First and foremost I just want to announce that I finally finished my career course in Wildlife/Forestry Conservation and Management! =D I still completed it a bit ahead of time despite getting behind a little bit! Now I have another accomplishment I can add to my resume!



So! The battle is over and I'm pretty dang sure I got rid of the ringworm. My chinchilla is back happily in his cage with all new toys and ledges and my foster kittens have all been adopted. Meerca and Mari went to a home together =D which is what I wanted for them – they love each other so much. Clear the Shelter Day was on the 15th. It was c-r-a-z-y! I've never EVER seen it SO busy. Everywhere in the shelter was full of people. Tons of animals were getting adopted left and right so it definitely was a success.

My foster kitten Mew had a rough vet visit and possibly had a bad reaction to the anesthetic or her eardrum was punctured so her balance is a bit off. She seems to be doing MUCH better now! She is actually #8. Yes, we adopted her. Now we have two off balance black cats! I just couldn't let her go. She’s been through so much and now with her balance issue I worried about her. Koda has cerebellar hypoplasia and Mew’s condition is similar…other than it was done TO her and she wasn’t born with balance issues.


Clear the Shelter Day was on the 15th. It was c-r-a-z-y! I've never EVER seen it SO busy. Everywhere in the shelter was full of people. Tons of animals were getting adopted left and right so it definitely was a success.

I feel so much better now that I can breathe in my own home again. For a while there it just felt like a prison. That wore and tore on me big time. BUT Will and I have made it through. It also helped knowing that we had a mini vacay to Luray, VA.

It was great. We’d never been to the Shenandoah Mountains before so we spent most of the trip up there. We hiked to Hawksbill Summit which is the highest peak in the park; 4,050ft. The views are amazing. We were going to take another trail to Dark Hollow Falls but the park rangers were turning people away saying it was closed and would be open the next day. They didn’t say why and weren't saying why either. Our guess was that someone got hurt or maybe there was a black bear in the area.

Big Meadows was pretty cool and we walked around there during the evening time. Saw tons of deer and they walked right past us! There were more trails I would have liked to hike but we weren’t exactly equipped for all that. Next time we plan on staying actually in the Shenandoah Park and hiking to different areas or maybe camping…if I can convince Hubby that is xP.



We also did probably about half of Skyline Drive and stopped off at many over looks. We spent over 3 hours driving through the mountains. I bet it’s unbelievable in the fall with all the different colored leaves. They say that’s a busy time of year. I want to plan for that maybe next fall season =) .

The Woodruff Inn/House was great as usual! The first night we had the whole place to ourselves so we hung out on the deck in the hot tub looking up at the stars. We saw at least five shooting stars while we were out there! We’ve been there numerous times and we just can’t get enough of the rooftop suite.

Instead of going to the actual Luray Caverns this time ‘round, we went to the Skyline Caverns instead; definitely not as big as Luray but still nice to see. Our tour group was pretty large and there were foreign kids in it that didn’t exactly know how to behave. As we were trying to listen to the tour guide they just kept talking and carrying on so it was hard to hear the history and information of the place. The parents could understand English but the kids couldn’t so the mom was translating everything for them even when they seemed completely uninterested anyway. She was over talking the tour guide and the kids were over talking her. So Will and I quietly let ourselves fall to the back of the line to relieve ourselves of the jumble of words being passed.

We also went to the Luray Zoo again. I always tell myself that I can skip it this time but never do. Hey, it was only $5 per person – even if it is a small zoo I still like going. They are a rescue zoo and some of their animals were previous pets. Snuggles, the porcupine, actually imprinted on humans and loves human interaction. Also, it’s the only place I know of that has a King Cobra, my favorite snake.


That pretty much sums up my trip – we have a family reunion coming up in Sept. It’s been 11 years! Excited to go up the incline plane again! We haven’t decided if we are going anywhere for our 9 year anniversary in Nov. I think we are settling on getting a PS4 and maybe dinner or something =)

I can't wait for fall. I love the cooler nights and just the smell of fall in general. I'll eat basically pumpkin ANYTHING and enjoy carving them. I always love going to a farm to pick out my pumpkin rather than just buying one fromthe store - that just takes the fun out of it! Corn Mazes, hayrides, leaves changing colors, campfires, s'mores, and halloween; my favorite holiday probably just because it's in the fall! (Not to mention I like dressing up xP).