Sunday, February 8, 2015

Adoption Success #2 and #3

Back in December, over winter break, Jamie's Animal Rescue took in 9 puppies...9!! Kevin and I had just taken in an adult dog from Jamie, 3 weeks after Nessie got adopted, but I was ready to take on the challenge of puppies. Let's just say I was puppy hungry! The litter had 6 males and 3 female. I really wanted females, but that was not in the cards for me. I am given 2 males...and I'm so grateful that I did. In come Ollie and Scout!


HOLY CUTENESS!!! Sorry to shout, but you have to admit that puppies are cute. However, I was quickly reminded of how much work they are. Every morning, afternoon after work, and night spent cleaning up poop and pee...the many baths because they smell like poop and pee, and the nail clipping because their scratchy nails hurt.


With all the work though, come the rewards and far outweigh the hardships. We went to obedience training thanks to Peace, Love, Dogs and these little guys learned sit, down, and come. I helped them learn wait and leave it...even though these can be worked with more, they have come a long way! We went from whining through the night to sleeping through the night in a kennel without potting on themselves.

We went on adventures to a farm house with land and got to go outside to sun bathe!


There is just something special about an animal loving you and trusting you. These little guys followed us around, got to make friends with our adult dogs, chase some kitties, and snuggle on the couch. I loved getting home from work and hearing them get excited to have us home.

But there comes a point when you have to let them go. We've had these little guys for about 5 weeks and today they go to their forever homes. I hope and pray that their new families will love them as much and MORE than we loved them. 


Scout, I will miss giving you those belly rubs you love so much. Miss your whining for attention, watching you learn to potty outside, chasing me around the yard, and that dang cute face as you beg for food. I know your family will love you so much as you grow to be the big, snuggle bear that you have shown me you are.

Ollie, I'm going to miss that silly face of yours, watching you chase my kitties, teaching you those tricks you are getting so good at and that loving look you give me whenever I'm around. I know your new momma will treat you with love, just like you deserve.

Foster success numbers 2 and 3. Today will be a hard day, letting these boys go...but rewarding. Loving them enough to let them go is hard, but I know that the people that found them are their forever homes.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ta ta for now.
-Morgan

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Nessie Gets Adopted

On or about October 28, 2014, we got a text from Jamie's Animal Rescue saying that she had found a dog wandering the streets of Houston. Jamie DOES NOT let females fend for themselves in Houston. After calling for this dog, she comes running to Jamie and plops into her lap! After a little coaxing, this little doggie gets in Jamie's car and in enters us.

We are called upon to foster this little girl.
Her and Zelda meet and they are instant friends. They could not stop playing with each other! We had to stop them from playing in order to take the picture below. This picture is from the first night with us.
After only a few days with Nessie, we noticed what a cuddle bug she was. If you were sitting on the ground, she was in your lap. If you were laying on the couch, she became the little spoon and snuggled right up against your chest. She loved to be close to people.
Fast forward into a week of having her...she started bleeding from her bum. After talking to Jamie...we both realized Nessie had gone into heat!! No dog park or hanging out outside to play for Nessie! Thank goodness Jamie had picked her up off the streets, otherwise this little girl would be having puppies.

However, we didn't want blood all over the place, so Jamie got us doggy diapers! It was really cute when we first put them on her. She just waddled around with her little leggies spread out! The picture below was taken right after I put the diapers on her. She wasn't happy at first, but she got used to it and started to not mind. Zelda thought they were interesting, but that didn't stop them from playing.
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About a week after the diapers, it was time for Nessie to get spayed. This was tough for the little girl. She was in a lot of pain, but pain medicine worked wonders. Play time with Zelda had to be cut short though. We had to her heal! She had to wear a cone for a total of 10 minutes. It was really sad. She basically stood there with her cone of shame to the ground, not moving. She couldn't even move around in her kennel. After her giving me those puppy dog eyes, almost like telling me, "I promise I won't lick my surgery spot," the cone came off and was never put back on. She proved that she wouldn't lick her incision.
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The above picture is the only one we have of her in the cone. Peyton was very curious as to what happened to Nessie.

After a week of healing, Nessie was able to go to a weekend adoption event. It was a dreary, rainy day but we had high hopes that Nessie would find her forever home. After being there for about 2 hours, I get a text saying that Nessie has an adoption application on her! Yay for Nessie! She got adopted after only having her for a month, which is great for a dog who is about 10 months old. Usually people want younger puppies. We were so excited for her!

