Scouts

Yesterday afternoon I finally had a few minutes that I could actually make a phone call without any interruption. Imagine that! The phone call was to a Boy Scout leader. Yes - my boys are gonna join the scouts. Actually WW and JD are in the process of signing up right now. I am really excited about them joining the scouts. MJ will join the Cub Scouts.

WW and JD were handed their scout handbook this morning. They had their heads stuck in the books on the drive back home. WoooHooo on the heads stuck in the books! The scout leader told them that they would be learning all kinds of really neat things. He showed them how to tie a square knot. He gave them a piece of rope and told them that they could work on the square knot over the weekend. They will meet every Monday evening for about 2 hours. He told them that they would be learning gun safety and how to use a rifle and a shotgun. Archery, camping, skiing, and fishing were mentioned too.

This Friday they will go to their first Pow Wow. Now how cool is that?!

Tigger Still Not Well

After a long weekend for us, I called the vet this morning to see how Tigger was feeling. Tigger is on a long road to recovery, if he actually recovers. The facts are hard and I am crying as I tell you this. Tigger did make it through the weekend. Tigger could go any time now. We all pray that he get better and stays with us for many more years.

Our vet has tried and tried to figure out what went wrong. In all reality, we really don't know.

On Wednesday we took him, Biscuit and Captain in to be fixed and declawed. Surgery went well with all of them. We brought all of them home on Thursday and they all just laid around sleeping and resting. Friday morning I noticed that Tigger was very lethargic and dehydrated. There was also some greenish liquid throw up on one of the carpet runners. I immediately called the vet and he suggested that we bring Tigger in for some fluids. Tigger stay all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We brought Tigger home today with all kinds of instructions and what to look out for.

The vet started asking me questions about house plants. I told him about a few that I have and he believes that Tigger may have eaten some of my Peace Lily. This may be what is causing his problem.
Possible liver damage.
We are just not sure. We know that he is still lethargic and dehydrated. Tigger is home with us now and I am giving him fluids all the time. He shows no interest in food or water. I am giving him Gatorade with a syringe.

Please keep Tigger in your thoughts and prayers.

A Mother's Work

A Mother's Work is Never Done and That's Just Fine with Her.

Ask any mom how becoming a mother feels and she’ll tell you it is the greatest experience of her life. Nothing can top motherhood! Ask her again after a few months of little to no sleep, when her 2 year old has ransacked the entire house or her teenager has just started driving. She may give you an overwhelmed look and let out a heavy sigh, but her reply will remain the same. She wouldn’t trade the title Mom for the world, even on her child’s worst day. Just take a look at some of these real-life examples to see what we mean.

One mom of two, ages 4 and 5, had this to say when asked what she finds the hardest, yet most rewarding part of being a mom.

“I find disciplining them really hard. Sometimes you just want to give in and make peace, but when you hold out, they really start to get it and become better people.

I also love answering their questions, but find them challenging at times. They ask me what certain words mean or why something is a certain way. Often, they're asking about things no 4 or 5 year old should be concerned with. Not that they're taboo things or anything, just complex things that are tough to explain.”

Here’s what another mom of 2, ages 9 and 1, feels makes it all worthwhile.

“The other day my 21 month old was testing every thing with Mom. Getting into things he knew he shouldn't be, throwing tantrums and refusing to take his nap. You name it he was trying his hardest to see how far he could get with me. Needless to say, no work got done that day, the house was a disaster and this mama needed a break! I was almost ready to give up and say "Oh go ahead and tear all the DVDs off the shelf and have fun! Then, he came running up to me with the biggest smile on his face and his arms outstretched and gave me a big hug, patted my back and puckered his lips for a kiss! My heart melted, I smiled back, gave him a kiss and told him I loved him while all the stress and built up frustration of the day melted away!”

Being a mother is the toughest job any woman will ever have, but it also takes top honors as the most satisfying. There is nothing else in life that can make a woman ready to pull her hair out and scream, while evoking an extreme feeling of love at the exact same moment in time.
Moms invest so much in their children, most of which goes unnoticed until they are older. She gets tired, but never gives up because she knows the rewards for her perseverance will be awesome.

A mother’s work is never complete. Even when her children are grown and have children of their own she wouldn’t want it any other way.

Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

Think About This

Americans consume more than 2.5 million bottles of water every hour, and only around 10% are recycled.
On average, tap water costs $0.0015 per gallon; just a 16-oz bottle can cost $2 at the convenience store.
Tap into the cheaper way to stay hydrated. Use a home water filter to nix contaminants, and get a clean-as-bottled (if not cleaner) drinking supply without pouring money down the drain.

Hopefully, you have read a couple of my post about helping our planet. I recently subscribed to a newsletter of daily tips that we can do at home to help protect and preserve our planet. All of them make really good sense to me, so I thought that I would share them with you. If you like the tips, you can sign up for the newsletter and get the tips sent right to your inbox.

Recent Things I Found Online

I sure know that I can spend hours and hours online. I have got to start limiting the time that I spend in front of the computer and get outside more. It seems like I get a lot done while I am online. Why? Because I have dial up. LOL I click on several links and I wait for them to open. While I am waiting, I have a chance to check a few emails, open a few more links from our local newspaper, take something out for dinner, turn the horses out, put on a load of laundry, hang out a load of laundry, do a few things with the kids, run a few errands and so much more. Once all of that is done, I can finally sit back down to look at the links that I have opened. I save a lot of them to my favorites, so that I can go back and look at them later. Later when I have more time.

