Laser Toy Madness in a Cat Foster Home...

1st place for Kaylie!

Here's my wonderful kid....she got first place at Arlington High School yesterday at the Winterguard Mixed Solo competition! Yaaaaay Kaylie!

the story of our Christmas tree...

PART TWO:
When we got the tree home, it was even BIGGER in person. We didn't think about how big it would be when the limbs spread out...it takes up 1/3 of the whole living room! We don't even have enough decorations to put on it...

PART ONE:

We usually walk down to WalMart (yes, walk), pick out a tree, and carry it home...only to be asked 28 times if we want a ride by passers by in pickups. We decided to drive down to the tree farm and buy one this year. There were small, medium, large, and xtra large trees. I really wanted a superbly-large tree, but they were like 200 dollars, so we went for the regular large tree. Those suckers are bigger than they look....(see the pic of the giant tree loaded on our tiny car). You should have seen the helper guy's face when he saw what car he had to load the tree on. More to come on the tree inside our house and decorating process!

A Tale of Two Kitties...

Meet Petie (bottom) and Pearl (top). These are two of the most wonderful and loving creatures you've ever met, and they are both victims of being either let outside ("oh, she only goes out for a while...she knows not to cross the street when cars are coming...") or abandoned ("I'll get my cat spayed or neutered later" or "I can't take care of this kitten right now"). Petie is a wonderful kitten that will purr if you even touch him. He just wants love. We don't know what happened to him, but one of his legs was mangled and infected, the other back leg was dislocated. He had his first surgery (unfortunately, he lost his little leg), and yesterday had his second (reconstructed the ball of the femur to fit back into the hip). Unfortunately, he has no other leg to compensate for the pain of the second surgery, and he is forced to use his other back leg. He is a wonderful boy, and I am proud to be his foster mommy.

Pearl was an indoor/outdoor cat that someone had the nerve to declaw. She was hit by a car, and her back leg was broken so badly that a steel plate was used to put it back together. She was abandoned before her surgery at a local clinic by the (presumed) owner who did not want to pay for her medical bills. There was a day when Pearl's owner loved her enough to adopt or buy her, but the newness apparently wore off, Pearl was let outside, and now you know the rest. Fortunately, my animal rescue group was able to help her, and I am also proud to be Pearl's foster mommy.

If you can't adopt these wonderful babies when they're ready (they have weeks, if not months of rehab ahead of them before they're available), please consider donating at www.littleorphanangels.org. This rescue group does not euthanize, and it is the one of the best groups out there, in my opinion, and I have been so glad to be a part of them for almost 8 years.

Work...

Don't let Jenny go to Mexico!

**Update: The Dallas Zoo decided to leave Jenny there, however, she has an enclosure equal to the size of a postage stamp for you and I - she has no room to roam. The Dallas Zoo is creating a larger habitat for her, but it won't be ready for TWO more years! Jenny is over 30 years old, entering the end of life expectancy for an elephant in captivity. She may not live to see her new home, and even if she does, why would she want to live in a few acres when she could roam freely in Tennessee? Take a look at this video of Jenny, taken in the last few weeks - go to www.concernedcitizensforjenny.net for info on how to act NOW!



Jenny the elephant has been at the Dallas Zoo for over 20 years. After the death of her lifelong friend, the Dallas Zoo now wants to ship her to Mexico instead of a bigger, better facility in the U.S. (Tennessee). Go to http://www.concernedcitizensforjenny.net/Home_Page.html for all the details. The rally at the zoo on Sunday was wonderful and raised very good awareness, but we need letters, phone calls, and flyers to get more attention and action for a wonderful elephant that needs NO more undue stress!

Fort Worth Water Gardens

Ben and I went to the water gardens last weekend...first time I'd been not only since they reopened, but since I was in college! First pic: I love these trees - look at the roots...they grow under the concrete and up through any crevice they can find.

Second pic: mine and Ben's feet; we're sitting at the main pool.


Third pic: Ben climbed up one of the walls (and many more afterwards).

Fourth pic: me!