WELCOME BACK TO ME!

Well, I see it's been a long time since we blogged. October, in fact. My mother was in the hospital and rehab for a month in October 2009 (she's fine now) and the day before Thanksgiving (after being misdiagosed four times by four different doctors as having pneumonia), I was hospitalized in intensive care with multiple pulmonary emboli (blood clots in my lungs). I was fortunate to be alive and after spending 6 days in the hospital, was released and spent several more months recovery.

I am now back to work and getting healthier every day. Pieper the little black cat is doing well, as is my son, Steve. He is back to work after having faced a layoff in the Spring.

Promise to keep you all more up to date on our little escapades.

Pieper has Company

And boy, what a pain in the butt that is -- according to Pie. The picture is of Charlie, our house guest -- my mom's cat - 17 year old Maine Coon. Steve is taking care of him and for the most part, things are calm. But the past few days, Charlie and Pie have actually passed within three feet of each other and fur has flown...Pie's tail gets the size of a shunks when she's scared! Funny stuff.

Mom continues to improve and we hope she will be going home early next week. She's had a rough month, but has come through with flying colors, actually better than she has been for a long time...almost 91 and counting!

It is snowing here today...14 or so inches due over the next 24 hours. Of course, I have been on vacation for a week, due back tonight...figures it would snow like heck!

PIEPER'S PET HINT OF THE WEEK:

Remember, Halloween is this weekend. Be sure to protect your pets - bring them in and put them in a quiet room. Don't take the chance they will run out the door to join the fun! Also, be sure that any candy, especially chocolate, is kept out of reach...that delicacy could actually kill your pet or at the very least make them extremely ill.

JUST A NOTE FROM PIEPER

Hi everyone...just wanted you to know that my mommy's mommy is in the hospital, so mom hasn't been able to write anything to you. So, I'm filling in just to let you know that we will be back soon, with helpful Holiday hints to keep your pets safe!

PET CARE EDUCATION

Hey, guys! I just found this great blog called "Pet Care Education." You can find them here - be sure to check them out. They have some great information for cat owners and Pieper is even learning something about her relatives!

Thanks to Greendog for inviting us to join in the fun!

Hope everyone has a great day. Pieper and I are off to work on the new website!

SNOW IN THE HIGH COUNTRY?

Woke up this morning, freezing. 50 degrees and rainy. Well, I fell asleep with the window open, which could explain it. Snowflakes reported just down the road a bit. Snow above 8,000 feet tonight. Winter is just around the corner...brrrr....and I LOVE winter...or used to until it got harder to move around! We'll either have a hard winter or none at all, as far as snow is concerned. You just never know.

So, Pieper and I are going to cook a turkey (her favorite) and work on her website, which has been officially named "Catnip-Capers." We are really excited about it and hope to get it published soon. There's so much information we want to include and we're meeting some nice people.

UPDATE ON PIEPER'S VET VISIT: After not being to the vet for more time than should have been, Pie had a few teeth extracted and was given a more palatable food. She's an old-lady now (I'm ducking, as a pencil just whizzed by my head - LOL) at 13 and can no longer tolerate the brand she was eating. She has NOT vomited ONCE in six weeks, so we know this is working! Her coat is so shiny and full and she's calmer than we've ever seen her. AND, she looks like she's put a little weight on her seven pound frame!

Ya'll have a great day and we'll be back soon!

PIEPER ERIN - THE AUTHOR

Howdy folks...I've been pretty busy editing mom's material...she works so hard, you know, that every way I can help her, I do...like last night...I "quietly" walked over her about five times. I wait until I hear her breathing slow and become regular. Then, I delicately jump from one side of her to the other...oh, but I have to take a step in between cause I'm not as limber as I once was. He he.

Anyway, check out her two new articles at E-How. And have a safe weekend!
http://www.ehow.com/members/piepererin-articles.html

PieperErin the Author

Pieper here...well, it was bound to happen. Mom has decided to take all that extra time (yeah, right) and start her article writing career at E-HOW! Her first article, "How to Care for Your Aging Cat" is now pending approval. I'm sure she wasn't talking about 13-year-old moi!