Our latest update is that things are going really well with the boys. They have settled in really nicely and our finalization for the adoption is approaching rather quickly. We still don't have a court date but we expect to have one any day now. It will be exciting for all of us. We plan to invite some family and some friends to join us when we go to court to sign all of the final paperwork and the judge can put his/her final approval on our adoption.

Now back to my online adventures. Well I did say ramblings from a country family...LOL
Ok - here are a couple of things that I have come across lately that I think you might like. And hey - if you don't like them, remember you have control, just click on the bright red box in the top right of your screen and close the window.

Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary
If you are interested in posting a flyer in one of your local businesses, you can get the PDF flyer here Flyer
I was amazed at what the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary is doing for the animals.

I wanted to invite you to join me on Gather. It's FREE. And best of all when you join and get five friends to join, you'll get a $20 Borders Gift Card!

Gather is a social network where people like us can write about and share our interests. The content is great and ranges from politics to cooking, plus you can publish your own articles or photos and comment on others' contributions. We even earn Gather Points just for using the site! You can exchange your points for great stuff like books, CDs, wine, and vacations. Check it out! Hope to see you on Gather.


The Awareness Garden. Honor the women in your life & help grow breast cancer awareness. You can plant an e-flower at The Awareness Garden.

Lowes has a great Money Saving Energy Guide that you can get for free.

Well I guess that is it for now. I am off to bed (finally). I have an early appointment in the morning so I best be getting off line.

Good night everyone - hope to see you around.

The Day Has Come

After finding our little Blue Jay and nuturing him along, the day has come to set him free. Some people have ask if we would be able to set him free and return him to the wild. Our answer...Of course we will. When we rescue any critter from harms way, our long term goal is to return them to the wild. Our short term goal is to nuture them to the strength that they will be able to survive on their own, the way Mother Nature intended.

This picture is just a few days after we found the baby bird. There are just a hint of tail feathers.

This is the day that I opened the bird cage with the intention of releasing him back to Mother Nature. There certainly are a lot more tail feathers now.

Once I took him out of his bird cage, he wanted to fly around the room. It wasn't easy holding onto him to get these pictures. All of us were so happy that the baby Blue Jay had survived and was able to be released.

Little Baby Blue Jay, how beautiful you have become.

These pictures were taken during the time that we had the Blue Jay. He loved to sit on our shoulders while we walked around the house. For about the first week that he rode on someone's shoulder his grip was almost non-existant. After the first week you could really feel the strength in his feet has he gripped our shoulder or our finger. We didn't let him ride very much on our shoulders because we have cats and dogs in the house. One little leap could have been fatal.

It was a beautiful day when we released him. We released him at the spot where we found him. I held him on my finger and when he was ready to go, he just took off. He flew into a section of woods that fronts our property. He perched on a tree limb and we watched him for about 10 minutes. After all of the kids walked away, I walked over close to the fence and I told the beautiful little bird that if he thought he was not ready that he could come back to me and I would keep him safe. He leaped from branch to branch and seemed very happy. I was sad when I walked away, because I would miss him. I was also happy that I had saved his life and I could return him to the wild where he belongs. Saving and raising the Blue Jay was a very wonderful experience for our family.

Baby Blue Jay Alive and Well

We have had our little Baby Blue Jay for 5 days now. He certainly is growing and doing really well. I was concerned the first day that I found him because I really didn't think that he would

make it. His little feathers are growing so fast it seems that I can almost watch them grow. It won't be long now and off he will be flying.

Here are some pictures that I took of him today. While I wait for the pictures to upload, I just went in to feed him. He was on the bottom of the cage and when I opened the door he jumped up to the opening in door. How awesome! I put him on my shoulder and took him in to my husband. The bird tried to leap/fly onto my husbands desk. He is really making progress!

Mocking Bird Blue Jay

We rescued a little Mocking Bird. Or so we originally thought it was a Mocking Bird. It has turned out that the little Mocking Bird is actually a Blue Jay. When I found the baby bird it was dirty and had dog slobber on it. The dog slobber really made the dirt stick to the baby bird. Now that the dog slobber has dried and the dirt is falling off the feathers sure look blue. Sure enough it is a Blue Jay.


It isn't easy raising wild birds. I have tried in the past from little ones that I have found. The success rate is about 50%. I know I sure said a few prayers for this little guy.

Yesterday the boys and I spent all day at the river. Our neighbor was kind enough to bird sit for us. She is a wonderful lady and loves animals just as much as my family does. On the way home we stopped at her house and picked up our little Blue Jay. She had found a bird cage that she is now letting us use for a little while. She was even kind enough to take some pictures of him. She has also given him the name of JayBee.









We have now put a piece of driftwood that we found at the river in the bird cage. I put JayBee on the driftwood and at first he didn't have very good balance. That certainly has changed today. Today he is up on the driftwood begging for something to eat. It is so funny to watch him stretch his wings. The boy's are really enjoying this little guy being in the house.