Painting the Kitchen

We've started the changes we want to make in the kitchen. I selected "Spanish Tile" for our new paint color. Here's the before and "after" (I still have a bit of edge work to do...and I might paint under the cabinets a little ways...it will eventually be tiled):
Other things we' have plans to add/change:

*tile the backsplash

*install an "over the stove" microwave

*install under cabinet lighting

*change hardware from gold to black

*trim out windows and opening between the kitchen and dining room

Anybody Want a Nice Black Lab??

Because we have two!

This is Noah...
and this is Moses...
They used to belong to our neighbors, but they kept them chained to trees with no shelter and when we started to see the dogs ribs show, we called animal control. Our county "shelter" has a very high kill rate, so we pulled them to foster.


As you can see, they were so neglected (Noah was downright emaciated) but you'd never know it with how sweet and loyal they are! They've both put on about 10lbs each since these bottom pictures were taken and they're doing great with their crates!

My Uncle's Birthday

I promised my Aunt Barbara that I would post some pictures and a video of my Uncle Rodger's 50th Birthday party, so that my cousin, Brent, could see. So, we'll see if the video will load.

The event was a suprise "roast" and there were lots of family and friends there...After the "roasting" we sang some Karaoke and Barb and Rodger did their standard "I got you babe" by Sonny and Cher and Rodger did his infamous "Soul Man."Little Rodger and Jessica were super funny with their speech that they (and Brent) had written.

½ Second

Curtis writes:

It is amazing what can happen (or not happen) in ½ second. I had a very close call while driving to work last week on I-65. Everything happened so fast that it is hard to take it all in.

I was in the middle lane when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye to my right. It was a gray Dodge Durango coming in my direction in the air. Apparently this driver was going too fast or hit a slick spot on the ramp onto I-65, went down the embankment, hit the road and became airborne. The SUV landed in the lane beside me blowing out its front-left tire and careened across every lane of traffic and about 2 feet in front of me. Pieces of tires, sparks and other shrapnel flew in my direction. The SUV came to rest after hitting concrete median.

At first I was simply amazed at what had just happened. I’m not sure if I even hit the brakes. It was almost a scene out of “Days of Thunder” where the racecar drivers speed up and power through the wreck in front of them. It felt like I just ran a marathon as my legs were cramped from tensing up and I was breathing hard from the excitement of it all.

It took me a few days to realize how lucky I actually was. I brushed it off as an interesting story to a normally mundane drive to work. However, after thinking about it for a while, if I was 6 feet farther than what I was I could have been into the median wall with the Durango. Or, I could have gotten clipped, spun around or even flipped my car.

I am very thankful for every day of my life right down to the ½ seconds.

The Cat's Meow

Hobo and Gypsy have been much more lovey and wrestle-y with each other since Pumpkin got adopted! What cute kitties!

Here's a quick photo/video update on our most recent adventures in feline rescue....

Before Halloween we pulled a black kitty from Feeder's named Mysteria so that no would take her and hurt her. She also had a cold which she recovered quickly from and she had fun playing with our cats and didn't seem to mind Tyson either. She was a real sweetie to have around but she's back at Feeder's now and will hopefully get adopted soon!

One of our fellow fosters who lives nearby (and catsits for us) asked if we'd foster a little one that she had in her bathroom. We knew him from when we catsat for her for a week (she has 30 so it's quite an undertaking) and were more than willing so that he could run around and experience an entire house rather than just a condo in a bathroom. His name is Biscuit, another black kitty, but he has white on his belly and white armpits (which is quite comical). He is a spaz sometimes and startles easily but he is a LOVER and will flop on you, sleep on you and wake you up with his purring! He and Mysteria got along really well and we're hoping they can be roomies in a condo soon.
Our D-list litter has gotten so big! They went to a condo at Feeder's Supply a few weeks ago, and Darla (calico) was adopted first as we predicted, but then everone else got ringworm. So we pulled them out and they're in our bathroom where we can control and treat the fungus (ew!). It's hard not to snuggle them because they are so friendly with motor-boat purrs! Here's their "group shot" a day or so before they went to Feeders. My sister really needs to adopt Duff, because he is a really cool kitten (he's the one in the foreground of the group)!
We had a very brief stint with some Persians, Maya and Zoe, that I pulled out of a local kill shelter. They were an owner surrender due to "unresolvable litterbox issues" (which they demonstrated to us as well...ew!). They had their registration forms with them so I was able to contact their breeder, who was very shocked at the situation, and we were able to return them safely to her within 2 days of acquiring them! I was quite thankful for that quick resolution because those cats had soooo much hair and they couldn't clean themselves!!

