One Writer Mom. One Teen Kid. One Brilliant Australian Shepherd. One Comical Border Collie Mix. One Dog in a Maine Coon Cat's Body. And Latest to the Party — One Cuddly Cavalier.
Posted in .Cait and Me, Life on Mar 7th, 2010
Spring cleaning is well under way around here. There are several projects already in varying stages of completeness. Living in an old farm house means there’s a never-ending supply. Fortunately, Cait usually likes to help. It’s a chance for us to have some uninterrupted talk time, while I apprentice her on the finer points of [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Life on Feb 28th, 2010
Cait loves to act. LOVES to act. And she’s actually pretty good at it. But all her middle school plays are musicals. Which means that to get a decent part, she must also sing well. But, um… she, ah… doesn’t sing well. And that would be putting it kindly.
At least, she didn’t sing well — [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Nature on Jan 17th, 2010
We’ve got a messy storm blowing in, so Cait and a friend wanted to get in what may be the last of the skating for a bit.
Cait takes a moment to tighten up her laces.
Even though the ice is 5 inches thick (thick enough to safely drive a car on) and we have a long-line [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Finnegan the Coon Cat on Oct 5th, 2009
As I mentioned last week, Cait makes sure Finn is in every night. On a recent night, the time got away from her before she realized that it was dark and Finn was not yet securely locked in the house.
So she started the nightly ritual of calling out while banging on Finn’s food can. Within [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me on Sep 6th, 2009
I grew up in the country where there were many more animals per square mile than people. There were no cell phones, no internet, and certainly no malls or McDonalds dotting every corner. Essentially, there was no instant gratification.
During summers, especially, we kids had to learn to be resourceful if we wanted to get together [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, .My Dogs and Me, My Garden / Recipes, Nature on Aug 16th, 2009
Having recently gone through a growth spurt, Cait was in need of some new clothes. So off to the Mall we went. We always concentrate our efforts in this one particular store, because we always have good luck finding cloths that fit and that Cait will actually wear.
The tradition is to make our way around [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Dog Training on Jun 7th, 2009
When I was young, I was quite shy and never liked drawing attention to myself. One of the ways this manifested was that I spoke very softly. My wonderful father was bothered by this trait and took it upon himself to remedy the situation. Anytime I spoke, he’d interrupt and insist that I speak more [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Finnegan the Coon Cat, Life, My Garden / Recipes on May 24th, 2009
Ever go through one of those times where you wake up in the morning to find a truckload of manure in your driveway? You didn’t order it. You don’t need it. You can’t return it, because the midnight interloper has left no forwarding address. And you’re not going to be able to get your car [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, .My Dogs and Me on May 10th, 2009
Time flies when you’re having fun. And Cait has been having loads of fun with her little boy. Hard to believe he’s one year old!
Our very first meeting.
Wink (then named Casey) was a little shy and oh so tiny.
First day home.
First bath.
First all animals together in the same room.
First free play with Kiera and Graidy.
First [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me on May 3rd, 2009
Cait came into this world with extra helpings of compassion and empathy. It doesn’t take long for people to discover this about her. And it’s not surprising that her friends frequently put her in the role of confidant and mediator. But it’s a role she often finds stressful — she worries about the responsibility of [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, .My Dogs and Me, Life on Apr 4th, 2009
It’s been one of those “one for the record books” weeks. I won’t trouble you with all the details, except to say that if your loved ones surround you in one piece, remember to hug them tight tonight.
As for me, this week I got to see exactly how much I’ve been living in LaLa Land. [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, .My Dogs and Me on Mar 22nd, 2009
… could figure out how to crawl inside her skin to be that much closer, I’ve no doubt he would!
This is how the two of them sleep every night. Face to face. Breath to breath. Heartbeat to heartbeat.
It’s a love like no other. And I can’t believe that Cait has finally found it. It’s been [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, Dogs in General, Life, My Garden / Recipes on Mar 1st, 2009
With all the various projects and work stuff clamoring to get done, I’m starting to feel like the proverbial bouncing ball.
Boing! Talk to this client. Boing! Get that paperwork done! Boing! Add this idea to the to-do list. Boing! Research that article and get quotes. Boing! Meet this deadline. Boing! Boing! Boing!
In the course of [...]
Posted in .Cait and Me, .My Dogs and Me, Finnegan the Coon Cat, Life on Feb 22nd, 2009
Amuse themselves by putting on skating shows for the only friends to be found for miles — their animals.
(That’s Finn sitting on the fence post.)
Posted in .Cait and Me, Life on Dec 28th, 2008
One of the ongoing battles I have with the modern world is how it works so hard to rob our children of their childhoods. I’ve fought a good war on as many fronts as I’ve been able — protecting my daughter when she’s needed protecting, and encouraging her to move out to meet that world [...]
