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Sweet Meia

I feel like our hearts have been put through a test since last September. Not even being a year since we lost our beloved Baz and still not fully healed, we had another blow to our hearts. We let go of another one of our wonderful pets after almost 18 years.


Our sweet, loveable, little, Meia, left us on Thursday and we are all still emotionally numb. Last Friday I didn't really feel like posting for my "Five simple things" because most of the day we were all confused, hurt, and just lost. I felt like I kept hearing her little meow from under the bed and looking at her food bowls really broke my heart. The three of us took Friday off from everything and just used the day to grieve. The Mr. was able to go back to work on Saturday and keep his mind active, but The Bean and I really struggled. The Mr. said he took a few times throughout the day to excuse himself while he walked a hallway at work with tears in his eyes, or went to a back room at work to have a private moment to reflect on what great pets we've lost in less than a year and mourn for Meia.



  
Pets are such great companionship and Baz was all of our companions, but Meia was different. She was mainly my cat. She was Siamese/Persian and the runt of the litter she was born into. She was always so small and as The Mr. put it, "A forever kitten." I think that phrase defined her in a perfect way.



 
Meia was born in 2000 and came into our lives the same year in October. She was the only female in the bunch; With the other three being her brothers. My sister had lost her kitten, Max, a few months prior and had talked The Mr. and I into going with her to a pet store in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to find another kitty to help her get through her loss. We found the lucky foursome huddled in a corner of a cage at a pet shop in the local mall for $25 each. My sister talked The Mr. and I into taking two and she took the other two with the hopes that we could have them play together on random days and enjoy our kittens together. Unfortunately, after seperating the four they never bonded again together as a four and they were all really skittish in their behavior. Her two kittens, Cooper and Norman, became friends and our two kittens, Milo and Meia, became friends. Milo and Meia were colored the same, but were opposite in coloring. Milo was mostly dark gray with some white and Meia was mostly white with her dark gray ears and dark gray tail. She was definitely one of a kind in her coloring and personality.

Milo and Meia were such great cats over the next six years. They both would sit with me in our living room in Arkansas and eat cheese out of my hand and slowly they started trusting me and coming out slowly to socialize with us. We started letting them go outside more and Milo would climb trees, chase birds, and be a normal cat. Meia, on the other hand, never climbed a tree, was scared of birds, and would stay close to the porch and watch her brother play. She had moments where she would follow him through the woods, but shortly after she would come running back to the safety of the house. She wasn't a normal cat and we noticed as she got older in age, she always remained small like a kitten. Milo took care of her, though. Because of her being so tiny and not quite fully developed physically and mentally she needed him. He helped groom her, showed her where the food was, and also helped her in and out of the litter box from time to time. They were always together, running around together, and playing together, until Milo's kidney issues took him away from us in 2006. After Milo's passing Meia was lost. She didn't come out from under the bed for four days and she didn't know what to do after he was gone. It broke our hearts to see her grieving for him. I tried several attempts to get her to warm up to me and trust me again. I finally got her to come around after several days and she started opening up to me more, sleeping with me, and before long I became her person to help her get through life. 




She and I would sit together and just enjoy each other's company. She was such a great cat overall and over the years she started showing her great personality to The Mr. and The Bean. She would come into the kitchen when The Mr. was getting ready for work and talk to him while he made his lunch for the day. That is one thing Meia enjoyed, talking. She would sit and meow at us in different tones and tell us so many things.



She would sit in the windows waiting on all three of us, or one of us, when we left the house. She watched out for us and Baz. When we brought Hardy into the family she immediately showed him the first love. She loved other animals completely, but she thought dogs were great! She showed Baz and Hardy so much love throughout the years and they loved her in return. When Baz started getting sick she stuck by his side. She loved him and he loved her. She outlived all of her brothers in the end, with Milo passing first, then Norman passing in 2014, and Cooper following in 2016.

