Atwater Vitki

♪♫ and the kitty goes meow meow meow ♫♪♫ and the doggy goes Bark bark bark ♫♪ thus the angels sang... Dino, Harvard were the family dogs until I was about 4 and Bjorn was my faithful companion until we moved to Modesto...when (it makes me SO angry) we left him with the people that bought our house...bottom line "Mom" didn't want the trouble of a dog....grr. But then all cats except for a few temp dogs I fostered and/or vacation kept until Willow Creek where "Tank" my mastiff/dane mix that crushed the scales at 147# (skinny) when he wandered into our yard and then maxed at 165# when he got "healthy"....Sam and "Idiot" were temps, Sam was 17 when we got him from neighbors moving and were going to put him down and "Idiot" also wandered into the yard, but was put down because of a huge tumor on his head and his intestines were covered with golf ball sized ones...he was only about 18-20 months, but poor thing had a few good weeks with us. We've considered dogs, but now health precludes the work with walks etc and we ARE going to one day get back to our Maui....so no more kittens or puppies...well unless they are in danger, but no, we've no intentions of taking in any more. Moki is now 12, Hemet and MeSh are 6 so we'll prob only have the kids (Her Be, Jojo) by the time we get back to Maui so we just can't see starting the clock over again!...unless, like I said...no other choice. No, we would never turn down a sick or starving animal of any kind.. Along the road, I've had few unusual kitties though. I've always let my pets name themselves so here's a couple of my odd balls... "Napoleon" an all white, with a black triangle on top of his head, little tiny 4½# thing at 3-4 yrs old... that acted like a 100# pitbull...he would go after the neighbor dogs, a shepherd and a mixed knee high without any fear. "Skûffa" (drawer in Norwegian) because she spent her first month sleeping in my desk drawer. "Zucchini" because she was so starving when she ran into the patio, she ate the zuke slices off my son's dinner plate when I put her on the table...she had just had a near miss by a car driving by...no one ever claimed her but she was obviously tame. "Iggy" which was short for Igwiwcic Rover Spam 'cause she would do tricks like a dog (Rover) and was a mixed bag of meat (Spam) and she got..."I Get Whatever I Want 'Cause I'm Cute" she was an adorable calico. "Fat Bob", and "Sportster" brother Siamese, "Springer", a tabby. "Sturgis" the little black manx that found its way to my sleeping bag my only year there, he rode back to Modesto (5 days) tucked into my leather jacket and seemed puurrfectly happy doing so. "Knucklehead" and "V-Twin" were a couple of other black and whites back in the days when I rode my Harley.....ahhh to be young and unbroken again! "Saskwatch" and "Speedbump" were the biggest I ever had, "Sas" weighed in at 28# and had long scraggly brown and red fur that I've never seen before or since and "Bumpus" black and white, topped out at 26# but slimmed down to 24 would sleep across the door jamb so you had to stop, step over, continue, like a speed bump. "Jojo" is getting close though, just weighed him the other day and he's a whopping 22-23 pounds, depends if he just ate I guess! And my dear boy "Spike", tough but sweet little orange tabby, slept on "Tank" when he was just a kitten and at 2 years old I watched him stalk a mountain lion across the property....I had no idea what he was beaking on until he jumped off the wood pile, ran across the yard and poof...poor thing. He was absolutely fearless as only a short time before that he had a black bear on the hill across from my property...I didn't know to laugh or cry as he actually had the bear backing up, I was petrified, but slowly walked over and was able to grab him with a hungry bear only 10-12' away...tell me I was wetting my pants!?!...but for the kitty's sake...well that's one of my kids! Of course my gal friend at the time had the .458 rifle scoped on the bear so I wasn't a complete idiot. Blessings Be,

I don't know if it's "right or wrong" but the only hamster I ever had, my g'ma and I put wood shavings (not saw dust) from Poppy's workshop, some bits of cloth and paper and one of those old "big" match boxes was her 'den'....I don't know how long it took as I had to go to bed, but when I woke in the morning...she was zonked out inside the box that she had stuffed with avail materials. I traded some of Mormor's (g'ma) cookies and rye bread/cheese sammich to a kid at school for hamster and cage/water bottle and only had her for a couple of days as I traded her for my rat "Charlie" that lived to be "ancient" at a little over 3yrs.

