I was an amazing wife/sister-in-law, on a whim I bought pumpkins so we could all sit around and start the holiday season.
It was a great night, the boys carved up their pumpkins. I made two of our Blue Apron meals, we divided everything into thirds, watched some Brooklyn Nine Nine. Bellies were full, beer was okay, pumpkins looked great, giggles for the show.
The problem with this night was that it was around October 3rd. Also, that we left the pumpkins in the house. They stated to mold a little, I brought them outside and nature took over.
Yeah..this picture was taken on October 29th.
Lessons learned:
1. I know now why people wait until about week before Halloween.
2. All pumpkin beers are not good.
3. It was still a great time.
Anyone else have some pumpkins that did not make it to Halloween? Let me know with a comment below.
When I go to the gym I use a back pack. It is purple, it has two main pockets and a few smaller ones as well. Most people at the gym use a gym bag. It ranges from small to big with one strap you throw on your shoulder and a big sack to shove everything else in. I had one of those back in high school when I played soccer. However, it has been holding some random tools for so long it it now a tool bag.
I could have gone out and bought a new bag, but I had the purple book bag already. I have thoroughly enjoyed my decision. I have one area for shoes and knee braces and a thin piece of fabric keeps those items away from my clean socks, bars, shirts,and shorts. The small front pocket holds all my mini travel size bathroom stuff. Perfect.
Except, for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to matter what gym or type of locker room I always have a strap hanging out. This only bothers me because if someone wanted to find a locker with a bag to go through mine is clearly identified. But, the plus side, I forget which or where the locker I am using for that day is so I can quickly find it this way.
Anyone else use a backpack vs a gym bag? Anyone switch from one to the other? Let me know your thoughts with a comment below.
New Dude and I were coming back from the Big Apple and needed to stop for coffee. It was like 9 pm and we still had 3 hours to go. We were somewhere in lovely PA and pulled off in search for the Golden Arches. Well.....more like waited until the food sign said McDonald's and then pulled off. If I hadn't used so much data just trying to get OUT of the city, I could have used it for this quest.
I digress. We see the arches on the right, I look to the left and I'm like, "Baby! White Castle!" He confirmed that he was not hungry but we must go. Our last attempt to visit a White Castle brought us to the building but we couldn't eat anything because it was closed. As we pulled around the store to get in line New Dude wondered aloud if they had anything else besides sliders.I said yes, they have fries, and chicken rings, and other types of sliders. He cut me off and was like, what is a chicken ring? I told him it was like a chicken nugget but with a hole in it. This company must embraced the fact that their nuggest were processed. Also, how many different ways can you say chicken nuggets?
He orders, we wait, he pays, he eats. Well, after pausing to take the above picture. I was excited to cross a bucket list item off for him by accident. With much anticipation I asked, "So, how was it?" New Dude said the chicken rings tasted fried and the slider was okay. Over all, he probably wouldn't eat there again.I think if he was drinking beers and had someone to drive them to White Castle he would change his mind.
Anyone else visit a White Castle? What did you think? What did you think of the chicken rings? Let me know with a comment below. Thanks!
Well, this year has not been very productive when it comes to my first attempt at farming things besides plants.
Earlier this year some dogs came and killed all of my chickens. They were 10, then 7, then 1, and then all dead.
My honey bees were doing better. They were growing, so much so I got a second layer for them. In August they were so many they were beading. They had heavy frames, tons of bees, and all over doing great.
Well, I got lazy or negligent, or just being a dumb first year bee keeper. The end results are dead.All dead. All the wax and honey is gone, all gone.
What happened you may ask? I'll tell you. I was hoping to just let bees do what bees do best. However, they were not a strong enough hive. I should not have put the second layer, or if I did it should have been a proper second layer. Not the same size as the brooder. Mistake one.
Then I checked on them, but not nearly enough. Mistake two.
I saw mites once but wanted to let the bees figure it out and take care of it. Mistake three.
I then looked up and started to worry about winterizing my bees in October, after it already started to get cold. Mistake four.
