That was the situation for this little kitten last week.

Look right in the center of the picture.

A kind neighbor posted this photo on our neighborhood FB page. It wasn’t long before another kind neighbor came to the rescue with a ladder and some canned tuna.

Thanks Whitney

Never underestimate the power of canned tuna in an kitten related emergency.

Quite a few interested neighbors witnessed the rescue.

Alas, no one wanted to take this little guy home so guess what?

Yep. He ended up at the B’game kitten ranch.

No big surprise here. My inn is quite full at the moment. I still have my “witness protection” kitty Dinky under my roof. She’s greatly improved and getting healthier everyday but she’s still not well enough to take to the shelter.

She’s a lot more relaxed in her indoor environment now. A LOT more!

Nevertheless, I couldn’t turn this little baby away so he took up residence in our kitty konvalescent home.

Mandatory Love Therapy-given by Dr. Daddy Jim

The rescue squad named the kitten “Cameron” since he was rescued near the shore of our neighborhood Lake Cameron. When Jim came home from work he correctly diagnosed the sex of the kitten to be female so she was renamed.

Mr. Mulder, meet Miss Cammi

So I have both felines in my office and they are thriving and learning the joys of living indoors with humans. Both are up for adoption and I would love to find a home for them with a friend or neighbor. Contact me if you’re interested in either of these sweet kitties. In the meantime, we will enjoy their company and keep them happy and healthy for a while longer. 🙂

Scared ya’ didn’t I? I’m so funny I forgot to laugh. So about chickens…When we last left this topic I had borrowed three little chicks from my Dad to take to a Jr. Veterinarian Camp hosted by Montgomery Public Schools. I was just one of the presenters during this two-day program to introduce kids to various animals and the care required to raise them. I actually followed a miniature horse! I had put out a request for someone to wear my chicken suit for the program because it’s too hard for the kids to pay attention to a lecturing chicken (me) and plus, HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HOT FLASH IN JUNE IN ALABAMA IN A CHICKEN SUIT??? I thought not!  A neighbor and friend (Tina) volunteered her niece who had actually served as her school’s mascot in high school.

Thank you Natalie!!!!

She let the kids “pet” her and she took some great photos with them as well.

Have you hugged your chicken today?

She even performed the “chicken dance” although we had to improvise the music.

After the brief lecture on the glories of chickens and how to raise them in a humane environment, the kids filed out into the hall for a session of holding some sweet, fluffy, peeping handfuls of love.

I had to explain about chicken poop and we had the paper towels and hand sanitizer at the ready!

Unfortunately, by the time I took the chicks to the camp one of them did not make the trip. Sometimes babies are born deformed and it became painfully clear that one bird had deformed legs and would never walk.

God bless the little guy. 😦

 I kept him fed and hydrated for three days hoping his little legs would straighten out on their own, but when I saw he was not gaining weight, I called Dr. Glasscock to euthanize him for me. He went without a peep and she made sure he died peacefully.

So sorry.

My hero, Dr. G.

But the other two babies grew and played and ate and pooped like champion chickens and I enjoyed having a little chicken farm for a few days. Eventually I took them back to Daddy who marveled that they were twice as big as the rest of their hatchlings. He accused me of giving them steroids, but I just stated the obvious. I am a much better chicken farmer than he is!

Chickens have come home to roost!

Their nest mates were still in the brooder so I put my two in with them. You can see them (far right). They are indeed significantly bigger than their sibs who hatched the same day.

Hey look at the BRUISERS!

The next morning Daddy used his super sophisticated chicken transport system..

A dirty old bucket.

to release all the chicks into the outdoor brooder in the barn, where they had more room to run around and grow.

I marveled at a cute mama bantam hen and her tiny babies! You can barely see them camouflaged in the leaves.

Compare this fully grown mama to Daddy’s truck tire. ITSY BITSY!

So thus ends another chicken adventure at the Burlingame Kitty, Bunny, Chicken Farm, Duck and Turtle sanctuary. I’m always up for new animal adventures so please keep ’em comin’! Hint: I’ve always wanted a pygmy goat so if you see a homeless one, you know where to bring him.

I want to wish my weird and wonderful Daddy a happy Father’s Day. You taught me lots of “old school” stuff like showing respect for the flag, never littering, saying “sir” & “Ma’am” to anyone at least 10 years older than me, and being kind to animals. Although you were a bad-ass Navy Pilot during the Vietnam War, you never failed to tear up during an especially touching episode of Little House. Don’t worry Dad, your secret is safe with me.

1972 give or take.

