Les triplettes de Belleville

Crash & Burn

Crash & Burn are the two kittens Rico and I found on a walk down the road in August. Burn is also known as Burnadette since our first visit to the vet.

Crash:


& Burn:


& Burn checking out a friends cat on the computer:

Robin Redbreast

Winter teasing this morning,
a reminder it's on the way.
Snowflakes blowing and melting,
upon the ground warmed yesterday.

Robins gather on branches,
one flinches and fifteen take flight.
The barn cats snug in their warm bed,
wind howling through trees in the night.

Toasty fire in the wood stove,
an extra blanket on the bed.
Winter coats hanging on hooks,
evidence that summer has fled.

(Ok, Ok, I'll leave the poem writing to the pros...)

Robin Redbreast
by William Allingham

Good-bye, good-bye to Summer! For Summer's nearly done; The garden smiling faintly, Cool breezes in the sun; Our Thrushes now are silent, Our Swallows flown away, -- But Robin's here, in coat of brown, With ruddy breast-knot gay. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! Robin singing sweetly In the falling of the year. Bright yellow, red, and orange, The leaves come down in hosts; The trees are Indian Princes, But soon they'll turn to Ghosts; The scanty pears and apples Hang russet on the bough, It's Autumn, Autumn, Autumn late, 'Twill soon be Winter now. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And welaway! my Robin, For pinching times are near. The fireside for the Cricket, The wheatstack for the Mouse, When trembling night-winds whistle And moan all round the house; The frosty ways like iron, The branches plumed with snow, -- Alas! in Winter, dead and dark, Where can poor Robin go? Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And a crumb of bread for Robin, His little heart to cheer.

Kitty

She would've been 22 years old on October 23rd but her body couldn't quite make it that far. She far outlived our expectations. We gave her a good, loving home and she returned the love two fold. It's so damn hard to say goodbye to our old friends. We'll miss you more than you'll know Kitty.

Rico in Action

Rico: 4 months

Rico & Annie's Puppy Play Date

Last weekend I packed Rico and myself into the mini-van and made the 3 hour trek to my sisters house. This was his first "longer than 20 minute" car ride. For the first 10 miles he was entertained by trying to bite the cars as they went by. It was a quiet, slow-motion, air bite thing he was doing. Is hard to imagine what was going through his head. After he got bored with that he settled down and went to sleep.

After an hour on the road, we stopped at my friends house to borrow a dog crate. I was nervous about letting Rico run loose on my sister's farm. Not sure how he would react to the horses and the chickens and was just not willing to let him have free roam yet.

My friend has two older dogs that Rico had not met yet. We decided to take them all on a walk along the trail on leash to introduce them first. Rico barked at first but as we got walking he just wanted to play. Slowly they all got to sniff each other and by the end of the walk we felt comfortable letting them play together in the house. All went fine. Rico seems to know when to be submissive and had a good time playing with Bailey & Bear. We packed up the crate and got on the road again. Rico fell asleep after being on the road a few minutes.

My sister and her family just adopted a 4 month old puppy named Annie. We're not sure what she is but I think she'a Golden Retriever/Shepherd mix. The people she got her from said she was an American Setter and Chocolate Lab cross. We have yet to discover a breed of dog called American Setter. Pedigree aside, she's just plain sweet. This was the whole reason for the trip - Rico & Annie's puppy play date. Don't worry, I know how lame that sounds.

We pulled into my sisters driveway about 10:00 Friday night. My niece was outside with Annie holding her by the collar. I put Rico's leash on and he hopped out of the car behind me, barking at Annie the whole time. We brought them closer together. They wouldn't stop barking so we decided what the heck, let them go. The playing began and didn't stop until 2:30am when my sister and couldn't keep our eyes open any more and I put Rico in the crate.

Next morning I let him out and he got to meet the horses (he'd rather play with Annie) and he saw the chickens (he'd rather play with Annie) and met the other two house dogs, Zeus and Lola (he'd rather play with Annie). They were inseparable. I'm glad my sister felt the same way about the play date thing and enjoyed watching them play as much as I did.

