Tulsa Memory Walk

Today was a perfect day for the Tulsa Memory Walk, held to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. From a participant point of view, it went off without a hitch. I'm sure the organizers could argue that point, but these people really did a great job. The volunteers were friendly and helpful, and exhibitors provided pertinent information. There were bagels, donuts, coffee, fruit and, of course, lots of water available, as well as hydration stations for the dogs that participated, and music to keep everyone entertained until the walk actually began. When it was time to make the three mile trek, a local high school drum corps led the way. Toward the end of the walk, some Tulsa Firefighters were on hand to spray water on laughing, squealing kiddos of all ages. It was a fun, well organized event, and best of all, a lot of money was raised for a great cause.

In an earlier post, I told you about my friend whose mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. This is my friend with her sweet little boy. He enjoyed pointing out all the puppies he saw along the way.

It was a great Saturday morning walk.

Happy Birthday, Tuesday Weld

Today Tuesday Weld turned 67! She was an actress way back in the day, you young whippersnappers who never heard of her. You know back when an actress may have had lots of issues to deal with, but we didn't have papparzi to show us in excruciating detail their every misstep. The worst thing I ever knew about her was that she did little to alleviate my teenage girl insecurities. Happy B'day Tuesday Weld.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper Reflects

It's no secret that I have lots of floof, and sometimes some of it has to leave my body to make room for fresh floof. It's called shedding. I can't help it; it's what I do. My mom says she could knit a whole herd of cats from the furballs I leave laying around the house. Puhleeeze, what an exaggerator.
But then, the other night, I went to take a peek at the outside world. As I reached the glass door, I couldn't believe my eyes, there was a beautiful white cat looking right back at me!! Could Mom have really... no, no, no way. But there he was looking right into my eyes. He looked kinda' see-throughy, not quite as solid as me, but otherwise just like me,  you know, gorgeous.
I don't have the explanation yet, but I'm pretty sure my mom hasn't been knitting a whole lot lately, but then again... No, I'm sure that wasn't it, because Mom wouldn't make that beautiful kitty stay on the other side of the door where the scary outside world is.

Well, I'm off to look for that outdoor kitty.
Have a happy rest of the week! I know we will.
Hugs and purrs,
~Casper~
Here Kitty, Kitty.

Simon's Cat in The Box

Simon's cat looks like Casper and acts like Angel. No wonder we love Simon's cat!

There's a New Buffalo in Town

There's a new buffalo in Bartlesville. Isn't he pretty? On one side he's painted in oranges and the other is done in pinks. I've posted pictures I took of some of the other bison, but I neglected to tell you these unique works of art are part of a fundraising project for Mary Martha Outreach, a non-profit organization in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They supply aid, both materials and services, to those in the community with a need. Kind, caring people and fun buffalo art; you've got to love it.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel Digs Brushes

My mom thinks she’s pretty clever, and I guess she is, but she can’t outmaneuver me. She put all her makeup brushes in one drawer, and every morning when she puts on her face, she opens the drawer, takes out the one she needs and quickly closes the drawer again. I love to steal her brushes and run away as fast as I can, taking them to a good hiding place before she can get them away from me. She says I must be part ferret, whatever the heck that is. If a ferret is a gorgeous, intelligent girl of the feline persuasion, then yep, that’s me.

She always says, “I don’t know why you want my brushes.” Well, I don’t know why either, but because I’m a cat, I don’t analyze it, I just go with it.

The other morning, I sensed the presence of a brush in another drawer, not the hidey hole she picked out for all the others. Now let me tell you what, I went after it!

You can see my digging style, determination and go-after-what-you-want-at-all-costs attitude in the pictures mom snapped. She thought I was rummaging around in the drawer only to discover all the brushes were gone. Ha! The joke was on her. This little bitty old brush was way at the back of that drawer, and I GOT IT! In your face! Oops, sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean the in your face part.

I got that little sucker and ran like a Rottweiler was on my tail. Casper was having a good laugh watching the show. Mom took the bait and came after me. After I had my fun, I let her take the little brush back to its new hidey hole.

We’ll meet again, little brush… we’ll meet again.

A Touch of Whimsy in Bartlesville

Three water towers in Bartlesville are labeled in Old English lettering as Hot, Warm and Cold. When we were kids, traveling through Bartlesville on our way to Tulsa, we always looked for the towers, so they've been marked this way for a long time, and I still get a kick out of seeing them. I finally stopped to get a picture.

An Amazing Performance

A friend shared this, and it made me feel so good I just wanted to share it with you, too.

Saying Goodbye to a Fine Young Man

The world lost a great husband and father, and all around nice young man this last weekend. Harold was the husband of my sister and brother-in-law's niece. This picture isn't very clear but it is typical of Harold and how he adored his three little girls, and how they adored him. He was only 31 years old. No symptoms, no notice, just stolen away in an instant by an aneurysm.

I always want to have an answer for why something happens, and since that isn't going to happen here, I at least wanted to find something good, some semblance of a bright side. It was very hard to find a bright side here.

It took a while to find it, but it is definitely there. Family, friends, their church and an entire community have embraced his sweet family. They have received food, money, assistance of all kinds, and genuine love. These acts of kindness are not one-time happenings. These are the kind of people that will surround and  watch over Missy and her precious girls for as long as they need.

Rest in peace, Harold. You will be sorely missed. This world needs more nice guys like you.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper on Climbing Mountains

Our Aunt Barb and Uncle John came all the way from Georgia and are visiting us for just a short bit. Yay! But, like the last few times they visited it's because of a very sad occasion, but we won't talk about that right now, because it makes my mom's eyes leak.

