Wishing everyone a...

Do you remember

THIS?

Well, now it looks like this. Ah, so much better. It's almost melted! Yay!

Always wear your seatbelt.

Late Saturday we got a phone call from 2nd DS. A late night call always makes me a little nervous but our kids know we stay up late so I wasn't overly concerned. And I had just texted his wife, 2nd DDIL, about a 1/2 hour earlier.

But...they had been in an accident. Hit a patch of ice, rolled the pickup once and landed on a guard rail. And after that they walked away. Banged up yes, but no need for an ambulance. They were wearing their seatbelts.

Their dog, Aida, was in the backseat and was thrown out of the vehicle. She left claw marks on the roofliner of the cab as she was going out the window. She survived. She's walking on 3 legs right now but doesn't seem to be in any pain. She's a trooper.

I hate to think what could have happened with no seatbelts or if things had gone just slightly differently.

Everyone, please wear your seatbelts. They might not be the total answer but they are what we have so please make use of them...

And today we have....

No. Not sunshine. Not rain. Not fog. But you guessed it......Snow! Hey! Mother Nature! It's April 15th for pete's sake! Give us a break!

Look what I found!

While I was out taking down the Christmas decorations that had been just freed from being frozen to the ground and buried under a big snowbank all winter I found these..... Daylilies! Dear, brave daylilies! They are quite yellow from the cold and wet but Lookie! Something trying to grow and trying to be green! Yay! Even the grass isn't doing that yet.

Claus's Story

We got Claus last summer in July. On our way to Minneapolis to pick him up it was quite a storm. Thunder, wind and a bit of hail. Coincidently, it was a winter storm when we got Teddy, our first kitty from Minneapolis. Snow so heavy that you could hardly get down Interstate and roads closing all around. We made it though! Both times! We knew Claus had a couple issues when we got him. He had been at another home that hadn't worked out and had been taken back to the breeder. We knew that going in and decided that we would still give it a go. He is not a litter mate of Teddy's but is still a full brother and we thought it would be fun to have 2 brothers. Claus was scared and hid under the bed until I got him out and stuffed the edges of the bed with old pillows and blankets to keep him out. Then he was still scared but at least out in the open. We couldn't pet him or touch him in any way and he mainly scooted along the edges of rooms looking nervous. It was a challenge to catch him and get him into a carrier for the 1st checkup at the vet.

This is how he looked during about the first month with us. Hiding behind furniture and nervous.

Shortly after we got him home we begin finding places where he had peed. Several places. I had heard that sometimes there can be an infection or other illness when cats do that so there was another trip to the vet. We found out he was fine physically and the vet devised a plan to help him emotionally.

We got him a bigger litter pan, some of the litter he was used to in Minneapolis and used Feliway spray where he had peed. Ahem, inappropriate urination. That's what the vet calls it.

The vet also said that he might need more to do and so we set up a small TV and DVD player and put in our cat video. He did love watching it...it was fun to see him. But these things didn't stop him from peeing and I was on the phone again with the vet. I told him we wanted to do everything we could to keep Claus and he suggested our next step was drugs. Claus was put on Prozax. It was compounded at a pharmacy in Grand Forks into a kitty size dose and he took it in a Pill Pocket. Thanks goodness he would eat the pill pocket 'cuz he still doesn't like to be held in a controlling fashion and so giving him a pill would have been impossible. It worked! Claus was on Prozax for a few months and gradually weaned off it and he's a completely different cat. No more inappropriate urination! He gets along really well with Teddy. Here they are watching birds out the living room door. (Teddy on the left. Claus on the right.) Do you think they are a bit spoiled? Stools in front of the door so they can see out??

He even comes to sit on my lap to watch me knit. We can pet him and he loves to be scratched behind his ears. There are times when he is still a bit cautious. He doesn't like being in a situation where he feels trapped. But overall he has done a 180 degree turnaround.

Because he doesn't like being held against his will there hasn't been any brushing and so he developed some quite large mats. Again the vet had a drug to help the situation. He prescribed a short term pill, Zanax, so we could take him to a groomer and get the mats clipped out and give him a good combing and nail trim. It worked beautifully! He was so relaxed he napped in the carrier both on the way there and back.

Claus is now a happy, much better adjusted kitty. He loves to take a mad dash run through the house with Teddy most every morning. He has gained a bit of weight...he was quite thin. And he loves to watch the birds outside.

I guess you could say Claus has a better life thanks to modern drugs and a vet that cared.

Sewing completed and loved!

I'd been thinking about sewing DGD a "play dress" for quite some time. I thought I'd have to go with a Halloween costume pattern and so I was really pleased when I found the Disney Tinkerbell pattern. I altered the kind of fabric used to what I could find at Walmart and the tulle didn't have to be hemmed. Bonus! It was relatively easy to sew but took much longer than I expected...of course when I sew that is always the case. I cut it out one evening and the next I thought I'd just whip it together. 6 1/2 hours later I was finally done with it and was able to go to bed at about 1:45 am. But she loves it and that is all that counts! Yay! These are the alterations to the prom dress I talked about before. I had to take out some of the beading and take it in about 4". Because of the way the dress was contructed I couldn't do a typical seam...I did everything from the outside. And so there is topstitching that looks a little unprofessional...but then I don't claim to be a professional seamstress...just one that can do enough to get by! The gathering was done to make the top edges come out even. The gathering wasn't there before and since the other side has the zipper there isn't any gathering there but there was no other way that I could think to make it come out. If anyone is checking out the sewing on the dress during the prom they have other issues that need addressing! The zipper is an Invisible zipper but I couldn't do the usual installation, again because of dress contruction, and so there is top stitching here too and this is how the zipper turned out. Not too bad...there wasn't room for the hook and eye so I left it off. Does anyone use that hook and eye at the top of a zipper anyway? I shortened it and added a few more tucks to make it look the same all the way to the bottom of the dress. For some reason in this picture it looks shorter on the sides. I truly hope that that isn't the case! She tried it on and said it fit perfectly! Yay again! Weather update: We were forecast for up to 6" of snow for today. I am pleased to announce that so far we haven't gotten any. What a relief! Yay yet again! I heard geese honking their way along this morning. There must be spring somewhere south for them to be here already. They are in for a surprise the first time they try a water landing. Everything is frozen yet! I don't know when I've been more frustrated with blogger. I can't get the pictures to stay in a row and there aren't any paragraphs because I can't get them to stick...it keeps changing back to one long run-on mess. Augh!!