The Neighbors moving day and the Kentucky Derby

Our neighbors Carolyn and Todd are moving today. They are not moving far but still it is going to be a major change to realize that they are no longer right next door. We have only been neighbors for about two years now but still in this transient society where often you do not know your neighbors at all to have ones that you become friends with easily is a gift to treasure.

Carolyn with some of her junior helpers

Jim volunteered to help them to pack up and move their stuff to their new home. They had promises from family members also so it seemed that things would go smoothly and everything would be moved in record time. After about an hour of Jim being the only helper it was beginning to look like it would be a bit of a longer process than first planned for. Fortunately the rest of the moving crew arrived and things began to move quite a bit faster. Todd and Carolyn's three children and the children brought along by other helpers all dived in and worked hard along with the adults.

One thing at a time

How to wrestle a sofa!

I couldn't help much with the actual lifting and moving although I did cheer from the sidelines and took pictures of some of the more memorable moments such as squeezing a very large sofa out of a not so large door! I also took the opportunity to take the dogs for a walk and check out the progress that spring has been making since my last photo journey. I took pictures of our other neighbor, four mile creek as well as many of the trees that now have new leaves instead of just the buds that were there last week. We do not have the full leaf effect of the summer but at least we are losing the dull browns and greys of the winter months.

The leaves are coming, the leaves are coming!

Forsythia in bloom, a sure sign of spring
A small waterfall on four mile creek

After a long afternoon in the sun I finally came back inside and discovered that it was almost time for the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. I try to watch the Triple Crown every year, pick a favorite and cheer them on. I came inside so late that I turned on the television about ten minutes before the start of the race. I really had no idea who was running this year, I had done no research and I was astonished to hear that 19 dogs were running in this years race, one horse had scratched. That is a large field and that can make a race interesting. The horses came out of the paddock and were loaded in the chutes and all that anticipation that has been building explodes when the gates open and out the horses rush. It only seems like seconds later and the race is over. This year was quite a suprise when a 50:1 longshot called Mine that Bird (who names these horses anyway) squeezed up the rail and blasted into the history books as the second largest longshot to win the Kentucky Derby. Congratulations to the owners, trainers and jockey. Best of luck in the upcoming Preakness! Will we have a Triple Crown winner this year?

That is all I have to say for now. Good luck to Carolyn and Todd in their new home, we will visit you often. I will post again to let you know what suprise is moving in next door over the next few days.

A day at the south pier

Friday Jim and I went to the South Pier because Jim had a hankering to fish for perch and crappie. We arrived bright and early because the weather forecast was for temperatures in the seventies, bright sunshine and a possibility of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. We no sooner get set up and ready to fish when what is looming on the horizon but a very large black sky complete with lightening and thunder. So we pack up all our gear and head back to the car. We wait out the storm which blew through rather quickly and then we unload all the gear again and head off to get set up.


Storm blowing in over Presque Isle State Park


I decided at this point that instead of fishing I would abandon Jim at the pier and follow the multi-use trail that goes next to the road heading towards the Bayfront Highway. Kai needed a good long walk and I had brought my camera so I could also take the opportunity to take pictures of the budding spring.

Jim fishing happily during my absence



Budding tree





Pine cones that have fallen in the grass



There were so many trees in bud and other plants struggling up through last years growth to reach the sun that I took many interesting photos.

Another budding tree


Walking out along the length of the pier later I was able to photograph the buoys waiting to be put in the water for the summer boaters, the lighthouse at the end of the north pier and other sights of interest that I did not know were out there since I had never walked along that pier before. Kai had a good time because he got to exercise until he was tired.

A sunken ship? I am not sure, it is located in a partially walled off area behind the south pier






Lighthouse at the end of the north pier


Bouys waiting for summer


A friendly red winged blackbird came to visit
It was a long day, Jim never did manage to catch any fish but had plenty of evidence of visitors due to the disappearence of many minnows. Just being out in the sunshine and warm weather was great after the long cold and very snowy winter. I hope we do something similar in the near future.

Dog Walks and the Great Outdoors

We have been having some wonderful spring like weather lately and I have had a major case of cabin fever so it seemed like a great time to take a walk. We decided to walk to the ball park so the dogs could have a nice run as well as a walk. When consulted about the idea Rommel and Kai had no objections so we headed out.

Running past where I live is Four Mile Creek. It is a rather small creek at this point but it is typical of creeks in the area with a slate bottom and deep in a gully. The slate bottom causes many levels in the floor of the creek so there are lots of areas of ripples, small water falls and white water. I do not have a digital camera that will take time exposure yet so I am not able to blur the water movement so that it is shown in the picture. It is a great special effect that is easy to do with a tripod or stable position for the camera and a timer on the camera to create timed exposure. I did take some pictures of the creek no special effects.

