Spring cleaning we throw out the old....?

Winter is over and I was excited to see that my three baby fish survived as you read in my summer pond blog.  What I didn't tell you was the sad mishap that we had.

I have a large fenced in yard with all the neighbor's trees leaning over the fence.  Every year I have around 33 of those brown lawn and leaf bags full when I am done raking.  So in the spring there is still a lot of leaves especially IN the pond.  So part of spring cleaning the pond is to clean out the leaves.  This can be tricky when you have 

three baby fish no larger than 3 inches each.

My daughter and I carefully used nets to pull out the leaves from the pond and with each scoop we watched for movement cause every so often, we'd snag a fish.  The big ones are easy to see in the net cause they flip flop really hard.  We were so careful.  When we were done with the pond and the yard we had another 10 bags full. 

Ok, now to empty and clean the pond.  We counted heads- 4 big ones yup, then one,two...one,two uh oh - only 2 babies.  One got thrown out with the leaves.  My daughter and I all sweaty and dirty, looked at those 10 full bags- looked at each other and said a prayer for the baby fish.

The surviving 2 went on to survive another winter in our new little home- with NO TREES!!
jewelry and more by kat

Little Bear's journey

One autumn day, I was at my computer which is next to the downstairs window.  The blind was closed.  I am busy but I kept hearing a thumping against the window.  I finally investigated by pulling up the blind.  And there is my neighbor's cat jumping frantically at my window.

I yell, what are you doing- go home, all to no avail because she kept jumping.  I HAD to do something because she is so frantic that she will either knock herself out or break the window.  I opened the window and yelled for her to go home- stop it!

Then I stared really hard at the cat.  Hmm, this cat is too big to be my neighbors.  I call my daughter downstairs and sent her looking for Little Bear, my black cat who has never been outside his whole life.  My daughter can't find him and last time she saw him, he was in her room, which is upstairs over this room.  I asked her if her window is wide open and she said yes.

So I started calling the cat Little Bear- is that you?  The frantic cries started!  I think it's Little Bear. Both the neighbor's cat and Little Bear are identical except my cat is bigger.  Now I start calling Little Bear to jump up and he jumps so high he lands on the screen and as I try to pull the screen in- it SLOWLY falls backwards with a panic stricken cat whose big eyes were saying HELP!

Finally, one last jump and he's in the window and I grab him and start crying.  What an awful ordeal  He evidently fell out the second floor open window and was lucky he didn't break his neck! We live on a very busy street and so the cats are indoor cats.

I can laugh now thinking how funny it must have looked but at the time all I could see was a frantic cat hanging on a falling screen with fear in his eyes.  I wonder what he thinks now, when he sits on a window sill.

jewelry and more by kat

 

A little what?

One summer, as my husband and daughter and I were outside at the patio table, we heard tiny far away sounding meows.  I started investigating as to where the noise was coming from.  Ah ha!  Behind the shed I found three baby kittens maybe three weeks old.  Two were fluffy gray and one was pure black.  We all held one.  It was our neighbor's cats babies. I had been wanting an orange kitten for quite some time and even though they weren't orange, I was smitten.  We all agreed that we would keep one and raise it.  But which one?  We played musical kittens, taking turns holding, inspecting and cooing to these babies.  We all agreed on the black one.  We returned the other two for mommy cat.

Off to the store for kitten formula and I wrapped the kitten in a kitchen towel to keep it warm.  I figured if he didn't take the bottle, we could give him back to mama cat.  All was well.  He thrived.  Now for a name.  Cubby says my husband.  Blackie says my daughter.  I wanted something different, unusual.  As we talked, my husband insisted on Cubby because he looked like a little bear.  That's it! Little Bear.

Little Bear has grown into a beautiful black cat with a personality all his own.  He has impacted our life so much that he was the logo for my jewelry store for years.  My name, his face, fitting!

jewelry and more by kat

A fond memory

A few years ago my neighbor found two baby squirrels; the cat had gotten the mother and the babies had puncture marks. Did I want to raise one?  Sure, my nurturing nature kicked in.  So I took it right in the middle of yard work.  Now what?  I went online and found a wonderful article on how to raise and release.  The most important thing was NOT to use puppy milk from the pet store.  It will kill the baby squirrel.  use scalded milk only.  That is what I did and she thrived, unlike her brother at the neighbors.

I kept her in an aquarium for the first few weeks, laying on a towel on a heating pad on low.  I fed her every 3 or 4 hours and did not have to at night.  I used an eye dropper.  She finally grew fur and started to look like a squirrel.  As she got bigger,  I added a branch in the aquarium and started giving her fruit and vegetables.

