. Dana had plenty of other animals at her house and knew that there were plenty of other homes that would love a kitten. So they waited at the store and were put on Petfinder.com. But still no one came for them. In the first week of January Raek's sister was adopted. Raek didn't have a problem with this because it was one less critter to fight with for attention. The next week these wonderful people Crys and Fred came to give Raek a home. Now he will be the spoiled cat that he wants to be. Especially with a stay at home mom.
