Boo Boo: The Best Little Old Man Cat

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." --James Herriot

Alright ladies and gentlemen, get the tissues out now. It’s going to be hard for me to write this so I can imagine it’s going to be an emotional, bitter sweet read. From day 1 Boo Boo was the most annoying cat in the world and by that I mean the sweetest, loudest, most snuggly, bony pawed, skinny, sleepy, happy, and caring cat I’ve ever met. 

Let’s back it up a minute. Boo Boo has a sob story beginning, which leads up to his adoption into the house of happy fluffs (our house/family) by us. Boo Boo obtained his unfortunate and extreme non-manly name from his previous owners, you guessed it,  an elderly couple. He was apparently the husband’s cat and up until his passing he was taken care of extremely well. His death lead to his wife’s slow decline and dementia. After a week of forgetting about the pets she owned her daughter came to visit, realized the situation and went to work. She contacted Will’s Mom to see if we could foster the cat, which of course we did. Sadly, he came to us with a whole list of problems:

1. SERIOUS gum disease and rotten teeth
2. Malnutrition
3. Nails growing into his paw pads
4. Neglect  
5. Aloof and doesn’t like people….supposedly

He immediately went to the vet before we even got him and went on meds and got his nails trimmed and paw pads cauterized. After pain meds and a tooth surgery he was deemed super fit or as fit as a 14 year old cat could be after all that. Now this cat was skinny… and I mean skinny. His favorite thing to do was walk on our faces in the middle of the night and scream with his extremely stinky breath in our faces. Needless to say I was not a fan and didn’t see us adopting him. Meanwhile, Will had fallen in love with him. The surgery also helped clear up that gross breath so it was slightly better. He had blood work done as well and the vet told us he had the blood work of a cat half his age. Good for that old man :). Such a trooper.

The second this cat walked in to our house we knew whoever said he was aloof must have be delusional. He ran up to everyone, yelled until he was pet and snuggled for hours on end. He was hands down the sweetest thing in the world and he won both of our hearts. It didn’t even take 2 days and he was officially adopted into our family. There he received an insane amount of love and food and finally became a healthy weight and pretty dang handsome. 

His favorite thing to do? Sleep. He could sleep anywhere…especially on hard surfaces in awkward positions. For example: upside down with one leg on the table bar and his face rammed in between the floor and the bar, halfway on the cat scratcher and halfway upside down, fully upside down, etc.  He also liked jumping on the bedside table, skidding across it and shoving everything on top on the floor in the process. He was a mess, but he was our mess. It just made him more endearing. Other than sleeping his favorite thing to do was purr. If you looked at this car he would start to purr. I don’t mean normal cat purrs. I mean purring so loudly you could hear him across the room. He was permanently happy the second we brought him home and demanded pets so he could start purring even harder. If purring were an olympic sport Boo Boo would hold the world record for the most gold medals won. He’s pretty incredible. 

Boo Boo always loved men more and Will became his favorite person on Earth. You could also find him curled up next to him on the couch, sitting on his chest while Will tried to play video games or smacking and yelling Will demanding attention. I eventually became his second favorite and he always visited me while I was sitting on the floor after dinner working on something or reading. 

Around Thanksgiving things started to go downhill. He had 3 seizures in 2 days and after 5 hours at the emergency vet, tears, and extreme anxiety we got to take him home with some medication that would hopefully help. The seizures are super rare in cats, especially so many and we ruled out everything but brain issues as the cause. During his seizures Atlas, our dog, brought Boo Boo every toy he could find and was deeply concerned the whole time. Boo Boo even won over all the pets in the house. He was the coolest little guy ever. 

His meds helped, but he started to lose weight. By the week before Christmas he had lost 2 pounds, and his muscles started to deteriorate in his hind legs, plus he slept more and just wasn’t quite the same. What made us call it was when he started not using the litter box. We would put him in and he would jump right out and pee or poop on the floor. He just wasn’t living the quality of life he deserved and we knew it was time. We had one last day with him and cried pretty much the entire time while non-stop loving on Boo Boo. 

The day of we took Boo Boo to Petsmart and brought Atlas along for support. We were wrecks. The Petsmart crew was super sweet and understanding. We spent a few more minutes with him and they gave him an injection and made sure he didn’t feel any pain. We were there until the end and a little after. I’ve never had to put a pet down before and it pretty much ripped my heart out. I can only imagine what it would be like for a pet that I’ve had longer than 1.5 years. 

After 1.5 years this cat left a huge imprint on both of our lives. Everyone who came over always told us how cool of a cat he was. We tried to give him the best life possible and loved every second we had with him. We just wish we could’ve had more. Boo Boo was really something special and a cat who I will never forget. Rest In Peace buddy. I hope you are up there drinking from all the water bowls and toilets you can find and are sleeping on all the weird, hard surfaces. Make sure you yell at everyone to pet you. You deserve it. 

