‘Long Lost Sibling Found After 35 Years’

Read this amazing story and then tell me if you agree that I have found one of Cricket’s siblings.  At the end of this blog story, please take my poll and let me know how many of you think this is just coincidence or if you think that I have found Cricket’s long lost brother.

Cricket & Jiminey. I just love this picture from when Cricket was a puppy.

Whenever I'm sad, I just look at this picture and I can't help but feel better. >)

We got Cricket back in 2007 when she was just 4 months old.  My friend Bobbie had just adopted her brother Jiminey (pup on the right in picture above) from a dog rescue in Visalia and we fell in love with him.  She told us that he had a sister Cricket (pup on left), so we adopted her.  We were told that the 2 pups were found about a month earlier in a box abandoned in the middle of an orange orchard. The rescue said they were a Corgie/Queensland Heeler mix but Cricket only weighs about 20 pounds and both those breeds are larger than that so I have been trying to think of what else she might be mixed with (she is stocky with a long body but short little legs). 

Fast forward to 2012…

In October, George and I found a Chihuahua in heat at our door one night.  We didn’t want her to be coyote bait so we took it in and tried to find her owners.  A couple days later this male Jack Russell terrier shows up and hangs around because of the Chihuahua.  I thought he must live around the neighborhood so I kept shooing him away.  A couple days later, I notice that the coyotes got a hold of him and roughed him up pretty bad.  I ended up taking him in too and then realized that he was a stray also.  Long story short… I found a home for the Chihuahua and contacted the national Jack Russell rescue who got me in touch with our local rescue person who in turn told me that she also works with a Rat Terrier rescue organization in Washington who has room to take the dog I found.  This organization called ‘New Rattitude – WA’ houses all their rescue dogs through a series of foster homes.  Rattitude is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/newrattitude.wa  Each foster home has their own individual blogs where they write about and showcase the dogs that they are fostering.

The home that was fostering the dog that we found, names all their dogs after Washington wineries so they named him ‘Figgins’.  Here are a couple of Figgins blogs: http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/2012/10/figgins-aka-mr-fantastic.html / http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/2012/10/figgins-and-his-bands-of-many-colors.html

Also on a separate story, a friend of ours has a purebred male Jack Russell and a purebred female Rat Terrier who had puppies.  In a whirlwind, we arranged for all 8 puppies to go to Rattitude in the beginning of January.  All puppies have since been adopted to wonderful homes.

http://rescuedratties.blogspot.com/2013/01/introducing-zia-and-taos-and-7-more.html

http://rattierescue.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-01-14T23:00:00-08:00&max-results=7

http://yapitude.blogspot.com/2013/01/serena-sidney.html

http://wulfgrl-mydogblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-01-19T16:08:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

Jack/Rat Puppies

Because of my history with this group, I continue to follow some of the blogs (especially the one who had Figgins).  One day, I noticed a dog that looked a lot like my Cricket.  This dog (named Gramercy) looked like he came from the same mix of dog as Cricket and has about that same build.  In reading about this dog, I learned that they thought he was around 2 years old and is a Rat Terrier ‘Type B’ (or Teddy Roosevelt Terrier) mix dog.

Gramercy

I never heard of this before and in researching them, I discovered that they are stockier, longer and have short legs and weigh around 15 to 25 pounds.  I am now convinced that my Cricket is a mix of Rat Terrier ‘Type B’ and Queensland Heeler which would explain her size and markings. 

Cricket

In further blogs about Gramercy, I learn that they took him to the specialist because his legs were abnormally bowed.  It was determined that he had been in a accident in his past (maybe hit by a car) and he obviously did not get the medical attention he needed.  In addition, the vet said that part of the problem with his legs were bad genetics which caused some deformities and that he was probably more like 5 years old instead of 2.  In reading this, a light bulb came on.  I remember reading in a past blog that Gramercy came from the central valley but they thought he was around 2 years old so I didn’t put 2&2 together.  Also, Cricket has some deformities going on in her face.  They are not really noticeable unless I point them out, but if you look straight at her face, her nose is off to one side and if you look in her mouth, some of her teeth never came in on that side.

