Baby Kittens

Last week we discovered that we had new baby kittens.  We knew that Mama Kitty was pregnant in May, and she was skinnier toward the end of the month, but we weren't able to find the kittens.  She doesn't have a great track record of being a good mama, so we assumed the kittens had died.

As Shannon walked through the garage last week, he heard meowing.  Mama Kitty had apparently had the kittens up in the insulation over the add-on porch.  Either she was moving them down, or they ventured down on their own.  We found two grey kittens and one calico.

The next morning Naomi discovered a little black kitten, too.  She was SOOOOO excited.  The little ones love the baby kittens.  The black one is very skittish, but the others are quite friendly.

We are guessing that they are about 5-6 weeks old.  Anyone interested in kittens at their house?  Free for the taking (in a few more weeks!).  One of the babies was eating dog food out of Checkers' bucket on Saturday.  We don't buy cat food...just because.  Mama Kitty and Todd both eat dog food.  I'd hate to spoil the babies by getting them started on kitty chow :-)

"If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;  And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;"  Proverbs 25:21

Baby Kittens

'Tis the season for new baby kittens around our house. Several weeks ago, we noticed that Paulina was no longer pregnant, but we couldn't find her kittens. It took us about two weeks to find them. We're pretty sure there are only two...at least that's all the boys have been able to locate up in the rafters of the garage. This was her first litter, so maybe that's all.

The girls absolutely love the kittens. I'm not so sure the kittens love them quite as much.

They'll be ready to find a new happy home in few more weeks. Any takers?

"Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things." Proverbs 8:6

Snapping Turtle

Alex, Jackson and Sam were playing down at the creek one day. They were privileged enough to witness the killing of four raccoons by our dogs, and then had the good fortune to come across a snapping turtle. They left the raccoons behind, but chose to bring the turtle home, wrapped up in their (once) white t-shirts. They kept it in the front yard and played with it for awhile by poking at it with sticks, but alas, their mean mom put her foot down an declared snapping turtles inappropriate pets, so it had to go back to the creek.

They really are very ugly.

"Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm." Proverbs 3:30

Outdoor Pictures

Friday night we had nowhere to go and nothing to do. I can't remember the last time that happened. When Shannon got home from work, we grilled burgers and hotdogs and ate out on the deck. The dogs and cats thought they had died and gone to heaven.

After eating, the boys played basketball and the little ones wandered around the yard enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. The farmers were planting corn across the road. Remind me again why we are trying to sell our home?

Naomi and Checkers


Colton and the tractor


Hudson watching the tractor


Did Shannon dunk it or did Jackson block it?


The pasture


Hud Bud

"The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens." Proverbs 3:19

Ants in Their Pants

It's 11:38pm. I admit we are a bit unusual in our sleeping habits, but some things just go too far. Because Shannon works until 7:00pm a couple evenings a week, and because we spend a good deal of time at sporting events in the evening, we generally don't get to bed much before midnight. The kids are sent to bed at 10:00pm. Some nights a couple of them have zonked out prior to this, other nights they're wound for sound. Tonight was one such night.

They were wild when they got home from AWANA tonight. Shannon and I left for the fitness center around 9:00pm. The big boys were in the process of getting Hudson to bed. We were back home by 9:50, and they (all but Hudson) were still going strong. We shuttled them all off to bed (at least to their rooms), and settled down at the kitchen table in front of our laptops. Alex had called while we were gone, stating he had a weird message on his laptop about some type of a security breach. Shannon was working on fixing all of his problems. I was just checking blogs.

All of a sudden Shannon jumped up and hollered for Alex, Jackson and Chase to quickly come to the kitchen. He had just seen the gerbil run through. You see, on New Year's Eve when we had a bunch of company spend the night, we moved the gerbil cage down to the basement so it wouldn't disturb anyone. Unfortunately, out of sight means out of mind around here. About two months ago we realized that the gerbil had chewed its way out of the (empty) plastic self-feeder, and was nowhere to be found. NO BIG LOSS! When Alex and Jackson cleaned their rooms (even under their beds) last week, they found evidence that some type of rodent had been residing in each of their rooms.

