Goodbye Miss Charlotte

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Today has been a very busy day. This morning was lots of phone calls setting up doctor's appts. for Mom and Dad, meals, meds, etc. Then off to take Dad to his dermatologist. Dad is a fair complected Scotsman and he was in the Navy during World War II. He saw many, many battles and invasions such as Saipan, Pelalou, Okinawa, etc. Being on the open sea did nothing for his fair skin and he was sunburned all the time. He is now paying the price; his skin always has all types of problems. He lovingly terms his dermatologist "Jack the Ripper" as he is always cutting on poor Dad. Once Dad was bandaged up after his appointment, we went to "Wally World" on the way home to get groceries. Dad in the motorized cart and me with a shopping cart following with his walker inside, sticking way up in the air...what a pair to behold, but it was really a nice outing for Dad. I was so tired, we stopped and got sandwiches to take home for dinner. Mom had not gone with us as she is still in a lot of pain and heavily medicated. We left her happily snoozing. So, while they are eating their sandwiches, I thought I would try to do a short post.

The following photo is a shot of some earrings I purchased at the recent Houston International Quilt Show. They are beautiful dichroic glass pieces....I just love dichroic glass, such sparkle! The Houston International Quilt Show has so much to offer; fabric, beads, quilts, lace, ribbons, trims, jewelry, items for scrap booking, dying, painting, stamping. They have something for everyone. I spent the day yesterday working on articles for the January issue of CQMagOnline so did not have time to post on the blog. Three of us who contribute articles to the magazine attended the Houston International Quilt Market and Festival and will be writing very informative and diverse articles throughout the year to tickle your fancy. Be sure to bookmark CQMagOnline and/or add you name to the list to receive it - it is free and loaded with great ideas, entertaining and inspirational; lots of eye-candy!

I posted a pic of one of my home companions earlier, JJ the parrot. I thought this was a cut pic of him/her? hiding under the sofa right before I left for Ark. JJ thinks he is king of the house. I assume it is a "he" because he is pretty stubborn :-) Of course, my brother had a pet cockatoo for thirty years called Sam that we assumed was a male all that time. Sam succumbed to cancer recently and we learned upon autopsy that he was a she. Sam is really missed as "she" was a dear member of the family to all of us. It just really took us all by surprise that he was a she!

On that note, a serious one, I want to share a recent pet tragedy with you. Recently, we lost our pig, Miss Charlotte, seen below. You won't believe what happened and my DH and I are still in shock about it. We live out in the country on some acreage and have a fenced pasture and our front yard is about 100+ yards from the road. We have a small pond right in front of the house and like to have ducks on our little pond. We just love watching the ducks play in the water and waddle all around. Well a couple of weeks ago, we heard a ruckus about dark; the pig was squealing and our inside dog was barking like crazy. When DH went out he saw dogs literally tearing apart our ducks. He chased them away and then went to check on Miss Charlotte. It was a terrible site. Even though Miss Charlotte was in our fenced pasture and horse barn, a large dog had attacked her. Her ears were literally torn off and her legs chewed. We worked hard to save her, but to no avail. She was such a sweet pig and my last pig. My other pig, Miss Lily passed away over a year ago of old age. The only animal we have now in our pasture is our emu, BB (big bird) and I just know he misses Miss Charlotte. We also lost 7 of our 8 ducks that we raised from babies. And, our last duck has flown across the way to a larger pond. I guess she feels safer there and so far things are working out for her. My DH and I drive by and tell her hello every day. We will get more ducks in the spring, but will have to find a way to make the area a safer environment for them. Good-bye sweet pig!