Part of Four Mile Creek



I had to take the pictures from a bit of a distance because the banks were really not very stable because of the heavy rain a day or so before. I did not want to risk getting too close.

Four Mile Creek

Kai and Rommel had a wonderful time walking to the park and then once we were there they ran and chased each other all over the place. Finally when they had slowed down a little bit I decided to take the opportunity to take some picture of Kai in a stacked stand. After eliciting the unwilling assistance of Jim to pose Kai I did manage to get a few pictures. They are not the best poses because Jim had a very short crash course in how to stack a German Shepherd Dog about three seconds before I took the first picture. Even though we never did get the front and the rear stacked at the same time the pictures aren't too bad. We will just have to keep on practicing and see if we can do better.

Rommel hides under bench at ball park waiting for Kai to come running past

Kai in a stack while Rommel hangs out practicing his stand also

Now that the spring weather is here to stay (please let it be here to stay) I am hoping that walks can become more frequent for everyone. I know Kai and Rommel have no objection and with my scooter I am definately able to take off on a long walk with minimal difficulty.

Till next time.

Scooters, parties and strange bedfellows.

I have not written anything here for so long I almost debated just letting the site disappear into cyberspace but I am going to give things another try and make an attempt to keep things just a little more current. I really do not have too much to talk about but here goes nothing.

I finally saved enough money to purchase an electric scooter so that I can get around easier. Since I do not have health insurance yet I had to use my own money so I had to purchase an inexpensive scooter. I thought at first that I was going to have to purchase a used scooter but I managed to find a brand new scooter in my price range so I am really happy about that. I want to thank the people at Blackburn's Rehab Specialities for all their assistance. They are a very informed, polite and friendly group of people that took care of my needs in an expidited and efficient manner.

Picture of my new scooter the day I picked it out

So now with my scooter I can go places and I am able to get around long distances. It gives me so much freedom, I can take my dogs for walks, go to the mall or even WalMart. I will be able to go to fairs and other celebrations and spend an hour or the day with no difficulty. For the past two years or so going anyplace like that was so painful and I could spend no more than a short time walking before I either had to stop to rest my knees or catch my breath. Now I have freedom, what shall I do with it!!

I had the opportunity to go to the 18th birthday party of the daughter of friends of mine on St. Patricks day. The birthday girl, Amanda is a beautiful girl and a sweetheart of a person. We had a great time, ate the usual cake and ice cream and had dinner later in the evening. As parties go it was a quiet time but we had a great time.

Amanda opening her gifts

Amanda showing us some of the gifts she received

Other than the addition of my new scooter and Amanda's birthday party I really don't have a great deal of new information to talk about. Let's cover some old ground. The dogs are doing fine. Kai started agility classes last month. He is doing well and now that I have my scooter I can train him much better. I am looking forward to possibly showing him soon. Rommel seems to be enjoying his retirement with us and is getting along well with all the other residents here. Kai and one of the cats seem to be joined at the hip. You never find one of them more than a few feet from the other. It has gone so far that sometimes the cat, Pip, sleeps on top of Kai. It is a strange relationship, they groom each other, play together and just hang out cuddled up.

Kai and Pip, together as always

I am going to close this post and work on ideas for the next time. See you then.

Here we go Steelers!

I can hear the chants of "Here we go Steelers, Here we go!" echoing around Heinz Field. Too bad I was not there to hear the cheering and excitement in person. It has always been my dream to go to a Steeler's game in Pittsburgh but so far that dream has not come through. I have travelled to Cincinnati to see them play. Isn't that so sad that I would have to travel so far to see my team play. I have to sit in a stadium of hostile people that want my team to curl up and die on the football field so that they can be victorious.

Today the Steelers played the San Diego Chargers at Heinz Field during the semi finals for the AFC Championship. The winner of todays game would go to play the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC Championship and then it would be on to the Super Bowl!

YAHOO! Today we won. It was a great game. Now I have to dust off my Terrible towel and get ready for the game against the Ravens. I hope we are as successful.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas is almost here! It seems to me that it was just yesterday when we were celebrating Thanksgiving and before that only a day or two since the sunny skies and much warmer temperatures of summer. With all the snow that we have been getting here in Erie I sure do miss the warmer temperatures of summer!

I have my house all decorated for the season. The Christmas tree is up with the presents under it that family is giving to family. I am sure that Santa Claus will add his gifts when he tiptoes in on Christmas Eve.

I have been collecting Hallmark musical snowmen for the past four or five years and they are all lined up in a row across the television stand. With the other holiday decorations my home is looking quite festive. I sometimes get the crazy idea that I will keep my holiday decorations up all year round. I love all the snowmen, Santa Claus', reindeer, nutcrackers, elves, angels, etc that are used to decorate this time of the year. I think houses look so inviting with all the lights and decorations in the yard. Jim and I are going to go out driving on Christmas Eve to look at the houses in the area and see the decorations. It is sad that the economy has caused many people to cut back on their celebrations this year. Many houses that usually light up the neighborhood are dark this year.

