Miracles do exist

This man finds a cat frozen on his porch. As he looked at her, he saw the smallest glimmer of hope as she barely moved her paw. Watch as the miracle unfolds before your very eyes. God bless those who are kind to animals and thank you for allowing them to see the hope when it looks like all is lost. 

http://www.reshareworthy.com/man-finds-frozen-cat-on-porch/

I hope this warms your heart. It makes you stop and think just how precious life is. 

No Blogging Today Momma

So as I sit here trying to think of a blog to write, it has become apparent that someone doesn't want me blogging today.

This is Houdini. My 1 1/2 year old baby boy who my kids refer to as a "momma's boy". This pic is a little blurry, but this was his first position. He flopped down after repeatedly butting my head and rubbing his body on my face. 

Then he moved behind the laptop. This boy is never far from me. Out of our 6, he pays me the most attention. He truly sees me as his momma. 

His last attempt to get my attention!

Never did I think rescuing him and his sisters, they would have such an impact in our lives. Taking them in as young as we did, each one imprinted themselves on one of us and this is the one that calls me momma. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

My Cat Rescues

You have a cat....oh, you have multiple cats? So do I! I have 6 in my home to be exact. Tigger, Precious, Roby, and the babies....Panda, Oreo and Houdini. If you would have told me twenty years ago that I would have six cats roaming around my home (and yes, they are all indoor cats), I would have said you're crazy. Well who is the crazy one now?! Looks like it just might be me! 

So how did we get here? Over the course of my life, we have always had cats. Once I married and moved into my own place, I got my first cat and then we added a second, and a third a short time after that. The most I ever had at a time was four, But that was only for a short time as my first two originals got older and have since passed. But without going too far back into my cat history, we got Tigger in 2010 after a friend of a friend was going to throw him out onto the street. They were moving and couldn't take him with them. So my friends daughter took him in, but they couldn't keep him, so he came home with me. Tigger is  almost 7 yrs old.

Tigger

In 2012, we added Precious to our home.   I truly believe fate brought Precious to us. I had just lost one of my oldest cats, Siesta. She was found by my Aunt and Mom at my parents cabin. It was a cold, damp night. They had decided on a whim to stay an extra night, and that night, Precious showed up at their door. They didn't know what they were going to do with her. They fed her some chicken and then she went on her way. But about 20 minutes later, she showed back up again. They gave her a warm blanket to curl up into, on the porch outside. She just wasn't having it. She jumped up onto the table that was on the porch and pressed her face against the window. That was it. My mom opened the door and let her in. She went straight to my moms bed and slept there all night with my mom and Aunt. The next morning, my mom asked me if I wanted a cat. She offered to help me out with all the preliminary vet costs and spaying, to which I responded, "Bring her home".  Upon arrival and after a vet check, we learned that Precious was barely a baby herself and had already had a litter of kittens. But the vet assured us that she was done nursing and hadn't nursed in a while. Precious is now about 4 years old. 

Precious

In early April of 2014, our local SPCA was having a free adoption event one weekend and my daughter asked if we could rescue another cat. She was looking for a little younger one, more so a kitten, but something she could call her own.  We walked into a satellite adoption center in our local mall and the first cat she spotted was our Roby.  He was the one she wanted right from first sight. He was about 6 months or so. Not only was he nuzzling into her neck, but as you can see, he is black. Black dogs and cats are the most overlooked animals at adoption shelters. She wanted him for that very reason. Roby is about 1 1/2 years old. 

Roby

Then, this happened......

Oreo, Panda & Houdini (R-L)

Before you start questioning my spay and neuter comments from past posts and such.....here is their story. All of the 3 cats talked about above are indeed spayed and neutered. These babies don't belong to any of them. These three were part of a rescue mission "fail" if you will, or maybe some might refer to as a "foster fail". It's when you decide to foster a rescue animal, and then you end up adopting and giving it their furever home. 

One day, in early August of 2014, my mom and dad came home from somewhere to see this patch of fluff laying by the shade of a bush next to their spa room, which is built off of their garage. Before my mom pulled into the garage, my dad got out to investigate, and three kittens popped up, and ran under the spa room, the little fluffy kitten on the left here hissing at him before she scooted under. My mom was upset and worried. Upset that these kittens were living under her spa room in the hottest part of the summer. She was worried about where the mom might be. She was worried that someone may have just abandoned them. She was worried that if something wasn't done, they would end up growing up, wandering off not fixed and then coming back to have more babies. That just wouldn't have been good. 

