And can we add another hour to our 36 hour day to train the pups to stay out of the pond?

Actually Emma is learning "keep back", with lots of treats when she moves away from the pond. This is working SOOOO much better than just yelling "NO" at her...poor thing thinks her name is NO. I have realized 'I' need more patience, not her!

Keep up the rescues, guys! Unfortunately, my pets only bring them in for burial, but I know who to turn to if I get a live one...You're doing your bit for all of us!

After today, I no longer find my pets OR my pond so relaxing!

CD3, you obviously have the patience of a saint, and I can certainly sympathize with you and all your shredded plants.

This afternoon while I was mowing, weeding, watering...SOME DOG, (99% sure it was Lily the lab, aka AQUATIC HERBIVOR), went fishing for water lilies, obviously "fell" into the pond (she would NEVER jump in), knocking over multiple plants, tearing up leaves, leaving a coating of spring shedding dog hair all over the pond and cloudy water, then as she climbs out over pots of pickeral rush, knocks edge rocks onto the already poor beat up hostas...

I called my underground fence guy...he'll be here next Wednesday to but a 2nd little loop around the pond, small enough so they can still be on the deck with me, but NOT IN MY POND!

All I want is a pretty spot to sit and relax...all that time and effort...sigh.

I know, I know. I have placed a huge attraction right under their noses, they are dogs, they love water...just venting here :(

BTW - My fish obsessed Emma is thrilled to have 2 little feeder fish in her kiddie pool and hasn't given MY pond the time of day since last weekend. She now spends her time hovering over (or in) the kiddie pool. (I moved it into the shade and do frequent ware changes and the fish have stuff to hide in.) Her tail never stops wagging :)

Sarah, you're so funny. I mean about Emma and her little fishies.
Last year, when we were away and DS and DDIL were house sitting, they reported Gretchen taking a diving leap off the pond deck into the water. They think it was because she discovered the fish.
I don't know how DS reacted, but she hasn't done THAT again...

And didn't Lily look real sorry? The "you still love me, right?" face? Or was she laughing at you with her tongue hanging out?
This is how you can tell they're guilty!

My Gretchen likes to wade, but only in real ponds or brooks... she'll stand in her kiddie pool while drinking from it, even on the hottest days, I can't get her to sit or lay down in it. She stands in the eight inches of water, panting from the heat, then goes inside to lie on the tile floor in the kitchen. Sometimes she's so smart and then sometimes she's so stupid.

DH regularly suggests we extend the invisible fence somehow to keep her out of the pond. Maybe we will? Let us know how that works!

:) Mary

Ohhh, Emma's kiddie pool (with fish) sounds so cute! It sounds like Lily might need not only a time out, but a pool, too. Of course, knowing labs, she will probably always prefer Mom's to her own. :D

LOL @ Gretchen flying into the pond! And I bet you were SO glad you were on vacation, right, Mary? LOL

Not sure how (un)relaxing this is, but every morning when I first get up (btween 3am & 5am), I let the kitty outside to play in the front yard before the heat sets in. This morning was as usual, and my DH came strolling into the kitchen (which faces the unfenced, off-limits-to-kitty backyard).

We both heard the "Meow?" from the open kitchen window. I started panicking, thinking SOMEone left the gate open and Pookie made it out. I called out to her. "Kitty? Pook-Pook?" She answered, right outside the window. (Cat owners, you know how easy it is to identify your cats' voices, right?)

I ran to the front door while pointing at the flashlight and telling my DH, "Check out the back door with the light!"

I opened the front door....and there was Pookie, still in the FRONT yard. What the...? DH says, "Hey, she's our talented ventrilokitty!" LOL

Whew! is about all I could muster up at that point.

Brenda

Daisy too has a kiddie pool with fish!

I have the patience of a saint? You don't know me very well do you? Patience has left long ago and was replaced by tears and resignation that this is a lost cause. I believe the change of attitude happened when the Toxic Neighbor poisoned our pond last summer. (BTW .. She has taken to cutting the chain link of OUR fence this year. But as usual that is another story.)

So I finished digging the site for the smaller pre-formed koi pond. I did what needs to be done to protect the pond from stones, put my potted plants inside and the frog bit was happily floating around. Added the fish and everything was idyllic. A whole lot smaller than we had planned, but for now this is what we were able to do.

