Inside, Outside

It’s always interesting, looking out our bathroom window into the sun room.

You never know who might be looking back.

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Nicky the Nose kept starting at me, unmoving from that position, for quite some time!

What a face. :-D

The cat pile in the cuddle corner consists of Butterscotch and three of her babies; Bob, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Butterscotch is doing very well, with only the occasional cough/sneeze. Her eye was still leaking a bit, yesterday, and looked clear today.

Doom Guy, on the other hand, sounds terrible. His nose is plugged, and every now and then he starts making these weird coughing/sneezing/raspy noises when he breathes. I do think he’s actually getting better, but it’s hard to tell. Unfortunately, he wants lots of cuddles, at the least opportune times. The backs of my legs must be covered with scratches from him! His way of letting us know he wants up is by standing on his back legs and grabbing a leg. Which is rather painful! He also has not figured out that we can’t pick him up at all, if he’s attached himself to the back of our legs.

At least his energy levels are better. :-/

The Outsider, meanwhile, is quite enjoying being an inside cat.

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Her inside cat name is now Fenrir, and she has been expanding her explorations zones.

This is a problem.

She can fit behind the fish tank, which was quite a surprise. Yes, she’s tiny, but I didn’t think she was THAT tiny!

She has also managed to get up into the storage space above where the tank is, which was discovered by the sound of her landing in the tank lid, on the way down.

That space is jammed full of unknown stuff that we have not been able to get to; not very high on the priority list of things to clear away and pack up. There is at least one lamp up there, though. We can just see the top of it. It’s now tipped over and leaning against something we can’t see.

She is also determined to get up the shelf against the wall, next to my crafting table, as well as trying to get to the window on the wall. The side where the sill is narrower, of course, and too small for her to actually walk on. I have some stacking shelves on my work table, and several times now, I’ve come in to find it partly knocked down because she’s tried to use it to get to the top of the shelf against the wall. That top of that shelf has all sorts of breakable stuff on it, including two oil lamps and and antique electric lamp, among other things. I’ve been trying to position things to block the cats, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. DahBoy is also determined to get up there, but at least he hasn’t tried using my table shelves to do it. He was about 4 times what Fenrir does.

He and Fenrir are getting along better, but every now and then, he decides to chase her. I usually discover this by the sudden pain of being climbed as she runs up me to get away from him.

I am riddled with little cat scratches all over!

Fenrir has also been horrible about getting under our feet, and has been stepped on (though sometimes, just her long fur) a few times, now. Mostly by me. :-( Interestingly, when that happens and she howls and makes like she’s about to bat at the offending foot, our Mama cat goes on the attack and chases Fenrir. After this happened a few times, it seems like she’s defending me from Fenrir!

I’m really hoping to train her out of climbing my work table – and getting under our feet! – soon!

The Re-Farmer

So much for predictions

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It seems that every morning, when I check the weather, the cold snap keeps getting pushed further and further into the upcoming days. We should have been in the low -20s and high minus teens by now, but instead I woke up to -31C with a wind chill of -42C, and the cold is now supposed to continue through Monday. Last Monday, it was supposed to extend until today, then start warming up.

Ugh.

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Settled in

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DahBoy likes to settle in above my head, when I am at my desk.

This is an odd time of the month.

It’s one of the things about having an income that comes in once a month. It may make budgeting easier, but by the end of the month, things start running out. Then we’re left with the question of, is it worth driving to town to pick up a day or two’s worth of stuff, or do we wait the few days until we can do the big monthly shop? It’s more of a thing in January, too, as December gets all mixed up because of Christmas, and we end up not doing the big monthly shop, since the days we normally would do it fall on New Year’s. Instead of a Costco trip, we buy locally, and the prices are so much higher, we end up not as well stocked for the month.

Which is a long way of saying that, despite the cold, one of my daughters and I ended up going into town to pick up a few things.

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Brrr…

Today, this 4th day of Christmas, came in bright, clear and bitterly cold!

Part of my morning routine, after feeding the animals, is to switch out the memory card on the trail cam, which I’ve found I can’t do with gloves or mitts on. It was -25C this morning, with a “feels like” of -32C.

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Critter of the day: DahBoy

It occurred to me that I post lots of pictures of the outside cats, but almost none of the inside cats!

Then I tried to take pictures of them and realized why. They keep sticking their faces into the lens.

But I got a good one!

I remember when we first saw him, after his mom dragged him from who-knows-where, up to our balcony. He was the tiniest ball of fluff with a bright pink nose that had an itty bitty dark splotch on it. The spot got darker and bigger as he grew, and new ones appeared. I still love his splotchy little snoot!

The Re-Farmer

I missed you!

I had to make a quick trip into town this morning, and came home to DahBoy, waiting for me.

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Okay, so maybe he was just watching the action outside, and not really waiting for me, but it’s cute, either way. :-D

Plans have been changed for the day.  I’ve learned my mother is going to be released from hospital this afternoon.  They were actually going to kick her out this morning, against doctor’s orders and before confirmation for home care, but my brother talked them into making it this afternoon, as was originally being discussed.  I am waiting on my brother to let me know when they are leaving, so I can meet them at my mother’s and help out.

Which meant a planned trip into town this afternoon, to drop some stuff off at the lab for my husband, got done this morning, instead.

Home care for my mother won’t start until tomorrow, but thankfully, my older brother will be able to stay overnight with my mother and be available for her until then.  If he hadn’t already worked that out, chances are I’d be doing it.  Hopefully, if my mother does need help with stuff beyond home care, she’ll call me, at a 20 minute drive away, instead of my brother, who is about an hour and a half away!

I think she is going to be glad to be home, and away from the noise and bustle of the hospital.

The Re-Farmer