Now she is with a family with no other animals, so all attention is on her...and she has a human brother and sister who will love to snuggle and play with her.

We loved Nessie and she loved us and our animals. I'm so happy to be a foster and to be able to raise these little animals to help them get ready for their forever home. It is such a great feeling to know that you had a hand in helping an animal and getting them to a family who will love them all their lives!

We will miss Nessie...I know Zelda did too! She moped around for a whole day!! 

However we are excited to help more! :) Here is to our next adventure!!

Ta ta for now
-Morgan

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Nessie

Well...here it goes!!

After making the decision to foster for Jamie's Animal Rescue, we got our first doggy today!

We named her Nessie!


She's a female and looks a lot like my Zelda...who is a border collie/lab. Just a little smaller!

Jamie found her wandering around her school grounds and decided to pick her up. Smart, because the female dogs around her part of town don't fair well and have LOTS of puppies. That's not the life that she deserves to live.

Nessie met Zelda at her house and greeted by sniffing butts and wagging tails. Happy dogs!

After picking Nessie up from Jamie's house, she rode quietly home with us.

There was no cat chasing as Nessie entered our house. Just Zelda playing and water drinking.

Her kennel is all set up, dinner has been served...all thanks to Jamie's Animal Rescue!

Here goes the first night of fostering!! I'm so excited for this great adventure!

Ta ta for now!
-Morgan

Monday, October 27, 2014

Finding Your Why...Big Announcement

Recently, I have really been struggling with the mundane process of: wake up early, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. I LOVE MY JOB! I really do. For those that don't know, I'm a teacher. However, I feel like something is missing from my life. I'm tired of the routine. I want to make a difference, feel important, worth something. You can say, "But you do all these things as a teacher!" And I do! I just need something more. Something outside of my teaching schedule to make my routine less mundane.

I feel like there is a void in my life and I need to feel that void with a purpose!

A why..a reason...some kind of change.

So in my late nights spent alone, as my husband is in his first year of law school, I started thinking. What could be my why?

Now for those thinking, "She's pregnant!!" or "She wants to get pregnant!!" I'm not. Sorry. We just aren't ready. However, I see why a lot of people get pregnant or have children by this age. They are searching for their purpose, their why, and for some...babies are the answer! Just that's not the answer for me...just not right now.

Other thoughts...hmm...

1) I love Pilates! I've been doing it for almost a year and I have seen my body completely transform! Maybe I should be a Pilates instructor and teach after school hours...Final verdict: no. At least not yet. It's not cost effective and would I truly enjoy being on the other side of the workout mat. All eyes on me? I don't know.

2) Plan another vacation! Find another trip to work on! (For those that don't know, we went to Europe last summer for a month and we're going again next summer) After more thought on this..Final verdict: no. Also not cost effective,especially with a husband in law school.

3) Maybe we should foster animals. One very wise pet rescuer once quoted Mahatma Gandhi, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." I have always had a STRONG desire to help animals. However, with us having three animals, adding another permanent fur baby to our family just doesn't seem logical, BUT being the helpful hands for a precious animal to feel love before the get to their forever home does seem logical.

SO, WHAT'S THE FINAL VERDICT?

Kevin and I said yes to the final choice. We have made the decision to foster for Jamie's Animal Rescue in Houston, Texas!! I am so excited! She does so much good for animals and I want to help her continue the good. 

We adopted our baby Peyton from her and want to continue to help. She has such wonderful animals.
I'm just hoping I can love the foster enough to let them go. Just like we've had to do with all of our baby kittens that we've gotten to raise. I know they could be happy with me, but I think it is more fair to let them be happier with someone else.
Here's to not being a foster fail and to show those sweet foster animals that come into our home SO MUCH LOVE! And to love them enough to let them go.

Here's to finding my why! :)

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Our First Day In Paris

Since we got to bed around 11 PM, without seeing Paris the night before...our day today started out early. 8 am to be exact...I was excited and didn't want to waste too much time. After getting ready, or first stop was Sacre Coeur.

