About the Cat...

"Anonymous said...
i can't believe you found a vet that would actually do something so cruel (declawing) to your cat. if you like, the human equivalent is to have your fingers cut off from the last knuckle, right before the fingernail. think about it. please reconsider.
Monday, December 11, 2006 12:46:00 PM "



Dear Anonymous,

First of all, I must say I am thoroughly disappointed in your cowardice in hiding your identity. If you wish to express your opinion about someone else's decisions, be honest about it. I'd like to have an open conversation with you (because I probably know you) rather than talking into cyberspace.

Secondly, I am quite surprised you "can't believe" there are vets out there who declaw people's feline pets. Before we took Kitty in, I called 11 different vets for quotes, and not a single one had any problems with performing this routine procedure.

And finally, I don't think it's quite fair to equalize declawing with cutting off a human's fingers. Oh, I understand the procedure, and I realize it involves pain for the cat. But Kitty is NOT a human, however much we may want to give her status as a personality under our roof. Also, Kitty does not have fingers, she has paws with claws, and these claws have great and demonstrated ability to destroy furniture, curtains, woodwork, etc, despite the availability of a scratching post and the deterrence of a spray bottle. When such items are destroyed, it makes her owners fairly unhappy, and this in turn makes Kitty feel a little less loved. Since cats use their claws mainly for defense and catching prey, and since Kitty is a stricly indoor cat who will not need to defend herself or catch her own dinner, her claws were not necessary to her well-being, and in the long run were only causing her unhappiness in our home. Besides, outdoor cats mainly use their back claws for defense, and Kitty still has those if she ever manages to escape. And, for the record, Kitty's knuckles were not cut off; the surgery was not quite that invasive (and no, it wasn't the "cut the tendons" surgery either).

As much as we enjoy our cat, she is a secondary addition to our home. She is not a child, she is not human, and there are certain rules which need to be followed. No scratching or biting, no ripping the curtains, no destroying the couch. Since she could not demonstrate an ability to adapt to these rules, we took action, and now she is a happily obedient cat. I am certain that in her tiny cat brain, she has forgotten she ever had them. Don't get me wrong - I believe it is wrong to abuse any creatures which God has delightfully created and given to us for our use and enjoyment. My cat is fed, kept warm, and cuddled - better than her fate in the great outdoors. There are much more cruel activities going on in this world, cruelties to human lives, which we should be focusing our attention on.

For the record, Kitty bounced back quite quickly and is doing just fine - right back to her usual mischievous, whiny self.

Water water water

When you've got Lake Permilla, who needs to put

the effort into digging a backyard pond?

Ouch

Big day planned for Kitty tomorrow. She gets to go to the vet to get spayed and declawed - what fun! She doesn't seem too concerned at the moment, as she is more interested in jumping around on the furniture and preventing me from seeing the computer screen. I have a feeling she won't be quite so enthusiastic when she gets home again on Friday.

Who Likes Mini Wheats Anyways?

Does anyone else love this commercial? Every time it comes on I want to sing along, and it gets stuck in my head. I don't even like Mini Wheats.

My little story takes place at a tropical villa

I fell in love with a flavour, Yes it was vanilla!

Miiiinniiiiii wheats wheats wheats

I wanted vanilla for so long

Mini wheats wheats wheats

It's high in fibre you can't go wrong

Vanilla flavour mixed with wheat

Put it together it can't be beat

Vanilla flavour mixed with wheat

Tastes so good, what a treat!

Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHWpGb3zYnM

Good-bye Swimmy

'Tis a sad day in the Vander Deen household, as death has left its cold touch on our doorstep. I am sad to announce that my beloved Swimmy has passed away and is now swimming with his friends in the sewer pipes. Swimmy will be missed by, well, me, anyways, and maybe by Kitty. Swimmy led a long and unproductive life, moving from place to place with an uneasy stomach and a finicky temperament. He knew very few tricks, and liked to hide under his rock. He always enjoyed reminiscing about his mud-puddle days, and would quickly transfom his newly cleaned bowl into a bubbly bubble-nest mess. He ate more than he should have, except in his last days when he ate less than required to survive. Swimmy leaves an empty spot on our bookshelf, but his memory will live on in his very own book: Swimmy, by Leo Lionni.

