It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Well, ‘tis the season – as they say, and despite a marked lack of holiday spirit around here, poses such as this one can readily defrost the hearts of the most gloomy Grinches and Scrooges! Doesn’t Bandito look well? He is getting 2 insulin shots a day and I am pretty sure there is a weight gain, but sadly his teeth (what’s left of them) are still in bad shape, so another trip to the V-man is imminent. Poor Dito. It is very VERY cold here these days, and with yesterday’s wind chill factor it got down as low as -30 Celsius – now that’s cold! Little Chesney actually curled up under the covers with me last night – good thing they don’t ALL want to do that!

Here we have Manitou amid all the Christmas boxes – he decided this looked comfy and I was happy to see he decided to settle into one that didn’t have anything fragile inside! Oops – it say “fragile” on the box – I hope I’m not wrong! (This happened just yesterday).

Mr. Poole likes to see how long he can tolerate the cold - being all floofy like Manitou, these cats are made for winter, BUT, coming inside is always better: snuggling on the bed is best!

One of the joys of winter: winter blooms inside the house. Old florist azaleas which I have successfully managed to rebloom for several seasons now. Most folks that get them as a gift throw them away once they are done blooming, but if you do the right thing, they will continue to reward you with blooms years afterward. Of course, they are not as compact and bushy as when “new”, but in my house, any blooms are welcome blooms. This is what worked for me: after blooming, take the azalea outside after all frost risk has passed. Place in a semi-sunny location- fertilize and water regularly. As fall approaches, keep it outside, as long as possible as the nights grow cold, but no frost. Apparently, it is this cold that triggers the blooms to emerge. This year, the 2 plants didn’t look so promising and I had my doubts that I’d have any holiday blooms, but within 2 months, the flower buds formed like candles on old Christmas trees, and soon KABOOM – flowers! Lots of flowers! Just beautiful - almost looks like a rose bush.

Of course, the rest of the Amaryllis will take center stage soon.

More festive happenings are over at The Friday Ark and then

Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

Got Any Coils???

A very sweet, energetic, and playful Chaiyka, has that "got any coils in your pocket?" look on his face. I tell you, he is absolutely addicted to those coils that are used for binding books are brochures, now commonly used as cat toys. He catches them in mid-air, tosses them, rolls them and even carries them around in his mouth. As a clawless cat (and I repeat, I DO NOT APPROVE OF DECLAWING - he came to us this way), he needs special toys that give him satisfaction, and these coils are just the ticket - he can play for over an hour, all by himself. And any move toward my pocket, elicits this look. Isn't he cute??And speaking of cute, these tiny amaryllis, a South African variety known as Piccolo Sonatini are in bloom right now, but there are many more bulbs pushing up scapes (flower stalks), so Christmas should be the usual floriferous festival of amaryllis in my window garden.

An Amazing Thing

When our PeeBee (rest his soul) was under insulin therapy, we had set up an alarm to remind us it was time to give him the shot. The alarm was on the computer and it triggered a particular piece of music to play. Now, another of our cats (Dito) has been diagnosed with diabetes, and although for over a year he seemed to be doing fine just on oral medication, he now has to have shots of insulin. So, yesterday morning, the TV music station was on, as we were preparing Dito’s very first shot, can you believe what happened? That same piece of music, PeeBee’s song, came on, as if right on cue! Truly amazing, don't you think? But as you can see, he is ever watchful, so giving these shots has to be well-timed. His pal is watching too ;)

Youngsters!

Ah - the young ones - carefree and playful - and always a joy to watch! Here Chaiyka (I often call him Chai-Chai) pretends to be asleep, while Chesney (Little Ches) has a feeling something is up,

A paw finally appears, and they're off!

This little game lasted a while - they can get pretty rambunctious, and even rough, but they are both declawed (NOT by me - they came to me this way), so no serious damage is done. I am pretty sure it's mostly youthful exuberance!

Just in Time - He Found us Just in Time

As the song goes....

I feel it is necessary to expand a little on Mr. Poole and how he has been faring here at Maple Grove Gardens since his arrival in early summer. He had appeared frightened, hungry and clearly sick, but most of all, he seemed just tired. Tired of being on the road – on the run, and as he lay in the grass, he had the look of saying “that’s it, I’m staying here – what will be will be - I just can’t go on anymore.” Long story short, every day he was coaxed to come closer and closer to the house (with food, of course), where we could see he was very much in a bad way: thin, poor coat, runny eyes and nose, red third eyelid. And not fixed. He was finally snatched away to the vet where the latter was taken care of, and all the rest. Luckily it was summer, and because it was warm outside, we were able to keep him outside in a basket on the porch, as bringing him in would have caused great distress amongst the other residents. Even in a sick state though, there was something “imposing” about this strange dark cat – he can even be a bit scary looking. But come inside he eventually did, and despite a few deep, low growls from her little highness, Angel, and from the Grand Manitou of the Townships of the East, things settled down, more or less.

And look at him now: clear eyes, glossy coat, with the type of fur that is more like that of a silky dog, not a cat’s, and his tail that seemed so poor-looking and oily even, has gained a bit of “puff”, and indeed, as if in competition with the floof-meister Manitou, seems to be acquiring a bit of winter-puffiness of his own, particularly around the neck and chest area. And he is heavy! Yes, heavy. When he comes onto the lap (oh yes – he sure knows how to do that!), it feels like a bag of lead has landed on your knees – his neck is thick like a football player, and his shoulders are massive – very solid and wide. I suspect it was this underlying solid and strong structure that enabled him to survive on his own as long as he did. But I doubt he would have survived another brutal winter out there – he found us just in time.

Check out more fortunate felines at The Friday Ark and still more at the
Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

Laptops

Sometimes trying to work on a laptop is interrupted by one who thinks he is the primary laptop - oh yes, Mr. Poole rules.

Wordless Wednesday - Remembrance Day