This week has been full of animals again - a week plus of taking care of the Malamute and two Huskies that I have dubbed the "Wolf Pack" and the dog plus four cat household. I have been able to get out to the barn both days as well, something that has been harder to do lately with the work of moving back into our house after renovation and the start of spring paddling. I haven't made it up to New Skete again yet to work with the puppies, but June looks good for a couple of visits.
The rise in temperature, now into the 70's, is being noticed by all the animals. The dog who lives with the cats is moving slower when he chases the toy, and the white mare is packing on a daily load of mud to keep away the bugs. Fly masks, mesh masks which go under the halter on a horse's face to keep bugs out of their eyes and ears, are showing up out at the barn. It seems that we just suddenly jumped from late winter into early summer.
We have promised a number of people that we'd get them into kayaks once the water warmed up a bit, and our promises may be called in starting next week. Somehow it seemed that it would be much easier to carve out time a few months ago than it seems now. But at least some are retired or work independent schedules, so I can take some of them out during the day.
This warm weather has been long in coming. I am appreciating it as much as the critters.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Are We There Yet?
The remaining two cats, left behind after the loss of our old female, are still moving forward on their adjustments. They are even sleeping together between the spats. A number of followers of the latest end of time prediction, for a series of worldwide catyclsms starting at 6pm on Saturday May 21 in each time zone, appear to also have been left behind. At least they have not been taken by the Rapture. The embarrassments and arguments are already alive and well on the internet, which seems silly because there is another popular end of the world date in May 2012. They'll be plenty of time to argue after that has gone by.
I have a hefty week of pet sitting going into the holiday weekend. This morning I was able to visit an old/new friend, the newest black cat of a woman who had two others when I started doing pet sitting. I miss her older cats myself, a little, but the new guy is a sweetheart and will wear well. I also started a round of visits of visits with a household of dog and cats nearer by. They have used this pet sitting service for a very long time, and I have seen the dog's muzzle grow noticeably whiter.
Tomorrow I start a week long set of visits with the "Wolf Pack", a Malamute and two Huskies which are quite a bundle of dog up close. They also have very good teeth. I left a plastic pitcher for water on too low shelf one time, and came back to shards of thick plastic all over the garage. Happily they hadn't ingested any, but they'd done some pretty effective chewing. This may be the last time I see them. The owners are moving to Florida sometime this summer. I am not sure how these three will do if there is a power failure and the air conditioning goes, but the owners have done what they can to make things ready for them.
We spent the last weekend on the water, kayaking off of Rhode Island, and saw a huge variety of birds. We were able to sit close and watch them a number of times on sandbars where plovers and sandpipers were eating, with no nests nearby. One pair of house sparrows had started to build a nest over the light outside our motel room door. We didn't get yelled at much so we think that attempt was abandoned for a better site. But as grey as this spring has been, the wildlife seems to be on schedule.
We'll see if their efforts to build nests and raise chicks are ruined by the next end of the world. But this last week it didn't feel like most of the critter world agreed with the preacher's predictions.
I have a hefty week of pet sitting going into the holiday weekend. This morning I was able to visit an old/new friend, the newest black cat of a woman who had two others when I started doing pet sitting. I miss her older cats myself, a little, but the new guy is a sweetheart and will wear well. I also started a round of visits of visits with a household of dog and cats nearer by. They have used this pet sitting service for a very long time, and I have seen the dog's muzzle grow noticeably whiter.
Tomorrow I start a week long set of visits with the "Wolf Pack", a Malamute and two Huskies which are quite a bundle of dog up close. They also have very good teeth. I left a plastic pitcher for water on too low shelf one time, and came back to shards of thick plastic all over the garage. Happily they hadn't ingested any, but they'd done some pretty effective chewing. This may be the last time I see them. The owners are moving to Florida sometime this summer. I am not sure how these three will do if there is a power failure and the air conditioning goes, but the owners have done what they can to make things ready for them.
We spent the last weekend on the water, kayaking off of Rhode Island, and saw a huge variety of birds. We were able to sit close and watch them a number of times on sandbars where plovers and sandpipers were eating, with no nests nearby. One pair of house sparrows had started to build a nest over the light outside our motel room door. We didn't get yelled at much so we think that attempt was abandoned for a better site. But as grey as this spring has been, the wildlife seems to be on schedule.