 

Meia was more than a cat, she was our sweet, little, friend that showed her love for us the older she got. She saw the arrival of The Bean and watched him grow up. She traveled from Arkansas to Oregon, moved with us all four times. We were hoping to have a full 20 years with her and have her take the next steps in our life with us. I don't feel that 17 years and nine months is enough for her, or any animal, and having her poor, little heart fail her in the end just isn't fair. Meia was one of a kind and deserved a better end to her wonderful life. She and Baz are missed so much by everyone that knew them both completely. Our family Christmas pictures won't be the same without her and the 17 years she graced our social media accounts, text messages, and paper photographs. Her presence is missed so much by us and our hearts are broken knowing she is gone. Pets give us so much in their life and in the end, letting go is the hardest part.

 
Her last picture on the way to the veterinarian to be euthanized. I enjoyed her cuddling with me and spending these last moments by her side. With years of loyalty a pet gives it is our duty to repay them and be with them until their final heartbeat.

We'll be seeing you, Meia.
Thank you for 17 years of loyalty and love.

Baby Meierz (October 20, 2000 - August 9, 2018)

The source of this is unknown, but this gravesite of "Dewey" sums up a lot of how I feel about my sweet, little Meia.

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” ― A.A. Milne

Five simple things

Hello.

This week wasn't as hot as last week, with last week getting up over 100 degrees on a couple of days. We did get a few things done this week that we've been procrastinating. Things like, draw up rough plans for a floating deck build, get homeschool papers in order and organize The Bean's material for the following year. We don't really take a summer vacation, but we do take some time to sort things out from time to time and the summer months gives us that time. We don't have stacks of papers, or even filing drawers full of workbooks, or worksheets-What we do have is work that was done throughout the year, we keep our favorites, and recycle the rest. In our efforts to go more minimal with our living we like to keep things with the homeschool classroom minimal, as well. Here is what the rest of our week looked like:

Saturday: We finished our permanent volleyball poles and went on a hunt for a net. We found a great one at a sporting goods store in Corvallis, Oregon, and we promptly put it up. We tried out the poles and net to see if they were good to go and once we were all in agreement that it was "job well done" we played several games clear into the evening. We are all pretty excited that we have our own volleyball court in our backyard. More on this later.

Sunday: The Mr. unfortunately had to work the weekend through. It's hard to plan anything on the work weekends, but on those days we make small plans and try to get them done before Monday. One of those plans this week was to buy the materials we needed for our rough drawing of a floating deck The Mr. has been wanting to build in our backyard. We weren't sure exactly what we were going for until we started looking through Home Depot for the goods. We ended up buying half the materials right now and setting them up just to make sure it is what we are going for. We hit the jackpot and picked up the right length, so we will finish purchasing the floating deck materials next weekend and finish the job. More on this later.

Monday: Monday is what we like to refer to as, "Monday Madness." The Bean and I use this phrase in our homeschooling just to be sure and get everything done in the classroom that we weren't able to complete the week before. We also use this time to get everything in the house done and ready for the rest of the week, too. It's a great way to start the week and get things done that we would ultimately put off and more than likely not get done. I like to use the "Monday Madness" time to get my blog organized for the week and it really helps me stay on track for the week, too. Speaking of blog, have you seen the clip art section of my blog yet? Check out the calendar prints by scrolling down the page. They are custom-made and fit a three-ring binder. I use them to stay organized and write down everything each month to keep us all on the right track in our home. If you need a bit of help keeping things organized, try my printables for the calendar. I am currently working on a blog organizer sheet, so check back soon for that.

Tuesday: We ended up taking our 17-year-old Persian/Siamese kitty, Meia, to the veterinarian. She hasn't been acting herself for awhile and given her age, we just aren't sure what was going on. The veterinarian said her white blood cells are elevated and put her on some antibiotics and pain medicine. We hope this helps her get back to her old self again, but if not, we are prepared to face what comes next. She's been a great cat and The Mr. and I have had her since she was a kitten. She's starting to show a bit more action and looks as though she is feeling better, so we have our fingers crossed. Last September we lost our oldest dog, Baz, so we really aren't emotionally ready to lose another one of our pet friends. We have high hopes that this medicine will help her and keep her with us for a few more years.