Swimmy's first day: September 21, 2002. Swimmy arrived with

balloons, fancy-dancy birthday cake, and a big surprise with many

people. Actually, pictured here is Swimmy I, who suffered

much stress and only lasted one day. Swimmy II arrived a few days later,

and soon assumed the general name of Swimmy

Swimmy doing some reading in our new home. He was never one for

much discussion, but he did enjoy his place on the bookshelf.

The Hole Swimmy leaves behind

Swimmy's favourite book of all timeHe taught them to swim close together, each in his own place, and when they had learned to swim like one giant fish, he said, "I'll be the eye." And so they swam in the cool morning water and in the midday sun and chased the big fish away

Busy day

Productive days are great. There seemed to be some extra hours added into today somehow, for which I am happily surpised! We got an early start this morning, getting some grocery shopping in at a store we haven't tried yet. I think I may have found my grocery store - not quite as ritzy as the Real Canadian SS, yet providing choice and good prices. And who can't like a grocery store with fancy ice-cream on sale?
Mike and I then toured across the city aiming for the Dutch import store we had discovered on Ontario street a few weeks back. It was a pretty good store - most of the traditional Dutch things were there, except for a supply of our favorite mugs. I was a little disappointed to see that their food isn't imported from Custan foods, as I always thought that was kind of special, knowing the secret to that name . . .
When we got home, we were quite amused to find that the cat had trapped herself in the little nook behind the fridge she likes so much. We released her, then left to walk downtown for a Remembrance day ceremony in the half-rain just across the Burgoyne bridge. When it was done, we headed further downtown for the library, and when we were about halfway there, the skies decided that half-rain wasn't good enough, and soon we were quite soaked. Taking refuge for a few minutes in the Farmer's Market, we bought some bread and summer sausage. When we finally made it to the library, a note was posted on the door saying it was closed for Remembrance Day. Looking like drowned rats, and slightly disappointed drowned rats at that, we made our drippy way home, where we found that the cat had, once again, trapped herself behind the fridge. Dumb cat. The afternoon was spent, for me, cleaning the house, and for Mike, soldering and plumbing. So, the house is clean and I now have some beauty taps downstairs for the laundry tubs (thanks Mike and Dad!)
And, lest you think our day was nearing completion, we gave the cat a bath and then took off for the school, where lots of marking and planning were completed. Now the famous Vander Deen pizza dough is rising in the kitchen, and it's only 6:30. Amazing!
There is only one problem. I am almost done writing this post, but it is so boring that I might just fall asleep before I manage to publish it.

Remembrance

In Flanders Fields

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1882-1918)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky,

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amidst the guns below.

We are the dead, short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow.

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe.

To you, with failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Things Which Do Not Belong To Me But Are In My House

It is probably the case with most people who have family and friends that random items end up living for a time in the wrong household. For those readers who may sorely miss their borrowed belongings, wonder where their belongings are, or even who may have been completely unaware that they were missing some dear item, I will take you on a photo-tour of our house, which I have entitled "Things Which Do Not Belong To Me But Are In My House".
Here we go:

In The Beginning by Chaim Potok. It looks quite nice on our bookshelf, eh?

The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen. Looks nice here as well.

School Ties, borrowed from the lunch room at work

Cake containers. I thought we only had one but it must have reproduced.

A saw, borrowed when we first entered cub car competitions together (I won't mention how long ago that was)

Another saw, for which the purpose of its borrowing has not yet been fulfilled

Esta's chair, which she left behind for us. It's an ugly chair, a dirty chair, and a dangerously tippy chair, so I do not want to acknowledge it as my chair

A hockey glove - owner please speak up if you recognize it!!

Uncle Gord's steam engine, lit on fire several times in class demonstrations

Wheelbarrow that I didn't even know we had until last week or so

Another remnant of the previous homeowner, which I also refuse to acknowledge as mine. This can serves very well as a doorstop until said previous homeowner feels inclined to claim it.

RING!