The metro is close to where our place is...actually the metro is close to everything, and it is reliable, frequent, and not very crowded! Winning for Paris! Kevin is the metro master, so he guided us to the beautiful church on a hill. There are many stairs to get up there, but it is totally worth it. The view is amazing, and free! For those hard of walking, they have a lift to the top...but it isn't free. When we made it to the top, the view was first! It was awesome to see all the church domes and buildings of Paris. Then, we went inside the church! Watch out for people trying to get you to sign stuff or beggars...they are pickpockets. We heard about people trying to tie stuff on your hand, but we didn't see any of these...doesn't man they aren't there though. These are pickpockets too and will ask a ridiculous amount of money for what they just tied on your hand. Anyways, inside the church was great, relatively simple for churches we had already seen, but might as well go in if you wanted all the way up there.


After pictures and taking in the view, we made our way down the hill. It was breakfast time by this point and our morning banana wasn't enough. There was a crepe shop right at the bottom of the hill. We ordered a nutella and banana crepe! Holy amazing! Possibly one of the best foods I've had on this trip! I guess it was healthy too because it had bananas...I'm sticking with that excuse! It didn't take us long to down it!

After finishing breakfast, and getting to the bottom of the hill...We took a metro to the downtown part of Paris near the river Seine! I was tired of my shirt, as it was a hand-me-down and it just felt gross by this point. There was an H&M near by where I got a cheap new shirt! Problem solved! I threw my old shirt away.

We walked the romantic river and eventually happened upon the cathedral of Notre Dame. It took a little over 100 years to build, which isn't surprising as the stain glass alone I'm sure took up a lot of that time! This inside was amazing! Simple, brick architecture like Sacre Coeur, but with more detail song the side walls and beautiful stained glass. There were tombs along the back, and carvings around the outside of the altar telling some stories of Jesus' life. It is something that needs to be experienced.




After spending some time, we exited to find out how to get into the towers of Notre Dame. When you exit the church take a right, if you are facing the church, it is on the left side. I recommend you do the towers first, as the line takes a much longer time and the later you wait, the more people you have to fight. It took an hour and a half of waiting in line to get in. This is not normally the case, but apparently something happened at the top where the fire fighters were needed to get someone out! Scary, but not surprising after how many stairs have to be climbed. There are about 400. After already coming the stairs to the first church, my legs were really getting it after this visit. A guide book said take the climb up Notre Dame if you are feeling "strong of thigh"...I was...as there is no elevator or lift to get you to the top. We made it to the top and the view was spectacular! Not only are there awesome gargoyles, but you can see the Eiffel tower! Neither Kevin or I had a desire to go into the Eiffel tower as the line is horrendous, and when you take a picture from the top, you can't see the iconic tower...as you are in it! Dumb! The view of Paris from Notre Dame is pretty dang spectacular! It has a minimal cost, but it is well worth it!
After spending 50 minutes in the tower, we descended the millions of stairs...using different crazy muscles! Such a great workout! 




Being that it was 2 PM, I was now hungry for lunch and a grumpy gills. We walked over the lock bridge, got some subway and I felt much better! We then bought a lock, and went back to the lock bridge and attached it to THE bridge...not someone else's lock :-) We don't want our love attached to anyone else's! Now Kevin and I, Zelda, colt, and Peyton are a forever family for sure...now that it is locked to a bridge! We threw the key into the water below, and then made out a lot on the bridge as a musician played! It was freaking hot and romantic! Paris is still winning!


After awhile, we decided to move on and walk the river. This eventually led us to The Louvre...Napoleon' s collection of art! It was 4 pm, and the Louvre closes at 6 PM...the perfect amount of time for Kevin to explore! :-) We ended up seeing everything we wanted to...We didn't understand very much as all the displays are in French, but it was fun nonetheless! The line to get in maybe took us ten minutes, as it was so late in the day and close to closing time...bonus! We spent most of our time in the Egyptian and statue rooms, but also saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory! All pretty awesome! There were tons of people around the Mona Lisa...which was great, but I thought the painting near by of a dude grabbing a woman's breast was pretty awesome too! We took our picture and moved on...there was too much pushing to ponder. I don't do well in that atmosphere.
 "Look honey, I got the pyramid in my hands!"-Name that movie!


 WHAT is that baby doing??
 Winged Victory


 THE Mona Lisa
 Venus De Milo
 My favorite...the MUMMY CATS!!!

