Mo Chridhe

The story of Breckyn

As everyone knows, I have a six-month-old puppy, Arabella, and a two-year-old cat, Trixie. They generally live with me in the apartment I share with Eliesa in Kansas City. Though I tried to avoid it, I’m still split in half, with part of me in KC and part of me in my hometown. Therefore when I go home, Arabella (and Trixie if I’m staying long enough) come with me.

Eliesa’s friend has a Siamese cat who was having kittens. Loving Siamese cats and being lonely when I take my pets home for the weekend, Eliesa had planned on taking one of the kittens if the cat gave birth to a Siamese one. Well, apparently they all took after their dad, so Eliesa headed down to one of our local animal shelters while I was at the rink to find the perfect kitten.

I got a call pretty soon after I got off the ice that day:
Eliesa: “Sooo… I’m at Animal Haven…”
Me: “Yeah…”
Eliesa: “Weeelll, how would you feel if I got a husky?”
*note my shock here*
Me: “A husky? As in the DOG BREED husky??”
Eliesa: “Ya, I totally just fell in love with her.”
Me: “A husky, a puppy and a cat in an 800 square foot apartment. LET’S DO IT.”

The shelter knew I had Arabella, and they wanted to see how she reacted with the husky (whose name I can’t remember now.) Right off the bat, the husky’s prey drive went NUTS. Arabella only weighs three pounds, so that’s understandable- but we obviously couldn’t adopt her when we have both Arabella and Trixie.

Eliesa and I (and Arabella) went through the shelter looking for a new dog, since Eliesa had basically decided at this point that she wanted a dog that she could take running. One of the adoption counselors pointed us to a dog named… Esme. That was the name they had given her. She’s a black lab mix, about a year of age. The only thing she wanted to do to Arabella was to play with her. No issues there, so Eliesa filled out some paperwork and brought her home.

Oh yeah, and renamed her Breckyn.

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Katie, August 28th 2009 | Posted in friends, pets, photos

Bright lights

The coolest thing I’ve seen in awhile happened Wednesday night. Hillary and I went to my old elementary school super late at night to swing, and our time there just happened to coincide with a meteor shower. Eventually we stopped swinging to actually search for meteors in the sky, and BY GOD THERE WERE LOTS OF THEM.

I used to watch the sky before I finally fell asleep each night. At least once a week I’d see a shooting star, which is totally cool given that people complain all the time about never having seen a shooting star. But this meteor shower? Those meteors left big, long streaks of light after them.

It was tight.

—-

Will officially started high school yesterday. He says it’s just school, lame, sucks, whatever (that scarily sounds like me), but he’s finding the fact that he can leave campus for lunch quite liberating. They only have 25 minutes for lunch, and the only places near the school are fast food, so I’m fully expecting him to gain 24,290 pounds by the end of the year.

Anyway, I’m the one that gets to pick him up after school until my mother hires someone else to, and the two times I’ve gone remind me just how much I loathed seeing that school every day. I can’t believe kids deal with that for three years. Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like if I had stayed, and then these haha-yeah-right moments come along where I laugh at myself for even contemplating that possibility. I really am happy with the choice I made.

—-

My two best friends moved into the dorms today, a full two days ahead of the normal incoming freshmen due to rush. I haven’t seen either; I figure they need time to settle and get adjusted. I feel weird that I’m not sharing this time with them, not getting used to freedom and flexibility and living on your own (well, with another person), since I already went through all that.

However, I am ECSTATIC that my (term used loosely) graduating class is finally in college. And I could not be happier that both Len and Erin decided on KU, even if it will take some adjusting to have all three of us together permanently again.

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Katie, August 14th 2009 | Posted in family, friends, photos, rambling, school

Wordless Wednesday (OBX)

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Katie, August 12th 2009 | Posted in photos, vacations, wordless wednesdays

My puppy is in the hospital

Arabella suddenly and rapidly became severely lethargic around 11pm tonight (Saturday night.) My mom figured she was just exhausted from the long drive from the beach to here in Kentucky/Indiana… but she’s not around Bella much, and I knew she was NOT okay. I have never seen my puppy act the way she did earlier.

I snap Google’d emergency vets in the Louisville area, and we rushed her to the only one open seven days a week, 365 days a year. They immediately took her, put in an IV catheter, took bloodwork, and set her up in a heated cage as her body temperature was low. The bloodwork was relatively fine, blood sugar a little high, electrolytes a little low, but in general, no cause for concern. The vet then ran an antifreeze test, given that we’ve been traveling, and that was negative.

Although I don’t see how this is possible, the vet believes she has toxin(s) in her body. Maybe she snatched up a pill someone left behind in our hotel room?? We really don’t know.

Bella is now residing in the ICU unit at the ER vet in Louisville for at least the next 24 hours. I have no idea when my mom and I will get home. We may be able to leave later tomorrow afternoon, but there’s a chance we’ll be here for the next day or two.

Please keep her in your thoughts. Arabella turns six months old tomorrow, whilst in the hospital.

3 Comments

Katie, August 9th 2009 | Posted in pets, photos

To my baby brother on his 15th birthday.

Dear Will,

I can hardly believe you turn fifteen years old today.

I have fleeting memories of your birth. I was six weeks shy of turning four years old. Mom and Dad left me at Nana & Pop-Pop’s off Lawrence Avenue with Aunt RoRo, who french-braided my hair before taking me to the hospital to see you. I got to sit on the bed next to Mom and hold you. I was so excited to be your big sister.

For years, you were my constant companion and partner-in-crime.
When we lived in England in 1996, I got angry with Mom and decided to run away. Obviously I couldn’t leave you with The Enemy, so I took you with me. We ran away to our backyard. Mom laughed and took pictures.
You made fun of the annoying kids in daycare with me and had my back when I fought (both verbally and physically) with them.
We ‘spied’ on Mom and Dad when we lived in Topeka by sneaking out to the living room, where we watched Mom read and Dad type on his laptop. Sometimes I miss that, the thrill of getting yelled at and then trying to smother our giggles when we got back into our room.
Neither of us wanted to move to Virginia. After two years, you were okay with staying there, but you didn’t put up a fight when I lobbied for coming back to Kansas.

I taught you manners and how to chew with your mouth closed. I taught you how to ride a bike. I taught you how to deal with switching schools. I taught you to argue for what you believe in, and how to keep fighting, no matter what.

You start high school, tenth grade, in two weeks. Guess who gets to teach you how to drive!

I have many pseudo-brothers and pseudo-sisters who I’m sincerely concerned for as they enter high school, but I’m not worried about you. You have a good head on your shoulders, and I know you aren’t going to be one of the trashy high school students walking around town. Yeah, you’ll make mistakes. You’re smart, though, and you’re going to be fine.

I love you, baby bro.

-Your Sister

Lawrence KS, Halloween 1995