We only needed to do finishing touches around the site with plants and mulch. Daisy was a very good girl. She went outside and checked out the new ponds but happily went to the wading pool to splash around followed by diving into a huge pile of hardwood mulch and digging it until she was BLACK! Apparently she is having a happy puppyhood.

Daisy went outside several times and ignored the new ponds. Good girl! :-)

This morning? NO plants in the ponds. The baskets were either in the ponds or somewhere chewed in the yard. Mud, mulch and stones in the ponds making for a horrible murky muddy mess. The fish are still in the water and alive!

The plants? Well, let us not get into that. Too sad to discuss. Daisy discovered that she can help me by digging in the soil near the ponds. That is very generous of her to offer her unique talents but:

Dearest Daisy, dig the soil AWAY from the water. AWAY! Not into the water! :-(

We have mega rain and thunderstorms now so an attempt of a salvage of this disaster area is on hold.

The hermit crabs are doing well though.

Hermit crabs are relaxing! :-)

C3D (only one of them is a Daisy!)

You need to hook a truck battery to that @%$#& fence.

Zchick, I agree!

The day after I vented to all of you, of course I forgave them (though Andy the fence guy is still coming), who can resist a wet black nose? Then tonight, I turned my back for a minute and I found a water lily, root and all on the deck, and someone plucked my very first little tomato off its plant and consumed (I assume) the evidence! CD3, I really, REALLY sympathize, your Daisy sounds like a very lovable disaster, but as you say, she's HAPPY! My condolences on your plants. And now you need even more hours in the day...sigh.

BTW, all 3 of my big dogs will get in the kiddie pool at the same time, lie down and wallow! Murphy hasn't figured that out yet :)

PS: Murphy got neutered yesterday and is doing the pitiful act. I'm not falling for it, I'm not falling for it, I'm not falling for...

Sarah (with a big Golden head on her knee)

Murphy is back to his young self today.

I let the gang out this morning, stepped back in to get my cup of coffee, came back out to find Murphy dancing around the nearest elm tree with a 10" marigold clutched in his mouth!

After a one-sided discussion consisting of Fetch! :), Come! :) and GOOD DOG! I got my marigold, (and its friend, the second marigold) back, re-potted them and gave them a drink (for all they're stress) Smiled and petted my puppy, went back inside and said THANK GOD ANDY IS COMING ON WEDNESDAY!!! And then reminded myself...I started this :)

Sarah (who loves to garden at 6:15am Friday morning in her bathrobe)

Murphy.... Good Boy for bringing back the flowers. How nice he took them for a stroll around the yard!

Murphy's Flower Taxi Service. :-)

I was just sitting here trying to catch up on the posts and e mails and see that Daisy ate a catnip toy. Bell and all.

Time to go outside and get her to puke that bell out.

~~Pets are relaxing.~~ (Somewhere!) And yes I too started this but how boring would our lives be without our beloved pets?

I wouldn't give up Daisy even if we could have a clear mud free plant filled pond. ((Better take another pill for migraines now as well.))

Chick-a-puke-inducer

My Cocker Spaniel "Moonie" fights with my Koi everyday. Moonie sticks his nose as close as he can to the water when I feed the fish and they whip their tails and splash him. Then he starts barking and barking.

ROTFL!!! Cause otherwise we'd be cryin'

Sockmonkey, get a picture of that and save it for this winter when we have the Obsessed Pet free for all photo contest! (don't post now!).

The other thing I love about gardeing at 6:15am is going to work with the dirt under your fingernails you just can't get out...wish I was into nailpolish, but damnit...dirty fingernails are a source of pride!!!

I'll do that! That'll get me back here this winter! I didn't think anybody would be here last winter, so I forgot about it. I see I was wrong and missed some funny stuff going on. I was so happy to get back here this spring and find all you wonderful people still here!
Debbie

Ahhh...I can relax in my yard. I can relax knowing the dogs won't chase out into the road after a jogger. And now I can even mow the lawn with out worrying about the dogs worrying the frogs! The new underground fence loop around the pond is done! It's set so the dogs can be on the upper deck, but not the little lower deck next to the pond :)

{{gwi:170279}}

Works for me. I hate being so petty about something as replacable as plants, but I am SOOO much happier not constantly saying No, No, No to the dogs. You can see the yellow flags in the distance, the dogs have about 2 acres to run in, and I put a few minnows in their kiddie pool. The flags around the pond will start to disappear in about 3 weeks.

