Summer - in Spring

This week has been amazing - so very warm, even hot. 

A veritable heatwave.

Trees are budding, and our neighbour's forsythia is actually in bloom! The residents of Maple Grove Gardens wonder if they slept through the end of winter and even spring.

But I heard no complaints as the solarium was opened up, windows taken down, a few plants placed for some green - and the favourite spots were chosen. 

Eating al fresco in March!? 

Unheard of - but most delightful.

 

 Manitou finds the perfect combination of sun and shade.

Mr. Poole got so hot in the sun I was almost worried.

But cats know what feels good!

 Tristan bypassed stopping to smell the roses...

And decided to investigate what was in my coffee mug!

Photos have a somewhat dreamy, fuzzy effect as they were taken with the camera on my tablet - not great, but quite acceptable.

We are enjoying all this while it lasts,

as the sky is darkening as I write, and soon it will rain, 

and the temperature will drop.

Back where he belongs

Although looking a little "rough around the edges" - 

notice the shaved paw -

Bandito snoozes in one of his favourite spots, 

behind me on the armchair while I watch television.

Angry

So, as you can imagine, all of last weekend's vet activity for our Bandito landed up costing a fair bit. So, in a feeble attempt to save money (fool that I am), I thought I would buy discounted flea meds on the net. I found a nice site called True North Pets - a very nice looking site indeed, and being no newbie to online shopping I saw no red-flags to warn me. After well over a $100 spent, already taken from my credit card, nothing has arrived. So - I have called - and faxed -and called again, and faxed again, and emailed many times. Nothing! By accident I found a blogger who has experienced the same scam. Argh!! Here is a screenshot of their site:

BEWARE!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS SITE!!

This Morning

Happiness is - waking up to the wet kisses our Sweeto Bandito! Yes! Our Sweet Baboo came home last night! Of course he needs much careful monitoring, but he seems more alert and, dare I say, healthy. When not up and about and kissing us, he does look sort of "out of it" - but then again, he is a senior fellow, and has been through a lot these past few days. Cat Wrangler was thrilled to report, that his morning routine with Bandito was resumed after many weeks of absence: into the bathroom, and rolly-polly's on the tile floor, whilst getting many belly rubs. A sure sign of improvement. The blood test, I am happy to report, revealed no deadly disease, so, it is the diabetes that needs to be watched. But you see, we are English in a French province.  Our regular vet is on holiday and knows a fair bit of English, alas, his colleague speaks almost none - luckily Cat Wrangler knows the language far better than I. But still - we always fear that something has been "lost in translation", so to speak. As I always say, ask several times just to make sure we got it right.

A big, BIG thank you to all you wonderful bloggers that sent so many "good vibrations" our way - so many warm and hopeful thoughts that I think some snow actually melted :)  We all slept well last night.

Stable but Not Home

Our Bandito is still at the vet, poor baby. He was still unstable on Saturday, and he was kept through today, at which time we are awaiting an update, and hopefully he comes home today. Here he is with that wonderful "is that a can opener I hear?" expression on his face:


And one of my very favourite photos of him:

In the Valley

It is here again. The shadow of death. Bandito, the lovely fellow featured in the banner above - was found convulsing this morning and was rushed to the vet. It took 2 vets and 2 technicians to stabilize him. He is perhaps 13 or 14 years old, (a rescue of course), and is also diabetic for over two years now. But the vet called this afternoon and said he is very unstable - blood sugar going from very high to very low very fast. And he had another seizure. We are waiting for another call back this evening.