Suzie is my only girl in the house now, so at times she & I have to stick together! I drove to just past Cleveland to meet her previous owner 1/2 way & bring Suzie home 4 years ago. At the time I also adopted Kwan Do who has since passed away. Suzie was very upset when Kwan was gone but after a few days she bonded with Shaney. Now she & Shaney are best friends & they often chase each other all around the house. Funny that's it's tiny little 5 lb. Suzie & my biggest-12 lb. Shaney! Suzie is quite a hugger! She loves to be held up on my shoulder & she gives me kissys on my nose. After a few kissys tho she bites my nose! Now that I know what's coming I've gotten good at turning away but not after quite a few bite marks! She's my precious little beautiful girl and I am blessed to have had her come live here.

     Max of course most of you know is my 5 yr. old longhaired German Shepherd Dog. He had a rough time in the 2 yrs before he came here & he still does not like people. But he loves all the other animals and has many dog-buddies he plays with. He adores his cat family & often tries to put his favorite stuffy toys in the cats mouth to play tug of war! The cats aren't always thrilled when Max wants to run & play with them. Poor Max can't figure out that 100 lbs. just doesn't seem to safe for the kittys! Even on our walks Max will not chase squirrels, deer, rabbits, etc. He wants to play with them all ! Max is my constant partner, there is not often when we are apart. The few times I do have to leave him home he will just sit in the front yard & wait for my return. I love to see this big guy smile & enjoy life as he does so with such gusto. He truly is ecstatic when I tell him he's been a good boy! It's sad to think of what he must have gone through & what his life was like but at the same time it brings tears of joy to see him so happy now.

     Isn't it beautiful with all the pretty colors? I love all the flowering trees especially. It is so gorgeous driving around with all the pinks & yellows & spring colors!
Well- here I go again with eye surgery :( Thursday I have to have a catarac removed from my left eye. Hopefully when it's done I will be able to see all your lovely faces again! Right now they are just a little blurry-& I know when I was visiting Sweetie, Bela, Humphrey & Junior last week, that Bela was not too thrilled when I kept thinking she was Sweetie! I sure hope the right eye takes awhile before it decides it want's more surgery too!
     I had a lot of fun with a new buddy-Emily. Emily is a solid black cat and she is a huge fuzzy mouse catcher. The whole time I was there I would throw mice & Emily would catch them. Imagine how surprised Janice & Pat were when they saw all the fuzzy mice! I don't know how many ended up there but I would get tired getting up & having to pick up the mice to throw them again so I brought in bunches so I could keep throwing! Max helped me when we watched Nella- a young black labrador living with Steve & Mary. Boy-she was a handful! & walking both her & Max-as usual where one went so did the other & since they were both on leashes-so did I. Didn't we have fun running through the streams & chasing the geese & poking at turtles. I love labradors cause they remind me where all the muscles in my body are ! Another new playmate for Max is a 5-day a week midday-labrador (ugh!) MacKenzi. MacKenzi will be moving soon tho with her people Jim & Jill ( a different one!) so we won's see her for a couple months. I know Max will miss her terribly & I will too. And another labrador (my aching body!) -Shaq joined our buddy family along with Jean & Karle, his parents. Shaq is a little older tho so he wasn't as rough on me. Then I saw Norton the kitty-I hadn't seen Norton in a few years in fact-the last time I watched her was when her people Mary & Rick got married ! This past weekend I watched Kate's gang-4 dogs & 3 cats! Alex the Keeshond is an old friend of mine but they have a new dog ( a black labrador- oh no!! ) Scartlett & Bolivia & Lakota who usually went to the kennel. Bolivia is not very friendly to strangers so I did a trial run before hand & after a few minutes of growling and barking she finally did come outside so I figured everything would be OK. Well--on the first visit Bolivia came running & right outside & when I went out & threw the tennis ball it was Bolivia who first brought it back! I think that was my fastest "build trust" buddy ever!
     On a very sad note- I got a call from Melissa to tell me that her & George's cat Speaker passed away suddenly. I just visited with Speaker not too long before that & it was quite a shock to me too. He was a wonderful cat & I will miss him too. I know he is up in Rainbow Bridge with many of our other buddies having a great time.
    I've noticed a lot of animals seem to have allergies & of course with spring here they are itching like crazy. I have a terrible time with Max's allergies. I have tried so many different methods & most bring some relief but not total comfort. If anyone out there has had any luck controlling their pets allergies how about sharing your successes with us? A lot of my customers ask me too so it sure would be nice to have some information on hand that may work better.
    As I mentioned before I took all 5 of my cats to have professional photos taken! If I ever write that I have made plans to do something like that again I hope you all come here with bats & knock me along side the head!! I have no idea how these pictures are going to look. I should know soon-they are supposed to be back any day now. Suzie did OK once we waited for her to settle down & stop drooling!! Shey did very good-ham that he is. Shaney curled up in a ball & wouldn't move! So much for the idea that "show" is in their blood! Sammy & Sidney I wanted together-one would sit nicely, the other would jump off the table. As soon as I caught that 1 & put him back, the other would jump! I was really surprised at Sammy since he is usually so docile & if his belly is being rubbed he'd lay there forever. On the way home I think I figured out the problem. It actually occured to me through the smell that started to penetrate the truck!! Of course I had to have both Sammy & Sidney in the same carrier as well so by the time I got home I had 2 scared poop-covered cats tearing around my house! I wonder what people thought as I was driving with all my windows in the truck open during a snow storm!! Needless to say I was not exactly obeying the speed limit signs either so I was curious what would've happened if I had gotten pulled over! I wonder if after a whiff the officer would have let me go on my way! I guess these things have to happen once in awhile to keep our lives interesting & give us something to talk about. But don't forget your bats if you ever hear me again---- !!
     Oh- another sign of spring as I'm looking out my window- our ducks are back! This year we have 1 female & 3 males (hmmm- like those odds!) that are coming to eat in our front yard. My husband feeds them bread & they are getting comfortable enough that if there is no bread out there they come up to our front door or windows & quack until he comes out! They follow him to get the food & then run to start eating. They are so adorable- & the female-when she is running her little feet are going so fast trying to keep up with my husband!
     Have any of you been watching the Kodak Falcons this year? Last years male-Cabot-Sirocco didn't return this year. No one knows why. A new male which Kodak named Kaver did come & mated with Mariah & they are now sitting on 4 eggs! Expected hatching is around end of May. The falcons in Ohio, Pennsylvania & Canada all have hatchlings now. Also the bald eagles in Washington just hatched 2 babies. I really like watching them not just because they are bald eagles but the camera updates the pictures every 5 seconds so there is not much to miss. I often seen the male or female in flight from that site-they are stunning! This morning I saw the mother sitting up in the nest & these 2 little baby heads sticking up right in front of her-sooo cute!
     I guess that will do it for this month. I chose my own pets for the Pet Of The Month because I was a little behind in calling owners to write their stories. So don't be shy-if you want your pet featured and to be a star-send me a short story & we will introduce them to all the other buddies!!

         Hope all of you are well & I'll be seeing many of you very soon!! Can't wait!

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