anniversaries

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Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Some Sort of an Update








I haven't really felt like doing much lately, other than laying down & praying I won't throw up anymore (trust me when it's a 3 to 15 time a day occurrence you'd be doing the same thing). Thanks to my really fun diet which consists mostly of pretzels, french fries with extra salt, & Yellow Gatorade, as of this morning I'm 13 pounds less than when we started this party. Somehow everything must be redistributing to my stomach because it has definitely gotten bigger. No worries when it comes to the Little Critter, as I've heard my Dad tell many patients through the years, babies are like parasites & will take what they need regardless of how you're doing.




We had all sorts of fun stuff planned for this summer, but so far I've not been able to go anywhere... except on an occasional trip to the laundry room to throw another load in the washer and dryer (at least I don't hate it as much as I used to- it's hard to hate one of your only forms of activity). I also go over to my parents house every few days for a change of scenery. June 17th & 18th Jon had to go solo to his brother's wedding in Dallas, which made me very sad because I really wanted to be there with him. We were going to be going to my sister's in Charleston, SC tomorrow, & then all of the family drive up to Wake Forest, NC for another family friend's wedding, but I'm just not going to be able to do it.




That's enough of the boring-depressing stuff. There have been some really good things happen too. Our Pastor Gene Huntzinger had to leave town for 4 weeks due to meetings and other speaking engagements, and he asked my Dad to fill in on Father's Day. He was nervous about it because he's never been asked to fill in & give a sermon before. Here is the Link if anyone is interested in hearing his sermon. http://tpctexarkana.org/sermons.htm Just hit the media player next to June 19 Dr. Tom Wilson. He doesn't like public speaking, but I thought he did a very good job, and was so proud of him.





Another exciting thing that has happened is my dear friend Jean Houghton Beatty sent the Little Critter a Paddington Bear that has been in her office helping her write books, & waiting for just the right person to give him to. She got him a couple years ago in England when she went to visit her brother in the Lake District. He looks just like the one below.Jean is from Liverpool, but now lives in Charlotte, NC. If you've followed my blog for very long you will remember that I've written about her books. She is such a great author, and has just had her second book made available on Amazon Kindle. Which is really exciting because up until now, I've had one of the few copies of it that she wrote in for me, so NO way Jose' was I going to let someone take it out of my house to borrow because I didn't want to risk not getting it back. Her two books are Stoney Beck & Different Drummers. She expects Different Drummers will be available in paperback sometime next year. I read both books in only 2 days each. They're so good you won't want to put them down.




I had the Big Book of Paddington, but was disappointed to discover that the stories weren't in it, so Mom got this collection of 38 Paddington Stories for me to read to the Little Critter when it gets big enough for story time (which was always mine & my sister Jordan's favorite time)!




My Sister crocheted Little Critter a beautiful baby afghan. I was so excited when the package arrived. She also got the baby a sleeveless shark shirt for him or her to wear next summer for Shark Week. If you know my sister, then you know that Shark Week is a big deal. She even wrote a funny e-mail a couple years ago to the whole family to remind us of the up coming event. In case you didn't know Shark Week is always in July, so no you haven't missed out on it this year. If you want to get in on the action, turn your TVs to the Discovery Channel in a few days.




The best news is that last Thursday I was feeling good enough to get out of the house, so Mom went with me to Wal-mart & TJmaxx because I needed to get my sister & cousin Morgan something for their birthday. Mom got to feeling hungry, so we went through Chick fil A, this made us decide on the spur of the moment to run by Jon's store to take him some lunch. On the way down 40th, which has become a terribly busy street since there is so much construction on the main roads, I spotted what looked like a kitten in the middle of our lane. Several cars had already driven right over it, & it was hugging the ground. We couldn't stop until right after we went over it & the two cars behind us did as well. Mom pulled over & I got out of the car & retrieved her. She was paralyzed with fear. From there we went straight to the vet because I didn't know if she'd been hit by a car, and I figured it would be more humane for them to do it if she needed to be put down than for her to be killed in traffic. Thankfully, she was alright. She favors her back right leg, but it is getting stronger everyday. She's almost 6 weeks old, and is the sweetest, most loving little thing you've ever met. She's my Mom's new baby, and she has named her June Bug Cleaver Wilson ;)Yesterday while the housekeeper was at Mom's, June Bug came over & played at my house all day. She helped me fold clothes, and then fell asleep in the pile of clean socks. I can't tell you how much she has cheered me up.