A week after we put Boo Boo to sleep we baked cookies and brought it to the staff for being so sweet. They looked at us like we had grown 2 heads, but were super happy about it. I doubt anyone else baked them cookies for something like that. A few days later I got a letter in the mail from them. I opened it assuming that it was a thank you note. I was not prepared at all for what it really was. It was a “sorry for your loss note” and everyone in the clinic had signed it. I immediately burst into tears on my front porch, walked inside, showed Will and we ended up hugging it out and crying together. 

Pets made the world a better place. Boo Boo absolutely changed my life for the better and I hope he felt the same about us. We love you Boo Boo. 

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."--Anatole France

River Park North Walkies!

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."--Albert Einstein

Greenville is a good town if you’re  a college student, if you’re in the medical field or a police officer. If you’re an alumni who has loved her time at ECU, graduated, moved on and seen more of the world and now finds herself back in Greenville… well you make the most of it. River Park North is an unexpected oasis in this student oriented town. It is located near the airport aka in the middle of nowhere, but just in case you want a crazy night on the town it’s next to the local bingo establishment. I digress.

I found this park 1 month before I graduated from ECU in 2011 and subsequently forgot about it. I’m super glad I was reminded of it and got to spend time there recently. Since moving back, I’ve been twice with Will and Atlas and it was so worth it based solely on how happy it made our fluffy boy, not to mention us. We love hiking and Atlas was born for walkies so it was the perfect day trip that was only a 5 minute drive away from our house. 

The park isn’t in the best part of town, but it is extremely well-maintained, staffed and everyone who goes there are families. There are kayaks and paddleboat you can rent, which is absolutely going to happen when it gets warm. You can fish and go hiking on lots of different trails. The cool thing is that if you have cut fishing line they have special recycling tubes so it doesn’t get caught in the wildlife or stuck in the regular trash that ends up in the oceans. We went on a relatively warm day and walked on the long trail along the 2 lakes and through the swamp land with lots of beautiful places to take pictures. There are even playgrounds for kids and a nature center for educational purposes. 

The mosquitos get really bad if you go on the dirt paths off the main loop, which is exactly what we did. They lulled us in to a false sense of security by waiting until we were 5 minutes in to our walk on this trail to start attacking us ruthlessly and stealing our blood. At this point, Atlas was attacked by a bee that was on the ground and got stung on his paw. So while we were under siege we had to carry a 55lb upset dog. Luckily his paw didn’t swell up and he quickly forgot it ever happened. Minus the bug invasions it is the perfect place to wear out your pup!

Just in case all of that isn’t enough we ran around in a few of the fields that overlook the playground and one of the lakes. It would be the perfect place to have an off leash dog park…just saying. The next time we go we’re going to take advantage of one of the shelters with small grills installed. It’s pretty much the perfect place to spend the day if you like being outside. We’ve only been twice and had a lot of fun minus the bee sting and mosquitos, but now that it’s colder it is absolutely perfect for family shenanigans. Bring it on! 

"Just living is not enough...one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."--Hans Christian Anderson

Loreta's Halloween Doggy Costume Contest!

"You don't need a silver fork to eat good food."--Paul Prudhomme

OM NOM NOM! Those are just a few words that come to mind when someone mentions Loreta’s frozen yogurt in my presence. I consider myself an ice cream aficionado and Loreta’s is grade A 100% delicious. 

A quick trip to their website took me down their memory lane and made me like them even more for reasons I’ll get to in a minute and in a few paragraphs as I randomly remember them. That’s just how my brain works. Okay back to the story.  Loreta’s was named after the owner’s mother who had no idea her daughter was even opening a store much less naming it in her honor. The daughter had always loved mom and pop locally owned businesses and decided to open her own. She values her high quality food products and great service which are absolutely great descriptors of this unique and fun loving frozen yogurt establishment. They even visit stores every where they go in order to get new ideas they can incorporate to their business. I love it when overachievers go in to great businesses!

Toppings abound in Loreta’s. If you can think of it, it is most likely there. There are lots of ice cream flavors that change frequently as well so it never, ever, ever gets boring. They even make their own cookies and stick a giant scoop of fro-yo in the middle and sell them as deliciously decadent sandwiches. They also have really unique trashcans you can fill with ice cream! They usually end up looking like tiny monsters and it’s really cute. 

Guess what they also have? Doggy ice cream, outside seating for dogs and their owners, and Halloween dog/owner costume contests. They even have the “Dog Days of Summer” where if your dog brings its human they (the dog) gets free ice cream. Clearly our dog has his priorities in order and brought us frequently. It didn’t take much persuasion on his part. 

