Can different species be related?

I pose this question because I came across some old pictures of Gracie.



For those who don't remember Gracie, she was a kitten we got from American West Heritage Center. She was on death's doorstep when we got her. She was skin and bones and didn't move much. Adam was getting ready to move to Boise and he thought she would make good company. In return, he would nurse her back to health then find her a good home before me and the dogs woved out there. No cat would live long living in the same house as Bear. So that's exactly what happened. (Adam got a text message with a pic of Gracie that said she was doing really well and she loved the other cat in the house.)

So, back to the question...

They would have made such cute house mates!

Grasshoppers, Gracie & CFL light bulbs

I was out mowing the lawn for the last time. I was wearing sweat pants. I sat down at the computer to work and a couple of hours later, something in my pocket was poking my leg and scratching me just a little. I felt my pocket to see if I could figure out what was in there...I didn't rememeber putting anything in there. I felt something, so I stuck my hand in my pocket. Well, I feel something but it's not in my pocket, it's between my pants and my leg. I pulled the band out to see what it was. It was a big grasshopper and I freaked out. I stood up and swatted at him. I managed to get him off of me but in the proccess, I amputated one of his back legs. I called the dogs over to eat the grasshopper but they wouldn't do it. Yuck...I hate bugs crawling on me!

Each night, I tell Adam that he needs to do something toward finding Gracie a new home and he just tells me that she wants to stay so I remind him that if she does, she'll end up as dog food. He finally sent out an email at work yesterday and Gracie has been claimed by a family of four with one other cat. The catch is that they can't take her until after we get back to Boise because they are leaving on vacation today. So he at least gets one last weekend with her. I know Adam is really sad about having to give her up. If he's anything like me, he'll bawl after he gives her up (I did after giving Chewy up). But she'll have a much better life not having to be locked up so she doesn't get eaten.

We've been using CFL light bulbs for a few years, except for in this house since we won't be here long enough to recoup the cost. Anyway, until today, I didn't know that you shouldn't throw them out in the trash. There is mercury in them that, once broken, will seep through the ground and into the water contaminating it. In fact, if you break one, you should leave the room and air it out for 15 minutes before cleaning it up. They should be recycled at special CFL recycle centers. I don't know where any of the recycle centers are but you can go online to find them if you use those bulbs.

Gracie 1st Vet visit

Adam tried to not take Gracie to the vet because of money but her eye has been giving her problems and he found a worm in her stool. We first weighed her 2 days after we got her on a kitchen scale. She weighed1 lb 4 oz. She's now 3 lbs 4 oz. They told Adam that she's 3 months old. She has tapeworm which is easliy treated with a single dose and she's on antibitotics for her eye infection. She's is fully litterbox trained now and she's not a fan of being outside. Adam takes her out but she just runs back in. I'm not so sure she'll be happy about living on a farm...maybe we'll have to rethink that. Oh, and they said that she's not a calico, she's a tortise shell. I don't know what the difference is, I guess.

This weekend didn't turn out quite like we thought

Yesterday, while Adam and I were working on the car, a kitten walked over to us. It had started storming and we were rushing to finish up. The garage door was open. She kept meowing at us then finally walked into the garage. The rain started coming down so hard that we just threw everything into the garage and decided to let her wait out the storm in our garage. We got her some food and water and made a small bed for her. The storm never let up so she spent the night in there. We’re pretty sure she’s our neighbors but I don’t know if they let her inside or not. This morning, I thought the storm was done. I let her out and she wouldn’t go back home so I closed her in her back yard. We came back out in 30 minutes to try to beat the rain that was moving back in and the kitten showed back up as it started to rain. Again, our garage door was open so she meowed at us from inside the garage. It started hailing! It’s Sep. 1st and it’s in the 40’s outside! I told Adam we were going to have an early winter. Anyway, she’s curled up in the bed in the garage again…I don’t know when this storm will actually be over and they don’t seem to notice that she’s gone.