Wednesday: The Mr. took the day off from work to be home with us while we stayed alert with Meia. She seemed to be feeling a little better, but still shows signs of her age from time to time. We also went and picked up our new glasses. The Bean looks sharp in his new pair and The Mr. looks like Drew Carey with his new specs. We are all glad to have them though because a couple of us were starting to get eyestrain headaches. I'll share a picture of us with these new specs on soon.

Thursday: We spent the day "saving" our neighbor's dogs. As hot as it has been a lot of pet owners forget to refresh their outside pets water bowl and the animals get dehydrated, have a heat stroke, or worse. On Thursday our neighbor's dogs started acting strange about 9:00 a.m. They were drooling a lot, lethargic, wide-eyed, and twitching every few minutes as if they were dying. The Bean and I rushed over and told them something was wrong, with one dog, the puppy, in worse shape than the older dog. They agreed to let me take it to the veterinarian to get it some help, if I could. The Bean and I ended up taking the puppy to a local vet and they determined that the dog had some broken ribs, was extremely dehydrated, and could have internal bleeding. They sedated the puppy and gave it an IV of fluids and in turn I was to drive it to the Linn County Animal Control for further treatment. The Bean and I did just that and in turn our neighbors lost ownership of their dog. They informed me when I took the puppy to not let the veterinarian, or the animal control know that it was theirs. Linn County Animal Control now has the puppy and will hopefully be able to bring it back to health and adopt it out after it recovers. The Bean and I returned home and cleaned out the back of the car from where the dog had been and as soon as we finished our neighbor came back over and asked if we could give him a ride to take his other dog to the veterinarian because it was starting to act the same way as the puppy. I agreed and drove him to an emergency veterinarian in Albany, Oregon, after two local veterinarians had turned him down for treatment. After about an hour of sitting with him, helping him fill out the proper paperwork, and hearing him use a lot of profanity toward the staff, they informed him that his dog had eating either marijuana, or other narcotics. I was not surprised one bit by the information. Our neighbors are quite the potheads and when picking up the puppy earlier in the day a woman coming out of the garage told me that the dogs could have gotten her back pain medication that was sitting on the porch. Unbelievable, right? So needless to say, we gave him a ride home with his dog, gave him some money for dog food, told him to always have water for them no matter what, and were glad at the fact that we were able to get the puppy away from them and hopefully saved its life. I reported the entire incident to the local police department and informed them of everything that had transpired. I am not sure what can be done as of right now, but at least I feel we did the most we could do for those animals. Bad thing is, there are three other dogs on the property, too. The Mr., The Bean, and I will definitely have our eyes on them from time to time just to make sure they are being cared for properly.

Friday: Seeing as Thursday had us going with excitement from 9:00 a.m. until about 7:00 p.m. we are going to take today low and slow. The Bean and I have a few things to cover in the homeschool classroom and I plan on working on the Forest School page on my blog. I am really happy with the way our homeschooling has progressed into what it has. I look forward to sharing all of our lessons under that page tab soon.

For the rest of the week, here are five simple things that made this week good.

1. This stack of hay...


The fields are being plowed, rowed, and baled around the Valley this week. This time of year is always hard on allergy sufferers, but the grass harvest seems to only last for a few weeks and the sneezing goes with it.

2. Lebanon turkeys...


Always fun to see them out and about. This time they came through our yard and had babies with them. They are neat birds and 100% wild.

3. The girls...


With the hot temperatures the girls have been spending a lot more time poolside and staying wet. We've enjoyed watching them just be ducks the last couple of weeks.

4. These silicone items...

 
On our journey to become plastic-free, more zero waste, and to be more minimal we are slowly finding items that can help keep us on track. These silicone jar lid covers can fit a wide mouth or regular mouth jar top and have a hole for a straw on the top. We have already been using them and they are great for taking drinks on the road. The other item on the right is a summertime must have! Nothing better than homemade popsicles! Both of these items can be found on here and here.

5. This sunset...

Living on the western end of the United States gives us a view of the setting sun that those in central, or eastern states will never see. Such a beautiful sight some evenings.

