Back At Our Favouite Place

 It's spring, and the best thing about retirement is being able to enjoy this new season at the cottage, instead of being stuck in town.

We were so happy to be back to this view!

Lots of bunnies showing their changing colours.  Otters in the lake, and Canada Geese, and Loons, and ducks (Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads). And the first spring warblers, Yellow Rumped.

As April became May, the rain came daily. We had what almost amounted to a second spring run-off.

9mm of rain in 5 days meant the creeks swelled again.

We had lots of time to putter inside with it being so wet!

Looks like the nicer weather is back again, though.  Gotta love Spring!

The gorgeous Full Flower Moon.

Time stands still here

Last Sunday marked 7 years since my Mom passed away, and tomorrow it will be 18 years since Darwin left us.

This picture was taken at a wedding reception, though I'm not sure which one. I had thought it might be my cousin Eldon's marriage to Janice, but that was 41 years ago, which would make Darwin 30 in this photo, and I think that judging by the hair loss he should be closer to 40.

Anyway, I love this picture, and that's why I'm sharing it here today. We have had so many wonderful fun times, and when I look at this picture it reminds me to enjoy today instead of worrying about stuff I can't foresee or control.

My Mom was a constant worrier and a prayer warrior. Probably being a parent does that to most people, but being raised with a simple deep faith in God made it part of her personality. I have turned out to be a lot like her in that way, though I have a lot more doubts in my spiritual journey than she ever did, I'm sure.

I'm going to raise a glass and remember them both, later today. Wish they were here.

Cottage Life

Being at the cottage means seeing wildlife that we don't have at home.  Sometimes, it's freaky.

I saw a mass in the Sweetgale by the lake, and thought something was making a nest, though it seemed awfully exposed.  When I leaned in to take the picture, I was unpleasantly surprised to find a Water Snake coiled in the shrub, about two feet off the ground.

I know snakes climb, but I had never seen one so comfortably esconced as this.

Sorry, but this is just creepy.

I don't kill Water Snakes (or any snakes, for that matter, as we don't have any poisonous ones around), but many of my cottage neighbours do. Water snakes have a (quite justified) reputation for being aggressive, and they will bite. You don't want to get bitten by a snake, poisonous or not. They get a wide berth from me, and I don't encourage them to stay around; there are lots of other places on the lake for them to go thatARE AWAY FROM ME!

 

We have a number of active and semi-tame rabbits living on our property and the neighbours'. They love to eat all my flowers, I'm sad to say, but that's wildlife. I'd love to have a little vegetable garden at the lake, just for fun, but it would be overrun by rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and voles. And probably mice. And definitely raccoons.

Jasper isn't sure what to make of this guy.

With Iain getting close to retirement, mostly working from home, and having Starlink (finally!) delivered, we were able to move to the lake in June. This has been my dream, for years: summers at the lake, like when I was a kid. Except I don't have the energy I used to.

The canvas roof for the gazebo tore when we were taking it down last fall, so we decided to not buy another replacement. Unlike the original product, the replacement roofs didn't fit as well, and didn't stand up as well. So, after 14 years, we disassembled the gazebo.

I can't stand to throw things away, so I was tickled pink that Iain was able to use it for a wood crib!  Once covered with a huge tarp (really TOO huge, we overdid it when we were estimating the needed size), it gave the wood from our much-lamented maple a good drying space.

Did I mention the Starlink finally arrived?  It was an easy install and, say what you will about Elon Musk, the product has performed as advertised.  Really a god-send for us.

We protected it well, in case any of our cottage pals decided the wires looked tasty.

 

You Have To Learn To Make Lemonade

When life hands you lemons, I mean.

When we moved into our house, over 30 years ago, the big maple on our front lawn was already starting to look a bit sad. It was a bit of a lemon, for sure.

I love trees, and I was determined to keep this one as long as we could. We hired a local tree service to trim up the dead stuff, and they told us we probably bought about 10 years for our maple. It stretched to 20, but then big branches began to fall off, and we knew the time had come.

The tree was actually on the town's share of our lot at the street, so we contacted them to look at it and they decided the time to take it down had indeed come. Iain asked them if we could keep the wood, and they agreed, so this became a big project for him in 2022. Of course a new chainsaw became necessary (we'd put off that purchase long enough). We were lucky that our good neighbours loaned us their wood splitter for a few months.

At times I thought we'd never get rid of all the bits of wood in our yard! I raked sawdust and picked up bits of bark for weeks.