Our newest addition is my kind of cat! He's an owner surrender because they had a new baby that was sick and couldn't manage having cats and a baby. This handsome boy has super long skinny legs and is a TALKER (I cannot emphasize that enough)! He's still getting used to the place, exploring more and more, little by little. Still hissing at everyone but aparantly he had been around other cats and dogs. His name is Jinx but I'd like to change it...still throwing around options. Any suggestions?

Fall Events!

Eli Robert Cunningham was born September 29th! He looks a little bit like Caleb did, but he's a chunker! Here he is with his Aunt Rachel.
...and with his mommy, who looks absolutely beautiful in this picture!Can't forget about Caleb!
We went to an IU game, had excellent seats for a pathetic game...we had fun visiting Bloomington and a few friends.

We went to Huber Farms with our small group two weeks before Halloween. Curtis tried out the apple launcher...

We found some nice pumpkins...they have plenty to choose from!

Mom and Dad came down for my birthday on the 24th...the big 28! We went back over to Lexington to the Horse Park for a Morab show...Horse Park was good as usual but the show was pretty dissapointing.
Me and Curt in front of the Man-O-War burial site. One of my favorite spots at the park!Opted for only 4 candles...barely got those blown out!
Dad and Curtis put in my medicine cabinet...my present from mom and dad...love it!!

We finally got our pumpkins carved the night before Halloween! Curtis had bought me a pumpkin carving kit with patterns so we had fun!

We also petsat for a fellow Shamrock foster friend during the month of October, but I'll save that for a separate cat post!

2008 Election in Review

Curtis writes:

After two years of political campaigning it is finally over. Here are some random thoughts on the 2008 Presidential campaigns:

• Thank goodness we will have a reprieve from all the political ads! It always starts out a “clean” race and inevitably turns sour and I’m glad it’s all over. If you were to believe all of the ads that were out there then half of this nation’s politicians are communists, hate puppies and babies and should be in prison (only half because of course the other half are saints that never do anything wrong).


• The capstone of the political campaigns came in the form of McCain’s concession and Obama’s victory speeches. Both were very well written and each candidate came across as very humble and in no way arrogant or or vengeful.


• People have such a short view of time and history. That is why the phrase “history will repeat itself” is so accurate. This ties into both the shift in balance of power in our government and our current economic situation. Everything is cyclical. 1) First, our government: It is inevitable that after a period of time one party will become less popular and there will be an uprising of support for the opposite party. If liberals are in charge for a time the conservatives will have a surge of support and take over the reigns. And once the liberals get tired of the conservative way(s) it will switch back. This has been seen across history and shouldn’t surprise anyone who thinks his or her party will have the power forever (at least in a democratic society). 2) Second, our economy: 90’s we were up, 2000’s we are down, guess what’s next? The economy will rebound and we will recover! No economy on this planet in the history of time has ever just seen gains. This is why all the graphs (either individual stocks or the entire market) go up and down with peaks and valleys. But keep this fact a secret as the media doesn’t want to mention it right now.


• I love being right. Even before the Democratic primaries had started I believed that a Democrat would win the White House (see previous thought). Also, media and fellow co-workers/friends for the most part predicted a close race/vote. And while the popular vote was close-ish I predicted that every battleground state would fall Obama’s way and it would all end in a landslide. While this outcome wasn’t exactly what I wanted it was what I predicted. I will take this time to gloat.


• Good luck to President-elect Obama, he’s got quite a job ahead of him.

And thus concludes my political thoughts on this year’s elections. Cunningham for President in 2036…you never know!

Clowning Around

A couple weeks ago I got to dress up as Violet again and do some face painting at the Louisville Fire Drill. It was so much fun, I really enjoy dressing up as a "non-scary" clown and face painting. I wish I'd thought to take some pictures of some of my clients. Oh, and I was going to be face painting tonight for an event at the Belle of Louisville, but I got outbid by a clown/face painter/magician...I don't have the trifecta I guess:) Oh well, I didn't want to work on my birthday anyways!