While Adam was here, he replaced the bushing, link ends for the sway arms, the front brakes, the idler arm and bracket and a pitman arm. He was going to drive back to Boise with Gracie (the kitten from the farm) on Sunday but the storm wouldn’t allow him to finish. He was hoping to leave around noon today but that hasn’t happened. I don’t know if he’ll actually get on the road today either. He hates car work so I know it wasn’t very fun week off for him.

Gracie keeps getting more active and adventurous. She ran off twice yesterday when we took her out to go to the bathroom so we bought a collar and leash. She doesn’t really like the leash (most cats don’t) but it keeps her from running off. She doesn’t really run away, she just loves to be underneath things, in cozy places and so she’s just looking for a cozy place to lay and she’s content to stay there. Her stomach has really grown. We’re hoping the rest of her body will begin to catch up quickly. What’s really funny is that all three dogs have finally figured out there’s something alive in the house. Jack is scared to death of her. He trembles all over and gets so fixated on her, everything else disappears.

I was released from my primary teacher position on Sunday. I finally got my class to be reverent…it was great! I just wished that I had figured it out before my last Sunday. I actually enjoyed teaching them for the first time.

Little Kitty update

Well, we've had little kitty for just over 24 hours now and she's become so much more active. Adam had salmon for dinner the night we got her so she's been eating that (just finished it off), some kitten milk replacement, kitten food and a few soft kitten treats and tons of water. We were concerned yesterday because even though she was eaing and drinking so much, she just wouldn't go to the bathroom. I guess she was just absorbing everything because this morning, everything seems to be in good working order. Pam, the farmhouse woman, told us she probably had worms that were stealing all her nutrients, which is why she's so thin. She had a good appetitie and ate what the woman gave her. We're pretty sure that she doesn't have worms because with regular meals and a warm place to sleep she's gotten stronger and she no longer has diarreah. I think all she needed was some TLC. Adam will take her to the vet on Tuesday just to make sure there are no other problems than neglect. She's such a happy little kitty right now, always purring, and on the mend.

She spent the day yesterday laying outside in the grass while Adam worked on the car. The garbage truck came and scared her so I grabbed her right as she bolted. When I set her down, she spied a grasshopper right next to her. She scared him and he jumped, she pounced and caught it then ate the whole thing, bite by bite, except for one back leg. She'll definitely be a good mouser!

American West Heritage Center

I had such a good time yesterday! We finally made it to the American West Heritage Center. It's up in Logan. I found it on the internet while still living in Atlanta. They use volunteers for all the demonstrations and the tour guides. They all have volunteer researchers. I contacted them because we thought we'd be living in Logan. They told me that volunteers got a big book of all kinds of information about how people back then lived nd how to do things. I want to get ahold of that book so bad!! Saturday is the last day they have everything open for the season so I am SO glad that we made it when we did. Now I just need to make it to Antelope Island and This Is the Plack Heritage Village before they close most things down for the season. I hate it when I procrastinate!! There were only a few volunteers there and only two other visitors. In my opinion, that's the best way to go. You get to take your time looking at everything and ask as many questions as you want. Also, it had a very peaceful feeling that probably wouldn't have been there had there been a lot of people there.



We started out with the mountain men. They shoed us a bunch of furs and told us what some of them were used for. They showed us some tools they carried with them, including some black powder guns. He showed us how they mesaured the black powder grains to get the right accuracy and filled up his gun, minus the ball and shot off the black powder. I think Adam wants one now. He really liked it.



Then we moved on to Patch's workshop. They make everything out of wood there. They had carvings, butter molds, spoons, rolling pins, various cooking utensils, jewelry boxes and chairs. Patch was not in to give us a demonstration though so we didn't stay too long.


Then, we made our way to the pioneer settlement. There was a large windmill in the center. The Opera House and the General Store were closed but there were a few ladies at the bowery. There were a couple of ladies setting up a small loom. Another lady showed us around the bowery and then the dugout. It was so short that you can't stand straight up...well, I think Adam could. It was just a tad too short for me. They got the description of it from a sick boy. He was stuck in bed for a while so he wrote in his journal about the size of the dugout and described everything inside and daily life inside one. There wasn't much room in it at all and a family of 8 lived in it!!


