Goodbye to Noomi

Here are the last pictures of little Noomi - he was a wee little guy and light as a feather:

This little guy wasn't even ours. But he was a regular visitor, and often we would find him snoozing in the basement on a pile of old comforters, or we'd come across him in one of the many baskets available. He was a master at sneaking in without us seeing him. His owners had asked us not to encourage him to come into our place, and he seemed to know they would not be pleased - but he came - just the same. He is ok, just gone: his owners have moved.

They used to live an apartment just behind our fence, just a "hop, skip and jump" away for the little Noom - we'd find him on our porch most mornings. His owners recently told us not to worry if we see Noomi no more, as they have bought a house. Hurray for them, but not so much for little Noomi: you see the house is on a busy street, so he will be indoors mostly, perhaps out on a leash now and then. No more running free, no more sleeping under a hedge on a summer afternoon. My last glimpse of him: he was playing with the long grass in  my yard, near the tree he would love to climb and scratch. I somehow felt that that was the last time I would see him, and so it was. One morning, he did not appear. Gone. I miss the little guy, and my big tabby Chaiyka seems to miss him as well - he would often get treats at Noomi's house. "Come over to my place - it's great!" Chaiyka must have said to Noomi, a couple of years ago, when we first spotted shy little Noomi in our yard.  Lately, Chaiyka goes to the old apartment, but no one is there. I feel sad.

Here is how I like to remember him: Noomi last spring

This is my favourite photo of him, taken last year at the height of the unfolding spring. He loved our garden. Goodbye little Noom. Be well.

Spring Arrives

It comes every year, doesn't it? 

And yet, it is always so anticipated - even more so than summer, 

at least for me it is. 

The wonder and the worry:

What survived the winter?

 What new has appeared?

What needs to be fixed, moved or removed?

I have trouble with that last one - ha!

A perfect white Tristan is happy the weather is fine...

And a perfect Narcissus stands out against the green backdrop...

A new obsession? My first Orchid :)

And inside - Amaryllis continue their festive and colorful parade...here is Apricot Parfait.

Gervase - always different - no two blooms the same.

Bogota - graceful and exotic.

Bandito and the Daffodils

'Dito is doing very well, so happy to say. His mouth is healing - he is eating extremely well - and I even think he is gaining weight.  Like all our kitties, he loves the sunny window garden.

Nothing Much

Following the unseasonal heatwave, the frosty weather returned somewhat, and even with a fair bit of snow-cover. All that has mostly gone now, and within a day or two we will have nice spring sunshine. Four days of holiday at Easter were cold, grey and grim, to which was added me being sick and Bandito needing to go to the vet again. Original vet suggested we may need to consider letting Dito "go". So off to another vet for a second opinion which didn't reveal much else except some dirty ears. But - he is home again, and seems to be improving. Background: He had begun to exhibit a strange continual mouth-clawing (self-harming) behaviour. The sides of his mouth and inside in the gums were terribly bloody and torn up, hence our distress and subsequent vet visit. We assumed it had simply been a reaction to the bad tooth, which has now been gone for well over 2 weeks. Both vets were mystified with the problem - we are thinking maybe a growth under the tongue or in the throat? So he came home with an Elizabethan collar, a Buster, as it's now called for some reason. This is to prevent scratching and while it did the trick, he could neither eat, nor sleep with it on. So, since his claws have been trimmed to an unprecedented shortness, the collar came off gradually and - he seems to be better. The scratching has diminished. Not to mention the fact that he was given special diabetic food, which he categorically refused to eat ("hey guys - this food is making me gag!"). So, I figured, no eating = no cat. He is bone thin as it is. So, I said, well let's just give him his old favourite food back and see what happens, and voila! He is now gobbling it down like crazy. Sigh.


And now for something totally different:  while at work, I glance over at the Decorah Eagles UStream site once in a while. So fascinating and I actually saw the first eaglet hatch live - but they sure are growing fast. Observing all the care Mum and Dad eagle give their little ones in truly amazing - one could really watch for hours :)

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.