Well, I hope I haven't lost anything too important. I took the plunge and changed the template of my blog, without really having any idea what would happen to it. It seems that most things are still in place.
Since we are having visitors this evening sometime, Mike is currently in the process of installing a doorbell. Last week we bought a wireless one, but when we were testing it out at home it sounded terrible - imagine a very sickly, loud, electronic bell and then make it ten times worse. Thankfully the volume control wasn't functioning properly, so we didn't have to feel too bad about bringing it back and getting one with a real bell instead. It's got an old-time charm to it, but the only problem is that we need to have visitors over to try it out for us. If you would like to try our doorbell (trust me, it's exciting!) give us a call and we'd love to have you down to test our doorbell for us. And maybe you can even come in for a cup of coffee.

Queen of the House

Once upon a time, there lived a cat. This cat was very cute, and very pretty, and very self-centered. She lived in a small little house which was kept neat and tidy. However, the cat did not care much for neat and tidy. The cat liked to make a mess. She thought it was great fun to tip over the big plant pots and scatter dirt all over the couch and the floor. She thought it was exceptionally tasty to eat freshly cut flowers and then puke them onto the kitchen floor. She loved to jump up on the stove while dinner was cooking so she could steal people-food and knock stuff over. She found it very exciting to bury erasers in her litter box and spread litter all over the office. And nothing could beat chasing plants, freshly ripped out of their pots, around and around the house while crumpling up every mat she could find. And while no one else living in the small little house liked the huge mess she liked to make, she discovered that most human wrath could be appeased if she sporadically jumped up on a lap and purred for a while.

Mike's first blog

I thought I would blog today, so that my sweet sister wouldn't be a liar for having her link named "Rachel and Mike" refer to a blog where only Rachel blogs.

As you were.

Still Alive

After dinner tonight, we listened to the soundtrack from The Power of One - and I remembered how difficult it is to listen to such music while stuck in one place. It is such powerful and moving music, and it makes me feel so alive that I can hardly bear to just stand and do dishes but instead I feel inspired to crank the music, dance around the kitchen and sing (well, mumble) along to words I can't really understand. At this point, I ask that you stop laughing and please stop picturing me!! Pick up the soundtrack yourself and see what crazy things it makes you want to do.
I apologize to all my faithful blog-readers (all two or three of you that is) for not updating in a while. Yes, we're still alive! Alive, and busy, but when isn't life busy, really. We didn't get any of the snow that seems to have bombarded places withing 1/2 hr drive of us, thanks to the sheltering effect of the Niagara escarpment. I did see a few snow flakes, but none that dared to stay on the ground. Our furnace is on, our slippers are on, and it is beginning to feel like electric blanket season.
Work is going well - it was an interesting week, as Staples is celebrating its 15th anniversary in Canada. We got new uniform shirts, buttons, a 6 foot (yes FOOT) sub for lunch on Thursday, gift certificates, and other goodies. It was also announced that I was the Superperson of the month for September (yay!), and a friend from Staples in Ancaster is training in St Catharines for five weeks (yay!).
Mike's teaching is going really good, too. He had his first round of parent-teacher interviews, which were interesting and informative. The kids seem to really like him and he is enjoying them right back, and having a lot of fun. It's very busy, with a lot of planning and marking, but that all comes with the territory of being a rookie.
A special congratulations goes out to my Dad, who had his last official day of work at Stelco today. He'll be keeping himself quite busy working in the car rental business for the next few weeks, and he'll still be working at Stelco on a part-time contract basis, but the 8-4 days as Engineer Mussche in the steel mills are over now (I had to laugh, Dad, when you answered the phone as "Engineer Mussche" - I'd never heard you call yourself that before!!). Strange feeling, I'm sure, to walk out of your office for the last time, to drive out of the parking lot no longer an employee but a retiree. Congratulations on reaching this new stage in your life, and I hope and pray that you will enjoy the change and new pace of life!
Since I'm not feeling particularly inspired, I guess that's it for now. I know that about a week ago, something happened that I said to Mike "well, that's blogworthy for sure!!". Unfortunately I didn't get around to it, and now whatever happened that was outrageously funny at the time is lost in history unless I have a memory attack. Sorry!

