A new Maine Coon Kitten Family member (Ruff) is coming by year end ...

[jdandy]

Terry.......Looks like Rascal is living the Life of Riley.

[tigerhonaker]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Terry.......Looks like Rascal is living the Life of Riley.

Hi Dan,

You know I almost used that same comment but then I thought maybe no one would know what I was saying.

Rascal is most assuredly living the Dream IMO buddy.


T.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by tigerhonaker

Hi Dan,

You know I almost used that same comment but then I thought maybe no one would know what I was saying.

Rascal is most assuredly living the Dream IMO buddy.


T.

Terry.......Funny you should mention people not understanding the expression Life of Riley. I thought the same thing as I made the post. Sort of dates us.

[tigerhonaker]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Terry.......Funny you should mention people not understanding the expression Life of Riley. I thought the same thing as I made the post. Sort of dates us.

Dan,

That's for sure buddy.


Terry

[tigerhonaker]

Hello,

Below are examples of what Rascal does when Dad is around.


Here he is this morning as I am going through E-Mails on the computer.

As you can see below he gets really (Relaxed} ...

Below picture 1-rear-paw on computer keyboard ...





Below he decided to get more comfortable so has both rear-paws on computer keyboard.








He left for a bit to get a drink and came right back and decided this was a good spot to hang-out and watch Dad.




The pictures below are in the kitchen breakfast area while I'm eating a Salad for Lunch.

He was upstairs and all of a sudden realized Dad has left.

So I look up and who has arrived to see what's going on and what is Dad doing.















Terry

[tigerhonaker]

Hi everyone,

I'm not the best by any stretch of the imagination a good, Story-Teller but here goes.

I feel like I should take this back to the beginning so it will make sense to anyone that reads it.

This story is all about me researching to find a Maine Coon Breeder I felt I could trust.

This is going to be a story about a person Michelle (Mickey) I met over the INTERNET back in August 2016.

I found the Maine Coon Cattery by the name of Maine Delite Cattery in Dublin, Ohio USA while doing my research.
I had already spent many-many hours, days and weeks looking at every Maine Coon Cattery that bordered Tennessee the state I live in.
What I found was some really, Very Bad/Pitiful catteries while doing my research.
I even contacted one (No Name being Mentioned) and soon found out it was not even close to what I was looking for.
I also found that some were simply people that had a male and female and breeding them.
They actually had no real idea about the Maine Coon Breed at all.
They sure were not in anyway concerned over, improving the breed or honestly worrying about their overall health as in genetic disorders for the Maine Coon Breed.
Then even worse to me or certainly what I really disliked were the catteries that were simply doing it as "Strictly" Big-Business.
Those places had in some cases really elaborate INTERNET sites until you really got into the depth of their overall operation.
What you soon found out was they simply were breeding their Maine Coons as FAST as Possible and doing Big-Numbers !!!

So, moving right along now but I do feel like I needed to do a quick overview of why I ended up picking Maine Delite Cattery and Mickey the owner.
Below is an exert from her Web site that instantly got and held my attention.

The Maine Coon Cattery is closed to outside breeding and we are

firmly dedicated to the health and welfare of our Maine Coons.

We are a small Maine Coon Breeder located near Columbus, Ohio that takes great pride in developing home raised Maine Coon Cats that are not only bred with the intention of preserving the breed standard,
but developing valuable family treasures. Our Maine Coon breeding cats are tested for FIV, FELV and for the MyBPC HCM. Testing methods include -


DNA sampling through the Washington State & North Carolina State University Veterinary Cardiac Genetics Lab Cardiac Ultrasound by Ohio State University Vet Hospital by a Board Certified Cardiologist.
Screening for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) All breeding cats are Negative for HCM - on going testing is conducted yearly.

The more I took the time to read on her Web Site the more impressed I became.
I spent some days going over everything on her INTERNET Site and believe me it is "Extensive".

So, decision was made and deposit was made and I get an E-Mail from Mickey either that day or the very next.
(I honestly don't recall which day but it was a Super-Fast-Response)

I sent Mickey the link to the post I did on having to have tiger put to sleep on July 12th 2016.
My companion for 16-years died Tuesday July 12th
I think that Post with it's, Heart-Felt content touched Mickey's heart and below is that story I wish to share.I also told Mickey what I was looking for in a Maine Coon Kitten.
Well the best way I know how to say this is to keep it simple and to the point.
We just seemed to hit it off with one another right off the bat, so to speak.
I stayed in touch with her and she did the same with me.