My animals are all behaving very well, except Zipper who has been permanently banished to the big screened in porch over a week ago due to his very unsavory habit of urinating "outside the box." With a baby coming that is one thing that we can't deal with. We still love him, and he can come in from time to time as long has he's under constant supervision. No need to worry about him, he's always preferred it out on the porch, & he's as happy as a lark out there.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bark at the Park (Minus the Park)



In the words of John Lennon ~ "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." The past two weeks the Little Critter has had me on a very short leash, but I kept hoping that we would be able to go to the Ranger game today. I even bought Jon and myself new matching super soft Ranger T-shirts. We would have looked so cute walking our little Cookie around the ball field before the game, but it just wasn't meant to be. Before the game we put Cookie's little outfit on her & took some pictures, & like most siblings her little brother Winston decided it wasn't fair that he couldn't be part of the action. Instead of Bark at the Park, Jon & the rest of Team Trammell is going to Bark at the Flat Screen (as soon as these pictures post Little Grey cat Ralphie, Little Critter, and I are going to do what we do best - Bark at our eyelids!)



This is as fixed up as I get right now, I'm sure the pictures would have been better out in the front yard, but it's too hot out there. Yes Sir Winston is a Miniature Schnauzer. You might notice that he's missing his skirt. The poor little guy is so hot natured, schnauzers overheat very easily even if you only let them out for a few minutes. He went to the groomers this week and got what they call the "Schnauzer Strip" for summer. He's happy about it, and proud as a peacock of his little self, & I rather like it too.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Bark at the Park









We're all set to take our sweet dog Cookie to Bark at the Park on May 29th at Texas Ranger stadium. We've never done it before, but I think it will be fun. I made her a really Cute tutu to wear along with her other Ranger gear. I'll take pictures and share them after the game, but I'm kind of excited about taking our little 4 legged friend! We aren't taking the other two dogs. Sasha is not an outdoor kind of woman! She likes to be inside, just taking her out to do her business is sometimes a challenge. Winston has a real issue with wanting to bark & get irritable with other dogs even when he's on a leash. I think it's his short man syndrome (since he's a miniature schnauzer).


Seriously.... How could you say "No" to that face?!?!?!


Monday, April 4, 2011

Dr. Doolittle Catches the Easter Bunny!

Jon, my Mom, my sister, and a few other family members like to refer to me as "Dr. Doolittle" because I've spent so much time & money up at the vet's office that I ought to have a veterinary degree through osmosis by now. Not to mention that I'm constantly having to doctor on one or more of our pets. When it comes to animals in need, I can't say no. We feed the squirrels & birds in our backyard. When Jon & I go for walks through our neighborhood there are 3 cats that belong to one of our neighbors that come & follow us along until I stop & pet them! It cracks Jon up! He's constantly asking me, can they smell love coming from you or what? Although I am guilty of bringing in most of our animals, some have ended up with me by default. Since Jon & I have been married I've cared for 2 beta fish- Jordan gave me one for my lingerie shower. I was not thrilled, but I couldn't just kill it, we ended up with it for 2 years & a friend of mine moved to California & she left her fish with me as a gift- it lived 2 years! (SERIOUSLY People... I DON'T want a beta fish or your beta fish as a gift! If you want to get me a gift, I'm not hard to buy for... some Vera Bradley, Pandora, flowers, chocolate, Amazon Kindle gift cards, gift cards to anywhere, but NOT a beta fish!!!) Then Jordan had 3 parakeets for about 6 years, and then decided she was tired of them, so they got to spend the rest of their natural lives with me & Jon - they lived 2, 3, & 3.5 years with us. I also took care of Sophie & Flyer, mine & Jordan's cats that we got from the same litter when I was 11 years old. Both of them lived long healthy lives, and they past away from kidney failure/ old age. Flyer lived to be 15 & Sophie lived to be 16. We currently have Sasha who is an 8 year old rescue dog (she had parvo as a puppy & is now hypothyroid & diabetic - that means pills & insulin injections twice a day), Cookie another rescue age 6 (she was another parvo pup), Winston age 5 (mega esophagus dog), Zip an almost 4 year old rescue cat, & Ralphie my latest almost 1 year old rescue cat. I also feed Scaredy Fraidy, a black cat who lives in our neighbor's bushes & comes when I call him to come eat twice a day. I'm wondering how many animals it takes to declare your home a working farm/ranch? It wouldn't hurt to get some sort of tax credit ;)

Now that you have my background it should be no surprise to you that I now have the Easter Bunny in a crate in my garage! He or she is very sweet & tame, and I know it must belong to someone close by. It's owners don't have to worry, because it's enjoying some fresh romaine lettuce, a strawberry, some salt, & fresh water :) I hope you're having a Hoppy day!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Zipper Cat Weighs In

I guess lots of artists end up painting one or two of their pets. Mr. Zip was my inspiration for this painting I did.......