We'll see if their efforts to build nests and raise chicks are ruined by the next end of the world. But this last week it didn't feel like most of the critter world agreed with the preacher's predictions.
Friday, May 13, 2011
One Week Later
Atlas has two new challenges. One is to live with Andy as his primary companion, the other is to survive moving back into our house. We have been out of it for several months while it was repaired from water and smoke and fire fighter damage after a major fire next door, another three story city townhouse of lineage from the 1800's. The fire fighter damage was by far the worst. By the time they had competed their work they had put numerous holes in the roof thinking we had a common wall with the house that had the fire (we don't), torn up every roof in the third floor including most of the original tin ceilings, smashed two internal locking mechanisms on doors I told them were unlocked (firemen don't turn knobs) and relocated several pieces of wood trim from stairs to the floor. We are sleeping in our house again tonight, surrounded by mountains of boxes
Surprisingly, both cats are doing well. They have found the bed - the critical part of any house. I hope that the same is true for ous by the time we have made it thru all of these boxes.
We are supposed to be getting our cable TV service transferred to this address tomorrow morning.We have about 60 boxes between the new futon to replace our sleeper sofa and the television, so we will have service long before we can see it.
Surprisingly, both cats are doing well. They have found the bed - the critical part of any house. I hope that the same is true for ous by the time we have made it thru all of these boxes.
We are supposed to be getting our cable TV service transferred to this address tomorrow morning.We have about 60 boxes between the new futon to replace our sleeper sofa and the television, so we will have service long before we can see it.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
First Week Without
It is a week since we had to make the hard call on our oldest cat, a blue point Siamese named Val. We brought her companion with us to the vet's office, a slightly younger Siamese named Atlas, in hopes that it would be an easier adjustment for him than having her suddenly disappear. Alone among our cats, Atlas seems to understand illness and death well. It did seem to help.
He has settled down a state of being a little miserable but tolerating the situation. His version of tolerating it comes with twice daily rounds of pacing and inconsolable yowls, but this is not so different from his normal behavior. For a Siamese who has never been without another of their kind, we are doing well. Atlas quiets down and starts purring when one of us is sitting still for a lap. And sometimes he sleeps with the big fluffy cat-cat who came in off the street a few years ago. The Siamese instinct for physical companionship is beginning to overcome their normal anxiety-ridden relationship.
Atlas' response since her passing has been proof of the similarities and dissimilarities in the bond between animals and humans. For all of his many annoying behaviors, he has wonderful instincts when a cat is in their final days. He will stay with a cat who is ill, even one he normally hates, and knows when the other cat has died. He will leave then, as if his job is done.
The difference this time, when it was Val who had passed, was that he didn't leave when the second shot had stopped her heart. He would have stayed by her side indefinitely had we not put him back in his carrier after a several minutes. It was both a moment of comic relief and of pain when we saw that we would have to call the end of his vigil. Atlas has no lack of the Siamese stubbornness.
As in a human loss, he was missing Val on the car ride home and for the first few days. The tone of his complaints were unlike anything we had heard before, uncharacteristic small sounds that spoke as clearly as words. He wouldn't play with toys and was unable to settle down to sleep. The only time he got any rest was when we were home and sitting down. If a cat can look miserable and depressed, he did. He has always had curious habits with his over sized ears - they fall up and down telling his mood. His ears were parked and immobile. Atlas was acting much like any human being would in the first days after the death of a friend or lover.
But a week later, it is clear that he may feel lonely but no longer remembers Val herself. He seems confused at times by his state - as if he doesn't know why his life is like this - but he doesn't look for her nor is he drawn to the places where her scent would still be the strongest. He has played with the cat toys a few times and is sleeping easily during the day.
Atlas is not as comfortable as he was with Val here, but his inability to remember her is allowing him to recover a normal routine. It may be that animals have the right idea - honor the one who was lost for a time, then place them in some closed folder and move on without the burden of grief.