The month went on and for a little while, we let nature take its course. Mom did put some food out for the momma, but we decided that we needed to come up with some kind of game plan for these babies. Over time, we figured out there were five kittens total, and a momma. Near the end of August, we decided we would capture all of them, socialize the kittens and momma so that we could take them into a cat rescue. 

So. my dad set out with a trap made out of a recycle bin, a stick and string. Not the way I would have preferred he catch them, but it was the best he came up with as we really didn't have any kind of another trap. So these were the three he caught.  It became a traumatic experience for mom and I because we felt like we were breaking up a family, but deep down, we knew it had to be done. A few days later, my mom noticed that cat food wasn't being eaten anymore. We determined that momma moved her other two babies elsewhere. So now here we were, foster parents to these three little babies. 

My two kids and I, we would each take one. We spent a lot of time at my mom's house socializing these little guys. This one is Panda. My daughter and her had a bond right from the beginning, as you can see. She wanted her right away. So in the beginning, I had thought that maybe we could take at least one, and find homes for the other two. It all became a thought process as to how we were going to handle this situation. 

Shortly after we caught these three babies, a story broke out in the news that one of the shelters just took in a massive amount of neglected cats and kittens from a hoarder case. From that moment on, we realized we might not be able to get them in to a rescue like we previously thought. 

This handsome little guy is Houdini. My dad had a homemade cage for them to stay in the garage. No matter what they did, he would escape every night and my dad would find him out and about in the garage. He is my mischievous one, without a doubt. As I sit here typing this out right now, he keeps jumping up and rubbing right under my nose, blocking my computer screen. He is over a year old now, but he is the biggest baby and he is all mine. 

How could you not just fall in total LOVE with these little faces?! As my daughter was growing closer to Panda, I was falling more in love with Houdini. So now, we were leaning towards taking two. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to do that, but we still had a little time to figure things out. 

 This little fluffykins is Oreo. My son lovingly referred to her as "the grouch". She was the one that always hissed. It took her a little while to get used to our love and gentle touch. She was such a little fluff ball. She is still quite fluffy now. Of course, while socializing, my son was loving her up too. We kept saying how on earth are we going to take in three more cats? But how could we not take them in at this point? We were raising them. We were all they knew now. 

September rolled around, and they continued to live caged in my moms garage, coming out several times a day to play in the patio and have interaction with my parents, and then us when we went over. Then they would go back into their cage to eat, and use their litter box, which let me say they were using from the first day my mom and dad caught them and put them in the homemade cage. As September rolled on, we started to get some unusually cold nights that year. My mom called me one night and asked me "So what are we going to do? These nights are getting colder." I told her to bring them over and we would figure it out. 

 

Little did we know, in November, we would get pounded with 7 feet of snow in a matter of a couple of days. The picture on the left is them all curled up on a cold winter November day as the snow piled up outside. It was then that I was so happy to have these little babies in my life. We may not have been able to save all of them like we wanted to, even though we did try our best, but we saved three. In December of 2014, they were all spayed (2 black and white females) and neutered (orange male). I don't regret my decision taking them in for one minute and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We have a full house with 6 cats, but I wouldn't trade any of them in for the world!! 

How Was Your Sunday?

I wrote this piece yesterday for my other blog, but I thought I would post it here. I am hoping for some responses as well. Why not get some conversation going, right? I enjoy very simple Sundays. There is nothing I love more than Sunday Simplicity. I try to get any chores done during the week or on Saturday so I don't have to do anything on Sunday. 

Good Sunday morning! It's a quiet one here in WNY! I'm sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee from my French press. I received that little gem of a gift from my cousin in Florida. It has become my new favorite thing. I love my French press! I am also thinking about our friends further south of me as they battle storm Jonas this weekend. I hope every one is staying safe, and are warm inside and out of the storm. 

There are just a few little things in my life that I have come to really appreciate. Sunrises and sunsets, a good cup of coffee (anytime) and Sunday mornings. Of course when you can combine any of these things, you get an amazing medley for a perfect, relaxing Sunday.

So what is it about Sundays for me? Well first, on Sunday, you can find me in my living room, curled up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, watching out the window. I love coffee, as I said, anytime. But I love when that aroma fills the house on a Sunday morning. It's become an art to me to make it in my French press, and making it fresh that way has helped me to become more present and appreciative of my Sundays. It's about playing Pandora and enjoying Van Morrison's station. I love Van Morrison, but I have also come to enjoy some other old classics like Sinatra, Martin and Etta James, just to name a few. It's that day of rest before having to start the work week on Monday. It's about finding peace and quiet and just reveling in it for a little while. It's about taking the time to breathe and find some much needed focus in my life. 

