Storm

 Storm is losing more weight than can be explained by her 3 walks a day. Her thyroid is overactive so she's on meds too. 

2 cats

 The cats now eat face to face with a closed glass door between them.  Storm is in the breezeway by the washer/dryer and Sylvester eats in the hall by the pantry.  Usually, food is priority over territory but occasionally after the food is gone, Storm will hiss and mumble something that offends Sylvester.  He then scratches at the door and might say something back.  It's not a violent interaction any more but it doesn't seem friendly either.  We'll continue this protocol for a while.  

Dinner at Antifragile where the choice is Philly cheese steaks.  Beer is also limited to hazy IPAs and a couple of other selections.  We've heard they will be building a larger space next year and brewing there, so maybe their menu will grow. 

Storm as hunter and NBRAN Transport

 Storm caught a mouse in the garage.  She's all about hunting now: beetles, bugs, mice, anything that mores.  Paul often carries her between houses now since she spends so much time hunting. 

We transported 2 Brittany puppies (6-7 months) to DuBois.  Tjhey came from Cheri Heimbach, Gambol's breeder in Lewisburg. They have a neurological disorder that gives them very shaky movements.  Apparently, there is no cure or alleviation of this condition although it isn't painful. They were crammed into a 1-dog crate and didn't mind at all.  They traveled quietly. They are to be fostered by Theresa Bair in Canton, OH where I took Huck in April. 

Then the garden club had a tour of the Happy Valley Lavender Farm. It's 3 yo and has about 1000 plants.  It's not Provence or Australia and they are kept gumball sized so it's not English hedges, but it's very cool anyway.

Dinner at Champs.

It's cold out there

 Storm says she got up too early so she's back in bed to stay warm. Peek-a-boo.

First big cold and snow of the year

 It's 27 and snowing.  We had about 3 inches when Paul went out this morning.  He plowed but it's still coming down at 2:00pm.  Storm got as far as the stones steps before she gave up on the morning walk. She did make it all the way around the house on the afternoon hike. Sylvester doesn't even try.  He's content to watch the birds from his hot pad in thebsewing room.  We have a bell collar on him because he is so quiet.  I was at the machine this morning when I felt a paw on my shoulder.  I turned around to have him climb onto my lap. I hadn't heard him come in or jump up on the table.

Last night I tripped as I was wriggling out of my jeans.  I went down hard enough on the bed frame to knock the wind out.  It hurt enough that there should be a dinner plate sized bruise, but there is nothing showing.  It hurts to lift, cough, and hiccough. 

January is fabric diet month.  I'll be finishing binding quilts for Comfort Covers and using bits and pieces and pre-cuts.  I have enough supplies that I shouldn't need to buy anything for at least this month.

A good day with 2 cats

 The cats have been living separate lives for a couple of weeks since I found a wad of cat hair after a tiff.  After a morning with me in the sewing room, I thought Sylvester had gone to his safe spot for lunch. Storm and Paul always come over for a few hours.  HA! He found a sunny spot on the treehouse bed and stretched out.  Storm found him in her private sunbathing space.  We heard their discussion and negotiation  We ran up to intervene before it got physical.  Big eyes and big fur, but no claws or teeth.  I put a pillow between them to break eye contact, and Paul took Storm to the Carriage House.  

I'm counting this as a win. Even though Sylvester was cornered, he didn't fight or rush off to his lair.

Storm and Remington take a wing around the house with Paul every afternoon, in good weather and bad.  Sylvester and I opt for sunny, windless, and relatively warm days to see the larger world.  He doesn't go far.  If we get to the top of the basement walk, we've done well.  Any overhead noises, crows or airplanes, worries him.  He slinked out of the harness yesterday but as he was headed back inside, we didn't have a problem.  

Both cats saw Dr Seims in January.  Sylvester will need his teeth looked at more thoroughly in March. Both had shots, had mani/pedi, and were at their best weights.  