And now the hard part. I’m not going to say Happy Father’s Day to Jim today. It’s not a happy day but it is an important day for me to honor the best father a girl could have. From the time Hannah could form a sentence she called Jim “My little Daddy”. She worshipped him and loved him with all her heart. I don’t plan to commemorate this day every year in a memoriam post, but the “firsts” are hard for any parents who have lost a child and I will remember Hannah and her Daddy today with some special memories.

Columbus, MS 1989

The day before he left for Desert Shield, August 1990

I took lots of pictures this day and some video too in case he didn’t come back so she could remember him. He would not let her go all day.

Jim was always teaching Hannah things and he was a patient and kind instructor.

Biloxi MS 1991. Making French bread from Julia Child’s recipe.

There may have been some chest hair in that loaf. 🙂

How to do her taxes

How to ski.

I was un-teachable. I went on the toboggan hill instead. 😦

And most importantly–how to cook!

Dueling chefs.

 Jim was very proud of her for enlisting in the Air Force

She salutes her Daddy minutes after her swearing in.

And she was able to fly home for his retirement ceremony.

My very pretty patriots.

Although this day is bittersweet for us, we hope Hannah is proud of us for keeping her alive in our hearts and trying each day to find joy and happiness in this wonderful world. Thank you Jim for giving everything you had for Hannah, and for being the kind of man she could count on for her 27 years on Earth. We love you & miss you so much.

Hannah & her little Daddy. December 2014

If you’ve been wondering how Webster & Winnie are doing at their new home…

Wonder no more. 🙂

Thank you Brenda! They are actually smiling for the camera. 🙂

And in other duck news, we have a lone Pekin  duck who has managed to survive from Easter toy to full grown duck!

Meet Aflac

When I first saw him I was concerned for his safety, but somehow he has survived to adulthood and has even made friends at The Waters lakes.

Tony serves as the welcoming committee for Mr. & Mrs. Mallard and their new friend Aflac.

I keep cracked corn on my porch for him and my neighbors take portions several times a week to give Aflac a treat. It didn’t take long for two wild mallards to catch on to this trick and now the three can be seen together most of the time.

That’s some mighty good corn!

In kitty news…my little “Witness Protection” Kitty is still living with us, learning that being an INSIDE cat is da Bomb!

Beds ROCK!

She still suffers from a bad skin condition, but Dr. G has her on a regimen that should cure her within a few more weeks. Meantime, she is gaining weight and slooooowly learning to get along with our kitties. Her hard life of fending for herself outdoors conditioned her to be wary of all other animals and to react to them as a threat.

I remember “outside”. 😦

I hope to find her a good home when she’s well, but if I can’t I plan to put her on several social media PETFINDER sites. Help me PLEASE! Dinky is sweet and she craves love and affection. She would make someone a wonderful pet and she deserves a good home after all she’s been through.

And guess what! CHICKEN SQUAT!

Baby Rhode Island Reds!

I borrowed some chicks from my dad for a week because I needed babies to take to my yearly chicken presentation at Wilson Elementary School. I could not find any chicks in the nearby area so I received a little box from some girlfriends who came to visit the Pink House recently.

Thanks ladies!

More on these little cuties later, but as you can see, Mulder is already making sure these peeps know who’s boss.

Listen, I’m the big cheese around here, get it?

Daddy, please make them get off my back!

Well maybe not such a big cheese after all. 🙂

I found a baby possum in the grass as I was driving out of my neighborhood last week.

I thought he was dead, but he was just “playing possum”. As soon as I picked him up he blinked and his little tail curled around my finger.

About the size of my hand.

I took him home and put him in a box with a towel. He seemed OK, but I wanted a vet to check him out. When I called Goodwin Animal Hospital they said that only certain vets have a license to care for wildlife and there were none in the area. I then called the shelter since I am aware that they have cared for baby possums before. Tonya (the intake director at MHS) said to give him a syringe of half milk & water and to keep him warm and in a dark place to lower stress.

I also found a little stuffed kitty for him to snuggle with.

He really loved it. 🙂

I gave him a bath in Dawn, which is what I do with my foster kittens for fleas. He was covered in them. I dried him off and he seemed to be content to sip milk and snuggle with his toy. All the kitties checked him out and were unimpressed. He ate well for three days and I was looking forward to having a pet possum for a while. He was so cute and he seemed to like for me to scratch him and hold him. Sadly he died on the third day and we put Opie in our ever-growing pet cemetery. Good grief! Baby possums are soooo cute! I wish I could have kept him longer. 😦

Opie.