We love it when our aunt and uncle, Mom's sister and brother-in-law (or is it bother-in-law?) visit. Our mom and Aunt Barb don't look a whole lot alike, but their voices sound alike. So it's like having two of mom here, when we're just lounging around and not really looking at them, but just hearing them talk.

Now when Jeanie, the other sister, gets with the two of them, it sounds like three moms. You should hear them laugh--and they do a lot of that when they get together--you couldn't tell one from the other. It's laugh, laugh, laugh, snort, "oh, shoot", laugh, laugh. Sometimes they cross their legs when they laugh real hard, and that makes them laugh even harder. I sure don't get that. But, you know what I say about humans--that's right--Peculiar, with a capital P.

Mom has been boasting quite a bit lately about her walking, counting her steps and all that. I agree it's pretty impressive that she can walk and all, being that she does ALL of those steps in that awkward upright position using only two legs. But counting every step? Come on now, isn't that a tad much? (yep, Peculiar) Now she's even saying that next time she goes to see Aunt Barb and Uncle John, for a not-sad occasion, she will be ready to climb Stone Mountain again. Our mom, a mountain climber? I had visions of her scaling snow covered rocky mountainsides, having to stay in base camps fighting the snow and wind, and taking days to pick and pull her way to the top of a mountain, and that scared me.

But, then I did my research, and that so-called "mountain" out there in Georgia is just one great big hill made of granite. It's real pretty and there's lots to do around it, but believe me, I'm no longer scared about her "climbing" it. It looks more like a stroll on a hillside. I think that will be okay.

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday, and remember to cuddle your cats and hug your other loved ones real tight.

Purrs and hugs,
=^..^=  Casper

World Cat Day

Today is 2010 World Cat Day!
We greet all our fellow felines as we celebrate being CATS! It is a most pawsome thing to be, at least for all of us that are fortunate enough to have humans who appreciate and love us, as it should be.

Today, in addition to celebrating our catness, we are also sending out purrs for all the cats in the world that do not have the wonderful lives they deserve, and for all the special kitties in shelters that would love to come live in good forever homes. We are purring extra loud and fervently for all of them.

We also offer up purrs of gratitude for all the cat lovers in the world. We're grateful for those who love and care for their pets, the ones who adopt, special people that volunteer in shelters and those in the blogosphere that spread the word that cats are special companions and bring much joy into this world!

Cats Rock! Every day should be CAT DAY!

=^..^=
Casper and Angel

Bubbling Over

A prankster put bubble bath in the Bartlesville Community Center fountain. Not a real original idea, but the results turned out to be. The following video shows some large chunks of bubbles floating down the street. It looks pretty weird.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel gets Perspective

The last few days have been Bad News, Good News days. Sunday morning Mom left to make the 2 ½ hour trip to go see our big brother, Russell, our sister-in-law, Karissa, and The Grandsons. Casper and I had just settled in for a nice quiet Snoozin’ Sunday. Wait… was that the garage door I heard? What’s going on?

Mom walked back into the house. She said her car sounded funny. She made a swishy sound as she described it to Russell over the phone. She was right – that did sound funny. She was sad that she wasn’t going to see ‘the kids and grandkids’, as she calls them. But, she would see them soon. Car broken and no visit with the fam – bad news. Then came the call, the fam was coming here instead – good news! Good news as far as she was concerned anyway. But, there went our plans of sleeping the whole dang day away. There is NO sleeping when those rowdy boys are here!
About three hours later, they’re heeere; off to mom’s bedroom we went.

It’s kind of like a small tornado, without the rain, blowing through the house when the boys are here. Mom says they are sweet and energetic, I say they are a horde of locusts come to destroy our entire way of life.

 

Anyway, they came, they created their mayhem and path of destruction, and then they went back home. We survived, once again! Definitely time to sleep! We slept long and hard.
Next day, mom got her car to the service department. It was, as Russell had predicted, the alternator – bad news. But, the repair was covered by her extended warranty – good news. They had to order the part and it would take a couple of days to get it – bad news -- she would have to rent a car. It too was covered by her warranty – good news.
Life is just one big old balancing act, like having our plans crushed by having the wrecking crew visit (bad news… for sleepy cats anyway) led to some awesome snoozing time (great news). Plus, having them visit makes Mom happy and we love Mom, so I guess it really is good news.
It’s all a matter of perspective.

Hugs and Purrs
=^..^= Angel

2010 Tulsa Memory Walk

Okay, it's time for me to do something good, for someone besides me, with all this walking I've been doing. I believe I am prepared for the 2010 Tulsa Memory Walk on August 28th. The objective is to raise awareness and money for The Alzheimer's Association,  a health organization funding Alzheimer care, support and research.

I have a friend, a  beautiful young lady, whose once vivacious mother was diagnosed with Early On-set Alzheimer's a few years ago. Her mother is only in her mid-fifties and already attends an elder-care day facility because she can't care for herself while her husband goes to work all day. My friend picks up her little boy from his daycare center after work each day and then goes to gather her mom from her day care facility and delivers her back home. Her mother enjoys the people and activities at the center, but it won't be much longer before she will need 24/7 care. The family has begun the search for a long-term care facility.

Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking disease, a most insidious thief. There is no cure yet, nor known causes, for this disease. Much research is still needed.

A few weeks ago, I was moved to tears as I watched a segment on CBS Sunday Morning, called Jan's Story. It's the story of a lovely woman with early on-set Alzheimer's, beautifully and intimately told by her devoted husband. Click here if you would like to see it.  I couldn't help but think of my friend and her mother as I watched.

So many of us have been impacted by this disease, in one way or another, and I hope and pray it will be eradicated one day soon.