Michelle and Mannie (GA)
Member Since 2009
Good Morning LL!!
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!
LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies! They have even used their signature nip cheese.
It is warming up once again for us PNW kitties, and Bug and Lola say they are turning off the pizza ovens early, cuz well it gets mega hot in there in the afternoons.... so best order early! So stop by Mannie's treehouse and get some pies! They will be planning those pies for the Full Moon Party at Camp Stu! IWOo HOO! I LUVS Camp Stu! so. well. anyways.
Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good!
I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) What a BUSY week! Wednesday and Thursday were our swim days this week, AND (!!) we were able once again to swim on Friday night. That was great, as we have missed a few over the course of the past few weeks due to summer activities in those pools, and family things. It was great For Nicholas to be back at it on Friday night. We were at a "new pool" in Snohomish, as I found they did offer a recreational swim time that fit the time we needed in the early evening. It was a bit of a drive, but we made the time slot, got to swim, and still made it to his home at a decent hour. YAY! Wednesday Morning Nicholas had a dental Appointment (he passed!), and after he was done his mom brought him up so we could have a family swim day. YaHOO! mom and William got to swim too. That was just so much fun. Nicholas was able to show his mom all he can do, plus just have some play time with her. William got to play too, and experience some new things in the pool. We introduced him to being under the water line, just a second or too, and he did not seem to mind. YaHOO on that one too. We plan on starting him in the pool on a regular basis in September. After swimming that day we had a picnic lunch with mom on the trail near the pool. That was great - just a nice family time, picked some berries that were there, enjoyed the great weather. Wednesday morning while Erin and Nicholas were at the dentist I took William for a morning at the park, just him and me. That too was a nice time. He got to swing, explored the area, and gathered some blackberries on his own. The look of joy on his face when he picked his own: priceless. What a great Wednesday! :razz:
Swimming Thursday and swimming Friday night was as good as it always is. The energizer fishie was in his element, and continues to have a great time in the pool. He continues to make do with the summer schedule and his main pool and the no big pool situation. (We are grateful that he has refound that at the Snohomish Pool on Friday nights!) He still tries to get in some of his "deep sea diving" ventures in what areas there that are big enough and deep enough to retrieve things from the bottom. The hot tub there has proven to be invaluable in that regard. The pool is still on their summer swim schedule, which means that the big pool that Nicholas loves is not available, due to all the swim lessons they run there during the summer. He has adapted to loosing that pool well, and has found ways to do what he likes to do in the big pool in the ones that he now has. It was nice to see his continued acceptance that without any fuss. He continues to interact well with the others kids he meets there, so all is well, so far, in the swimming world of a three year old. We still have many many swims under the surface! He just loves being able to do that. Friday night swimming at his new "backup" pool was great. He was so into trying all that they had there, just like last week,back and forth between everything! It was fun to watch him - all was on high alert, he didn't want to miss anything. ;-) We brought a few small pool toys, mainly rings, for him to use while there. H e was glad we did. They have an open area that joins a few of the activity sections where he swam the length unassisted, back and forth, last week. that was repeated this week
. The lazy river is a good one there, faster than most, so we also spent some time "tubin' it" on the river. This time the sprays were also on, so one really gets wet. Nicholas was full of laughs and giggles over that one. Really cool and fun stuff!
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast too. That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. Last night we again talked pool closures, as well as all our berry hunts, swimming in the rivers. He was really into that discussion, as we had just spent the day swimming in and exploring some very cool rivers earlier in the day. He also talked alot about summer swim schedules and finally being able to swim again at his Friday night pool. He was one very happy boy. We also talked endlessly about how his pools were closed. I heard alot of "What a BUMMER!" ;-) I still love that drive from the pool to his house: 30 minutes of little guy stories, my little back seat driver! Quite the imagination he has. He tells stories, we continue to look for rainbows and sunsets and views of Seattle, baseball and trains, and pool closures. He's into reading street signs, the one where road construction is involved. I have to read the all to him as we drive by, Now he has some of them committed to memory. Grooved pavement ahead! Motorcycles use extreme caution! Road work ahead! :lol: :lol: Last night, like last week, and the week before that, we made up this grand adventure, a trip to all these cool places, and what we would do when we were there. It was a great drive home: sunny skies, and the making of a great sunset! AWESOME TIME!
