Fostering Kittens

Howard.

I decided to Foster kittens at the Humane Society this month. My first fosters are four male, five week old kittens. Their names are Harold, Howard Herman, and Harley. I have been volunteering at the Humane Society ever since my previous employer offered 2 paid volunteer hours per year. I continued to volunteer for many reasons. It was a rewarding hobby that had so much to learn. I have always wanted to foster so when I received an email that it was kitten season and the Humane Society was in desperate need of foster volunteers, I quickly applied. I downloaded the app for adobe sign that allows me to input my information and signature to the downloadable application on the Humane Society website and attached it to an email to the Volunteer Manager. After a few emails and calls back and forth (phone tag) and a visit to the shelter, I was finally able to get started. I have always had cats and dogs growing up. I raised two puppies as well. But kittens are a different story! I work full time so I am gone about 9 hours a day between work and driving. Luckily, kittens and cats are self sufficient. However, when I am home they definitely appreciate my attention. The biggest obstacle so far has been their bathroom behavior. They poop everywhere and will jump on my bed and track it all over my sheets. I have had to clean blankets all day everyday and vacuum. Since there is 4 of them, I am using 2 litter boxes. I do not crate them, but they stay in my room unless I am home. They love to play with each other and will hide under my couch. I also wake up to them in my bed. I have introduced them to the outside by allowing them on my screened patio which they enjoy. I’ve also bathed them which they absolutely hate. They have watched YouTube cat videos and are very curious about everything. I am thankful for all the great tips and information out there on the we and all the people who share their pictures on Instagram. I even created a page for them @hstbfoster. I hope the hashtags will attract people interested in adoption to find them or share. I am thankful that the Humane Society provided me with a litter box, litter, food (dry and pate’), and toys. I will be taking them to a check up at 2 weeks and if all goes well, by week 4 they should be ready for adoption after they are 8 weeks or older.
About the kittens:
Harley: He is the most adventurous. He is brave and independent. You can find him with Harold most of the time. He is usually the first one to cuddle with me and was the first to meow.
Harold: He is sneaky and likes the most attention. He will cuddle with me the most.
Herman: He is goofy and you can usually find him scratching the cat pole and playing with Howard.
Howard: He is the biggest goof ball. He has those “crazy eyes” like he is about to get into something. He tends to follow the others but has lots of personality.
I am going to miss them when they leave but I hope they will go to a good home and live long and happy tails. 
Tips:
1. Cover entire carpet with blankets.
2. Put litter box in a corner and very visible.
3. Cuddle with them.
4. Fostering saves lives!

[caption id="attachment_739" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Herman selfie.

Herman.

Harley.

Harold, Harley, Herman, and Howard cuddled together.

Harold.

Boyett’s Grove Citrus Attraction in Brooksville, FL

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Let me tell you about my visit to Boyett’s Grove Citrus Attraction in Brooksville, FL. I grew up coming to this zoo and my greatest memory is feeding the friendly spider monkeys. My mom says it has changed a lot since then. The attraction is unlike any other aquarium, zoo, or museum. My mom, Kay and 20 month old nephew, Ben came around 2PM. It was $17.95 for 2 adults and a bag of food. The bag of food is in a plastic store bag full of popcorn, chopped celery and carrots, bread, buns, and powdered donuts. Parking is free. The only downside is parking is at the top of a hidden hill on Spring Lake Hwy so you have to be extra careful leaving (people don’t drive the speed limit).

You enter the outdoor attraction to tortoises that you can reach out to touch and hand feed. Then you explore the following: emus, geese, mini horses, goats, potbelly pigs (with 5 baby piglets), zebras, donkey, monkeys, spider monkeys, llamas, deer, peacocks, porcupine, camel, raccoons, and last but not least, birds, turtles, snake, fish, guinea pigs and bunnies.

  

In the aviary, some of the birds are in individual cages you would see in your home. You will find several parrot species and canaries. There are food dispensers that you need to put a quarter in and about twenty turtles were surrounding it just outside of their pool.

Through another surprise door is a dinosaur land. The room is dark and has statues of dinosaurs surrounded by strobe lights. The dinosaurs remind me of children’s toys multiplied in size. Children can pretend to dig up fossils in the surrounding sand pit covered with bones.

In a separate room are statues of  shark, grouper, and other fish species. There are home sized aquariums of live fish as well.

The attraction and its animals could use some tender loving care. The horses have matted hair and the slides are aged by the elements and are covered in spider webs. It is difficult to push a stroller here, the sidewalk is narrow and not flat. You are surrounded by overgrown trees and some of the tallest banana trees I’ve ever seen. Inside the gift shop is an arcade, old fashioned candy, ice cream and more. There is only one cashier handling everything and no change machine.

All in all, you can expect a unique experience hand feeding several animals that are like pets. You don’t have to deal with lots of tourists or crowds. Young children will enjoy this giant petting zoo. It truly brings your childhood dreams and fairytales to life.

Also, I recommend having lunch down the road near Hwy 50 at Pappa Joe’s Italian Restaurant.

Making the most out of a family trip to Minnesota in 4 days

From Left: Myself, Cousin Torey’s husband Colin, twin sister Erica and my nephew Ben, Torey and their son Declan, mother Kay and Aunt Cindy in Flapdoodles parking lot.

