First off, I've just gotta say...WOOHOO!!! BUSH WON!!!! :D :D

I found out some bad news, yesterday evening. There is a little kitten (probably about 7 months old now) who lives outside and we feed her and try to take care of her...we call her Black Nose because she has a darker nose and it was more of a descriptive name to distinguish her from the other kittens. The name has now stuck. We've tried calling her "Cuddles", but it just doesn't feel right...lol Anyway, I have had SO many stray cats here in the past four years, and she really is the first one that we've had out there as a kitten who finally lets us pet her. She is such an affectionate cat...I wish she could be inside with us, but Josh is still allergic. So, the sad news...she's always had this nasal problem where her nose is always running or crusting up, she sneezes all the time and then she has to breath through her mouth. She's been more lethargic the past few days, so Tim finally told me that I could take her in to the vet. It ends up she has feline AIDS and a few other chronic diseases, including a secondary one that causes the excess phlem (spelling?) and she has little ulcers in her mouth. The vet recommended putting her to sleep, and I had pretty much made up my mind that I would do that to save her from having more pain in the future, and to save the other stray cats in the neighborhood, but after talking with Tim and the kids, we will not be putting her to sleep. Instead, we will get her spayed, and start her on some antibiotics and just try to give her a happy life, for now. My eyes are all swollen today, and I feel like I have a head cold because of all of the pressure from crying, last night. I broke down at the vet's office, then in the van, then at home. She really is a wonderful cat...for sure the most affectionate one I have ever been around...I love her :(

So, I have to go up to the vet today and have them refund me the money I paid for them to put her to sleep today. I was going to take her during the day, today, while the kids were at school, and then bring her back home to bury her before they got home. I hated the idea of that, and I couldn't lie to my kids by saying "Oh, Black Nose must have run away"...I just couldn't live with myself... They were both really upset, but handled it a lot better than I thought they would. Tim is being so supportive and loving through all of this. He didn't used to care for animals, but he is more loving towards them after having Daisy (our indoor dog) for a year :)

Anyhoo...other than this sad event, we are doing okay here. Just busy stuff... I need to go and get the kids ready for school :)