I miss its shade when we're sitting on the porch; you can't be out there now until the sun is low in the sky. And I miss the robin's nests, and the black squirrel playing in the branches. Trees are such a blessing, and only time will replace them once they're gone. The saplings we have growing on the lawn will not provide shade for many years, yet.

But as sad as we were to lose our beautiful shade tree, we were happy to have a nice supply of good maple for our cottage stove. That's our lemonade.

The Story on Stitches

I love this picture of Stitches. She is often this unimpressed by the food offered, whether the amount is large or small. Here, she's probably questioning the miniscule size of the offering.

Stitches is in long-term kidney failure, and that we still have her now - it's almost two years since she was diagnosed - is more a testament to the stubborness of this cat than any great care she's had from us.

When she was first diagnosed, the vet suggested a pill to help extend her life. I cannot now remember the drug's name, but I remember that she would not willingly take the pills, and we decided quickly that we didn't want her last months to be full of the stress of her being forced pills she didn't want to take. In our case, this was a good decision, because she has done quite well on her renal-assistance diet (Royal Canin).

She used to be fairly plump, but now weighs next to nothing. I would be surprised if she weighs three pounds.

Still adorable though.

All The Kitties We Can Handle

 The settling-in period saw Jasper and Blaze confined to the living room. They get along alright, but they don't snuggle together at all.

Exploring the surroundings.

As you can tell from this picture, Blaze has a lot of extra weight. He came to us at 25 pounds.
We put him and Jasper on a diet right away.

Part of the problem with these guys was they had been given only junk food, which is how I describe Friskies. It's not the worst food available, but far from the best.  Also, I think they were allowed to just eat whenever they liked, with  no portion control.

Blaze in February

Jasper in March

Looking out the patio door, in June.

By the summer, both cats were much trimmer. Blaze still has a lot of loose skin and feels very cuddly as a result.

Blaze needed a major dental surgery.  We put it off for a while, being unsure of his overall health,  but finally had it done in August, and he came through just fine.

The boys really enjoyed the cottage, where we spent the whole summer.  There, they could go outside sometimes (on a leash or very closely supervised).

Back at home in the fall, Stitches has accepted Blaze - and vice versa.

They say when a door closes, a window opens.

Our Christmas in 2021 was a bit quiet, with only Stitches here. The house, VERY quiet. No one playing kibble chase, or looking for pets and brushing.

So when January rolled around, I was finding the house terribly empty.

And then this showed up on my Facebook feed:

Here were two senior cats - who reminded me of Snaps and Jezebel - in need of a home. Their owner had passed away and the woman's son could not keep them.

I don't always listen when the angel taps on my shoulder and says "You should do this", but it seemed to be fate. We had always said that if we could adopt a senior cat in need of a home, that that is what we'd do.

So, in mid-January, we had two cats delivered to us:  Blaze and Jasper. The gentleman who delivered them to us brought them in and then said "wait a sec, I've got more stuff". He then brought in a whole bunch of food and litter, and a small basket full of toys. I'm talking about at least 20 toys!

For the first few weeks we kept them in the living room, and had a barrier up so that they couldn't see Stitches, and she couldn't see them.  As you may have noticed, these cats both arrived with extra weight on them.  Blaze, especially, was obese - Jasper was a bit plump but mostly just very furry - and neither of them were very active.  We used a gate to close off the room, and it was nothing that would have kept a typical cat inside, but for these guys it was more than adequate.

After a few weeks we introduced them to Stitches.  Blaze is a typical male tabby: he wants to get along with everyone; so he has not been a problem.  Jasper, however, doesn't like other cats, and to this day he still hisses and growls at Stitches for no reason at all.  Stitches is deaf, thank goodness, and doesn't realize what's happening most of the time.

Next post:  more pics!

Time To Post Again

I haven't blogged for over a year. The last time I wrote here, I was feeling pretty happy, despite Covid being the asshole it has been (and continues to be). I just haven't had much to say that I thought would be interesting to the world; and I was enjoying being retired, and flying under God's radar - not catching Covid, no deaths in my immediate family, just humming along.

So when Snaps got sick in November of last year, and we lost him in just a few weeks, I didn't come here to talk about it. I was heartbroken - fuck cancer - and I still miss him, but I just didn't want to talk about it. But now I do.

Snaps was the sweetest, funniest guy.  He showed up in our back yard one day in August of 2010. He was just there one day and didn't leave.

When I realized he was eating our chipmunks to survive (He popped up in front of my window with one in his mouth) I began to feed him.

As the weather got wet and chilly as it does in the fall, I couldn't leave him outside any more. I mean, look at this face - who could say no?  

He had a rocky start with Onyx, but soon settled in. Being a male tabby, he was loving with everyone, and soon even Onyx accepted him.

