Curiosity Hurt the Cat!!!

Yep... that's Eno's busted cat-tail in your face... he is just getting a little drink of water from the faucet.  After the day he had...he is thirsty.
Did you want to see that sweet little kitteh face with his busted booty??? Ok. Here he is...

Now for the fun story...
Yet again, Eno made a surprise visit to Dr. Giffey's office today.  Tuesday night Connor let Eno out to do his wandering and potty business around 5pm.....Marie came home at 5:30pm and let the little bugger in and he was yowling and crying in pain.   We noticed he couldn't hold his tail up and that he didn't want us to touch it.
Marie thought it was "cold" tail - which she only knew about because her (Margaret's) sweet Honey-dog used to get it.  After some internet searching, she decided that must be what it was -though she didn't have a clue how he got it - and thought it would be better in a few days.
On Wednesday, Connor was able to investigate a bit more and thought he felt a large splinter or thorn sticking out.... Marie did a second opinion check and, sure enough, agreed.
So, Thursday, it was off to the vet for an emergency visit... The vet said it looked like he had been attacked or bitten by something and they needed to do surgery to alleviate the abscess and insert a drainage tube.

He is feeling a bit better tonight... even getting in some good scratches/stretches... and being very affectionate.

Our poor little baby kitteh.  He is only 2 years old and he has a laundry list of (expensive) vet visits:
January2010: adopted Eno from the local shelter/feed store
February2010: eye surgery (his inner eye lids were not properly developed in utero and never fully opened- see how screwy they look in the pic below?...but surgery could repair that)

March 2010: fleas take over our house (they had been a problem since we brought Eno home, but clearly his medicine didn't kill the eggs because more kept coming!)...spend a small fortune bombing house and treating cats.
September 2010: Eno broke his leg (something to do with a big planter falling on him...we don't really know)

January 2011: Eno has incontinence problems... pees in house a few times... Marie wants to kill, but spends a few hundred at the vet to investigate instead... only to learn that he has no infections or anything, he just needs his own litter box. Geesh.
Summer 2011: Eno has several minor incidents...busted/bloody noses... swollen paws...  Witness the "club paw" below...

Which brings us to today... and an expensive tail. 
We realize that we have a "special" cat.  He is accident prone. He rides the short bus.  His brother, Lefty, drives the short bus.  Lefty has also had his fair share of expensive incidents. The example below is from the summer of 2009...

The joys of owning "free" cats.  haha.

Back to normal...

We are not exactly what you would call "good" bloggers... We post our blogs when we have time.  Who cares if it is a week or more after the fact? Certainly not these guys...

So... for the most part, things are back to normal this week...including sweet flowers and long days at work. 

He even cut a bloom to put on my dresser. How sweet is that?!?

We still have ugly, dirty piles of snow piled up all over the place.  The roads are still a bit slick in the wee morning hours.  Connor's employees are still a bunch of worthless, miserly, bickering pains in the butt (seriously, he has worked from 8am all the way through to 3am several days recently!). But, as Sugarland sings, it happens.

We are still squeezing in time for the fun stuff... Like waffles on Sunday morning... And pizza on a Grey's Anatomy date night...

And saying prayers of thanksgiving for all of our loved ones... including prayers of healing for some... and prayers of patience and strength for others.  Hope you know that we are praying for you, and sending you so much love EVERYDAY.  <3

Baby, It's Coooold Outside!

Well... the pacific northwest got a taste of winter last week. A big taste. It was beautiful and scary and annoying all at the same time.  We went to bed on Tuesday evening not even worried about the "Pineapple Express" that everyone was talking about... and woke up to more than a foot of snow Wednesday morning at 5:30am.  (eventually our totals were somewhere around 2 feet!) Because Marie is so new to her job, she wasn't allowed any time off - which was crazy because there was no way for her to physically get to her office.  And Connor's businesses also took a hit - it is hard to get employees to come out in the middle of a severe winter storm.  See Marie's excuse above. :)

But, as always, we made the best of the time.  Those of you who have visited know that we live on the ridge of a fairly steep hill... so we weren't about to see any plows come up our way.  Without 4-wheel drive, we were stuck.  So, we decided to walk into town!  It was a good 5-6 mile hike, and it felt GREAT! 

That's Connor with our sweet neighbor, Beau.  And here is Connor doing a Tebo as we get ready to head down the hill...

Marie was wishing for the old days in Moon Township... where are the snowpants when you need them???  And a Martha Sue to clean up all the soggy clothes afterwards??

We also took advantage of the extra time to make cinnamon rolls - from a fundraiser kit that Connor had purchased.

Check out little Lefty begging for a taste... He is so STOUT!

Connor also tried to rack our fruit beers.  Unfortunately, they smell more like fruit vinegar than fruit beer.  We're not sure they will turn out...We'll have to keep you posted on that one.

Marie's friend Susan gave her an early Valentine's Day gift - because she knows how Marie loves hearts... It was perfect for sipping on hot tea during these cold and windy days.