Anyway, wait a few and then jaunt on over (or whatever it is you humans do to hurry) to E-How and look up Mom: PieperErin.

Oh, and I allowed her to use my name as her pen name...after all, I do most of the writing in this family anyway...he he...

I Thought I Was Going to Die!

Hi, there, Pieper here again...mommy is doing laundry, so I'm gonna tell you my tail of terror! Okay, so maybe I'm being somewhat of a drama princess, but really!

I had to go to the vet! I hate leaving my house! I hate my carrier! And at the moment, I wasn't too happy with mommy either! Why?

She left me overnight! Can you imagine? They did bloodwork in the afternoon and then some big machine came down on my little body and made this really weird sound -- the nurse was wearing an apron...I thought it was so I wouldn't scratch her...later I found out it was so they could look at my innards - x-rays I think I overheard Denise say (that was the nurse's name).

Then I got to stay in a nice, cozy little cubicle and watch all the other animals parade by...I really had to laugh at that big old German Shepherd - shaking like a leaf! So cool! Anyway, I digress.

The next morning, Denise came and got me again...I didn't really feel anything for quite a while, but boy! when I woke up my jaw was numb! And my tongue and my tonsils. Unbelievable! The room was spinning a little, so I closed my eyes. Next thing you know, my mommy was there to pick me up.

As soon as we got home, my jaw started tingling and felt really strange...I pawed at it and pawed at it. Finally, after about fifteen minutes I could feel my jaw again and guess what? I was missing two teefers!

Well, I am healed now and happy to be home. So, even thought I don't want to repeat that episode anytime soon, I am glad to be healthy and vibrant - at 13 years, you just can't beat it!

Ut oh...here comes mom...she'll get after me if she sees me on the computer again...the vet said the most interesting thing to her: "Mom, your cat appears to have carpal tunnel...very unusual in a cat...does she play the piano?" I just chuckled.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

PIEPER'S QUOTE OF THE DAY: "A dog is a man's best friend. A cat is a cat's best friend." (Robert J. Vogel)

While our Rockies are doing fabulous, I'm actually having a little trouble (for a change) getting into the mood for football! Tonight is our first game, new coach, new era and I should be excited, but...rather blah.

Pieper, the silly little girl, is resting up so she can watch tonight. She has a vet appointment on Monday and I'm sure she'll just have lots to tell you then about her indignities!

I survived the latest layoffs, but the rest of the year is going to be tough as the "business model" will be changing, probably on a day-to-day basis; new hours, new days, new shifts...

In the meantime, I am studying at the Wealthy Affiliate University, learning to be a productive, successful affiliate marketer. The first eight-week course is an eye-opener, lots of work, but a focus that I enjoy, especially given the economic circumstances surrounding our country and my employer.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Pieper will be back next week to tell you about her vet visits and some of the interesting pet facts I'm sure she'll learn.

PIEPER, the Senior Cat - Pffffttttt!

“Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age.” Sinclair Lewis

Hi friends, Pieper here. Mom is in the laundry room, so I thought I’d sit my fuzzy bottom right here at the computer and tell you what happened to me!

The vet called me a SENIOR CAT!!! And worse yet, Mom agreed with her!!! I’ve rarely been this insulted, let me tell you!

I’m a proud 13 and one-half years old, almost to the day (supposedly 68 in human years). Sure, I sleep a lot, but my baby cat manual said that was what we cats do 90 percent of the time anyway! Why should I change now??? Pfffttt…

The vet actually gave her a book about “Celebrating Seniors!” This happy flap book told Mom that the most common senior diseases in animals (dogs AND cats) were:

Dental problems
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Heart and lung disease
Joint problems
Endocrine system problems (like diabetes)
Cancer
Ocular (eyes to you, and what the heck, we use them twice as much as humans – better at night even! Pfffttt!
Gastrointestinal

Great, so NOW I have to go back in and have a total workup: baseline blood work (I don’t think I like the thought of THAT much, unless the vet is going to squeeze it out of my toenail or something), identify existing health problems by doing x-rays, hormone testing, and EEG of my heart (and I have no problems with any of these now, but just these tests are enough to assure that I DO have one), and then monitoring me so that means even MORE visits to the vet! Oh, joy, oh, joy!

