October 11, 2008
Buffy the Coyote Slayer
I have finally made a short, and not great, video of Buffy, our new addition to the family.
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October 6, 2008
Heh. John and Wendy will like this one!
more animals
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September 15, 2008
Heh. Just heh
more animals
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September 5, 2008
So, Wendy goes out jogging . . .
And this is what followed her back home!
I am making an effort to find her owners, but I won't be too disappointed if no one claims her.
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March 17, 2008
A picture of the little buck-kid I'm buying
Is he not the cutest little thing? He will need a name. His mama's name is Isis.
Posted by Beth at 12:56 PM | Comments (7)
February 19, 2008
RestStop and Annie are Lolcats - go vote for them!
moar funny pictures
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January 22, 2008
A story from my youth
Someday, I am going to have to scan a photo of my childhood dog, Blitzen. He was a Standard Dachshund, red in color. Santa Claus gave him to our family at Christmas, back in about 1959, I was about 6 years old, my sister, just 3. Despite all the warnings about the absolute evilness of getting a Christmas pet, Blitzen lived a long life, making until I was 20 years old, when cancer took him from our family.
Blitzen was a true character. He had many adventures and was a great dog. Actually, I could probably write a book about him. He had a collection of beer cans that he had stashed in the woods, and would go and pick one out and carry it around with him on days when we were all out on the patio. Blitzen would bring us box turtles, that's about all he managed to hunt, and he never hurt them.
Blitzen also got into trouble some times. He once stuck his nose in a hornets' nest, and when Henry, the man who helped dad work in the yard on must summer weekends, saved his little dachshund butt by pulling him from the hole, the hornets came flying out, chasing both Blitzen and Henry. Both ran into the house, some hornets making it inside, too, and I remember Mom being so worried over Henry being stung, and as soon as she knew he was alright, she took one look at Blitzen and called me in (I must have been about 10 years old at that time - if my sister is reading this, Anne, do you remember?). Blitzen's nose was growing in size right before our eyes. He must have been stung 20 times or more on his nose. It was scary. Naturally, Mom got him to the vet, and he survived, but he lost most of the hair off the top of his nose, and it never grew back right, and his nose was always crooked after that.
But that's not the story I wanted to tell you.
Sometimes our pets need rescuing. Our Gunner got caught in a bad situation last week, and John wrote about it here.
When Anne and I were growing up in St. Louis County, behind our house, there was a woods and a creek and a pond beyond. All the neighborhood kids would play back there in the summer, and in the winter, the pond would normally freeze over, and we could ice skate on it, or just play. Sometimes dangerously so.
Blitzen, the good loyal dog he was, always followed Anne and I when we walked back into the woods, even in the winter when the snow might be 8 inches deep or so, and he could barely keep his nose above the white stuff. His job was to make sure we were both safe.
Once, I remember there being a lot of snow, maybe as much as 12 inches or so on the ground, and my sister, Anne and I bundled up and hiked over the pond, not an easy task when we were wearing about 10 layers of clothing to ensure our warmth. I'm thinking I was maybe 14 or so and Anne would have been around 10 or 11. Blitzen came with us.
A bunch of kids were out on the ice, but just a few feet out, because it was obvious that the ice was not yet thick enough to support a kid out in the middle.
Someone threw a stick out on the pond, and Blitzen, being a dog, ran out to get it. I knew right away that ice would give way, and it did. He was in the freezing water, desperately trying to climb back on the ice. He could not do it. I remember distinctly that some of the boys were laughing and making fun of poor Blitzen. They thought it hilarious that my dog was going to die.
Damn boys.
So, I got on my hands and knees, and crept out on the ice to try save our dog. Naturally, the ice gave way, and in I went. Fortunately, I was a lot taller than the dachshund, and I was only about waist-high in the water and ice. But I was freezing! I grabbed Blitzen, and very clumsily made my way to the shore. I know I was clumsy, because I remember those damn boys laughing at me.
I was crying, I'm pretty sure Anne was crying, too. Blitzen was wet and cold, for a 20 pound dog, pretty heavy! I carried him back home slipping and sliding down the snow on the big hill to the creek, across the creek, twice, and then up the big hill to our back yard and home, were Mom and Dad could make everything better. And they did. Mom got me out of my wet, freezing layers of clothes and dumped me in a warm bath.
Daddy got towels and dried off Blitzen kept him warm. I don't remember what Anne did, I assume she was also ordered to get out the clothes, though hers were not as wet, and get in the other bathtub, in the bath next to the kitchen.
So, that is one of Blitzen's stories. Do any of you have stories of saving your critters?
Posted by Beth at 8:17 AM | Comments (4)
January 11, 2008
Farms make you exercise! (or what happened to Helga?)
So, today I planned to rearrange the living room, do some laundry, vacuum and clean the bathrooms when I got back from my massage/haircut/color job on my gray hair. It's no longer gray, but that is about the only thing I got done today because of .....
Critters. The critters made my afternoon crazy. I'm so pooped that I just poured myself a glass of wine, hoping to slow my heart rate to a normal speed after running all through the pasture, barn yard, front yard and back yard.
It started out as a walk out to the pasture to check on the horses - I had not laid eyes on all of them at once for a couple of days (they really like the far side behind a hill or two and the pond and the woods). Gunner, as always, needed some exercise, so I took him with me. Kiki followed slowly behind (she has a neurological injury that affects her left rear leg, so we are trying to keep her as quiet as possible to see if the steroids she is taking can help her).
And yes, I love parentheticals. I think that way (you know, always going off on tangents).
Anyway, the dogs and I headed across the road that bisects our land and I climbed through the barbed wire fence to go check out the horses and to cut the nylon cover on the round bale off, so the horses can get at the hay. Gunner and Kiki were very, very good, and stayed right with me. This end of the pasture is a soggy, muddy mess. The snow and ice and rain of the last few weeks have really done a number on it, so it is treacherous going.
We made our way over to the small stock pond, and I spotted Willy, grazing. Pretty soon, he saw me and started to stroll over to say hi. Pretty soon, all 12 horses came over to check me out. I pet them and checked to verify that Petey still had his shoes on (if you have never owned a horse who needs shoes, mud is the number one cause of lost horseshoes - it just sucks the shoes off their hooves!)
Gunner and Kiki were still being very good, in fact Gunner was just laying down watching.
When I was done with the horses, I headed back toward the barn, Gunner ran ahead and lost his fricking head and chased after the guineas and chickens (they all free range from morning until sunset.)
Damnit! Gunner cannot resist trying to "herd" the guineas and chickens. By the time I had sloshed through the mud and puddles in the pasture to the barn, Gunner was no longer in sight. I called and called and called, but he must have been ignoring me, as he did not come back. It was then that I realized I was missing one of my hens, Helga. She lays the prettiest brown speckled eggs, and she is the biggest of the hens.
I started searching for her - the other hens and Rocky the Rooster, following as I checked under bushes and behind the barn and in the coop.
I was getting pretty damn mad at Gunner - had he killed my lovely Helga?
I didn't even try to count the Guineas - they had flown off in several directions, ungraceful as they are, and they can normally get up into a tree to avoid bad, misbehaving dogs who think they can herd birds.
I gave up, and went into the house, with the intention of feeding the cats and Kiki, the only obedient dog around this farm!
I figured I'd go out on the deck to see if I could locate Gunner or Helga from a higher spot.
I spotted Gunner, about halfway down a rather treacherous hill behind the house. I called him, and he did not move. I thought, "Oh, shit, he must be feasting on Helga, my wonderful big, black hen who lays the best eggs ever".
I called him and called him, and he would not move one iota. Damn dog. So I walked down the hill to grab him and make him come up to the house.
I was about 2 yards away, and I saw a bird - only it was a guinea, not my hen. Gunner was very proud of himself - he had found the guinea and would not leave it to come to me. I was afraid that the bird was dead (it was Bill, the Guinea). But as I got closer, I could see the bird breathing, playing dead, I think. I picked him up, and his eyes opened and I could feel his little heart beating like crazy. I carried him up the hill, checking him out, and I saw that there were no visible wounds, and there did not appear to be any broken bones. Gunner continued to walk with me to the Chicken/Guinea Run of Argghhh! I set Bill down by the bird food, and he stood up, and ran into the coop. So he is okay. Apparently Gunner felt it was his job to watch over him, after he scared him half to death!
So, now I'm not sure if Gunner is responsible for the absence of Helga or not. He just ate all his dog food, so whatever the case, he didn't eat her. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if she shows up for dinner tonight. (her dinner, not mine).