Five simple things

Hello.

This week was hot! We stayed above 95 degrees all week and had to keep a constant run of our air conditioners upstairs and downstairs. I'm pretty tolerable of hot temperatures, my southern blood, probably, but even I was saying it's warm. Here is what our week looked like:

Saturday: On Saturday we headed out to The Mr.'s work and enjoyed their yearly Family Day. There was a tour of the facility where they make airplane parts for Boeing, the military, and other metal fabrications for companies like Pratt & Whitney. It's always a great time for us and we get to see where The Mr. spends 80% of his week. *GASP* In the late afternoon on Saturday we headed to the Benton County Fairgrounds to da Vinci Days. I have to say that da Vinci Days is definitely a science geeks playground. Kinetic energy and engineering at its best!

Sunday: We decided to finally look into purchasing a raft to float the river before the summer is over. We have talked about it for several summers now and this year is going to be the year. More on this later. We also changed out the jet ski tires and moved it from the backyard into the garage. Now that we sold the 8x4 train layout we have a lot more room to work with in the garage and the jetski fits perfectly in there. We are still needing to replace the seat on it and hopefully by next summer it will be fit to hit the water. The Bean also got a new lifejacket, and an ore to go with the river raft. He is pretty pumped to hit the water soon!

Monday: Was a slow day, but The Bean and I covered a lot in the classroom. Keep in mind with homeschooling we never really take a summer break. At the end of the day when The Mr. got home we all took off on our bicycles and rode 2.88 miles. It was a pretty warm ride with the temperature being 98 degrees. With it being that hot we sweat a lot, but it was a good workout. My favorite part of exercising in a hot day is as much as you sweat that shower afterward is heavenly!

Tuesday: We all got eye exams and all of us had to have glasses. Of course, The Bean and I have had eye glasses for many years now, but The Mr. had to get ones this go around. He will have to only use them during long drives in the car, working on long projects, and other tasks that could cause his eyes to fatigue. I feel like all three of us are going to look pretty cool in our new specs. I won't miss a beat with sharing once they are picked up in a few weeks.

Wednesday: We definitely had to water a lot on Wednesday. The temperature high for the day was 102 here and even our poor ducks were feeling the heat. The Bean and I worked on homeschool work, Hardy spent the day inside with us, because if it's too hot for us, it's most certainly too hot for a little doggy.

Thursday: Another slow day because of the heat. The Bean and I organized the backyard and watered everything again for the second day. I feel like we soak everything down and a few hours later it's all dry again. It's extremely dry here in the Valley, too. We have fires burning in random areas around the state and I am always fearful that the field behind our house might catch a spark from something random. One reason why I like to make sure our yard is nice and wet each summer.

Friday: The Bean and I headed out to run errands and while out I picked up a small shade umbrella to place inside the run area of the duck's house. Now they can enjoy their pool in the late afternoon without the hot sun beating down on them. The duckies really liked it and sat in their pool for most of the afternoon. We also had another afternoon of watering plants and making sure all the animals had cool water to drink. So hot here and our air conditioners are working overtime. As hot as it gets here it's nothing compared to Arkansas heat, so it's tolerable.

For the rest of the week, here are five simple things that made this week good.

1. This little leaf and the arm it clings to...


With the hot weather The Bean has been playing in the water as if he was a little kid again. Even though he is 14 he still is a little boy at heart and we love it!

2. This message about simple things...

I've seen this truck before, but each time I see it I am reminded that the simple things in life are all that matter.

3. This sweet duck...

Have to do a single duck spotlight on this sweet girl. Her name is Fern and she is the sweetest Mallard duck. We've been told that your own animals take after your own personality. If that's true then their temperment should speak volumes of their owners. 

4. This hot doggy...


With the heat being bad this week this little doggy has been spending a lot of time indoors with us where he belongs.

