My grandpa, age 90

Yesterday, my family had a birthday party for my 90 year old grandfather. To me, he's "grandpa". 30+ years ago, my grandparents took care of us while our parents worked. So we were always around our cousins. Life was about family.
Unfortunately, when my grandmother passed away 18 yrs ago, so did the family gatherings.

It was nice to see family I haven't seen in years. The funny thing, I didn't want to take out my camera, I just wanted to enjoy the day in front of other cameras.

We almost didn't make it to the party. We hit a detour. Or should I say my son hit a wall. The wall won. My son received stitches.

He has a name!!

Last night we decided on our puppy's name. His name is Cooper. My 5 yr old picked it out. It stuck. Then again, she said "Cooper, the Pooper."

My 8 yr old said, "Yes! Now we all have matches." Matches? Our names. There are now 2 D's, 2 P's, 2 K's, 2 C's. She is including the cat and pigeon.

Our new puppy

We've been busy.  We adopted a puppy from SNIPSA.  They are a fantastic organization. 

They are currently accepting leashes for foster families. 

 We've had him for over a week now.  His name is "Puppy" for now.  We named him Jelly, Pepper, Barkley, Barley and Dog.  Nothing is sticking.

He's a great puppy.  Well, I take that back.  He's a great puppy when he's sleeping.  He's destroyed a couple of pairs of shoes, my rug and my cat's life.  The cat is still not happy he's here.  Duncan, our cat, gives me a long stare when the dog does something.  I could swear that Duncan is about to shake his head in disgust.  

The positive thing,  the dog doing a great job with crate training.  He is 10 weeks old.  He's sleeping through the night!!

His mom is a German Shepherd, dad: Unknown.  The vet did mention he has some Sharpei in him because of face.  Bottom line, he's a mutt.

Here are a few snapshots of him:

Is Spring here yet?

Today's mail...

I received a postcard from Ten West Bird & Animal Hospital saying that my pet was past due for annual check-up.

The animal in question is our pigeon. The funny thing is--I need to call tomorrow to make the appointment. I never thought I would make yearly appointments for a pigeon. As my friend in New York City calls her, "a rat with wings".

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

---Robert Frost

When I went to the Humane Society to get a kitten, there wasn't many to choose from. I wanted a black kitten because I love black cats. I miss my black cats I had for over 10 yrs.

Then I saw Duncan. Duncan had a long tail. He looked like a monkey because his tail was abnormally long. He had such a skinny body with long legs. He wasn't a cute kitten. There was something about him that I liked.

He's still proving to be an odd cat. Each day he runs to the bath tub if anyone is taking a shower/bath. He'll wait and stare at the shower curtain. The other day, he went into the bathtub with 1 inch of water.

Today, he went into the water for about 4 minutes as my 5 yr old was taking a bath. I ran to get my camera. For some odd reason, I'm sure I'll have more opportunities to photograph him in the bathtub.

Which is stranger... a cat that likes water or a pigeon that likes to be petted? My cat thinks he's a dog and my pigeon thinks he's a cat.