Starting both chickens and bees while trying to first identify a depression, work though, and get out of a depression was also probably not a good idea. I didn't know I was depressed at the time, but again, mistake five.
I have failed as a first year bee keeper. I have learned, hopefully from my mistakes, and come spring of next year, I will, try, try again.
Anyone else been successful in killing all of their new projects this year? Let me know with a comment below.
I would like to say that fall is one of my favorite seasons, however I am a positive person. I can pretty much find a positive part of any season. Or most situations if I really start to think about it. Most, not all.
Anyways, on Friday I got home from work and I was in the mood for fire. Food, a beer, and burning random stuff. That is exactly what I did. I have one of those little porch fire pits.Nice, light, and portable. I pulled it off the porch, put it in my driveway and gathered sticks, random logs, and pretty much anything else that is good to burn.
Man, I love the smell of fire. The peace staring into flames poking hot coals. My dog only ran away once, he only tried to eat my poking stick twice. I guess the hot end made him like it less.
It was a beautiful night,clear, cool, and just wonderful. New Dude's brother also hung out for a while shooting the shit and just chilling. It was a good night.
Well, it is going to happen again. I am going to compete in a Tough Mudder. I have joined a team, have a room in a house to share with strangers, and even signed up. There is no backing out now.
I know a few years ago failed at the monkey bars. That is kind of a bummer when you think about it. Grant it, they were going up and down but I don't think I even made it half way. So this year, more training, more work on my upper body and well hopefully do better.
While on a walk it Teach this weekend I came upon a park that had this variety of monkey bars. I didn't get to test my skills because my dog was wandering around the playground and I was worried he would take off but I will be back!
If you have any tips for training for a Tough Mudder please let me know!
I have talked about our new cat Lockness Monster a few times. In the posts Sink Kitty and also Lockness Monster Leash which for the most part are showing some of his more positive side of the cat.
We this week, we became less of friends than normal. I was trying to be a good cat mamma and let him have some outside time. Since we are still not sure if we are going to let him be an inside outside cat. I was like I will hold him and let him feel the sunshine on his fur. I scooped him up and was walking to the mail box. It was going well until I was at the mailbox and a car drove by. Well this led to Lock losing his mind. He fought me like mad and used my hands as a diving board to get away and ran back to the front door.
The good news is that he hates cars. The other good news is that he ran back to the house. The bad news is that he cut me. Pretty deep actually. It hurt, it burned, putting peroxide on it was not fun. Adding new skin to it was defiantly not fun. It cost me a day in the pool and a body pump class. Not a happy mamma.
I wonder if this will mess up my palm for future palm reading? I hope that if it does, it at least didn't mess with my life line.
Lock and I might be friends again, but not this week.
This weekend I was able to celebrate with some friends his little brother's 21st birthday.
I say little, but he was honestly the biggest guy in the house and that is saying something since New Dude is 6'3" and 275 lbs.
Well, he was drinking, they were drinking, and I mostly just enjoying story time and losing successfully at a card game. We had to clear off our kitchen table so everyone could drink and be merry.
One of the items that has been moved off the table on the table and off the table was the set up for the Minute To Win It game called Mad Dog.I'd send a link to it but I do not have permission.
The basic idea is that you take two ticket tack boxes, tape them to the end of a ruler and shake your head a like a dog to get all the mints out. In the show each partner needs to empty their mints one at a time in less that 60 seconds. Since I only had one set up it was rest to 30 second.
Below is the video to share. I thought it was fun and silly and recommend others to play this game. One thing I would recommend is a wooden ruler. Mine was plastic and it cracked in my mouth while shaking my head madly.
Does anyone else have a favorite Minute To Win It game they like to play? Let me know with a comment below!
This picture is exactly one of the reasons that I do not go to bed with wet hair.
Yes, I will take a shower at night before bed some times, but normally I avoid washing my hair.
The main reason is that I hate the feel of wet hair on a pillow followed by a damp pillow. Boo to the nth degree. If it is winter time I WILL stay up until it is dry.