When I got home from driving Jackson to track practice today, Katie came running to meet me at the door exclaiming that there was a mouse in the family room. All of the furniture was pulled to the middle of the room, and Chase was standing on the ottoman armed with a broom. Alas, they were unable to catch the gerbil (the "mouse"). We moved the furniture back, I considered bringing in a cat or two to see if they could solve my problem, but decided that it might be a bit traumatic for Colton to see his birthday present be stalked and eaten.

Alex ended up catching the gerbil (can't remember it's name) with a plastic shoe box. We cleaned it's cage, gave it some fresh food and water, and it now lives up in the girls' room. I'm still voting we give him permanent residence in the basement.


We got everyone settled down again--we thought--and went back to our laptops. I was catching up on a blog I had posted a link to several months ago. It belongs to a couple who had a tiny micro-preemie baby. The mom has CF. Today she got the news that she has been matched to receive a double lung transplant. Surgery is taking place right now. Here is the link again.
http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/ I'm sure they would covet your prayers.

Anyway, Naomi comes bopping down the stairs and she looks like this.

Colton wasn't far behind her.

They apparently got this grand idea to stuff their pajamas with stuffed animals. Where do they come up with these ideas, and why aren't they asleep?

Never dull moment...I'm heading up to bed.

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child..." Proverbs 22:15

New Babies

Last weekend we were doing some shopping in Marshalltown, and stopped at Theisen's. Outside their door were three boys playing with four little puppies. We had Colton, Katie, Naomi and Hudson along with us, so we all went to pet the puppies. The boys told us they were selling them for $50.00. Just the week before Jackson had told us he wanted a puppy for his birthday, and since we hadn't gotten him anything yet, we decided to bring one home. About that time, the boys' dad came over and talked to us. He told us we could pick whichever one we wanted, and could take it for free. EVEN BETTER! We called Jack and gave him the choice of a black or white one. He chose black, so we finished our shopping, including some Puppy Chow, and loaded up and went home. The little guy snuggled in my lap the whole way home.



We had a youth group activity that evening, and the pup came along, too, just because we couldn't bear to leave him home his first evening. Sadie didn't react too badly to him, although she did seem a bit jealous.

Alex got a notion in his head that he should have a dog, too, so Sunday on our way home from Ben's birthday party we contacted the owners and got a white pup. This time they wanted their $50.00. It was still two for the price of one, so who could resist?



We named the black pup Domino and the white one Checkers, in memory of "the best dog ever", Yahtzee. They really seem to enjoy being together, and have been much more content. Domino spent quite a bit of time yipping during that first lonely night with us. Apparently Sadie didn't snuggle up against him. Although Sadie was a little less excited to see another puppy appear on Sunday, she has since taken care of them, and they all snuggle together when sleeping, now.

"A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor..." Proverbs 17:8a

Saturday

Today Shannon, Chase, Bryce and Colton headed down to Des Moines to help some friends move. That left Katie, Naomi, Hudson and I at home. Alex and Jackson are still up in Clear Lake spending the weekend with Kambergers after finishing up at Water and Work Week at camp. I'll pick them up when I drop Chase and Bryce off at Jr. Boys camp on Monday.

The weather is beautiful again today. The girls have gone outside to play every once in awhile. After cleaning up the lunch dishes, I went outside to check on them. I found them going down the big twisty slide with the baby kittens. The kittens really didn't seem to mind too much, but the mama kitty was a little nervous!


Those girls are definitely partners in crime! They are really missing their big brothers, and keep asking when Ali & Jack-Jack are coming home.

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18

Springtime

What does springtime bring in Iowa? Lots of sunny day--and lots of rainy days. I snapped this picture through the kitchen window last week. It shows the fresh green corn growing in the distance, and the beautiful green grass in our pasture. I'm anxious for the wildflowers to begin blooming.



Springtime also brings baby kittens. We have three little ones that are about 5 weeks old. Anyone interested in one? The other two are gray and very cute as well.


We adopted another dog through freecycle last week. Riley is a 4yo Australian Shepherd. He's great with the kids, and although he left us for a couple days last week, he found his way back home yesterday. We're hoping he decides to stay for good this time!

