Bella Dia

Ferrets!!

Yes, we got two ferrets for Christmas! It all started with my sister calling from Boise and asking if I'd mind babysitting a 10 week old baby ferret for the two weeks until Christmas. Like I'm going to say no; she had me at baby... Well, after one week of taking care of the little girl we had all fallen in love with her. So back to Boise go both my sister and I - she to get two ferrets and me to get one more; like many animals they like a buddy. We were able to get our little girl's brother and my sister got two brothers. There was no way I could hide three ferrets from the kids so they found out early that we would keep the little girl and her brother for us but we'd also be babysitting the other two for a week or so.

The ferret above is Wolfie, our little male.

This is Stella, the little girl that started it all.

Wolfie again, he's waving at you before he goes nite nite. They are amazing animals. Incredibly curious and playful and no fear whatsoever! Their personality is somewhere between a cat's and a dog's.

They sleep about 18 hours a day and when they sleep they are completely zonked out, so funny!

Stella - as a female she'll be about half the size of her brother.

Stella fell in love when I made this "cat" toy. Bells and shiny stuff make them crazy!

I'm putting more pictures, if you can stand it, over at Flickr. My daughter got one of these for Christmas so we'll try and get some video of them playing for you to see too.

Little Beasties

Do you know what this sweet kitty did the other day?  He brought us a present!  Oh yes, I've received half-dead mice and mangled fowl from our other felines, but this gift tops them all.... what was it?  A snake!  In the house!  Alive!!  Luckily, the snake was scared out of its wits and all balled up and Tom was laying next to it giving the snake a little pat every now and then just to remind him he was still there. 

I was in the other room, on the computer, and the kids called me from the kitchen... Mom, come in here!  Okay, just a minute.  Mom, we need you right now!  Okay, okay.   I pushed myself away from the keyboard and went into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about and at the same time that they are telling me - from atop the counter - that Tom had caught a snake, I see it on the floor!  A snake!   Why didn't you tell me!  Yikes!  We got a broom and swept him into a shovel and took him outside.  As soon as the sunshine hit him he stretched out and made his getaway into our storage area.  Of course, now, blogging about it, I wish I had gotten a picture, but you probably understand I was in a bit of a hurry at the time ;)   I don't like snakes.  They freak me out.  Even though this was a garter snake and I know they do a lot of good in the garden etc.  I still don't want to see them in my kitchen or run into them when I'm weeding. 

I had planned on cleaning out that storage area this weekend but now I think we'll save it for another day.

Chou Chou's Story

It's a one hour drive along a high desert highway to get to the nearest major town where we do our big shopping - you know, Costco, Target, Old Navy. What isn't desert is farmland and ranches and just a handful of homes along the way. Coming down from a rise in the road, I could see a little black spot on one of the yellow stripes running down the middle of the highway. As I got closer I could see it moving but still thought it was some sort of trash or debris fallen from one of the many trucks that travel through. As suddenly as I was on top of it I realized that it was a little black kitten standing on the yellow stripe mewing as loud as he could to the wind! I pulled over as fast as I could and ran back down the highway to get him, panicing that he would be hit by a car right before my eyes. His voice sounded dry and hoarse but determined too - somebody help me! I scooped him up and ran sobbing back to the car so thankful that I had gotten him but worried that he wouldn't last long too. I handed him off to my daughter and he immediately fell asleep in her lap. We weren't far from town now so we got him food and water which he took to right away but then I noticed that his whiskers were singed and the tip of his ear looked almost melted. The vet thought that maybe he had gotten up into someone's car engine to keep warm but burned himself in the process and then fell out on the highway. He still had his baby blue eyes and wasn't much bigger than the palm of my hand but had a strong will to survive. We named him Chou Chou (shoo-shoo) - it's a French expression of endearment meaning "my little cabbage" - like we might say, "my little pumpkin." (Anyone that speaks French correct me if I'm wrong :) ) We've had him for five years now and he's grown into such a handsome boy with beautiful pale green eyes. He doesn't like to be held but he's extremely affectionate. Recently, he got in a fight with one of the other cats (I think I know who but I'm not naming names) and he got a nasty bite on his neck that became infected. We've been doctoring him up and it's healing well but one thing that really helped was snipping off the end of a felted sweater sleeve and slipping it on like a big thick collar. It's so dense that he can't scratch at it but comfortable for him too - not like those goofy plastic Elizabethan collars that make your pet act like a drunken sailor. So that's the story of Chou Chou *and* another use for felted sweaters ;)

Kitty on a Hot Heat Vent

One reason the house can feel kind of chilly is that the cats tend to nap on top of the heating vents. This is what I usually find when I'm heading to turn the heat up - oh, to have such a life! This is Chloe, our fluffy girl, she has the most gorgeous fur but in the summer she's the first out the door rolling in the garden turning her fluffiness into a dust mop!

Monday Monday

After a few days at the vet, Raymond
is now home with us and slowly improving. He's been suffering from an upper respiratory infection that I guess his 15 year-old body is having a hard time fighting off. Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful and kind comments and emails, it means so much to me.

I've got a lot of projects going on right now and it's kind of stressing me out but it's all good stuff. I'm going to be in two books coming out in the next year, so I've been working on my contribution for those. I'm also working on some new ideas for the shop and I desperately need to do another update. Aaack, I need more time but I'm also tired of saying I need more time!

All three of my kids began karate last fall and have really been enjoying it. I can't believe the muscles they've gotten already - I know because they go around flexing for me all the time :) Their first promotion was at the beginning of February and my two oldest are now orange belts and my youngest is a yellow belt! I've started doing some bookkeeping and office work for the dojo in trade for class fees and I love it because it gives me something to do while I watch their class, well, besides crocheting. I'm a born organizer anyway and was itching to clean out some of the stuff that has piled up over the years. The picture is of my son, on the right, and my nephew, on the left, performing their kata.

Happy Monday everyone!

Raymond

My big boy is not doing well. I've been nursing him for awhile now and I'm really hoping he will bounce back. He's been at the vet all day and I've been home worrying all day.

In the meantime, here are some of the new (or new to me) blogs I've been enjoying.

Posy

Love Crafty

Stitchy

Green Kitchen

Shimmer Snap

Alli Coate

Sew, Mama, Sew
Sew, Mama, Sew also has a wonderful online fabric store that is carrying the new Sis Boom fabric line.

Fig

This is a picture of my sister's rabbit, Fig; isn't she adorable?! They got her while on a car trip and my sister put Fig in diapers so the kids could hold her in the car. She's bigger now but just as cute :)

Pet to Blog Day: Toulouse

Meet Toulouse, another one of our sweet kitties. Toulouse is a manx that we got as a stray. Besides his stubby tail, he is also a polydactyl. He has two extra toes on his front feet and 1 extra toe on each of his back feet and he makes good use of them too. He jumps up on the kitchen cabinet and pops the lid off of the dogs treat jar, then drags out a couple of milk bones and knocks them on the floor where the dogs are happily waiting :) Numerous times we have found him in the cabinets literally with his hand in the cookie jar!

*roll over the picture and get a surprise! Thanks to Nona Knits for the html tip :)