I call it "Pineapple Up-Side-Down Cat" because one of Zip's favorite past times is hanging up-side-down. I don't know why, but since he was a little fellow I would pick him up, and he would fling his arms and head back so he could hang. At first I thought he wanted me to put him down, but he'd continue following me and begging me to pick him up again so he could hang up-side-down. It's one of the goofiest things I've ever encountered. One of his nicknames has been pineapple up-side-down cake, so I just took the play on words a little further in this picture. I posted the above same picture in a previous blog post, but that was before I was able to get Zipper's reaction....

The look says it all.... "I'm a black cat! Not purple! I don't have any pink hairs on my chest! What would make you hang it up in the laundry room beside my washer, where I take my knaps? Just who is this supposed to be a picture of???"

Friday, August 27, 2010

The "Kids"




Being the proud mother of an entire zoo means sometimes you've got to show off the clan. Especially, when you catch them acting super cute! A few minutes ago I let the team come over to our side of the house, and what was the first thing they did? They all climbed up on mine and Jon's bed like they own it! Luckily I had my camera charging on my nightstand, so I picked it up and captured the moment.

Sasha


Cookie


Winston


Zip







Sophie

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Family Picture time

Have you ever noticed that there is nothing quite like a "family portrait" to make everyone in the bunch decide to start looking and acting goofy! I'm sure those of you from my generation can relate- A trip to Olan Mills = bribes+threats+spankings in that exact order. I don't know why I decided to give this feat a try...I guess it had something to do with putting on my really awesome cowboy boots this morning that made me think, "Team Trammell hasn't had a picture taken together in a while." After church I had Mom follow us home, and take a few pictures of us. All together there were 20 legs.


Here Comes "The TEAM" I'm off to get that rotten Black Cat (Zipper)
Dogs from Left to Right Cookie, Sasha, & Sir Winston Churchill


Jon & his Dogville



Awe it's the Fam!







"We're on a leash, but we're not walkin... what's goin' on??"







WINSTON! COOKIE! Look at the camera! Do you want a Treat?



And then there's that Magic word "Squirrel" that get's 'em excited everytime, but who knew it would make Me so happy? LOL!



Then there is our other Baby Sophie- she's 15 years old, she doesn't like going outside, and the dogs frighten her, so we took a quick pic in the guest bedroom where she had been camped out. When you add her in, our family has 24 legs all together! I'm glad only 4 of those require shoes!



Sporting the Cameo!


Sunday, May 2, 2010

Road Trip!





















Ok, so we just went down to the farm for a few days, and drove through Jefferson and Tyler on the way, but I did take a few cool pictures, and get some great ideas to paint-prismacolor-draw. I love going through Jefferson, TX. It is just a little corner of the earth that time seems to have forgotten about. Sasha came along with us, but as you can see I had to turn my hand into a muzzle when we came upon a group of cats (3 or 4 of them had the audacity to cross the street right in front of us, while I was trying to take a picture of a house. It drove Sasha nuts!).


Anyways, back to Jefferson... Every year the town selects about six different homes to be on the Christmas tour of homes, and everything is decorated with real garland, fruits, strung popcorn, and gingerbread. The rule is if they didn't have it to decorate with in Victorian times, then you can't use it. The home owners even dress up in Victorian style clothing, and many of them serve guests coffee, wassail, cider, and little baked treats. My family has gone on the tours quite a few times, and it is so neat to see what a great job the residents have done at keeping up the old homes.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Pupitre










Pupitre- if you were in Senor Houff's Spanish class at PG, then you know what it is without me telling you, but for the no habla espanol group out there it means "a student desk." I bought this baby for a whopping $5 at the Salvation Army one day. At the time I really had no idea what in the world I would do with it, but I thought... When I was a kid I would have killed for one of these things to play with because I was one of those kids that wanted to play with the real stuff (I swiped countless syringes (needle less of course), tongue blades, and band aids from Dad's office to play doctor) I had a real typewriter to play office (which is actually what I first learned to type on), and of course there was everything in the kitchen to play grocery store. I'm almost certain that the one thing missing that would have made my childhood fantasies come true would be a real school desk. For $5 how could I pass it up? At the very least I could keep it for when we have kids one day. However, this week I have found a spot in the corner of the living room, and have set it up for me to be able to do art and watch TV at the same time. As with any new piece of furniture it has created quite a stir among the feline/canine members of the family.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Just Another Reason