I did find a piece of a Chinese newspaper on the ground close to the Run of Argghhh!- could a Chinese chef have come and stolen my hen? Is this the beginning of a true mystery, or a murder story?
Or is Helga safely in the bushes across the street, with the horses?
Stay tuned ...
Posted by Beth at 4:34 PM | Comments (1)
January 8, 2008
A late Christmas song/video
Posted by Beth at 10:58 AM | Comments (7)
December 24, 2007
Caption Contest
I've never tried this before, but I think this picture of Little Girl is just crying out for a good caption.
Posted by Beth at 9:47 PM | Comments (15)
November 30, 2007
I really thought Kiki was the smarter dog
But she managed to find a skunk this morning, run through the house and leave skunk molecules all over the house.
I really hate that.
Posted by Beth at 10:25 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 21, 2007
Critters adapt
Today, I brought Willy into his stall and brushed him and pampered him and fed him his special Equine Senior. He has no interest in the hay, probably because the fresh grass in the pasture is tastier!
Then I took him for a walk around the house and yard, and he munched on some grass and suddenly, Petey called for Willy.
Willy played it smart, completely ignored his fickle friend. Petey became increasingly upset, racing up and down the fence line, neighing at Willy.
Finally, I put Willy back into the pasture and Petey and he trotted off to the pond together.
Posted by Beth at 11:08 AM | Comments (2)
October 18, 2007
Change can be hard for critters
Willy is having a very hard time adapting to farm living. For 11 years, he has lived in the same stall and only been allowed to go to the pasture 3 times a week. Petey, our other horse, lived in the stall right next to Willy. They are very attached to each other.
Currently, there are 7 other horses here on our land. They belong to Major, who helps me with numerous hard chores. Willy does not like the other horses.
The problem is, Petey does like the other horses. So Willy stays away from them all, and once or twice a day, he will come to the gate and cry for Petey. I bring him in from the pasture - to his new, beautiful, much larger stall, with much fresher hay and an airier space. And Willy will eat his grain and some hay, then he gets upset - he keeps looking over at the empty stall (Petey's) next to him, and will cry for Petey again.
Petey has no interest in coming into the barn. He is loving the grass in the pasture, and his new friends. So Willy pines for him.
Willy is 23 years old. Petey is 14. Major's horses range from 2 to 5 years of age.
I think Willy is not fond of those young whippersnappers. I'm very sad for him.
Tomorrow, I'll go hunt him down (trickier than you might think, we have acres and acres of woods and grassland for him to hide in), and I'll try again to bring him to the barn, to his nice stall, out of the never-ending rain. And then, I'll go hunt down Petey, and make him come in, too. Willy really deserves to have his friend with him.
Posted by Beth at 7:34 PM | Comments (5)
August 14, 2007
Dog Pictures
I am finally getting around to publishing a picture of our new puppy - Gunner - he is a Slab. (Shepherd/Lab). So Kiki won't be jealous, I have a picture of her, too - she is a Blab(Bloodhound/Lab)
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August 12, 2007
Critter news
We got a new dog yesterday. His name is Gunner. More on that later. I have to do a ton of stuff.
Posted by Beth at 5:41 PM | Comments (2)
March 20, 2007
Does your doggie need a new toy?
Well, then, I would suggest this:
Right Girl bought one for her Bug, and they are both having a great time tearing Hillary apart.
Posted by Beth at 7:52 AM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2007
A moment of kitty zen
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January 28, 2007
A good giggle to start your week with
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November 30, 2006
Puppy Pictures
Kiki is one of those rare dogs who actually smiles:
She and Houdini do a lot of friendly wrestling:
Posted by Beth at 6:35 AM | Comments (0)
In-law kitty blogging
This is Maybelline.
She belongs to John's sister. She does know she is a cutie! She has a calico sister named Angel who wasn't interested in getting her picture taken.
Posted by Beth at 6:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2006
puppy pics
I took a lot of pictures this past week, so you will get to see them - lucky you!
I've been playing outside with Kiki and Houdini a lot lately, and I got a picture of them running through the yard together:
These two dogs have so much fun together. I just love them!
Posted by Beth at 6:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 16, 2006
Houdini the troublemaker
My sister, Anne, wanted to know which critters are which - she lives in Buffalo, New York, and has never met the Donovan Menagerie. So I thought I'd write a little about each critter as I have time.
This is Houdini:
He is a serious troublemaker. Houdini came into our lives about 3 years ago. As you can see, he has an attitude.
Houdini is an incredible escape artist. He can dig under the fence in a matter of minutes. What is really sad is that people don't even have to check his tag anymore to get our phone number when he is loose. I highly recommend getting a tag for your dog with his name and your phone number - people will call you before calling the dog catcher!
Before we got that little tag for Houdini, he had been in jail 3 times after escaping.
Houdini is a snuggle puppy when he is in the house. He likes to sleep under the covers in our bed, down by our feet. Houdini will eat almost anything. And he sits up and begs for treats. I need to get a picture of that, so cute! He also loves going for walks. When Houdini sees a leash, he goes wild with joy. He is a good dog.
Posted by Beth at 7:03 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
October 11, 2006
Dogs enhance our lives
As a life-long dog lover, I can testify that a dog can make a difference in anyone's life. They are obedient, cuddly, happy and they are always thrilled to see us. They don't care if we are having a bad hair day or if we gain 5 pounds. They love us unconditionally.
We have two dogs. Houdini and Kiki. Kiki sleeps at the foot of our bed every night and Houdini usually ends up sleeping between John and I - sometimes he even manages to get under the covers.
Now, some people don't like dogs. In fact, an entire religion believes that dogs are 'unclean'. It's even in their 'scriptures'.
Book 010, Number 3811: Abdullah (b. Umar) (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered the killing of dogs and we would send (men) in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert.Source
And this presents a problem. Muslim Taxi drivers the world over are refusing to allow blind people with guide dogs in their cabs.
This has been going on for some years, and this discrimination against those who need guide dogs has been occurring all over the world.
In England, a blind woman was refused a cab because of her dog, and when she complained to the owner of the taxi company, she was told that she should learn to respect the Muslim culture.
This has happened in Norway, Australia, Canada, and in the US.
My friend, Wild Thing, has a good post up on this issue. She is also a dog lover.
I think what irks me most about Muslim taxi drivers refusing fares is that they get all pissy at us and act like we are unreasonable for not understanding their 'culture'.
I will say one thing - we Americans love our dogs. Any one of any 'religion' who thinks dogs are unclean are just going to have to get used to all of our unclean dogs - or just go somewhere else. Far away.
Posted by Beth at 9:14 AM | Comments (11)
August 15, 2006
John is cat blogging
He has captured the essence of our mornings here.
Posted by Beth at 9:24 AM
July 25, 2006
More on family critters
Shadow is a lot better this morning. I wonder if playing with the neighbor kids yesterday evening just wore him out a bit?
Kiki has recovered her appetite, and now I know why she is a bit of a chunky puppy. She ate her food, then started on Shadow's food. Shadow had none of that and nipped at her.
Meanwhile, Houdini was eating the cat food and the cats were eating dog food.
Gandalf looks awful - he got very knotted up and I've been trying to cut the knots out, so his coat is more than a bit patchy. I found that using a seam ripper is the best way to get thru a Persian's fluff. He looks like a very fat kitty, but it's all hair. Compared to RestStop or Hal, he looks like a scrawny rat, if you push his fluffy hair down. Now that I've been chopping at it (he does not allow me to try to comb it out - and that is impossible anyway) he looks like a well-loved and kind of ratty stuffed animal.
Our next-door neighbor's children love our critters. They come and ring the doorbell at least once a day to see if they can play in the back yard with the dogs. John always supervises, and he is just wonderful with them all.
They also like to come inside to play with the cats. But I think after about 30 minutes, John suggests it is time for them to go home. They can wear you out!
So the Donovan critters are happy and mostly healthy this morning.
Oh, and Barnacle says, "Meow".
Posted by Beth at 6:30 AM | Comments (2)
July 24, 2006
Shadow
Shadow is our wonderful black lab. He was born in 1993, and he is rather aged for a large dog.
We love him very much. Unhappily, he is failing quickly, and I don't know how much longer we will have him with us. His breathing has become labored this evening and his glands are very swollen. I'll have John take him to see Dr. Green tomorrow morning - maybe she can do something to give us more time with Shadow.
I really do love this dog. He has been the sweetest, most faithful dog ever. He is in bed with us tonight, because he asked to come up, and John picked him up and put him on the bed.