Four of my Hallmark singing Snowman
Despite having six cats in the household and four of them kittens that are just six months old the Christmas tree is surviving very well. A few sprays with water and they have learned to avoid the tree like it is going to eat them. I don't want them playing with the tree because all of them had a fascination with the icicles and I do not want to have to run a kitten to the vet that has ingested tinsel and has a bowel obstruction because of it. I prefer to keep the holiday season safe for everyone that lives here. The biggest danger to the tree has been the dogs tails. It seems no matter what is going on the dogs manage to turn their butt towards the tree and wag their tails merrily. It causes a dilemma because I can't yell at the dogs for wagging their tails. So we use distraction and get them away from the tree as soon as possible. Still the bottom third of the tree is looking a little worse for wear. The branches are a bit bent, the icicles pushed into the tree or on the ground. Ornaments have been doing half gainers all over the place. We did think far enough ahead to put all the unbreakable ornaments on the lower half of the tree.

Christmas tree all decorated before the dogs tails started their redecoration efforts!
Here are a couple of my other Christmas decorations. I love giving and getting Christmas decorations. They are something you can use every year to remember the person that gave you the gift. I also buy myself at least one new Christmas decoration every year. It keeps the decoration of the house fresh and new every year and makes every Christmas just a little special. You have the comfort and memories of the older ornaments that have been used every year and you have the new ornaments or decorations that will be in your memories of Christmas in the future.

Close up of the Angel tree topper
The angel is a treasured memento of Cindy Peters, Jims mother, she passed a few years ago. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she really loved this angel.

Dogs Christmas StockingsThe dog's Christmas stockings are definitely not hung by the chimney with care because we have no fireplace. So they are hung up out of reach of snoopy puppy noses which works out just fine.

I want to wish everyone peace and happiness during this Holiday season. May everyone be safe and enjoy this special magical time of the year.
Best wishes everyone! Merry Christmas.

Trouble is back

Trouble is back! I am not necessarily happy about it but you deal with what you have to deal with. Jim and I were sitting watching television the other evening when there was a knock on the door. The next door neighbor's child was standing at our door. He had a request to make. In the summer months when we had the entire litter of kittens to give away his family had taken the runt of the litter, they named her Trouble. We had heard nothing about her since then although we had seen her occasionally. Now he was on our doorstep stating that his mom told him to throw the kitten outside because she was not litter trained like we claimed. It seemed strange to us because all the kittens used the litter box only making mistakes if we did not keep the litter boxes clean. You could tell that he was upset about his mother's ultimatum. He told us that he did not want to put her outside in the cold so could we please take her back.

Trouble perched on back of chair after arrival back at our house.

I was also very upset for several reasons. One that I considered the neighbors to be responsible animal lovers and I would never consider that they would throw an animal out in the snow because of litter box issues. There are other avenues that you can follow, retraining her to use the litter box, finding her a new home, taking her to the shelter, etc. They have other cats and two dogs, I am wondering which of them will get thrown out for trivial reasons next. There are things that you can do to get a cat to use a litter box when it breaks litter training. Why if this was an ongoing problem had we not heard about it earlier? Something did not smell right about the entire situation but I did not want to see the kitten trying to survive on her own in the middle of winter or worse find out she died so we agreed to take her back. I am sure if they were callous enough to throw her outside they would not bother to take care of her and provide shelter or feed her anymore. I basically felt we had no choice.

This came at a very bad time because we had seriously considered taking the remaining kittens to the no kill shelter in town because having five cats was just a bit too much. Now here we are with six cats! This is not progressing in the correct direction.

Trouble right before she left our house when her name was Squirt!

Now we have Rommel going through cat infatuation again because there is an new cat in the house so he is on high alert to chase and play with any thing that moves. Trouble is hiding and spitting and hissing at the other cats in the house. She does not remember that they are all family. Of course the resident cats are all returning the favor and growling and hissing back at her. I have not ever heard so many sounds of cat discontent in my life. I have had to keep a small dish of cat food next to me so Trouble can get something to eat because the other cats will not let her share their dish yet. She has used the litter box so I guess that the reason for dumping her is a figment of someones imagination.

Now we not only have another mouth to feed and care for, we have chaos in the house that will probably take several days or weeks to resolve itself. We still have to make the hard decision on whether to take the kittens to the shelter where they will hopefully find good homes or keep them here because they have of course worked their little fuzzy selves into our hearts. I am not happy with my neighbors and I am hoping that I will not see them for quite a while so that I have time to calm down before I tell them what I think of their attitudes towards raising kittens.

Oh well, life goes on. I need to take a deep breath and get on with things. Excuse me but I have to go grab a German Shepherd that is flying past me chasing a cat. Life is definitely going to be so bizarre, that is for sure.