I haven’t updated you on all the drama going on around here aside from Smudgie dying. A couple of weeks ago, Stanley was out all night. This is not so unusual. At 4:00 AM, I was letting the dogs out, and Stanley came up, but didn’t want in, so I left him out. He didn’t come home the next or the next. By 3:00 PM, it was raining, so I knew this was very unusual. I called the animal control officer, and sure enough, a cat matching his description had been picked up near our place the afternoon before. So I quickly hopped in my Jeep, punched the country address into my Treo Google maps and it led me right to the kennel where he was imprisoned! It was not a NICE place!! There he was, in this dark old quonset shed in a cage, laying in the litter box. So I bailed him out, and brought a very grateful kitty home! The next day, hubby made an appointment to have him “microwaved” at the vets (he actually said that to the receptionist). So he is now chipped, and again on the harness and long leash!

A few days later Smudge died. Then Wednesday afternoon I was sitting in the family room, typing up some recipes for Sarah, when hubby came home. The only dog that ran to greet him was Teebo! Wicket had escaped!! We darn near had a stroke on the spot! Hubby drove around town looking, and I took Teebo and walked around the neighborhood. No luck, so I came home and phoned my new best friend, the animal control officer. Sure enough, someone had found him and turned him in, and the bylaw officer would call me. It turned out that he had just taken him home rather than to the pound, because they knew he’d be claimed very soon. He even drove out to bring him home! That guy has some free pre-season Oiler tickets in his future!

The very next morning (my first back at work), the dogs were out while I was getting ready. I went to let them in, and the only one there was Teebo! I nearly puked on the spot! I quickly walked all over trying to find him, and went back to the area where he’d been found the day before. No luck, so I headed home, where I met a women walking towards me. She asked if I was looking for my dog! She had him in her house. THANK GAWD!!!

We think we found where he was getting out, but we’ve been pretty darn nervous ever since!!! I’m going to tie the little buggers to my leg!!

Well after a day or so, I got over my shock/grief over the passing of my cat. I am just extremely grateful that he didn’t suffer at all! That’s probably why it came as such a shock!

Sarah and Jay are totally enjoying training their puppy. They’ve got a lot of work ahead of themselves, because she has a TON of energy! In fact, Sarah who’s always been a competitive athlete, has always hated to run, unless it was in sprints, soccer or rugby. In order to run some energy out of this pup, she’s been taking her for a 2.5 km run every day, and a good long walk in the mornings. Good for both of them, and at least you can run in peace out on the farm!

In other good news, Ben and Jess finally accepted an invitation to dinner last night, so that was a good first step at mending fences. Apparently she’s got a good, full time job, and they’re moving into a nice apartment next weekend. I’m just going to keep thinking positive, mind my own business, and maintain a good relationship with my son.

The pups are off at the groomers this morning, so I’ll be going to pick them up in a couple of hours. I should really stop and clean my vehicle while I’m in town. Then if the rain holds off, I’m going to take them to the dog park on the way home.

Back to work Thursday. Good grief my summer seemed to “pissadear”!

I am soooo sad! My 13 year old cat, Smudge, just literally dropped dead. We knew he had problems, because he kept losing weight. Yet, in the past couple of weeks, he caught at least 8 birds (not happy about that). but if a geriatric cat, wearing a bell can still catch a bird, then, that truly explains the term, “bird brain”. Smudge cuddled with me all day, went to the litter box, came out, and then threw up (totally common for those cats), I went to clean it up, and there was nothing there, so I put him outside, so he could do his business. I shut the door and came back inside. About 5 minutes late, I went to get him back inside, and he was laying on his side, just outside the door literally taking his last breath. Fortunately exactly at that moment, hubby came home, and I told him “Smudgie just died..”

I’m so incredibly sad………that cat loved me to bits, and I him.Him and I cuddled all afternoon. I saw him take his last breath, and I just can’t stand it…

Well Sarah and Kihei left with a few stuffed, squeaky doggy toys she coveted, as well as a couple of rawhides. She did very well! She’s already catching on to many commands. She just has to learn how to play nicely. That one will be a while!

As soon as they left, I picked up the house, got some laundry going, and then swept and washed the hardwood floors…. because Kihei has a messy habit of putting one of her big paws in the water bowl why she drinks. Not sure why, but it makes a big ‘ol mess! So, my house is back in order, and my own zoo, are quite happy to have the house to themselves. In fact Wicket and the two old white cats are all cuddled up in a ball having a snooze. Stanley is also glad to be able to come out of hiding!

Now, I’m trying to get up the energy to take the boys down to the dog park again. It’s actually COLD and very overcast here today!

Well, this has seemed a busy week! Monday, was the hottest day of the year here. 97º F to be exact. It was gross. No A/C at the house I do respite for, and I was on the job from 8:45 - 5:15 that day. I was absolutely WIPED out after that long day between looking after the kids, tidying up her house and the suffocating HEAT! Anyway, I am finished with respite, earned some extra money for VEGAS baby, got myself out of the house (I tend to be a hermit in the summer), and did a really nice thing for a really nice family! Yesterday she sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a thank-you card. The added bonus, was that an adorable 15 month old fell in love with me, and I with him. What a fun kid!

