Ode to Sheena, Princess Warrior

Ode to Sheena Princess Warrior

Sheena came from humble beginnings, a farm cat off a local Nebraska farm. We answered a newspaper ad giving away free kittens and home she came. Basswood Drive was and will continue to be her home. From an early age Sheena ruled the roost. Although she was small, her personality was fierce. She would never back down from a fight and though many “toms” tried to muscle their way into her territory, she let them all know just who the boss was! We incurred numerous trips to the vet to repair wounds.

Throughout the years Sheena had to share the garage with new comers. First there was Blackie, she arrived in the late winter and to all our surprise was expecting. So Blackie, Sheena and a litter of kittens all shared space for a while.  The next intruder Sheena had to share her dominion with was Snowball. This dude was like a free spirited surfer dude whom Sheena walked all over. In her later years Larry built a perch for her to spend her days gazing out the window at birds during the long winter months.

During summers, Sheena was the resident watch the grass grow kind of cat. All the neighbors knew her and would comment how she would just lounge about on the front porch watching the comings and goings of the neighborhood. Sometimes she would venture across the street to watch Tim work on his cars or down the road to play with the neighbor kids but never would go too far from home.

Sheena grew up with our kids and was on to her next set of neighborhood kids who loved to stop by and talk to Sheena as she rolled about their feet. Sheena always had a fondness for men in addition to children. I was never her favorite but that was ok as we had a great understanding and commitment to each other in many ways. I was ok with her digging her claws into Larry’s stomach as she kneaded her happiness into him as I watched from the other patio chair.  She loved spending time with us on the deck in summers. She would always take the best chair and frown upon us moving her. Whether it was sitting by the fire, having dinner, or sitting in front of the fan we were guaranteed a visit from our Sheena.

Sheena’s prey of choice was reptiles and amphibians (snakes and frogs). She was never one for “normal” cat prey. Larry and I were sitting on the front porch one evening commenting what a slacker Sheena was never catching any mice as she listened intently. Be damned but the next day she dropped a dead field mouse on the step as proof she could mouse but just chose not to. We watched what we said after this!

Oh how Sheena loved the garden. She knew the words “go to the garden?” and always followed us down to inspect our planting or weeding. She would do her part taking a big poop in the freshly tilled soil or smashing down weeds as she rolled her white fur in the dirt. A couple years ago during a garden escapade there was a baby bunny eating our plants. The bunny had gotten through the fence and couldn’t get out. Well we dropped Sheena in and she ran around the garden a few times chasing the bunny until she was just exhausted. She flopped over where she was and didn’t move until we carried her back to the front porch.

Sheena the Camper Kitty – after we purchased Big Blue, Sheena had to go inside and inspect. After that first time she claimed the camper as hers and learned that word too! Every time you’d say, do you want to go to the camper out she went to wait for us to open the door so she could climb inside and have some lounging time on the couch or in the front window. She would even ride around the neighborhood looking out as we drove around. She never did make it on a trip with us but would have done great!

Sheena, you brought us many great memories over the years. Your fierce independent attitude will be missed and standing in front of the cars preventing us from entering the garage is missed already.  Love you tons girl.

Vacation 2014!

I could not decide where to post our family vacation this year... the other blog won so please go visit my other blog Vacation 2014

Thanks!

Sisters

I have had this blog for a while now so I thought it was about time to talk about one of my favorite people - My Sister!

She is great. No that is an understatement. She puts up with me. She tells me like it is. She loves me for me. She stands up for me and doesn't stab me in the back. We seem to go through a lot of the same things and it is nice to have someone relate and be there for me. She is corny and off the wall. She is not afraid to try new things. She is as opinionated as I am so it makes for lively debates!  We live W-A-Y to far apart but still manage to stay close via our cell phones (Thank God).

Soon we will be having our annual shopping trip. We each drive about 1/2 way and meet up for an entire day of shopping, laughing, eating, and "green fog". (Only SHE will get that last one.)

She is a beautiful person - inside and out. She is spunky and smart and fun to be around. Everyone should have a sister like her and I am glad she is mine!!!