How I wish our pets could be with us for as long as we live! Anyway, if you have a lovely dog or cat, give them lots of attention and love.
Posted by Beth at 9:42 PM | Comments (2)
July 23, 2006
Finally - a picture
John and I picked up our new dog, Kiki, on Wedensday. She is a four year old yellow lab/bloodhound. Her family could no longer keep her, and when we picked her up, there were sad tears.
Kiki is a very sweet dog. She follows me all around the house, and when I leave the house, she whines until my return. She has slept at the foot of the bed every night.
It is apparent to John and I that at some point, she was mistreated by a man, because she is scared to death of John. Her family got her as a rescue, so who knows when something evil happened to her.
Anyway, here is her picture. In this shot, you don't see the bloodhound in her, but she has a ton of extra skin, and depending on her expression at the moment, Kiki can have a very wrinkled visage.
So, here is Kiki. We love her already!!
Posted by Beth at 10:23 PM | Comments (4)
July 20, 2006
Kiki
Kiki is now a member of the Donovan clan. John and I picked her up last night from the people who will not be able to keep her. Damn, that was hard! Tears and sniffles and a reluctant dog.
Kiki is pretty afraid of John. Makes me wonder if at some point in her life some man was unkind to her. She'll come around. She is very sweet, and Shadow is in love with her (all his black lab manliness really perked up around the pretty lab/bloodhound mix).Houdini is fine with her, too.
I was a little worried about how Kiki would react to the cats, since she has never been around them. Fortunately, she seems to think that the cats are funny looking dogs, and she is not at all bothered by them.
She has been clinging to me since we brought her home. She slept on our bed, next to me, all night long. I think she is sad and misses her family, she won't eat anything so far, not even dog biscuits or a crust of pizza!
I'm glad I'll be home for the next 10 days, hopefully, Kiki will get more comfortable and happy.
I have not yet taken a picture of her. I want to try to get one of Kiki and Shadow and Houdini all together. But first, I have to work.
Posted by Beth at 8:13 AM | Comments (5)
July 18, 2006
New addition to our 4-legged family
Tomorrow, we get to pick up Kiki - our new dog. Her owners have to move and cannot take her with them, so we are going to adopt her into our family.
I can't wait! She is half yellow lab and half bloodhound. What a fun mix!
I'll have pictures tomorrow.
Posted by Beth at 10:23 AM | Comments (4)
June 7, 2006
If you love dogs
You will love this story!
Miss Doxie is going on my blogroll today - I have no idea how I have missed her blog up until now.
Thanks to Beth at MVRWC for sending the link to everyone in the Cotillion.
Posted by Beth at 5:03 PM | Comments (4)
May 5, 2006
On dogs
Please understand, I love critters. I love dogs, I love cats, I love squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, birds, horses, and all other furry or feathery critters that God put here on this earth.
Yesterday, in Independence, Missouri, 3 Pit Bull dogs, running lose, mauled and seriously injured 3 different men in 3 different incidents. One man is in critical condition.
Oddly enough, 2 of the men were mowing grass when attacked.
The police had to shoot the dogs, these were horrible violent attacks that were completely unprovoked.
The really bad local TV channel interviewed a witness. He was upset that the dogs were killed in front of his son. I would be upset that dogs tried to kill 3 men in front of his son.
Good God, people, if you own a Pit Bull or a Rottie or a Chow, you are responsible for the actions of those dogs. Keep them in your well-fenced yard or in a kennel.
I will bet you anything Independence will now ban Pit Bulls from the city. And after this horrible incident, I would not blame them. I just hope that the police track down the owners of the three dogs and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Now, then, there are wonderful, brave dogs - like this little daschund named PeeWee who chased away an armed robber to protect his owner.
Posted by Beth at 8:21 AM | Comments (6)
March 18, 2006
Goodbye, Whiskey boy.
Our sweet old mutt, Whiskey, passed away this afternoon. He had been very ill the past few days, and he was on massive doses of antibiotics to try to kick an infection probably caused by cancer. Last night, he was on the bed with us, begging for bits of steak (we were very lazy and had dinner in bed, watched tv and played with the dogs and cats.
This morning, he actually went down the stairs to go out in the backyard - we had been walking him in the front because he was very tired and unable to very far - but this morning, he had to go out with his brothers, Houdini and Shadow.
Whiskey came to John before we were married. John lived in Oklahoma at the time, and found Whiskey as a pup, starving and scared. It was apparent that he had been dumped.
Whiskey got his name because he loved to lick toes. John's toes. Get it - he was a licker (liquor) therefore, Whiskey fit him perfectly.
He was not a pretty dog, but more lovable than any purebred dog could be. We loved him, and I hope my dad (a true dog lover) met him at the Pearly Gates and let's him lick his toes.
Posted by Beth at 5:41 PM | Comments (18)
February 20, 2006
We need to send some pics to this site
Posted by Beth at 10:32 PM | Comments (3)
January 29, 2006
Hal the Cat
Hal was very interested in watching me plant stuff in my conservatory:
Posted by Beth at 7:15 AM | Comments (6)
November 9, 2005
More about Cats
I admit that I have been behind in blogbrowsing for the past 6 months or so, but darn, I can't believe I missed Gigolo Kitty! Wow, I love this blog!
I especially like Gigolo Kitty's letter to Santa. I will have to read all the archives so I don't miss anything about Gigolo Kitty.
Posted by Beth at 11:49 AM | Comments (1)
Cat Stories, Part 1
Back in 1994, John was driving from Oklahoma to Leavenworth for a conference. He stopped at a rest stop just outside of Ottowa, Kansas and a kitten followed him from the car to the restroom. The kitten apparently liked John, because he waited outside the restroom door for him. Then he showed John just how talented and smart a kitty he was by chasing, catching and eating a june bug. yech.
John checked with some of the truckers who were at the rest stop, and they told him the kitten had been there all day long, so he put the cat in his truck and went on his way.
Back then, John and I were dating. I lived in Olathe, Kansas (Olathe is Shawnee Indian for Garage Sale, by the way) and my house was on his way to Ft. Leavenworth. John knew I was a critter lover, as I had two dogs at the time.
He was pretty smart about it - John called me from a pay phone and did not ask me if I wanted the kitten, but explained the situation and said he was going to take the kitten to the Ft. Leavenworth veterinarian and let the vet find a home for him. I am a sucker for critters, and I told him that I'd take the poor kitty. What he didn't tell me was that he had already stopped at the grocery store and had purchased kitty litter, a litter box and kitty food already, or that he was just a couple miles from my house.
So John brought the kitten over, named him RestStop and I had a new critter.
RestStop was petrified of my Golden Retriever and my Black Labrador Retriever puppy and spent his first two weeks wih me in the rafters of the basement.
Since then, he has learned to get along just fine with dogs. In fact, he has even come to Houdini's rescue when Whiskey was going after him.
And he does have nice hair, Jim!
Posted by Beth at 7:12 AM | Comments (2)
November 8, 2005
Cat stuff
With 8 cats, kitty litter changing is extremely important. I try to scoop all 6 litter boxes each day, and once a week, I change the litter completely.
I swear, every single cat wants to be the first to christen the new litter each week. Hal usually wins out. In fact, he manages to pee a little bit in every single litter box as I clean them.
I think he is trying to be the alpha cat. He doesn't seem to realize that Little Girl is the alpha cat and Empress of Dark.
Oh, and RestStop came to Houdini's rescue the other day. (Houdini is the troublemaking dog). Whiskey was having a bit of an altercation with Houdini, and RestStop ran to the fight and started hissing and biting Whiskey. (who is about twice Houdini's size).
This was a first - and RestStop is something of a slug most of the time - he normally just sleeps, eats and gets plumper.
Need to get to work!
Posted by Beth at 7:51 AM | Comments (10)
November 7, 2005
We cats are bad, bad, bad
But it was all really mom's fault. She didna give us our din din at 5:00 pm sharp.
We warned her plenty. We warned her from noon and so on.
Mom did not leave her computer until 5:15! And we were not happy kitties. Especially when she went out the door and got in that funny looking thing that takes us to get shots and she went away.
We was plenty mad.
So we knocked over her very favorite hand thrown pottery casserole. It broke into a whole lot of pieces. Pieces of pottery everywhere.
Annie tried to cover them up, but her invisible dirt didn't work this time.
Oh, we cats are gonna be in trouble!
Posted by at 6:44 PM | Comments (2)
October 16, 2005
Pet Stories
Blogeois has a series of lovely posts about her pets' personalities. I can't find a way to link to the individual posts, so just go over there and scroll down a bit.
