aldrigmer's Xanga

Nummy!!

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:44:12 GMT

So do you think she will breastfeed her babies some day?

We sat down for dinner the other night, and my 20 month old daughter says "mommy nummy!" This is what she says when she wants to nurse. Anyway I was preparing to take her out of her seat and nurse her, and she shakes her head no and says "mommy baby nummy!" I handed her her baby, and she positions her in a cradle hold, then pulls on her at shirt while saying "mommy shirt" I asked her if she wanted me to open her shirt and she says "yea." I help her open her shirt, and she happily repositions her baby, and gives her nummy. I just thought it was so adorable, and luckily got to the camera in time!

Tess 8/99 to 8/07

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:58:24 GMT

Where's my treat?

August 28,2007 my husband and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary, and after a beautiful day had to burry our beloved ferret Tess, who we had with us for the past 8 years.

I knew this day would come eventually, but did not imagine that I would feel so sad. It's true, Tess had a long wonderful life, but I just was not ready to say good bye. The average life expectancy for a ferret us between 6 and 10 years with the vast majority only making it to 6. I read about one ferret that made it to 15, but that is extremely rare. So I guess I should be thankful for her 8 years, and that she lived longer than the average. It's difficult when they have been with you for so long, and suddenly they are not.

Tess was just a few months old when my husband and I got her. My husband always wanted a ferret, and we had been looking around at pet stores for one for awhile. One day while just casually looking around at the ferrets in the pet store, we found the perfect little ferret, Tess. She took right to us, and we knew right away she was the one. Tess fit right into our family, and got along well with the kids, and our dogs. Tess was very docile, and would only nibble on you when she was playing, like chasing you down the hall trying to take your socks off, or burring under the covers in bed, and pouncing on your feet! After she was done tickling your feet, Tess would run to the top of the bed onto our pillows, and lick our faces, especially right by our eyes, I guess it was the salt.... We could only take it so long then burst out laughing, because it tickled so much! Another thing Tess loved was potatoes, yeap potatoes! She was always sneaking into the pantry and stealing them. I remember something started stinking over by the couch.... Tess had made a little home in the couch, where she had been stashing the stolen potatoes, insoles from our shoes, keys, socks, halloween candy, small toys, my friends wallet. You name it, it was in Tess's layer( under the couch cushions). The smell was a rotten potato! After that we learned to check her layer when something came up missing, and every so often for fermenting potatoes. Tess was such a sweet ferret, she was always making everyone in our family happy. Even in her old age she was always playing, and doing cute things to get her a treat.

About 6 months ago we noticed that Tess was losing her hair. She was still acting like her playful self, but I took her to the vet to get checked out anyway. The vet told us that she had adrenal glad disease. Apparently adrenal glad disease is very common in American ferrets, and they usually develop it around age 2. We had a couple of options, first to try medication, and then if that didn't work surgery. The surgery was to take out one of her adrenal glands, the affected one. There was; however, no guarantee that the other gland would not be or eventually have the disease. I guess ferrets tolerate the surgery quite well, but I was nervous about it, because she was already 7 years old. The vet agreed and told us that it was quite amazing that she had lived so long without being affected by the disease. We did try the medication, which Tess hated to take, and it didn't seem to be helping, and Tess eventually lost all of her hair. She looked so funny bald! I felt bad for her, but she didn't seem to be bother too much, other than being a bit itchy. I just kept cream on her, and all was well. On the day that Tess died, was actually the first time I saw her not herself. It was very sad, seeing her looking so tired, and not wanting to play, or eat her favorite yogurt treats. All she wanted to do was snuggle up in her blanket, and go to sleep. My husband and I sort of knew that her remaning time with us might be over soon, and we both held her and loved on her, then put her in her little bed, and let her sleep. Later that afternoon, she had gone.

Tess enjoying balloons!

