Wow, its been almost two years since my last post...

I will try to update in the near future. I've been spending alot of time on Facebook, and with life in general. So, come back soon...

Kitten pictures! Two Days Old!

Buster (Ahsoka)








Sissy (Sheila) and babies

Oops....Cat Explosion!!!

You would think with over forty years of loving and having cats that I could tell the difference between male and female. Well, I was not the only one to do so. Last May or June, we took in two kittens to live in our barn. They were brother and sister, Buster and Sissy (also called Sheila). I guess they were about 6-8 weeks old. We were told that the "boy" was a boy, and the other a girl. The kittens were very shy so they didn't let us handle them for quite a while, and to "check" them out was almost impossible. When I did, it looked like they were the same in back, and yes it looked like they had the telltale male parts. So, I started thinking Sissy was a male. Now, I know you're thinking she's got to be nuts, she's had cats for years. But, in self defense, the last girl cat that I had was Chloe who died in 2000. Since then, being a staunch supporter of spaying and neutering, we've only had neutered male cats.

On August 8th, the barn cats came to live in the house because hubby bought 100 new chicks! Yikes! Around the middle of September, I started thinking that Buster must have worms because he was getting fat and hard around his middle. Never in my wildest dreams, would I have thought we'd have the surprise that Mr. Boo and I found 3 Sunday nights ago. We heard a kitten cry. Looking around, we found a very cold kitten in our kitchen cabinet (no dishes in this one). I took him out and tried to show him to Sissy and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Buster, was apparently its mama. So, Buster is actually a girl.! The kitten didn't make it through the night. I'm still in denial, and still can't stop thinking of "him" as "her". He was so young to have gone through this.

I started looking at Sissy again, and she was also pregnant. She got fatter and fatter. Last Thursday night about 10:20 she had her first kitten. By 11:30, she had four little bundles of warm fur, crawling and eating. They're doing great and she is a very proud mama. I'll try to get some photos of them and upload them. The kittens are all very dark, as the mother is a silver/black tabby. One has a tiny streak of orange on its head. We're not sure who the father is, but the only cats we've seen are about a mile down the road and they are all black and white. We're thinking of asking our neighbor for child support, he he he.

We were so clueless, thinking that both of them were too young. They only left the barn on a few occasions, but apparently they were at the right time. So, the story of they're never too young to spay or neuter them is definitely true in our case.

Suze

Ode to Otto

This week we said goodbye to my parent's cat Elliott. He was a beautiful brown/black tabby who had the most unusual turquoise eyes when he was born. He was over 20, his exact age is not sure, but he was one of 5 kittens that my sister rescued from a kitchen cabinet at the home improvement store she worked for. One of the kittens didn't make it and another was given to a coworker of my father. They kept three of them Elliott, Marvin and Daphne (Daffy). They were much loved. We lost Daffy several years ago, but Marvin and Elliott had long fulfilled lives. Marvin was also known as "Lump Kitty" because he slept under the bed covers. I had a special name for Elliott. To me he was not Elliott, he was Otto. So sleep well dear Otto and say hello to Shelby, Cincie, Chloe, Frisco, Jausenclaus, Marvin, Daffy, Lance, Ferrarri, Cymbah, Tiger, Poodah, Dax, Tuffy and to the many other animals our family have loved over the years. We loved you.

P.S. To see a photo of Otto, click on Ensign Eddie's blog under Rojo's (rooster) photo

Photos of the last year!

Awana Closing Ceremony and Grand Prix. He won 4th in race, 2nd in Design.

First time playing soccer.
On the Homecoming Float

Mr. Boo loved the Statue of Liberty so he wanted his
6th Birthday Party to have that theme.
We settled for a New York City theme.

Mr. Boo on Digi our mobile office rv
Mr. Boo loved the globe and learning about the world and landmarks.





Kite Day. The kids made their own kites and flew them at the same time.

In Class after kite flying


Showing how smart he is!

What a great year and a great school!

Where did the (almost) year go?

It's been forever since I've posted. Mr. Boo graduated from Kindergarten last week. It was such a wonderful program and experience. He has had a great year at his school. Some of the highlights of his year were: taking a train ride in Fort Worth; going on several field trips to museums, and local businesses; playing soccer for the first time; learning about the Statue of Liberty and other national monuments. I will post some photos soon.