I love stories about pets and critters. We have some of the same personalities in our household that Blogeois has - our Alpha kitty is female - Little Girl - just as Blogeois' the Queen is the alpha. Little Girl is known as the Empress, though, so I think she outranks the Queen. She has been in the Donovan household longer than I have - I think she must be about 14 or 15 or so - but she is in great shape and is very bossy. She doesn't hesitate to slap Houdini the trouble-making terrier around, even though he will growl at her.
If the Empress (of the dark) wants to get on the bed - everyone else has to get off until she has settled herself in a suitable position.
She is loud and purry and cuddly, too. Like many of our kitties, Little Girl headbutts us when she wants attention - only she makes grumpy noises too - until we pick her up or cuddle with her.
I miss all the critters when I'm traveling. Our house is really rather full of kitties and dogs.
When I woke up yesterday morning, all the cats and dogs were in the bedroom - looking at me - at least 5 or 6 of the cats were on the bed. It looked like a scene out of Dr. Doolittle. John had already fed them a couple of hours earlier, but the critters decided that Saturday or not, it was high time for the humans to get the heck out of their bed.
Posted by Beth at 7:42 AM | Comments (4)
August 28, 2005
Ask the Cats
If you go over to TBIFOC, you can see what one of our kitties says when speaking in Haiku.
Guess which one is ours.
Posted by Beth at 1:23 PM
August 26, 2005
equal time for dogs
When John and I were in Balboa Park in San Diego last Sunday, we met this puppy - his name is Otto, and apparently he has somethng to do with a big weiner dog festival on Halloween - where something like 800 weiner dogs show up in costume at Balboa Park.
Wish I could go there!
Posted by Beth at 5:05 PM | Comments (1)
August 25, 2005
San Diego Zoo
Ain't he cute?
Posted by Beth at 9:07 AM | Comments (3)
August 21, 2005
San Diego
Yesterday, the lovely and talented Joanie, DaGoddess, took us to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
It was beautiful. The critters are fantastic, from the merecats to the lioness.
I found out just how out of shape I am. I don't do nearly enough walking at home - I will have to start. Now that I have my new camera, I can at least walk up to the nature preserve behind the high school and practice my budding photography skills.
We brought our cameras, of course, and Joanie gave me a few photography hints, but it will be a long time before any picture I take approaches Joanie's talents. She has a great eye for composition - I don't - I tend to depend on photoshop to frame my pictures.
Joanie is such fun to be around. We just love her, and will definitely make sure she comes to visit us in Leavenworth - maybe in autumn when the trees at Ft. Leavenworth are at their best color.
It's very foggy this morning in San Diego. Might be cool to go down to the harbor and get some shots of the tall ships through the fog, if this keeps up.
But that would mean I have to get out of our nice comfy bed here in the executive suite in our hotel (Hilton Honors is very very nice to us). John brought me coffee in bed - what a life!
I have to upload pictures to exposure manager. I'll see if any are worth publishing here!
Posted by Beth at 10:40 AM | Comments (5)
August 15, 2005
Cat Blogging
Go to This Blog is Full Of Crap and see how cats feel about gas prices.
Posted by Beth at 12:42 PM | Comments (1)
August 13, 2005
First picture with new toy
This is Houdini -
This picture was taken with a flash at close range - I was amazed that there was absolutely no red eye!
Posted by Beth at 8:29 AM | Comments (3)
August 2, 2005
Pet Ramp
Here is a not very good picture of the pet ramp I built on Sunday:
I used MDF board that was prepainted for the ramp, base and the wedge piece that allows you to change heights.
Details in the extended entry.
My descriptions are probably not the right way to refer to measurements of building materials, sorry!
Materials:
2 - 16 inch wide, 8 ft. long prepainted MDF Shelves
1 - 4 inch wide, 8 ft. long prepainted boards
2 - 2 inch wide, 8 ft long prepainted boards.
1/2 roll of 3M Tread Tape
2 hinges (if I was going to do this again, I'd use 4)
Screws
This is what I did:
cut all boards but the 1x2s in half.
cut one of the now 4 ft 16 inch boards in half again.
Lay 2 4ft 16inch boards end to end and the 24 inch board end to end with those - I screwed on hinges between the boards, so you can fold the boards. If I was to do this again, I would use 2 hinges at each connection instead of one - mostly for a little more stability - this thing is very heavy.
I screwed the 4 inch wide board alongside the board which will be the ramp (this would be the long board at the end of the hinged together boards)- to make a ledge to give the critters a little bit of assurance that they won't fall off.
Then John cut lots of 16 inch wide lengths out of the 1x2 board for me - I used them under the ramp board to make spacers where I can move the wedge board to raise and lower the ramp. On the top of the ramp, I alternated a screwed-in 2 inch wide (16 inches long) board with a piece of the stick on tread.
That's it.
If I ever make another one, I'll make the base shorter than the ramp by about 6 inches.
Posted by Beth at 6:22 AM | Comments (7)
July 31, 2005
my creative side appeared today
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have graduated from a waterbed to a grown up bed. I think I told you that the bed is very high. Well, some of our critters are upset because they can no longer make the jump up to our bed, especially our rather aged Black Lab and a couple of the elderly/overweight cats.
John and I thought about getting a pet ramp
Well, we will do about anything for our critters, but I'm trying to keep a budget, so I decided against spending money on that.
Instead, I designed my own pet ramp and built it!
I'll post a picture tomorrow - but it cost a whole lot less to make a sturdier ramp than they were selling anywhere else.
So, John and I went to Home Depot, bought a couple of 16" X 96" MDF pre-painted shelves, a couple of hinges and some 2"x2" boards and some stuff 3M makes as safety tread for outdoor use.
So anyway, I spent the afternoon making my creation, and I'm very happy to say that not only does it work, but it doesn't look too bad at all!
And I guess I spent about $35 for the wood parts and about 15 for the safety tread stuff, and it is much sturdier than what they are selling anywhere else.
Of course, now my knees ache from kneeling on the floor whilst drilling and screwing (the screws, dammit - get your minds outta the gutter!!!) - and the hinges worked perfectly and to make things even better, if I want, I can fold the whole dang thing up and slide it under the bed!
What did you all do this weekend?
Posted by Beth at 8:06 PM | Comments (7)
July 25, 2005
Poor John
I leave town for a week of seminars and meetings and poor John has to deal with Petey the Wonder Horse, version 2, who stepped on a nail. John pulled the nail from Petey's frog and has to bandage and cushion his foot and soak his foot several times a day.
If I was home, I could have taken a few days off to take care of our little Paint Horse. But I'm not, and the responsibility falls to my incredibly wonderful husband.
Thanks, handsome, for taking care of Petey!
Posted by Beth at 5:37 AM | Comments (5)
July 13, 2005
And now, a Moment of Kitty Zen
Sometimes, it is important to stop and smell the roses...
and if they smell good enough, it's a good idea to eat them!
Posted by Beth at 7:27 AM | Comments (7)
July 12, 2005
Any Suggestions?
Barnacle, my tortoise shell Cat, has just ruined my power supply for my laptop. For the 3rd time.
This is getting expensive.
Barny doesn't bother any other electric cord. Only my laptop. I wonder if it because I'm paying attention to the computer instead of to her?
Does anyone know how to stop this unacceptable behaviour in kitties?
Posted by Beth at 9:21 PM | Comments (8)
May 15, 2005
Gandalf The Grey
Gandalf is our Persian kitty. He is a very attractive cat, except for his always somewhat grumpy looking expression.
Gandalf has lots of hair.
Lots. of. hair.
It is long, very fine, fluffy, easily tangled hair.
Here is Gandalf before grooming:
He looks pissed just seeing me with a seam ripper, scissors and brush in hand.
It matts up very quickly and he needs constant grooming. I have found that a seam ripper is the best and most painless way to get the matts out, but it is a tedious chore, and Gandalf can only take so much of my grooming before he turns and walks away, with a small hiss and grumpy growl.
He really loves his brush, though. It's one of those slicker brushes with lots of little wire teeth. The only problem with that is he really likes me to brush under his chin, so as I try to brush his back or rump or tail, he is constantly turning around, trying to get the brush under his chin.
I am going to be working on grooming Gandalf today - I'll post a picture of spiffed up Gandalf later on.
Posted by Beth at 10:01 AM | Comments (8)
March 30, 2005
Morning note to John
Good morning, sweetheart. Hope you slept well! It's sunny outside today - I think I might walk to the data center this morning, it's so pretty!
Pet all the puppies and kitties for me, and Willie and Petey, too.