Okay, that’s it for today. I’m so depressed, I think I’ll go eat a sardine or something, have a clump of catnip and then sleep it off. Mom’s on her way back to the office and we sure don’t want her to know that I type or else she’ll want to test for carpal tunnel syndrome!

On Little Cat's Feet??

Feline Metaphors Notwithstanding by Bridget Collins
Published in CATS Magazine, January 1993



The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg, Chicago Poems (1916) “Fog” US Biographer and Poet (1978-1967)

I could not resist this story. Anyone with felines will definitely know what Ms. Collins is talking about in this story:

***Carl Sandburg wrote about a fog that crept into a city on “little cat’s feet.” If that fog had crept in on my cats’ feet, a panicked populace would have fled their beds, screaming, “Earthquake! Armageddon! The end has come!”

My cats do not creep or slither. They do not glide noiselessly or steal furtively. My cats gallop. Sometimes, they clomp. No brave, clever mouse need ever gird his courage to bell my cats. It would be wasted valor. The ringing of the bell would be lost to the thrum-thrum-thrum of the vibrating floorboards. In my house, “cat-like” and “elephantine” are synonyms.

Are you imaging that these two cats must be huge, lumbering beasts? If so, you are half right. They do lumber, but they are definitely not huge. Seeing them at rest, you might even describe them as slight.

Their mother was a dainty Siamese. Their father was an unknown, errant tom, whom I suspect carried either a Clydesdale gene or a primordial allele hailing back to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

They were kittens when I named them. I never expected that the years would prove me a sardonic poet. I called the female Isadora, after renowned danseuse Isadora Duncan, because she was lithe and loved to frolic. The irony is that, if a dancer were to move with my Isadora’s grace, critics would applaud her mastery of slapstick and mourn with her the passing of vaudeville.

The male, who is coal black and all but invisible in the night, I named Shadow. In a darkened room, he is undetectable, unless of course, he moves. A cat burglary with Shadow’s talent for stealth would be well-advised to cultivate a palate for prison food.

When my cats walk across a table, the dishes quake. When they jump from a bookshelf, they land with a thud. When they run across the living room floor, each footfall is audible from the back bedroom. I have examined their paws, and found there no traces of jackboot or football cleat. They are both house cats, and so do not sport even a respectable callous. I cannot explain how they manage on padded paws to produce sounds one might expect from a shod mule. I suppose it will remain a mystery. For the time being, I will continue to live with the catcophany, and to laugh out loud every time I hear feline metaphors that liken the movement of cats to a silent, sinewy ballet.***

What else is there to say?

Pieper Goes to School

Well, I've finally had it. Enough of waiting for the City to make up their minds whether they want me to stay or not. If I stay, I want to retire in five years and with the economics and the money I'll be getting from my 401K, it's not encouraging.

So, I got this idea from the new Bonanzle affiliate program. Years ago, I dabbled in affiliate marketing, but never had any training. You know, I bought one of those get-rich-quick volumes for $97, learned bits here and there and of course, lost money, and hope.

Yesterday I joined an affiliate university - it's called Wealthy Affiliate University and I am overwhelmed with information at this point, but thrilled with the education provided. If you're interested, you can visit my website at:

http://www.downsizingproofzone.com

And, Pieper says hello...she's been sleeping a lot...missed the visit by her little squirrel friend who came to the window looking for her.

Pieper in Oz

Hi, Pieper here...it's been awhile since either Mom or I have been here and we apologize. There has been a LOT going on in Pieperland. Here's a short recap:

Monday, July 20 - Tornado in our town, almost unheard of. Instead of cowering under the bed, as I usually do when strangers are in the house, I was in Mom's arms, on her lap and generally following her from window to window to figure out what was going on...I figured the safest place to be was with my Mom.

I was right, of course...trees came down, narrowly missing Mom's car, trees uprooted, fences defeated, but I was safe with Mom! We had no power for almost TWO DAYS - no air, no lights, nothing...what else was there to do but listen to the ballgame by battery-operated radio and snuggle up with Mom?