Hehehe...grateful...Kay and I were just talking about this the other day....I simply can not count the total number I/we've had over the years...but both of our 1st year baby pictures have a kitty on our laps! Kay remembers about 25-30 cats over her years (before we got together in 2000) and I simply don't know, it has to be well over 125-150...just in my 7 years in Willow Creek I cared for, spayed and neutered and found homes for over 50. Right now we have Moki, Hemet and Me Shell, our dominant 3, Her Be (a love bug) and Jojo our 1½ yr olds, "TC" the alley cat, and recently both "Bucky" and "Moon" have come back. A neighbor's cats that prefer our vittles I guess. Stan moved out and left "Moon" last Oct. and we finally got her back to him in Jan/Feb...then about 2 months ago "Bucky" showed back up so I drove him over to Stan's new/old apt only to find he had moved back to our complex. Moon only visits the back yard, but Bucky will be found vying for lap time in our recliners...and yes, there are times when both of us are buried under fur! Anyone who takes in a stray will indeed receive a "special reward" in life...oh and "Heaven" too I'm sure....but the greatest reward is their undying love while in your care. Kingfisher- how cool "Mick" goes on walks with ya...keep it up! And, I'm sure you know, but yes, please do get his "maleness" clipped. I hear it all the time from people around here how "expensive it is"....well think of it this way....there are clinics that have 'low cost days' ($15-40) and even at full pop $65-120) we're talking just a few months worth of feeding and care. An non-neutered male will want to fight for his mating rights and one trip to surgery for a bad fight can be very costly. A friend of mine spent over $1500 on that years ago for his beloved "Pookie"! We're known as the "Pied Pipers" around here...when we take our walks to the mailbox there is usually our 5 plus on occasion several others following along behind us. When cars come up behind us I always step into the street as not only do we have a 15mph speed limit in the complex (which few seem to honor and I've turned in more than a few lic. plates to the office!) but even good, slow driving folks don't always see the fluffies"....they can't miss me. Blessed be the kitties, for they are the comfort of the Soul! Blessed be the doggies, for they are the companions of our lives! Blessed be the animals, for they show humanity how it should live. Blessings of Peace,

I meant to comment earlier on Blanche and how wonderful her last days must have seemed to her. I thought I had said more, but obviously was so upset about our neighbor and her little dog I over looked it. Poor little thing of Blanche, but yes, I have to agree with grateful and not wonder why some Hu-mans are allowed "pets". You are a blessed soul for doing what you did for her Sark. Kay and I know a person who hospices for "unwanted" animals and I don't know how she does it. Bless her heart, she's help several hundred dogs and cats pass over, but my heart simply couldn't take that. She will have her reward in "Heaven" that's for sure. UPDATE on the incident I mentioned above: I gave the license number to "G" and advised her to file a police report which she did. She saw the pick-up come into the complex again a few days later and called police. Though the outcome was only a warning, good enough for 1st incident that day. The guy and gal walked by here again Sunday, July 22 and I happened to be fussing in the garage when they walked by and noticed their dog was heeled while they walked. Our "Lil' Bit" - "Her Be" was sitting on top of the car watching me putz and immediate bushed out which is what brought my attention to the couple and dog. I said "Hi!" and carried on a short intro like nothing had happened three weeks ago and they seemed to be very different without their friends. "Rocket" immediately beaked on Her Be, but wasn't pulling or charging, just a curious big dog. Long story short...not bad dog owners, just ones that enjoyed a few too many beers one day and fully lost their sensibility while with the wrong friends. They mentioned the cop giving them a warning and the gal went across the street and apologized to "G" while the guy and I shared "Rockets" enthusiasm. Not all situations require the "heavy hand of the law" as sometimes good people make idiot mistakes...like allowing their dog to traumatize an old lady and then driving half sloshed...."Rocket" certainly didn't require any further admonishment than what his owners had already received. He was indeed a Mastiff/Amer.Bull mix and weighed in at 95 lbs. He did his owner good and proved he knew every verbal command by instantaneously responding - even with the excitement of someone new giving him doggy pats, ear scratches and hugs of lubs...good, no GREAT dog! I was fully slobbered up ("Rocket" and I got rather close...hehe...nothing like a big dogs' affectionate encounter!) by the time they continued on their walk. "HerBe" never left the top of the car during the 20 minute encounter so she gets points for being 'brave'! Of course, afterwards, going inside I had all of our kitties cautiously sniffing every inch of me for the next half an hour! Hehehe...I love bringing new smells home to them! Blessings of Peace,