Sylvester: Day 5

 

Storm knows something or someone is on the other side of the door, Curious? Huntress? Protectress?

Storm's Friend

 Storm has some (crap from China) plastic springs that she loves to chase around the living room.  I heard her flinging them around, then I didn't, but she was still racing like a maniac.  She had found her friend, a mouse, to be much more interesting.  Paul caught it and disposed of it.  Storm sat glaring at the fireplace for 30 minutes daring the friend to come play.

A bit of rain, then a rainbow

 We had a short but heavy downpour this morning.  By our 3:00 walk the puddles had dried but Storm was still not impressed with wet grass on her tootsies.  She wanted to sit and watch the bugs...or maybe smell the flowers.

We went to the Philipsburg Wine Walk and Brewhaha.  yawn, but Dead Canary Brewery was there (the reason we went).  The brewer is a home brew club member. We sampled a peach IPA and his chocolate coffee stout.  Both excellent, so I became a Founder, #5. Ah, the joys of online marketplaces and credit cards. 

On the way home we saw a rainbow ahead of us and dark clouds to the north.  

True to form Remington moped when he realized we were going out without him.  His clue is Paul showering about 4:00. By the time we arrived home he was over his mope and bounded around the house to greet us.  Storm, on the other hand, wouldn't leave the wood stove.  She sat in front; she jumped on top, something we've never seen her do.  A clue. I looked inside and sure enough, a blue bird was scrambling around.  Paul scooped her out with a t-shirt.  She hadn't been in there long since she was still very blue.  It took Storm another 30 minutes to understand that her stove-TV was finished.  

Neighbors a few doors down from R&D have scooped out a sub substantial part of their hillside.   There used to be a trailer there.  I wonder if they are building a house.  

From my studio window

 I have a stand-up computer desk so, as if my wandering mind isn't enough distraction, I can look out the window instead of paying bills or writing. Today I saw our neighborhood groundhog inspecting the daffodil bed.  I called to Paul who fetched his weapon, but the animal disappeared before a shot was taken.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow. Without Gambol to retrieve the hunt, Paul may have to be a crack shot.  

Storm and I continued our 3:00 ritual walk.  She steps into her harness nicely and lets me hook it up.  Today she ran out the door knowing what was coming.  We walked out to the mound to inspect the lupines, Jerusalem artichokes, and rosinweed  (Silphium trifoliatum) that Richard gave us last fall.  All are doing well. I don't see any columbines or 4 o'clocks. 

Storm has decided she should snack on grass.  I'm discouraging that by pulling her along or picking her up.  She prances along till the next set of interesting grasses. At the turn passed the hemlock a squirrel started chittering.  Storm sat and looked all around, apparently very interested in the noise.  We never did find it in the trees, so we came along home. So far, no ticks.  

Sometimes she enjoys a good snuggle but I can't move, or she bounces off to find a quieter bed. She is so soft, sleek, and shiny she could be a seal. It's hard to keep my hands off her. 

Yesterday Paul sawed a pair of fallen trees that were making a mess of the view over the grape wires.  This was one of the few times the chain saw was out of the shed since Jim Finley's death by fallen tree in October 2021.  If Jim's death taught us anything it is that we aren't as spry as we think we are.  We only use the chain saw on fallen trees and choose which ones of those we cut. But, the view out the bathroom window is much better now.  There's hardly a hole in the forest edge.  