The other reason is that I am going to be showering in the morning anyway. Some people need coffee in the morning I need a shower.
Also, do you see that hair? It it literally standing up.There is not a thing that can be done unless more water is added.
Does anyone else have issues like this? Or have their own thing they avoid at night before bed? Let me know with a comment below.
Over the last few months I have been trying new ways to improve quality of life.
It is little things from breaking down to using those cleaning wipes for a quick clean. I am all for a deep clean but sometimes life does not give me enough motivation for a deep clean. However, getting things a tad cleaner faster while waiting for the motivation for a deep clean can actually remove some stress.
One of the other items I am trying is Blue Apron. Full disclosure, they didn't ask me to write this article.
I get three meals for two once a week. My thought process was no need to figure out what to buy, cook, or do for a few meals a week. I was getting burned out trying to figure out what to eat each week and our eating out had increased.
I would say that this was a good idea, but it became a little hard to do. I didn't take in account the extra time it would take to make and our busy schedules. I started to trade one stress for another stress. I was worried about using up the meals before the next box arrived. I didn't want to waste anything because I hate wasting food in general but more expensive food is even worse.
I think that is a good program, great food, and easy direction and set up.
It does take a little bit more time because of the prep work required. Unlike when you cook a meal you've done over and over, there is reading, re-reading, and the best way to execute their meals are to chop, slide, dice, and get everything ready before adding heat to anything. It just requires a bit more attention then I'm used to giving.
Below are the pictures of a bunch of meals I made all at once tonight. You can see the picture of the actual food, and what they said it should look like.
I really liked being introduced to new ingredients, ways to cook, and flavor combinations I had never tried before. It really is a gourmet meal that you cook at home.
They taste so good and the portions are amazing.I had a fear that it wouldn't feed New Dude. That he would eat it and then still need a sandwich. It is almost too much for me and puts him just below uncomfortable full. Plus the calorie count for these fresh, robust, and delicious meals have been about or less. I found that to be very awesome.
I would say the one thing that I really dislike is the use of all the dishes in my kitchen. Grant it, there were a few items in the sink before I made all three meals, it does feel like about 6 more dishes are used when making these meals.
If you're thinking about signing up, I say go for it. Best case is that you're going to be eating amazing meals three times a week. Worst case is that you add a little bit of stress and you cut back on the delivery or the service at all.
Anyone else try them or another service like it? What was your experience? Let me know with a comment below!
In the last article about my chickens I was telling everyone about how fast they were growing and moving them outside soon.
Well first we had to build a coop, which really was more of a run than a coop.
This took about 2 nights and about 8 beers. I say that only because it was one of the first projects that New Dude and I worked on together. It caused some arguments, frustration, miss communication but was completed.
The peep peeps were able to enjoy living outside for a fun 2.5 weeks. Then while at work one day dogs came and killed 7 out of 10
We only saw 7 bodies so we assumed that they took the chickens off to eat them or something.
Nope, they ran away to the neighbors fenced in yard.We gathered our chickens, celebrated in their survival.
Two days later they were all dead. The dogs came back and finished off the rest of the flock.
I would best describe it as unfair, uncool, disappointing, and nature taking it's course?
We're going to build a better hiding place for the chickens and wait for the back yard to be fenced in before we attempt this again. In other words, next spring.
This is a picture back from May of this year when New Dude and a few friends went to hang out in Daytona Beach, FL.
I wanted to post this because it is Adventure Bear's feet instead of the normal feet pictures you see on Facebook and pretty much every other beach shot you see from people. It tickled me to take this picture.
We also had an amazing time.
I think a lot of it was the time of year when the kiddos were still in school and tourist season hadn't officially started yet. When picking vacations try to go before everyone else.
My cat, Lockness Monster, is a rescue cat. Black cats are some of the harder cats to adopt. They still have a lot of superstition around them.
New Dude chose this cat because he was the only cat that was reaching out of the cage trying to pull you in to bite and scratch you. I think what he thinks is playful and what I think is playful might be different.We took him home the next day anyways.