Ummm. No. We don't let our filthy felines lounge on our table... What makes you even think that???  Silly people...

Some Chehalis Kitchen Therapy

I (Marie) was in the mood to do some serious cooking this weekend... and my meal plan for the week looks totally delicious.  
Here is a little taste of our weekend:
We had skillet-grilled burritos for a quick dinner on Saturday night... along with some of our homemade heirloom salsa. Yum!

Chicken Pot Pie with an Herbed-Biscuit topping for lunch on Sunday...

 Beer Note: Daryl had a Scottish Ale... Connor had a Vanilla Boubon Porter.

And a sweet chocolate meringue pie for dessert. Personally, I never saw the appeal of meringue pies... but my Connor-Crush requested it and I was up for the challenge. It actually was a lot of fun to make the homemade pudding and test my hand with a meringue... Not too time consuming...and the taste was excellent if I do say so myself!

After a nice long walk (on a rare sunny 50-degree day!) Connor and Lefty ended up on the couch with full-bellies and happy hearts.  Don't you want to join us?

Home on the range!

Since we were both raised in pro-gun families, we decided to polish up on our skills.  Marie really wants to be more comfortable with the safety features and basic use techniques... and she needed to work on her shooting.  Plus, Connor was really excited about his new Ruger 1911 that Papa Chuck helped him find.

We decided to join the Centralia Rifle Club and Junior Division, in Centralia WA. This is the town just north of Chehalis; it is only a 10 minute drive from our house. We chose this club not only for its location, but also because it is open 24/7 and we can access it with a code at the door.  This will work best for our busy schedules...plus it is a deal - $120/year.

We had to attend the business meeting in order to be accepted as new members... and we went on a "tour" of the range after the meeting.  Then, we were finally free to unload all our weapons and do some shooting!

Connor brought 4 guns for the evening: Derringer .22, Ruger .38 Spl, Springfield XD .40, Ruger 1911 .45 ACP. 

Connor prepped our target:

The target backs provided by the range were pretty rickety... the cardboard backing was well-worn to say the least.  But, we made the best of it.

First, we shot the Derringer... Well, Connor shot it. Marie didn't quite have the finger strength to pull the trigger...except for maybe once! Don't laugh!  (The pic is the intro pic on this posting) Second, we tried the Ruger .38 Spl... This gun was lightweight and easy to shoot...but it had a lot of recoil so Marie didn't like it much.

Third, we shot the XD .40. This was Marie's favorite... it wasn't too hard to handle. 

And finally... last but not least... we tried out the new Ruger.  Connor loved it.  His only complaint is that he needs two - one for each hand.  (He is feeling a bit 007 these days.) It did some serious damage to the target!

We aren't bad shots... Don't try breaking/entering at our residence.We added a lot of brass to the bucket!  Can't wait for our next shooting date.

Goodbye 2011... Watch out 2012!

2011 was indeed a fabulous year for the WA Tuckers.  It was full of new experiences, fun travel, many professional blessings, and lots of love and laughter in our personal lives.  While we are sad to say goodbye to 2011... we are really excited to see what 2012 brings! The cats are totally pooped... they are trying to recuperate from 2011 so they can party on in 2012...

Our Christmas and New Year's holidays were fairly low key.  Marie visited Aunt Pat in Port Angeles for the weekend before Christmas.  She enjoyed celebrating advent services at 3 different churches this Christmas season (St. Timothy's in Chehalis, St. John's in Carthage TX, and St. Andrew's in Port Angeles); but really loved Christmas Eve service at our Chehalis St. Timothy's.  Here is a picture of Aunt Pat with a beautiful English Bulldog.

We didn't do much holiday decorating this year... which was hard because Marie and Lefty love the lights on the Christmas tree.  But, it was just a hectic December and we just didn't get around to pulling down our Christmas box from the high shelf in the garage.  Aunt Pat provided lovely paperwhites for our coffee table... and sweet Daryl sent a gorgeous green arrangement for our table. 

Of course we had our advent calendar (also from Aunt Pat) and several thoughtful gifts to open from various friends and family.

Christmas morning we made Grand Bet's famous egg casserole and homemade biscuits. Connor also provided mimosas for the occasion. 

For New Years, we made a healthy version of Hoppin' John and some delicious cornbread.  We also made some not so healthy Salted Caramel Bars and Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake. Thank goodness the weather was nice so we were able to walk a lot!  We love heading out for wonderful hikes and neighborhood walks.  Just today, we walked within 10 feet of some quietly grazing deer... Can you spot them? 

Of course we made plenty of time for beer brewing this month.  Connor made a Czech Pilsner... Munich Helles... and we racked our Syrah wine to a new carboy and added American Oak chips. Check out our redneck 3-tier brewing system below...

We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to ... In 2012, Papa Chuck will retire and hopefully he and Martha can move it down to NC.  Mark and Amber Bosley will get married... Margaret and Matt Gauch will also tie the knot!  We can't wait to experience all the joys to come!