Then, Cathy & I were talking about Mickey and the incoming new born kittens soon to arrive.
I told Cathy, heck with E-Mailing I'm just going to call Mickey and we can both chat with her.
So, made the call and as we asked our joint questions to Mickey she at some point said to us, I have a Special kitten I call, my Big-Red-Boy.
I have 1-picture of him on the kitten page you guys can see if you go there.
We were on the computer already and were on her INTERNET Site so it was easy to go where she directed us.
And sure enough there was a picture of her holding a little Red kitten she spoke of.
We had seen the picture before while on her site but honestly neither of us payed much attention to it as it had No-Pricing or Availability with the picture.
So we simply thought it was a picture of one of her kittens that maybe she had once upon a time.
Anyway, Mickey says something like, Terry I'm thinking & considering, maybe letting you Adopt my, Big-Red-Boy she ended up naming, Rascal.
She also said something like, I have not made my mind up but I'm going to give it some more thought and consideration and will let you know.
The other thing I recall she asked me was, Terry I know you said you were wanting a kitten that had the color of Riggs which is not the Red color of Rascal.
So, are you interested in Adopting Rascal if I decide to let you do that with him being a Red ???
Cathy said YES I think before I could say Yes to Mickey that we both loved the Red color of Rascal.
Not long after that conversation as in days I received an E-Mail that said something like, Terry I made my decision, if you want to Adopt Rascal I'll let you ???
If you Do-Not wish to take him when he gets to 12-weeks he is NOT-for-Sale, period as he will be staying with me.
I responded ASAP with a Confirmed, Yes !!!

There is much more to this story on Mickey so keep reading.

Little did I realize how special Rascal really was as a Male Maine Coon Kitten to Mickey and her Cattery.

But as time passed and a lot more on going communication between us I slowly got much more educated.

I hope I don't mess the following up to bad but I think the following will give you guys the general idea.
Turned out that Taylor (Mom) & Riggs (Dad) were coming to an end for their breeding as a pair.
And Rascal was a Single in a litter from them.
Well Rascal was going to eventually replace Riggs his (Dad) as a Male Breeder.
Because Rascal met the following criteria from her WEB-SITE,

Top Show/Breeder Quality

Quote:
-These cats meet and exceed the expectations for show possibilities, and have the potential to carry the highest awards in show titles. In this case we would keep this quality of cat to be shown and continue in our breeding program. These kittens are rarely sold and if considered for sale would be candidates for qualified experienced breeders for the show and breeding possibilities.

$3000.00 minimum(Sold with restricted breeding terms)

So, here is the Real, (Rest-of-the-Story) ............
By Mickey letting me Adopt Rascal she now did not have Rascal as this Top Show / Breeder Quality replacement kitten for Riggs for Breeding and or Showing.

Now that I have told and shared with you all what I wanted to on Mickey and her letting Cathy & I adopt Rascal.

I also think I should mention that not only does Mickey do the Cattery by herself she also manages Univenture as the President of it.
So my point is for a lady that would think about a Stranger they just met over the INTERNET with all they have going on in their life.
Like also raising a Family virtually by herself I just felt very strongly I wanted to do something to show my sincere thanks.

I took my Time and gave the following lots & lots & lots of thought as to how in the world could I show Mickey how much I appreciated what she had actually done and sacrificed for me/us.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm some kind of Genius but I do think I did a pretty darn good job of what I ended up doing.
Not only will you be able to see what I did but you all will also get to see and hear what actually took place when Mickey received her Thank-You from me.
(Marilyn, Mickey's long time friend since they were 11-years old make them friends for over 50-years videoed it from Front to End)
Not only did Marilyn do that but she also actually took over getting the Fed Ex, Next-Day-Air box delivered to Mickey at her house.
The Fed Ex box was actually delivered to Mickey's warehouse and not the Cooperate Offices where Mickey is the President of Univenture.
Disc Packaging - Clear Envelopes - Custom Binders | Univenture, Inc.
Marilyn took charge after we hung up on the phone and got the necessary parties involved to deliver the Fed Ex box to Mickey that evening at her home in Dublin, Ohio.
If that was not enough, Marilyn also drove from Indianapolis, Indiana to Dublin, Ohio which is a 2 1/2 hour drive to do the video I spoke of above.
Marilyn also has a Maine Coon Cattery called, Maine Glory Cattery in Indiana.
Maine Glory Cattery - Home
Thank-You, Marilyn for all your valuable assistance for the following to have taken place.
(It could not have happened without you)

Below are the pictures of exactly what I did, step by step in the process.
(At the end of the pictures I will post the video of Mickey actually opening the gifts; thanks again to Marilyn)

This is Marilyn at one of the Maine Coon Cat Shows recently.