Miss you! Love you! Lust you!
Beth
Posted by Beth at 5:49 AM | Comments (1)
February 28, 2005
Really cool dog trick
If you have a few minutes, go look at Tyson - the skateboarding Old English Bulldog - what a hoot! This puppy actually skateboards - you have to see it.
Update: I have changed the link (per Teresa - and she is sooo right!) to take you to the page so you can pick your download preferences.
Posted by Beth at 6:23 AM | Comments (3)
February 27, 2005
Chipmunk in the downspout
You all know how badly Houdini, the short dog, behaves. Well, now Whiskey, the middle dog (named whiskey because he's a licker), is also becoming a dog that makes us crazy.
Spring is slowly making its way into Leavenworth. The chipmunks have awakened from their winter semi-hibernation and are busy running around the front yard. Some of them climb up the Japanese Maple in the front of the house and go over the roof and down a tree in the backyard to find goodies there.
Apparently, when I let the boys out yesterday, Houdini and Whiskey cornered a chipmunk and he jumped into the downspout on the corner of the house. The two dogs went nuts. They somehow managed to pinch the downspout closed, so the poor chippie (that's what we call them) was stuck. I could not get the dogs to leave it alone, so I called for backup from John - alpha human.
John only had to say "Whiskey, Houdini", in a rather gruff voice - well, more like a furious, "you better get in the house right now!" voice, and he got them away, pried open the downspout and the chipmunk took off for better territory, at least I hope so!
This morning, I put the dogs out, and Whiskey races to the downspout and starts pulling it off of the house - now it is broken about halfway up and we will have to replace it. Whiskey seems convinced there is a critter in there, but I could not see or hear one - I think it is just wishful thinking on Whiskey's part. He seems to think that the downspout is a chipmunk dispenser! Let's hope he doesn't start pulling on the other downspouts, hoping for chipmunk munchies.
I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Houdini (being partly rat terrier) is the one responsible for Whiskey thinking that he can find chipmunks in the downspout. He is a bad influence on the bigger dogs.
Posted by Beth at 7:39 AM | Comments (3)
February 11, 2005
Kitty thief!
Last night we had rib eye steaks and baked potatoes for dinner. With Andy away at college, we have picked up the habit of eating while watching CSI (I'm completely hooked on that show) in the living room.
I looked down and my steak was gone. I asked John if he had already taken it to give to the dogs, and he had not. I thought I had lost my mind, because I knew I had not eaten most of the steak, and it was gone.
So I got up off the couch and carried my dishes to the kitchen, and on my way, I saw the culprit - Annie, our tiny little kitty, had managed to sneak away with a steak almost as big as she was.
We must have been really into CSI because neither of us noticed Annie jumping on the end table, grabbing the steak, and running off with it!
Posted by Beth at 6:04 AM | Comments (9)
January 19, 2005
Bad Hal!
Hal has learned a new, evil trick.
He can turn on the water in the sinks.
And he likes it.
Especially the hot water.
But when he's bored with the water... does he turn it off?
No, of course not. He's a cat. He has staff to do that. And if the staff don't notice it, well, that's the staff's problem, now isn't it?
And no, it's not a one-time thing. It was yesterday morning after I left. Last night after I went to sleep. This morning again after I left.
Bad Hal. Bad, evil Hal.
He's gonna get his ass kicked out the Pod Bay if he doesn't close those damn valves!
Posted by John at 5:37 PM | Comments (11)
December 22, 2004
Remember, be careful out there!
As we enter the Christmas/New Year season, I think it is important for everyone to take a step back and remember that we can all have fun without getting dangerous. I've attached a rather graphic picture of an overdose victim, not for it's shock value, but in the hope that everyone remains aware of his or her limits. When you look below at this picture, remember, this did not have to happen.
Don't let this be you this holiday. Thank you...
Posted by Beth at 11:42 AM | Comments (6)
December 19, 2004
Critters at Christmas time
In case you have not seen Barney's exploits at the White House, click here.
How many other countries have leaders with a sense of humor enough to do this every year?
Posted by Beth at 6:39 PM | Comments (1)
December 15, 2004
Sigh
Just when we get everything all fixed after Hal the kitty's escapade, Houdini decides to be a troublemaker again.
It was very cold yesterday, so we kept the dogs inside while we were at work. You might remember that the dogs are not allowed in the kitchen, and we have a cat door to allow the cats in and out. Well, Houdini bullied his little fat self through the cat door - pulling it out of its hinges. Then he proceeded to find and eat a box of PopTarts - Blueberry.
He also ate the cat food.
And 'crunchy tootsie rolls' from the litter boxes.
This is one bloated puppy. During the night, he had several poopies on his puppy pads (Houdini has a small bladder, and rather than have to get up and put him out several times at night, he uses puppy pads - kinda like diapers that you put on the floor). He did not eat his breakfast for the first time in memory, and he is sitting behind me in my chair, tummy rumbling like crazy.
It's always something in the Donovan House of Critters!
Posted by Beth at 6:18 AM | Comments (12)
December 13, 2004
Update on Stinky Clothes
I went to Horse Country (our local critter supply place) and bought some Nature's Miracle. I soaked a towel with it (straight, not diluted) and ran the towel through the dryer - did this twice. Then, after I washed a load, I'd soak a dishcloth with it and run it through the dryer with the clothes (did that 3 times). Now it appears that I can dry clothes without them smelling like a yucky litterbox.
I also made a kinda sock sachet out of vanilla to put in our clothing drawers, in case I missed anything.
To get the clothes clean, I added the Febreeze laundry stuff (it is expensive, but works very well) - twice as much as called for. I also soaked them all in vinegar and water first.
Most of my weekend was consumed by cleaning up after Hal. He seems to know this, and has been making nice nice with me and John all weekend and this morning.
From now on, I'm keeping Hal away from any and all open appliances!!
Posted by Beth at 6:35 AM | Comments (3)
December 12, 2004
Squirrels
Outside my window, I have several bird feeders and a nice Blue Spruce and my garden pond and bushes. The birds drop a lot of sunflower seeds on the ground, and our front yard squirrels and chipmunks hang out down there waiting for tasty tidbits.
There is a young grey squirrel there now, munching away. He is quite unusual because the last third of his tail is pure white. Almost looks like he could have dipped it in paint. He must be a mutant squirrel. I wonder if future generations of our front yard squirrels will have white on their tails like that?
When I was growing up, we had a family of albino squirrels who lived in our back yard. They were unusual enough that someone from Washington University came out to photograph them for the biology department. We had white squirrels for many years, and for all I know, their descendants might still live in the trees behind that house in Creve Coeur.
A new commenter, Edrie, has found a squirrel name generator on Cheeky Squirrel's Blog.
I am now known by the squirrels as Furry Furrycheeks. John is Twitchy Von Bushy.
Tee hee.
Posted by Beth at 8:47 AM | Comments (4)
December 11, 2004
Oh, I need help!
Last weekend, Hal jumped in the dryer after I emptied it and peed in it. I immediately cleaned it all out and didn't worry too much about it - I got back in town yesterday, and put a load of wash in the dryer. Oh. My. God.
All my clothes stink. I don't know how to get the cat pee smell out of my dryer! I can get it out of our clothes in the wash, but we don't exactly live in an environment where I can hang clothes outside to dry - it is cold out there!
Any ideas? I'm desperate, and I would rather not have to purchase a new dryer right before Christmas!!!
Posted by Beth at 12:03 PM | Comments (12)
November 25, 2004
Important Announcement
After careful consideration and a few drinks and the input of Andy and August and John, we have decided to name the new kitty - Hal.
Homebru is the winner. Here is the reason he suggested that we name Hal - Hal.
You may recall that Hal has a bullseye pattern on his side.
Posted by Beth at 11:56 AM | Comments (4)
November 21, 2004
Cat Blogging
Posted by Beth at 7:10 PM
November 20, 2004
Dog Stories
Pam has a wonderful story of a short meeting she had with Standard French Poodle. I bet most of us have memorable dog stories. Thought I'd share one of mine.
When I was 5 years old, all I wanted for Christmas was a puppy. I was thrilled when Blitzen, a 6 month old dachshund, was under the tree in his little dog bed. I know, it's supposedly not cool to give children puppies for Christmas, but I think that responsible parents can present their children with a dog on a holiday without any horror stories occurring.
