Me again :~)

Checking in, I have nothing new to really share, but I wanted to make an effort to post.

I start a house & cat-sitting job after work today... and when I finish next Tuesday morning, I go to another one Tuesday evening for 3 days, home for a day after that and then 5 days at another.  I leave that one on one day, and go to the next one the next day!  Busy time of year!  But I love it!

The only drawback to the pet-sitting is that I am afraid to bring my clay.  First of all, I don't want my clay mess in their homes and secondly, yet just as critical, cats and wet clay items do not always mix well... I remember that well from Max.

Well, I need to get back to some things I am working on.  I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore.  But I felt I needed to try to make a habit of posting again.

Adventures in Cat-Sitting

A little history first.

When I was young, in Jr. High and High School, I used to pet-sit for our neighbors pets.  Sometimes it was just one cat or one dog, but often it was for our 'back-door' neighbors who had a few cats and dogs.  The time I remember most was when both dogs and the 2 female cats had litters at about the same time... wow!  Unfortunately some of the tiny kittens died because their 'not much more than a kitten herself' mom abandoned them and I could not find them until it was too late.  Boy did that upset me!

But the puppies... lots and lots of puppies!  One mom was a Wiemeraner (sp?) and the other was a Border Collie.  I remember naming them while the family was away.  I think their vacation was 2 weeks, but that was a looooooong time ago.  They were so cute!  And they'd just all climb all over me when I'd sit on the floor!  I loved it!

In my adult life, I have had only cats... I'd love to have a dog, but I don't have the time to make sure it gets regular walking and is taken out for potty time.  Cats are a little more self-sufficient - most of the time...

Rocky & Sophie hanging out on the spiral staircase

A couple of months ago, my friend Frankie & I were talking.  She had just gotten a second Rag-doll Cat - Rocky.  He had JUST joined their family, and they were headed out of town for a couple of weeks.  So, I agreed to house & cat sit for 16 days.  It was WONDERFUL!  Both Rocky and their other Rag-doll Sophie were a joy to spend time with.  And the lake-front house was like a mini-vacation.  If only I had my fishing license and rod & reel at that time, I could have practiced casting off their dock!

The view from the house

Flash forward a couple more weeks and my friend Lisa, here in town had seen my mention of cat-sitting on my Facebook page and asked if I had done it just as a favor, or if I was open to doing it again.  And, as a lover of cats & dogs, I said I would be glad to help her out if needed.

This time I am just cat-sitting, not house-sitting as well.  And the cutie I am sitting for is also named Sophie.  She is a beautiful short-hair white cat with beautiful green eyes!  She greets me with meows at the front door and loves to give kitty-kisses.  She sure misses her mom... this is the longest her mom has been away from her...

Sophie misses her mom

I miss my Max, he was my own sweetie.  But he has been gone now for over 3 1/2 years.  He lived a long life and kept me company through some good times and some bad times.  If my life weren't so crazy, I'd adopt another cat.  But I don't have the time to give one the time and attention it needs... though some day, things may be different.

And, who knows, maybe some day I'll get a dog... you never know...

My Max...

In the meantime, I am glad to help care for my friends furry families while they are away.

I'm here!

I have not posted lately because of a lot of things happening. No, nothing serious in nature, just a lot going on... I have not forgotten about posting, I just have not always had the time or energy.
Good news is, we now have DSL here at the house. This should make blogging MUCH easier! (Just uploading the photo of my late kitty Max took WAY less time!)

Now, I just need to get some more photos scanned or taken to be able to post them.
And, I guess I have gotten bitten by the FaceBook bug... it has been nice to re-connect with some old friends from my youth. One even apologized for how he treated me back in Junior High... something I had moved beyond a long time ago. Yet it was still nice that he thought to apologize after all this time. Thanks Scott! Hey, we were teenagers, no apologies necessary, but thanks anyway...
I can keep up with my family and people I don't get to see often enough. Not to mention the oodles of photos I can look at in my friends' profiles! Awesome waves in RI from Hurricane Bill, adorable children, beautiful artwork (painting, quilting, jewelry design...), lots of people, pets and flowers...
But I do need to get back to my blogging. Now that my desktop is able to go online again, I have access (more easily) to a number of photo files I already had. I had problems when my dial-up modem was zapped by lightning... with DSL, I don't have to worry about that anymore! (AND, I have put ALL cords, including the phone line, through the new surge protector!)
I will get more posted soon. (I hope to be able to post some photos of my nephew DragonBen's latest artwork... and he's only 9 1/2!!!)
Thanks for being patient with me.

My Max

Last night I talked about my friend Mike's sweet Savannah. Here is a photo of my buddy Max. This photo was taken several years ago when my ex and I were visiting Pendleton. It was taken in the garden outside the back door of the house. About 2 feet to the right of where this photo ends is where Max is at rest today. He died 7 years to the day after our move to Pendleton. Max was a wonderful friend and companion. Some nights I am sure he is curled up on my feet in bed as he did for a good part of his 18 years. I still miss him today. We had some nick-names for him like 'Tubby Tuna' he was 23 pounds at his heaviest, the vet even had to weigh him on the dog scale! And when we got him they said he was the runt of the litter and would stay small... I can't imagine what his siblings looked like fully grown! I can still remember the day we got him. We had to put down our previous cat Samantha the day before because she was so very sick with Diabetes (the worst the vet had ever seen). Our hearts and home were so empty, we searched for a new kitten. We ended up travelling 75 miles to Rochester, NY (we were living in Alfred, NY at the time) to a pet store where they had 4 kittens. 2 were orange tabbys and 2 were grey/black tabbys. Max was on top of the cat tower and the others were down below. We fell in love with his beautiful swirled markings and his white paws, not o mention his bold personality. On our way home in the car, we tried to decide on a name for him. We tried several and none seemed to fit. I had some t-shirts with a label of 'Sam & Max' and since our last cat was Sam, I said 'What about Max?' He responded to that name. We always said he picked his own name.

Hopefully Max and Savannah are playing well together somewhere and they are free of the pain of their last days. I will remember them always.