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How To Tell If A Teenager Has Fed Your Pet
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Jun 14, 2009 in Pets 101
Until next time -
C
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Here’s A Quick Way To Inherit A Pet
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Feb 24, 2009 in Pets 101
Dear Brian,
Boonie, your dog would like you to see the indignities she puts up with when you are away.
Upset as she was, I let her curl up on your favorite jeans you left in a heap on the floor.
She shook water near your open video games that have been laying there for a week.
I love you,
Mom
Until next time-
C
Video: How To Play Baseball With A Cat Up A Tree
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Jul 22, 2008 in Pets 101
Brian’s cat Shadow likes to play catch with Brian, either by batting the ball back, or catching it and throwing it back. Click on “MORE” below to see the video.
Only a boy who loves to play baseball could have a cat that likes to play catch. You just can’t make this shi* up. Now, this is our first attempt at video. Please feel free to make fun of us. Of course you should be warned that it can be dangerous to piss off a redhead.
Why do I sound like Charlie Brown when I am being recorded?
Until next time-
C
Who Else Wants To Read A Redheadism?
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Mar 28, 2008 in Pets 101
There is nothing more sad than a dog’s face in the morning when the boy of the house has left for school.
Until next time-
C
How To Get A Dog To Beg
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Mar 6, 2008 in Pets 101
“Brian! Please come in here and feed your dog.”
“BUT MOM! I just fed her yesterday!”
I think I should feed Brian by the same logic. What do you think?
Until next time-
C
Who Else Wants People To Stop When They Hit An Animal?
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Dec 26, 2007 in Pets 101
It seems Brian’s Christmas Eve magic continues from year to year as his new kitty was hit by a car on Christmas Eve, only to sustain a small cut on her forehead.
In Brian’s annual Christmas Eve wish he asked for his kitty to be fine … and she is.
I am amazed.
And yes, the car did hit the cat. The driver was speeding down our street and never stopped.
I, on the other hand survived with a glass of red wine while the kitty slept in my arms.
Merry Christmas Silver Oak.
Until next time-
C
The Cat Who Came Back Home For Christmas
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Dec 21, 2007 in Pets 101
Christmas Eve, the glorious night when Santa flashes across the night sky, children lay restless in their beds and parents spend the last waking hours wrapping, preparing, building and swearing.
And a time when wishes can come true.
In the year 2000, my son Brian and I moved out of our country home and into a tiny condo. The move was last minute, because dwellings were in high demand due to the Telecom boom in Sonoma County California. To ease the adjustment from country cats to city cats, I left Brian’s kitties for the last thing to move.
However, (the best laid plans of mice and men) in my delay to return to the house, the cats vanished. All the here kitty, kitty calls went unanswered. It was almost as if the cats never existed.
Brian was five; old enough to ask the difficult questions we parents wish children wouldn’t ask.
“Where is Annabelle? … Why did she leave? … Did someone take her? … Doesn’t she love us anymore? … Is she dead? … What about Black Kitty?”
And every time the weather turned bad I would hear, “Do you think our kitties are cold? … Are they homeless? … Do you think they are starving? … Do you think they hate us for leaving them?”
Over the next two years, I returned many times to our old country home. I’d stand in the field and call the kitties names without response. I’d check all the shelters and the paper. The cats are never there. Two years pass without a word about our missing kitties. I gave up all hope of ever seeing them again.
Enter Christmas 2002.
The 2002 year was a difficult one for Brian. It was a year filled with many unhappy adjustments to situations and personal disappointments. Rolling into Christmas Eve he still didn’t seem his usual happy Brian-self. I said a short silent prayer to God and knelt in front of Brian.
“Do you know what day this is boobello?”
“Yes. It’s the night that Santa comes.”
“That’s right. But it is also the night that special wishes come true.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and I have a special wish, but I need your help.”
“OK.”
“I want to wish that we find our lost kitties tonight, on Christmas Eve. Let’s close our eyes and think really hard and make a wish that our kitties come home.”
