Hi All,

It’s been great to share my stories with you, but I am passing on the blogging torch to someone new. Her name is Lora and she is very excited about sharing stories about her horse, pony and dogs as well as stories from her job as  a vet technician.

I’m sure you will enjoy what she has to share and I will stop in from time to time to update you on the adventures of Riley Roo & Miss Kitty.

Here is how Lora describes herself:

“Hi there, my name is Lora Hilton. I am 22 going on 23 in July. I work at a veterinary hospital where I see, learn, and experience a lot of different things. I have an ex-racer thoroughbred named Outlandishlady but I call her Lady for short and a pony named Harley but everyone just calls him Pony. I also have a Chihuahua who is the best in the whole world name Charlie. I rescued him from a really bad situation as well as my horse. I was born and raised in Maine and moved to CT five years ago to go to school. I attended UCONN for animal science equine program but I had to stop because it was too expensive. I will go back someday! I live with my boyfriend and his Labrador/Pointer mix named Dude. Charlie and he get along great! I will be writing a lot about my little pack. They all have great personalities that make for good stories!”

I always think that the relationship between my cat and dog is unusual, but in reality – I have seen cats develop relationships with other non-felines.  When I lived on several acres in the woods there was an old fox and cat “couple” that used to visit us. On a fairly regular basis I would see the 2 frolicking in my yard while standing at my kitchen sink first thing in the morning. My son, who was 4 at the time, and I would watch with fascination as these 2 potential enemies played as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Yesterday my father shared with me a viedo clip that someone forwarded to him. It combines 2 of my favorite things- the song “What a Wonderful World” by the great Louis Amrstrong, and a clip of another unusual pair. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rooyt3ptNco

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

For those of you with pets, particularly cats, you know what a challange having a decorated Christmas tree in the same house as your furry bundle of joy can be. The 2 pets I currently have, Riley and Jasmine, are seasoned veterans so we are generally now mishap-free during the holidays.

Here is the tale  of one small child, one kitten and a Christmas tree or, as I think of it now, a recipe for disaster. 

Our daughter was 3 and her kitten was 4 months old. Both Cass and Chester (a female cat named Chester, but that is a story for another day) were energetic in the way that only youngsters, or over-caffeinated, stressed out adults can be.

For some reason, my husband and I did not consider the potential for mishap or the mayhem the would ensue when we brought an 8′ tall tree into the house, set it up in our living room and then hung shiny, pretty ornaments from its branches. I look back now and think “Duh!”. At the time we were a young couple with visions of a Currier & Ives meets Norman Rockwell holiday in our heads. Everything was perfect. A happy couple, a beautiful child, a lovely home and a new kitten. It sounds heavenly.

Hah! 

Our daughter was so very thirlled with having a real live tree in her living room. She was in awe of the boxes filled with glittering glass ornaments that had been passed down from my husband’s grandparents. Well, apparently so was the cat. Chester stayed in the background, peeking out from behind the furniture occasionally while we set up the tree, strung the lights, added the ornaments and topped it off with shimmering tinsel. When we had finished decking the halls and the tree, we turned off all the house lights, turned on the tree and sat back in wonder at the vision before us.

After tucking our daughter in her new big girl bed, my husband and I snuggled on the couch for a while looking at our tree while we counted our blessings before turning in for the night. 

A few hours later our peaceful house sounded like Armageddon was raining down in the living room. It registered in my sleepy head like this – first a thunderous crash as the tree hit the floor waking us up, then the smashing sounds of heirloom ornaments as they met an untimely death on the hardwood floor, then the high-pitched shriek of one very startled kitten and then the tiny voice of a very small child saying “uh oh.”

By the time my husband and I made it down the hall to the living room the damage had been done. Standing in the middle of the devestation was our little angel in her Santa pjs, her brown eyes wide as they registered the mess around her. As I scooped her into my arms and away from the broken glass, I asked her what happened and she said “I was showing Chester the pretty tree and the ormaments” (not a typo –  that’s what she called them.) I asked “Cass, how did the tree fall down?” and my pretty baby said in all seriousness, thankfully she was not prone to hysteria, “Momma, I don’t know. It fell down when the kitty was on it.” I said “On it? How was the kitty on the tree?” and Cass said “Kitty wanted to see the angel so I put her in the tree. She went up.” Ugh.

Luckily the only casualties were some ornaments and a few bent tree branches. Chester, the cat, and my baby girl were just fine. We managed to stand the tree back up, secureit to the wall with wire and nail, redecorate it with the remaining ornaments and in general restore order. I would like to say that it was the only mis-adventure that holiday season, but there were others, just not as dramatic.

Over the years I have seen just about every way a family pet can damage, destory and defile holiday decorations including but not limited to a puppy lifting it’s leg to the Christmas tree, chewed ornaments, cat scratches on the wrapping paper and missing ornaments that reappear months later under the couch.

I wish you all a pet filled and peaceful holiday full of wonder and joy, with no broken ornaments and a Christmas tree that remains vertical.