Now maybe I can relax and enjoy my pond AND my pets.

PS: Murphy's Flower Taxi Service is still in business (just this one poor pot of marigolds - might be time to move the pot closer to the pond :)

it is not pettu
]'
well, that last part was romeo's two cents. as i was saying. it isn't petty just for the same reason you said. you aren't correcting and they don't require correction.

I agree with FTM! And you'll be so much less stressed out, which tends to lead to more relaxed puppies. :D

Brenda

Isn't it lovely...? Well ... Not ~quite~ as lovely as last year but the wildlife pond is a buzz with dragonflies and damsel flies doing their delicate and daring acrobatics. Oooo look. A toad sitting on a stone in the water watching as a slug oozes past on the edge of the embankment. The toad sits there with his stoic ever present toady grin not giving away any hint of what he is thinking about.

~~SIGH~~ There is regrowth of the water canna following a near fatal encounter with the puppy known as Daisy. Two stems have been brave enough to try to give life to the repeatedly mugged plant. One stem is already broken.

The variegated iris you ask? Where is it? The roots are here in front of the umbrella grass but the iris has not produced new leaves yet after Hurricane Daisy came through last month.

The water lily "Attraction" is a hardy soul indeed. All the leaves and roots were stripped from the chunk of plant and left on the lawn to dry. (An attempt to save it from drowning by the puppy I suppose.) Disheartened I tossed the remnants into the little koi pool. Now we are delighted to see the regrowth of roots and leaves in all directions. There is no way to actually place this survivor in a pot so it floats about offering shade and refuge to the koi in the pool.

The Flicker woodpeckers are in the willow tree and feeding their young. A heron flies overhead with hardly a glance at our puddle of water. But, given all the rain we have had the weeds are growing very nicely!

Catnip over takes the flower beds in the back yard. They are ready to flower and soon will set seed and spread even more. Two great piles of hardwood mulch wait to be spread in the flower beds as do at least 3 flats of flowers. The mulch piles are a tremendous favourite of that Daisy puppy.

She burrows into the pile and transforms herself into a mulch-pile look alike. **MAGIC !**

~~SIGH (with some tears...)~~ The variegated bamboo is history. A raccoon or someone overnight pulled it out and shredded the single stalk and roots that had survived up to this moment. The water canna has been tipped over and semi-shredded. The water is so murky now because the basket was flipped over and emptied in the water.

Time to go outside and try to fix this mess yet again. But I am sure I can do it quickly! Daisy and Bosco will be at my side helping all the way. LOL!!

C3D

C3D, at least the wild critters are still coming. I think it's all part of 'the great design'. Hard as it is.

And doncha know Daisy's camo/mulch look is all the rage fashion wise :)

I guess I'd rather be gardening with Emma than alone...most days :)

When I had our puppy, I could put up with the digging of holes, the chasing of the contractor after he took his hat away and played chase (That was hilarious), and anything else he could come up with. The kids had a great time with him. He had a great time swimming in the ponds, ect. But I drew the line at my water plants. I guess I am too cheap. He dissappeared one day shortly after that, seems the kids left the yard gate open. :( (Honest, I didn't do it) (promise). Just a lucky break I guess hahahaha.

Karen

Oh NO ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! How sad!

Daisy ain't a goin' anywhere outside the yard without supervision and leash. She did get out under the gate once about a week after she came here. What a panic to find her as she did not yet know her new name. :-( After searching for about 45 minutes and asking everyone we saw, she was seen by the neighbour across the street and kept safe by them until we saw that she was there. :-)

We immediately scoured the fence line and found 2 potential escape routes for Miss Houdini under the fence and spent about 2 hours securing the fence. No escape now! For all the destruction she has wrought upon our peaceful existence, her loss would be tragic! Plants and what ever can be replaced ~ but~ there is only one Daisy! (Sometimes that is a good thing!) :-)

C with 3 Ds and a Daisy

Our pup was such a happy baby, I wish he hadn't gotten out. Yes they can be replaced and replanted. Nothing can replace the joy of playing with the pooch. Now we have a cat. He is quite the escape artist also. hahahaha He is a house cat but if the door is open for more than a second he is OUT!!!!!!! Other than that he eats expensive cat food, sleeps, sleeps, chases bugs that fly inside like light bugs, sleeps, chases moths that come in door, sleeps, eats more. His food bowl is perpetually empty and he WILL wake you (or the dead) to fill it at any time of the day or night that he chooses to finish off that last morsel. I will try to upload a pic, don't know if I can. He is a Tuxedo Kitty. If you have a black and white or grey and white kitty they can join The Tuxedo Gang, online. It is a really cool bunch of snazzy dressers. :)
Ours is Baby Brat Boy...
Have fun.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: Tuxedo Timmy's Southwestern District

