Sophie Is Missing

Sophie is one of my feral cats, who has never lost her fear of humans.  Unlike the kittens who were born out here, and grew up around Dave and me, Sophie was already an adult cat with all her feral tendancies firmly ingrained.  In spite of this wild streak, she saw us as reliable sourse of food, and stayed.  Each morning, she comes to the food trays, eats, then goes to my neighbor's yard to nap or hide.  I grew to love her and count on her presence even though she's never been friendly.  During the time we were doing our TNR, she became wise to the trap, and was actually the last of my ferals to be spayed.  I still don't know what made her decide to walk into the trap that day, but I'm glad she did.  That day marked the end of her kitten bearing days, and the beginning of her carefree days of running, playing, and napping in the sun.
I don't remember if it was August or September, but I began to notice her developing a skin problem.  It broke my heart, because I knew she needed help, but would never allow me to help her.  I began to try harder each day to reach out to her and win her trust.  I wanted to take her to see the vet.  My efforts had just the opposite effect.  She became so freaked out by my attentions, that she wouldn't come to the food trays until I'd gone back in the house.  For months, I watched her skin conditions spread, and her misery grow worse, despite all my efforts to reach her.  About a week ago, she was eating, and while she wasn't paying attention, I reached down to pet her.  She didn't run away.  Great! For the past week, I've been petting her each time she'll let me, thinking maybe she'll finally trust me enough to let me help her.  Two days ago, she was in such a miserable condition, that she actually came up to me.  Reluctantly, but still she came up to me. Today, I called our vet, and explained what she looked like, and how she's been behaving.  He knows I work with ferals, and tries to help me when he can.  He recommended a heavy dose of Advantage Multi, which kills all kinds of skin mites as well as fleas.  I have the medicine, and am ready to attempt to dose her as soon as I see her again.  The bad news is that she's been missing since yesterday around noon.  The last time I saw her, she was wondering over to the neighbor's yard, her misery causing her to let out a wimper now and then. 
Please, God, let her come back.  Please don't let that be my last memory of her.

Back to Normal

Taking down ornaments, dismantling the tree, and packing it all away is always an emotional time for me.  I know it has to be done, but I can't help but feel a little sad.  At least that's how it starts.  As I take each ornament off the tree, and lay it out on the floor, and coffee table in groups (wood, breakable, knitted, etc...) I begin to feel overwhelmed by the amount of clutter.  After the tree is free of decorations, Dave dismantles it, and boxes it back up, leaving me room to wrap each ornament in tissue or newspaper, and place them all safely in the storeage bin.  I, then, move on to the angels on my mantle, stockings, cards, everything Christmas has to be put away in this same manner.  It's a slow process, but as I complete each task, I get that feeling of accomplishment, and seeing my house return to its normal state makes me happy.  I begin to reflect on the good memories made this season, another Chrismas to cherish forever.  Thank you, Jesus, for all you've given us. Friends and family, and eachother to name a few.  I feel so blessed!

Now, tomorrow, we hit those sales!  Next year, my porch is going to look awesome!

Success!

I couldn't have asked for a better week.  Just as I had predicted, we were very busy with parties, shopping, and cooking, but everything turned out perfect.  The women's Christmas party and all day shopping trip were both complete blasts, and yesterday's family Christmas party couldn't have been better.  We enjoyed a meal of Turkey soup with choice of rice or noodles (I'm a noodle girl myself), ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches, and plenty of sweets and snacks for later.  We played bingo for prizes, and had our gift exchange.  I got a set of hand embroidered napkins, and some glasses that used to belong to my mom, and Dave got a gift card for Amazon.com!  I hope everyone had as good a time as I did, and I'm already looking forward to next year.  Merry Christmas to all of you!  May your day be filled with many blessings!

Busy Busy!

Lots to look forward to in the coming week.  It all begins Tuesday, with our women's Christmas party at the church. Several of us have met last Wednesday and Thursday for cleaning and decorating.  We'll meet that morning for last minute decorating before the party, which will be so much fun!  Wednesday morning, a small group of us (church ladies) will be heading out of town for a Christmas shopping spree.  They have done this every year for several years, but last year was the first time I'd gone with them.  There was no way I was going to miss it this year.  We'll have a fresh, new "ugly necklace" to keep us light-hearted, and on our toes.  Thursday and Friday will be cooking and cleaning days, as Dave and I get things prepared for our family Christmas party Saturday.  I look forward to this time with my family every year, and I can hardly wait to see everyone.  This has been a tough year for all of us, but we're going to support eachother, and enjoy this get-together.  Maybe even have an ugly necklace of our own? Maybe not...

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

RIP Scary Cat

It is a sad day in my household.  We just said goodbye to one of our outdoor cats.  Scary Cat was from the same litter as Tigra, and grew to be very special to me.  He was a solid black cat with gold eyes, so I gave him his Halloween themed name. He developed a gum condition called Stomatitis back in 2008 (or 09, not sure).  Our vet had him on half a prednisone every other day to reduce inflamation so he could eat. This treatment worked, and his medication became part of our routine.  He was as happy and playful as any of my cats for all these years. 
We noticed the change last Saturday. He started losing weight, and began to lose strenght in his back legs.  We took him in to discover he had started losing muscle mass, and several of his teeth had broken off, making it impossible for him to eat dry food.  For the last week I had been giving him canned food, which at first, he devoured like a treat, but by Sunday, he had stopped eating even that.  All he would eat was leftover people food, which he never lost his appetite for, but he still continued to go downhill.  We took him back today, where a full blood work-up revealed that he had inoperable cancer throughout his body.  Dr House recommended that the kindest thing would be to let him go.  So after a tearful farewell, we left the vet's office with heavy hearts.  I will truly miss him.  I've never seen a cat with more fight in him.  It was very heartbreaking to see him lose his spark, and go downhill the way he did at the last. 

RIP, Sweet little guy.  I'll never forget you.

Side Two

I can't believe I didn't do this before, but I rotated the tree so I could show my readers the other side. 

I've also included this picture of my TV room tree.  This small tree is from our after Christmas Home Depot trip.  I added bows, and some small candy ornaments.  Very cute!