Kitty Update

Juliette is now our one-eyed kitty. She fought the valiant fight, as did our wonderful vet, Dr. Carrie Lane of Klaich Animal Hospital. But the eye was not salvageable. We had considered putting her down at this point, but we've had the cat longer than we've had kids. So, she will be our pirate kitty.

The stitches come out and the cone comes off on the 4th of July and she should have no issues after that.

Update on the Kitty

We took her in for her second follow up today. The vet says that it is still looking good and they want her back on Monday. They are going to sedate her and bring the third eyelid down to check it out.

We shall see.

My little gardeners

As promised . . . Here are Tea and Crackers watering the Rose of Sharon. Tea has fake colored hair extensions in - they are the bomb! Crackers has a dinosaur hat on. They both have on their gardening gloves that were a gift from Auntie Karen. They wear them whenever they are in the yard.





Here they are helping DH plant the new rose bush, sort of. They are waiting for their turn to water.








This is my view out the front door to the right just a little bit. That's the way to the driveway and also the view out the dining room window. We have a cute little porch right here with a nice bench to sit on and enjoy the outdoors.







This is to the left looking towards the neighbor's driveway. I believe that the two trees in the front yard have been here as long as (or close to it) as the house, so that would put them at about 40 years old.





This is slightly to the left of the front door, looking across the street.



Enjoy!

Gardening

DH pulled out a dead Scotch Broom and a dead rose bush yesterday, so we replaced some plantings today. Stidmama has inspired me with her gardening posts, so I thought that I would share our front yard.

This is the Rose of Sharon that lives where the broom lived before. We had three of these in the sideyard at the old house and I loved them and was sad to move away from them. There are a couple in the backyard here, but they are white and I really enjoy the purple ones. We will probably plant more along that front fence in the seasons to come.

This is one of our two Rhododendrons in the front yard. They are a vivid pink almost red in color, but I think that we are not going to get any blooms this year. They are looking peaked and they have buds, but everyone else's Rhodies are blooming, so I am fretful. There is one in front of, and one in back of this huge tree that is right in front of our dining room window.











This is our Clematis in the front yard. I love the deep purple of the flowers. I am sad about it though. As you can see, there is only one branch on this plant that is still alive. The rest is dead and it is planted in front of a fence and buried by the periwinkle and other assorted stuff planted in this corner. We will probably have to replace it next season and I am not sure how we are going to do that. We also have one in the backyard that is doing marginally better, but it is light pink/white.











This is a beautiful plant between a rose bush and some other shrub. I have no idea what it is, but it has pretty royal purple flowers. I think that this is the first year that we have seen it bloom since we moved in. I don't remember it from last year, but who knows. If you know what it is, would you mind telling me in the comments? Thanks!











This is our Forsythia that is by the front door. It is getting out of hand and we need to cut it back, but it is so pretty early in the season. I really need to get out in the front yard and clean up the beds, but gardening is not my passion. Nor is it DH's, so our yard always looks a little shabby. Oh well, it is ours and that's all that matters.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I have another post coming with pics of the kids assisting in the planting today.

Poor Kitty

Meet Juliette.

We have had Juliette for about 7 years. We got her from the Humane Society where her previous owners had placed her because she licked bags. Another family had already adopted her "partner in crime" Romeo, thus splitting up the pair. We felt bad for her and she loved on DH, so we brought her home.

She has been such a good kitty for us. Many members of my Hostess Clubs have become well acquainted with her lately, as she has really come out of her shell and visits when they are here.

About six months ago, she had this cloudiness on her left eye. We took her to the vet and they told us that as long as it wasn't bothering her (which it wasn't) we didn't need to worry about it. She's an indoor kitty, so no worries about her not being able to see predators well. She just has to deal with Gabe, our other kitty, who is even more shy than Juliette, and a lot of people don't even know that we have him.

Last week, she was our little pirate kitty, walking around with her left eye closing and goopy. So, off to the vet we went last Thursday. They gave us antibiotic cream for it and wanted to see her again in two days. Saturday's news was not so good. She has a large ulcer on her eye right in the middle of the cloudiness. They wanted to sedate her and debride the eye. Shudder. So, they kept her overnight, cleaned up the eye, stitched up her third eyelid and stitched the eye partially closed. She came home with a partially shaved head, stitches and a cone. Her follow up was scheduled for today (Friday).

We have been giving her the antibiotic cream three to four times a day but it really didn't appear that it was working. Her eye looked worse to me and she has not been eating well. She is also very mad at us for the indignity of the cone and collar (it has flowers and butterflies on it) plus the fact that she cannot hide under the bed anymore. Poor girl.

We took her back to the vet today and they cleaned up her eye and told us that it was looking as well as could be expected and to keep up with the cream and bring her back in five days. Needless to say, I am very relieved. I was very concerned that the news was not going to be good. The next step after this is to remove the eye, and I am not sure that we will be able to go down that path for a myriad of reasons.

Think good thoughts for our little love if you get a chance to. I will keep you updated.

Dance Recital

Here they are . . . my mom was in charge of pictures, as my husband was in charge of video, as I was in charge of five little ballerinas. The kids did very well and considering that they were the third performance of an hour long recital, they were so very well behaved.

I think that Tea had the largest contingent there! There were: the four of us, of course; my parents; DH's mom; my sister and her husband and their four kids; DH's brother and his wife and their two kids; DH's sister; my best friend, her husband and their daughter; two of Tea's former preschool teachers; and, last but not least, her godmother.

Tea got flowers from her dad, Grandma and Tata (my mom) and she was thrilled. She went to bed that night with the flower that Tata gave her. It was a very pretty Dahlia from her garden, in a little water tube. I had to take it out of her hands and put it on the headboard so she wouldn't squish it.

The above picture is from the finale where all of the dancers were on stage. The below picture is Tea with my Dad (her Bubba) and her flowers.