He has settled down a state of being a little miserable but tolerating the situation. His version of tolerating it comes with twice daily rounds of pacing and inconsolable yowls, but this is not so different from his normal behavior. For a Siamese who has never been without another of their kind, we are doing well. Atlas quiets down and starts purring when one of us is sitting still for a lap. And sometimes he sleeps with the big fluffy cat-cat who came in off the street a few years ago. The Siamese instinct for physical companionship is beginning to overcome their normal anxiety-ridden relationship.
Atlas' response since her passing has been proof of the similarities and dissimilarities in the bond between animals and humans. For all of his many annoying behaviors, he has wonderful instincts when a cat is in their final days. He will stay with a cat who is ill, even one he normally hates, and knows when the other cat has died. He will leave then, as if his job is done.
The difference this time, when it was Val who had passed, was that he didn't leave when the second shot had stopped her heart. He would have stayed by her side indefinitely had we not put him back in his carrier after a several minutes. It was both a moment of comic relief and of pain when we saw that we would have to call the end of his vigil. Atlas has no lack of the Siamese stubbornness.
As in a human loss, he was missing Val on the car ride home and for the first few days. The tone of his complaints were unlike anything we had heard before, uncharacteristic small sounds that spoke as clearly as words. He wouldn't play with toys and was unable to settle down to sleep. The only time he got any rest was when we were home and sitting down. If a cat can look miserable and depressed, he did. He has always had curious habits with his over sized ears - they fall up and down telling his mood. His ears were parked and immobile. Atlas was acting much like any human being would in the first days after the death of a friend or lover.
But a week later, it is clear that he may feel lonely but no longer remembers Val herself. He seems confused at times by his state - as if he doesn't know why his life is like this - but he doesn't look for her nor is he drawn to the places where her scent would still be the strongest. He has played with the cat toys a few times and is sleeping easily during the day.
Atlas is not as comfortable as he was with Val here, but his inability to remember her is allowing him to recover a normal routine. It may be that animals have the right idea - honor the one who was lost for a time, then place them in some closed folder and move on without the burden of grief.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
On the River
My little Vela, a sea kayak, is on the car and I will finally get on water - outside - soon. The first evening paddle of the local ADK group is tonight, and the water on the Mohawk River has cooperated by dropping a good bit. It is still brown with mud and the water level is a little high, but I didn't see things like the entire trees that are still coming down the Hudson River.
It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for this. The day is grey with rain promised later and this morning's forecast originally had thunderstorms. A lot of people would have already decided to skip this paddle before leaving for work today. So we may be a small crowd tonight. I brought extra rain jackets in case.
I stopped to check out the river on the way home from an oil change earlier and noticed a number of pair of geese along the shore without chicks. I wonder if the floods decimated their ranks. I did see one family with four and another with three chicks. The parents did their job though, and made sure I didn't get too close.
It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for this. The day is grey with rain promised later and this morning's forecast originally had thunderstorms. A lot of people would have already decided to skip this paddle before leaving for work today. So we may be a small crowd tonight. I brought extra rain jackets in case.
I stopped to check out the river on the way home from an oil change earlier and noticed a number of pair of geese along the shore without chicks. I wonder if the floods decimated their ranks. I did see one family with four and another with three chicks. The parents did their job though, and made sure I didn't get too close.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Long Week
Our oldest cat Val was finally too uncomfortable, too weak and to scared by her own ills to fool ourselves any longer. Over the course of the last two weeks we had gone from baby food out of the jar to heating it, then to mixing it with warm water trying to make it easier to eat. Each variation worked for a day or maybe two, with the amounts being consumed dwindling each time, until she had wasted away to a state that we could not ignore. We brought her to the vet on Friday morning and paid for her to be individually cremated. The office wisely finishes all the arrangements including forms and payment before you go inside.
We buried the first two cats we lost in our yard, but by the time we lost Max to cancer had realized that our house was not suited to aging in place. It is a three story, skinny old house that is utterly charming. But its hallways and doors would barely work with a walker, let alone a wheel chair. In addition to the three flights of late 1800's stairs, with square landings that turn twice inside, the front door sits on top of a flight of nine wide brownstone steps with curved ornate iron railings. Each front door, actually a pair of two both for the outer and the inner doors, is as narrow as the hallways upstairs. So we started getting our cats cremated and they live in cat-theme metal cans on our mantelpiece. Once in a while a cat knocks them down, but we just have to put them back up again.