This was the first year we participated in the Halloween Costume Contest. Guess what? We won most creative. BOOYAH! We dressed up as a family and I was beyond excited. I spent over 8 hours making the entire costume from scratch. My dog went as the house from Disney’s “Up!”; I was Russel (the little boy) and my boyfriend went as Carl (the old man). I made Atlas’s costume from lots of cardboard and tape. I hand painted everything and got balloons for it! It turned out way better than I thought it would. I made the Russel costume as well and did old age makeup on my boyfriend. In short, we went all out. 

One thing I LOVE is that Loreta’s gives back to the local animal shelter in the area. Every event they have, including the Halloween costume contest, they bring out the adoptable dogs for the festivities so they can get more social time as well as parade their cuteness around for more potential adopters! It really shows how much they care by the effort they put in to giving back to animal shelters. At the costume contest, they adoptable dogs were dressed up as well. We got to parade around the pavilion and show off the costumes as they called off our names. Some of my favorites were Wiggle Weight Champion with trainers, doggy avengers, bride to be chocolate lab, and a super cute piñata. 

All in all we had an insane amount of fun and LOVED winning our first ever Halloween Costume Contest. Loreta’s does a really cool thing that I’ve never seen before. They have an iPad that is connected to their website that shows a live stream of everyone enjoying the festivities and ice cream! 

Loreta’s is the place to be if you love great service, DELICIOUS frozen yogurt and sharing good times with family including your four legged family members. It’s out favorite yogurt place in town. We can’t get enough!

"The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating."--John Walters

B's BBQ The Best in Town

"Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."--Mark Twain

Do you enjoy barbecue that is lean, juicy, slow cooked, and seasoned to perfection?? How about great service and a family operated business that is a local legend? B's BBQ delivers on all of those levels. Every.Single.Time

(Photo by Travis Dove)

I first heard about this "hole in the wall" restaurant when I first lived in Greenville, NC from 2007-2011. I went my first time in 2010 and am so upset to say that I've only had the chance to go once more 5 years later. I'm convinced life doesn't want me to be insanely over the top food happy 100% of the time so it has to throw curveballs that keep me away from the best barbecue of my life by shoving work and school in the way. If only they delivered!

I'm getting way ahead of myself. B's BBQ is quite literally a little hole in the wall TINY restaurant in Greenville, NC. It started as a fixer upper. The owner, the late Bill McLawhorn, bought an old country store and made it in to the restaurant that it is today. The McLawhorn family is still very involved and can be found behind the counter every single day. It just wouldn't be the same without that family run aspect.

Just how good is it? Picture this. B's opens for lunch every Tuesday through Saturday and by 11 they have almost always sold out of their entire stock. This cash only business does not have a telephone so don't plan on calling ahead to check if they have run out of food! People leave with large (think microwave sized) boxes filled with nothing but the delicious BBQ and yummy sides of potatoes and green beans with some hush puppies added in for good measure. Even re-heated the food is great if that is any indicator and there's no gross greasy residue you want to avoid like most reheated dinners.

Staying true to their roots they haven't expanded or opened another restaurant. Everyone behind the counter knows the regulars by name and their orders by heart. They rely on word of mouth for their business and oh my goodness has it worked out for them. They've appeared in numerous magazines touting the title of one of the top places to eat not in the city, but in the state. These people know BBQ. I don't know about you, but most southerners like myself are picky about BBQ. Wars have almost started on the simple argument of BBQ sauce base...vinegar or ketchup. Even if you're the pickiest BBQ aficionado B's won't disappoint.

B's is not what you would call an upscale establishment.  The restaurant consists of a few booths inside and I would describe is as cozy and shabby in the most endearing way possible. The service is great, but you will almost always find a line out the door. No worries though. There are plenty of characters to talk to who will regale you with stories about their favorite meal there or just great stories in general while waiting in the relatively fast-moving line.

Everyone who knows me knows I LOVE to bring my dog everywhere. They recently added a few picnic tables outside for more seating. Lots of people end up eating in their cars that are parked in the parking lot and that line the street on both sides. Yes it is actually that popular every day. The street was even named B's Barbecue Street. This place is a legend for foodies.  Okay back to my dog. The picnic tables outside let me bring my dog and another plus? I can order from the take out window on the side of the building so my dog doesn't have to wait in my car. (Don't worry I leave the car running and the AC on in the summer).

(Photo by Travis Dove)

If your tummy is grumbling make sure you get to B's early and stock up on the super delicious and very well-priced noms that they have to offer. I know I'm going to go back soon. For the first time, I only live 10 minutes away. This could get dangerous! Check it out for yourself at 751 B's Barbecue Road in Greenville, NC.


"Food is our common ground, a universal experience." --James Beard