Saying Goodbye

This past summer was a rough one for us and our pets. It actually started April 1st when we lost our Miety, our "Me-Too!" kitty. She was our mama kitty, mother of Ebony and Curlie Sue (and a host of other cats belonging to my mom and dad). Miety was 18 years old and would have been 19 on July 3rd, but sadly she would not see that day. On May 31st we realized she was starting to leave us, and by April 1st we said goodbye. We had 18 wonderful years, with a couple challenges here and there (she was our irradiated kitty!), but all in all they were good.

I got Miety as a kitten shortly after coming to Ridgecrest. She was abandoned by her mother and a neighbor down the street was trying to find a home for her. Miety was my 'foot' kitty. She started out not liking to be petted, only willing to rub herself against a foot. Then she decided that hands were good, but only if you held it still for her to rub against. Then she finally figured out (probably around age 10 or so) that getting scratched felt really good! So it only took a decade. She earned her "Me-Too!" name by always wanting to get in on whatever petting, scratching, brushing, loving action was going on. If you were petting one of the other cats, well she wanted to be petted too! So, Miety (Mee-Tee) we decided stood for "Me-Too!" We were very sad to say goodbye to our little Miety Mama, Me-Too girl.

Next came, or went rather, our Curly Sue. Ebony's little sister, and Miety's youngest. Curly had been diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure in the spring of 2007 so we knew that it was only a matter of time, just like it was with Ebony. Curly took a turn for the worse and started getting anemic and was having problems with her blood levels. We tried what we could, and she like her sister had been on sub-q fluids for over a year, but unfortunately she just kept spiralling downwards and we had to say goodbye. Curly left us on June 23rd.

Curly Sue was the cutest little kitten. She was a little stinker though! She was born with a crooked tail (thus earning her name), and she had a devilish little personality. She loved to cause trouble. She was full of life and a ball of energy. In her latter years Curly became a little, uh, neurotic I guess? As Thane puts it, every household has that "one crazy cat." Well, Curly was ours. Our poor little girl had continual skin irritation issues and sometimes I wonder if that's what drove her mental. Who knows, all I know is that she decided that hiding out in the bedroom, particularly from the kids, was the best thing. I'm glad though that she would usually come out at night and snuggle with me. I had lots of good nights with my little (okay, big) Curly girl with her beside me kneading (usually with sharp little pointy claws!). I called her my Little Miss Big-Paw because she had really large paws. She was such a beautiful kitty and she took after her father. I miss my Curly Sue.

It was hard enough losing Miety, harder still to lose Curly Sue only a couple months later, but nothing prepared us for what came next. Exactly two weeks to the day from when we lost Curly we lost our Ebony. Ebony had been battling Chronic Renal Failure for 3 years and had amazing, if not miraculous, recovery from her initial 'crash' back in 2005. We called her our 'Trooper' for putting up with nightly sub-q fluids, being force-fed for months, then given meds every night for 3 years. She did it all for us. Unfortunately though her battle came to an end on July 7th when we discovered that the breathing difficulties we'd noticed were actually a major condition. Her chest was filled with fluid and it was crushing her lungs and I knew that no medical conditions that caused that would be a positive outcome for my girl. We knew then that it was time to say goodbye and to let her go so that she didn't have to fight any longer. She'd been through enough, she fought enough battles for us, it was time we fought the final one for her.

Our Kitten-Boo as we called her often was a very special cat indeed. Ebony always seemed to know how I was feeling, and she knew when I needed love. She was our only lap cat and particularly loved Thane's heating pad matabolism. I had formed a strong bond with Ebony as a kitten when she was burned running across my parent's stove upon which burned her front paws. The care I gave her helped us to really create a special connection that we kept until the very end. Ebony was my shadow, always following me around the house. She would be waiting by the garage door every day when I got home to welcome me. She would sit on top of the monitor as I'd teach my online class. How I miss my little black shadow!

We miss our girls dearly, and we've brought them home now to stay until we are reunited forever in heaven. I've written a couple poems that you can read here: http://www.digitalcaptive.net/ebony/ ("To Be Free" was written after Curly passed, and "Kitten Boo" was written for Ebony)

As a final note, I want to thank the wonderful people at the Feline CRF Support Group and at Tanya's Feline CRF Information Centre for everything they do. It was with their help that we got Ebony and Curly through everything we did, and without my friends and the help of the angels there we would have lost our Ebony in 2005.

Fireworks Abound

So we may have gone a bit overboard on fireworks this year. In fact, I know we did because we still have some left over... But, it was fun. We started off the fireworks festival with the typical hometown fireworks show and then we went to Gramma and Grampa's house to light off a bunch - and I mean a bunch - of fireworks. We had so many that the kids actually got bored. I definitely learned a lesson there - the small ones that make the loudest bang are the ones the kids like most, and the big ones are the ones that they don't really care too much about.