On Sundays, I enjoy my softly played music, my quiet and coffee while waiting for the rest of the family to awaken. Some Sundays, my daughter and her boyfriend  will take a drive to Tim Horton's for some fresh bagels. I'll make more coffee while they're gone. Then we all sit in the living room together while we talk, and enjoy one each others company. 

Although, there are other times when I will just make us breakfast. Something I also truly enjoy, because who doesn't LOVE Sunday breakfast, right?! Again, it's about the smells that just fill the house whether I'm making pancakes or sautéing peppers, onions and garlic for some amazing scrambled eggs!! Today, we did some wonderful breakfast tacos as I was just in the mood for something different. 

They turned out so good!! Usually when I make breakfast, once we have eaten, the kids help me clean up and then, I'll make coffee and we will just sit and have our time together then. Either way, it works. 

When I was a little girl, Sundays was about family and being together. Stores and businesses were closed. Sunday was a day of rest and about just being with family. It bothers me that over the years, so many have lost those values. I don't think it was an intentional doing as it was what society as a whole has become. The value of time spent with family has fallen to the wayside of making the almighty dollar. I try hard to save Sundays. Even though my kids sometimes have to work them, I try to make sure that I am here and present for them before they go to work or when then come home from work. It all depends what shifts they're working as they vary. Sometimes, on a financial level, I have no choice but to work on the occasional Sunday myself. But I do try making it a point not to (if I can help it) for the sake of my family.  Money comes and goes. We can't take it with us when our lives end and life is too short to be working 8 days a week. 

As my day is winding down here (Yes, I have been working on this entry off and on all day), Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" is playing on Pandora, it's time to get ready for the work week ahead. But there are still a few hours of my Sunday left, so I plan on enjoying them. So try a little Sunday simplicity for yourself. Find what makes YOU happy on a Sunday and do it. Sleep in, make coffee, make breakfast for the family and reconnect after a busy week. Take some time to just slow down. Remember to cherish those little moments and as always, embrace the positivity!!

So, how do you like to spend your Sundays? Thanks so much for reading!! 

Time For Change

So, it's been awhile since I've posted on this blog. This page was my  very first blog page, however, almost immediately after I started this one, I began another new page. Something that I started due to just a feeling that I had, like an inspiration had just came to me. That page is all about positivity and embracing it. It's about finding joy, happiness and some peace in your day and life even when it just seems like everything is going wrong. Please feel free to check out Embrace The Positivity here.  

I found myself with some extra free time this evening due to losing an evening case from work, so I thought why not sit down at the computer and revamp this page. Let's try and get it going again. So here I am. I have deleted a few posts that I felt were rather tiresome and made a couple of other changes and so on. 

My mission still remains the same on this blog. I would like to promote some of my favorite animal rescues, share some good stories, some personal life stuff and recipes, or just plain write about whatever might be striking me at a given moment. 

So with that being said, let give this another shot and see where it goes.

I hope it's all good in your part of the world and life is treating you well! 

Adopt A Shelter Dog Month

Happy Wednesday Everyone!! It's a cloudy day here in WNY and I am pretty sure we will be feeling the effects of fall here by the end of the week!! I hate to admit it, but I just might have to break down and turn on the furnace! I know the dog will definitely want to snuggle in and keep warm. Did you know that October is American Humane Association's Adopt a Dog month?! Are you looking for a new furry snuggle buddy?!

As I mentioned before, I am very pro for adopt, don't shop. Again, when I say don't shop, I am referring to pet store puppies. Puppies that more than likely come from puppy mills. Every time you purchase a pet store puppy, you're supporting puppy mills and the cruelty that a dog faces as part of that puppy mill. 

More than likely, your new pet store puppy comes from a momma that has been used as nothing more than a breeding machine, forced to live in overcrowded, cramped and filthy living conditions. That momma probably doesn't know what it's like to feel grass on her soft paws, but rather the hard wires that make up the bottom of her cage. Perhaps she is forced to sit in/with her own feces on a daily basis. She doesn't know a loving touch and she definitely has no proper medical care. She is simply a breeding machine, a profit maker. She has no name, just a number. Please take the time to read this story about Lily. She was a puppy mill dog. This is just one, ONE story out there among the thousands, maybe even millions of stories out there about puppy mills. For every puppy you buy from a pet store, you are keeping puppy mills in business.