Tuesday evening, Sarah arrived. I spent Tuesday doing a bunch of housework and laundry and things. It was great to see her!! Been far to long. Kihei is a gorgeous dog! She tried so hard to play with ours, but she’s just a little to rambunctious and aggressive. She doesn’t know her own strength, so she nipped my pups a couple of times, but when they were all calm, they were fine. Thankfully she sleeps a lot! We took all 3 dogs down to the dog park, and fortunately there wasn’t anyone else there, so we could let Kihei off leash. They all had SO much fun! They did really well! Sarah ran at least 4 laps, and that little pup was still full of beans!

We had my brother out for a big BBQ dinner last night to meet Kihei and see Sarah. Ben popped over a couple of different times to see Sarah (which was GREAT, because he’s been totally ignoring her for the past few months).

Last night the dogs were sleeping with me last night, and Teebo would NOT settle down! He was determined to go down and try to find the puppy. He was up and down off the bed at least 50 times. I seriously slept a half hour all night. Horrible. So, today, I’m going to vegetate once I pick up the house a bit!

Tomorrow I am meeting 2 of the teachers I work with for lunch, and I might stop at the respite families to drop off some things I got for the boys. I’ve been spoiling them with Elmo, and Bob the Builder treasures this summer. Grandma practice I call it!

I go back to work one week from today. Shoot me now!

Well Sarah and Jay are back home from their holiday in Vernon. They ended up having a really good time. Sarah struggled at times in dealing with her bossy mother-in-law, and both her and Jay got rather tired of sharing the house with a 7 week and 4 month old babies. They weren’t impressed with the crying, and lack of sleep! Guess that tells them they are not yet ready to start a family, other than their puppy!

Kihei and her whole litter came down with parvo, they nearly died, but the breeder knew exactly what it was, and got treatment right away, so they’ve made a full recovery, and she’ll be able to go home this weekend with them. Little do they know how much she’ll keep them awake too! heh

Respite is still going well, although I’m getting glad that I only have a week left. I’m going to enjoy having a couple of unscheduled weeks off before I go back to the grind!

Hubby is off to his brother’s with his Dad to go golfing with his brother and our 2 nephews. He left at 5:30. That’s how much he likes golf. yuck!

I’m going to meet all the ladies I work with for lunch today, so that should be nice to see them.

Well Ben finally confessed that he and Jess are back together. I think they were only broken up a couple weeks if that. He says she’s going to live with her brother after they get back from vacation. Yeah RIGHT! (and I just fell off the turnip truck). I guess he’s one of those people that has to smacked upside the head with a 2×4 15 times until he realizes it will never change. Oh well, I’ve expressed my thoughts, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse. I don’t expect we’ll see much/any of them anyways.

Sarah and Jay have been in Vernon with his entire family for the past week to celebrate his Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th wedding anniversary. The week didn’t start off too good, because the weather was bad, but for the past few days, it’s been hot, so they’ve been able to wakeboard and have a lot more fun.

I’ve got 2 more weeks of doing respite, and then I’m taking the last 2 weeks off before I go back to work on the 28th of August.

Last week was pretty busy! I did respite on Monday, Wednesday, and for 5 hours on Thursday. That was an experience! I knew 5 hours sitting in the house would be a very long day, so I called Jasmine (my Spanish daughter from another mother) to see if her, and her daughter Ema could meet us for lunch. We decided to go to the Panda Hut for Chinese food, because they have a great play area.

Well that all sounded good in theory, but I forgot about all the rigamaroll involved in getting 2 kids ready to go anywhere!! The baby was napping, and I ended up having to wake him up. The diaper bag was already packed, so I got him dressed, and we headed out the door. Then I had to attempt to get 2 kids into car seats. That was quite a sight I’m sure! They’ve changed somewhat in 21 years! I finally got them there in one piece, and met Jasmine. We went for a later lunch, so the kids had the whole play area to themselves for the entire time we were there. They had a blast, and we got to have a good visit. Needless to say, I was really tired at the end of that day!

Ben called so excited the other day, to say he’d been invited to go to his friend’s Dad’s cabin in Kamloops for a week. He got the time off work, and was thrilled, because he hasn’t hardly had a day off in 2 years, never mind a holiday. I was so happy for him, and offered to buy his plane ticket as an early Christmas gift. We ordered the ticket, and he emailed me to see if he got on the 8:00 am flight …….the same one as Jess! I can’t tell you how stunned I was!!! I just got the sickest feeling in my stomach! Funny how he just slipped that in there AFTER I paid for his ticket. Are they back together??? Sounds like it. Did I have a clue?? No! We’re so frustrated by this whole situation, even though we know it’s none of our business. But if he doesn’t want us to keep giving our unrequested opinions, then he needs to stop phoning us to do this and that for him all the time. I’m so tired of being at odds with my Son over this girl. It’s also caused endless arguments between hubby and me as well, as I’m the eternal optimist and keep thinking things will work out, and that Ben will come to his senses. Hubby on the other hand tends to think the worst, and over re-act. I’m just tired.