Then on Wednesday, July 22, Mom goes back to work only to learn that 5 people out of their 14 person department are being laid off, plus one supervisor! We'll know in a week or so if we're going to eat again...no laughing matter, of course...Mom has been at the City for seven plus years and is excellent at her job, but some things you just can't take for granted.

So, that's our week in a nutshell. We'll be back in a few, with more news about what is happening at Bonanzle, our marketplace, with information about a new affiliate and syndicated seller program they have just added.

BAD HAIR DAY

Hi! Pieper here...mom is ironing something, so I thought I'd just write a thought I had...the bathtub...something we can talk about later, but for now, I think the thing I hate most about an actual bath (as if!) is not the bath, but the fact that I have to spend a good part of the rest of the day putting my hair back in place!

Here she comes...gotta run!

STUPID QUESTIONS

Have you ever really thought about those stupid questions that people ask in what would ordinarily be considered an abnormal situation? For example, you may be in the middle of the reception area at the doctor's office on your hands and knees, nose pushed to the floor -- invariably, some smart-elbow comes in and says, "Are you looking for something?" You take a deep breath, look back at the floor, and then brightly say, "Well, no, actually. I just ran out of tissues and I'm wiping my nose on the carpet."

Or how about the time you were sitting in a meeting and spilled hot, hot coffee on yourself...coffee so hot that your blouse was steaming, and someone says, "Is it hot?" Rolling your eyes, you respond, "No, those aren't blisters. I had implant surgery last weekend."

Amazing, it really is!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Good Monday morning everyone...Pieper here again reporting on my Mom...I just love to play with the mouse when she's not around...

Mission accomplished? And just what mission was that? Well, as reported here before, Mom had been working diligently to clear up clutter in our lives, clean the house thoroughly and create a more relaxing environment. And she is DONE!!!!

Boy, I'll tell ya, I was a little nervous at first -- things flying out of this house so fast, your head would swim! I was afraid we were going to move and I hate that - moving! It's so disruptive! But once I realized this was just a reorganization, I relaxed and had some fun with it...like taking her water bottle and hiding it under the chair - she didn't find it for three days! Hilarious...she talks to herself a lot! He he...

Anyway, new curtains for me to climb (if I had front claws) - white and soft and billowy...but we are doing just fine.

And by the way, did you know that I actually smell with my mouth???? It's true! It's called the Flehmen reaction (notice how close that sounds to phlegm? LOL). I suck in pheromones through my nasal cavity to a place where cells process them. Some genius cat told me this area is known as the Jacobson organ and it's in the roof of my mouth...no wonder I hate it when peanut butter gets stuck there!

Well, that's all for today...I hear her coming back from storage. Time to curl up next to her as she starts her stitching! Wahoo! I got my relaxed and creative Mommy back.

Have a GREAT week, love, Pieper

PLANTING HOPE

If you planted hope today in any hopeless heart
If someone's burden was lighter because you did your part
If you caused a laugh that chased a tear away
If tonight your name is mentioned when someone kneels to pray

Then your day was well spent.

Try to plant hope wherever you go - you don't have to know the person - a smile at the grocery store - letting someone go in line ahead of you - letting someone in the lane ahead of you on the highway - there are any number of ways to reach out.

You just never know how or when your kindness will touch a heart and make someone else feel better. You may never know that you did...but God will know...and the person whose heart you touched will know...and be thankful for your kindness.

MOM KISSED HER TEE SHIRT!

Hi, Friends ... Pieper here. I just had to share this with you: My Mom kissed her black tee shirt last night! He he! I laughed until I threw up a hair ball!

See, usually I sleep on her - or in nearby proximity on her bed during the night (unless of course it's summer and then I sleep directly in front of the AC, effectively blocking anyone else from the pleasure...{insert evil feline grin here}) - anyway, I digress...

Well, when Mom makes one of her numerous trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, she sees me on the bed and leans over and kisses my head...it's real sweet and even though she interrupts my slumber, it's a nice kind of interruption, ya know? And, she's usually half-asleep, so this was an honest error on her part.