We brought her younger companion Siamese named Atlas to the vet, hoping he would understand why his lifelong mom/girl cat had suddenly disappeared. Atlas is a confounding mix of contradictions. He is high strung and dim - there is no problem too simple for him to be unable to solve. But despite his constant noisy angst, he is the best companion we've ever had for ill and dying cats. While his other companions have have feared illness and run from it, he goes to a sick cat and stays by their side. He knows when they have died as well.
Atlas and my old Grey cat, who came in off the street as a kitten, hated each other. After a few tossed sandals they realized that fights would not be tolerated and kept a constant distance from each other. But the night that Grey died, Atlas spent the entire time nestled by his side. I knew when Grey was gone by Atlas. There was a final puff of breath, as I felt it Atlas touched his nose and nuzzled an ear. Then he got up and was gone to a warm bed. It was as if his job was over.
So when we had to make the call for Val, we brought Atlas. We apologized to the vet for the inconvenience, explaining that it was our best chance to avoid a month of tranquilizers. They didn't seem too surprised by it so we were probably not the first. Atlas parked himself by her side while the shot to make her fall asleep took and stayed there the whole time. As her heart was stopping he nuzzled her head, but didn't budge. We gave him a few minutes but finally lifted him away. It was clear he was going to stay with her as long as she was in the room, in any form.
Atlas made a few noises on the way home, not his usual complaint, and hid under the bed with our third cat when we got inside. The remaining two get along but it is an awkward alliance. The third cat was either afraid of another cat carrier appearing, or knew something was wrong. By the next morning both cats were eating and looking for sun spots on the floor, but are very subdued. Atlas often plays with cat toys - the only cat we've ever had who actually finds cat toys interesting. It is the second day after and so far the toys are undisturbed.
We buried the first two cats we lost in our yard, but by the time we lost Max to cancer had realized that our house was not suited to aging in place. It is a three story, skinny old house that is utterly charming. But its hallways and doors would barely work with a walker, let alone a wheel chair. In addition to the three flights of late 1800's stairs, with square landings that turn twice inside, the front door sits on top of a flight of nine wide brownstone steps with curved ornate iron railings. Each front door, actually a pair of two both for the outer and the inner doors, is as narrow as the hallways upstairs. So we started getting our cats cremated and they live in cat-theme metal cans on our mantelpiece. Once in a while a cat knocks them down, but we just have to put them back up again.
We brought her younger companion Siamese named Atlas to the vet, hoping he would understand why his lifelong mom/girl cat had suddenly disappeared. Atlas is a confounding mix of contradictions. He is high strung and dim - there is no problem too simple for him to be unable to solve. But despite his constant noisy angst, he is the best companion we've ever had for ill and dying cats. While his other companions have have feared illness and run from it, he goes to a sick cat and stays by their side. He knows when they have died as well.
Atlas and my old Grey cat, who came in off the street as a kitten, hated each other. After a few tossed sandals they realized that fights would not be tolerated and kept a constant distance from each other. But the night that Grey died, Atlas spent the entire time nestled by his side. I knew when Grey was gone by Atlas. There was a final puff of breath, as I felt it Atlas touched his nose and nuzzled an ear. Then he got up and was gone to a warm bed. It was as if his job was over.
So when we had to make the call for Val, we brought Atlas. We apologized to the vet for the inconvenience, explaining that it was our best chance to avoid a month of tranquilizers. They didn't seem too surprised by it so we were probably not the first. Atlas parked himself by her side while the shot to make her fall asleep took and stayed there the whole time. As her heart was stopping he nuzzled her head, but didn't budge. We gave him a few minutes but finally lifted him away. It was clear he was going to stay with her as long as she was in the room, in any form.
Atlas made a few noises on the way home, not his usual complaint, and hid under the bed with our third cat when we got inside. The remaining two get along but it is an awkward alliance. The third cat was either afraid of another cat carrier appearing, or knew something was wrong. By the next morning both cats were eating and looking for sun spots on the floor, but are very subdued. Atlas often plays with cat toys - the only cat we've ever had who actually finds cat toys interesting. It is the second day after and so far the toys are undisturbed.
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