5. Mightynest for July...

Mightynest this month was laundry stain stick and laundry powder. The stain stick has already removed a lot of stains I couldn't previous get out and the laundry powder smells like lemonade. The best part with Mightynest for me is the fact that every time I order from the company 15% goes back to my home state of Arkansas to the school I graduated from. I worked with the PTO president for a couple of days setting it up and they are already gaining $118 straight from Mightynest purchases I've made. It's a great program and you get such great items each month. Hurry and signup to get on the list for August so you can change the way you live and help give back to your school little-by-little. Sign up here.


A few more things:

Building something that will last.

Think of toys in a different way.

These nightstands ♥.

UV Sungear. Simple, smart, sun protection.

• 25 Magnificent Facts About Oregon.

• 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race' 

Hookah from Alice in Wonderland, or something more?

What's your neighborhood's walking score?

Looking for a more modest swimsuit?

Yoga for kids. Give it a try!

Have a good weekend!

Road trip: Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon

On a weekend of not doing anything, or having anything planned when you live in Oregon means, you either head to the coast, or head out on a daytrip somewhere. Most days in the summer months are taken up by time spent in our own backyard, but the zoo was calling us. The last time we went to the Oregon Zoo was when The Bean was about four-years-old. We were definitely due for a trip. Of course, it was a sweltering 98 degrees when we went, but thanks to the zoo putting up many water misters it helped take away the heat of the day a bit.


Being such a hot and humid day we headed straight to the otter, sea lion, and seal cave. It is mostly underground and the temperature of the area is a tolerable 70-75 degrees even in the dry summer heat of Oregon. The sea lions diving in and out of the water was such a treat to watch, as well as the otters crunching on ice cubes on the other side of the tank.


Such a pretty area with the blue from the lights and water. It's one of our favorite spots at the Oregon Zoo.


The Oregon Zoo's newest elephant Sampson. He sure put on a show for us and we got a lot of great shots. Elephants are such incredible beings. We loved how calm, collected, and extremely patient the trainer was. We didn't catch her name, but she is definitely living her best life right now being an elephant trainer.






Crossing over this wooden footbridge took us right to the bear's den. These are black bears that are prevalent here in Oregon. They are good swimmers, climbers, and can run upwards of 30 miles an hour.

Mountain goats where along the other side of the wooden footbridge and the babies were definitely bringing a crowd of kids. Even though it was so hot that day, close to 98 degrees, these little goats were having a ball jumping back and forth over logs, rocks, and even the older goats.



The Bean, always looking like the tourist with his camera and hat. ♥ (Go Hogs!)

Inside the Family Farm barn they had domesticated animals such as common goats, cats, pigs, and a few chickens running around. 
...And a few ride ons for the kids.


The next section was the leopards, tigers, and birds of prey area. As hot as it was most of the large cats were laying down in shaded areas in their enclosures. 

It's interesting to know that Condors wouldn't exist today had it not been for zoos and their conservation and recovery efforts of the birds. The Oregon Zoo has taken great strides in helping keep the Condor numbers up. These are California Condors and the Oregon Zoo has done its part in bringing the numbers up since they were the first species to be listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.



The enclosure to these eagles gave you a front row seat with no net, or barrier, keeping them from swooping in toward you and landing on the same walkway we were standing on. It was a great up close encounter to these birds of prey. Unfortunately, these eagles were picked up as wounded birds and can't be released back into the wild. They seemed pretty content with their living quarters and seemed to enjoy having their pictures taken. 


Next up was the penguin exhibit. We just happened to have visited their enclosure during feeding time and it smelled fishy, but we had a lot of fun in this enclosure and the seagulls and penguins definitely put on a show. 



By the time we were heading out a lot of the animals were going to sleep. We happened to glance into the river otter and the meerkat on the way out and they were both already snoozing.

 


A lot of the park benches throughout the Zoo had cute bronze sculptors on them that drew your attention in. These one of the "Lunch thief" was one of our favorites.

You can find out more about the Oregon Zoo here and also more about their animal rehabilitation programs here, as well as their conservation efforts here. One last thing, if you'd like to support the Oregon Zoo you can find out how and where your money actually goes right this way here.
Find ways to support other zoos, too. Even ones in your own area!


Au Naturale