Good-bye Sweet Willaby

Dec.'96 - Sept.'09

Well, it's been a week since we let our Willaby go. We had her for almost 13 years. She was a birthday gift to me from my now husband, Chad. She has been through EVERYTHING with us. She gave us many memories throughout the years. We use to call her Houdini, cause she could get out of her kennel, her tie out anchor, and squeeze under fences! This got her into "trouble" and produced many puppies! Our kids grew up with her and led her to be very protective of them. I guess that's a good thing. we thought it was funny how she jumped like a kangaroo and stood atop her doghouse like a watchdog. It's not the same around here. No one to give pizza crust to anymore. The picture above was taken a week before we let her go. We found out that she had breast cancer and had metastasized into 3 tumors in her body cavity. She had stopped eating and there were no options. We could not allow ourselves to watch her starve to death, so we decided to have her put down. It broke out hearts. She was our "Princess" and my "boo" . We'll miss you dearly Willaby.

Raising Monarchs

This summer was the summer butterflies! At the end of the school year, Nick's teacher passed on to him a netted butterfly chamber. We put good use to it this summer. We traveled up to Michigan this summer to visit family,like we do every year. During our stay,we went up to the campground to visit the cousins. On our way back down state, we stopped at a Taco Bell and pulled around back to park. Nick was unhappy with the decision and stomped off to go to the nearby Burger King. He was stopped in mid-step when he noticed a Milkweed plant. He was looking intently and then screamed "I found a caterpillar!" We all came to look and it was as small as a cm ! We put it and part of the milkweed in an empty cup with a lid for transport. Later we found a larger container. It was perfect timing...by the time we got ready to go back home from our vacation it had gone into it's "J " position, getting ready for its chrysalis! The next morning we woke to a jade green chrysalis...we had named him Monty, so with in a week's time it was ready to break out...and it did! Oh did I mention we brought Milkweed from the farm and Nick had found 2 more caterpillars!! We witnessed the process 3 times and each caterpillar had a name. Monty, Maxine(it was only after it's a butterfly that you can tell if it's a boy or girl), and lastly, Morgan(f).(Bottom:Monty, Nick w/ red shirt: Maxine and top: Morgan)