Morgan Niels-Jeske
“The Valentine Baby”
January 1, 2008 – February 5, 2010
Adopted into our family February 14, 2008

She no longer has the burden of an old body, but I’m going to miss her so much. Here’s an excerpt from the journal entry I wrote about her on Valentine’s Day of 2008. The best Valentine’s Day ever.

In my hands was a tiny, beautiful baby girl rat. Seriously, all I did was stare at her for the longest time. I couldn’t formulate any thoughts and I hardly dared hope that she was mine, so I kept asking stupid questions like “Where’d she come from?” and “What is she doing here?” I know I kind of made Ash nervous that I didn’t like her, but I was just in shock. And then when it finally started to dawn on me that this little girl was mine, I began to tear up and almost started crying. She’s so beautiful. She’s mostly white with a dark gray hood with a white line like a scar down her face to her nose and a dark gray spot on her back. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

We love you, Morgan.

There’s a new comic up over at The Family Menagerie. TFM is updated every Monday (regardless of when it’s actually done, I might add), so be sure to check out all the crazy antics that two girls and twenty-two pets come up with. Good times for all.

And who doesn’t love puppies and kittens?

P.S. Don’t forget about the current Poster Giveaway!

So, I have a favor to ask of you: there’s this group on Facebook called Maddie’s Corner (also found on twitter @MaddiesCorner), founded by Kristin Chenoweth (Galinda of Wicked, in tons of movies, was on American Idol tonight for those of you who don’t know her). They’re a pretty amazing organization that celebrates animals and the people who love animals. Well they’re holding a contest right now. The person who sends the most fans their way wins $1000 for any non-profit animal organization they want. We want that to be us.

Of course we want to try and get the money for the feral cat group that we volunteer for. It’s called Central Texas Feline Rescue and we’re a Trap-Neuter-Return group. We go out everyday, 365 days a year and feed the feral colonies that live in Austin and the Austin area. Almost every Tuesday we are out there trapping feral cats to have them spayed or neutered and given rabies shots before returning them to their colonies. We’re also an extremely small group, completely volunteer run. Most of everything we do comes out of our own pockets – our founder, Elizabeth spends the most to keep the group running. This year we TNR’d over 300 cats. Ash and I fostered a kitten we found on the streets and named her Mika. On Christmas Eve, she was adopted by some really wonderful people and they tell us she rules the household now.

$1000 would go far for this group. But we need your help. Here’s what you can do. Go to the Maddie’s Corner fanpage on Facebook and fan the group, or you can start following them on their twitter. Then post a comment/reply and tell them that Ashley Niels of @RescueAnimals sent you (Ash is in charge of the twitter account so they know her name). Make sure you add the RescueAnimals part since that’s the common name we’ve been using (on twitter and facebook). The more people the better so feel free to share this note.

Come on guys! With your help, we can win Central Texas Feline Rescue a much-needed $1000. They really deserve it. Thanks to everyone who helps us out! If you have any questions, please ask us and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Help the kittens! =^..^=

It doesn’t feel like it’s been seven months since he’s been gone. Last night my dreams were full of our Brodybear. I’m working on an art/design trade with the talented artist Rachael Rossman; I’ll be working on a new design for her and she’s painting a picture of Brody for me. Ash found a ton of pictures of Brody that I had never seen before when we went on a hunt for references for Rachael, and last night I poured over the images and cried and it just hit me that he’s not here. I’ve never really let myself think about it. He was taken from us far too soon. We saved him from a kill shelter, only to let his one dangerous habit get the best of him. I don’t know why he hated cars so much or why he felt he needed to protect us from them, but in the end, he died because we weren’t fast enough and the road was too close to the house, and there was just too much bad timing on so many people’s parts. I don’t think any of us will forgive ourselves.

Brody was the happiest dog you’d ever find. Always smiling, always playing; that dog laughed through life. He was our golden Dalai-Lama dog, from the day we picked him up from the pound one year ago. Has it really been a year? On the fifteenth of January, 2009, he came into our lives, a furry little skittish pup. He quickly took all of our lives by storm. He loved everyone, he loved the dogs, he loved water, he loved camping, he loved the world, even the worst of it. I miss him so much sometimes it hurts, and I try not to let it show, but there are times I feel like my world is caving in. I know he’s with Brandy waiting for us, two golden angels on the other side of the bridge, waiting far more patiently than we ever will. Time heals, but sometimes it’s also a punch in the gut.

I miss you, Brody.