After finding the major pieces, we went through my favorite part...the Egyptian stuff! Kevin loved the Egyptian statues of the Egyptians with their arms around each other and holding hands...it was really cute to see they had love even then and it was worthy of taking the time to carve! I loved all the kitty statues. The best part were all the Egypt coffins and a mummy...even better, were the mummies of cats! So awesome! I love that they loved their cats enough that they were worthy to mummify for resurrection!

We left the Louvre right at 6 pm. We'll have to go back someday if we want to take a better and deeper tour. From here, we made our way to the Eiffel tower as most museums were closing. It was a short train ride over and an easy walk. We laid in the park in front of the tower for a few minutes, then decided to get some food and come back. It ended up being nasty McDonald's that wasn't the best or most fresh...but food. We took it back to the park and ate and sat there for about an hour. While there, we saw a senior missionary couple. They were so cute and we talked to them for a little bit.

It was really bright...




At around 8 PM, it was time to head home. We bid farewell to the Eiffel tower, caught a fantastic and quick train home and arrived at a descent hour. After being out in Paris...on our feet for most of the time...I was starting to feel the 12 hour day. Even though my legs were starting to feel sore, it was totally worth every second! The verdict is in...We LOVE Paris!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Pompeii Monday

Today was the day...I had been looking forward to it for a very long time! We got to go to Pompeii!

We woke at 7:30 AM to catch a train at 9:30 AM. Usually in other countries, waking up this early wasn't necessary. In Rome...it is. We learned this from our first night going to the Vatican. Traveling anywhere in Rome takes an unusually long amount of time. Our host left us delicious muffins for breakfast! They have been amazing! We grabbed them to go and headed out the door by 8:00 AM...and waited at the bus stop for at least twenty minutes. At least it wasn't too warm this morning. When the bus arrived, it was already crowded with too many people. We shoved ourselves on! I hate when shoving is necessary...and it always seems to be necessary in Rome.

One of the reasons I will not miss Rome and caused me to have absolutely no desire to come back!

After riding on the illegally full bus for thirty minutes. Finally, enough people got off in order to breathe...for the last five minutes. No one likes to be rubbed up against in a hot stinky bus...especially for thirty minutes.
We made it to Rome Termini main station with twenty minutes to spare. After getting to our train, we had ten minutes before we left and hopped on the train. Close call...even with leaving an hour and a half in advance.
The train ride was fine. We sat next to a nice family on their way to Sorrento. They talked very highly of it...as do many people we talk to in Italy. I think we will have to plan another trip to Italy for the Amalfi Coast. I just hope it's as good as they say! Also on our train ride was a very loud argument...something about a reserved seat and someone didn't want to move. It went on for a good five minutes and then was eventually settled. It was scary for a little bit as everything sounds a little scary in Italian.

After two hours, our train pulled into Naples. I was already nervous after hearing from Kevin's dad that the pickpockets are good here and a lady from the train was telling us she had earrings and a family broche stolen while she was wearing it...that is really impressive! So yes, I was nervous.

We found the ticket office for our transfer to Pompeii, this train also went to Sorrento...everyone and their mom was on this train. Again with the overcrowding. This train took about 35 minutes to Pompeii, with us standing the whole time. While standing, s lady from Argentina was telling me how they had just gotten robbed. Their passports and credit cards were taken from her husband's pocket...they had not heard about the thievery that is Naples. I felt so sad for them. If only they had been prepared.

Our stop for Pompeii finally arrived and we got off, leaving plenty of people still on the train. It wasn't hard to find the ticket office, just follow the signs. The entrance fee is 11 euros per person and they give you a free map and mini book guide! Really nice. We made it to Pompeii around 1 pm and stayed for about 4 hours. I'm sure we could have easily stayed longer, but we didn't want to miss our train back to Rome.

As soon as you buy your ticket and go through the gates, you are in the ruins of the city. It was incredible how well preserved everything is here, it really is a city frozen in time!  You walk into the city on the main ancient road, pretty awesome! To the left off of the road, you can see the wall remains of hundreds of rooms and buildings! When the volcano erupted, the ash piled up on the roofs and eventually caved them in, but most of the walls are left standing!



One of the first areas you can go in is an ancient temple...the Temple of Apollo. Parts of the statues are still remaining, as well as most of the pillars.