Milo

This is Milo...formerly Nebu (see earlier blog). He now owns my sister, Leslie, and her husband, Travis. He is the sweeeeetest big boy kitty you could meet. Greets you at the door and doesn't know a stranger. He loves to play with his toys and my parent's little dog...and aparantly he loves to pose for the cameras well!:)

Kittens!

The kittens are getting big! This is Demi, she was the last off the bottle but they're all finally weaned...do I look tired?
They're all eating hard food now, but get wet food too. That's Dulce, Duff and Dugan chowing down.
They took to the scratching post right away, and love to climb it! That's Dulce on top with Duff reaching for her and Demi at the bottom.
Darla, Dulce and Dugan closing in on "uncle" Hobo! He's really good with them.
Darla in the sunshine...I'm sure she'll get adopted quickly because of her pretty colors! Behind her you can see that they've moved into the big kitten cage with the big litter box, water bowl and lounging hammock:-) They love it!

Hurricane Ike

Louisville got a huge suprise on Sunday in the way we felt Hurricane Ike. No rain, just wind. LOTS of wind, gusts up to 75 miles per hour. Louisville declared a state of emergency. 8,200 power lines have come down and 300,000 people in Louisville lost power....180,000 in Southern IN. LG&E has given a timeframe of 12-14 days for everyone to be back on. Schools have closed for the week in Louisville and Clark/Floyd Co. The national guard has come in to help direct at busy intersections...it's crazy!

Leslie and I were taking our tent down and coming home from our camping trip Sunday when I really noticed the wind picking up. By the time we reached New Albany to drop off two other ladies, it felt like....a hurricane. There was never any rain, just leaves flying everywhere, branches and other debris blowing by and trees uprooting (right before our eyes) and falling into the road. We couldn't get into the driveway because of a fallen tree, so I ran up and told my neighbors who put chain on it and pulled it out of the way. We lost power for a few hours but it came back on before Curtis got home from his camping venture. We've been on a "reserve water/boil water" notice for the last couple days, but we've been very fortunate. Friends and co-workers are now on their 6th day without power. The one godsend has been the weather since Sunday. 82 and sunny during the day and cool at night...so those without power don't have to worry about the lack of air conditioning/heat. What a crazy week!

Here are a few picture of trees down near our house and in Louisville.

This tree is completely uprooted two driveways down from our house. None of our trees fell amazingly, but we had branches down.

A huge section of one of our trees came down at the Cabbage Patch. It damaged the guttering on the front corner of the building, but that was all. 1/2 or our buildings had power, so I was able to come to work (darn). We didn't have recreation programs on Monday because Walnut Street's activities building had no power.

One of the scenic pathways through Louisville's Central Park.

An uprooted tree came down on another and snapped it off like a toothpick (Central Park).

Half of a tree broke off and fell right in front of the Conrad-Caldwell House on St. James Court in Old Louisville.

Blue Brush Love

This is Hobo's Blue Brush....we were making friends again after a nail trim session.

It is officially the OFF SEASON!

The Bats lost their playoff game tonight, so the season is officially over! That means Curtis gets to go camping next weekend with the guys from our home life group. I'm going with the girls, so we've got to find pet sitters...kinda hard when you have a dog, 8 cats (5 still nursing) and 2 fish. Here's what we did this weekend!!

We're getting there!

D-List Litter + 1

Ok, here are the newest babies...get ready for the collective "awwwww"...because they are darn cute! Once again, Shamrock requires the litter to have names that all begin with the same letter, so here are Darla, Demi, Dugan, and Duff....plus Dulcenea (not a biological sister, but will eventually be mixed in with the bunch). They are now about 4 weeks old and we will be weaning them off the bottle soon...which won't be easy for some of them, because they LOVE it! This past week we've been feeding every four hours...which means I've been up at 3:00 or 4:00 A.M. every night...that will soon be over soon as we change over to soft, then hard food. Duff (the bigger of the two boys...although "Doogie" is catching up!)
Dugan ("Doogie's" white spot gives him away)

Darla (the chunk)

Demi (the tiny baby)
Dulcenea (she is tinier than the litter, but older...and she is a little spaz, runs around and loves to bite your arms when she plays.)

Here's Demi scarfing some formula!