 

I love you sista!

 

Zookeeper!

Here is one reason why sometimes I do not get to blog... THE ZOO. I would like to introduce you to some of our pets, or as I like to call them family extensions. I love them all but they sure as heck can be as frustrating as family members.

Let's start off with the newest member of the family. This is Snowball. He arrived mewing plaintively on a very cold and snowy night - thus the name.  He was Snowflake until we discovered he was an intact male. That name just didn't seem masculine enough so my daughter changed it to Snowball. He is minus the balls now except for in his name! (hee hee)

When I went out to take my first pictures of him I couldn't find him until I looked up. Yep, he is on the roof of our home. He is quite the character and OHHH SOOO LOVEY! He is quickly earning a place in my heart.

Snowball loves Mia as you can see in this next photo. I think Snowball wishes Mia would be a little bit more aggressive but he loves her all the same. He will go running to lay down and roll in front of her like the picture below. She sniffs him and sometimes falls over on him. He doesn't mind.

Mia, the dog smaller than the cats, you have met in a prior post if you have read for very long. She is a toy fox terrier with severe medical conditions. We rescued her and are doing our best. She is not a good fit for our busy household and would do much better in a quiet home but we love her all the same.

Here we have Buddy. The poor thing is misnamed. She should have a nice feminine name but we had no say in naming her. She was also a rescue kitty and came to us severely traumatized.  After 9 months she is finally calming down and has been known to rub on my legs occasionally. I am SO happy she is recovering and beginning to trust me.  Her meow will never be normal but that is what makes her unique.  The flash hurt her eyes so I couldn't get a good shot with her eyes open.

I had to throw this next shot it. I was in a mood with the camera getting all these shots of the pets when my son came home. I think he thought the paparazzi was after him! Nope, just mom being silly telling him YES he is one of the pets. HA HA!

Next we have a long-timer. This is Suzi. She has had her own MySpace page and now she has her own Facebook page.  We sometimes refer to her as the Queen.  She and her brother came to me as adults so I had no say in naming these guys either!!! I see a trend. Their prior owner was an older gentleman who had to go into a nursing home and couldn't take them. I have probably had them for 6-7 years.  Suzi is very timid with everyone except her brother. She has been known to open a can of whoop ass on him when she thinks he is out of line.  Suzi's favorite thing to do is saddle up to the food dish and have her way with a big bowl of kibble. She also L-O-V-E-S the brush. She will actually start drooling when she sees it and prance around for at least 1/2 hour getting brushed. I can relate to Suzi. :-)

Next we have Suzi's brother Snoopy. He is outgoing, friendly, and has kidney and bladder issues. He is terminal but we don't know how long. So we love him every day and try to keep him out of trouble.  He loves to open doors and will pound on them if they are locked shut until someone comes to visit him.  His territory is now in the basement as his urinary issues were partially to blame for a spray fest upstairs.

I would love to say he was waving for me but to get his attention I was dangling something in front of him to get this shot. He loves playing with string. He weighs in at around 16 pounds so quite the lug when he decides to jump on your stomach!

This, my friends, is SHEENA, princess warrior. Doesn't she look like a warrior in this picture? I mean seriously she looks as if she is going to claw my eyes out at any moment for taking this picture of her. She is our garage/outside kitty. She does not like Snowball at all! I am sure she could just sit on him and be done with it but she would rather his and run. I hope they learn to tolerate each other soon.

These next photos are more peripheral pets but still count as we take care of them.  This first one is of my pond. The pond does not look so pretty in the winter but in this photo you can see in the bottom left corner if you look closely an orange color. That is one of our 7 fish.  Some of these fish have lived in our pond for years. We have one old one I call Blackie. He is a black gold fish and rules the roost. They are relaxing to watch in the summer.

These are more our winter time pets. We feed the wild birds.  They are fun to watch and we get quite a variety of birds to our feeders. The husband even gets to take pictures!

So there you have it. Why my blogs are sometimes slow in coming. I'm probably cleaning up cat barf or changing a litter box but I love them all!  Thanks for stopping by.