My heartfelt thanks and thank-you huggies to my close personal friend, Emmie Jean Henderson in Minne*snow*ta, for creating my logo for me! She is an ultra-talented and generous friend! :)

Today's focus will be one of my aforementioned special-needs kittens, the first one to join the Cleveland Kitty Cottage: Deuce LoveNugget Cleveland, who happens to think he's Rambo.

Deuce was one of a litter of four to be born to a stray who commandeered my shed. I was feeding first the mother, later the kittens, too, and regularly changing a litter box placed in the shed for their use. The kittens were mostly afraid of me and ran to hide in various locations in the shed whenever I opened the door. Therefore, I hadn't worked up any huge attachment to any of them other than just to enjoy watching them through my office window as they played outside.

One fateful Saturday afternoon when I opened the shed to clean the litter box, I noticed one of the kittens wedged TIGHTLY beneath the opened door of a cabinet in there. I keep the door propped open so that kitties have access to beds I have made for them with towels and blankies on the cabinet shelves. The trapped kitten was barely moving and emitted only a feeble meow as I freed him. I laid him on a blanket, and he didn't move at all other than to meow faintly occasionally.

I called my wonderful neighbor, Elly, for help and then the Doctors Douglas, Mike and Britt, who operate Douglas Vet Clinic in Salem. They are closed Saturday afternoons, but Dr. Britt met me at the clinic. Both Elly and I were very much afraid the little guy wouldn't survive. Lying as he had been, pressed so tightly against the concrete floor, he had scraped off his whiskers and facial fur, and he was also hypothermic. Dr. Britt gave him a warming bath and a steroid shot, then kept him at the clinic over the weekend ~ for free I should add.

Monday I was able to bring him home for TLC here. I named him Deuce because he was getting a second chance. At the time, he weighed less than a pound, and I had to get up every three hours to feed him milk replacement and whatever canned food I could get him to eat. When I was at school, Elly took care of him.


As he picked up weight and strength, his Rambo tendencies began to emerge.:) He is a persistently playful bundle of energy now, but also a loving, purring cuddler who loves to snuggle with his new mommy and pester his big brother Joey for attention.


On his first follow-up visit to Dr. Britt, she couldn't believe he was the same kitten she had seen just a couple of weeks before. The initial fear was that he had sustained enough brain trauma that he might be blind, but thanks be to God, he is now healthy and happy. Well, mostly healthy: He is, at this moment, recovering from an upper respiratory infection. Again, Dr. Britt ~ and amoxicillin ~ saved the day. :)

My wish is happy endings for all little animals. I know I can't save them all, but I'll do what I can!

Wow! Would you look at the time since my last post! The world has *REALLY* been too much with me since that last post ~ which happened to be on my late and beloved mother's birthday. I can't say that I actually have that much more time now, but I do have have some ideas and a greater urge to share them for some reason.

First, however, I have some housekeeping to handle. You will notice that the name of my blog has been changed to something with more specific focus, and soon I will be changing the look of the page, too, as I can grab the moments to work on it.

Having just acquired kitties five and six through cosmic forces greater than my own preferences and common sense, I have decided to devote my blog to all things kitty. Yes, I know that I have already written plenty about kitties thus far, but now I am crossing over to the furry side completely. :) Yesterday, in spending time with two of my best friends, Melinda and Jo Lynne, I discovered that as they talked about their kids and grandkids, I wanted to talk about my kitties. They listened as good friends do, but deep inside my grateful little heart, I knew they were thinking that I should get a life. :) The fact of my life is, however, that kitties *are* my life these days ~ hence, the change in focus for my blog.

I mentioned to them that if I had it all to do over again, I would like to be a pet psychologist. No vetting for me ~ I can't handle blood, and no way would I ever be able to inject that *final dose* when final doses are needed. But I do love to watch animals interact and to *try* to figure out what is going on in their minds. Consequently, I will use this blog to talk about my critters and any insights I have acquired along the way.

A galvanizing moment occurred about midnight last night as I was changing my bed after one of the new kittens peed on it ~ insights on *that* to come later. As I wound down afterward, I did a lot of Web browsing to find others' insights and decided to add my blog to the mix. An earlier post here highlighted the troubles I had when my second oldest, Chelsie, put me through this same ordeal, so I am not without experience this time around.