Recently my family including my mom, dad, twin sister, and 8 month old nephew visited family in my mother’s home town of Wanamingo, MN. FYI, my nephew was AMAZING and did NOT cry AT ALL the entire time we were at the airport or on the plane. People stared at us and probably dreaded sitting near us but complimented us afterwards how well behaved he was, “more than the adults”. Wanamingo is a very small town between Zumbrota and Cannon Falls. We made it to the airport at 6 am on Friday and our flight made a quick stop in North Carolina. We arrived in Minnesota by noon and drove a rental to the grocery store, Econofoods in cannon Falls which is about ten miles from my grandparents house where we stayed. We were at the house by 2:00 pm. My grandparents were not expecting us until about 4:00 pm. This was just the beginning of a weekend of miscommunication. My parents bought way too much food at the grocery store and we had to rush home because my Dad had to have popsicles,  since they were 2 for $5. We told him we wanted to go to the bakery next door and the winery across the street but no. It was even more disappointing because we only ate like four popsicles over the weekend and left all the groceries at their house. We had supper the first night, pizza and later tatter tot hot dish. My grandma still uses the same dishes my mom was raised using and she makes really small portions of everything. 

 The unfortunate part is that my older sister did not get to come on the family trip because she is 8 months pregnant, has a 2 year old son, and was currently living in Alaska until Aug 1. She has been living overseas for 4 years as a military spouse in the Azores and in Alaska. We would have had to wait even longer until the pregnancy which would be another month later (you can’t fly after 7 months pregnant) with a new born at that. If we had waited, we wouldn’t have been able to take the trip until probably next year. My mom is a mail carrier and I think her reasoning was due to her fear that her parents who are 84 years old, don’t have a lot more time left and she has lost a lot of her customers on her route who have passed away. Her father has had medical problems, they are both hard of hearing and sight. Her brother also passed away a few years ago and she never got a chance to say goodbye or attend a funeral. I have never met my two uncles because they must have disability talking to anyone, even family. They don’t have wives or kids and live next door to their parents. Even I knew this may be the last time I visit them. Throughout my life I have only visited Minnesota 3 times, once when I was about 12, after high school graduation, and now. Since we have always lived so far away in Florida, we don’t regularly get to see any family. They have visited me when I was a baby, high school graduation, and my older sister’s wedding. My grandma use to send a card with $5 every year on my birthday but it stopped around freshman year. We searched through the newspaper for things to do in the area over the weekend. I really wanted to go to the motocross tournament but no one else cared. Come to find out my grandpa wanted to go since my uncle Fred was such a dirt bike enthusiast and use to race. We ended up going to my Aunt Cindy and Aunt Julie house and had ice cream with my cousin, her husband, and their 3 year old son. 

Saturday we went to breakfast and my grandpa’s brother Roger and his wife who are going on 30 years of marriage were there and his sisters Charlene and Marcia and their husbands. My Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dave were there too. We enjoyed breakfast at Area 57 and then went back to the house to discuss what we wanted to do for the day. We went to a cave with my cousin and her husband, called Mystery Cave and it was an hour away. We stopped at Dairy Queen after and then my cousin house and then to dinner at Lost Cajun in Rochester with my Aunt Rhonda, and both my cousins and Aunt Cindy. After dinner we went back to Rhonda’s house for pie and wine. She made Ling don berry and strawberry pie. She babysat my cousin son earlier and he was bit by her dog. I’m glad we didn’t take her up on the offer to let her babysit my nephew while we were at the cave because it could have been him and the 3 year old was having diarrhea problems so I’m sure he was a handful. We took showers there because the house had really smelly water. I hated changing back into my dirty clothes though.

Sunday my dad cooked omelets for everyone. My grandma was planning to make pancakes so I felt bad. My dad made his omelet with salsa and it was much better than mine, I wish he had asked me.  We had a family picnic at Soldiers field and even my uncle Dale was there although he didnt sit or talk to anyone. My Aunt Julie’s son Justin was there briefly with his wife during her lunch break. My cousin Tavis made potato salad. My grandmas fruit filling was really good. We made smores on the grill too. I actually had a moment with my grandpa teaching him how to make the perfect marshmallow and using his matches to light the grill. We visited the monument where my Aunt Julie’s late husband had his name from serving in the Vietnam war. Afterwards we went to the Apache mall with my cousin and her family. Lastly we went to my great aunt Marcia and Joes house where we checked out his gun and car collection, shot clay pigeons, and rode to the golf course in a Ford Fairlane and ate Jimmy’s pizza.

My Uncle Joe and I shooting clay pigeons.

Monday my grandma made pancakes. We picked raspberries in the yard and checked out the tomatoes that were almost ready to pick. We relaxed in the hammock and played with the dog and cat. We even shot some golf balls into the corn field that we found in the shed. My Aunt Cindy keeps her stuff in a shed because her husband Tom had a stroke and has no mobility and is living in a veterans hospital now but thinks he will be able to use his golf clubs again one day, its not possible. My aunt drives an hour away to visit him every weekend. So we left around 12 and our plane left at 2 PM. We had a quick stop in Philadelphia and were back to Tampa by 9 PM. I didn’t like the service from the airport and on the plane in MN but PHL was okay. We flew US Airways and the Minnesota security was rude and the flight attendants were bossy. The security guard looked and marked my boarding pass, told me to keep it in my hand and not put it away because I would have to show it again which was not true no one else in my family had to or were told to.  I wasn’t in a good mood already because my dad had separated from us at that point since he didn’t see us waiting while he was in line for his baggage. I told the guard I was putting my pass back in my phone clutch because it was in my hand and I wouldn’t lose it. A few minutes later, just to prove his point I guess, he walked over to me and asked me to show it again. Ridiculous. I felt targeted for no reason but because I was having a bad morning and attitude and people thrive off of it. To be completely honest, I am going to miss Minnesota and my family there. I had a really good time spending time with them and escaping my reality at home.