Next, you walk into the giant and open forum! This was basically the city center, and even had government buildings! The volcano erupted in 79 a.d., but even then, they had a plumbing system, and running water with aqueducts! It was amazing to see the technology they were able to use in building their city! As you walk along the streets, you will notice 1, 2, or 3 taller blocks in the road that are sidewalk height. These were used by the people when they would flood the street to clean it. People could cross them and not get their feet wet. They were also kind of like modern day speed bumps. It was cool seeing the grooves between the stones of where the chariots/wagons used to go. Also, one side represented a one way street...two stones equals a two way street...and three stones was a busy road! Pretty awesome!


I forgot to mention that mount Vesuvius looms just behind the city! It's crazy because a huge chunk of the top blew of during the eruption, and you can still easily see where it used to be!

Continuing our walk, we went south, and saw two ancient theaters! One was larger than the other, but they were both very impressive! Behind the large theater, they have a training field and barracks for the gladiators! Next we walked over to Pompeii's version of the Colosseum! It held about 20,000 people, which is quite a bit less than Rome's Colosseum, but what made this one cool is that you could walk out into the arena where the gladiators fought!






We headed back to the forum, since there was still a lot to see. The city of Pompeii is huge, and if you want to see it all, I would say you need a full day! And the crazy part is that less than half of Pompeii has been excavated! There is still more to discover! A few people told us it only takes an hour to tour Pompeii...this is a joke!

Back at the forum, we went into a Roman style bath house called the Stabian Baths! They had different rooms for different styles of baths, like cold, hot, steam... and in one of the rooms, they had two bodies! Well, the concrete mixed with bodies! In the 1700's when they started excavation, they discovered hollow spaces, where bodies had decayed, so they filed it with a concrete plaster, which is what you can see when you visit! It was amazing the amount of detail you could see on the faces, and the positions of the bodies as they were covered and frozen in time.





Back in the forum, we saw several more bodies, as well as the cast of a dog that had died in the eruption as well. Who leaves their dog behind?? We next continued on to see Pompeii's largest house, which had over 40 rooms! This was called the House of the Faun.




By this time, Kevin and I were both tired, and starting to worry if we would make our train back to Rome, since it always takes longer than expected to travel in Italy. We hurried and saw as much as we could on the way out, but sadly we missed the bakery, the brothel, and the garden of fugitives, which has several casts of bodies all grouped together. These are easy to see among the other things and can be found near the theater area...We just neglected to look for it on the map and guidebook, thinking we would happen upon them. That didn't happen. Live and learn...check your guidebook for things you want to see before you just walk around. Anyways, it was still awesome! Gives me a reason to come back to Pompeii!



We exited Pompeii and made our way back to the train station. The train picked us up from Pompeii around 5:15 and we made it to Naples central station around 6 PM. Our medium speed train had been delayed 45 minutes. We decided to catch the slower train as we figured that one would get us to time first.

As we waited, we had dinner...McDonald's. I wasn't about to trust anything in Naples...after seeing youth wearing skimpy clothes, including males, and youth smoking in the train station. I felt like I had just stepped into Jersey shore. We kept our bag close and I kept Kevin closer. McDonald's was great and reliable and filled our tummies. We then got on our train at 6:50 PM and headed to Rome.

The train was nearly three hours long...if you have the extra money, pay for the high speed train from Rome to Naples that takes only one hour. We didn't care to do this as getting in later didn't matter to us. I had more time than money :-) the train pulled into Rome about 9:30 pm.

As we head to Bern the next day, we needed to make reservations to Milan and then to Bern. The ticket line closed at 10 pm, and when we got there, there was s long enough line that would prohibit us from getting our tickets tonight. There was a lady that actually worked for the ticket company telling people we would have to come back tomorrow. Then there was a creepy, skinny, tattooed, stinky guy with a pen on the other side trying to "help" people out in the line by offering them the SELF SERVICE machines. I capitalized that for a reason. The previous day I had watched a similar situation with a guy like this "help" other people at the self service as he stood by them and surely copied down some information...like eurail code or card number. I had come too far to get tricked and robbed from now. He tried talking to us, followed us a little bit...Kevin was nice, I walked away hearing too many stories of these con artists. Kevin picked up what was going on and we left.

Our train would be leaving at 8 AM, and we decided just to be back before then. Our bus was at the station and took us home. We showered, went to bed, and set out alarm for 6 AM...leaving Rome as soon as we could. I have liked being here, but I haven't loved it. Maybe others will have a different experience than I, but I loved countries way more than here where I felt safe, clean, and not stressed by overcrowding and late and long transportation.

Ta ta for now!