Thanks...actually am out for now, seize ya'll bananas....

Well...this was a circle of whirly gigs and pandimonial blather woggy!....Whew!....not good when half asleep! (Had a bad, bad night with pain and just now crawled out of my coffin chamber)....so not until really checking out Fawzo's post did I see Sarkany had resurrected this one from way back!....the link didn't work for me. But I do remember the show from a few years ago and yes, this is among the reasons I firmly believe in the interconnected reality of all things...well...here in this physical plane. If the similar fractal patterns across the spectrum of living things is so evident, why is it so difficult for some folks to understand the connections we would also have in ethereal planes as well? Like the fractal organization of cellular matter, from mind blowing patterns to simplistic beauty, wouldn't it make sense that energy would also have patterns and be organized into groupings of similar...... rough morning, sorry for the interruption....I'm gonna have to come back to this...thought just flew right out the window.....

Tsukino....so sorry to hear of your loss, and yes, I have to agree with Grateful, it sounds like your little lovey had good years with the "Hamster Whisperer"! Good advice for any type of pet owner. Many Blessings and Condolences,

....not to be confused with casking bats! Always nice to see the furry ones getting a bit o' sun.....I'm sure they enjoyed it immensely!

Interesting MD...don't know how I missed this one...my wife's family is also Moravian and she is just now learning about a lot of her family history. Seems their family was a bit tight lipped as well about their roots....even though we know for certain her mother dyes hers. Change a few details and it sounds like we're very similar on some things. Like our cell phone was manufactured in 2003 and still works as a phone though also very limited on the internet...but like you said...it is a phone...isn't it? Our kids on the other hand seem to have some new gadget every six months because the old one "broke"....I think they should buy and old 2003 Nokia as it still works just fine! Now if the Moravian part of your wonderful story is a family fact, Kay has found out a lot of info through Moravian Church which has kept records of immigrants for many, many years...perhaps they could help with yours? Anyway, funny story and sounds like every time I text to my son or get one from him....there's something about that ear to ear communication that scares the begeesus out of these kids...maybe it could it be differentiating the voices in their heads?? My wife and I enjoy watching "Cash Cab" and we are blown away by some of the questions and answers..... a young couple had no idea what a #2 pencil was...a man had no idea what a telephone "Party Line" was.... now if that doesn't tell us where technology has sent us? Some other interesting ones were: a couple thought the "Schwinn Stingray" was an exotic fish...a 2005 survey discovered 78% of Americans believe the Model "A" came before the Model "T" as Ford's introductory cars.....in another poll a majority of responders said "Sputnik" beat Apollo 11 to the moon....so I have to ask; With all this new age technology at our disposal and access to all knowledge known to man....why are people so dumb? Every museum, almost every library, all local, state and fed gov's in America, all but a couple of Universities, nearly all military and police districts, almost all space observatories and dang near every retailer in the world have websites, we have access to virtually all knowledge.....why are so many of the population so dumb? It wouldn't be that the majority of PC's are used for gaming that nearly 90% of laptop (sold 2009-2011) use is "primarily" for Facebook®accounts and that Twitter® and YouTube®is used as much for "communication" as the phone/text functions combined on new cell phones....would it?? Blessings Be,