Blitzen came from a lovely breeder - she showed dachshunds all over the country and insisted on personally approving the families interested in one of her dogs. This was not a puppy mill. Mom and Dad had taken my sister and I out to Brentwald Kennels in the fall. Mrs. Patrick, the owner, had a special kennel area just for puppies in training for show, or in the case of Blitzen (not a good show dog - born with a kink in his tail), puppies that were available for adoption. There were 3 or 4 puppies in each run, and she put my sister and I in a run to observe how we treated the puppies. We must have passed, since she allowed us to have Blitzen, but I didn't know about it until Christmas.
Unfortunately, my mom and dad asked a neighbor to take care of Blitzen for a few days before Christmas. This was unfortunate, because they had also recently bought a puppy, who had distemper. A couple of days after Christmas, Blitzen came down with distemper (he was not done with all his puppy shots). My mom, who was *not* an animal lover, brought him through the illness and he survived to live to 16.
Blitzen considered himself a great hunter. Our house backed up to a large wooded area and a creek (the backside of an all boys high school, Chaminade).
There were critters back in those woods. Blitzen found and delivered to us at least 10 different box turtles during his life (all alive and scared to death) and one huge snapping turtle. (I have no idea how Blitzen got him to the back patio, but he did).
Blitzen also collected beer cans. There were a few wild teenage parties back in those woods, and he would search out any beer cans and carry them proudly up to my dad. Daddy didn't mind if they were Falstaff Beer cans (that is where he worked), but if it was any other brand, Blitzen didn't get to keep them.
One year, at Easter, some friends of my parents (I'm sure mom and dad thought them very evil), brought my sister and I a pair of ducklings. Yankee and Doodle. They imprinted on Blitzen, and followed him everywhere. Amazingly, Blitzen let them live. He was a good hearted dog, and never killed any critter that I'm aware of.
In the summertime, my dad would come home from work, he and mom would have a cocktail (they called it toddy time) and then the whole family would go for a walk around the neighborhood. Mom, Dad, my sister, me, Blitzen and Yankee and Doodle. More then a few neighborhood men put their after work cocktails down the first time they saw the Healy ducks following the Healy dog and family.
Blitzen was a great dog. Dachshunds are great dogs, at least the full size ones! I'm not much of a fan of miniaturized sized dogs.
I'd love to read your dog stories, too.
Posted by Beth at 11:43 AM | Comments (6)
November 19, 2004
And we still can't decide
What to name the new cat. I try out different names on him, and nothing seems to fit him yet. Ideas. I have no ideas!
Posted by Beth at 7:50 AM | Comments (16)
November 17, 2004
Keep those Kitty Names Coming
Nothing quite fits the kitty yet. Target would be cute, except that he was a target (that bb the vet dug out) and that makes the name seem somehow - wrong.
The new cat slept on our headboard last night (we have a bookcase headboard, he was not balanced on one inch of wood), and the other cats are being a little nicer. Except for RestStop. He growls every time he sees or hears or smells the new cat. Even at 3:00 am. Yes, I'm tired and very grumpy!
So, more names, please - I have no imagination left - and to Pete with 12 cats and 4 dogs and 1 bird - gee, you are crazier than we are!
Posted by Beth at 6:07 AM | Comments (19)
November 16, 2004
Name That Cat Contest
A few weeks ago, a lovely young cat was dumped at the Ft. Leavenworth Stable. We were actually pleased, because he is a true mouser and really reduced the number of very brazen mice that our official Army Mascot cats were just ignoring (one of the ladies at the barn insists on feeding them cat food, and lots of it, so the cats have no incentive to kill mice - which is why we are allowed to have official Army Mascot cats in the first place!).
Well, one of the other barn ladies, Kathy, took this new cat to the vet to be neutered and to get his shots and be checked for feline leukemia. He also had surgery on what she thought might be a tumor on his chest. When Kathy picked him up at the vet, they told her that the tumor was a beebee - this cat had been shot :(
She brought him back to the barn, and happened to notice that he was declawed in front - some total asshole had dumped into the wild a declawed housecat. We can't have a declawed kitty at the stable - there are foxes and possums and other critters he may have to defend against, not to mention Snowflake, Patches and Peanut Butter (the other stable cats).
So he needed a home. I called John, John came to the barn with a cat carrier, but another woman said, "No, I want the cat, I'm taking the cat home with me". Since we already have 7 kitties, John and I thought, good, we don't have to worry about this guy.
However, as soon as John got home from work yesterday, the lady who had to have the cat was on the phone. He had not worked out at her house (as if 24 hours is a long enough time for a kitty to acclimate). So John met her at the barn and brought home another addition to the Donovan family. He is a very nice cat, and is being quite polite to the other kitties in the family (who are hissing at him, but nothing more).
He is an orange tabby with a bullseye pattern on his side. He walks around the house chirping at everything. So far, I can't think of a name. John usually names our critters, but he has yet to come with something for this guy.
I need your help in naming our new cat. Our other cats are named Little Girl, RestStop, Merriwether, Barnacle, Orphan Annie, Cleo and Gandalf the Grey. Our dogs are named Shadow, Whiskey and Houdini. The horses are Willie and Petey. So, those names are taken.
The winner will get great fame for naming a nameless critter. You will be known as the Great Namer of Dumped Cats.
Here is his picture:
And another view:
Please make suggestions in the comments.
Posted by Beth at 6:25 AM | Comments (43)
November 6, 2004
Update on Kitty Cats
I'm happy to report that 5 of the cats have figured out how to use the cat door.
Only Cleo and Little Girl remain stubborn.
Took dogs to the vet to be kenneled until Friday - John is still in Georgia, and I'm doing a last minute trip to Detroit on Monday. Work, you know how those things go.
With a bit of luck, I'll get a chance to see Rosemary sometime next week. She is really a sweetie!
Gotta run - time to ride the horses - it's a gorgeous day - can't believe it is November!
Posted by Beth at 12:18 PM
November 5, 2004
Kitty Cats and Puppy Dogs
Most of you know that we have managed to collect an assortment of lost dogs and stray cats - apparently our house has a sign visible only to furry creatures that says "all unloved critters welcome here".
Currently, I have a bit of an issue with our little dog, Houdini (yes, I know you are all surprised at this revelation). He has figured out that he can squeeze his little body through the cat door and run free throughout the house when I'm asleep, taking a bath or at work.
This is not a good thing.
Houdini is about 18 months old or so, and still chews things, and sometimes can't hold his bladder for as long as the bigger, older dogs. We want him to stay in that part of the house where there is tile covered with puppy training pads in case he can't make it until I wake up, get out of the bathtub or get home from work. But apparently, he has been squeezing his chubby little tummy thru the cat door.
So this morning, when I realized he was in the living room whilst I was in the bathtub, I decided to put the actual door on the cat door - it has extremely strong magnets on it, and only a kitty with a very strong magnet on his collar can open it.
Chasing down 7 cats to put collars on them was an interesting experience. RestStop is still not talking to me, he is pissed. But that is nothing compared to trying to teach all the cats how to go through the cat door now that it is closed.
I gently pushed Gandalf and RestStop and Cleo through the door, but they still don't get it and are all in the kitchen sitting outside the door waiting for me to open it so they can hang out with me here in the computer room. Annie, Little Girl and Meriwether have not come near me since I wrestled the collars on them, but they did watch the others, and show no interest whatsoever in getting to the other side of the door.
Only one of the kitties has figured out that she just has to butt her head on the door and it opens, and that is Barnacle, my constant companion kitty. Here is a picture of Barney - isn't she purty?
Anyway, they will have to learn, and if one kitty can manage to figure it out, I have to think the others will too.
Posted by Beth at 8:40 PM | Comments (6)
October 28, 2004
Dog Farts
Around 2:00 am this morning, I was awakened by Shadow (our really big dog) crawling onto the waterbed. Soon, Houdini (our really little dog) and Little Girl (the queen of all the Donovan cats) jumped into bed with him.
Hmmm. There must be a thunderstorm on the way. Yup. Pretty soon, huge crashes of thunder shook the house and Shadow (our really big dog) shivered with fear and crept closer to me.
Houdini also snuggled as close to me as he could, and I soon realized that with every flash of lightening, Houdini farted.
His farts really smelled awful.
I had to get out of bed and spray lysol through the bedroom because of these stinky dog farts.
Unfortunately, the storm lasted about an hour - lightning flash - little pffft of fart from Houdini's hind end.
Finally the lightning and Houdini quit flashing and pfffting and I went back to sleep.
And I thank God that Shadow (our really, really big dog) does not fart with fear.
Posted by Beth at 7:10 AM | Comments (8)
October 24, 2004
Time out for a moment of Kitty Zen
Merriwether Donovan praying for a huge Bush victory on November 2nd so Mommy won't cry.