It didn't help that we had bought a large family pack of fireworks, and my parents had bought an even larger pack of fireworks! We had fireworks coming out our ears! It was funny because I thought the kids would just think it was awesome... I guess they haven't hit the pyromanic age yet. They enjoyed it for the most part though; but hey, after the 20th some-odd one, even I was getting a little phased. All in all it was a fun night, filled with lots of color, patriotic melodies, love for country, and appreciation for life, liberty and freedom... oh yeah, and outright incendiary fun!

Sprinkler Fun

The boys were introduced to the world of "sprinklers" recently. My mom bought a fun yard sprinkler recently that wiggles all over the place and sprays water in all directions. It's great fun and the boys have had lots of laughs, squeals, giggles, hoots and hollers over it.

It always amazes me watching kids experience things for the first time. Galen tends to be so careful while Liam just jumps right in, and yet other times Liam looks to Galen for guidance. I think all kids need some sort of sprinkler though - it really let's the true kid come out! And hey - it's a great way to beat the summer heat!

A Day at the Museum

We took the kids to visit the Maturango Museum not that long ago. They thought it was pretty neat. We introduced them to local artwork in the gallery, which had a really neat show featuring pottery that integrated antlers in some of the pots. The show was called "Ancient Clay - Desert Legacy" by artists Twyla and Hal Wardell. There was some really neat pieces and it was nice to expose the kids to fine art.

After visiting the art gallery we took the kids through the museum itself. They thought it was neat to see some of the desert animals on display and both of them really liked the Saber Tooth Tiger skull and special effects display. Galen thought the missiles were pretty neat for the NAWC display and we reminded the boys that their grampa and a couple of their uncles work on the base where they make the missiles.

Liam liked looking at things, but I'll admit it - Galen got a bit restless. He especially decided it was time to go when we suggested he stick his hands in the "touch and feel" boxes that have hole in them so you can't see what you're touching. The contents are things like local rocks and minerals, but oh my was that ever not a good idea! Liam thought it was great fun - my adventurous little one. The boys also thought the mammoth bones were kind of neat but you could tell Galen was slightly freaked out by them. (We've since asked him if he'd like to go to a museum to see dinosaur bones and he's said "NO").

The most fun part of the event, at least judging by how many trips they did, was the rock labyrinth next to the museum. You can walk around it until you reach the rock at the center. They have some solstice marks indicated and in several areas around it are desert gardens. I sat on a bench in the garden and watched as the kids took several trips around the labyrinth. They weren't happy to leave because they were having too much fun! However, promises to return and walk the labyrinth again coaxed them into the car where we had fun talking about our little trip to the museum. I look forward to future trips as they grow and can learn more about our local habitat and history with each visit.

Knights Abound!

Since Galen's birthday party wasn't on his actual birthday we had a family dinner and birthday cake celebration on his birthday. That's when Gramma and Grampa Karnos gave Galen his birthday presents. Nana came to visit with Cori's cousin Emily, and Grandma Ratliff joined us for dinner too. Uncle Clint and Aunt Laura were there for a while as well to wish Galen a happy birthday.

Galen and Liam were both excited to see that they both got Lego Knights outfits from Legoland. They proceeded to have an epic battle in the living room. Clint was quite impressed with Liam and his natural fighting abilities and decided that he could be his new squire! I really wish now that we had video taped it because it really was impressive, and Liam was being so serious about it! It was really adorable. Of course it was also kinda funny because Nana was rather shocked to see that we were willing to let them be so enthusiastic, okay maybe violent would be a better word, and she was worried that they were going to get hurt. I guess my attitude has always been that boys will be boys and hey, I wish I'd had these kinda toys when I was their age! We started counting up all the swords we have in the house for the kids and realized we have about 12 swords, a few daggers, about 4-6 shields, a few different knight outfits, etc.. So, do you think we're raising a couple of warriors or what? I dunno, they look pretty innocent and sweet to me :^)

Happy Birthday Galen

My munchkin is 5... FIVE! Five years old! How in the world did that happen?!? Okay, freakout moment over. We recently celebrated Galen's 5th birthday and it was a blast. This was our first "real" birthday party, where parents dropped off kids for games and events - the works. Galen decided he wanted a "Bionicle" (a Lego line of toys) theme. So, we started with the birthday invitation featuring Galen as a Toa, a Bionicle hero, inviting others to join him on the "Great Kanoka disc hunt." Kanoka discs being one of the weapons of the Toa and it tied into one of the Bionicle movies. The house was decorated with Toa colors, red, yellow, black, and we put tons of Thane's Bionicle toys (note I said Thane's) all around the living room to decorate.

We played Pin the Mask on the Toa (which amazingly Galen got dead on the spot), Bionicle Mask Spoon Race, we did the Great Kanoka Disc Hunt, and we had the kids decorate their own discs and do a Bionicle activity placemat. It was pretty fun. Galen's guests were his brother Liam, his cousins Rees, Caden, Victoriah and T.J. and his friends Bryce and Gavin. We invited the younger cousins and siblings and parents to join us after the games for cake and ice cream.