“OK”
Brian stands up in a flash, ready to try anything to get his kitties back. He squeezes his eyes so tight that I think they might disappear forever. I pray that God will forget my transgressions and bless this great kid with a miracle.
When Brian opens his eyes we gather our coats and get into the car.
“Will this really work Mom?” He asks in that tone of a child who has lost the hope and magic of Christmas. “Of course it will,” I answer as my throat goes dry. I silently tell myself that God will not let this great little boy down on Christmas over this small request. Something in my gut tells me it will be fine. We drive over to our old house. The sun is just beginning to set, and all the Christmas lights are starting to come alive. The country is beautiful, like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
We get out of the car and walk right out into our old field. We hold hands as I instruct Brian to wait a minute before we began calling for the cats, so the Christmas eve magic has a chance to work. We take a deep breath and call to our kitties.
Nothing.
We call a second time.
Nothing.
The silence tears at my soul.
Brian looks up at me with that face which says, See! Christmas doesn’t love us after all!
Just at that moment I hear a faint meow. The meow is so faint that I almost think I am loosing my mind (this happens often to me). I call out to the cats again, and this time Brian hears a meow too.
“Mom? Did you hear that?”
“Yes!”
We walk quickly forward through the tall grass now yelling their names. The meow now approaches us, as if answering “I’m coming! I’m coming!”
Out from behind a tree appears a very skinny, much older Annabelle – Brian’s favorite kitty. I stand frozen, as I am sure she can’t be real. Brian screams and starts umping up and down, “It’s our Annabelle! It’s our Annabelle!”
I walk up to Annabelle, bend down and scoop her up. She immediately begins to purr. Her eyes look at me as if to say “I’ve been waiting – where have you been?” Brian is still jumping up and down yelling her name.
I am stunned that my plan as worked.
God lord, our wish has come true. We place our Annabelle in the car and continue to call for Black Kitty. He does not respond. Brian hardly notices, as he is too preoccupied with Annabelle. He wants to hurry and get her back to our condo.
I make a few last calls for Black Kitty before leaving to return home. Brian carries Annabelle so tightly into our home that I am afraid her head will explode. I have to nag Brian to put her down and let her explore the condo. I dig through the cupboards and find some tuna. Annabelle eats then drinks some water. She heads straight for Brian’s room – just like she often did when we were in the country. She curls up on Brian’s pillow and falls fast asleep.
“Mom” Brian whispers as he stares bright-eyed at Annabelle, “I love Christmas Eve magic.”
“Me too, son.”
It was the best Christmas.
Annabelle, our Christmas Eve kitty stayed with us until she died of old age.
Black kitty was discovered years later living with a real estate neighbor friend who adores him. Black Kitty made it clear to us that he preferred his new owners posh digs to us. Brian was OK with it – he had his Annabelle.
Brian and I still make Christmas Eve wishes.
Merry Christmas to all of you - may your Christmas wishes come true too.
Until next time-
C
Is Your Cat Sick From Her Thyroid Too
Posted by Catherine, the redhead mom blogger on Jan 15, 2006 in Pets 101
I am nursing a very sick kitty, cleaning house, and playing with Brian. Our Annabel kitty has thyroid disease.
Even though thyroid diseases can be hereditary, it is an autoimmune disease, which means that something happens to the immune system – it turns on itself and begins to attack organs. In Annabel’s case it is her heart, then liver. Which makes me wonder if we have been exposed to something in our environment that has compromised our immune systems.
A year ago the bathtub and tiles were replaced due to water leaking around the old ties and getting behind to the wood within the walls. When the tile was removed, black mold was thriving within the wall. A contractor came to replace the shower, and he cleaned and treated the interior walls and joints. The smell of the mold is something I will never forget.
As soon as he had pulled the old shower and tile out, the smell was over-whelming. It gave me an extreme headache, and I never get headaches.
We live at the bottom of a hill that is an oak forest, it is always damp.
I don’t know… I just don’t know.
And I am also bone exhausted so who knows how clear my thinking is. I am afraad my son’s kitty is going to die.
Until next time -
C
The Mom