This Weekend

Wow! Yesterday was an exciting day, and we got a whole lot of work done around the house. A HUGE thanks goes out to both our Moms and Dads, Karen and Uncle Gord, Danielle, Lauren and Amanda - without your amazing help yesterday there's no way our house and property would look as nice as it does right now!! We started preparing for yesterday last Saturday, when my parents came down along with Grandma Mussche, and we got the framing done for the deck and the walls in the kitchen prepped for painting. We even put Grandma to work pulling off wallpaper!! Thanks Grandma!!
And this Saturday, the whole crew came down and we were busy all afternoon: Mike, Dad and Dad building the deck, Uncle Gord, Danielle, Lauren and Amanda cutting down branches and cleaning up the yard, and Mom, Mom, Karen and I painting and wallpapering in the kitchen. All end results look fantastic and we are so happy with the new look! Our yard looks great, the deck is wonderful and the kitchen looks so cozy and clean!! We feel so blessed to have the help of so many people!! It certainly was a very encouraging day.
We also learned a new reason to keep our doors locked at night. St Catharines is celebrating the Grape and Wine Festival all this week, meaning much festivities and of course much drinking downtown. Generally we feel fairly distanced from downtown but last night at midnight downtown came to our doorstep. We were almost asleep when we heard some very, very drunken man wandering down the sidewalk mumbling to himself about random things. He then came down our front path, wondering out loud, "Is this my house? Do I live here?" [insert swear words wherever]. Apparently the latched door confused him and he decided that he did not, indeed, live in our house, and so he went on his wobbly way down the road. We were quite relieved he decided to leave, and also quite relieved the door was latched!!

Grandma hard at work

Mom M and her wonderful edging

Mom VD and her wonderful rolling

The men working on the deck

The yardwork ladies - on second thought maybe they shouldn't

have been allowed to have any sharp objects . . .

Finished kitchen #1

Finished kitchen #2 - isn't it cozy?

I can't post a finished deck picture because I don't have one, and since we don't have a privacy fence up yet and the neighbour has a bunch of people over in the backyard, I don't feel going out there for a picture right now!! Maybe later. It looks great though, believe me!

Red or White?

Since it is always best to be prepared, the other day Mike and I headed out to Canadian Tire to purchase a household fire extinguisher for the kitchen. Of course, this has no meaning or implication as to my skills as a cook; you just never know when something in the kitchen or in the house is going to spontaneously combust.
However, when we arrived in the fire extinguisher aisle, we were faced with a choice - red or white. For me, the choice was obvious. For Mike, the choice was obvious as well. However, when we reached the cashier, we had to make a decision, and one of us had to return our fire extinguisher of choice back to the shelf. Actually, we didn't really make a decision - my fire extinguisher was taken from me forcibly, and now we have purchased a fire extinguisher which is the wrong color.
I will learn to love this new little appliance, but I will always wonder if I was right in my color preference or if I was just out to lunch. If you could take the time to do my little poll along the right side of this page (it's near the bottom), I would certainly appreciate knowing your opinion!

Mr Vander Deen - Teacher

Congratulations to my wonderful husband for a great start on his new career as a teacher! Mike taught his very own class for the first time on Tuesday, welcoming 26 grade 6 students into his well-decorated classroom. Things are going very well, and both teacher and class are enjoying themselves. All the hard work and preparation over the last month and, really, for the last few years, are paying off now as the rubber hits the road. May the Lord continue to bless your hard work as you prepare these young minds for service in His kingdom!

Touring the Town

Seeing as how we have started our initiation to the city of St. Catharines by getting into the local newspapers, I thought I would continue to familiarize myself with the various parts and services now available to us. Today I decided to visit one of the local hospitals with one of my managers from work. He played Solitaire on his palm pilot in the waiting room while I got the grand tour of the Prompt Care department. They gave me a really cool bracelet with my name on it and everything, and before I left Dr. Nour even gave me six stitches and a few bandages. Now I am at home trying to do laundry with one hand and feeling a bit bad that my hospital tour has made me unable to work till 6:30 like I was supposed to.
Maybe tomorrow I'll check out the police department.

