Category Archives: Pets

Welcome to the Family

Jun022010

When I first met Jimmy, I was astounded by the size of his family. I mean … really, I was flabbergasted by the sheer number of cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings he has. This may be in part due to the fact that I was an only child until I was 13, and most of my aunts and uncles only have 1 or 2 kids. So yeah, what my family lacks in people … we make up for in the number of fur-babies. If you’ve followed my blog for anytime, you should know that I lurve my fur-babies just like they are my own little ones.

I was so happy when I learned that my aunt and uncle officially adopted Miss Amila from the Humane Society of Indianapolis this week. If you haven’t read Amila’s story yet, you can by clicking here. Even though we all knew they wanted to adopt her from the very first day, her life was touch and go there for awhile. J and I are both so happy for you guys!!

On a related note … We welcomed two new members into the family last week. Meet Princess & Billy. Like Amila, these two puppies were found in a terrible environment. They were the only two puppies from their litter to survive after the neglect they were subjected to early in their young lives. Thanks to a woman who works with a rescue group, my mother in-law and father in-law were able to adopt them and give them a loving home.

You would never know these puppies had a rough start. They are so full of energy and boy are they sassy. The cutest part about adopting siblings is that they are so inseparable. Just like our own little Molly and her sister Bella (my dad adopted Bella … whenever Molly & Bella get together, they are glued together the whole time!). Princess & Billy are already close to 30 pounds and they are only about 3 or 4 months old. I can’t wait to watch them grow … and I am sure they are going to grow and grow and grow. While we were at the in-laws house for a cookout, I broke out the camera and snapped a few photos of the pups playing.

Jim & Lori also have a dog named Hercules … he’s a little firecracker. Although he’s taming down a bit in his old age, he’s still pretty lively.

I never thought these dogs would get tired … but I caught it on camera. So cute. I love this one.

Happy Birthday Molly

By Ravyn Stadick

May252010

We had two prerequisites for adding to our family: We were looking to adopt a dog from a shelter and we were looking for a lab mix. We (or I guess just me) had been looking for a new puppy for some time, but since we couldn’t find a dog that met all of the criteria, our search was put on hold indefinitely (as far as J knew). One Sunday, last July, I decided to hop on Petfinder dot com to give it ‘one last look’. I expanded my search radius … and wouldn’t you know it, I found a dog that fit perfectly.

Ummm … Yeah, this is the photo I saw. My heart MELTED!!!

I called my dad to tell him the news, and he offered to take me, ‘just to look’. When we arrived at the shelter, I saw my baby! She was just as cute as her photo, and about 1/2 as big as I thought she would be. She was perfect. My dad, who was just there to look, picked up a puppy from Molly’s litter and he said we were ready to go. That’s how Molly and Bella became a part of our family. We got a new puppy and so did my dad. Not only did we rescue our pup from a shelter, but we were also able to keep her and her sister together.

Today, our babies are turning 1!! Molly really is our baby … all 70 pounds of her! Though everyone jokes that she isn’t the brightest dog, she sure is the sweetest.

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Happy Birthday, Ruca

By Ravyn Stadick

May152010

In 2007, we had been dating about a year and a half, and I was itching for that engagement ring. We had been living together for about 6 months … we had a cat and our happy little life was on it’s way. One day, after much bribing, I talked J into taking me to the humane society near our college. We looked around for quite awhile … because I had been assured that we were only looking. All of the dogs were cute, but none of them seemed like the one. As we were walking out the door, a poster caught my eye. It was advertising free puppies. The mom was already at the humane society, but there wasn’t room for the puppies. A family had graciously decided to keep the puppies on their property and they were giving them away for free. I begged J to drive over there … just to SEE them. We walked into the backyard and there was a crate full of 6 or 7 puppies. The owners opened the door and out poured the little pups. Of course they were super cute. All of a sudden, I realized that J had accepted that we were no longer there just to look. I picked up a puppy and I was in love. She laid in my arms and just stared up at me. In the meantime, J had also found a puppy, and he was in love as well. His puppy was wiggly and super friendly. She wanted to play, mine wanted to lay there. We both knew his puppy was the winner … so he convinced me to put the first puppy back, and we were on our way. Lucky for J, this calmed my engagement fever for a few more months!!

Since then, Ruca (pronounced like roo-kuh) has gone from 10 pounds to 50 pounds. She is super fast … and super smart (when she wants to be). She’s still loving … she still loves to play. We’ve moved to a new city with her. We’ve taken her on road trips, we’ve gone camping, and she’s become a huge part of our lives. I know some people probably think we’re crazy for loving our animals as much as we do, but for us … they are the first things we ever had to be responsible for. Until we have real kids, they are our babies. Ruca is 3 years old today, so of course I wanted to give her a little doggy shout out on my blog. Happy Birthday Ruca!! I love you like a bee loves honey.

For anyone wondering where we got the name Ruca:: Sublime is one of our favorite bands. They have a song called, “Waiting for my Ruca”. It’s not one of their most famous songs, but it’s one of our favorites. Since music is such a big part of our lives, we knew we wanted to incorporate that ‘theme’ into our animals names … Ruca is/was a slang term in Mexico for true love or one-and-only. We thought it fit, and we liked the way it sounded.

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Miss Amila

By Ravyn Stadick

May032010

My two dogs are sprawled out on the couch. They have full bellies, and they spent the day playing with their rope toy and watching the birds outside. They’ve never had to go without a meal, and a belly scratch is never out of reach. Our dogs are loved. Amila’s life has been less than perfect. In fact, it was the opposite, until March of this year. Amila (uh-mee-la) was found in an abandoned house with a chain around her neck. The chain had been around her neck for so long that it was embedded in her flesh, and had to be surgically removed. At this point, there was no telling how long she had been without food, or to what extent she was abused. Unsure if she would even recover, my aunt opened her home and heart to this little girl. Amila was introduced to my aunt’s 4 dogs, and they accepted her immediately. As her neck healed, she suffered through another setback. The chain that was embedded in her neck had exposed her to Tetanus. Others might have given up on her. Instead, my aunt moved forward with treatment. She knew Amila had a good heart … and deserved to live a full life.

I visited them this past weekend, and we took some photos of Miss Amila. Her neck is healing beautifully. Her personality is blooming. She’s the best. She’s playful and loving. She’s vibrant and smart. Her scars represent her past … but they also represent determination and love. It breaks my heart to imagine how bad her situation was before she was taken out of her terrible situation, but my heart sings when I see how far she’s come since then. I’m so thrilled that my aunt and uncle have decided to adopt Amila and make her a part of our big ol’ family. We love her … and I bet you would too. Enjoy!

My family and I are huge supporters of pet adoption (just ask our two mutts). Please visit the Human Society of Indianapolis online to see how you could help change the life of an animal in need. You might not be able to adopt, but they are always taking donations: food, litter, blankets, cages, etc. You can visit their website, or email Christine at cjeschke@indyhumane.org to see if you can help.