Posted by Beth at 6:32 PM | Comments (6)
October 19, 2004
Being awakened by a squeaky toy
is not normal in our house. So, at 5:30 this morning, when Houdini started playing with his squeaky toy, I knew something was up.
Actually something was open - the kitchen door - and the three dogs managed to dump the trashcan and eat everything even partially edible that was in it.
Then they spread selected trash items all over the kitchen floor, which is unfortunately carpeted (our next big project is to replace the flooring).
Then they went down to the basement and pottied on the floor.
I think at least two of the cats tried to warn me during the night that the dogs were up to no good, but I was trying to sleep, and ignored them.
So if your dog ever wakes you up with a happy squeaky toy sound instead of whining, be afraid.
Many thanks to John for cleaning up after the mutts.
Posted by Beth at 6:42 AM | Comments (5)
October 11, 2004
Equal Time for Puppies
The Carnival of the Dogs is up, too!
Posted by Beth at 6:28 AM | Comments (1)
Kitty Carnival
Don't forget to visit this week's Carnival of the Cats!
Posted by Beth at 6:26 AM
August 19, 2004
Exotic Ocean Creature
Sandi sent me this picture of a Sea Horse. I think you will find it just fascinating.
It is in the extended entry.
Posted by Beth at 8:14 AM | Comments (2)
August 6, 2004
Today was spend time with my horses day.
I really should do this more often. Both of my guys needs a lot more attention from me than they have been getting for something like the past year. Since the company I work for gave everyone today off, I scheduled my vet to come and give Willie and Petey their West Nile Virus booster shots (damn, the veterinarian pharmaceutical companies are making a ton of money from West Nile - very expensive!)
I decided to just spend the whole day with the boys (by boys, I mean my horses) and catch up with them, so to speak.
I played games with Petey, my troublesome but very pretty APHA. Some people tell me he looks like a Hidalgo wannabe. Petey can run as fast as Hidalgo - I just can't stay on him when he does it!
So basically, I played with Petey for about 4 hours total, and with Willie (my beloved, dependable horse) for an hour or so. Then Jeannie, our Veterinarian came and gave them their booster shots.
Willie is always very good about getting shots. But as soon as Petey saw Jeannie, he turned his butt toward her. (he does not like shots, and he remembers that Jeanie gives them to him) I had to use bribes to get him to turn around so I could put his halter on.
It was a great day. I'm physically tired - normally, I am just mentally tired - and it feels good.
Right now, I'm letting John do all the important blogging. I'm just fixing dinner and margaritas for us.
Posted by Beth at 5:46 PM | Comments (2)
June 10, 2004
If you share your life with one cat or many ...
they always make sure that part of them is with you. Like fur. I pulled a pair of black pants out of the bottom of my suitcase this morning and I found that Gandolf the Grey made sure that a good part of his Persian self would accompany me on my trip.
Sigh.
Posted by Beth at 6:35 AM | Comments (3)
May 22, 2004
Weiner Dogs
A dachshund is a mlah: Good Dog.
I love dachshunds - had them growing up - even showed and bred my long hair dachshund.
MLAH is a new blog for me. I've added MLAH to my blogroll, except for his inability to use upper case letters, I like him.
Posted by Beth at 7:54 PM | Comments (5)
May 17, 2004
Damn
Houdini has escaped yet again - mind you folks, we have a very large backyard with 6 foot privacy fencing all around. This dog was on a 60 foot chain within the perimeter of the backyard and he still ran off.
At this point, I have to wonder - maybe he just doesn't like us?
He somehow pulled himself off the chain - left his license tag on the ground but apparently managed to keep his collar on.
Our other two dogs have never done this kind of thing.
Now, I have to go look for the little mutt and pray he isn't dead.
He's probably in jail again.
sigh
Update:
John found him. The little shit is here with me - we don't know if he was close by the whole time or not, but needless to say, even in a fenced yard with a chain, he ain't going out without adult supervision until we can find a way to keep him here at home!
Posted by Beth at 8:14 PM | Comments (3)
May 9, 2004
Our new camera is very nice!
The camera is great, but I found that I have to take about 100 pictures to get one good one. That is the great thing about digital cameras.
The detail and focus on this is wonderful. It's so much faster actually taking pictures than our old Olympus Camedia (about 3 years old). I'm very happy with it. Here is my one good picture out of 100:
Update: I forgot to mention that the model is Meriwether Donovan. Named after Meriwether Lewis, Clark's friend. Meriwether is quite the explorer.
Posted by Beth at 7:11 PM | Comments (4)
May 7, 2004
Tummy Rubs
Who's this Joanie person? Can she come visit? Can we give her a key? I like tummy rubs! Lots and lots and lots of them.
I don't like RestStop. He claims to be a Kliban model. I don't believe him. And I can't stand that bitch Cleo. Don't let that cute face fool you!
And the new puppy? Puh-leeze! I kinda miss Mickey, she was nice, if a little aloof. But this new dog is a real pain in the patootie!
I keep urging him to go out and explore - but he never does it in the street like I tell him to and they keep finding him, dammit!
And as for you, you Great White Hoser - any drumstick remarks and yer butt is outta here! Fssst!
Posted by at 7:14 AM | Comments (5)
May 6, 2004
Foolish little mousie.
James.
Poor, pathetic, deluded creature.
You consider yourself to be Old and Evil.
Ha. I was old before your drooling ancestors dropped from the trees.
I was evil before the world was born.
I own you.
Now rub my tummy.
Posted by Little Girl at 7:37 PM | Comments (7)
The Empress of Dark Speaks.
Actually, I post. I will now have my spokescat Little Orpan Annie convey the message.
Mom! Come home this instant!
That is all. You may return to your pointless lives (unless you are staff, of course, then your lives have meaning. To Serve and Adore)
Posted by Little Girl at 7:28 AM | Comments (8)
April 17, 2004
Carnival of the Cats Entry
Orphan Annie being caught in the act is my entry for Amish Tech Support's Carnival of the Cats.
Annie, though the smallest of our cats, can eat an entire bouquet of flowers all by herself. She really loves to eat green things. We have to be very careful when we have salad for dinner, because she will steal lettuce from the salad bowl if I don't keep the bowl covered.
You can see her very short stumpy tail - when we got her, the majority of her tail had been bitten off, but she still has about 4 inches of tail left. Normally she holds it straight up and it looks like a bottle brush.
Posted by Beth at 6:21 PM | Comments (5)
April 13, 2004
Houdini is back home
John said that the Animal Control people in the next town picked him up - about 7 miles from home. Could be he was picked up by someone and he ran away, not very likely he would have gotten that far, but he's home, thankfully!
Posted by Beth at 1:15 PM | Comments (4)
Keep your eyes out for Houdini
John called me at the hotel this morning - seems our little rat dog, Houdini, is missing. As his name reflects, he is an expert at escaping from anything - including our back yard with a 6 foot privacy fence.
Anyway, I've said my prayers to St. Anthony (who finds lost things) and St. Francis (patron saint of critters) - times like these, it gives me comfort to have been brought up so darn Catholic!
Anyway, this is what Houdini looks like - if you see him, let John know. I'm not much use being here in Virginia.
PS - for you Catholic Bashers - this is not the time to bug me, trust me.
Posted by Beth at 7:30 AM | Comments (4)
April 7, 2004
Another Moment of Kitty Zen
This is Cleo.
Posted by Beth at 6:39 PM | Comments (7)
April 6, 2004
Moment of Kitty Zen
This is Barnacle. She was dumped at the barn where Willie and Petey live and she is very clingy. Thus her name. John is good at naming critters. I miss Barnacle a lot when I'm traveling. I am her person, she follows me day and night when I'm home. Barny talks a lot, too. If she is mad, she lets me know!
Posted by Beth at 7:48 PM | Comments (3)
April 5, 2004
Kitty Moment of Zen
This is RestStop. He is as fat as he appears to be.
Posted by Beth at 6:49 PM | Comments (3)
April 4, 2004
Kitty moment of Zen
Stealing Michele's idea of Tonight's Moment of Zen, I am instituting a daily (I hope) Kitty moment of Zen.
Thanks for the idea, Michele!
Posted by Beth at 11:55 AM
March 11, 2004
Houdini is a real troublemaker
Houdini, the newest addition to our herd, managed to get up on the kitchen counter and steal a bottle of doggie vitamins. He couldn't open the top of the bottle, so he ate through the bottom of it and consumed all the vitamins, every single one, and a good chunk of the plastic bottle they were in.