Well by this point, we've probably had him for about 4 months. I cannot say that we are always getting along, but I do have less cuts on my hands and feet most days.
My newest attempt at bonding has been to sit with him on the porch. The dog will be in the yard and the cat and I will be sitting on the steps out front, watching cars pass and hearing the acorns fall.
He kind of likes it. I would say, he misses the freedom of being outside from back when he was feral. However, I think he enjoys the endless supply of cat food inside the house.
So now we have this compromise. He gets to be outside, feel the wind on his whiskers and sun on his back while I get to pretend he likes me and can cuddle him.
This is all until we teach him to walk on a leash......
I have been, what most would call, been searching for myself again. I have been starting to learn to use the word no. I have started to stop and think about the pros and cons of my actions.
This has come after several moths of feeling tired, lost, angry, depressed, and just out of sorts. With very low dose med, a little therapy, and reading some very useful books I feel as though the fog over my path is starting to burn off in life's glowing light.
While on this journey I have been filling my time with things that make me happy, things that made me happy, or things that I just used to enjoy. One of the happens to be hiking.
I would say several years ago before I met New Dude and was still newer to the area that I currently live I was a hiking fool. I would go on a hike with pretty much anyone that would go with me. Into the woods, up the mountains, climbing to the top and enjoy the view, nature, and extreme walking.
I prefer to think of hiking as extreme walking because it has the word extreme in it. I don't do many things that are extreme.
Well.... I do sign a lot of release forms saying I wont sue if things go bad.... maybe just an insurance thing?
Anyway, when I was on this hiking kick for a few years I was working between 2 and 3 jobs so not much time for a dog. Things have not so much slowed down as much and been able to manage them better. The most important piece to this puzzle is I now have a dog.
Yes, we climbed these, yes it sucked
I always thought it would be so bad ass to go on a hike with just you, a pack on your back, water, and your furry friend by your side. The answer to this pondering is yes, yes it is bad ass. Though, he did try to pull be both up and down the mountain, it was like a bucket list item I never knew was a bucket list item was accomplished.
This was about a 4 mile hike, one of the longer distance he has ever gone. It was nice hike mostly in the shade, not too many people, hard enough to strain the muscles and make you feel something. Not hard enough to start singing the "This is the hike that never ends" song. (Think the theme to Lambchop but change the theme to hiking.)
If you have a dog, or even if you don't, go borrow one, or help one from a shelter, and go for a hike with a 4 legged friend, it will be worth your time and great for your soul and peace of mind.
I think the first thing that you realize on your climb out of a depression is that there is so much to think about. While depressed it feels like most of your thoughts are the same, have the same shape, color, texture, taste and theme and it is on an endless loop in your mind. Day in and day out like a hamster in a wheel inside of cage. The same followed by more of the same.
The day that you are able to break that cycle just a little, perhaps speed up the hamster wheel up a little or slow it down you realize that thing ARE able to change. Not all at one but just one little moment at a time.
This, along with sometimes outside help, meds, therapy, a good friend, or possibly self help books, allows for life to slowly show itself again, inch by inch, day by day, moment by moment.
This, is my inch and my moment, writing again. If you look at my blog, you will see some pretty large gaps in articles. No, I never forgot about my blog, I just was never able to put my fingers to the keyboard. No words would come, no pictures would inspire, no events were worthy of note or discussion. I cannot say things are now either, but what I can say is that I have the ability to try. To take my first steps towards the writing that has been lost for so long.
My goal and plan is to sit down and write at least once a week for 10 minutes at a time. That is all, no more, no less, just 10 minutes to get something down out of the attic of my head and onto the web.
This my friends, my Adventurers, as I like to think of you as, is my first one. My first 10 minutes of solid writing that I have done in a while. Enjoy.
I have been trying to get into the gym habit again. I have been failing at getting up early in the morning, so I've started to go during lunch. This is perfect for two reasons. It allows me to leave the office for a little bit of peace and quite. I don't have to worry about what happens after work. Done and done.
Well, the other day was a fail. More like half fail. If you cannot tell by the picture I did bring two shoes to the gym with me, however, they were both right shoes.