Monday found me out hiking.
I was out the door at 5AM, did not make it back until 6 or so... a long day! Sorry I totally missed the Board yesterday.... I went to the North Cascades to hike in the Mount Baker Area. It was such along drive to get there, like 2.5 hours, but worth every minute spent there.
I traveled on SR 542, what a great mini road trip. Such amazing views, mountain wise, and local rural area wise. Loved the trip. I went as far as SR542 would take me. The road culminates at Artist's Point, a beautiful loop hike at the foot of Mt Shuksan, and Mt Baker. The area is the origins for several very nice hikes. some difficult, some easy. I elected to do the easier ones yesterday, mainly in an attempt to see if they were doable for Nicholas, and if I could manage to pack William for it too. I think we may have a possibility there. My first stop was at Picture Lake, a nice easy .5 mile loop. The lake is really nice, and one gets some great views of Shuksan there. The boys, I think, would really like this one. It also makes for some outstanding photos! The next stop was at Bagley Lakes, just shy of the summit area. That is gorgeous! I hiked the lower trail, on up to the connection for the upper trails that head over the saddles to the Artist Point area, and then back again to the trail-head. That was nice: great lakes, a nice creek too. The lower trail area would be perfect for the boys too, with water access.Not so much the upper return trail, as it is rocky, narrow, ledge oriented etc... I ended up the day hiking the loops trails up at Artist Point. Loved that. Some of the area still has snow. It was really kinda cool to know it was 85 out, feel that warmth, but also feel the chill of the melting snow. This too would be a great option for the boys. I think Nicholas would love the snow. We'd have to go soon though, as I suspect that snow won't be around much longer. What a great day!
Tuesday was my social day. WOOT! It was great to share breffis with my son Anthony. We have been going to this cafe for some time now. It is a great Pancake house, which offers up some great pancake combos, and well just great food! I love that time we spend, just catching up, telling stories. We continue to meet up on Tuesday morning, every other week. The afternoon found me in Seattle. I was able to finally connect up with a friend We still meet every Tuesday, over coffee to catch up on life, and things at my former place of employment, Nordstrom. Barb has had so cancel alot lately due to work obligations, so it was really great to finally be able to get together.
Thursday afternoon, after swimming, and some time spent with their Grammie Connie, was spent at a local park we have found. Meadowdale Park continues to be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, with good challenges for him, and well there is that zip line. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: That thing is so fun. Nicholas just loves it. He has been trying to master for some time now an item called the corkscrew. It rises about 15 feet up, one can climb it, and then slide down following the curved tube that makes the corkscrew. He finally got it down this Thursday. YAY! So he spent time doing it over and over and over again. He was so proud of himself! Well done little man! Yesterday he was able to make it all work without Grammie's help.
He has made a few new friends during our visits there, it is nice that he is willing to play with whomever he meets there. It is so great to be able to watch him play with boys his own age. They run and climb on everything. The laughs for them are endless. William watches it all, trying so much to be part of the group. :lol: He has discovered that slides are really fun, so I spent some time with him letting, with help, him slide on down. ;-) It is so wonderful that we can find such great places to visit so close to home. There weren't alot of kids there on Thursday, what with the weather being what it was, but we did run into a few. Great times for the boys!