A Letter-a-Day: C is for Candles

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:07:38 GMT

This candle screen is in my living room. There are 39 candles, and they are all burning. I don't light them very often anymore, because I have a toddler. I found this screen on sale at Illuminations a few years ago, when my husband and I were in the process of building a new house. I really didn't know at the time where I would put it, but I really wanted something new and pretty to go in my new house, so I got it. We used to have it in our bedroom, then our family room, and now the living room. I think it will be in this position for awhile, it fits nicely here.

A Letter-a-Day: B is for Bouncing Balls

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:41:01 GMT

I really want to play A Letter-a-Day, but I don't have an "A" at this time, maybe I will make it up at the end. For now I am going to start with "B".

My son helped me with these. I counted to three and my son bounced the balls. Yes, it took a few times to get a picture of the balls and not just the wall. I know it sounds silly but we had fun.

Cholla Cactus

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:09:44 GMT

These are photos of a Cholla Cactus. I just love it when the bloom, so pretty! I have yet to plant any flowers at my house even though we have been there for almost 4 years! So for now I am enjoying whatever nature has to offer.

This is my daughter trying to get in on the photo-a-day!

Birds

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:56:07 GMT

I have been trying and trying to get a good shot our birds, and this was the best I have been able to do. The first one was through the window, because every time I tried to go outside off they flew, so I decided to try from inside. The hummingbird just happened to fly up as I was walking out the door, so I had to try and get the shot as quickly as possible. I was happy that I got the pictures, but my goal is to get a closeup someday. I don't know why but it was a bird day for some reason, I even tried to take a picture of some hawks flying around, but they were too high to really tell what they were in the picture.

Spades

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:12:20 GMT

This our family game of choice lately, Spades! We usually try to take time for a family game a few times a week. We have really been enjoying cards lately, so have been playing every night. So far each team is tied with one win. I predict that I will be on the winning team tonight!

Hurricane Katrina Devastation

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:21:15 GMT

I just came across these, and decided to share...

This is Biloxi, Mississippi the day after Hurricane Katrina hit. The third picture is where a Ruby Tuesday's resturant was. My husband and I had just eaten dinner there the night before. My husband was in Biloxi, and I had gone to visit him, and had barely made my flight out of New Orleans the morning before the hurricane hit. I knew it was bad, from what I saw on the news and heard from my husband, but I had no idea the amount of devastation until he made it home, and I saw some of these pictures. It was so strange to look at some of the places we went on the beach, especially the Ruby Tuesday's where we just ate the night before!

Posing

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 01:31:16 GMT

This is my one year-old posing for the picture. This is actually quite amazing. Not only did sit and smile for the photo, and not grab the camera, but she also learned to put her cool sunglasses on the right way yeah! Before she was really good at putting them around her neck

We also have a photo of one of our new friends, who moved in on our back porch recently, we are calling him Bo. Every time we go outside, my daughter looks for Bo, and waves and tells him Hi, which she is do right now, at the picture on the screen.

Creepy Crawly

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:29:50 GMT

I really don't like bugs, but was inspired by Crunchy My son found the first bug dead on the back porch, and decided to keep him. He was so impressed by his shinny green and silver color, and he is sure the bug will be worth something someday, so he now has started a bug collection. The second was a gift, thank you , and the third one, we saw today, just hanging out on the back porch. The first two are dead, so I was positioning them myself for the photos, which was quite creepy to say the least. The third, this scary looking guy with the red and black legs, was alive, and crawling toward me for his photo shoot. Yikes! I've looked all over the net to try and identify the first and third, and I am still not sure. The first looks like the Green Christmas Beetle, and the Green Leaf Beetle, the second we knew is the June Beetle, and the third could be the Boxelder Beetle. I don't know... I guess I will just leave it up to my son to identify the bugs in his collection. After the photos, and the research, I'm all creepy, and itchy feeling!

My son just found the closest match yet to beetle number one, the Scarab Beetle....