Storm has 2 other Brittanys to bother/snuggle with, but she adores her Remington. She was grooming him just before I took the picture.

sss

More Storm

Thursday:
Our free cat is at the vet for her scheduled spay. She might have been going back into heat by some of her behaviors recently. Who knew cats could come and go!
She probably had a frost bitten tail because the last inch and a half was dead, hard and rotten. No more; it was amputated. Her snotty nose is back so she’ll be on antibiotic pills for that. She’s been sneezing but not spraying snot all over. It’s back.
And, she’s probably not tolerating her food well and has loose stools. That’s why her output looks so much more than I’d expect. So new food should fix that.  Vet suggested $$$special$$$diet or experimenting with 1 protein, poultry first.  Seafood and beef are hard to digest.
We’ll do her vaccinations when we take out her tail stitches so as not to stress the poor lady any more than already. Merry Christmas
Friday:
She has to wear a cape (AKA lampshade) to prevent opening up her stitches.  It's soft but she's not a fan.
She's also not a fan of taking meds.  The liquid pain juice is easier than the nose snot pills, but neither are fun.  When the real meds are finished, we are going to practice with fake meds (chicken broth) before every meal until we can do this as easily as the YouTube actors and our dogs.
After posting Storm's bowel problems to FaceBook and receiving all sorts of advice, I was reminded of Cadberry Rabbit and yogurt after his castration and antibiotics.  Storm ate 1 teaspoon of plain white no-frills chobani. Let the healing begin. Fingers crossed.

Storm's Throne

Storm has a throne. She has met all 3 dogs and head bunted or paw-whacked all of them. She can get to safe places if she wants: upstairs and downstairs are both gated for her safety. Now, if we could only teach her to be quiet at night. She’ll keep Shannon company at 3AM.

Storm: 1 month with us

The snow is gone. Now we have rain and mud.
Storm is very comfortable here, upstairs and downstairs.  She knows how to get to the basement when she's had enough of the upstairs characters.  She likes racing around the woodpiles and sleeping in a curled up fleece blanket in her basement.  She's begun playing with corrugated cardboard. We've had a gate at the top of the stairs for a long while so Buddy doesn't fall down; that helps keep Remington on his floor.
She's a bit moth-eaten from the ringworm meds but has gained plenty of weight. She's still loveable, head butts us and Gambol, too. Buddy is oblivious to her.  Remington is still a little too curious for our comfort.

Gambol and Storm relaxing together

Paul and Remington watching Storm relax

Storm

Wednesday, Nov. 14. PM
First snow storm of the season predicted. Lots of precip due.
Look who Paul found in a garden bucket at our front door:

She's young, friendly, and very skinny.  With the storm coming, we can't leave her out to brave it alone.  I put this picture on the local pet rescue FB sites, asked our neighbors, and put a picture at the post office.  No takers, so we made her a nest in the garage and fed her a can of tuna. For a litter box, we fashioned a box of potting soil.  This will have to do.
Thursday, Nov. 15
Snow won't arrive until 10:AM so I ran off to get some real cat supplies all the while hoping someone would claim this little girl.
$71 later we probably have a free cat. Dogs don’t know it yet.  Night temperature is low 30s and we are expecting more than 6” snow and rain today, so what are softies to do? Run to the store for food and litter, flea collar and a toy, of course. She spent the night in the garage in a nest of blankets.
She had a couple of ticks, but other than being very skinny, she seems healthy. No fleas and her fur is shiny. She’s friendly and likes lap sitting and neck crawling.
So, next up dog-cat intros. Gambol and Buddy learned to like chickens, so I guess we’ll do the same training for the cat.
Name? Storm, perhaps.
Friday, Nov 16
She'd have been buried in this snow.

Storm is comfortable in my lap hammock. She’s always ready to greet us when we visit her realm. She may still be catching up on sleep and eating from her walkabout, and she doesn’t yell/whine/vocalize nearly as much as she did the first day. She purrs (or snores) in my lap.

Saturday, Nov. 17
We moved her to the basement where we set up a dog crate with lots of blankets, a comfortable chair for us, and her litter box with real litter.  She still devours all food we put down, but she's definitely not as bony as she was 2 days ago. Noises from upstairs don't seem to bother her.

She's still a snuggler.  She greets us with head bumps and chest snuggles. She likes to walk around our shoulders too.
Still haven't told the dogs about their new sister.  They suspect something's not right in the basement, however.