In my defense, they are the same brand, two different version of the same kind of shoe, and where I store my shoes is in a dark closet without a light.
There I was, standing at the gym, looking at the shoes and just dumbfounded. I honestly couldn't think for a minute of what to do. I could change back and go to work. But what would I do there? I cannot walk the parking lot, I don't have two shoes. I'm already here, but no swim suit.
So I said screw it and went to the class I was there for. 30 minutes later I was sore, hot and mission accomplished.
I check that my shoes now match when I throw them in my gym bag.
This shoe box happens to have chicks in it. We have 5 Red Rhode Island Reds and 5 Americanas. New Dude and I in the process of doing some homesteading and learning how to use what we have to try new things.
One of those things are these chickens.
They are growing so very fast. We started off by keeping them in a tub,
And now we have moved them outside of the tub.
They are hard to catch and I think I could be slightly afraid of them. Which is completely illogical because they are like 1/10 of my size. They don't have teeth, they don't know how to peck and you or use their claws. So why does it freak me out to grab one? No idea, but it does.
The weather has dropped and so we're unable to fully move them outside. I guess the big step would be to build their coop. Also, from the excitement my dog shows, a way to keep them inside and safe from the dog.
Anyone else have chickens? Is so what kind? Have you lost any to anything besides other animals? Please let me know with a comment below.
So, there I was minding my own business when I hear a buzz.
A giant fly was in the house. Where it came from I have no idea. What I do know is that this is apparently one thing that the dog, cat and husband will all stare at intently. Like unblinking focus.
Do you see what I mean? I don't know if they were blinking.
They all went after it in their different way.the dog chased and chomped at it.
The cat jumpped and swatted at it.
The husband took the shot it approach.
The husband was the winner of this fly off. Honestly only after like 3-4 shots.
I'd ask if anyone else has had a night like this...but I lean more towards probably not.
I guess it is safe to say, bugs you've been warned.
This is a picture of effort going pretty much to waste.
This is my pot roast. I got up early in the morning, after cutting up all the veggies the night before, threw it in the crockpot, and walked away. I went to work, told the husband about dinner ready for him, I felt like a proud wife/successful multitasking woman of the 21st century.
Until I came home. The husband had eaten fast food and the house was strangely normal smelling.
Yup, you guessed it, I started to cook this meal, put it in the crock pot, and then DID NOT PLUG it in.
Fail, fail, and double fail.
Once the issue was corrected we still cooked it, ate it, and it worked out okay. Should we have eaten it... eh that leans more towards no..... but it smelled okay and tasted fine, I mean cooking for 12 hours has to kill something right?
Anyone else have a fail like this? If so leave a comment below!
I went for a walk with my puppy the other day. The same goal as I always have, just wear him out and down.
I get tired of walking around my neighborhood and the local greenway so I decided to wander around the neighborhood behind the coffee shop that let's me bring the puppy inside. I hate leaving him in the car, I have a fear of someone smashing my car windows in an attempt to "save" him.
Anyway, I found this little thing. It is apparently a community library, where if you want to borrow a book, you do, read it and bring it back. If you don't want to read anything you could just drop off a book for others to read. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I wasn't in a reading mood so I didn't borrow anything.
I wonder if it bother's the owners of the house for the random people stopping and standing outside of their house? Or maybe they are used to it by now? No idea.
Anyway, I thought this little gem was cool. Does anyone else have one of these in their neck of the woods? If so leave a message below!
Eh, what can I say? I am trying a new adventure, which is be a team captain for Relay For Life. I am doing this for my father, which this year will mark 15 years of his passing. I am also doing this for my brother-in-law. He had cancer when he was young and survived. I don't know how much we used from this organization when my family was going through cancer. However, I think that they have tons of programs that help the person going through the process, the survivors, the families, and those remembering those who lost. I like the practical things like car rides and help lines. So this post is to ask for your help. It is to ask you for your money. I don't need much just a dollar or five. It is a secure site, takes less than 1 cat video on YouTube and helps all the people that are touched by cancer. Please and thank you. Follow this link to my team: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teddysbestfriend As always, thanks for your help and for reading. If you want to tell me your story and how cancer has touched your life, please leave a comment below.