I definitely think the hats and swords/shields repository was the hit of the day. We had kids running all over with swords and a variety of hats that day! Galen enjoyed his presents and he received a variety of Speed Racer (a movie we just saw yesterday, and guess what, all enjoyed quite a lot actually), Hot Wheels, Transformers, a Dragon Egg toys and of course a variety of Bionicle items from the latest movie to a new Toa to a 3 foot spear (foam of course). He was also most pleased to get a new space man helmet to replace his broken one and was happy to see a brand new space helmet in the mix too! He also got a variety of other gifts, but that's a second post to come. So, it was a fun day which we all enjoyed! I still just can't believe my little munchkin is five....

Day at the Park

We went to the park recently, nothing special, just hanging out at the park, but I snapped a few pics and I thought some of these were really cute and I wanted to share them. Liam just wanted to swing and swing. I couldn't get him out of the thing! I think it wasn't until maybe the last 10 minutes we were there that he finally got out, so he must have been in it for about 20 minutes or more! Galen was having a blast, throwing sand as usual, running all over, and trying to play with a couple little girls that were obviously having fun and which he wanted in on the action. It was cute how he wanted to play with them, but it was pretty clear he was a 'boy' and they weren't going to have any of that! Ah, the age old struggle begins at such a young age!

Easter

Easter is always a fun time of year. I've always loved Easter. Not only do I love coloring eggs, but I love easter egg hunts, the candy, but most of all the special time that Easter is. We're still working on developing our own special family tradition, but we have had fun coloring easter eggs every year. This was the first year we let Liam color eggs - as many of you might know, coloring easter eggs can be a dicey and messy process - many opportunities for spills and stains! We waited until Galen was three before we let him help out too. So, here is our first batch of a full family easter egg coloring fest! Mostly Thane and I colored the eggs, but the kids gave us lots of directions about what to do. We all had fun and looked forward to our easter egg hunt the next day.

For our easter egg hunt we use plastic easter eggs that we can put candy in. We've mostly decided that easter shouldn't be about presents, but candy is one thing that is a fun surprise for easter - you just gotta have the chocolate bunny for easter, and who can pass up a Cadbury creme egg? So, we have lots of fun hiding the eggs and then during the hunt there are usually lots of "Hmmm, what's over here?" and "Hey, what's that over there?" but it's a joy to watch their excitement. I think next year we'll move the hunt outside! Hopefully we'll be able to convince the kids to continue with their equal sharing and divying up of the loot once the hunt is over, but, alas, only time will tell and I'm not holding my breath for total peace on eastern morn with two boys ;^)

Happy Birthday Liam

This year we celebrated Liam's third birthday in January. Our little man is 3! I can't believe it. And yes, we're a little behind the schedule in getting these pictures posted, but hey, at least they're posted - right? It was a fun event filled with family. His theme was Spiderman.

Liam specifically wanted a cape for his birthday, with a letter L on the back, in green and yellow (his two favorite colors). So, it was time for mom to break out her sewing machine she'd had for 10 years and never used (other people have used it - just not me!) and learn how to sew - for real. So, believe it or not, I sewed him his cape, and not just one cape, but three! I also made Galen a cape with a G on the back (oh my goodness was that a pain to make), and a plain red cape as well. It took a few days and lots of work, but it's been a joy to see our superhero's running through the house in their capes over the last 5 months.

Liam also gots lots of swords, shields, and star wars toys for his birthday. Grandma and Grandpa loaded him up (meaning spoiled him rotten) with tons of Lego castle toys. He's had lots of fun with all of his toys though and he enjoyed his birthday. We were just glad we were able to convince him that he was going to be three. For the longest time he insisted he was going to turn four like Galen was - he would get quite irrate if you suggested otherwise. About a week before his birthday I finally got him to admit he was turning three! I was worried we weren't going to be able to put a number on his cake for fear of upsetting him! Ah the joys of toddlerdom.

Wildflower Hike

Something we've done the past couple of years, well, when it rains at least, is take the kids on a nature hike to look at the wildflowers up above the college and in the Rademacher range. The boys love to get out of the house and it's a great opportunity to expose them to nature. We have fun photographing the flowers, watching out for snakes, and running around (if you're Galen at least). Poor Liam got freaked out by a bug that flew past him and so he wanted to go home, but we convinced him that it wasn't going to hurt him and he calmed down and we continued on our adventure. Unfortunately there were many bugs that decided the boys were interesting, which caused many a squeal!

After the hike we stopped at the college because the Galen wanted to play on the rocks, meaning he wanted to jump on the rocks! Thane told me that when Galen and I went one direction to head towards the college sign, Liam said to him, "Galen and Mamma went that way, but we have to stay here, and you have to stay here with me." He's such a character. He is so opinionated, definitely not one that changes his mind easily when it is set. The boys had fun climbing on the rocks, and as you can see, doing some rather good jumping feats. All in all, it was a good afternoon hike and adventure.