I know, you are are probably reading this and thinking but if I buy from a pet store, I am still saving a dog. This is true, you are. But, it continues to be a never ending battle, a vicious cycle. Millions of dogs die every year. Hundreds of thousands of dogs are enduring cruelty and horrible living conditions in puppy mills. As cruel as this might sound, more dogs will have to either suffer and die, or, we can hope that they be rescued in an effort to shut down puppy mills by not purchasing from pet stores!!! Not to mention, that when you purchase from a pet store, you can't be guaranteed that you're getting a healthy puppy, even though it may seem perfectly fine. Unfortunately, the cold hard fact here is in order the put an end to puppy mills, dogs lives will have to be sacrificed. If we don't support the pet store, the pet store can't support the puppy mills and therefore, the puppy mills will go out of business.

Now, back to what this post was originally about! In October of 1981, this annual event was created by the American Humane Association. The purpose was to have people enhance their lives by encouraging them to save other lives by adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups. October became known as Adopt a Shelter dog month! That message is still so powerful and true even 35 years later. Every year, millions of dogs await adoption in shelters.

Did you know that an adopted shelter dog can bring so much into your life? There are an estimated 3-4 million dogs waiting in shelters right now for safe, loving homes. Dogs are such wonderful companions. They make a huge difference in our lives, I think more than some even realize. They can be our best friends, an exercise buddy, and even a properly trained therapy dog to help you with challenges you might face daily, But the best reason of all to me, for adopting a shelter dog...that lovable face, that whole wagging body of unconditional love that greets you when you walk in the door after a long hard day.

At your local shelter, there are many dogs waiting for wonderful, safe and loving homes. They vary in breeds, sizes, ages and personalities. I am almost certain the right one is just waiting there for you, so that he/she can make their way right into your heart. If you're looking for a specific breed, then search up specific breed rescues in your area to help you find your special furry companion. You know what the best thing is? When you adopt a dog, you become a hero to this fuzzy faced creature, giving a dog the proper home and love it deserves. So many dogs are available for adoption across the country, yet so many of them never find homes and sadly, they are euthanized. Just think of the difference you can make for one dog by adopting one this month!!

Need a few ways to help you celebrate Adopt a shelter dog month?

Adopt from a shelter or rescue group

Adopt from your local animal shelter or rescue group when you’re ready to open your home and heart to your new best friend! Be sure to talk with staff at the shelter so that they may assist in finding the perfect dog for you and the lifestyle you lead. Don’t forget, older dogs make excellent pets also. They too have just as much love to offer.

Spay or neuter your dog

Have your dog spayed or neutered, thus preventing the possibility of unexpected, and potentially unwanted, puppies. Spaying and neutering your animals have been shown that they can lead longer, healthier lives and have fewer of certain behavioral problems than animals who have not been spayed or neutered.

ID your pet

There is nothing worse than losing a pet. It’s heartbreaking. Make sure you put identification on your dog. You can do a tag, a microchip or both. By doing this, you reduce the chances that your pet will become a presumed “homeless” dog that ends up at your local shelter. The chances of dogs who enter shelters that are reunited with their owners is 15-20%. Please make sure your dog is outfitted with proper id so that she/he can be returned to you.

Support your local shelter

Call your local shelter. Consider donating your time, some money or even supplies. Shelters are always in need of leashes, beds, toys and pet food. Show the pets at your local shelter or rescue group that you care. Every effort, even the smallest can make a world of difference. 

Pecan says "Thank you so much for reading! Please consider making a difference in a dogs life and adopt one this month. If not, then please, help out at your local shelter!!"

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's the month of October and I am behind on my posts!! Shame on me!!I hope this finds everyone well! October is such an important month for awareness of a few different things, and I am going to talk about them over a series of posts in no specific order because each one is as important as the other. 

October is breast cancer awareness month!! I am happy and proud to say that my mom is a breast cancer survivor. In May of 2013, she was diagnosed with Ductal carcinoma in situ. According to cancer.org, it is expected that in 2015, an estimate of 60,290 new cases of female breast carcinoma in situ are expected to be diagnosed.  This accounts for about 20% of all breast tumors in women.

We were very lucky that she caught it early through a regular mammogram. It was at stage zero. This is proof that early detection is so important. This is also proof as to why mammography is so important in addition to self breast exams. Mom was told it was very small and more than likely, she wouldn't have been able to detect this with just a self exam. She had the lump removed and went through radiation treatment. So far so good, and any testing she has had to go through since then has been coming back negative.  She is doing great today!!

                

My mom is an amazing woman and I love her dearly! She is living proof that early detection is so important. So please make sure you are doing self exams regularly and schedule yourself for a mammogram. Breast cancer IS treatable if caught early, It is no longer the death sentence it used to be. Thanks for reading and if you haven't already done so, please schedule your mammogram soon!!