As of late I have been thinking a lot. I mean, a little bit more so than normal. I don't know if it the change in job, the change in boxes I get to check this year (married, 30), or what but I'm in the hunt for figuring out my big picture.
I don't know what this big picture is, because I cannot really get past the 5 year mark. However, I have had little moments of clarity as of late.
One of them, is actually going back to 2 years. I took one of the personality test things, I think by Gaullup Group. Their whole thing is to find out what your strengths are and build on them. Instead of trying to work kicking and screaming on the weaknesses you take that energy and put it on your strengths. That way you are taking those skills from good to great and finding others around you to help you where you are weak.
So, I'm on a hunt to find out what I like best. I haven't started a list yet but I hope too soon.
Finding out what I like best also reveals what I don't like, which is just as important as what I do like.
When trying to find the things that I enjoy, my passion, if you will, I also have to learn to accept some things. One example of this happened back in my early to mid twenties. I learned that I will never have the will power required to work out enough to loose enough weight to have a gap between my thighs. Now, that seems to be a silly shallow thing to worry or think about. I say not really only because of images of what a sexy beautiful woman is from the media is most always has a small gap between their thighs. Well, I'm starting to have a more grown up view of things.
One of these is New Dude and I will never be millionaires. That is okay, I can accept that, enjoy that, and work with that. Now, that being said, what is it that I want to spend my money on? Some people are foodies, some are shopaholics, some people like bling, or technology, or vacations, or giving gifts, or giving it all to charity. My goal and task at hand is try and figure out where I want to spend my money.
I am on another adventure of self discovery and trying to make positive changes for me and my family.
Has anyone else been on a journey or is currently on this journey as well? Any tips for a newbie? If so, please leave a comment below. Thank for reading!
That is pretty much it. The momma was doing a bad job and ignoring the thing right before a big ice that happened a few weeks ago. So, it was picked up and put in a trailer to be warmer and get fed.
Baby cow!
They are pretty cute. And their tongues are long enough to reach inside their own noses. I am not sure why they have this ability, but they do. It is gross.
It's simple. My dog likes to eat cat poo. It makes me both very, very, sad and disgusted.
We didn't really have this problem with our other cat Moomba because she was outside most of the time. Honestly, I think the whole reason she went out in the morning was to do her business.
Well, new kitty, Lock, is going to be an inside cat. That being said, he has to go somewhere. His litter box is under our bathroom sink. I don't think there is ever a good place for litter boxes to be, but the bathroom seems like the best choice. I mean, I go there to poo, so why not the cat?
Anyway, our dog was a lot quicker than I was when it came to cleaning the box. He's sneak away and the next thing you knew, he's be chewing something suspicious. Not cool man, not cool.
Well, one day, day, I noticed some litter in the living room. He was taking his snack to go. That was it, I was done.
So, with some left over PVC pipes from some pomp pomp shooters I made all the kids in my life for Christmas, I constructed the above device. It comes apart for easy cleaning. It blocks his head on the top, the bottom, and the bars make the space hard to get too. Grant it, he could just pull it out, there is nothing, currently, stopping it from being pulled out. However, until he figures that part out, I'm leaving it as is.
We're probably on about week 3 and so far, it seem to be doing a pretty good job. I haven't seen litter in odd places, him chomping guiltily on something brown.
Anyone else have this issue with their dog? Do you suggest any other means to stop the poo eating/stealing? If so let me know with a comment below. As always, thanks for reading!
New Dude and I have suffered a great loss. On Monday, December 21, 2015 our kitty Moomba was hit and killed by a car.
This post isn't about her death though, this is about her life. She was a beautiful cat both inside and out.
She stumbled into our lives one cold November night. New Dude and I were just chilling on the couch watching TV when all of a sudden we saw in our big picture window a little kitten. She was outside the glass, staring at out, mouthing meows as we stared at her.
