Randomness

We have two weeping cherries in front of our house and they put on an amazing show this spring. This is one group of flowers and buds toward the top of the tree and the gorgeous azure sky that spring brings. Unfortunately these trees don't produce edible fruit, but the smell and vision they produce for a few short days is wonderful. With life throwing us stress left and right, it was a pleasure to stop for just a moment and breathe deeply and listen to the buzzing bees and admire what nature had given us.


This is our resident groundhog. S/he lives under our garden shed and grazes throughout the yard. This picture was taken from my bathroom window looking down at Hubby's side garden. Yes the grass is getting tall. Soon enough I'll be getting another nasty letter from the zoning board about cutting it. One every year so far before Hubby gets the lawn cut.


This was an amazingly handsome and heartbreaking cat that wandered into the yard once. Very friendly. He was limping on his left hind leg and I think it was broken. Unfortunately I couldn't catch him and haven't seen him since. Worrying about him occassionally takes my breath away. But I know, I can't save them all.

There have been very few stray cat sightings this spring. Not nearly as much as there were over the winter. I think that if I want to catch them once I have some money and time for TNR, I will have to feed them to get them to come back. Before they would hunt mice in our gardens during the winter, now they can get food anywhere. Unfortunately any spare change lately is going to my medical co-pays. Ugh. Hopefully I'll get better very soon and can start saving again.

Happy Birthday Stella Blue!

Stella was found two years ago today, along with her two brothers, by a veterinary technician who worked at my previous veterinary clinic. She believed they were not even 24 hours old when they were found, still wet, with their umbilical cords. She and another tech took on the challenge of bottle raising three orphaned kittens.

I walked into the clinic about three and a half weeks later with the ferrets for their annual appointment. The three kittens were spending part of the day in a display cage in the waiting room. I got chatting with the receptionists and discovered the little girl wasn't claimed yet. My husband's cat Ripple had passed on almost six months before and Hubby had been making noises about adopting a kitten. He wanted a little Ripple. A male silver and black classic tabby with white mittens and socks. I found a female silver and black mackeral tabby (tiger) with mittens and socks and a bib. I sent him a text from the office saying I thought I had found our new baby. I talked to the technician who was doing most of the rearing. And I got my ferrets checked out.

A few days later I went back to visit with the little girl and bottle feed her. I took pictures to bring back to Will and I confirmed she was our new baby.

One day before Stella turned 5 weeks old, she came home. Hubby's first words when he saw her were "she's so tiny!"

Stella Blue is still little, but mighty and feisty and wonderfull. She's a bottle brat and a sweetheart and her daddy's little peanut.

Stella Blue, Mommy loves you! Happy Birthday baby girl!

6 out of 7

I can't sleep, but as a bonus I get to appreciate the pile of kitties on the bed. Everyone but Persephone is here. Very cool. I even patted Calliope really quickly and she didn't run away.

sorry

Sorry for my 9 day absence. I'm not really getting a whole lot better, but I did go back to work. Apparently that backfired because I was there for a whole hour today before I got sent and driven home by the hospital manager.

In critter news, not many stray sightings recently. Someone is feeding outside cats down the road.

Anya likes to sleep on my pillow, so darn cute.

Hubby plays with the fraidy cats every day and they love it.

Chinchillas got snuggles whether they liked it or not. Not.

Ferrets keep going strong and still love little Anya.

Stella's 2nd birthday is in 8 days.

Luna's meds are working, maybe too well. She feels great.

Penelope is the cat version of a supermodel in a bikini. She's long, lean, gorgeous and has almost no undercoat.

Poor Luna

So Luna has been "humping" my legs when she lays on them at night for a few weeks now. I finally decided to check her anal glands because if they are full that can be realy uncomfortable and cause itching.

They were so full. The material in the glands should be fluid and easy to express. This was like thick icing being piped through a very small hole. She hated every second of me emptying them. Yes I had to put my (gloved) finger in her anus to do this. But they are empty for now and we will just have to keep en eye on the situation and make sure they don't get overfull again.