Heck, I would be sad if Daisy got lost! She has inspired me to consider cleaning out my pond of plant debris, too. :D

Love those tuxedos, Karen! I also love the formal ballgown kitties, like Sockmonkey's on the "MN Pond Plant Exchange" thread. :)

My Pook decided to chase an invader out of the yard today. In the meantime, she proceeded to roll in some nice stickers, which are pretty well embedded into her fur now. Every time I try to help ease them out (which is possible, with patience and bravery), she goes into attack mode. *sigh* This is going to take a while.

Brenda

Brenda?

I can stick some stamps on Daisy and mail her to your home. She would be **MORE** than happy to clean out your pond of the plants that are cluttering it up for you ! :-)

(Temporary helper, of course.)

C3D

karen, bookmarked! love it. i may have to add my old man to the rainbow.

"Pets are relax-ed" not us :) i couldnt' figure out how to do the word crossed out "thing."

{{gwi:170280}}

I'll be at my mailbox after I finish checking GW, C3D. Tapping my foot until she arrives. I may spend all of her allotted time cuddling, though. :D

Who How about this, FTM? :D

(It's ....)

Brenda

thanks, brenda. hope to remember that!

...... as Simon, a kitty who makes my work place his home. :-)

{{gwi:170281}}

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, to be a kitty with his busy schedule and duties!

C with 3 Ds

Oh, do I ever need a Simon snuggle! But I bet he keeps you all in line:)

such peanut butter brown eyes!

Oh, I love vet office kitties!! They're some of the best cuddlers...and talkers, too!

Simon is definitely like buttah! *feeling vaklempt*

Brenda

yep, this should go on another thread....

that is one thing i love about "my" vet. all the office help adn there are quite a few :)

Does anyone know how the Vet kitty thing got started? The ones I've seen have been so mellow you wondered what they were on. Sandy

Hmmm, good question, Sandy. I know that those vet kitties have probably seen more pets than I'll ever see. They always seem to have that attitude like, "Oh, that ain't nothin', hon. Here, rub my tummy, and I'll tell ya a story." :D

Brenda

Simon was abandoned at the hospital about 6(?) years ago. Left in a box outside the door for us to find early in the morning.

We had a hospital Doberman too several years ago. She was elderly, had some arthritis and early heart problems. She came in for blood work, x-rays and the owners never came for her. We even said they can forget about the bill, just take her home because she misses her family. NOPE! They "did not want a sick dog." I think we had her for 3 years. She had a bed behind the front desk and would walk up to people and acted as the official greeter. Like Walmart! LOL!!!

One place I worked at has a hospital kitty with 3 legs. She was hit by a car and her leg was nearly torn off with the accident. The mangled leg was amputated. The people dumped her ... never came back to bring her home. Again, the doctors said to just take the kitty home! NO charge for ANY treatments. NOPE!

I got lots more stories but you have all fallen asleep already.

C3D (better than an Ambien sleep aid pill)

chicka, if nothing else you had my complete attention. and, if you knew how easily i fell asleep, though not relaxed and costantly awakened by the feline wrecking crew/sasquatch cometh warning system...adn probably why i fall asleep so easily...not that you can't remember what i was talking about and i even had to refresh my memory....you would realize just how difficult it is to keep my attention.

"my" vet has had several that people have brought in as strays. funny, i don't know how they choose who to accept them from. maybe they just know i am a pushover and will find homes for those i end up bringing home. but that is inconsequential. anyway, my vet i believe becomes a bit attached to a select few. most come in as kittens or mothers. i don't think they ever had a dog, at least not since i have been there. i believe they are so mellow b/c they have 2000 x's the socialization a typical cat, etc. gets. now, big frank, the long-haired blue eyed white deaf huge "man" is always seeking out a lap, very mellow, until someone picks up a brush. you'd think the receptionist or vet tech needed lion handler training. i hvae never heard such sounds, or even thought this laid back guy could cuss like that. he'd make a sailor blush.

ichabod is also white, longhaired, but not deaf, with a shorter tail than usual though not bobbed. he was quite a stinker as a kitten. he didn't have the time to stay still or give you much thought. he still has an ornery streak but he keeps frank and elmo on their toes. elmo (black) got out of the clinic one day and off for adventure. i think he was gone a few weeks before recovered.