She paced back and forth a few times tried to rub against a gnome that was in our window. She shortly pushed over and knocked it to the ground. New Dude went over to the door to re-set the gnome and this little cat just came right into the house. She came over to me, sat in my lap and purred like I've never heard cat purr before.
New Dude and I started to call it her purr box.We'd ask sometimes if it was on. She could fall asleep purring.
Well, her being so friendly, and potty trained (we found a box and food and litter for her) she quickly call our house home. We put up signs around the neighborhood for a found cat. She was so friendly and sweet we were afraid we had taken her from some little kid. We had put up signs for about a week and no one called. She had gotten out about day 3 and hadn't returned. Even though we hadn't confirmed if we were going to keep her, New Dude and I were both very sad. He even tried to call in a skunk he though was her one night trying to get her back. However, a guy down the road called and said he had this cat we think we had been hanging out with. It was her! We quickly took down the sings, brought her to get her first shots and caller her Moomba.
She had officially ours and we Stockholm syndrome her for about a month before we would let her out for short bits of time. This gradually grew from an hour into all day. We always called her in at night, even if it was 12 am, we'd be on our porch calling for Moomba. I think our neighbors thought we were crazy.
New Dude is trying to learn the harmonica and she soon came home to the first part of "Hearts of Gold." It sometimes took about 3 or 4 times of playing it but she came home too it. My mom did not believe it was true until she saw it with her own eyes.
She was such a pain in my butt when we first got her. She knew that she could come bother me at night and I'd get up and let her out. It could be 3 or 4 in the morning and I'd have a cat kneading my head or paws on my face at first followed by flexed claws.
Moomba also learned the ways to really get us out of bed. First, she'd jump on the book case or the night stand and slowly paw things off and onto the floor. If that didn't work, then she'd go over to the a cork board she could reach and destroy it. It worked, we jumped out of bed every time.
Moomba, pretty much every night that the door was open to the bedroom would end up in bed with us. Sometimes between your legs, or for me on top of my head(my cat hat) or laying on your stomach, back, butt, well pretty much anyplace she really felt like it now that I write it down. You could move her when she sleepy. Moomba would be sleeping in her cat crows nest, we'd pick her up and bring her to bed.
I did it a lot for New Dude. I loved him for always having the same reaction. He'd say, "I've always wanted one of these," grab her and then cuddle up with her and continue to sleep. It was so very, very cute to see a 6'2" man cuddling with a 8lb kitten.
Moomba, though was very cute and sweet, also was a killer. A list of items on her known kill list: mice, birds, bugs, voles, squirrel, and possibly a small baby bunny.
She climb trees like a crazy person, ran up and down the street, climbed on the porch rail, and even ended up on the shelf above the sink once or twice. We did sort of train her. She knew what one of the Nerf Guns sounded like when it was turned on. Whatever she was doing or where she knew she should not be, she quickly ceased and desisted.
Moomba was my first cat. She was New Dude and I's first animal together. She brought us hours of joy, cuddles and for me, rashes. She would wander around the house, yard, and pretty much wherever she wanted and sometimes it involved poison ivy/poison oak. I have sensitive skin and just her rubbing on me would break me out sometimes. I mostly got it on my wrists. New Dude doesn't have reactions to these plants so he did not suffer.
I only felt bad for Moomba a few times when we had to make urgent vet appointments. The first one was when we had had her for about a month and the poor thing still had very runny poo. I was getting concerned so I took her to the vet. They gave her some more worming medicine and I'd say about a week later she was pooping normally. Well, at least from what we could tell. She went outside way more often than inside. Which, this was great because our puppy Teach soon developed a taste for her poo.
The second urgent vent appointment was when she came home and had all these little dots on her face and around her eyes. I had taken her flea and tick collar off because I hated the way it smelled and felt. What this did though was allow many seed ticks to attach to her. The poor thing had about 8 or so removed at the vet and my brother-in-law had taken at least 2 or 3 off earlier that day.