So I'll be back as I can to get this new home in shape and to start adding those profound insights. Try to contain your excitement. To all my wonderful friends, I can't promise that I will talk less about my kitties, but maybe by writing about them here, I can branch out into other conversation areas when I'm socializing with friends. :)

FYI: the kittens pictured here are Deuce and Trey, the two stray special-needs kittens that found their ways separately into my heart and home.

Until next time... :)

These photos were forwarded to me by a colleague ~ the guidance counselor at our school! Anyone with ties to Redneck USA ~ aka Southern Illinois ~ will appreciate the photos (aka memories???). :)

Redneck Power Ball Winner


Redneck Yacht


Redneck Horsehoes


Redneck Harley


Redneck Grill


Redneck Bass Boat


Redneck Shopping


Redneck Palm Pilot


Redneck Pet Carrier


Redneck Kitty


Redneck Doorbell

Do you think I could substitute Splenda? :)

Update: *WONDERFUL* news from Ft. Worth. Chris has been moved to a *regular* room ~ Room 497 in Richardson Tower for anyone wanting to send an e-mail. Whatever surgeons did Friday apparently helped more than any other treatments for the infection problem. Chris has been *eating* today and told Sister he wants *REAL* Sprite please. :) He also *stood* for the first time since the accident ~ on his good leg ~ no pressure yet on his bad leg, but we are so hopeful now. Keep the prayers aimed at Ft. Worth please. He still has a way to go, but thanks be to God for this news! :)

My apologies for being so neglectful with my blog. Besides being sidetracked with a super-busy school year ~ *FOUR* new textbooks, y'know, and a sophomore class that is *VERY* big and very under-achieving and very attitudinal ~ I have been dealing with a very painful herniated disc in my back after I tried to move a bookcase without removing the books first. I'm not quite the hoss I used to be. :) Even more serious, however, is the fact that my 25-year-old nephew, Chris, has been in the trauma ICU of Harris Methodist Hospital for over three weeks now, following a forklift accident where he works. Doctors are fighting valiantly to save his leg, but for every bit of encouraging news, there seem to be two setbacks. Infection has been a complication, and also Chris's spirits. Besides just dealing with his current situation, his fiancee was killed by a drunken teenage driver this summer. So please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and if you would like to send him an e-mail of encouragement, you can here: https://www2.texashealth.org/contactus/volemail.asp.
You will need to designate the *Harris Methodist Ft. Worth* hospital as the recipient and the *Bloxom Unit Trauma ICU* as the room number ~ his full name is Christopher Vines. Hang on to your loved ones *tightly!* Life can change in a heartbeat!

For those of you who have been curious about how the kittens are doing, here are some photos that I took today. Dawson is the black and silver kitty, and Wader is all silver. They will be five months old on Monday! Would you believe that Dawson started out as an *entirely* black kitty? But now everything but his face, legs, and part of his tail are turning silver ~ while Wader, who was born all light gray, is getting to be a darker silver. :) If Woody had lived, he would look very much like Dawson ~ though maybe a little more silvery because Woody had more silver on him when he was teeny. We surely do miss our little Woody. :((( Dawson has become quite the cuddler and will come running for cuddles when he hears my back door opening ~ and then he jumps up onto the bench where we sit, waiting for me to join him. Wader is more stand-offish and will come *close* to me, expecting me to go to him so that he can get his belly rubbed. :) Wader loves belly rubs, but Dawson not so much. He prefers the cuddling. :)

I'll never forget 9/11 ~ or the man who helped us to begin the healing, Jack Buck, Hall of Fame announcer of the St. Louis Cardinals, whose poem still inspires us:

Since this nation was founded...under God
More than 200 years ago
We have been the bastion of freedom
The light that keeps the free world aglow
We do not covet the possessions of others
We are blessed with the bounty we share

We have rushed to help other nations
..anything...anytime...anywhere

War is just not our nature
We won't start...but we will end the fight
If we are involved we shall be resolved
To protect what we know is right

We have been challenged by a cowardly foe
Who strikes and then hides from our view

With one voice we say, "There is no choice today,
There is only one thing to do"
Everyone is saying - the same thing - and praying
That we end these senseless moments we are living

As our fathers did before...we shall win this unwanted war

And our children...will enjoy the future...we'll be giving.

Written by Jack Buck
September, 2001

I wonder how to make this recommendation to the judge? :)