February 2001

This picture of Jacob and Matthew was taken in February of 2001. We lived at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. I remember we had gone a playgroup and didn't realize it had been canceled for that day. We took advantage of the nice weather and played at the park for a while with the other Moms and kids who showed up.

R.I.P. Mary

On Sunday, Matthew was going out to walk to his friends next door. The cat was on the porch railing and the dogs were in the front yard. When Demon (the dog) looked toward Matthew, he spotted the cat. He grabbed her tail and yanked her off the railing. He then let go and grabbed her rear right leg and lifted her up and began to shake her. She turned around and scrapped his snout. As this was happening, Matthew was yelling for the dog to stop. We had told the kids to NOT approach the dogs if they were fighting so they would not get hurt. When I heard Matthew yelling, I could tell by his voice something was wrong. I got up and ran outside. I yelled at Demon NO, and he finally let the cat go. She tried to climb into the tree but she couldn't get a grip with her rear legs and fell about 2 feet to the ground. Mike put the dog back into the kennel. We then picked up the cat and brought her inside. We could tell that her rear right leg was injured, but didn't know how badly.
We called a few vets before finding one that answered. I brought her about 45 mins away, to the open vet. After x-rays, he said that she had no broken bones, but the rear right leg is dislocated at what would be our knee joint. When the dog shook her, it tore all the ligaments and tendons that hold that joint together. It's a pretty significant injury. He gave her pain meds observed her overnight to make sure her lungs weren't damaged or bruised from her being shaken.
Yesterday morning, the vet performed surgery on her leg. I called around lunch time to check on her. The vet said that she went throught the surgery fine and that she was in recovery. We decided that I would pick her up today, after lunch.
This morning, just as the kids were getting ready to catch the bus, the phone rang. It was the vet letting me know that Mary did not make it. He thinks that her brain was damaged from the shaking. He said she was very slow to come out of the anesthesia.
Matthew is pretty upset about it all as Mary was his cat and he witnessed the attack. She was given to him by a friend who moved away a few years ago. All the kids took the bus to school this morning, even though they were upset about Mary. Matthew stopped by my office today, between classes, to 'check to see if I was ok'. He is so darn sweet.

Going Back

I have been going though some old pictures recently. It all started with Lauren wanting to see pictures of when she was born. I am on the first disk, because I can't seem to make it any further!! The about picture was taken on Easter 2000. Mike had just gotten back about from a one year tour in Korea. Unknown to us, about 2 months later, I would be pregnant with Lauren!

Flowers

This is a picture of a flower from one of our Dogwood trees taken last May. I can't wait for spring and the flowers that will come with it!

There was an old woman...

In October, Jacob's class went on a field trip to a small cabin not far from here. It is owned by our school's are teacher. The kids had a great time seeing how people lived 100 years ago. The woman in this picture completely fascinated me. I wish I had the entire day to sit with her and hear her stories.

Stuck

Last October, we found a cat in one of the trees in our yard. For three days and nights, that cat stayed in the tree, on the same branch! We think she was afraid of our dog, Princess. One morning, she was just gone from the tree and we haven't seen her since.

Cookie Time

Our Brownie Troop picked up their Girl Scout Cookies on Monday. Now it's time to get them out to the customers.. and more importantly, EAT THEM!!! Where are my Thin Mints?!

Father Daughter Valentines' Dance

Mike and Lauren went to their first Father Daughter Dance tonight. She had a blast!! She is already looking forward to next years dance!

Blue Skies

Today's temperature was in the upper 50s. The best part was all the sunshine! I tried to capture the blue sky reflected in the water here, but I just couldn't get the right angle. I still like what I captured though. You can see streaks of the sunset starting to creap in.

Just Me

This is a self-portrait taken Feb 4.

Who Put the Sprinkles in My Dough?

That was Matthew's question on Sunday while the kids, along with two of Lauren's friends, were making cookies. Given the condition of the table, I would say it's a question he will never have an answer to!

Macro Monday

I read that as a title for a posting criteria at a website, but can't remember where. My friend Ros asked about some pictures I had taken with a macro filter on my camera. I went back and pulled three of those pictures. These were taken when I first got those filters. I really need to pull them out and play with them more.

Make-up Post

I forgot to post a picture last night, so I am doing it today instead!
This is a weed or some type of plant I saw on a walk when we had the snow last week. I thought it was pretty cool the way the snow just sat on the plant.

Cold Crossing

The snow and ice from last week is really sticking around. Today was alot warmer, in the 50s. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the upper 60s. In places where the sun doesn't shine for very long, or where the temp is still pretty low when the sun is shining, you can still find a good bit of ice. I took this picture yesterday. It's a stream that runs over a low water crossing. The opposite side of the crossing is solid ice.

On the Edge

As I was walking from my office to the main office at school today, I looked up and saw sheets of ice perched on the edge of the roof of the junior high building. The snow we had last week is slow to melt. I notified the office that this was a hazard as it could easily slide off and injure a student. After school, I went back and took a few pictures of the ice. This is the best of those pictures. Now, I want to go back and scrub and repaint the gutters... eww!!

iPhone

We had a phone upgrade available for Jan. Mike called our provider in Dec to see if they would let him upgrade early so he could get me a new phone for Christmas. I was eyeing the Blackberry Curve, in Red! He did some research, called around and waiting for a call back on whether we could upgrade early. Our provider called us two days after Christmas to tell us that we could upgrade early. At that point, it was too late for it to be a Christmas gift. Mike's phone started to act weird, so I told him that we could upgrade his phone and I would wait until the May upgrade to get my new phone. He uses his phone daily and relies on it. I can't use mine at home because we don't get signal here. I use mine when I go to post or when I go on trips. He did more research and checked out all his buddies phones as well. He decided that he wanted and iPhone. Most evenings, you can find Mike on the sofa, watching tv, and playing with his phone!

Taking the Plunge

I didn't take today's picture!!
My friend Wendy went to Duluth, Minnasota for work last week. She was asked to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge there to help raise money for the Special Olympics. This is one of the pictures that was posted on the newspaper's website. Wendy is the one on the far right!!!