Max & Muffin - Friends or Not?

Muffin, Callie's kitten, is now almost 7 weeks old.

I named her Muffin because of the "M" on her head.

Max loves cats and kittens. He is very kind and gentle. He can't imagine why Muffin doesn't like him. He just wants to sniff her because cats smell
really great when you are a schnauzer!

Muffin is still not sure of Max and lets him know exactly how she feels. Kittens are so funny hissing and spitting while they fluff out every little piece of fur on the their bodies. It's so funny to watch them inflate like
little beach balls!

Muffin is still not eating kitten food and is perfectly content nursing from Callie. She sees no need to ever eat from a dish! I have been working on this with her for a couple of weeks now with no luck. The vet told me to start taking her away from Callie as much I can. I brought her inside this morning and she did eat a few bites of soft kitten food. I'm going to keep her in the kitchen until about 8:00 tonight and maybe she will eat before she goes back outside to her box with Callie. She has to eat from a dish before she packs her little bags and goes to a new home! I'm ready for her to find a new home!

Callie is not ready to let go of her baby!
I know how she feels!

Lesa

Announcing the Arrival of Kittens!

Callie finally had her kittens yesterday!
I mentioned her in my Friday Fave Five post.
I took this picture on March 20.
She got a lot bigger after this picture. Bless her heart - I thought she was going to pop!

She is so proud of her sweet babies!

She actually had five kittens. Three were so tiny that they didn't make it. I cried when I found them. I have a big soft heart when it comes to anything baby! These two are so big that you would think they are a week old. They are very strong and moving around the box. Callie instincts are so amazing. She had her kittens outside under some leaves beside the garage. I think the stray dogs that came up in the yard Sunday night frightened her so bad that she started having her kittens. It broke my heart yesterday when she kept going back to where she had them and searched for the other three. I fixed her a box, with some old shirts that I was saving for a yard sale, inside our storage building where she would be safe and warm.

It's just like a new mama to want to show off her babies!

Baby kittens are so sweet!

Lesa

First Post in Many Moons!

Life has been so busy on my end of the world lately! I haven’t posted in forever! With work, ice storm, wind storm, going to the doctor for my neck issues (long story for later), and jury duty, I don’t know which end is up most of the time!

Sunday we went to church with Alan, Susan, and Jennie. We had such a great day spending time together. After church, we did a little shopping. Susan and Alan’s grill was destroyed in the wind storm we had last week so they decided to look for a new one at Kmart. I couldn’t believe all of the outdoor stuff they already have out for Spring.

Jennie had to try out the little chairs in the garden section.

She is now 18 months old and never slows down!

Can you tell she loves chocolate?

I love her little black shoes and tights….

She always crosses her little ankles.

Justyn left on Monday for a trip to Charlotte, NC. He will be gone all week for training. This is the first time he has ever flown. He said that it went well and seemed like no time and he was there.

I know – he’s 28 and I need to “cut the apron strings”!

I did hide a few little "Mama" notes in his suitcase….

He will always be my little boy.....

All 230 pounds and 5 feet, 10 inches of him….

I took this picture Sunday night while I was helping Justyn pack.

I don’t think Max was excited about him going.

It’s like he knew he would be gone for awhile.

(Oh pooh - blogger is giving me font problems again!)

Hope you have a great Wednesday! We have a chance of snow flurries tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday. We will be fine - as long as we don’t get ice!
Lesa

Fun at the Fair Week

This is fair week in our town and we have been to the fair every night! I entered several things in the fair Tuesday. I was delighted than I won several ribbons. I won a second place ribbon for my recipe book that contains alot of the recipes that I feature on here.

I also entered several photos that I have taken. The ones that I thought would do good did not and the ones that I didn’t think would place - did. Who knows what they are looking for? I took a picture of Jennie’s hand close up in black and white. It won a second place ribbon. I think she was excited too. This is a picture of my sister Susan and Jennie at the fair Tuesday night holding the photo.

One of my favorite pictures of my cat, Tipper, won a third place ribbon. She is looking at the camera upside down. The category for this photo was a black and white picture of an animal. Since she is a black and white cat, I made this photo black and white. She weighs about 15 pounds and is a very “fluffy” cat!

Jennie has really enjoyed the truck pulls, mud boggin’, and the demolition derby that we have watched so far this week. She is so cute wearing her little "headphones" to block out the loud noise. She is a true country girl!

Tonight was the demolition derby and the cars got a little to close too the side and slug mud up into the grandstands where we were sitting. We had mud splattered all over us! Jennie thought it was chocolate and tried to eat some that was in her hand! Thank goodness we had baby wipes!

Tomorrow night we are taking a rest and staying home. I may actually cook – what I don’t know! Friday and Saturday night are truck and tractor pulls. We look forward to this each year. I also look forward to the funnel cake and cotton candy! I sure don’t want to look behind me because that is where all the funnel cake and cotton candy go!

Lesa

CATS Testing

I know. It sounds like I'm having my little feline girl tested for some kind of illness. In the state of Kentucky, the accountability test that is administered every Spring is called CATS. For the life of me, I cannot remember what the letters stand for - it's late and I'm totally whipped at this point!

This is the second week of CATS testing at school. Tomorrow is the last day for testing – thank heavens! Nine days is very hard and stressful for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students to test. I have monitored in classrooms for several days over the past two weeks. Teachers and monitors have to walk the room the whole time testing is in progress. It can last anywhere from 1-2 hours. My rear end has been dragging out the tracks of my chubby feet this week. Several days I came home absolutely exhausted. My couch was calling my name when I came in the front door. I can’t imagine how the students and teachers feel!

I remember when Justyn was in middle school. I would pick him after school. Normally he didn’t even want me to speak to him until after we left the parking lot. It wasn’t cool to have your Mother pick you up and act happy to see her at the same time. On testing days he was very different. He would get in the car and dramatically let his head fall back on the seat and say “Oh Mom! It was horrible! We had to sit quietly all day (probably two hours) and think!” Now for a teenager to sit quietly is a chore but to think at the same time is painful! Not to mention for long periods at a time. I think this convinced Justyn that he never wanted to be a priest or work in a funeral home! It was on these days that I would ask him if it was a Baskin-Robbins day. All he strength to do was to nod his head. As we sat eating our ice cream, I knew that these days would pass way too quickly. It was certainly not cool to be seen eating ice cream with your Mom but when she was treating you – it was OK!

Our local Baskin-Robbins has long since closed. Justyn is now 27 years old and testing is still just as stressful to all involved.

I think I may need to buy stock in Ben & Jerry’s. We have become very good friends over the past two weeks!

Lesa