The farm is doing pretty well. We're selling every egg we can get and have to turn away others. It looks like we will actually have a garden this year to sell. There is lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins, okra, squash, sweet corn, etc. We've lost all of our oldest ducks, either to predators, or just not coming home. Big Daddy (white pekin) lost both of his girls one night. They had taken to walking down the road and spending most of the day there. He came home one night without them, and spent several days walking down the road looking for them. It was so sad seeing him. We have 8 female goslings, 7 female pekin ducks that will turn 3 weeks old tomorrow. They're pretty cute. The goslings are starting to arch their necks the way geese do. We also lost Napoleon, the little general, and our favorite sheep. He passed away in February, shortly before Josephine had twin lambs, Lizzy and Beau. Their daughter, Flo (Florence) had a baby boy (we haven't settled on a name, although Mr. Boo wants to call him Mount Rushmore, maybe Rush?) that is about 5 week old now.

Button (duck, see former posts and book below) fell off the front porch just before Thanksgiving. Mr. Boo wanted to see if she could fly. After surgery and several months, she can walk some. Because she is so special to us, we opted to have surgery to repair the leg that was broken right at the hip joint. Had we known that when the pin was taken out she wouldn't be able to walk right again, we might have made other decisions about her. Her leg fused in the hip joint and works independently of the hip. She is happy, can stand and gets where she wants to go, but she will never have the freedom of walking comfortably again. She had a great doctor in Southlake, and I would recommend him for any avian or other pet related injuries.

I'm still hanging in there with Heritage Makers. They've come up with some new products that are exciting, also a Scan Party (clients come together to scan their photos). Click on the link at the side to see all that we have to offer. You can sign up for a free account without obligation to buy anything. It just gives you a chance to play with the system. Here are some of the projects I've done.

Class Book for Auction
Cute as a Button
Snow Dogs (Click Rotate and Fold to see these functions)
Moving Day
My Girls
Birthday Party


I'm looking into Alternative Certification Programs to start teaching. I've been to two job interviews for traditional year round employment (both library research positions). I was concerned about Mr. Boo and what he would do while I was working, so I thought I would try for School Library Certification. Back when I got my MLS you could get a Learning Resource Endorsement. I didn't do this at the time, because I'd just had Mr. Boo. Now you have to have two years of teaching experience to be a certified School Librarian. So, I'm really considering the program so that I can hopefully teach in the fall.

Well, I guess that's us in a nutshell.

TTFN

Recent Photos

Dancing to "Carwash" at Joe's Crab Shack on Mom's Birthday.

First day of school in chapel uniform, minus school vest.

I can see clearly now!

I forgot to add this in the last post, but it deserves its own topic, I guess. After almost 40 years of wearing glasses, I can see clearly now. Hubby gave me Custom Vue Lasik surgery for our anniversary and Mother's Day. The operation was on July 6th (I think), and I'm doing pretty well. I had what is called Monovision surgery. My right eye is seeing 20/15 and my left eye allows me to read teeny tiny print. I'm still leary of night time driving though. I haven't done much of it, but what I have done is stll a little difficult. I may end up needing glasses just for driving at night. But, its pretty neat. I can see things and recognize what they are from incredible distances.

Mr. Boo Starts Kindergarten and a lot of catching up

Well, the day came and went. Not too much historical to think on, but my son is now officially a student. Of course, we were almost late getting him to school, they were lining up for chapel as we walked in the door. So, it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. It was actually a little bit of deja vu. He's at the same school, same teacher, but going 5 days instead of 2 and was wearing his chapel uniform instead of his everyday uniform. We kept him in the private school so that he can get a good foundation. I don't know if we'll keep him there after this. There are 2 boys and 5-7 girls in his class. They'll have reading, spelling, math, history, science, spanish, art, music and PE. Quite a lot for the little fellows. But, I think he'll enjoy it.

I just had the most wonderful news. One of my oldest and dearest friends just had twin daughters in June. How wonderful is that? I would love for Mr. Boo to have a brother or sister, but its looking dimmer everyday.

We've been very busy this summer. Mr. Boo spent a lot of time with my parents while I was dealing with packing up and renovating the old house. The past week we did some fun things together.

Hubby was deployed to the gulf to wait on Hurricane Dean. He left on Saturday and came back the next Wednesday when it was evident that Dean wanted to go to Mexico instead of Texas.

Farm life has been hottttttt. Those poor birds are just making it through the heat. We are selling more eggs than they can produce, so hubby wants more. I'm not so sure of that. Currently, we have 15 adolescent chicks that will lay blue/green eggs/10 baby guineas/5 young ducklings, 14 older ducks, 4 geese, 2 quail (heat got to some), 48 adult chickens, 2 adult sheep and 2 young lambs. Definitely not boring around here. We finally had the sheep sheared yesterday. We'd been having trouble finding someone, and a nice young girl from the high school helped us out.

I'm hoping that my business with Heritage Makers will increase now that I can devote more time to it. I worked at a trade show this past weekend and have a couple coming up this fall.

Well, guess that's it for now. I'll post a photo of Mr. Boo soon. The camera's in the car and I'm too lazy to get up and get it right now.

Suze