Thursday, September 17, 2009

Silly Monkers!

Things going on...

Fiona loved her dance class. She has spent a lot of time since then practicing her steps and rhythms. It is so amazing to see her blossom in an activity.
Brigid had a doctor's check-up. She is in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. She still is super skinny though. I have to pin all her pants up. The doctor was impressed that they only see my kids yearly. She absolutely loves that they don't know who she is. I took Brigid out to lunch as she had 4 shots and did not cry at all. She is my brave little trooper.
Our other cat, Poe, has not acclimated himself well to being an only cat. He wanders everywhere looking for the other cat. He seems really depressed. We may have to get a new cat sooner than we anticipated for Poe's sake.
Mark and I have been taking inventory of our property and trying to figure out what we can do with what we have. We are thinking of doing a mini-homestead here! We planted quite a bit of edibles this year, but we are going to expand. We are thinking of putting in some grape arbors with concord grapes, more raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and more veggies. The pear tree has given us more than we can eat this year. I was forced to make pear jam. One apple tree died, but we can still use the other. We shall see how far we are able to go.
There is a family in California that grow 99% of their food on 1/10 of an acre, in PASADENA! I am utterly amazed and enthralled by their work. That is what we would like to achieve, vegetable and fruit wise. With Mark and I both hunting, we may need the grocery store less and less as time goes on. That is my ultimate goal. Next up, I am thinking about my own bees....

Monday, September 14, 2009

Better today

I am certainly feeling worlds better today. I know Hamish is in a better place with people around him to love and that has given me a lot of comfort. Actually, my friend Diane was the one who thought that maybe Heavenly Father will now wake up to kitty massages every morning. It's funny, I really didn't feel up to church on Sunday, but the Relief Society choir was singing and since I am first counselor, I had to be there. Sacrament was truly uplifting. The music is what really got me. It was about consoling grief and finding hope. Heavenly Father certainly watches out for those who need it. But, then, the ladies sang. I had chosen "Beautiful Savior" from the old Children's Songbook. It has a stunning descant and is just amazing when sung by a large group that truly believe the words. There were only 15 of us, but we sounded like 300. Our group always has a few angels that like to sing with us. It is always a wonderful experience.

Monday morning dawned, and it was off to school for Fiona. She seems to dislike first grade, so far. I think she is a bit intimidated by the amount of work. We shall see how it goes. She brought home homework and has not been entirely excited about it. She starts irish step dance tonight at the Center for the Arts. She has sooooooo been looking forward to the lessons. It has been her entire focus this summer. Wish her luck!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

RIP- Hamish 9/12/2009

My beloved cat, Hamish was struck and killed by a car last night. I am beyond upset still over 12 hours later. They closed the bridge on the end of a main street and so we are the detour street. We have 1000% more traffic and no one slows down anymore. The two girls that struck him did the right thing, though and went looking for his owner. They found some neighbors who recognized him, called my in-laws who called Mark. I am glad that we didn't see him being killed, especially the kids. This will devastate them when we tell them after church. I have never ever had a cat who didn't die of old age or a lethal disease. I am beyond hopelessness over this loss.
Hamish was a stray that a local man found and took in to his shop in Cortland. Hamish was the office cat, then named Snuggles. When we bought the house, I had to have a cat, so we rushed over there. He couldn't find any kittens, but my girls couldn't pull themselves away from a long haired, overweight, over-affectionate cat. Scott put him in the car with us and away we went. Hamish loved riding in the car because the driver had to endure him sitting on your lap while you were forced to pet him. I woke up almost every morning to Hamish kneading my back to get me to wake up. I will severely miss the kitty massages.
I am so grateful that Hamish got to have a familywho loved him beyond words for a little over a year. He lived a short 4 years, but the last was the best.