On Saturday we went for a walk on the trail, went to our Mom's house with the dogs, went to our sister's house with the dogs and went to a place called Inspiration Point and walked the trail with the dogs. It was so fun and beautiful as the trees were in their full fall regalia. It was actually nice to have the dogs because they pulled us up the hill. I think we could've made some money at Inspiration Point renting them out at the bottom of the hill as walking aids. And of course, I forgot to bring the camera along.

On Sunday we left for home and stopped at my friends Mothers house for dinner. Rico was the perfect gentleman and didn't beg for food at the dinner table even though he did make a failed attempt for the prime rib roast on the kitchen counter. He was also one tired puppy from all the activity. I practically had to carry him to his pen when we got home Sunday night.

I was worried about Rico on Monday. He was not his usual rambunctious self. Monday night my sister called and asked if Rico was depressed too. Apparently, Annie & Rico had withdrawals from each other! How sweet. He was back to his old self on Tuesday afternoon. Next it's Annie's turn to come visit. (I'm sick, I know. Deal with it.)

I like this...

in an email forwarded from Mom...

When you were born,
you were crying
and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end,
you're the one who is smiling
and everyone around you is crying.

Every Cloud Has A Warm Blonde Lining

I can remember seeing my first gray hairs when I was 18. A few gray hairs in a blonde head of hair is no big deal. Fast forward to age 30 and the realization that among the siblings, my oldest brother and I had received the "early gray hair" gene. It was then I decided to start dyeing my hair on a regular basis.

I usually have a box of Preference by Loreal (because I'm worth it) on my bathroom cabinet shelf. Usually light ash blonde but occassionally I would stray for a bit of adventure. I once wandered as far as dark ash blonde. The excitement was too much to handle and a few weeks later I went back to my old standby, light ash blonde. (I need to get a life!)

On occassion I will let my hair grow out until it gets to the "I can't stand this hair anymore!" poochy stage or the first 100 degree summer day, whichever comes first. It's then I'll run to Fantastic Sams and get it cut very short. This is usually an opportunity to check in on the "real" hair color. In other words, "how gray is it now?" Fast forward to age 42 and this last hair reality check was rather frightening. I am now 85% gray except for a strange half circle area over my brain stem at the back of my head which is light brown. Maybe it's my brain putting up a valiant last stand in the gray hair war. Or maybe it's my hair yelling "I'm not as old as I look!" within that last patch of color. I've kept it "au-naturale" for the past few months.

I was at Target yesterday and I decided it was time to leave the reality check behind and was time to pick up a box of Preference. I was feeling adventurous. I wondered what the warm blonde would be like. After much deliberation and a few sighs from women trying to get to the same shelf space, the warm blonde found it's way in my basket. (Note to self, don't shop on Saturday afternoons anymore.)

Last night I went into the bathroom and opened up the box. I mixed the color and worked it into my hair. Usually you leave it in 25 minutes but since I am gray, I get an additional 20 minute sentence. With towel wrapped around my shoulders, I went into the living room and sat down next to hubby. He looked at me and asked if I was going red this time. I thought that was a funny comment and told him "no, warm blonde." I wasn't interested in what he was watching so I got up and went into the kitchen and washed some dishes. Looking at the clock, waiting patiently, washing dishes and wishing I was that guy on the new tv show "Heroes" that can speed up time. I was excited! (again, I need to get a life!) Finally, the 45 minutes were up.

When I walked in to the bathroom and looked at my gooey hair in the mirror, I was shocked. The goo had turned a very definite red over the past 45 minutes. I now realized why hubby had asked if I was going red. While washing out the coloring, I convinced myself it was going to be OK and it just looked like that to add the "warm" into the blonde. All rinsed out and conditioned I brought my wet head up to the mirror. I said to myself "It will look less red and get lighter when I dry it." I dried it. There was definitely a "more red than blonde" now adorning my crown. All I could think of was Clay Aitkins...my hair looks like Clay Aitkins new mane. I walked into the living room to show hubby. "I like it!" he said enthusiastically. Good enough for me! He's the one who has to look at it the most and it's rare I get an enthusiastic response to my hair color. After 24 hours it's kind of growing on me. So I'm now a very berry blonde. Until the next reality check anyways.

David Sedaris on Letterman

Hilarious!