This is my new bracelet

Five Seconds of Fame

Having lived in the city of St. Catharines for all of three weeks now, we decided it was about time to get officially introduced into our new community, and we thought the best way to do that was to get ourselves into the local paper. So, this week, Mike was interviewed by Niagara this Week, and I had my photo published in the Standard, St. Catharine's daily newspaper.

<-------- Rachel's article----------- Mike's article --------->

I'm underneath the "A" in "STAPLES"

In other news, the other day I came home from work, did some grocery shopping, and then left to pick Mike up at the school. Apparently the kitten (yes, still nameless, but responding well to "Kitty") had quite the time when we were out, discovering the joys of grocery bags.

What? I had nothing to do with this mess!

And now, for a word from the cat: Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyhhhhhhhxz.tl;XZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzlkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Not so interested in posing for the camera

New Addition!

Just to go along with having everything in our lives suddenly new and different, we took a trip to Fonthill last night to pick up a new member for our family. He is extremely amusing to play with, and just as amusing to watch as he amuses himself with random things around the house. We don't have a name picked out for him yet, but we're working on a list - it'll take a few days to see what kind of name will suit him. He's seven weeks old, and very very cute as you can tell! Perhaps if we aren't cute enough for people to want to come and visit us, our new kitten will lure friends and family to drop in :)

Aww! Yes, he got on the kitchen table by himself. We quickly realized tablecloth + kitty = potential mess

Endless fun

Well, maybe not so endless

Three Weeks Later Report #3

Feeling the need to get away after the busy-ness of the wedding and moving, Mike and I decided to take off to upstate New York to camp in the Adirondacks last week. Leaving Wednesday morning, we drove for many an hour down the I90 until we reached our campsite on Eighth Lake, The next morning we packed up again and headed northeast to see what we could see. Running into some rain, we headed for Lake Placid, where we discovered the COOLEST bookstore, which specialized in old books and tobacco. We spent quite some time there, musing through their collection and enjoying the atmosphere. When the rain stopped, we headed off for Buck Pond, where we set up tent for the next two nights. On Friday, we went to see Whiteface Mountain, where we drove up nearly to the top, and hiked the rest of the way to the peak. What a view! It is the fifth highest peak in NY state, and on a clear day you can see Quebec. It was definitely the highlight of our trip! Suffering from a severe case of bad-map-itis, we drove just shy of 200 kilometers that day. With about 10 miles to go on our way back to the site, Mike saw a sign reading "Whiteface Mountain - 14 miles" A word of warning to anyone out there who plans to camp in the Adirondacks: buy a GOOD map!! Saturday morning we hit the road again for home. We drove and drove and drove, and finally we got home. Back to work! Mike has been at Heritage for a few days already, going through materials and getting his curriculum in order. I started work this morning, learning lots of new things and meeting lots of new people. And so life keeps moving on!

Expert firewood-chopper hard at work

Our new favorite bookstore - too bad it's so far away!

Here we are at the peak of Whiteface Mountain- pretty high up!

A view from the top - if you look REALLY hard, you can see me! (top right corner)

Michael enjoying the view with Lake Placid in the background

It got very cold at night, into the mid 30's F, so bundling up was necessary. Unfortunately, we only brought one coat between the two of us, and that one was even by accident.

Three Weeks Later Report #2

The second big thing to report is that we have moved into our new house! With much appreciated help from our family and a few friends, all our belongings and furniture were carefully loaded onto a big greenhouse truck on one of the hottest, stickiest days of the summer. We caravan-ed it down to St Catharines with the heater stuck on full blast, unloaded everything into the house, and started organizing and settling in. Now, two weeks later, there are still a few boxes scattered here and there that haven't been unpacked, but on the whole this little house has been transformed into our first real home, and quite a cozy little one at that. We are learning new things everyday about our new surroundings: the random one-way streets, the convenience of close-by shopping centres, the cozy feeling of clock bells every hour, the sirens and trains of the city. We have yet to capitalize on the convenience of weekly garbage pickups, receive our first bills, or discover how the local library works, but we look forward to the many new discoveries which await us.

Yay! Our new keys!

Crossing the threshhold!!

Danielle and Mike building our new BBQ

All our earthly possessions are in that truck!

Eating our first BBQ with family