"She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her." Proverbs 3:18

A new addition to our family

Gotcha! You all thought we were having another baby, didn't you?

Yesterday Shannon took all of the kids to PetSmart while I did some grocery shopping next door. When I met them there, Colton emphatically stated that all he wanted for his birthday was a RAT! He had picked out which cage he wanted and everything. We settled on a gerbil, against my better judgment. It has always been my inclination that rodents were to be kept OUT of the house, not invited IN.

I was outnumbered, so Peaches became the newest member of the Clark household. They also got her a ball so she can roll around the floor. She really enjoys this, except when Naomi decides to give her a boost and shoves her across the kitchen floor end over end. Naomi just giggles.

Colton has big plans to expand her cage. This morning he was plotting how many extensions it would take to keep one cage on the kitchen table (ick!), and one upstairs in his bedroom, with tubes connecting them.

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so." Proverbs 3:27

You know your dog is fed well...

...when she will sit by a fully cooked 5 lb. roast and not eat it. Last week we discovered that someone had unplugged our freezer in the garage. This is the freezer we keep all of our meat in. We lost 5 roasts, 4 t-bone steaks (did you hear Shannon crying?), a turkey, and a bag of chicken breasts. There were a few other things in it that we were able to salvage. The other freezer was full of applesauce which thawed also, but we were able to re-freeze all of that.

Sadie got to eat all of our beef. It was so tempting to eat it ourselves. It didn't smell bad, but we decided it just wasn't worth the risk. So, we cooked all of the roasts and t-bones in the crock pot and doled them out to her throughout the week. Right before I snapped this picture, she was lying next to the plate, guarding it from the cats, but apparently just wasn't hungry enough to eat it at the time.

What a life!

"A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled." Proverbs 18:20

Yellow Dog

We had a sad day yesterday. Yellow Dog had a bad habit of following our car out of our driveway and racing us as far as he could up the road whenever we left home. He would bark at the tires and run just as hard as he could, but never did beat us. Yesterday morning Alex, Jack and I were running low on screws for the deck, and decided to run into Grundy Center and pick some more up. As we neared the end of our driveway, Alex stopped because there was a truck coming down the road. Unfortunately, Yellow Dog continued out into the road, anticipating the start of our race, and was struck and run over by the other truck. The boys ran to get Shannon, and I checked on Yellow. I was pretty sure he was dead because he wasn't moving, was bleeding quite a bit, and didn't appear to be breathing. Jack and I started digging another hole in the pasture, and Alex and Shannon took care of getting Yellow out of the road. They discovered he wasn't quite dead yet, so Shannon went to get the shotgun. Fortunately, it took so long to find the shells (we hide them well because of all the kids in the house!), that he had died before Shannon had to use it. What a blessing. Alex and I had the responsibility of burying him. I'm so proud that my boys are man enough to handle things like this, because I tend to sob and bawl like a baby.

Alex took some great pictures of Yellow Dog just last Friday. I think we're done with new dogs for awhile. We've buried three in the past eight months. Sadie still lives with us. She is a great dog, and got about three times the hugs yesterday that she normally does. We'll miss our Yellow Dog.

"Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief." Proverbs 14:13

In Memory of Sam

Today was a sad day at our home. Our black lab, Sam, had been missing since last week. It was a mystery as to where he could have gone, as he wasn't prone to wandering off. We had concluded that he must have been picked up by someone and "dog-napped". Well, as Jack, Chase & I (Jodi) came back from bible study this morning, Jackson saw something under the forsythia bush where the snow had been melting. He discovered that it was in fact Sam. Unfortunately, he had a large animal trap around his neck. What a shock! We have no idea where he could have found it. I called the Sheriff's office, and they told me that often times trappers will put coyote traps in the middle of a field. Apparently Sam got too close to one, yet still managed to make it almost all the way home.

Sam is the second dog we have lost in 6 months. Yahtzee died last August, and our neighbors were generous enough at that time to give us Sam, as they had two labs. He was a great dog, and very sweet to the children. We still have Yellow Dog, and have posted a picture of him in memory of Sam. It wasn't until today that we realized we don't have any pictures of Sam. Yellow Dog misses Sam, too.

"Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief." Proverbs 14:13