When she got too big for the aquarium,  I built her a screen house so she would be safe from my 3 house cats.    I would take her out of her cage and she would crawl all over me and run back to her house. She graduated to a hanging water bottle and nuts!

I called her Tia and she knew her name.  I now understand how they climb trees,   they have long toes and claws.  She would crawl all over me like I was a tree so I had to wear long sleeves and long pants.

When she was 6 months old, it was time to release her so I set her house outside and continued to feed her and play with her.  I have a fenced in yard so she was safe.    Every day she got braver and walked in the yard a little further each time.

One day she was way across the yard,  I called her and she went up the fence,  jumped on a tree branch, flicked her tail and was gone.! Not even a good bye or thank you.

That was a few years ago and the memory ALWAYS brings a smile,  It was something that I enjoyed so much and it was a satisfying experience and every time my family and I see a squirrel we yell-TIA!

jewelry and more by kat

My summer pond

I have had my fish pond for 14 years.  During that time the size of the pond got smaller as I got older.   Watching the fish is one of my favorite summer activities; it is so relaxing enjoying your coffee in the mornings listening to the waterfall and watching the fish.  

I have goldfish because they are cheap and hardy.  The oldest one is 9 years old and 15 inches long.
  Last year I had babies-I mean- the fish had babies!  This is a first for me.  All summer I fed the fish and one day there were 3 tiny fish.  It was fun to watch them grow.  They were not full size when winter came.  So I am a nervous mother hen, waiting to spring clean the pond and see if they made it.

I have a pre-form pond now.  The only maintenance all summer is to clean the land filter once a month and add water.

Well, we just finished spring cleaning the pond and refilling it and there were 3 babies.  Bigger now.  So all summer I get to watch their antics and watch them grow.  Relaxing and fun!

by: jewelry and more by kat

What inspires you.....

My inspiration for my lastest line of necklaces comes from Maria's hand forged clasps atSunstones .  I would like you to meet her, a fellow artist.

The following is in her words:

I am of Sicilian descent(my family came through Ellis Island).  I have always been artistic and creative, even as a child.  I attended a two year dedicated program in Sign Painting(Butera School Of Art,Boston,Ma), graduating first in my class and had a very successful sign and vehicle lettering business for a number of years.  After moving to Arizona in 2002, I was unable to continue working due to chronic daily migraine.  Starting an entirely new career in jewelry design and fabrication was the BEST thing I ever did.  I began by beading, which was fun but not completely fulfilling.  There was a school not far from me that offered classes in metalsmithing, so I began taking classes  and doing studio time. After a year I decided that this was a true calling.  Learning the basics at school was necessary, but working on my own is quite rewarding.

My other passion in life is animal advocacy.  I have eight companion cats, all rescued from shelters, with focus on special needs.  I have three companion parrots, my precious Congo African grey, a wild caught peach faced lovebird and a scarlet macaw.  My animal soumate was a sun conure that I rescued from a terrible situation.  I gave her an incredible life in my home for five years before losing her in May 2011.  I volunteer, support three very special animal rescue/rehab/sanctuary organizations, each providing life giving and life saving opportunities.  I have empathy for all animal and insect life and feel that every single life is precious and important.

Inspiration for my work comes from numerous sources.   Just holding a sheet of copper is thrilling to me, knowing that there are so many possibilities for this material to be formed and changed into something that people wear.  I have also found that my own clientele offering their suggestions can be a driving force of creativity.  The beautiful Sonoran desert is a wonderful environment for me to derive inspiration from.    Gorgeous blue skies, gigantic spring blossoms from cacti, cactus wrens warbling and the smell of creosote bushes after the rain......this is truly heaven to a girl that comes from boston.
by: jewelry by kat

7000 Bracelets for hope

After finding the website 7000 bracelets for hope , I only read a little and planned to come back when I wasn't busy.  But then I was reading Patti's blog and discovered that this VERY compassionate person contributed over 75 bracelets to this organization, I knew it was time to research this website.

The organization is Global Genes.  7000 represents the 7000 different rare diseases.  Part of their goal is to continue to collect unique bracelets made by jewelry designers, artists, crafters, church groups, girl scouts and other volunteers and distribute them to families fighting rare and genetic diseases.  The bracelets are filled with hope.

On their website you can read about the struggles and triumphs of families with these rare diseases.  You can read how they feel when they receive a  bracelet and what it means to them.

After reading through their website, I am inspired to create blue bracelets every month.  I mailed the first mother and daughter bracelets today.

jewelry and more by kat