Even the ticks knew how sweet she was. I pulled more huge ticks off her than any other pets. I think the whole black hair and wandering all over the place didn't help her much.
We did not play with cat nip with her, it made her CRAZY. Her eyes would get as big as saucers and would run around the house like a crazy person. If you were in the way she'd randomly attach you too. Claws out, eyes huge, teeth sharp, ears pinned back.
Moomba was so good with little kids. I think a lot of this was due to how much New Dude messed with her. He'd push her, pull her, wind her up and the force her to calm down. He'd carry her around in in his shirt or robe. He would pour her back on the floor and call it liquid cat.
We were not the best pet owners. I woke up once or twice to her her crying because she was shut in the basement or in another room. She wasn't hurt, just not where she was suppose to be. Moomba was a ninja and could get to places without being heard. But at the same time, was the loudest creature I ever have heard walk on the floor. She grew to be about 11 lbs but she sounded like 30 lbs. Sometimes I wonder out loud how she killed anything with how hard she walked.
We couldn't keep colars on her even though we tried.She always seemed to loose them.
Moomba was fearless. One time New Dude was fixing something on our roof and she climbed the ladder to join him. All of a sudden he was hammering in singles and bamb, cat was visiting. Which of course ended his productivity for a little bit.
One night when the ladder was still against the all to get on the roof, we were calling her in the night. We could hear her meowing in response, but couldn't figure out where she was. Then we looked up. She was on the roof and came over to the door but couldn't get down. I grabbed New Dude a chair to stand on and he got her down.
Looking at the above pictures reminds me of the time she caught her eye wiskers on fire. New Due and I were chilling watching TV. We all of a sudden smelled burnt hair. I had a candle on the counter and we went to investigate what the smell was. There wasn't anything around the candle on fire or that was hair so we shook it off and went on with our day. A about an hour later the cat comes to get some attention and we notice that her wiskers had shrank. She had caught them on fire, he wasn't hurt but they were half the size they used to be all curly cued at the top. It took about 4 months for them to return to normal.
We were painting the sun room last year. Moomba kind of wanted to help, but at the same time didn't. One time she got into some paint and put paw prints from the sun room all the way under the ticket table, down the hall and under and around the bed in the back bedroom. Not very cool
Another time we went away for the day and when we got back home she had kind of attacked and killed a roll of blue shop towels. For the most part, she did really well and didn't completely destroy things in the house. I guess paper towels an cork boards.
She did cause us to have to put all the food away and keep the sink clean. She would eat out of dishes or play in the sink. Water didn't bother her. We tried to get her out of the sink one day and sprayed her with the little hose, it didn't do anything to change her pace mood. It just meant now I had water to clean up off the floor.
This ia picture of how she slept a lot, on my neck/under my chin. It was not too bad to sleep that way actually, very nice and warm. However, she always need to push her paws into my throat notch when getting up or setteling down. It was very uncomfortable
And of course, she played with our puppy. He started off the same size as her but quickly passed her in size and weight but she never seemed to really notice. She dished out just as much trouble as he did. We kept worrying that Teach was being mean or starting things. However, 9 out of 10 times it was Moomba who jumped on the floor, rolled onto her back so she could smack and bit Teach with all her paws. She was jump up in chairs and hit him through the rungs. She both ignored and sought out his company. Once we had Teach she went through phases where she would smell like a dog. It would be because he was licking her hears, head, butt, body, everything and so would smell like dog.
Though it had not happened before she passed, it was only a matter of time until I bet she would have been sleeping on top of him. The closest they got was sleeping on the love seat at the same time. Teach on the cushions an her sleeping on the back.
Moomba was a special cat. She brought love, purrs, cuts, and cuddles to everyone she met. Even non-cat loving people thought this cat was cool.
Though she is not with us anymore she has left her mark on our souls for the rest of our lives. A blog post isn't long enough to tell someone's life story. But it can be used as a short memento.
Thank you Moomba for knocking over that garden gnome one cold night.
If you have any stories about Moomba I haven't shared please leave a comment below. As always, thanks for reading.