Sleep?? OMG I love hearing these stories. All the kitties I have had I got where I used to work. Only one at a time but seems I always have one. Mama kitty lived in the greenhouse (against all management rules and efforts). Had several litters a year. After they got big enough to start nosing around too much we usually saw them, in a couple of weeks worth of half hearted efforts we caught them. It was get rid of them before we do, so we would distribute them through out the employees. All us girls took at least 1 hahahahahaha. Big Box stores hate that stuff.. Mama was feral never could catch her. Orders were to put out "stuff" but somehow that "stuff" never got put out. Lost or something... dunno. (looking innocent)...

Karen

Hi FTM and Karen. Glad I didn't bore you ~~much~~. :-)

Unfortunately pets, particularly cats, seem to be very disposable. When someone gets dumped at our hospital we certainly try to find only the nicest home for them! Sometimes we find homes quickly and sometimes it takes longer or forever.

Well, ya just can't leave an innocent jailed all the time can you? They have toys and get played with as time permits and everyone becomes attached! Then one day, knowing that the hospital has now become the new home, another hospital cat or dog is added.

Somehow they know it too and just happily accept that the front desk is their domain. The appointment book is their place to nap or just sprawl out while resting from the day's duties. The phone **MUST** be walked upon while there is a conversation going on to disconnect the caller who has intruded on the precious nap time.

There are a variety of toys lying about for the kitties as well as an ever changing array of cardboard boxes to play fort in. There's a basket that is lined with a soft towel and a soft kitty bed too in the back. This becomes THEIR home and we try to provide all the incites that a real home would provide.

Mmmmmmmmmmm. Cat nip is in the drawer of the front desk as are containers of kitty treats. :-)

3D Chick

..............LOTS of stories about who I brought home from work but those would over load the capacity of GW!

lol, chicka. you just described "my" clinic including desk patrol, and adding in a cat tree :)

maybe you can start us a new thread with adoptee stories when you have time.

C3D, I LOVE your stories!! Even though they sometimes make me cry (uhhh, that's really not hard to do, however), your stories NEVER put me to sleep.

I fear my temper when I think of what I might do if I got my hands on someone who actually had the nerve to give up a precious, healing pet. People like that just can't be right in the head. Lobotomy, Brenda-style, would be in order, I think.

Pets love unconditionally (well, sometimes, my cat puts out a few demands...:D). Unfortunately, they occasionally have to put up with us humans. :)

Brenda

I am posting new Tuxedo kitty pics... He is a mess. He was trying to get the ceiling fan and had ooched up to the very edge of the top of the desk to get at it. If it flys he is on it. That includes the ceiling fan hahahahaha.
My kids have started calling him B-Cubed... since he is Baby Brat Boy...
Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: B-Cubed's Blog and Pictures...

Here's a relaxing pet! I have too many animals but this one is hyper AND nocturnal. A few times he made so much racket bouncing(literally) off the sides of his cage I thought someone was breaking in the house!
Who needs a cat tree? My son routinely builds her "kitty houses" and she is attracted to them! I love this nutty cat. We met her at Petsmart. She reached out through the bars of her cage and grabbed my DH. She was tired of being in a cage and wanted her half of the of the master bed darn it!My DH and I get the other half so it's fair,right?
This Lovebird doubles as a Christmas tree ornament. He's a wierd Lovebird. He doesn't really care too much for being handled but he wont ever bite over it. Most Lovebirds in my experience are a little "nippy" at best. I have about 8 more animals. The usual,reptiles,birds,dogs,now fish,and very cool hens that just gave me a blue egg. PJ

{{gwi:170282}} {{gwi:170283}} {{gwi:170284}}

Oh, Karen, B-Cubed has great balance! And he's so adorable! That tummy is calling me. I love that 2nd pic from Thursday where it looks like he doesn't have a face (kind of like that scene from the movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). LOL

Your pets are precious, PJ! Lovebirds are SO beautiful! And it sounds like your kitty timed her "caginess" perfectly. :D

Great stories!