Why EVERY animal wants to be a Trammell animal, and why Jon and I are perfect for eachother. The stupid memory card kept erasing itself so I lost the pictures of us painting this thing. As any cat person will know... cats love boxes. We have had this cardboard box sitting on top of our big red chest in the living room since January, and Jon has wanted me to do something artsy to it since Mom brought it over for our big o' baby boy Zip. There are 3 reasons for this: 1. I think being fellow OCD person the cardboard just bothered him. 2. Zipper is his cat- they have "Man Time" together watching the Rangers, the Cowboys, and any sort of OU Sooner Sport we can find on TV. So he wanted to pimp his little buddy's box. 3. He's always encouraging me with my art- if I had a notion to paint the ceilings like the Vatican he'd go get me a scaffold. He's also always pushing me to paint this or paint that (I'm just a couple hours away from finishing the mural in the entry way, and I will post pics when it is complete, but I need the pollen to settle down so I can open the front door, and sit there to finish it).


No it is not the most ornate thing I've ever done, but hey it's a cardboard box, and the cat is going to sleep in it. It was a lot of fun getting Jon to help me with it. We each painted two sides of it. When Mom called me tonight, and asked what we were up to, she died out laughing when I told her. Yes, we are crazy, but that's what makes life fun. You never know what we're going to do next.

Monday, February 8, 2010

I will forever praise Him even when my heart is aching


The past few days have been very difficult for me, and I haven't really felt like doing anything, much less getting on the computer. Tonight the Lord has blessed me with a great peace, and I feel that I need to share this.

When I was 11 years old I made one of the best friends I will ever have. We had been to visit my cousins in Idabel, OK, and their cat had just had a litter of the cutest kittens you've ever seen. I remember peaking down into the wooden box in the barn and seeing all of these cute little fur balls huddled together, but there was this one little black and white one that was jumping around and trying to get out of the box. My other cousin Matthew called her Flyer, and he wanted her but his mother said they couldn't have a cat. I remember being happy about this because that little feisty thing had secretly won my heart, and I wanted her so bad. My sister was taken with a tiny shy little siamese that happened to be the runt, and Jordan wanted to call her Sophie. My mom said that we could have the siamese one, but we could only get one. Thankfully they weren't ready to be weaned yet, so I had time to secretly cook up a scheme with my aunt Frankie to end up with both of them. I would call her everyday, and ask her "Are the kitties ready, and remind her which ones we wanted and to make sure she kept it a secret." Finally the day came when Frankie came to deliver the kitties. I was so worried that she would only bring Sophie. When she opened the car door, and they were both there together my heart lept with joy. My mom was a little bit flabbergasted, but there was nothing she could do, and when she saw how happy we were to each have our own kitten she just laughed and said "What's one more!" Through the years we have shared so much love, and laughs. Little Flyer got herself into more trouble for sneaking open cabinet doors, and finding any sort of treat left on the kitchen cabinet to nibble on. Her all time favorite was Doritos original nacho flavor. I watched her one night open up the pantry cabinet, and crawl in to get some. Who needs mice when they've got Fly? She also loved it when we would fill the bathroom sink with water so she could splash water on the mirrors. She was so loving, and was never happier than when she was on my lap or curled up close beside me in bed. Our animals become our family. They love us so unconditionally, and without reserve. We never want to have to say goodbye, but at least I know I will see her again one day. The Lord knows our hearts, and He loves us. Yesterday I prayed that He would take her from my arms into His, and I know that she is no longer sick, and she is happy. I am still very very sad. The tears come from no where. I've heard it said that the Lord is closest to those who are grieving, and I have to say He is always close. Sometimes it is when we are suffering that we really try harder to hear Him than we usually do. I know that we all have trials and tribulations to face in our life, just call on Jesus because Faith will see you through anything this world can throw at us.



Tonight as I was driving home I heard this song by the Christian group Kutless, and I just want to share the words of the first verse.



Everybody falls sometimes

Gotta find the strength to rise

From the ashes and make a new beginning

Anyone can feel the ache

You think its more than you can take

But you are stronger, stronger than you know

Don't you give up now

The sun will soon be shining

You gotta face the clouds

To find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

And I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do
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