I thought of how much of a coincidence all of this was.  I emailed his foster mom and asked if she knew anything about his background.  She wrote back and said prior to coming to Washington, Gramercy had been at the Sanger Animal Shelter for the past 6 months or so.  We live between Sanger and Reedley!

Ok now that’s just too many coincidences…

1. Same mix of dog - Rat Terrier ‘Type B’ and Queensland Heeler (such an unusual mix).
2. About the same age.
3. Both show signs of bad genetics with deformities.
4. Both came from around the same area.

In addition, shortly after this another blog came out about how Gramercy liked to be held like a baby.  http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/2013/02/potty-time.html#comment-form

I wrote back:

OMG... That's another thing they have in common! My cricket LOVES to be held like a baby too. When we go to the mountains,  she poops herself out so on our way home, I wrap her up in a blanket like a baby with her nose barely sticking out and she sleeps all the way home in my arms. My husband gets mad because he said we are going to get pulled over by the Sheriff because they think I have an infant who is not in a car seat. Too funny!

Well what do you think?  Coincidence or Cricket's long lost brother found after 35 Years?  I say 35 years but that's 'dog years'  >)

My Pics

I took this picture with my cell phone on my way home from work one day. The clouds looked so unique so I snapped a quick shot through the windshield of my car as I was sitting at a red light.  This picture makes a great background for my computer desktop.  >)

Storm coming and going.

I took these last 2 pictures fooling around with my Canon PowerShot SX1 IS with 20x optical zoom.  I don't know what that means but to make a long story short, I zoomed it in all the way! >)

Here is a picture of a full moon that I took just holding the camera in my hand.  >)

40s Traveleer Vintage Trailer

I am a trailerholic with a disease called aluminitus.  Every trailer I bring home, I swear is going to be my last but I am a weak-minded soul.  I saw a trailer on craigslist about 30 minutes away that caught my interest but it had already been on the market a week by the time I called.  It appeared to be an early 50s, canned ham shaped, tandem axel trailer with 2 doors.  There were no inside pictures but the skin looked fairly decent (at least from the only side they took a picture of) but the picture also showed all this junk around it and the ad said, “great for farm or storage” (usually that's my first clue that it’s shredded inside).  Because of the fact that no one had bought it yet after a week and they were only asking $200., I didn’t have much expectations but for $200, what have I got to loose to go take a look.  As soon as I took two steps inside, I said, "I'll take it!" (full price too).

Here are some pictures of my $200. trailer. I love it!

It does have dry rot under the front window and along one of the back corners of the bedroom.  Also, I will need to replace one ceiling panel around the front roof vent and of course re-place any rotten framing in those areas too.  Other than that it is in great condition.  It has a separate bedroom and all of this wonderful birch cabinetry.  It is in original unmolested condition and nothing appears to be missing down to the built in refrigerator, Dixie stove and Panel Ray cylinder style heater.  It has an original shower but NO TOILET?  Go figure.

 

 

I bought it from this 70 year old man who has lived on the property all his life.  It belonged to his grandmother who purchased it in 1951 to use at their house whenever she came to visit (and he thinks it was used when she bought it).  It had been parked next to a big fence and has not moved since 1951.  When she passed away, it was used occasionally for temporary house guests. In the meantime, they build a shop directly in front of it and a huge oak tree has grown on the other side.  Now comes the dilemma… how to get the trailer out from the spot without scraping it all up.  I knew it was going to be tricky.   I had to beg George to do it for my next 5 years worth of birthdays.