Brenda

I LOVE THOSE CUBES/BUILDING BLOCKS! love the "christmas ornament" too.

the bookstore downtown has a chinchilla that gets out for recess and run from the customers time. i love watching it skitter and hop across the floor.

Thanks Brenda.
Fairy T.That is such a cool bookstore! Do nibbled books come at a discount? LOL.
Have you touched the Chinchilla? If you ever get a chance do! They have the softest fur you can imagine. It's so soft if you close your eyes you can barely feel it.PJ

Fourteen years ago I was trying to sunbathe out in the yard. Slapped on the baby oil, grabbed my towel, found a little piece of grass and laid down. All of a sudden I felt something warm and fuzzy at my side. I jumped up to find a gray and white cat laying next to me on the towel. This was the most pathetic looking cat I ever seen. You could count every rib as well as both hip bones. Apparently my daughter must have been looking out the window, cuz when I came in the house she started apologizing. She said she felt bad for the cat so she was feeding it cat food (we already had three cats). She told me to look at the cats eyes they were the prettiest color green and so big. They were so big cause she was so skinny. She had the extra toes was grey and while, so my daughter named her Mittens. We all no the pattern: feed a cat and it'll never leave.

My plan: go to work tomorrow, get a copier paper box with lid, go home for lunch while my daughter is at school, grab the cat, stash it in the box, take it to the animal shelter. My daughter will never miss it.

Got home at lunch cat was nowhere to be found. Plan B: Go home after work, find cat, still have time to take it to the pound before she gets home from school. Got home, no cat. Didn't know my daughter was getting out of school early that day. Found her upstairs crying her eyes out. When I asked her what was wrong, she said: Mom, please don't be mad at me Mitten's came running up the driveway with something in her mouth and ran in the garage with it. I thought it was a rabbit, so I covered it with a towel to take it out of the garage. When I grabbed it, it started meowing. When I looked in the towel it was a kitten. Mom, please don't be mad at me. I didn't know." We made her a box and left the garage door open. By morning she had brought us three kittens total. We fixed the garage up as a playground, and had a kitten fest all summer. Well all good things must come to an end. September came and she went off to college, but made me promise to keep the older kitten who had trouble walking on her paws, she walked on her elbows. My son liked the runt, and I liked the siamese. We decided to keep the oldest because we figured nobody would want her. As she got older though her legs straighened out. When she stands for too long now she'll pick one up then the other, like they hurt. When I had her spayed the vet removed some of the extra toes. She had two paws at the end of each leg.

I found a home for the siamese, but when it came time for the woman to pick him up I couldn't part with him. To make a long story short we kept the "whole famn damily." We lost Mittens a few years back to a mammary cyst that burst, and the siamese to kidney failure. Bear and Boa were 14 on July 4th. Bear is my baby. She picked me, I didn't pick her. Boa walks with a limp now due to arthritis in her shoulder, but I wouldn't give them away for a million bucks. They are old ladies but we still call them "the kittens." My future s-i-l can get over how playful (and spoiled) they are. Bear loves turkey breast and I buy her a pound at the deli every week. My son knows to keep his hand off her turkey. Boa loves milk and whipped cream. So every week she gets a fresh can of whipped cream. I used to grow them catnip in the yard, but it attracted every stray cat for miles. I keep saying when they're gone, that's it, no more animals. But cats always seem to find me.

Jenny

The whole kit and kaboodle for you! LOL! That cat must have really liked your house to move her family like that. It's so good to hear a happy story with a stray's life.
"No more animals" is my mantra!PJ

jenny, your going to make me burst into tears! i just love how she laid down next to you, she knew you were her friend and loved you without knowing anymore. she adopted you and brought her babies so that they would know that love. and you did!!! whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

pj, never thought of that! funny, the store is also called the bookmouse!

Awwww, I agree about Mittens lying next to you! That is so sweet. It sounds like Mittens picked you, too. :)

Brenda

My mom (God rest her soul) always said that animals mark your house when they know it's safe. I believe that God sends his creatures to animal lovers he knows will take care of them. Will post pics of the whole family, as well as the two survivors soon.

Jenny

as relaxing as this moosecat that takes up my entire lap, wiggles and repositions for attention and in the process pushes my keyboard into storage position. not to mention that i feel like i have to hold him up with one arm so i dont' get clawed on his slip down. then i type one fingered in the dark and keys unseen b/c they are under the desk. but, gotta love em, eh?