He became an indoor cat quickly and completely. We never had to worry about him running outside - he'd had enough of that life - and when it rained he would walk around the house meowing, as though he remembered how awful it was to be cold and wet.

His favourite game was "kibble chase". His kibbles were large and round, and we would throw them down the hallway for him to find.

Every morning he sat on the couch with me for pets, as I read or played an iPad game. And he was often on my lap, or Iain's, in the evening. But his favourite spot was curled up in front of the fireplace.

Or under our mini-tree.

So, for a while, we had four cats. And then three.

During this time we began to take the cats to the cottage in the summer. He had no desire to be outside, but he loved the cottage, where we entertain our friends often, and he loved being with them.

And then there were two.

And then he left us

I never imagined that our wee Stitches would outlive them all. 

But life goes on, and I still feel young enough to have cats in my life. In my next post, I'll bring you up to date.

Why gardening at our cottage has been difficult.

 More so this year than some.  Mind you, we see these ladies EVERY YEAR. They like my south-side-of-the-house garden, and they lay in the same spot, always.

Madame Snapper can just be seen amidst the milkweed and chives.

Here she is smiling (?) for the camera.

And this is one of her buddies, strolling over to the large sandy spot under the pine tree, which is popular with both Snapping and Painted Turtles.

This is a Painted Turtle enjoying the sandy spot.

I don't have pictures of the hail, since we weren't there when it happened, but it made swiss cheese out of most of my hostas, and broke dozens of ferns. Also damaged one milkweed, which I hope did not have any Monarch Butterfly eggs laid on it.

We also have to contend with the squirrels and the chipmunks, who think digging up my plantings to see if there is treasure under the roots is fun.

They're so darn cute, though!

Something we saw for the first time this year was a Giant Hornet a.k.a. European Hornet. Not very aggressive, fortunately, but HUGE! Head to tail he was about 1 1/4" long.

According to my insect books, they are supposed to only come as far north as Maine. It's another sign that North America is warming - everything is moving farther north.

And just for the heck of it, here's a picture of a dock spider that is unsettlingly large. He was hiding, but peeked out to see if I was edible, when I stepped onto the dock.

Goodbye to Jezebel

Another reason that 2020 has been sad for us is the loss of our amazing Jezebel.  We knew this was coming, so it wasn't a shock, but saying goodbye is always hard.

Jezebel came to live with us in 2002, when she was already approaching one year of age. We never knew her exact date of birth, so we gave her  Iain's birthday in June of 2001.  It was because of her connection with Iain that she came to live with us: Iain had gone to the humane society to bring home a new kitten (Phantom) - they were giving us one in place of sweet Sage who had been unhealthy when we got him from them, and had died tragically when he was only about 6 months old - and when Iain was filling out the paperwork for him, Jezebel kept giving him headbonks and looking for attention.  So he came home with two cats instead of one.  And it was one of the best decisions he ever made.

Some cats are born to be queens of their household, and that was Jezebel.  She was beautiful, and had the softest fur of any cat I have ever known.  She had an aura of regalness about her, and yet she could behave like any other silly kitten when the mood struck her.

We were blessed to have her with us for 19 years.  For the last three years of her life she failed, gradually, due to her kidneys deteriorating.  Keeping her on a special diet (Royal Canin E Renal) made a huge difference in prolonging her life.  She didn't like pills, and we didn't force them on her, and I think it was the best choice.  The picture below was taken on the couch at the cottage.  She was not as comfortable sleeping in the last months; and doing a face-plant like this was one way she coped.

We still have two cats in our small house, but the place is feeling very empty.  She was my lap-cat, and liked to sleep next to me most nights.  We didn't need an alarm clock with her in the house, as she would wake us up as soon as the automatic lights came on downstairs.  Profoundly deaf for the last two years, she never forgot how her meow would make her presence known. I think she could still hear just a bit, as she would go into the bathroom (good acoustics there) and yowl at the top of her lungs.

I miss that, and I miss her, very much.  Good memories, though.  Love you, girl.

Animals!

Going to the cottage is extra fun when we see wildlife.  A few weeks ago we saw some really interesting ones.

This guy was displaying for a nearby female, who was studiously ignoring him.

I had never seen a partridge (as we call them - officially they are Ruffed Grouse) in full courting display like this.  When we saw him by the side of the road, my second guess was that he was a decoration - he just looked so perfect!

Another great sighting was this young moose who came across the lake and onto shore at the cottage next to my cousin's.  She stood looking at us for the longest time.  Curious about the people staring at her, I suppose.