T13 Edition #6 - Thirteen Sounds I Can Hear Right Now

This week I've had a hard time getting my "thirteen" list together. But alas, this evening I was finally inspired.

Thirteen sounds I can hear right now:

1. An irritated barking dog
2. The repetitive rhythm of an unattended Nintendo game cube
3. The whoosh-whoosh –whoosh of the ceiling fan
4. Feet coming up the porch stairs
5. Unhurried cars passing by
6. The screen door creak as it opens
7. Water running
8. Children running outside around the house
9. The zing of a firing BB gun
10. Girl-talk as Kaitlyn and a friend approach
11. The pop of an opening soda can
12. The shuffle of flip flops on the tile floor
13. Laughter

Ah, it’s a Friday night in a small town!

Tips for the Homemaker

I have never claimed to be a homemaking guru of any kind, but I have found some things over the years that really really work, and I swear by them. Here are a couple:

1. I read a comment on someone's blog about her write on-wipe off board, and how she ruined it by accidentally mistaking a permanent marker for a dry erase kind. Ouch! We once had a permanent marker incident with our youngest daughter. I left her in the car once, while I walked my older daughter to the door where she was being dropped off, and when I turned around I realized the stinker had gotten into a "marks-a-lot" permanent marker that her daddy left in the door pocket. She drew on every surface in the car - the dashboard, steering wheel, seats, etc. I was SO upset. I remembered someone telling me to use hairspray on ink, and although I doubted it would work, I decided to try it when we got home. I sprayed the hairspray on enough to saturate the ink spots and then wiped - and it CAME RIGHT OFF of every kind of surface, cloth, vinyl, leather. When my husband came home and I told him about it, you couldn't even tell that it had happened. (thankfully - later that same child took a rock and walked all around the same car leaving her own "artistic impression" - that did not go over quite as well!)
2. A few months ago when my dog Jett was in a fight with another dog and had his ear torn, it bled profusely. When we took him to the vet to have it sown back together, he bled everywhere. I felt so bad that he was dripping blood and making such a mess, and even got blood on the nurses. They told me it was no problem, and that all they do is hit it with a little peroxide. I was thinking that they do that to kill the germs or something - but they informed me that it actually takes blood out. I came home and tried it on the end of my new bedspread where Jett had slung blood when he took his bandages off, and IT VANISHED! I was wondering why more women don't know about this handy trick, and wanted to make a point to share it with everyone else. You just pour straight peroxide on any blood stain and it will dissolve. We also used it all over the front porch, and it worked great!
   

So there are my helpful tips for the homemaker. Share your best ones with me!

A Story About Sadie a/k/a Why I'm So Freaked Out About My Pregnant Animal

Several years ago, we had a dog named Sadie. She was a beagle and we loved her very much. Two of our friends had adopted two of her brothers. When we found out that Sadie was going to have puppies we were all very excited, and I thought it would be a great learning experience for my children.
The day Sadie had her puppies was a very chaotic day. She had five puppies that all seemed healthy and well. We left her to care for them and continued on with errands, etc. for the rest of the day. All day long, I would see her throughout the house in a squatting position. We had trouble with housebreaking her, and I thought that maybe because of having the puppies she was reverting to some old behavior, so when I would see her squatting I would put her outside.
I went to my book discussion group that evening as usual, and came home to find her very restless. The puppies would be crying so she would get in the box and lay down beside them to nurse them and in a second she would be up and squatting again. I started to think she maybe had a bladder infection. What never occurred to me was that she had another puppy stuck in the birth canal. Regardless, I found an emergency vet a 45 minute drive away, and loaded her up with her puppies and took off. The vet delivered the terrifying news - I had been putting her out all day and she was still in labor. There was one puppy stuck in the birth canal that was deceased, and two puppies behind it.
Everything started happening very fast. They said she needed immediate surgery to save her life and the lives of her puppies. They said they could do the surgery, and that I needed to sign this paper and that paper and the other paper, and everything was spinning until the lady told me that I would need to promise to pay them $3000 in 30 days! That cleared the chaos in my head kind of like sniffing one of those ammonia capsules. I KNEW there was no way we could pay them that amount in that amount of time. The only other option they gave me was to sign custody of our precious Sadie over to them, and they would perform and pay for the surgery - but I would.not.get.her.back. The details clarified, I would keep the puppies she had already delivered - but this was the only way to save her life. I was heartbroken, but I did what I had to do for her best interest.
We had these five gorgeous puppies, two of them that I am able to visit at the homes of my friends to this day. We commenced bottle feeding them some formula we got at the local farmer's supply store, and found many friends who were more than willing to help. We loved those puppies, but they did little to diminish losing Sadie.
So if I am nervous about my kitty cat being pregnant, you may have a better understanding now of why. She is a tiny girl, and her belly is getting so huge. I hope that it is a mass number of kittens and not big ones. I know that not a sparrow falls apart from the will of the Father, but in the meantime it is my heart that breaks for the furry friends that I love.

Pet Food Recall

I am sorry I did not post about this earlier - because it had me really upset with our "fat cat" being pregnant and all - but there was a major pet food recall in the US and Canada this past week. I just read some breaking news that the food was found to be tainted with RAT POISONING! Can you believe that? I hope they figure out what happened. If you go to the AVMA website, you can view the complete list of the foods that have been recalled. It is mainly pet food found in pouches - and stretches across the lines from the most expensive name brands to the cheaper store brands. Protect your furry friends!