It is with a broken heart I write this post.  Our poor sweet little Chessie was diagnosed with renal (kidney) failure on October 16th 2013.  We helped her as much as we could with her battle but renal failure is a terminal illness and we knew we wouldn't be able to keep her alive.  My poor Chessie was so weak and tired of her battle that on December 4th we made a vet appointment to have her put to sleep.  I'm so thankful it was a sunny day because she got to sleep in her favorite toy tunnel in the sun.  Later in the afternoon she got to spend a little time out on the deck remembering her hunting adventures.  At the end of the day we took into the vet's and she went peacefully with no fuss.  I miss her so very much.  It just doesn't seem fair that we had her liver problems back within normal ranges and she was a happy, loving, fun kitty.  The house is so quiet and empty without her.  Everywhere I look reminds me of her.  She gave lots of love and was loved greatly in return.  I'm glad your suffering is over and I hope you are having fun over on the Rainbow Bridge side.

My beaded piece was accepted

My beaded amulet was accepted for the auction and they have a picture of it on their advertising poster. It can be seen at http://truefriendsawc.com/events.html. Not sure how they have priced it.

New Year of 2012

Here we are again, a new year and I'm wondering where the last one went. Was a fairly busy year with a couple of short trips and lots of beading and making cards.

I have just finished an amulet to be submitted to an art show to benefit the local animal welfare center where we adopted Chessie. It's a juried show so I don't know yet if my piece has been accepted yet. The item submitted must have a canine or feline theme. This is the piece I'm submitting.

Been almost a year

A blogger I am not but I have been making cards lately for a craft show I'll be doing in another two weeks. Some of my cards are just so pretty (in my humble opinion - IMHO) that I wanted to be able to share them with my family and friends.

A few weeks ago I bought myself a Silhouette SD (SIL) electronic die cutting machine. I am in love! This machine is just so awesome and the software that comes with it. It hooks up to my computer and I can download either free or bought designs to manipulate on my computer and then send to the SIL for it to do it's magic cutting. Or when I get really good I can make my own designs. There is a definite learning curve with the software design package and I've only scratched the surface.

I feel guilty sitting here at the computer because it's such a beautiful day out and we certainly haven't many of those this year. When the show is over I'll have to get outside and do my gardening. Until then I'm busy creating!

Time Marches On

Time just keeps marching on and I have no idea where it's all gone. Summer is half over already. The Firemen's Picnics are going full strength and it's time to submit my entry form for the Harford Fair. Other than our peppers our veggie garden seems to be doing well. We've been picking yellow squash like crazy (even though we only have two plants) and hopefully we'll start picking cucumbers some time this week. We also have a couple of fair sized eggplants to be picked soon. The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes but they aren't even close to being ripe. Because of the heat and then the rains I haven't been out to the wild huckleberries lately to see if we'll have any this year. I doubt that we will have enough to do anything with since the late frost killed the blossoms and the same for apples. However, the elderberries are a later blooming plant and we should have plenty of them to pick.

Blogging is like my diary

I remember a few times I got a "My Diary" as a Christmas gift and I'd eagerly await 1 January so I could start to write in it. My blogging is alot like my diary experiences. I'd write in my diary every day for about the first 2 weeks and then it'd be once or twice a week for another 2 weeks and then it'd be about 3 times for the whole year. I have concluded "My Diary" and my blog reflect my life ... too boring to put into words.
I started part of this blog as a way to keep track of Chessie's medical history. She has now been on Denamarin for a year and liquid milk thistle for cats. So far it seems to be working fine. Chessie is still the one in charge in this house and demands much loving and play time. However, whenever she appears sick I panic. She has had one runny eye for about 5 months now and Paul thinks she's looking a little skinny lately. After looking at her this morning I have to agree she's looking thin. Now the panic begins. I worry so much about the FIP and her liver condition. Her appetite seems to be okay but she doesn't seem to be eating as much as she used to (progression from kitten to cat?) and she seems to tire faster when chasing paper balls (again, is it that she's outgrowing being a kitten?). More panic. I think maybe it's time to take her in for a checkup.
Lizzy, on the other hand, is still Lizzy. She doesn't particularly like to be petted nor picked up and of course any loud noise sends her running. I guess she's healthy except for the normal hairball hurl. She has started to jump up into my lap occasionally while I'm reading the morning paper so that's a nice thing. And Lizzy is usually the first one to greet me as I get up in the morning because she knows I'm going to feed her. She is definitely a chow hound although it has to be something she likes.

Good News

Here it is almost the end of July already. It's hard to believe how fast time flies. I never seem to have enough energy or ambition for all the things that need to be done or things I want to get done. I won't even try to fill in the gap between Feb and now except to mention I've driven to Florida and back and been to a week-long Polymer Clay Mixed Media retreat. And of course many other happenings took place but that's water under the bridge now.

It's so hard to believe that Shamu had her stroke 2 years ago today. We still miss her terribly and talk about her often.

Chessie started acting weird last Wednesday night doing what we call "the lick, lick, lick, jerk and run away". We're wondering if she has Feline Hyperesthesia (FHS). Anyway, after a few days of not eating or drinking much and doing the lick-lick we took Chessie into the vet. They thought she might have an allergy or something and asked about what was new around the house. Nothing! The vet then started looking through Chessie's fur all over her head, back, and legs. When she flipped Chessie over started on her stomach she discovered a hernia in her abdomen. That was Friday and we scheduled her surgery for Monday. As long as she was there we also had a full blood work panel done on her since it's been 7 months since we started her on Denamarin. Poor kitty was miserable Friday & Saturday until Sunday morning when she was suddenly more or less her normal self with only the occasional lick-lick. Monday the surgery went well and the vet said it's a good thing she had the surgery done because "it was a nasty mess" (whatever that means). Now we're supposed to keep her in a crate (yeah, right!) and not let her run, jump, or climb for 30 days (in your dreams!). So if we can keep her somewhat calm and let the hernia sutures heal she should be fine. However, the really good news is that the results from her blood work is great! The vet was very, very pleased with the results. Chessie's liver functions are in the normal range except one is slightly below and that may have been because of the hernia and surgery. I guess the Denamarin and milk thistle must be working!!!