Thursday was road trip day. We had incredible weather in the forecast, and well, it just had to be an outdoor day. It was another 80 degree day, so outdoors on a river was really a great choice. We started out at Beckler River, off of HWY 2 near Skykomish. it is a favorite spot of Nicholas's. Nicholas had seen fish there last week, and really wanted to go back and look again. So that was his mission. Like last week, he hit every little pool he could find, and yup! Found a mother load of them. it is just so cool when a kid can stand in the river like that and have these fish swim arounf his feet. Where else can he get experiences like that? Anyways - he just had so much fun there. William too. He remembered the mother load of rocks and tossed and tossed and tossed. It was an incredible morning on a very pretty river for the boys. After Beckler, we went to the Big Eddy, on the Skykomish River near Gold Bar. That was an awesome time. Sunny, warm, river was down some, and not to cold. The river was low enough that Nicholas, and William somewhat, could wade out into it. They really did have the best of times this afternoon. it was busy there, but no matter. The river is known for it's rafting, and we were able to watch a group do their thing. An all around awesome afternoon on the river. We saw 2 trains cross the bridge that crosses the river a few hundred yards down. Way cool. We wound up our time there with a picnic on the river. Perfecto! I really love these road trips. We have the antics in the back seat as we drive, with those Many Faces of Travel. All such fun!
I am sitting here this morning, just like last week, trying to think what to write about the kitties.... and just like last week, thinking alot too about Mannie, and all the adventures he planned to for all the LL kitties. I so miss those days, and the fun, and relief from all the FD and the stress that comes with it. The pending full moon party for the kitties at camp Stu reminded me all the more. All GREAT memories. LOL: I can still remember writing about Mannie devouring his cookbooks, trying to come up with the perfect full moon recipes. Sturgeon Full moon this time. What would you have prepared Mannie? :razz:
I reread what I wrote last week, and the week before,a nd the weeks (!) before that, and well it really sums up what lifewith those that remain here, after Mannie's passing, is like. So at the risk of being repetitive, here it is, from last week:
Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
What to say about the kitties.... They have been good kitties, and even Lola! Well sorta on Lola... Lola will always be Lola. Crazy fun Lola. I wrote most of this last week, but it still holds true. They are all well! YAY!!! They are enjoying warmer weather here, and open windows. I still haven't done the catio for Lola and Bug, the expense is a deterrent. I do hope to be able to get that done for them, especially Lola, soon. Bug seems to be indifferent to being able to go outside, he never ever even tries. Lola I've had to haul back inside way too many times to count... she is a master at escaping. Elsa still has her outdoor privileges. She's always been an outdoor kitty, loves it there. She's a good girl though, and never leaves her yard. Long gone are her days of touring the neighbors yard, and being the mouse population controller of the neighborhood. This senior gal likes it in her own back yard now. anyways....soon I truly hope for a catio and a kitty run for Lola and Bug. it will be nice for Elsa too in that I can let them all be out when I am not home. Lola continues too to pound on all glass and plastic surfaces. What a hoot. Still walking the railing and the frig door. Still eating my plants. New this week 8/9, We had a nasty storm last weekend, lots of thunder and lightning. LOUD STUFF! Our strong tough kitty decided that wasn't cool and ran everywhere, trying to see what ti was, and when the LOUD BOOM hits the area she ran under the chaise and crawled up into it through a small hole she made. There she stayed until it was over. SO out of character for Lola! We told her it was OK, fear not, and out she came. :lol: :lol: :lol: Crazy fun Lola! Bug continues to warm up to the boys more and more as the days go by. Elsa is still dong well, darn active for an almost 18 year old. She sleeps alot, but what the heck: part of being a cat. She continues to be a very good lap cat of late: nice! She is due for her senior wellness vetty exam, so I need to get that schedule by the end of the month. I keep procrastinating on it all. :lol: With the warm weather she has been out in the yard alot. Lola is SO JEALOUS!!, and lets me know it whenever she sees Big Sis out in the yard. :roll: It is interesting that Bug just doesn't seem to mind that all. He is more than content to be a house cat. Kitties are good, and All are sound asleep as I write this.... Stay good kitties! I keep waiting for Lola to find something to stir the pot with here, but she hasn't. Maybe being 2 now she is mellowing, maybe. Though she is part Maine Coon, so I suspect that we will alwyas have slot of that Spunk. I sure hope so anyways. I know I write this alot, but it all continues to be true: When I got home last night I watched the usual Friday night run and romp. That is so fun to watch, and so what goes down here on FR nights. Elsa just watches, trying to decide if she wants to run too. We have been, lately, getting her to join in on one of the romps. She runs once, maybe twice, chasing Bug down the hall. Not too bad for my senior gal. :lol: :lol: This is about the only time I can ever get her to run like that. It is nice to see once in a while. There was nothing amiss when I got home, just kitties waiting at the top of the stairs. Just as it always is. LOVE THAT! Lola was rolling on the stairs, Bug was pacing, and Elsa was just sitting with that stare: where have you been? Definitely a normal Friday night for the kitties. I get a few meows, some leg rubs, they get scritches in return, and then off they go. The runs were endless last night. Funny how FR nights are always like that. Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
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Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your Caturday. The shopping is done, laundry almost done, rest of the day is free! :razz: :razz: :razz: I hope that later today I will be able to walk the trail here, to the shore. 0% chance of rains today, and temps remain in the mid 80's. it should still be a nice day to be out. Paws crossed!
KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies! They have even used their signature nip cheese.
Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) What a BUSY week! Wednesday and Thursday were our swim days this week, AND (!!) we were able once again to swim on Friday night. That was great, as we have missed a few over the course of the past few weeks due to summer activities in those pools, and family things. It was great For Nicholas to be back at it on Friday night. We were at a "new pool" in Snohomish, as I found they did offer a recreational swim time that fit the time we needed in the early evening. It was a bit of a drive, but we made the time slot, got to swim, and still made it to his home at a decent hour. YAY! Wednesday Morning Nicholas had a dental Appointment (he passed!), and after he was done his mom brought him up so we could have a family swim day. YaHOO! mom and William got to swim too. That was just so much fun. Nicholas was able to show his mom all he can do, plus just have some play time with her. William got to play too, and experience some new things in the pool. We introduced him to being under the water line, just a second or too, and he did not seem to mind. YaHOO on that one too. We plan on starting him in the pool on a regular basis in September. After swimming that day we had a picnic lunch with mom on the trail near the pool. That was great - just a nice family time, picked some berries that were there, enjoyed the great weather. Wednesday morning while Erin and Nicholas were at the dentist I took William for a morning at the park, just him and me. That too was a nice time. He got to swing, explored the area, and gathered some blackberries on his own. The look of joy on his face when he picked his own: priceless. What a great Wednesday! :razz:
Swimming Thursday and swimming Friday night was as good as it always is. The energizer fishie was in his element, and continues to have a great time in the pool. He continues to make do with the summer schedule and his main pool and the no big pool situation. (We are grateful that he has refound that at the Snohomish Pool on Friday nights!) He still tries to get in some of his "deep sea diving" ventures in what areas there that are big enough and deep enough to retrieve things from the bottom. The hot tub there has proven to be invaluable in that regard. The pool is still on their summer swim schedule, which means that the big pool that Nicholas loves is not available, due to all the swim lessons they run there during the summer. He has adapted to loosing that pool well, and has found ways to do what he likes to do in the big pool in the ones that he now has. It was nice to see his continued acceptance that without any fuss. He continues to interact well with the others kids he meets there, so all is well, so far, in the swimming world of a three year old. We still have many many swims under the surface! He just loves being able to do that. Friday night swimming at his new "backup" pool was great. He was so into trying all that they had there, just like last week,back and forth between everything! It was fun to watch him - all was on high alert, he didn't want to miss anything. ;-) We brought a few small pool toys, mainly rings, for him to use while there. H e was glad we did. They have an open area that joins a few of the activity sections where he swam the length unassisted, back and forth, last week. that was repeated this week
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast too. That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. Last night we again talked pool closures, as well as all our berry hunts, swimming in the rivers. He was really into that discussion, as we had just spent the day swimming in and exploring some very cool rivers earlier in the day. He also talked alot about summer swim schedules and finally being able to swim again at his Friday night pool. He was one very happy boy. We also talked endlessly about how his pools were closed. I heard alot of "What a BUMMER!" ;-) I still love that drive from the pool to his house: 30 minutes of little guy stories, my little back seat driver! Quite the imagination he has. He tells stories, we continue to look for rainbows and sunsets and views of Seattle, baseball and trains, and pool closures. He's into reading street signs, the one where road construction is involved. I have to read the all to him as we drive by, Now he has some of them committed to memory. Grooved pavement ahead! Motorcycles use extreme caution! Road work ahead! :lol: :lol: Last night, like last week, and the week before that, we made up this grand adventure, a trip to all these cool places, and what we would do when we were there. It was a great drive home: sunny skies, and the making of a great sunset! AWESOME TIME!
