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Imprint

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I had quite a laugh while doing my rounds this morning!

Butterscotch, I’m happy to say, is doing much better. She eagerly joined me after I put out all the critter food and water, and went to continue my rounds. She even wanted to be picked up and carried, right away, and was busily trying to rub her face all over me.

Which I still don’t want her doing. Her eye and nose may not be leaking much anymore, but they are still a bit on the damp side. ;-)

There is one spot on my path along the spruce grove that the cats tend to catch up with me, and today, Beep Beep was eager for some attention, too. So for a while, I hat two cats on my shoulders and in my arms, trying to rub on me. No surprise that they knocked off my hat. I couldn’t pick it up until after I changed the memory card on the trail came, then got them off my shoulders.

After putting it back on, I found this.

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Cat Routine

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What a day it is turning out to be, today!

It’s supposed to be the last colder day, today (which has since been extended another day). Though it’s supposed to warm up to -9C this afternoon, high winds are expected to make things chillier. Which has translated to a day with sunny skies and calm one minute, blustering snow and low visibility the next, then back again!

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I just wanted to share this picture I took of Rolando Moon yesterday morning, before I took the video I posted yesterday. She was so funny, up on the bird feeder. She wouldn’t come down until I started adding more feed to the platform for the birds. :-D

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It didn’t take her long to get back up again, and she spent quite a bit of time up there, watching the birds, deer and other cats, from on high.

After seeing Butterscotch’s condition yesterday, we kept checking out the bathroom window to see how she was doing. She stayed in there for much of the day, sitting on my late father’s favorite swing bench. At one point, she had 5 other cats all bundled around her!

I managed to get a picture of this, through the window.

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Morning cats (videos)

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The outside cats have been quite entertaining, the last couple of days.

Before heading out to do my rounds yesterday morning, I saw Beep Beep going up one of the trees outside my window – soon followed by Slick. I figured they were heading for the roof again.

When I got to the feeding station, I found Beep Beep, out on a limb. :-D

I think this was her way to get away from the boys!

Now I know why I’m finding small branches where the path I made around the house turns. She’s directly above that spot! :-)

Then, this morning, I went to the feeding station and found the platform feeder occupied.

Ah, Rolando Moon. So violent in her friendliness!

Not all in the morning rounds is fun stuff, though.

Normally, when I do my rounds, Butterscotch comes to join me. The last couple of days, I never saw her at all; not even curled up in the sun room. The last time I’d seen her was when I took her picture, in this post. When I didn’t see her at all for so long, I feared the worst.

This morning, while I was putting food and water out in the sun room, suddenly she was there! She is still not looking good. One eye had been leaking, and it was stuck shut. She seemed to be cough-sneezing a lot, too. But she was eating and drinking, and moving around more sprightly than the last time I saw her, so that’s encouraging. I do hope the warming weather we’re supposed to have is a help to her. According to the long term forecast, we’re supposed to be just below freezing in about a week, then actually go above freezing!

We’ll see if that actually happens.

The Re-Farmer

All set, and checking things out

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Yesterday was a fairly long day, as the girls and I made another trip into the city. Which should be the last supply trip needed. From now on, anything we’ll need over the month can be picked up locally.

Of course, before we headed out, I fed the critters. As I was putting food and water in the sun room, I discovered I had some quiet company.

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Getting Steamed

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We got to try out the new bamboo steamers last night, and these are the results!

First up; pork and mushroom bao.

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I was sure I’d bought some frozen bao, but I looked at so many things, I think I actually bought the in-house made bao at the same counter I got the dumplings. Either that or the buns were completely thawed out by the time we got home. Since the other frozen food wasn’t, that seems unlikely.

They were the first things my daughter prepared in the steamer. The instructions I found suggested putting something as a liner in the steamer, such as cabbage leaves or parchment paper, so food wouldn’t stick. These already had their own little parchment papers under them, so no extra liner was needed.

The dough was satiny soft and tender, and they were delicious. They did tend to stick a tiny bit to their papers, which is much better that than sticking to the steamer tray! :-)

The variety tray of dumplings I got had so many that, even with 3 steamer trays holding 5 dumplings each, they had to be cooked in batches. These also did not need anything to line the trays, since they are each wrapped in their own little cabbage leaf.

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The first batch was pork dumplings.

Definitely my favourites. I realize these are just “grocery story” dumplings, and I’m sure purists would be quite unimpressed, but boy did they ever hit the spot. Meaty and juicy and full of flavour!

The tray also included seafood dumplings; about half as many as the pork ones.

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Personally, I found them too strongly fishy in taste; something my daughters did not find at all. There isn’t a lot of seafood I like, so the girls happily ate the rest of my share! :-D They preferred these to the pork ones. The dumplings were big, heavy and dense with seafood. No skimping, here!

The store we got these at have other varieties that were not included in the mixed tray I got, and we look forward to trying others the next time we shop there!

Now that we’ve broken the steamers in and have an idea of how to use them, it’s time to break out some of my cook books. I have dim sum recipes that I would love to try out!

The Re-Farmer

All Stocked up – and trying something new

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One of the nice things about February being such a short month is, pay comes in a bit early. Which meant we got to do our monthly shop before we started running out of too many things!

The trip to the city wasn’t quite uneventful. Not far from our driveway, there are open fields on both sides of the road. We’ve had some very high winds for the past couple of days, but not a lot of snow, so I wasn’t expecting to hit several small drifts across the road in a row.

Then we reached the big drifts.

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Paths

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Today, I finally was able to get outside and use the new electric snow blower around the house. I really wanted to get it done while the weather was still good; we’re supposed to start getting cold again in a couple of days. Nothing like the bitter cold we had before, but enough that I don’t want to be outside for 2 hours, or be trying to use the snow blower in high winds.

What a fantastic little thing Spewie is!

Also, we can now use the fire pit, if we want to. :-D

Photo heavy post ahead! :-D

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We got a “baby”

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And it’s so tiny and cute.

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Just look at that little thing! I absolutely HAD to put it next to the big one before using it, to get a picture.

It’s a good thing I called ahead to see if any were in stock, and have it set aside, because there were only two left, and by the time we got to the store, in a small city about 45 minutes drive away, we got the only one left. I’d hoped to find one at a local (ish) hardware store but, not only were they out of stock, so was every other store the guy looked up for me! Thankfully, I was able to find one in another franchise, even if it meant an unplanned, longer drive.

But more on that later…

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Well, most of my plans panned out

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Today was going to be a day of out and about-ing, so I made sure to do the rounds a bit earlier this morning.

A quick glance out the bathroom window showed me that Slick was already waiting for breakfast. :-D

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As I came out with their food and warm water, I found Nicky the Nose making his way out the door, while Slick slunk under the blankets and benches.

Part of my usual routine these days is to turn the electric heating pad back on for another 2 hours, while doing the cats’ food and water, then doing the deer and bird feed.

I came back to this.

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