A letter to Steven

Dear Man who puts up with us,

We know that we drive you crazy. We know that we are not "your animals" or "your pets". But, we know that you love the people who love us and so you put up with us.

This week, our mom tried to get rid of fleas. Boy, did that turn out to be a big ol mess. I (Sparky) ended up being really sick. You came home from your meeting and tried to calm down mom on the way to the emergency vet. You didn't even get really mad when you saw the ginormous bill. You did ask for the percentage of survival before you put down the credit card, but you still were willing to save my life.

We don't expect you to pet us or feed us or even enjoy us, but we appreciate you letting us live in your house. We can't promise much. We might still drive you crazy, but the other people in your house appreciate you it, too!

Sincerely,
Willie, Mickey and Sparky
(as dictated to Beth)

A quick Easter bunny story

I should be getting dressed, getting my kids fed, etc. But, I remembered this story this morning and needed to blog. Priorities, right?

When Steven and I lived in Georgia, we owned a house that had about 3/4 of an acre backyard. It backed up to the woods. This was Easter 2003, so it was before Maggie and Patrick. We had Willie and Gracie.

Gracie was my Valentine's present from the year before. She was a tabby with white paws.

On Easter morning, I got up and let Willie outside. Gracie liked to stay outside all night.

We had a back porch and as I opened the back door, I saw a horrible site.

Gracie killed a bunny and left it by the back door for us as a present. Gracie killed a bunny. ON EASTER MORNING.

She killed the Easter bunny.

Professor Cubby Worm is released

Tonight was officially the night. He needed to go into the wild. We took lots of pictures of him. He was not an easy subject to take pictures of. It's hard to focus on a moth in a picture and then in a mason jar? Just not easy!

Maggie said her tearful goodbyes and kissed his jar goodbye. She was really scared of him since he's not very cute anymore. She also changed his name to "professor cubby beauty" since he's not a worm anymore.

We put him outside on a shelf so he could leave when he was ready. Maggie promptly stood at the glass screen door and hollered and bawled. She said "it's just not easy to be a foster mom".

I told her that I was proud of her for taking such good care of the professor. He could have died as a caterpillar and never made it this far. She made it possible for him to become a moth (that she is scared of).

It was still hard for her to let go of him.She stood at the back door and watched for him to fly away while blowing him kisses.

Professor Cubby Worm

About a month ago, Maggie saw the "CUTEST" caterpillar ever outside of our house.

She and Steven picked it up and put it in a mason jar with a leaf and some sticks in it and some holes on top of the jar lid.

After a week, Professor Cubby worm stopped moving. It was very sad. She asked us to keep him until Memaw and Nah Nah came to our house for Christmas.

When they got here, she tearfully showed them Professor Cubby worm. She cried because "he never got to celebrate his first Christmas".

I was ready to throw him away and get the dead caterpillar jar off of my kitchen counter, but mom stopped me. She asked me to look at him again.

He wasn't dead! It was a Christmas miracle. He had turned himself into a pupa.

Mom even poked at him with a blunt pair of scissors and he moved around.

I read on the internet that it took about a week to 2 weeks for a moth to hatch from the pupa. So, I expected him to hatch around Christmas day.

However, after Christmas, he wasn't emerging. He stopped moving.

Crap. Now, what was I going to do with Professor Cubby worm? I mean, the guy went to college and got himself all educated!

Maggie was staring at him this afternoon and started screaming.

Yep. Professor cubby worm emerged. He is sitting on the leaf. Tomorrow, he will be released into the wild. What a wild trip!

I might have the change the name of this blog

It seems like all I talk about is animals on this thing. Well, we got quite a nice surprise this morning. He is quite a cutie.

I went out to the car this morning to get maggie's shoes that she left in the car. When I got closer, I heard a little "meow". Sometimes Mickey goes under Steven's truck to stay dry, but this was a different sound. We tried and tried to get him out, but he wouldn't budge. Finally, Steven came home and opened up the hood of his truck. On his engine, was a cute little boy.

We put him inside and in the bathroom. He is so snuggly. Maggie negotiated some tough terms with Steven and is now the proud owner of a little kitten.