Dear Sam,

I will never forgive you or your accomplice.

I should have known you were planning something.  You are always trying to find trouble.

There were signs of trouble.  I was in denial.  I should have known by the way you were salivating. 

The little attempts I did not take seriously enough, the time outs, all troubling signs.  It was all there.  I just wanted to believe in you.

You killed and ate several of my baby chicks.  They were only 3 weeks old.

How could you?  My special pink, blue, and green egg laying babies. 

Don't give me that look.  You are not a sweet dog.  You are a murderer.  

Seriously, you were never that cute.

I never adored you.

Okay, I forgive you.

Fur Babies

Warning...This post contains graphic pictures of our cat giving birth.  So, if you get squeamish or are easily grossed out, you should stop reading.  There are four pictures of my sweet kiddos watching the birth until you get to the graphic pictures. 

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My sweet Keri (aka, little hussie) had her litter last night.  We were all worried about her because she was so young and little.  She came through just fine and all the babies are thriving. 

I fully expected her to have the babies in a dark closet or hidden away somewhere.  She actually came up to me and started meowing.  I thought maybe she was hungry, so I gave her some food and water but she refused it.  She came to me again and started meowing and I noticed her tummy was contracting.

Poor thing.  The first baby was the most difficult.  She did cry out a few times.

  I sent one child to get a box and another to get an old towel.  We put Keri in and pet her and loved on her and talked to her.  She had the first baby about 20 minutes after the first contractions.  4 more kittens followed.

 Keri did such a good job.  She broke open each sac and severed the umbilical cords.  She licked them all clean and started nursing right away. 

All the kittens except for one have the same coloring as Keri.  The oddball is black/gray/white. 

They are all just precious.

She will not leave the kittens.  Not even to eat, so we have been bringing her food and water and trying to take care of her.  

We are going to help Keri by bottle feeding the babies several times a day.  Since she is so young and nursing takes so much calcium and nutrients from her, she really could use some help.  Otherwise, she could loose a rib and become very nutrient-deprived.  

I'll post bottle-feeding pictures later on.

Brandon kept saying he could not believe he got to witness the miracle of life.  All the kiddos were just enthralled in the whole process, on the verge of tears. 

Yes, we are going to keep them.  Yes, all of them.  Yes, we are nuts but we have the land and resources to take care of them.  They will help control pests and have a happy home. 

 They are all going to get fixed.  I am going to put the date on my ical calendar with e-mail reminders and sound effects so I won't drop the ball again.  I'm already on the verge of being called that crazy cat lady.  All together that makes 7 cats.  Hopefully, they will eradicate our pest problem.  That is a whole other post.  I'm still not ready to talk about it. 

I wanted to post about two things that made me very mad but I won't.  I wanted to post about the seething anger I have toward my daughter's dog.  The normally very well behaved, protector of the house and garden sweet dog lost his mind.  He still can not look me in the eye.

Yes, my daughter put him in a girly shirt.  Don't let his sweet face fool you.  He is a sneaky, conniving dog.

But I won't post about that.   I wanted to post about a little pest problem I am having, about the evil little pests that are making my skin crawl and my eye twitch.  But I won't.  No, it's still too fresh, too infuriating.  

Instead, I will post about these two sweet angels. 

These two kiddos are just the sweetest, most caring, and empathetic little monkeys.

When Cody and I got home from the emergency room, they had a few surprises for him.

Lexie made a cast on one of Cody's favorite teddy bears so it would match him.  She cleaned his room and set up pillows, blankets and books on the couch for him so he could be comfortable.  Then, she did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen so I would not have to deal with a messy house.  She is just beautiful inside and out.  I am so thankful for her.

This little monkey put together a Pokemon play set for Cody, gave him one of his own Pokemon characters and helped his sister set up a comfy area for Cody to rest.  He also sat and colored with him and kept him company. He helped clean the house and was the first one out the door when we got home to see if Cody was okay. So sweet.

I feel pretty blessed with these kiddos.  They have pure, sweet, loving hearts.

They get along well, share, and comfort each other.

They try to make each other feel better and are so helpful.

Please remind me of this the next time I want to pull my hair out because they are driving me crazy. 

Maybe I'll tell you the dog and pest stories soon.  When my temporal artery stops pulsating and I stop grinding my teeth.  

The rest of the story.

That title reminded me of Paul Harvey.  I miss Paul Harvey.  What a comforting voice  he had.

Anyway..

My baby is okay.  Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes. He fractured the capitellum, which is pretty rare.  He does not need to have surgery yet.   Hopefully, he won't need it at all.  The space between his fracture and the bone is 2mm.  If the space is larger than 2mm in 1 week, he will need to get it pinned.  I made the mistake of looking up the procedure.  I never want to see those pictures again, let alone imagine my sweet monkey getting it done. If your feeling brave and are not squeemish you can go to:

 http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/posterolateral_approach_to_elbow_kocher

 If it stays at 2 mm. then he will just stay in his full-arm cast for four weeks.  They will check it at 4 weeks and see if he needs to have it on longer or not.  He may need some physical therapy or at the very least range of motion exercises. 

So, how did this happen?  Well, I call him a little monkey for a reason.  He is always climbing, jumping, and trying to figure out what dangerous daredevil trick he can perform next.  I am getting more gray hairs by the day.  The boy was standing on the couch with his back leaning against the top.  He fell over the top and landed on the rock hard slate floor on his elbow.  Then, he screamed bloody murder and made me have a heart attack.  His elbow quickly turned red, then green, then black and swelled up 4 times its normal size.  He could not move his arm at all.  So, Lee made a splint and sling for him and I carted him off to the ER.  Lee did an awesome job with the splint.  Everyone at the ER told me how impressed they were with it.  I am thankful to have such a smart, competent and calm husband.  

Cody is feeling a little better today.  He has a lot of shooting pains though.  I bought him a Color Explosion 3-D coloring book yesterday.  He is already done with it.  I guess I need to stock up on coloring books, reading books and quiet games for the next week.  We really want him to just sit with his arm elevated so that space does not get any bigger.  

 

Cody is not happy with me at all.  I keep making him elevate  his arm and not move much at all. He just wants to play.  Poor thing.  

Rings of fire

Love is a burning thing

And it makes

A fiery ring

Bound by wild desire

I fell into a ring of fire
I fell into a burnin' ring of fire

I went down down down

And the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns

The ring of fire, the ring of fire

Your welcome.  You can always count on me to get songs stuck in your head.

We got up at 5 am, had a cuppa coffee and went to work.

Lee wanted to get the fires going while the ground was still  wet and it was early.  We knew they would burn a long time.

The piles lit up lightening fast.  It was a relief to get it done.  Not only to get the piles out of the way but also to decrease the danger of them lighting up all on their own.  

We let the piles burn all day.  We kept raking in the coals and raking between the piles to get the whole area cleaned up.   It started looking better.

and better.

And we could finally see the driveway again.  Then when we were just about done,I had to take a trip to the ER.  My baby broke his arm.  We are going to an orthopedic surgeon this morning to see if he needs surgery.  Say a little prayer.  To be continued.