We discovered that he had done this around midnight, when he jumped into our bed with the half eaten vitamin bottle. So John got up and checked on the toxicity of the particular stuff, and it appeared that he would live through it.
Naturally, he threw up right next to my side of the bed around 4:00 am, and had some icky poopoos, too. Yuch. Warning - this next sentence is really gross: I didn't have to clean up his vomit, as his brother, Whiskey the dog, did so before I could get out of bed. At that point, I put all three dogs out in the backyard, because I figured Whiskey will get sick next, and I was tired.
Honestly, Houdini is worse than any little kid.
So, he survives another day, and I clean up after him. It looks like we will have to put everything in cabinets and then lock them, since he manages to get into everything possible!
Posted by Beth at 8:56 AM | Comments (5)
December 27, 2003
Petey, the wonder horse
Is the pretty little horse looking at you up there. He is a bit of a stinker, having bucked me off more times than I can count on two hands. Part of the problem is that he has this awful thing called Equine Uveitis. He is blind in his left eye. And it is downright tiring riding him, because he needs a ton of attention and attending to - and I am not the good horse mommy I should be, because I will ride Willy before I ride Petey because Willy is just a lot of fun to ride, while Petey is a lot of work.
Don't get me wrong, Petey is a wonderful horse, he will follow me anywhere in the pasture or paddock, and he has yet to trip over a log in the woods or run into a sapling. He is best if I can get someone else to ride Willy, because they are stable mates, and Petey is much more secure around Willy.
I think that Pam made an excellent choice among all our critters for my banner. I'll think of Petey every time I see it, and hopefully, saddle him up more often.
Posted by Beth at 6:29 AM | Comments (2)
December 14, 2003
This is so cute
Got this from Dog Snot Diaries
Barney Bush
Even the President takes part in the video. I love it!
Posted by Beth at 8:22 AM
December 13, 2003
Such a little bit of cheer, ruined by rules
Acidman links to the Sun-Sentinel's story: Orders to kill adopted puppy leave Florida soldiers mourning.
I know that rules are rules, but what would it have hurt for those in command to ignore the rule disallowing a puppy? And to order the puppy killed right before Christmas is just very stupid, venal, dumb, cruel and otherwise uncalled for.
Posted by Beth at 10:33 AM
December 4, 2003
thanks, all
for your kind words about Mickey. A lot of people don't understand how much some of us love our critters.
We are such suckers for animals. Any stray within miles seems to find his/her way to our front door. Sometimes I think John leaves trails of treats for them to find their way to our house!
Anyway, it means a lot that you care so much, thank you.
Posted by Beth at 6:59 PM | Comments (3)
December 3, 2003
Mickey McBear
We lost our Mickey girl last night. I wish I had been home. She was a
wonderful girl, the most faithful dog possible.
She also refused to sit still for a picture, thus the bad quality!
I miss her terribly, but I'm glad that John was there for her.
Posted by Beth at 10:07 AM | Comments (9)
November 5, 2003
coming home is good and very sad ...
Before I left for the UK, I took our 5 dogs to our veterinarian to be kennelled. Of the 5 dogs, two were over age 12 1/2. Mickey, our Golden Retriever, age 13 1/2 has redeveloped a tumor she had removed last summer, and Little Guy, 12 year old Chow, was having serious problems with moving, and both have been very arthritic.
The day I took them all to Nikki (our wonderful, kind and incredible veterinarian), I talked to her about the two older dog's problems, and told her that if either of them were in pain that could not be easily releaved, to please ease their way home to doggie heaven.
Little Guy didn't make it, and Mickey did, at least for now (her tumor is inoperable - around her esophagus, but she is still wagging her tail and is in no pain - but when the day comes that she is miserable ...).
I, unlike most people, believe that there is an afterlife for all creatures, and that Little Guy is able to run and play with all the other dogs and kitties and other pets of our lives - from Blitzen (my Christmas puppy when I was 5 - who lived to be 16), to Gabby and Ninja (two wonderful cats) to Thumper, my college bunny and Geraldine the Gerbil. And I believe when we die, we get to be with all our loyal critters again forever, otherwise, Heaven would not be really perfect, would it?
Anyway, John has a picture of Little Guy over at Arrgghhhh!!
Posted by Beth at 7:11 PM | Comments (3)
October 18, 2003
Actually...
John and I were looking at Barney's picture and thought, gee, she kinda has the same vacuous look in her eyes that Acidman does. Could they be - separated at birth?
Bwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaahahahahah
Posted by Beth at 9:39 PM | Comments (4)
Cats
Well, in keeping with Grouchy Old Cripple's fine habit of annoying the heck out of Acidman, I thought I would publish pictures of our Cats - one at a time, anyway, it's really hard to get them to pose!
This is Barnacle:
At Ft. Leavenworth, we all take turns checking the horses at night. One night, about 4 years ago, it was my turn to check the barn. I turned the corner down one aisle and heard a very tiny little meow. I looked down, and there was Barnacle - she was so little she fit in the palm of my hand, and had not yet been weaned - in fact, she really didn't have much in the way of teeth.
Well, I figured I'd bring her home for the night - it was late, and that in the morning, I would take her to the Post Vet and hopefully she would be able to find an adoptive home. Barnacle attached herself to me that night - she slept on my neck and actually sucked on my earlobe for half the night - well, by then we were bonded, so she because yet another Donovan rescue kitty.
John named her because she was found at the barn and because she is very clingy. It's a great name. She's a great kitty - has a little Siamese in her, I believe, because she is so damned talkative.
Posted by Beth at 8:56 PM
October 11, 2003
Puppies are such a pain sometimes
We have a very large fenced back yard. It's a really tall fence - at least 6 feet high. Our 4 big dogs have never even thought about leaving the yard when they are out playing, napping, etc., but this spare puppy of ours, Houdini, has truly earned his name time and time again.
He has found a way to join our neighbor's dog in their backyard - but that's ok - the neighbor's dog and Houdi like to play with each other.
Last night, though, when John brought in all the dogs, Houdini was missing. Both of us were frantic - the street in front of our house is fairly busy, and I had nightmare visions of a flattened puppy in the middle of the street.
We went in different directions looking for him and calling for him. I walked around the high school calling him, and he suddenly appeared out of no where, at full speed. He practically jumped into my arms, and I carried him home.
The little fart. When I caught up with John, Houdini tried to hide behind me because he knew he was a bad dog, and doesn't like John's angry voice.
John has spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how he gets out. He gets walks in the morning and evening, but it would be nice for him to be able to be in the back yard when we are at work instead of in his puppy crate (which he manages to escape from also). I don't think it would be safe to have him on a chain, he's probably end up hanging himself.
He's a cute little bugger, but I wish he would learn from the big dogs.
Posted by Beth at 6:48 AM | Comments (1)
October 10, 2003
Poor Digger
Rachel Lucas: digger has a lampshade head.
We have gone through lampshade heads with Mickey and Whiskey lately. It was pitiful, watching them bump into walls, the cats, each other. The worst was Mickey - her lampshade was big enough that she had to manuever it so it was flat on the floor over the food bowl. And there it stayed until Mickey ate every last bit of dog chow.
If anyone knows Rachel - tell her that they now have a clear lampshade head for dogs - really cuts down on the embarrassment. Digger would feel lots better with one of those.
Posted by Beth at 7:44 PM
October 7, 2003
Whiskey
Whiskey is a mutt, not the prettiest critter on earth, but one of the sweetest. His name is whiskey because he is a licker, get it? John is a very good critter namer, most of the time.
Posted by Beth at 6:40 AM | Comments (3)
My other horse, Petey
Posted by Beth at 6:36 AM
October 1, 2003
Willy the Wonder Horse Redux
Willy is prettier than his funny picture indicates. He is also really a lovey horse - he nuzzles and blows sweet nothings into my ears. He doesn't try to get me off his back when I'm on it. He doesn't refuse to walk across water or paper, or anything odd on the trails.
However, deer scare the manure out of him, literally. Turkeys also scare him half to death, and keeping him from turning tail and taking off can be a challege if he hears any gobbling.
Here he is in a better pose:
Posted by Beth at 9:41 AM | Comments (2)
September 30, 2003
Willy, the Wonder Horse
Willy refuses to stand away from me when I try to take his picture. He keeps trying to stick his nose in the camera, resulting in silly pictures like this:
Posted by Beth at 1:36 PM | Comments (3)
More Donovan Family Furry Critters
This is Little Guy - he is quite regal, as you can see. He is one of our oldest dogs, I think he must be 12 by now
He has always been grumpy, and age has