Next, me moved to the cabin. It fit the minimum requirements (12' x 12' with one window, glass is optional, and one door) for the homestead act. Again, I'm not sure how a family could all fit in it to sleep. This was even smaller than the dugout.

Outside the cabin door was a barrel with some metal hoops and wooden sticks. We found out these were for a game called graces. Each person gets two sticks. One person puts a hoop on their sticks, crosses them and pulls the sticks apart to lauch the hoop toward the other person. If you catch it on two sticks, you get two points. A one stick catch gets you 1 point. And if you drop it, you don't get any points. This was a game that was supposed to teach the girls to be as graceful as swans but as Adam and I found out, it's just really fun!!

From there, we stopped at the Shoshone encampment. A woman was there and she told us just a little about some of the things there. Then we went inside the teepee. It is surprisingly big inside one of those, especially compared to the dugout and cabin. They had seats made out of red willow that sat on the ground. It was actually not too bad for comfort...of course not the most comfy I've ever been on.


Now, the most awaited part of the trip. The 1917 farm house. First, we came across two small outbuildings. One was a smokehouse. I opened it up and the smell of smoke came right out. There were meat hooks across the top of it. The other building was a root cellar. I think it wsa only about 6-7 stairs down but the temperature was so cool inside, I was amazed at the difference! It was pitch black inside so I was surprised to see, when the flash went off, that the shelves had some home canned goods on them...and they looked really good! The outhouse was across the path. I opened it up. They nailed boards over the two holes so no one would use it. (They have another outhouse by the barn that is actually a portapotty with a wooden exterior instead of the bright blue plastic normally on them.)


There were a number of other outbuildings...a blacksmith shop, a storage shed for the horse drawn equipment, a large barn for th milk cows and horses and a chicken coop.


While we were sitting near the chicken coop, there were al kinds of birds wandering around, peacocks, chickens, turkeys, a little duck and then came along a couple of kittens. One was so boney! I handed her to Adam and she instantly laid down in his lap and fell asleep. He held her while I went inside the summer kitchen and looked around. This had been their home until they built the larger cabin. Once they moved into the larger cabin, this becane the place where all the laundry was done, baths were taken, cooking an canning were also done in here. They only used it when it was hot outside and the extra heat from the stove inside the main house would have been unbearble.


Adam put the small kitten down and we explored the main house. The guide, Pam, showed us around and then answered all my questions. It only has electricity to the kitchen and no running water at all. She cooks on the stove there everyday for whoever it is she cooks for. She was washing the dishes in some enamel pots out on the back porch when we showed up.


Back outside, Adam picked up the little kitten while Pam told us that someone had just dropped her off there a couple of days ago and she was going to take her home to see if she could bring her back to life. We explored the garden. I will have something like it someday! While we were exploring the garden, a turkey came out of the plants chomping on an egg shell that was dripping with egg yolk.


The little cat tugged at Adam's heart strings and decided he wanted to take her home and nurse her back to health. He'll take her back to Boise with him and she'll keep him company in the evenings and on weekends. Then, when she's healthy enough, he'll find her another home, a farm he hopes. We talked to Pam again and offered to take her home. She was greatful and agreed. So we left with her.


We went and saw the temple...very pretty!! Then headed back toward home. We finally made it home, after a couple of longer than shold have been stops, at 11:30. We put her in her new kennel with the heating pad turned on under her blanket. She's got absolutely no fat on her so she needs the extra warmth. She slept above Jack...her kennel on top of his. The dogs smelled something in the air but they never figured it out. So, just so everybody knows, as cute and sweet as she is, we will not be keeping her because of our dogs.

The pictures above are:
1. Me showing how low the dugour ceiling is.
2. Tom, the turkey, getting ready for Thanksgiving.
3. Logan Temple.
4. New little kitty.
5 & 6. Inside the dugout.
7. Adam with graces sticks and hoop.
8. Inside the root cellar.
9. The coolest picture I took.