Saturday, April 30, 2016

Turning into a Unicorn



 Hello SPRING!

 

Good news, Folk's-- Paris, the foster kitty, has a nice new home now!  I love this pic of her:


She wasn't thrilled with the car ride to meet her new family.


I still have France, and he is doing much better these days.  In fact, today I gave him a new sparkle manicure.  Check out his nails: 


He is a very cuddly cat.  The poor guy had to go to the vet again for his booster shot (distemper) and to see why he was going bald. 


The doc has deduced it to either stress or food allergies!  I assume it must be the later of the two, since it's not the least bit stressful here!!!  ;-)  Actually, he seems to be enjoying himself when he isn't hiding.  I got him some different food, so hopefully that will help.


Troy did some fishing with me the other day.


He likes to use the open spin ultra light.  We caught a bunch of catfish!


I got a bunch of little fish with a beaded nymph.



Jamie got her a crappie!


Jean caught a couple bass!  This was the bigger of the two!


And the gills kept us busy most of the time!


In other news, Sophie enjoyed Gladdie's soccer game.  Sophie is totally into a game where everyone chases a ball! 


Gladiator is number 19. 


She plays very aggressive!


Her games are rather interesting.  This last game, a girl from the other team came up to Gladiator and purposely stomped on her foot! 


When the rare occasion occurs that I have a minute or two to myself, I head for the woods.  There is just something magical about being surrounded by so many wildflowers!  I hear it's been known to turn folks into unicorns. ;-)


I have yet to find morals this year, but I have a feeling it will be the next time I get out there.


Jack in the Pulpit seems to be popping up like mad this year!


Don'tcha just LOVE spring?!? 
 

 I can't wait to get back out to the woods!!!  :-)

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Cats

Hi There!!!  This fancy kitty is Paris!  She just awoke from being spayed, or having her baby-maker removed, as the kiddies call it.


Paris is a very good natured kitty.  I believe she is less than a year old.  I know she looks grumpy in these next couple of pics, but those were taken right after surgery. 
Paris has hobbies that include playing with toys, hunting for insects and eating spiderwebs.

Before she was spayed, she would yowl for a mate often.  It got to be annoying fast, but her vet appointment was a couple days away.  To make it less annoying for us, and give Paris a chance for some fresh air, she spent a couple hours in a pen in the backyard.  (This is an important tidbit for later on in this story.)


All went well with Paris and her surgery.  She even got a tattoo!!! 



It wasn't long before she was back to her old self again, only without the frequent yowling's!  ;-)
Hmmm, which toy smells the most like catnip!



Paris did have a bad habit of sharpening her claws on the furniture!  To remedy this problem, I gave my girl a new manicure of artificial claw caps!


These little nail caps are awesome! 


Paris wasn't thrilled with me messing with her paws, but she suffered through the process like a champ.  They were actually pretty easy to glue on.


The first thing she did was examine them.  I was skeptical that the nails would stay on, but they did!


Paris doesn't seem to mind them at all.  She has kept them on for a couple of weeks now, and they have held up for plenty of groomings.


Paris is a bit of a health nut, as she is often on the treadmill!  Usually she is sleeping on it, but this time she happens to be in pursuit of a fly.  (It's hiding on the white bar of the treadmill!)


The Independent Cat Society (ICS), is a local organization that helps cats.  They currently have more cats than their capacity can handle.  That is why, I decided to help out and become a foster for them.



While I was awaiting a batch of kittens to arrive to foster, the kids found a helpless furball laying in the yard!


He was so skinny and in very bad condition, that I brought him to ICS.  They gave him fluids via IV and helped me put him on the path of recovery.  (ICS has a kitten that looks just like a smaller version of Snowball!) 


This kitty is France!

He is enjoying a bit of outside time!


No longer is he the skinny, sickly cat that he was when the kids first found him.


France is extremely afraid of being dropped and holds on for dear life when he is picked up!


Eventually, he is able to be petted  and soothed into chill mode.


I took France to the vet to get neutered, and he got a tattoo also! 



Here he is just waking up from surgery! 


So, as I mentioned earlier in this post, Paris was yowling outside, and then this guy shows up!  She called him.  Now that he is here, she grumbles and hisses at him!!! 


I don't know what his back story is, but I think he may have been a feral cat due to the severe malnourishment.  In fact, he was so badly malnourished, I thought he was a young cat not fully grown at first.  It turns out that he is over five years old, according to the vet.  Also, I was hoping he was just at the stage of his baby teeth falling out and his permanents coming in; unfortunately the poor guy is missing several of his permanent teeth.



He likes to be cuddles and petted.


Ive recently gotten him to play.  For the longest time he was just to ill to play.


Even now, his endurance is rather short, but he seems to be getting better everyday.


He sleeps a lot.  Show me a cat that doesn't!  Also, he seems to be loosing his fur.  It could be a side effect from the meds, or stress from what he has been through.


When France is not in my arms, he is usually in his second favorite place, a cardboard box!


Both Paris and France could use permanent homes!  If anyone reading this post is interested in adopting them, please get in touch with me!  :-)














Sunday, April 3, 2016

Unexplored Territiories

I'm into spring hikes!  I used to call it morel mushroom hunting, but spring hiking is accurate. ;-)


I found me a cute little creek to follow.  It led to this cute little dam.  Of course, I couldn't resist dropping a line in, just to fiddle around. 


Hey--SURPRISE-- there is cute little fish in there!  This baby gill looked like a purple Easter egg, much more so, than the pic represents.


Holy Smokes Bass, too!  Who woulda thought!  Little bitty creek, little bitty fish!


I continued my hike.


The creek became larger, as did the fish I caught! I didn't take any pics of the bigger fish, as they were just your average gills, chubs and rock bass.


I've been exploring like a mad woman lately!  O'Hare Airport even made the list, as I went there to pick up Mom from her return from Arizona!  I didn't fish there.  The night sky had two moons the larger one in the center of the photo, and a smaller moon off to the right!  Who knew O'Hare was like being on another planet!?!
 

I've been exploring "new to me" creeks mostly.  On this day, I was hiking in the rain, going after steelhead.  The little milky covert, was a steelie parking lot!  Three big fish were up in there!!!


The weather is typical for an Indiana Spring.  It varies from day to day.  Some days a girl needs her winter coat, other days, no coat at all.



I am ready for nice Spring weather and FLOWERS!


I planted flower seeds.  I'm not sure what type they are yet.


Paris, my foster kitty, went to the vet to be spayed.  She has never had kittens before.  If there weren't so many kittens needing a home...

Troy invited me to an Art Show at the school.  His Eiffel Tower reminded me of SpongeBob's pineapple!


The school was a real jungle.


A jungle with a cave!


Of course, the jungle has fish! 



Many, many new areas I've yet to explore.  I shall keep Ya'all posted!  :-)