Monday found me out hiking.
I was out the door at 5AM, did not make it back until 6 or so... a long day! Sorry I totally missed the Board yesterday.... I went to the North Cascades to hike in the Mount Baker Area. It was such along drive to get there, like 2.5 hours, but worth every minute spent there. Tuesday was my social day. WOOT! It was great to share breffis with my son Anthony. We have been going to this cafe for some time now. It is a great Pancake house, which offers up some great pancake combos, and well just great food! I love that time we spend, just catching up, telling stories. We continue to meet up on Tuesday morning, every other week. The afternoon found me in Seattle. I was able to finally connect up with a friend We still meet every Tuesday, over coffee to catch up on life, and things at my former place of employment, Nordstrom. Barb has had so cancel alot lately due to work obligations, so it was really great to finally be able to get together.
Thursday afternoon, after swimming, and some time spent with their Grammie Connie, was spent at a local park we have found. Meadowdale Park continues to be a favorite of Nicholas's. The playground equipment is really nice, with good challenges for him, and well there is that zip line. :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: That thing is so fun. Nicholas just loves it. He has been trying to master for some time now an item called the corkscrew. It rises about 15 feet up, one can climb it, and then slide down following the curved tube that makes the corkscrew. He finally got it down this Thursday. YAY! So he spent time doing it over and over and over again. He was so proud of himself! Well done little man! Yesterday he was able to make it all work without Grammie's help.
Thursday was road trip day. We had incredible weather in the forecast, and well, it just had to be an outdoor day. It was another 80 degree day, so outdoors on a river was really a great choice. We started out at Beckler River, off of HWY 2 near Skykomish. it is a favorite spot of Nicholas's. Nicholas had seen fish there last week, and really wanted to go back and look again. So that was his mission. Like last week, he hit every little pool he could find, and yup! Found a mother load of them. it is just so cool when a kid can stand in the river like that and have these fish swim arounf his feet. Where else can he get experiences like that? Anyways - he just had so much fun there. William too. He remembered the mother load of rocks and tossed and tossed and tossed. It was an incredible morning on a very pretty river for the boys. After Beckler, we went to the Big Eddy, on the Skykomish River near Gold Bar. That was an awesome time. Sunny, warm, river was down some, and not to cold. The river was low enough that Nicholas, and William somewhat, could wade out into it. They really did have the best of times this afternoon. it was busy there, but no matter. The river is known for it's rafting, and we were able to watch a group do their thing. An all around awesome afternoon on the river. We saw 2 trains cross the bridge that crosses the river a few hundred yards down. Way cool. We wound up our time there with a picnic on the river. Perfecto! I really love these road trips. We have the antics in the back seat as we drive, with those Many Faces of Travel. All such fun!
I am sitting here this morning, just like last week, trying to think what to write about the kitties.... and just like last week, thinking alot too about Mannie, and all the adventures he planned to for all the LL kitties. I so miss those days, and the fun, and relief from all the FD and the stress that comes with it. The pending full moon party for the kitties at camp Stu reminded me all the more. All GREAT memories. LOL: I can still remember writing about Mannie devouring his cookbooks, trying to come up with the perfect full moon recipes. Sturgeon Full moon this time. What would you have prepared Mannie? :razz:
I reread what I wrote last week, and the week before,a nd the weeks (!) before that, and well it really sums up what lifewith those that remain here, after Mannie's passing, is like. So at the risk of being repetitive, here it is, from last week:
Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your Caturday. The shopping is done, laundry almost done, rest of the day is free! :razz: :razz: :razz: I hope that later today I will be able to walk the trail here, to the shore. 0% chance of rains today, and temps remain in the mid 80's. it should still be a nice day to be out. Paws crossed!
KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon