New Name...

Well, after a week and a half... we have given Mr. Luke a new name. "luke" just didn't seem to fit him.... so he is now "Hank"!!

with a very awesome nickname... Little Hanky Panky! Mike, however has only called him "little Dude" since we have had him. Anyway... 4 generations of Lobe men before Mike had some form of Henry in their name. ... His great grandfather was named Hendrick, his grandfather was originally named Hendrick Jr, but it was changed to Henry at the age of two...when they immigrated to the US from Polland. Mike's dads middle name is Henry and his Uncle's name is Henry (but... he goes by "Babe" and Mike's dad is often called Henry... go figure). Anyway... had Mike and I ever had a little boy... Henry was on the short list of names. So... since "the Baby" (as I refer to him) has the same birthday as Mike... I feel it very fitting that he have a nice Lobe family name!

Mr. Luke!

Ok... I know what you are thinking! I am crazy. Well... maybe I am. But, I just couldn't resist myself when I met Little Mr. Luke at Operation Catnip last weekend. well... when I met him, he was "Lucy". The caretakers thought he was a girl. He is from a feral colony, one with a bad reputation at our clinic (for aggressive cats, and cats that are usually underweight and in poor health). Well, he tamed himself. He was starved for human contact and would run up to the caretakers when they called him. But, unfortunately, he was full of worms and not gaining weight. We (me and the other volunteers) couldn't send him back to the colony. So, the volunteer who helps trap the cats from the colony to bring them to the clinic guilted the lady into giving him up. It was hard convincing her...(she supposedly has some physical and emotional problems... she is almost like a hoarder when it comes to her colony). But... MaryBeth was successful and I agreed to bring Mr. Luke home with me. Despite him being under 2 lbs... the head vet went ahead and neutered him. He also got his rabies and distemper vaccines.

bye bye mini-me....

Ok... so I have to admit, I am a little bit sad to have to pack up my mini-me and mail her off. At least she will have the company of her good friend, Dr. Heidi, for the journey. And... like any good mom, I packed them a snack and some changes of clothes. I can't reveal too many details, as there needs to be some surprise left for Jane when she gets me and Dr. Heidi!

the mini-me and mini-heidi have been so popular here at work that people are saying they want their own little mini-me's! hmmm... maybe this could be a business opportunity!!

Dr. Heidi in progress...

So, here is Dr. Heidi so far. I am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to style her hair... Any suggestions from the real Dr. Heidi?? Also... I can't show you her knockers for two reasons. 1) I wouldn't feel comfortable showing you someone else's knockers and 2) I was running out of the cream colored yarn and had to chose between ears and knockers. Ears won. Sorry Heidi... Hopefully I can find some more of this yarn in my scrap bin and give you the knockers that you deserve! And...oh yeah, notice the subtle "Y" on the sweater. Dr. Heidi is a big Yankee's fan... so I had to give her shirt a little personality. Being the perfectionist that I am...she may get a new sweater. not sure yet...

making me....

Ok... so I couldn't bring myself to make McCain and Obama finger puppets! But... I am making Shannon and Dr. Heidi finger puppets for our friend Jane in Azerbaijan. That way... it will be like having us there.

Check out my knockers! I think they may need to be a little bigger!!


Here I am with hair and clothes!


Dr. Heidi is just half a head with some hair, so... we (me and my mini-me) wont post a picture of her yet. it could be a little disturbing to some!

You shouldn't mix crocheting and politics...

But.... that is exactly what Lion Brand Yarn has done! In the email newsletter I got from them today... they had free John McCain and Barack Obama finger puppet patterns!! (they are advertising that you can hold your own debate!) What is this world... and this election coming to!

How to feed multiple cats at one time...

I have recently upgraded from regular ceramic bowls to a ceramic 9" x 13" casserole dish! Complete with a wrought iron stand! As you can see, 6 cats are comfortably eating from it... and there is even room for a few more heads!




clockwise from bottom left: Lydia, GG (Cowgirl), Tatie (Tater Tot), Emmy, Cowboy and Paisley