Here's what happened...I decided to sleep on the pillow next to her head; she got up to do her "sandbox" thing, saw this black shape at the end of the bed and leaned over and "SMACK" - right on the tee shirt's forehead! LOLOLOLOLOL. Seems she had left her folded shirt on the bed in error...thought it was me. I love being able to see so well in the dark because the look on her face was priceless!

And speaking of the sandbox, did you know that cat owners spend $215 million on cat food and $295 million on cat litter in one year? I've got my calculator out trying to figure how more comes out than goes in...hmmmm.

Well, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend...and don't tell Mom I told on her!

LIVING BY THE RULES

Well, Pieper and I have been busy this month, cleaning, renovating our lives and keeping busy at it. But we wanted to share something with you from a friend of ours on Bonanzle - Ziggy Zool. For some reason, this wonderful lady has been so kind to us, not really knowing us - I mean consistent nice and for no apparent reason! One day, I decided to visit her profile at her Bonanzle booth and this is what I found:

FROM ZIGGY ZOOL'S PROFILE ON BONANZLE:

Put on your 'big girl' panties and deal with it... that's life in a nutshell. I'm Zig and I've been an online seller for a lot of years. Customer service as a seller is my number one priority... my motto is nothing more than the golden rule... Treat every living being with respect. Live Simply. Love Generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. Work Hard. Have Fun. No Drama.

*Rules for Being Human*

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid. It makes no difference, you will learn lessons.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will again, look better than "here".

7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources that you need. What you do with them is up to you. The Choice is YOURS.

9. The answers to life’s questions lie inside of you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will get what you ask for. It may not be what you wanted...but it will be what you asked for.

~ Unknown Author


This touched me so much...I hope it touches you as well and inspires you to be all that you can be.

PS: The picture on the left is from Ziggy's booth and is from Geobel's 1982 Seashore Collection and the one of the right is from her husband's booth, Masonic Treasures at Bonanzle, a 2008 Masonic Hand Stamped Penny Tie Tack.

NEW DIRECTION - AWAY FROM OVERWHELMED

Okay, today my life takes a new direction...I spoke to Pieper about it and we decided that I don't relax enough...unlike her who just loves to lay on her back with her little paws stretched up to the air (nap style - The Blob, Prone), showing everything she has to whoever is interested enough to look! She's such a princess, she thinks we all care, but hey, whatever keeps her little meowy mouth shut works for me!

The Rooster tray pictured above is just one of the new items we have added to our Bonanzle booth. And this tray is one of the reasons for changing our direction, in a roundabout sort of way (I found it at a store sale, fell in love with it and just knew there were lots of beautiful, unique things out there just waiting for me to discover). Because Pie and I originally thought we would hone in on only homemade items, we have been spending every free minute creating, sewing and crafting items for our booth. Now, while Pieper lounges at home basking in her window seat, I work a forty-hour, four-day work week outside our home. The other three days, I sewed, crafted and generally made a mess of my small apartment; hence, the overwhelmed status of recent weeks.

Yesterday, I made a decision to spend more time loving my kitty, taking care of me and taking care of my house. I won't neglect my Bonanzle booth or my family there - it is my home away from home. But, I am going to redo my living area to be less work-related and more relax-oriented. I figure it will take most of the summer (and I'm NOT joking). But surprisingly enough, I am looking forward to washing walls! (I can't believe I just said that!), changing up pictures, maybe sewing a new table cover or making new pillows for the sofa, and occasionally sitting down and working on a cute counted-cross stitch picture I picked up of (what else) a pair of kittens in a knitting basket! Not the 18 x 24 inch counted cross stitch on tiny little squares that I would usually go for, but a small, finished in a summer, relaxing little cat picture!

Well, I feel better already! But, as usual, Pieper has something to say about what I wrote today. She is taking exception to my comment about her nap style. Here's what she had to say about that: "As a consequence of being handfed, my raison de'etre has for the most part been removed now that my prey comes pre-killed in a Whiskas can. As a consequence my alertness is less required and I am able to both conserve my resources AND remain decorative, a uniquely feline feat!"