As it was, it took him 8 hours to get the trailer out of there.  The trailer was being supported by several railroad ties.  We discovered that there were only 2 lug nuts on each of the 4 tires and running around trying to find lug nuts was an ordeal in itself.  I was amazed that the tires even held air although one tire did not make it home in one piece (could they possibly be the original 60+ year old tires?).  Another ordeal was the locking lever on the tongue where the ball goes.  It was frozen shut.  It had a decorative emblem that looked like a thunderbird attached to the mechanism and we couldn’t even tell how it worked.  Lots and lots of penetrating oil later, we finally figured out that you have to lift the emblem several inches and then pivot the emblem to hold open the ball mechanism but it was still very hard to get it unfrozen from years of rust so it would not lock down.  I can’t believe we did this but we finally ended up wrapping several layers of duck tape around the whole ball and tongue and went about 20 miles an hour max down backroads practically crawling over the slightest bumps we saw.

All in all we got her home safely.  Was it worth it? YES! …but don’t ask George the same question.  To get it out of it’s boxed-in location, we couldn’t back it up either.  Luckily the man we bought it from helped out by taking down a portion of the fence.  George parked his truck perpendicular to the trailer about 15 feet away and then used a winch to pull the trailer 90 degrees.

I found a mfg plate next to the door that says ‘Traveleer Coach’ Hawthorne, CA.  There is also a Traveleer emblem on the back.  Stepping it off, I think it’s about 28’.  Another interesting fact is that my trailer has no tail lights, just one brake light in the back center.  In researching this, I found that before 1950, they only required one brake light and then in 1950 they started requiring 2 tail lights and turn signals.

j

Let it snow!

Last month for New Years, we met up with some friends at their vacation home in Tahoe.  I've really only been up to the snow a hand full of times and snow is not really my thing.  In the past, I have always been ill prepared for the snow and freezing to death is not my idea of fun.  I was determined to be better prepared for this adventure so I went to the sporting goods store, broke down and bought some good snow boots.

The weather was beautiful and Tahoe recently had a bountiful snowfall so the ski season was in full operation.  When we got to our friends vacation home, this is what we saw...

Icecycles everywhere!  At first I thought they were fake.
They are so fascinating and beautiful!

View of icecycles and lake from the dinning room.

  

We had great food, great wine and best of all... great company!

Our friend Norm offered us some 'Morris' brand olives that he's been saving for a

special occasion but we had eaten so much that we just didn't have room. >)

The next day, we all went snowshoeing and an amazing thing happened... I decided that I love the snow.  The trick is to make sure you are dressed properly.

I haven't figured out how Huckleberry George can talk everyone into doing

everything for him.  Maybe they felt sorry for him b/c he's too fat to bend over!

Trail to the lake

Lake Tahoe is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Private dock in our friend's subdivision.

We had so much fun showshoeing that after we got back home, we went out and bought ourselves snowshoes.  Kings Canyon is less than an hour away from us so we run up the hill as often as we can to go snowshoeing even if it's just for a couple hours.  Unless it just snowed, the road is clear and we don't need chains all the way up to Grant Grove.

We learned that on weekends up at Grant Grove and Giant Forest, they offer free ranger led snowshoeing nature walks (they supply the equipment or you can bring your own). 

Here the ranger at Grant Grove is telling us about the different trees in the area.

George standing next to an amazing Ponderosa pine.

Big Meadows is a popular cross country ski area but since they close the road in the winter, the only way back in would be to cross country ski, snowmobile or snowshoe in.  Monticeto Lodge not far away, leaves a 'warming hut' at Big Meadows with limited supplies for cc skiers and their guests to use.  Our goal is to snowshoe 3 miles back to our cabin and spend at least one weekend up there each winter.

A friend took this picture of our cabin a couple years ago when he

cross country skied up to Big Meadows.  It was a heavy snowfall year

and as you can see, our little cabin is almost buried in snow.

My first blog...

I really didn't even know what a blog was until I started frequenting a network of blogs from 'New Rattitude - Washington State' which is a Rat Terrier foster organization for dogs.  I decided to try and figure out how to create my own blog and so here it is...

Our blog is pretty basic but it will be a work in progress so hopefully it will look a little better as we go.  Its purpose will be a way for family and friends to keep up on the Heaton happenings... that is if anyone even cares.  We just recently watched 'Born in East LA' again so I thought what better name for our blog than 'whaaas sappening?' (although it really won't mean much unless you have seen the movie).

Jennie (& George)