And of course below is Mickey with Me and also Cathy a few weeks ago.









What you are going to see below are the Finished products.
It actually took me weeks to get all this completed.
Some of it I had to have redone 3-4 times to get it to meet my expectations.


(1)

Below is the Cover Sheet on the Huge White Envelope the Custom Greeting Card will be in,
(I used 2-way tape to install the picture to the White Envelope)





Here is the Custom Greeting Card 18" x 24"

Front cover,




Left inside,




Right inside,




Rear page,




(2)

Custom designed Wristlet,



















Below are the Gift-Cards to, PetPeople which is the Pet Store Mickey goes to.
I got hold of a Community Relations Manager at PetPeople's Home Office to assist me.
(Terri that I worked with also threw in an extra two (2) $25.00 Dollar Gift Cards)
These went in the, Custom Designed Wristlet.



I took the time to actually put everything in a separate envelope and named each as to which to open.







I went to Fed Ex and worked with a lady that we both made sure everything went into a Hard-Box so nothing would be Bent or Damaged in shipping.
She even used additional Bubble-Wrap to further Protect the contents.
I chose, Next-Day-Air to limit how many people would be actually handling the Fed Ex Box.
It arrived intact as you will see in the video below as Mickey opens it.







Okay this is what I think so many of you like myself and Cathy will totally enjoy.
The actual video Marilyn took of Mickey opening the Fed Ex box and all it's content at her home.
Now people if this does not Touch & Warm your Heart then you don't have one.
The person you will hear in the background is Marilyn and she is telling Mickey that Terry said to take your time and be very careful opening each thing.
I love Marilyn to death she is one Super-Sweet-Lady !!!
Also, Lindsey, Mickey's daughter even came over to watch it all take place.
(Lindsey might have delivered the Fed Ex Box to her Mom)


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THKgVhWLwPw[/ame]


Mickey this post is done to show others just how special a lady you are,
Rascal's dad Terry

[jdandy]

Terry.......You and Cathy are such kind people to go to that length to thank Mickey.

That was REALLY cool.

[tigerhonaker]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Terry.......You and Cathy are such kind people to go to that length to thank Mickey.

That was REALLY cool.

Hi Dan,

You know there are INTERNET Sites that to be honest the majority of members IMHO (In-My-Honest-Opinion) have little to No-Class.

I would not even go to the trouble of doing a post like the one above on those INTERNET Sites.

This INTERNET Site does have a heck of a lot of members that I think can appreciate seeing and reading a post like the above.

I actually have put off posting this because I kept thinking if there was an INTERNET Site I am a member of that the people would actually appreciate what I posted and understand it's real true meaning.

I think I have picked the right place to share it.

Terry

[tigerhonaker]

Hello pet lovers,

Well what's the latest on the Rascal kitten ???

He has a new much larger bed now on the desk beside my computer.

It just arrived yesterday and because of it's Larger Size I had to make a quick trip over to Home Depot for some Two-Sided carpet tape.

I had measured to desk to see how large a bed would fit and knew it would require the 2-sided-tape to hole it in place.

This bed is really so cool as it is Super Soft and a Thick Cushion with nice high soft sides for him to lie against.

Yes, you all know I took pictures and I also took a few videos but as usual can't load them into photobucket.

Below is the older bed I was using for him but it was obvious it was not going to be of much use as he got lots bigger.


The Smaller Desk Pad/Bed.





Here are pictures of the New much "Larger" and "Softer" Pad/Bed below.
I carefully measured the desk so I knew the correct dimensions for the Larger size to fit.
It is large enough that even when Rascal gets to full size he will still be able to use it.













I knew I was going to need to use the "Carpet-2-Sided Tape" to hold it in the correct place.
That tape worked perfect to hold it in place as Rascal JUMPS over to it from the Cat Stand over to the right of the desk where the Pad/Bed is located.

(Yes, I used a lot of the Carpet Tape to make doggone sure Rascal was not going to Throw the Pad/Bed and himself onto the floor)









Below the new Super-Soft Pad/Bed is installed and it ain't gonna move/slide, ever.









You can tell from the below pictures he has a lot of room to grow into the new Pad/Bed.

















And as I type this post he also (Prefers) to be where ???????????????

You see for yourself.

This is his (Preference) if I'm on the computer.
He knows he is totally (Safe) and can sleep away with No-Worries as Dad is right there for Protection if needed.

[jdandy]

Terry.......Rascal sure is getting big. He is a beautiful Maine Coon Cat. It is fun to watch him grow and become a part of your family.